Flannel and Beards

Episode 10 Notes: Things That Make Churchplanters Cry

“Not all tears are evil.” -JRR Tolkien

Sometimes tears spiritually mature you.

When your heart breaks for what breaks the heart of God, you are becoming more like Jesus.

We need to be authentic and transparent with our heart and hurt.

We must keep soft hearts when we churchplant.

Churchplanting will either make your heart cynical or soft.

“Until God breaks your heart for the people who don’t know God, you won’t reach people. God will never use you to reach a people, until He breaks your heart for a people.” -Andy Wood

We cannot reach a people we despise.

Through Christ we can see the lies that people around us have believed and how it is destroying their lives.

God loved the people in your city long before you got there, and He sent you to show His love for them.

It can be overwhelming when you see the depth and darkness of the brokenness in our cities.

You don’t understand the pain of a people, until you live with them in community.

The needs of your city are too vast — you are inadequate to meet them without supernatural help.

Wrestling with our insecurities to start a church and trying to meet the needs of a community will bring you to heartbreak.

Our weakness drives us to God where our strength is.

All of our efforts fall short without God.

When God reveals our inadequacies it is a divine revelation for our good.

The worst suffering is seeing someone you love suffer.

A whole family sacrifices to make a churchplant work.

There are things that Jesus cannot teach us through joy, so He teaches us them through sorrow.

“Sometimes God has a hard grace for us.” -Paul David Tripp

Sometimes we weep because we are simply physically exhausted.

Broken hearts drive our hands to action.

1 Peter 4:13 But rejoice as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

Psalm 56:8 You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.

Tweet about us! Use the hashtag #flannel&beards

Twitter and Instagram @beardsflannel

Email us at [email protected]

Episode 9.0 Notes: Ten Things Every Churchplanter Needs to Learn Part 2

6. Be humble

Don’t assume you’re the magical missing link for God to move in the city.

Learn from other people. Keep a teachable spirit.

Be open to criticism.

Don’t make the churchplant a show about you!

Give away responsibility and power. It’s not healthy if you do it all. They will begin to rely on you and not God.

God fights the proud, and helps the humble.

7. Authenticity is the apologetic of our time

Most questions today are emotionally driven and demand a relational answer.

The church is not the end goal, people are the end goal.

You can’t keep your true self hidden and churchplant.

8. Don’t Apologize

The pressure in a post Christian culture is to apologize for truth.

Many times what the church propagates is the traditions of men.

We cannot apologize for orthodoxy lived out in our orthopraxy.

We cannot apologize for coming to a city with the gospel.

Don’t change your message to make people feel good.

We need to walk around with a holy confidence to where God has called us.

9. Be Mean about the vision

The vision for your church plant did not come from you or a book, it came from God and needs to be fought for.

Churchplants attract people who were disgruntled at other churches, who think they can come in while a church is young and small and mold it into what they want.

People will come to church plants and try to turn it into something unhealthy because they are unhealthy.

Methodologies can change, but the the core fundamentals of the churchplant are non-negotiables.

I have problems with the vision from churched people never unchurched people.

Disgruntled people from other churches will attempt to use their presence, their money and talents to sway the vision.

If you constantly change to meet the whims of people, you will be a church with no values and vision.

If you try to please people, you will never please everyone. Please God!

10. Guard your character

Churches can rise and fall on the character of the churchplanter.

Put boundaries in place.

Keep your promises.

Have integrity financially.

Most of the community expects us to be like their worst fears of religion.

Expect increased and unexpected spiritual attacks when you churchplant.

Stay closely connected to God.

God guards our character when we stay close to Him.

Tweet about us! Use the hashtag #flannel&beards

Twitter and Instagram @beardsflannel

Email us at [email protected]

Episode 9.0 Notes: Ten Things Every Churchplanter Needs to Learn Part 2

6. Be humble

Don’t assume you’re the magical missing link for God to move in the city.

Learn from other people. Keep a teachable spirit.

Be open to criticism.

Don’t make the churchplant a show about you!

Give away responsibility and power. It’s not healthy if you do it all. They will begin to rely on you and not God.

God fights the proud, and helps the humble.

7. Authenticity is the apologetic of our time

Most questions today are emotionally driven and demand a relational answer.

The church is not the end goal, people are the end goal.

