Asking Questions...and listening to God speak
Perry Noble has a great post out today called, Five Things I Would Tell a Church Planter. I particularly liked number five, because it relates to something God's been speaking to me about... I think that one of the hardest things about planting is the crush of pressures: pressures from fear, pressures from what to do next, pressures to try to be innovative... I think that crush leads and contributes to the Isolation Effect that I posted about a few days ago. Here's what Perry suggests, and I think could help me get my head out of the sand.
#5 - Meet with other pastors and ASK QUESTIONS!
OK…I am ranting now…but let me share with you my philosophy on “being mentored.” I have the privilege to meet with some mentors several times during the year…and when I do I have a pen and a notepad with a ton of questions…and the overwhelming majority of the time I ask a ton of questions and then I shut up and write!!!
Some church planters I have met with don’t have this philosophy. I literally went to lunch one time with two guys who were going to plant a church–and I DID NOT TALK the entire lunch…well, except when I ordered my food. I am serious…that’s it!!! These guys told me all about what was wrong with the church in general then told me what they were going to do and thanked me for my time–it was one of the weirdest experiences of my life.
I tell church planters, “Meet with every pastor you can–AND ASK QUESTIONS! Don’t waste their time! Don’t tell them all the things you think is wrong with their church–they don’t care!!! Ask questions!”
Oddly enough, Steven Furtick has a post out today on asking questions as well...
This is why we are going with Acts 29 and we have two coaches and a ton of friends who are planting churches.
Planting is darn hard.
Posted by: Chris Marlow | June 22, 2007 at 10:42 AM