New Churches Podcast | Season 1 | Episode 673

Church Planting Dealbreakers

Clint Clifton & Adam Muhtaseb

Episode 673: When the preparedness of a prospective church planter is being assessed, different evaluators may come to different conclusions. Clint Clifton, Nathan Knight and Adam Muhtaseb, however, discuss several traits that should be automatic dealbreakers for an aspiring planter’s approval.

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

  • Whether a church planter could potentially not meet the scriptural qualifications for a pastor
  • The relative value of competence and character in the assessment process
  • The necessity of having a Sending Church behind a planter
  • How much and what kind of debt an aspiring church planter should have
  • Whether a planter’s primary goal should be multiplication or founding a biblical church

Helpful Resources:

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Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches):

As we think about this in the assessment process, sometimes there’s an ultra-focus on competence and virtually none on character. @ClintJClifton

Paul says he came “in weakness and trembling,” so he didn’t have much competence, but he had a lot of character. We need more of that. @Adam_Muhtaseb

If no church is sending you – if you are sending yourself – that should be a dealbreaker. If you’re part of a bad church, you need to align yourself with a good one. @ClintJClifton

If you’re not meaningfully involved in a local church, I see all kinds of red flags. @NathanKnightDC

One church planter had $300,000 of student debt. We ran a credit check and it came back good because he paid his bills. I had to say, “I just don’t think I can see you going out and raising funds for this new church, knowing that so much of that’s going to to your student debt.” @ClintJClifton

If a guy wants to plant and his wife’s not on board, it’s game over game over and not even a question. I wouldn’t join a church that my wife didn’t want to join. Just let it go and let God in His timing send you out when you’re ready and she’s ready. @Adam_Muhtaseb

I would just want to be clear that you’re doing this because of your devotion and affection for Christ, not because you like planting churches and want to multiply and have an influence. @NathanKnightDC

Published on June 09, 2022

About the Podcast

New Churches Podcast

The New Churches podcast offers practical answers to your real ministry questions. We aren’t going to provide lofty pie-in-the-sky theories. Instead, we are going to help you in your real ministry context, with your real thoughts, questions, and issues.

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Meet the Authors

Clint Clifton

Clint Clifton passed away on January 12, 2023, as a result of a small plane crash. Clint and his wife, Jennifer, had been married since 2000 and have five children. He completed a B.A. from The Baptist College of Florida and an M.A. from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. Clint founded Pillar Church in Dumfries, Virginia, in 2005. He oversaw the fruitful church planting efforts of Pillar Church and served as Senior Director of Resource and Research Strategy for the North American Mission Board.

More Resources from Clint

Adam Muhtaseb

Adam Muhtaseb is the founding pastor of Redemption City Church in Baltimore, Maryland, and an M.Div. graduate of  Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Sherrie, have three sons, Aiden, Judah, and Micah.

More Resources from Adam