You can’t keep your true self hidden and churchplant.

8. Don’t Apologize

The pressure in a post Christian culture is to apologize for truth.

Many times what the church propagates is the traditions of men.

We cannot apologize for orthodoxy lived out in our orthopraxy.

We cannot apologize for coming to a city with the gospel.

Don’t change your message to make people feel good.

We need to walk around with a holy confidence to where God has called us.

9. Be Mean about the vision

The vision for your church plant did not come from you or a book, it came from God and needs to be fought for.

Churchplants attract people who were disgruntled at other churches, who think they can come in while a church is young and small and mold it into what they want.

People will come to church plants and try to turn it into something unhealthy because they are unhealthy.

Methodologies can change, but the the core fundamentals of the churchplant are non-negotiables.

I have problems with the vision from churched people never unchurched people.

Disgruntled people from other churches will attempt to use their presence, their money and talents to sway the vision.

If you constantly change to meet the whims of people, you will be a church with no values and vision.

If you try to please people, you will never please everyone. Please God!

10. Guard your character

Churches can rise and fall on the character of the churchplanter.

Put boundaries in place.

Keep your promises.

Have integrity financially.

Most of the community expects us to be like their worst fears of religion.

Expect increased and unexpected spiritual attacks when you churchplant.

Stay closely connected to God.

God guards our character when we stay close to Him.

Tweet about us! Use the hashtag #flannel&beards

Twitter and Instagram @beardsflannel

Email us at [email protected]

Episode 8.0 Notes: Ten Things Every Churchplanter Must Learn

1. Comparison kills creativity.

Comparison keeps you from celebrating what Jesus is doing in your church.

We replicate what other people have done to chase the results other people have had.

God wants to do something unique in your area that He is not going to do anywhere else.

Our motivation needs to be pressing into the harvest that God has prepared in our community.

Churchplanting can become a spiritual guise for our own selfish ambition.

2. Protect and nurture your marriage

The most important people has put into our lives to care for and walk with are our family.

We need to disciple our families.

You have to protect your marriage from ministry.

Ask your spouse, “How well do I protect and nurture our marriage.”

Ask your spouse hard questions and listen to the answers.

The church plant doesn’t trump your marriage.

If it comes down to your marriage and family or the churchplant, choose your family.

3. Pray for miracles, but work for milestones

Miracles are more rare than milestones.

Expect God to work in miraculous ways, but put in the hard work to reach goals.

“Prayer will be effective when we stop using it as a substitute for obedience.” -A.W. Tozer

Being a church planter is hard work. You’re swimming against the flow of culture and church culture.

4. Be hospitable

If you are going to make disciples like Jesus did, you need to spend time with people.

Make people feel comfortable and wanted.

Listen to what people are saying.

Hospitably starts with your body language.

Offer people a drink. Welcome people into your home. Take their coat.

Make people feel like they are in the inside, not on the outside looking in.

People will know we are disciples of Jesus by the way that we love.

Most people think they are good at relationships.

Invite people into your life. Invite yourself into other people’s lives.

5. The gospel moves at the speed of trust

If you build trust with people far away from God, they will actually listen to what you have to say.

We are quick to tell the culture what they need to do, before the people in the culture know that we actually love them.

“If people know that you love them, they will listen to anything you have to say.” -Richard Baxter

Sometimes we don’t love people, we want to use them to achieve spiritual results.

People sense when you truly love them.

Building trust is not a churchplanting tactic. It is the heart of Jesus.

If you don’t sincerely love people, you’re sincerely wrong.

People sense when they are projects.

Ask God to break your heart for people in your community.

It’s easy to see people as a means to an end, instead of an end itself.

Make friends with sinners. Jesus did.

Be normal people. Make friends, without strings attached.

Trust is built over time.

The gap between where people are and Jesus is, is bridged by trust.

Tweet about us! Use the hashtag #flannel&beards

Twitter and Instagram @beardsflannel

Email us at [email protected]

Episode 8.0 Notes: Ten Things Every Churchplanter Must Learn

1. Comparison kills creativity.

Comparison keeps you from celebrating what Jesus is doing in your church.

We replicate what other people have done to chase the results other people have had.

God wants to do something unique in your area that He is not going to do anywhere else.

Our motivation needs to be pressing into the harvest that God has prepared in our community.

