Launch

I recently finished reading Launch: Starting a Church from Scratch by Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas. I wanted to get it for a while and the ARC sent it to me for free a few weeks ago. It was the most practical church planting book that I have read and believe me I have read plenty.

Also, I have really started reading these books much more closely with a "filter" with what God has called me to do and how to lead our church. I think I was so overwhelmed at first with the call to start a church that I thought every good idea I got from a church planting book we needed to implement. Thankfully, I have refocused. Below are some notes from the book:

• "In church planting there are three deadly sins: lack of calling, lack of strategy, and lack of funds."


• Andy Stanley was quoted as saying, "You're afraid? So what. Everybody's afraid. Fear is the common ground of humanity. The question you must wrestle to the ground is, Will I allow my fear to bind me to mediocrity?"


• "As your dependence upon God grows, so will your church."


• "Those closest to the leader will determine the success of that leader."


• "Pay staff as much as you can without limiting the future growth of the church."


• "Launch as publicly as possible, with as many people as possible."


• "Do everything you can to stick to your orginal launch date."


• "Resist the temptation to go over the top with your launch service. It will hurt you in the long run."


• "Spectacular achievements come from unspectacular preparation."


• "Focus on the basics the first year and you can do even more in the second."


• "Once you launch your church, the Sunday service should become a primary focus."


• "Healthy, growing churches will have a 5 to 100 ratio of guests to attenders."


• "Your prayer should be for God to be molding you every day into the person you need to be to lead a church twice your current size."


• Personal development = leadership ability plus spiritual maturity


• "When the lead pastor isn't growing: the church stops growing, the sermons are stale, the staff and volunteers stop growing, and passion for ministry wanes."