Unfiltered: Real Church Planting Conversations

Worship is a key — and sometimes contentious — issue in the life of a church plant. Converge church planting leaders Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee have an in-depth conversation about worship, including how to find a worship leader and the role technology should play.

1:05: Lee and Danny share some awkward things they’ve experienced during worship.

5:15 Danny shares how he found the worship leader for his church plant.

7:05 Lee talks about how his first church plant went from having a volunteer/part-time worship leader to paying someone full time.

10:00 Lee shares some ideas on how to find a worship leader.

12:25 Lee encourages planters to spend a lot of time with their worship leader to help develop a good rapport and chemistry.

12:50 Lee and Danny talk about how much input they had on the worship set at their church plant.

16:55 Lee and Danny share their thoughts on the role performance should play in worship.

21:55 Lee encourages planters to evaluate their worship experience every weekend.

Questions to ask yourself:

Were people deeply led into worship?

Was technology an enhancement or a distraction?

22:30 Lee shares that his new church plant is writing its own worship music.

Converge church planting leaders Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee discuss the important role a church planter’s spouse plays when starting a church.

0:55 Lee says sometimes unrealistic expectations are placed on church planters’ wives.

2:10 Danny talks about the broad spectrum of roles church planters’ wives play — from co-pastor to behind the scenes.

2:55 Lee discusses to his wife’s experience with church planting growing up — her dad was a pastor who planted two churches.

5:05 Danny shares that his wife had a career when they started their church so she wasn’t able to be involved as much as she wanted to be.

7:10 Danny says how his wife’s role in the church changed over time.

8:45 Danny and Lee talk about whether their wife is more extroverted or introverted and how that affected their role in the church plant.

10:35 Lee says his wife felt called to fill two roles in their first church plant: serving in the nursery and ministering to the staff wives.

12:30 Danny and Lee talk about how important their wife’s support at home has been to their ministry.

14:40 Danny gives advice to pastors who feel like they are being called to plant a church but their wife doesn’t want to.

16:00 Lee says their wives will join them for part two of this conversation on a future podcast.

Your church plant has made it to the grand opening. Now what? Converge church planting leaders Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee discuss how to move forward as you enter into this new phase in the life of your church.

1:35 Danny discusses how the planter and launch team members need to be prepared for the changes that will come after the church’s launch.

4:50 Lee recommends sitting down with your team weeks before the grand opening to provide them with a clear understanding of what it’s going to take to launch the church. For example, “If you’re in the children’s ministry, it may be two or three months before you get into a service.”

5:45 Danny talks about the key leadership teams his church plant had at launch.

6:25 Danny shares that his church plant emphasized small groups during the launch phase and that continued after the church launched.

7:45 Danny says his church’s small group curriculum, which was sermon based, stayed the same after the launch.

9:15 Lee talks about how small groups were a big deal from the beginning at his first church plant and how he’s handling launch/small groups differently at his new church plant.

11:10 Lee shares the ways his church helped new people get to know the church and get involved.

14:30 Lee discusses the four E process he used with people in his church.

16:35 Lee talks about how people with their own agenda and beliefs will show up at the grand opening and how to handle that.

18:30 Lee and Danny discuss their thoughts on allowing non-Christians to serve in the church.

20:25 Lee shares his biggest takeaway in preparing your launch team for the grand opening and post-grand opening.

Church planting leaders Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee discuss how to start children’s and youth ministries as a church plant.

0:55 Danny talks about how it took time for his church to establish a children’s ministry

4:20 Lee discusses how his church had a children’s ministry from Day 1 and the challenges that being in a movie theater presented

9:00 Lee talks about how things changed when they moved to a high school

13:00 Lee shares how his church was able to have a full-time children’s pastor from the beginning

15:55 Lee and Danny talk about the children’s curriculum their churches used

17:50 Lee discusses the policies and protocols that are necessary for a safe and secure children’s ministry, including background checks for volunteers and check-in/check-out procedures.

21:45 Lee and Danny talk about how to recruit and keep children’s ministry volunteers

24:45 Lee talks about how his church started its youth ministry

27:30 Lee and Danny explain why their churches had high school students attend and serve in the worship service

32:30 Danny and Lee talk about the pros and cons of directing students to an outside organization

Church planting leaders Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee discuss the roles small groups should play in the life of a church plant.

0:50 Danny shares how small groups were an important part of his church plant from the beginning

4:25 Danny talks about how he dealt with people who wanted something different taught in their small group

6:50 Danny discusses how he handled small group multiplication

9:15 Lee and Danny say that at their churches it was the responsibility of small group leaders to grow their group, not the church

11:15 Danny talks about how he created accountability with his small groups and leaders

12:40 Danny discusses the process of creating the small group curriculum

15:00 Danny talks about what he would have done differently

16:00 Danny and Lee share what classes their churches offered as small group alternatives

20:00 Danny and Lee talk about the different ways to handle child care during small groups

22:25 Lee and Danny discuss the advantages of sermon-based small groups

26:00 Lee and Danny say they gave small group leaders freedom on how to run the group

Converge church planting leaders Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee are joined by special guest Jeff Gauss to talk about his battle with depression and what advice he has for people who are dealing with the same struggles.