Churchplanting can become a spiritual guise for our own selfish ambition.

2. Protect and nurture your marriage

The most important people has put into our lives to care for and walk with are our family.

We need to disciple our families.

You have to protect your marriage from ministry.

Ask your spouse, “How well do I protect and nurture our marriage.”

Ask your spouse hard questions and listen to the answers.

The church plant doesn’t trump your marriage.

If it comes down to your marriage and family or the churchplant, choose your family.

3. Pray for miracles, but work for milestones

Miracles are more rare than milestones.

Expect God to work in miraculous ways, but put in the hard work to reach goals.

“Prayer will be effective when we stop using it as a substitute for obedience.” -A.W. Tozer

Being a church planter is hard work. You’re swimming against the flow of culture and church culture.

4. Be hospitable

If you are going to make disciples like Jesus did, you need to spend time with people.

Make people feel comfortable and wanted.

Listen to what people are saying.

Hospitably starts with your body language.

Offer people a drink. Welcome people into your home. Take their coat.

Make people feel like they are in the inside, not on the outside looking in.

People will know we are disciples of Jesus by the way that we love.

Most people think they are good at relationships.

Invite people into your life. Invite yourself into other people’s lives.

5. The gospel moves at the speed of trust

If you build trust with people far away from God, they will actually listen to what you have to say.

We are quick to tell the culture what they need to do, before the people in the culture know that we actually love them.

“If people know that you love them, they will listen to anything you have to say.” -Richard Baxter

Sometimes we don’t love people, we want to use them to achieve spiritual results.

People sense when you truly love them.

Building trust is not a churchplanting tactic. It is the heart of Jesus.

If you don’t sincerely love people, you’re sincerely wrong.

People sense when they are projects.

Ask God to break your heart for people in your community.

It’s easy to see people as a means to an end, instead of an end itself.

Make friends with sinners. Jesus did.

Be normal people. Make friends, without strings attached.

Trust is built over time.

The gap between where people are and Jesus is, is bridged by trust.

Tweet about us! Use the hashtag #flannel&beards

Twitter and Instagram @beardsflannel

Email us at [email protected]

Episode 7.0 Notes: Interview With David Pearson

I don’t see a church plant as failed if we see lives changed.

God doesn’t call us to success, He calls us to obedience.

When things don’t happen the way we expected, we term ourselves as a failure.

You don’t have one shot at churchplanting.

Failure can be a great training ground for success.

A “failed” church plant can be a major bruise to your ego.

Be bold and courageous and know that God is with you.

I had to make sure my wife was onboard.

Make sure God is speaking to your spouse and not just you.

It is easy to move from being a church plant to being an established church and stop doing the things that got you there.

We get too focused on Sunday services and forget the key elements of being a churchplant.

A church plant stops being a church plant when it stops thinking like a churchplant.

What makes a church plant successful is dependency on God and a hunger to be in the community.

When we get enough critical mass we start losing our outward focus and dependence on God.

When you’re getting started you are always interested in meeting people and investing in people and often we get sidetracked by the Sunday service.

The biggest thing I look for in a potential church planter is calling.

Teachability is key. No church planter knows as much as they think they do.

When we come in thinking we know all the answers we don’t depend on God.

A church planter must depend on God, because ultimately it is God’s church not our church.

What does the Holy Spirit want you to do?

There are so many resources for planting now it’s easy to say I’ve seen this done somewhere else let me cookiee cutter that into my context.

Every community is different. Every area is unique.

There is not a way to start a church. There is the way God created you to create a church in the place He called you to.

If we say this is what a book or training told me to do we’re losing that dependence on God.

God created us all different. We have to look at how God uniquely made us to understand how He wants us to plant.

No one knows your area as well as God knows your area.

If you rely on a person to give you the answers, if God calls them away, you won’t have someone there to give you the answers. The Spirit will never leave you.

Spiritual attacks are going to come when God is up to something in your churchplant.

The enemy attacks you wherever your weakness is.

The enemy’s attacks are financial, physical, relational and emotional.

One of the enemy’s attacks is to get into our heads and tell us “we can’t” instead of remembering that our God can!

A church planter is a walking target for spiritual attack.

Have a verse that you can go back and lean on.

Some days churchplanting just sucks.

Sometimes that clear sense of calling is the only thing that keeps you planting.

