Resources in this category support a church planter's walk with God.
2 hours 30 minutes 11
Church planting is about more than Sunday services—it’s about engaging your city, making disciples, and planting healthy, biblical churches. Church Planting Like a Missionary explores how planters can build strong leadership, foster missional community, and cast God-given vision in a way that aligns people with His kingdom purposes.
Will Basham
One of the most common questions I get asked at the church I lead in Appalachia is, “Why do you have so many pastors?” I usually jovially answer, “Because of my incompetence.” (The benefit of elder plurality is another article for another day.) That...
A covocational church planter is one whose primary vocation is in the marketplace and who is also called to start a church. Rather than viewing work outside the church as secondary or provisional, covocational leaders understand their marketplace vocation as an essential part of...
Kevin Spratt & J.A. Medders
Discerning a call to ministry is rarely a simple or predictable journey. This eBook explores the biblical foundations and practical realities of pastoral calling through the lens of experienced church planters and multiplying pastors. Drawing from research with proven ministry...
Dan Steel
There is an unwritten rule in our church-planting culture: find the right person, and the church will follow. The “right” person? The right person is winsome, visionary, a gifted communicator—an all-round leader who more than capably reads Scripture, the room,...
Ben Barfield
I remember sitting in a staff meeting not long ago thinking something feels off. Nothing had gone wrong. Nobody was arguing; the agenda got covered, and on the surface, it looked like a good meeting. But it was quiet in a way...
Ronnie Martin
Church planting is a whole mood. When a new church finally launches, so does the church planter! A maelstrom of multi-tasks (if they weren’t already in motion) descends in quick succession, and they are all necessary (and usually good) things. But the urgency that comes with planning...
Adam Muhtaseb
In 1945, World War II ended. Japan surrendered. The fighting was over. But nobody told Hiroo Onoda. Stationed in the Philippine jungle, Onoda kept fighting WWII for 29 years. Search parties went looking for him. He assumed they were Japanese prisoners forced to act against...
Luke Simmons
Recently, I discovered I was breaking the law. Somehow, my vehicle registration slipped through the cracks of my junk-filled personal email account. After my wife was pulled over while driving my car, she told me with loving firmness that I needed...
I bet you know the passage. Matthew 11:28–30. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart,...
Noah Oldham
Years ago, I saw a meme that showed a dog chasing a bird off a cliff, mouth open, ready to bite. The caption said, “Some decisions made in anger can’t be undone.” That meme has stuck with me. Because it’s funny until it’s not. It’s funny...
J.A. Medders
Our lives are filled with axioms. These truisms, even if overstated, make a helpful point that’s easy to remember. In the world of sports, we hear, “Your best ability is availability.” I love this axiom. A great player who is always injured hurts his...
Jon Kelly
In an age where sermons can be downloaded, clipped, shared, and forgotten within hours, it is easy for pastors and church planters to think that our primary influence comes through our preaching. Preaching certainly matters. Faith comes by hearing the...
Most Americans don’t just work; we tend to derive identity from our work. Secular research confirms what many of us already feel: our careers don’t simply provide income; they shape our sense of self. It’s no surprise that this is the case when we live in a...
I’ll never forget the day my sending church pastor walked into my office with an email in his hand. He said, “We got your score back from the church planting assessment— specifically your entrepreneurial score. It came back a 38.”...
The first of the year equals desperate times for people in the Midwest. All of the whimsical, Christmas snow that fell so delicately a month before has now turned into piles of icy despair sprinkling the landscape. A 50-degree day...
Have you ever been truly discouraged? Not mildly frustrated. Not just worn out after a long week. But the kind of discouragement that makes you quietly wonder, “Can I actually keep going?” Several years into planting in Baltimore, I hit that wall. ...
Leadership is influence toward a goal. This simple definition applies to NFL teams chasing the Super Bowl, businesses seeking to increase sales, and church planters and church-planting teams. Planter, you are a spiritual leader. Spiritual leadership is influence toward the biblical...
I wake up every morning and generally have no idea what I’m doing on any given day. I’m not referring to my general cluelessness about life (although that does exist more often than I’d like to admit). I’m referring to the busyness that seems to captivate many of my days. And, particularly...
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