101 Questions Church Planters Ask: Recent Episodes
Danny Parmelee
God's given you a vision to plant a church. You're gifted and maybe have the team ready to go. However, there are thousands of details and hundreds of questions that you have. In this podcast we will answer some of the common questions and answer listener submitted questions to help you fulfill the call the Lord's given you.
Hear from Daniel and Christina Im on how to raise kids and do ministry. We all know that when you lead a church that you are living in a fishbowl. This affects are children as well and there are things that we can do to help them be all God wants them to be without our calling as a pastor negatively impacting their relationship with God. If you're raising kids and planting a church it's a must listen.
In this episode we hear from Licensed Counselor Rick Egbert as he discusses issues of mental health and church planters. He gives some great advice on how you can stay ahead of the curve on finding a counselor. In addition to keeping you and your family healthy, he also shares how it is good practice for your entire congregation as you model healthy habits and meet counselors in your area. We've seen a lot of horrible stories of pastors and church planters who have left the ministry due to the pressures of ministry or even died by suicide. None of us are exempt from the pressures and hardships so getting help and being proactive is important.
We've taken 101 Questions Church Planters Ask Podcast on the Road! In this episode we are Live at the s2 Conference in Phoenix, AZ. The conference is filled with church planters and established churches that want to be strong enough to multiply. So we put a microphone in front of church planters and asked them to give some advice to current and future church planters.
If you think that doing a Christmas Eve service in your Pre-Launch Phase you may want to think again. While it may be a perfect way to get exposure and gain some launch team members it often will not achieve the outreach you expect. In this episode we'll look at some other options and explain why holding off on a Christmas eve service in Pre-Launch phase may be your best growth strategy.
When you are a church planter, its more than just gathering a crowd for worship services. You need to find ways to embed yourself in the community and help your team to do the same thing. In this episode Danny and special guest Christ Highfill discuss 10 ways that you can engage the community whether you are pre-launch phase or already up and running.
Do you want to know one of the greatest tools to help your church plant? What if I told you that there are people from around the globe that you can hire for projects such as design, web, video, audio, architecture, data entry, IT, marketing and more? The world of freelancers and virtual assistants is at your finger tips.
There really is no reason to plant a church a lone these days. There are multiple church planting networks and denominations to help you. Many planters wonder if they have to choose just one or if it makes sense to have a couple groups you work with. We explore the advantages and challenges of dual affiliation in this episode.
If you do Church Merch right it can be one of your most effective and inexpensive marketing tools. There are so many upsides to equipping your people with the right stuff. Learn when to invest in quality apparel vs when to get promotional SWAG.
If you are new to being a pastor or church planter, chances are someone has told you "You should opt out of social security!" In this episode I will walk through the IRS social security exemption that is allowed for clergy but also explain who qualifies and the dangers of opting out if you don't meet the true exemptions.
It's pretty common for one of your earliest steps in church planting to write a Mission Statement and also Vision and Values Statement. Understanding the differences in these and composing them correctly can really help you communicate with clarity. As the church plant grows transferring mission, vision, and values to your people will be key in accomplishing big things for the Lord.
Many church planters wonder if they need a Seminary degree or a Bible degree Before they start the church plant. In this episode we discuss some of the advantages of formal education but also explore why Seminary isn't for everyone. Also if you do go to seminary either before the church plant or during the plant what you might want to focus on.
In this episode Danny parmelee and Lee Stephenson discuss what spiritual warfare might look like in a church plant and how to recognize it and combat it.
Danny Parmelee along with Brad Briscoe talk about Bivocational Church Planting and the different things you should consider if you are going down this path. For some it is a great fit and will help to maximize ministry while others in a different context may not.
First it's important to understand the difference between a core team and a launch team. In this episode I will discuss how your approach to launch team members in general will help you to figure out WHO should be on your team and why this perspective might challenge what you've heard else where. Even going so far as to say that the strength of your launch team may not be as tied to the equality of individual commitment.
Leadership is lonely. Its even more lonely when people you expected to show up at your meetings, trainings, events, or Sunday worship gatherings are simply just not there. In this episode we'll explore some of the self leadership to work through that but also practical follow up ideas.
Email is not dead.
As annoying as you may consider emails to be, they are still an essential daily function of most everyone's lives, and the best way to keep in contact with the majority of your community. Consider the email addresses you collect like flecks of gold: they are a small but highly valuable piece of information on the people in your community that you can use to connect with them in the future. When you add all these flecks of gold together (your email strategy) you will have a valuable tool to reach many people for Christ.
Use your web domain for your email address as soon as possible.
Having your email connected to your church plant's website instead of Gmail.com, Yahoo.com, etc. adds the appearance of legitimacy and establishes professionalism. Also, this allows people to copy and paste your website from your email address into their web browser and access your website once it's set up.
Use an email marketing service.