0:40 - Jeff shares about his experience planting three churches in the past 17-18 years. He planted two churches in Minnesota before planting his current church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He is also the director of church planting for the Converge Heartland district.

5:00 - Jeff talks about his struggle with depression, which began after his sister was killed in a car accident when he was 13 years old.

7:15 - Jeff discusses what he’s learned from his battle with depression that would be helpful to other people who are going through the same thing.

10:00 - Danny asks Jeff if it was hard to share with his wife what he was going through.

11:10 - Jeff talks about what his depression warning signs are and how many people don’t realize that they are depressed.

13:00 - Jeff discusses what he has learned about his faith through his struggles.

14:30 - Jeff talks about how he went to a doctor after realizing he needed help and started taking medication. “That [getting on medication] was probably the best decision I ever made.” He also started getting Christian counseling and still sees a counselor regularly.

16:15 - Lee asks Jeff if he was afraid to go to counseling and, if so, how he overcame it.

19:00 - Danny asks Jeff what he would say to those who are opposed to taking medication.

22:00 - Jeff gives his final advice to listeners who are struggling.

23:30 - Lee lets listeners know Converge is available to help. Contact Converge

Converge church planting leaders Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee are joined by special guest Caleb Smith to talk about his new role as Converge’s director of Church Planting Residency and Coaching.

1:15 Caleb talks about what church residencies are

2:00 Caleb discusses the differences between internships and residencies

3:00 Caleb shares about his ministry experience and how it has given him a passion for church residencies

5:15 Caleb discusses the reasons churches are interested in starting residencies

6:30 Caleb points out the things churches should think about before starting a residency progra

9:20 Caleb talks about the reasons church planters have become more receptive to internships and residencie

11:25 Caleb discusses how residencies give church planters a safe place to fail or make a mistake and learn from it

12:05 Caleb shares about Converge’s goal of establishing 100 church residencies over the next 10 years

13:20 Caleb says residency programs are for churches of every size and context

15:20 Caleb encourages people who are interested in learning more to contact him

16:25 Lee tells people they can find out more about the upcoming church residencies webinar at converge.org/webinars

17:00 Caleb talks about how the residents will be paid/raise their financial support

Church planting leaders Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee discuss how to maintain healthy rhythms in your schedule to stay healthy spiritually, emotionally and physically.

1:00 Danny says he did not take a time of rest when he first became a church planter

3:25 Danny and Lee talk about how they managed their time at church and at home

10:00 Danny talks about how he learned to say no to things

10:40 Danny and Lee discuss the hobbies they enjoyed as church planters

14:55 Lee talks about the importance of taking care of yourself physically

17:45 Lee and Danny share about how they spend their family vacations

21:10 Danny and Lee give their final advice on how you can maintain healthy rhythms in your early days of planting

Church planting leaders Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee discuss the thing that turns church planters’ vision into reality – the church budget.

1:23 Danny talks about how he approached the budget during the first few years of his church

2:30 Lee and Danny point out the things that need to be included in the budget

3:35 Lee says he coaches church planters to be a tithing church from day one, setting aside 10 percent of everything that comes in to give outside of the doors of the church

6:46 Lee and Danny discuss how much a church plant should put into savings

7:55 Danny explains red-yellow-green light types of budget items

9:55 Lee encourages church planters to list the weekly budget need in the church program so people know what it actually takes to make the church happen

14:20 Danny asks Lee if his church ever went over its budget for the year

16:05 Lee discusses to what level he shared details of the budget with the congregation

17:15 Lee and Danny explain how the budgeting process changed for their churches as they grew

Church planting leaders Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee discuss the often overlooked but critically important topic of church governance, including how and when to establish an elder board.

1:25 Danny advises church planters on the things they should be thinking about in the beginning of the church governance process

3:40 Danny says being part of a network is helpful

4:30 Danny says it’s important to remember that your model of governance will change over time and the challenges that will come with that

10:35 Lee says you have to pay attention to the language that you use – bylaws vs. constitution

11:01 Lee talks about the style of governance he used at his church plant and how it changed over time

16:10 Lee says church planters don’t need an elder board right away, should use an advisory team instead

18:10 Lee says to use terminology that makes sense to your church

20:00 Lee gives advice on what to look for when picking an elder and what the selection process looked like at his church

24:24 Lee and Danny discuss how they made sure people knew that the board was serving its purpose

27:32 Danny and Lee talk about what they’ve learned from their mistakes