The biggest lie planters are believing is a misunderstanding of success. Many times planters see planting as an opportunity to have a platform to be famous.

Planters think it is about Sunday morning service, but it is about disciples who make disciples.

Planters develop unhealthy timelines. God calls us to a daily obedience.

As pastor, the lies we believe become the lies our church believes.

We need to look for the eternal impact we are making in lives, not the short term “big” success that our ego’s want to see.

“Only God’s eyes are precise enough to tell the difference between success and failure.” -Anton Chekov

Don’t give up!

Don’t measure success by what other people think.

Stay focused on making disciples.

You can’t plant your church. It’s God’s church let Him plant it.

Tweet about us! Use the hashtag #flannel&beards

Twitter and Instagram @beardsflannel

Email us at [email protected]

Episode 7.0 Notes: Interview With David Pearson

I don’t see a church plant as failed if we see lives changed.

God doesn’t call us to success, He calls us to obedience.

When things don’t happen the way we expected, we term ourselves as a failure.

You don’t have one shot at churchplanting.

Failure can be a great training ground for success.

A “failed” church plant can be a major bruise to your ego.

Be bold and courageous and know that God is with you.

I had to make sure my wife was onboard.

Make sure God is speaking to your spouse and not just you.

It is easy to move from being a church plant to being an established church and stop doing the things that got you there.

We get too focused on Sunday services and forget the key elements of being a churchplant.

A church plant stops being a church plant when it stops thinking like a churchplant.

What makes a church plant successful is dependency on God and a hunger to be in the community.

When we get enough critical mass we start losing our outward focus and dependence on God.

When you’re getting started you are always interested in meeting people and investing in people and often we get sidetracked by the Sunday service.

The biggest thing I look for in a potential church planter is calling.

Teachability is key. No church planter knows as much as they think they do.

When we come in thinking we know all the answers we don’t depend on God.

A church planter must depend on God, because ultimately it is God’s church not our church.

What does the Holy Spirit want you to do?

There are so many resources for planting now it’s easy to say I’ve seen this done somewhere else let me cookiee cutter that into my context.

Every community is different. Every area is unique.

There is not a way to start a church. There is the way God created you to create a church in the place He called you to.

If we say this is what a book or training told me to do we’re losing that dependence on God.

God created us all different. We have to look at how God uniquely made us to understand how He wants us to plant.

No one knows your area as well as God knows your area.

If you rely on a person to give you the answers, if God calls them away, you won’t have someone there to give you the answers. The Spirit will never leave you.

Spiritual attacks are going to come when God is up to something in your churchplant.

The enemy attacks you wherever your weakness is.

The enemy’s attacks are financial, physical, relational and emotional.

One of the enemy’s attacks is to get into our heads and tell us “we can’t” instead of remembering that our God can!

A church planter is a walking target for spiritual attack.

Have a verse that you can go back and lean on.

Some days churchplanting just sucks.

Sometimes that clear sense of calling is the only thing that keeps you planting.

The biggest lie planters are believing is a misunderstanding of success. Many times planters see planting as an opportunity to have a platform to be famous.

Planters think it is about Sunday morning service, but it is about disciples who make disciples.

Planters develop unhealthy timelines. God calls us to a daily obedience.

As pastor, the lies we believe become the lies our church believes.

We need to look for the eternal impact we are making in lives, not the short term “big” success that our ego’s want to see.

“Only God’s eyes are precise enough to tell the difference between success and failure.” -Anton Chekov

Don’t give up!

Don’t measure success by what other people think.

Stay focused on making disciples.

You can’t plant your church. It’s God’s church let Him plant it.

Tweet about us! Use the hashtag #flannel&beards

Twitter and Instagram @beardsflannel

Email us at [email protected]

Episode 6.0 Notes: How to Preach to Unchurched People

Protect the weakest link in the room.

Resist the tendency to want to sound smart.

Work hard to make every subject easy and simple to understand.

“You don’t really understand something until you can explain it simply.” -Albert Einstein

The message must be a bridge from where unchurched people are to where Jesus is.

Spend the majority of your time with leaders and the lost.

Take the time to pray and seek the Spirit to craft a clear message.

Help people understand how this applies to them today in the modern world.

Unchurched people don’t understand how the announcement applies to them if we don’t make application.