There are all kinds of email marketing websites, even sites connected to church data management software. As soon as possible, start using a service (we suggest mailchimp because it's free up to 2,000 contacts). Using an email marketing service helps to manage and organize your contacts while sending a well-designed email. Yes, you still send personal emails to people using your standard email but this is key as you grow the amount of people you reach.
Group and sort your audiences.
It's best to gather your email addresses and contact information according to the function and role of the individual. Here are a few examples of ways to group and sort your audiences:
- Prayer Team
- Financial Supporters
- Launch Team
- General Interest
This also helps you to capture the attention of those who aren't interested in being involved until the official launch of your church plant. As you grow as a church, people can pick and choose which category of emails they're interested in receiving-- or even opt out of receiving emails.
Discover your own frequency and rhythm for sending emails.
The context of your church plant determines your frequency and rhythm-- and determining this comes with time, as well as trial-and-error. Monthly updates to financial supporters, weekly emails to your church plant's launch team, and other email types are valuable rhythms to start with, and adjust as needed. Emails sent too frequently are often ignored, whereas emails sent too sparingly give time for contacts to lose interest.
Subject lines matter.
For great examples of email subject lines, check out Bridges in Nashville and subscribe on their website's email newsletter submission form. Pastor Kurtis Parks sends some great email newsletter subject lines.
The truth is, it doesn't matter how incredible your email is if no one is interested enough to open it. You don't want click-bait that misrepresents what your email is about, or titles that express every single email contains essential information: but you do want to attract interest and make readers curious enough to click on the email.
Use more pictures and less words.
You only have a few seconds of your reader's attention once they open your email. Don't show big blocks of words at the top or make your email painfully long to read: readers will click away if they're overwhelmed with too much information at once. I recommend a billboard-style approach: blocks of photos with just a bit of essential info that links to further details on your website or elsewhere. Putting the details on your website instead of the body of the email also helps drive clicks to your site, which helps put you higher up in search engine results.
Pay attention to your analytics.
A day or two after sending an email, check open rates (even see exactly who opened it), link click analytics, and anything else you can see from your email marketing service's data. Take note of where people are clicking for more details to gauge interest in what you're promoting and sharing. The average open rate for non-profit email newsletters is 15-20%, so manage your expectations and use your data to help increase your effectiveness for future newsletters.
Drive people to your other channels.
Create a path in every email to not only your website, but also to your social media channels and contact information. You'll never be able to reach every person through one channel, but giving individuals opportunities to connect on their favorite platforms will help everyone stay informed and connected to your church plant in the way they prefer. As a general marketing and communication principal you want to create synergy by having your emails drive people to your website and social platforms, you want your social platforms to drive people to your website so you can get their email address, and you want your website to drive them to your church services, small groups, missional communities. Each one of these feeds the other, and creates momentum and multiple channels of communication and ultimately connection. That is what your ultimate goal is connection and relationship, not just open rates and followers. But open rates and followers are often the path to that connection.
Last episode we looked and the foundation of WHY to raise financial support for your church plant. Now we look at the HOW to raise financial support. It is Not an easy process but it is one that will do much more than just raise money. You cast vision and gain ministry partners not just donations.
In this episode we discuss with Dr. Steve Shadrach the WHY behind raising financial support. This looks at some of the biblical reasons and examples of raising financial support along with some of the pragmatic benefits of raising personal funds for church planting.
Determining the salary of a pastor can be difficult and especially difficult for a church planter since there isn't a history of salary for the church. Here we discuss how to set salary for a church planter.
It is critical to have Godly leadership in your church. However it can be very dangerous to rush the process of appointing elders in the church
You will have people that will create division and conflict in your church plant. Listen here to know what to look out for.
This is one that every church planter will face when developing their launch team. Is it ok for people to come from other churches. How do you handle this with area pastors?
It's time to open up that Bank Account for your Church Plant. Do you go with a local bank, national bank, credit union? What types of services are a must? We answer those here!
Answering a simple question if your church should use a debit card or credit card. Church finances are important, especially for church plants starting out.
We cover why you need to apply for 501c3 non profit status for your church plant and the steps you need to take. Whether that applying through your denomination or hiring a lawyer to apply for you.
So it's time to name your church plant. Well this is fun and exciting. But also can create some anxiety. There are lots to things to think through when selecting a name.
Welcome back everyone to 101 questions that church planters ask, I’m your host Danny Parmelee.
If you are listening to this episode, chances are you are in the exploratory stage of church planting.
Maybe the train is already down the tracks a little bit or you are just kicking the tires or your just not sure at all.
Either way, you probably have asked yourself “Am I Crazy?
Youve heard church planting is a bit crazy so you’re wondering if you are crazy for considering it.
Well let me tell you...Yes you are.
Joking aside, what I want to do is discuss a couple aspects of discerning your call to church planting.
