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Article

Bold Approaches to Funding Residencies

Ryan Johnston

When it comes to funding residencies, we have everything we need within arm’s reach to do everything God has asked of us.
Podcast Episode

Sabbaticals for Church Planting Pastors

New Churches Podcast Season 1 Episode 657

Episode 657: As pastoral work has in recent years grown more difficult, sabbaticals seem to be a growing trend. Host Clint Clifton discusses the need for, value of and different approaches to sabbaticals with Jessica Thompson, director of operations for...
Article

Ways to Find Great Residents

Bob Burton

What are the two best things any pastor could do to find great residents?
Podcast Episode

The Forgotten Office: Deacons

New Churches Podcast Season 1 Episode 656

Episode 656: With most churches now starting with multiple-pastor, multiple-elders models, a de-emphasis on the role of deacons has occurred. Host Clint Clifton interviews Matt Smethurst, author of Deacons: How They Serve and Strengthen the Church, about the value of...
Article

How to Build a Residency

Ryan Johnston

You can build a lasting residency program that you deeply believe in by working through a process that helps you define three things: your terms, your why and your content.
Podcast Episode

The ‘Zero Year’

New Churches Podcast Season 1 Episode 655

Episode 655: The “Zero Year” is the time of preparation that leads up to the church plant. Host Clint Clifton interviews Matt Smethurst, planter of a brand-new church in Richmond, Virginia, about the various “Zero Year” factors that moved him...
Article

Send This to Someone You Think Should be a Pastor

Clint Clifton

Your encouragement quite literally could change the course of someone's life forever. Let me tell you about two that changed mine.
Course

Using Online Conversations for Good

2 Hours 11 Videos

We live in an online age that has changed the requirements of ministry and the very nature of how the church operates. What you post and how you interact with others online can either draw people into your church body or turn them away. Though it can be tempting to wish we lived in a different time unencumbered by the pitfalls of the digital space, our time is better spent learning how to navigate the online world and social media in a way that glorifies God.
Podcast Episode

Reaching People Far from God

New Churches Podcast Season 1 Episode 654

Episode 654: Many church planters set out to reach people with the gospel but often find their new churches full of folks from other churches. Host Ed Stetzer discusses the challenge of staying outwardly focused to reach people far from...
Article

Church Planters Face This Great Danger

Trevin Wax

Familiarity is the enemy of wonder. Church planters face a danger common to anyone heavily involved in ministry: We get familiar with holy things. Perhaps overly familiar.
Podcast Episode

Church Multiplication in ‘Sin City’

New Churches Podcast Season 1 Episode 653

Episode 653: Planting a church is challenging enough, but when your city is almost-completely unchurched, the task is truly daunting. Vance Pitman, founding pastor of Hope Church in Las Vegas, and Heiden Ratner, senior pastor of Walk Church in the...
Article

The Downside of Professional Christianity

Clint Clifton

My service in vocational ministry, particularly in church planting, has complicated my daily walk with Christ. The deeper into professional Christianity I got, the more I felt sinfully entitled in four ways.
E-Book

Building Your Core Team

Models and Best Practices

Ed Stetzer & Matt Rogers

It’s not difficult to convince people to join a new venture like a church. But it is difficult to discern and invite the right people into your core team. Ed Stetzer and Matt Rogers examine five shared foundations for a...
Podcast Episode

Symptoms of Burnout

New Churches Podcast Season 1 Episode 652

Episode 652: What should a church planter do who’s at the soul level of tired? Host Ed Stetzer discusses the symptoms of ministry burnout with Jessica Thompson, director of operations for the New City church planting network, and James Hobson,...
Article

5 Reasons Your Church Plant Needs Membership

Brian O'Day

Your church plant needs membership to become a church. Let me offer five reasons.
Podcast Episode

Loving Your Family While Planting a Church

New Churches Podcast Season 1 Episode 651

Episode 651: Planting a church inevitably creates enormous pressures on the planter’s family. Host Ed Stetzer discusses guardrails against those stresses with Jessica Thompson, director of operations for the New City church planting network, and James Hobson, lead pastor of...
Article

3 Great Side Hustles for Church Planters

Clint Clifton

These days it seems every church planter has a "side hustle." The increasingly expensive cities we are working to reach have created a need for a marketable skill or trade that will provide a missiological and financial foothold in the community. So what side hustles are most compatible with church planting?
Podcast Episode

Leading and Loving Difficult Team Members

New Churches Podcast Season 1 Episode 650

Episode 650: Church leaders, at some point, will have a difficult time with a team member, which can lead to frustration, stress, anxiety or worry. Host Ed Stetzer discusses the challenges of leading difficult team members with Adam Muhtaseb of...