Even churched people don’t understand or think about what most Christian cliches mean.

Some Christian cliches remind people of negative views of the church.

It’s lazy on our part when we use Christian platitudes and cliches.

Unchurched people want to know the why behind what we believe and preach.

Many times as pastors we haven’t been challenged about why we believe what we believe.

Ask the hard questions of the text and the message before you preach it.

Unchurched people expect you to be real and authentic.

“Authenticity is the apologetic of our time.” -Dhati Lewis

Unchurched people expect the church to be self-righteous and fake. Authenticity surprises them.

Preach Jesus and the gospel all the time.

Every problem is a sin problem, and the answer to every sin problem is Jesus and the gospel.

How does the gospel speak to each and every situation you speak about?

Take the time to plan out your sermons and series ahead of time.

Is there anything that I’m scared to say in this message that I should say?

We have to spend substantial amount of time to think about how we are going to say something, not just what we are going to say.

Jesus always worried about the people far from God.

Jesus appealed to the people who were ostracized by the religious people.

It is arrogant of us to think that whatever we’ve been taught is what unchurched people need to hear.

“The church doesn’t exist for christians. The church is christians. Christians exist to reach unchurched people.” -Sean Sears

Have a humble heart when you preach. Have unchurched people in mind when you preach.

Tweet about us! Use the hashtag #flannel&beards

Twitter and Instagram @beardsflannel

Email us at [email protected]

Episode 6.0 Notes: How to Preach to Unchurched People

Protect the weakest link in the room.

Resist the tendency to want to sound smart.

Work hard to make every subject easy and simple to understand.

“You don’t really understand something until you can explain it simply.” -Albert Einstein

The message must be a bridge from where unchurched people are to where Jesus is.

Spend the majority of your time with leaders and the lost.

Take the time to pray and seek the Spirit to craft a clear message.

Help people understand how this applies to them today in the modern world.

Unchurched people don’t understand how the announcement applies to them if we don’t make application.

Even churched people don’t understand or think about what most Christian cliches mean.

Some Christian cliches remind people of negative views of the church.

It’s lazy on our part when we use Christian platitudes and cliches.

Unchurched people want to know the why behind what we believe and preach.

Many times as pastors we haven’t been challenged about why we believe what we believe.

Ask the hard questions of the text and the message before you preach it.

Unchurched people expect you to be real and authentic.

“Authenticity is the apologetic of our time.” -Dhati Lewis

Unchurched people expect the church to be self-righteous and fake. Authenticity surprises them.

Preach Jesus and the gospel all the time.

Every problem is a sin problem, and the answer to every sin problem is Jesus and the gospel.

How does the gospel speak to each and every situation you speak about?

Take the time to plan out your sermons and series ahead of time.

Is there anything that I’m scared to say in this message that I should say?

We have to spend substantial amount of time to think about how we are going to say something, not just what we are going to say.

Jesus always worried about the people far from God.

Jesus appealed to the people who were ostracized by the religious people.

It is arrogant of us to think that whatever we’ve been taught is what unchurched people need to hear.

“The church doesn’t exist for christians. The church is christians. Christians exist to reach unchurched people.” -Sean Sears

Have a humble heart when you preach. Have unchurched people in mind when you preach.

Tweet about us! Use the hashtag #flannel&beards

Twitter and Instagram @beardsflannel

Email us at [email protected]

Episode 5.0 Notes: The First 30 Days of Churchplanting

Do nothing.

Take time to come to terms with the reality of the change.

When you do nothing, actually a lot more gets done.

Sometimes doing nothing helps you gain perspective.

Help your spouse.

The unsung heroes of Churchplanting are our families.

Take the time to help your family adapt to their new surroundings.

Take time to help unpack the boxes.

Our families are effected by their environment and surroundings.

Take your family with you as you have meetings and get training.

Your first 30 days lays a foundation for the rest of your churchplant.

Befriend other churches.

We can learn a lot about the neighborhood from other churches.

Sit back and worship with your family — enjoy the time before you start services.

Find queso.

Adopt the culture of your city, but don’t pretend to be something that you’re not.

Hold on to traditions that comfort you and remind you where you came from.

Be who you are and be honest about where you are from. Be you.

Tweet about us! Use the hashtag #flannel&beards

Twitter and Instagram @beardsflannel

Email us at [email protected]