God’s call is often first recognized by an internal prompting of the Holy Spirit.
Something inside of you has sparked to the idea that God may be calling you to step out in faith in a huge way.
This internal prompting is often related to external circumstances.
For example maybe you are part of a church plant and you’ve seen how God has used it in individuals lives or used it to impact the the entire city you live in.
God’s now captured your heart for church planting because of a positive experience.
On the flip side sometimes God’s call to church planting comes out of what some call a Holy Discontent.
As you look around at the church or churches you’ve been part of you sense that church could be done differently to reach more people
Of course I caution against pride, ego, and bitterness.
I promise you, you don’t want to plant a church if this is your driving motivation.
On the other hand, many planters (myself included) saw that my generation was becoming more and more absent from the church and it burdened me with a passion to innovate the way church was done, without changing the gospel message.
All this to say that I encourage you to examine what is prompting you to considering planting a church.
There are probably multiple things so sort through each of those and ask God to affirm the good intentions
and confess and repent of the sinful motivations.
I promise you, this will not be a onetime process,
you likely will be praying these same prayers over and over again many even many years into the church plant.
If you find out that your motivation to plant is simply to prove something,
to get back at the church that just fired you,
or because you think you’re just so much more awesome than everyone else.
I beg you DON’t Plant a church.
Being a church planter can be the most amazing experience.
I think that is why many are drawn to it.
But church planting is NOT for the faint of heart
. Take a look at some of those in bible and you will see what I mean.
If you want to know what the life of a church planter is really like, take the words of the Apostle Paul for example in 2nd Corinthians 11 where he He says “
“I have worked much harder,
been in prison more frequently,
been flogged more severely, and
been exposed to death again and again.
24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.
25 Three times I was beaten with rods,
once I was pelted with stones,
three times I was shipwrecked,
I spent a night and a day in the open sea,
26 I have been constantly on the move.
I have been in danger from rivers,
in danger from bandits,
in danger from my fellow Jews,
in danger from Gentiles;
in danger in the city,
in danger in the country,
in danger at sea;
and in danger from false believers.
27 I have labored and toiledand
have often gone without sleep;
I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food;
I have been cold and naked.
28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.
To me this is the perfect job description for planting a church.
So yea, if you’re NOT asking “Am I crazy for wanting to plant a church?
Then you probably really don’t have a good understanding what church planting is all about.
I know he was not a church planter, but my favorite biblical call to ministry was the prophet Ezekiel.
I was drawn to his call as a young church planter. I won’t read it but in Ezekiel chapter 3 you get a glimpse into Ezekiel's call from God.
What I love so much about his call is that God makes clear that he is called to a people BUT that not all the people will listen, follow, obey.
God doesn’t promise him a “successful” ministry.
Instead God asks him to be faithful to preaching the Word no matter the reaction or result.
Most church planters imagine themselves on stage, preaching to the crowd, people nodding and coming to Christ.
Followers and leaders lining up behind them and their amazing vision…
And YES some of this will happen.
BUT, you will have much more resistance to your message, method, and strategy than you can imagine.
God prepares Ezekial by saying “I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint.” Ez 3:9
If you’re the type of person who can’t take criticism, rejection, rebellion, difficult people….
church planting probably isn’t for you.
It may sound like I”m talking you out of church planting.
You’re onto something.
I think that church planting is part of God’s amazing plan for the gospel to flourish and grow.
I love church planting and love church planters.
I also know if the wrong people try and do it, it can tear apart their lives, other people’s lives, and even discredit Christ and His Church in that community.
This brings me to the next part of discerning Gods call. You shouldn’t rely only on internal promptings.
Proverbs 11:14 says “Where there is no counsel, the people fall; But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.
It is imperative that your call is affirmed by others.
This is much more than asking your mom if she thinks you are capable.
Or asking your friends if they think you have what it takes.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t ask family and friends and they probably know you best.
But its often hard for those that are closest to you to be objective.
This is why I’m such a huge advocate of formal Assessment centers.
A church planting assessment center is an objective process that looks at how God has gifted and wired you.
Listen in on this conversation about Assessment center from my friends Lee and Marlan.
Confirming your call to church planting is so important.
Why?
Not only remaining in God’s will, but Because there are going to be so many times when you will want to give up.
if you’re doing church planting as a job or option or opportunity... its pretty easy to throw in the towel.
But if you know that God has called you to it, it gives you a resolve to navigate through all the hardships you will face.
So, are you crazy for considering church planting? Probably yes. But that’s ok, we serve and amazing God who calls us to crazy things for His name sake.
Just a little introduction of myself and my background in launching epikos church in Milwaukee, WI in 2005. What started in our living room grew to over 2,000 people on 3 campuses. The format of this podcast will be very simple answering of questions that I've heard many times in coaching church planters AND your opportunity to submit your questions on www.churchplantersask.com