Unfiltered: Real Church Planting Conversations

Church planting leaders Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee discuss God's calling on Lee to plant a church in Orlando in 2018. Lee shares his heart for the local church, how his prior experience will play a role in planting a new church, his fears going into the process and the role the church will play in training and launch more church planters.

00:55 Lee announces that he is planting a church in Orlando

01:42 Lee shares what his personal church planting process looked like, beginning from God's call to plant in 2004, through his planting experience in Arizona to becoming Converge's executive director of Church Planting and planting a church in Orlando in 2018

05:28 Lee discusses his calling to plant a church in Orlando

08:45 Lee talks about some of his fears in planting a church

09:16 Danny asks Lee how he will face the pressure that comes with the attention from being Converge's national church planting director and planting a church at the same time

11:18 Lee discusses the advantages he has due to his prior church planting experience

12:12 Lee talk about the opportunities of joining other churches to reach Orlando with the gospel

13:56 Lee discusses leveraging the church plant as a training center to train and launch more church planters

16:35 Lee shares how others can pray for him, his family and the church plant

Statistics show a large majority of people looking for a church will visit your website before they step foot in your church building. Marketing and communications executive Ryan Emenecker joins hosts and church planting leaders Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee to discuss how to create a website that will make people want to visit your church.

The following Converge partners were mentioned in this episode of Unfiltered: Real Church Planting Conversations:

Church Plant Media

Aware3

01:50 Ryan introduces some of the first things a pastor needs to think through

03:21 Danny and Ryan discuss their perspectives on the importance of narrowing your target audience when building a church website, who that target audience should be and what that audience needs from your website

07:13 Ryan and Danny talk about what you need to think about when considering your church website's URL address

10:42 Ryan discusses the "must-haves" of a church website and the most important thing to consider when building your website

12:05 Ryan talks about the importance of a solid, easy-to-use giving feature on your website

14:15 Ryan discusses the need to have useful, simple information on your website for regular attenders

16:02 Ryan and Danny talk about the importance of hosting sermons on your website and why people want to watch your sermons

17:05 Ryan discusses sermon audio/video hosting options

18:34 Ryan talks about how much it costs to build a church website

21:52 Ryan talks about the importance of mobile integration

24:15 Ryan discusses the importance of thinking through your content before you build your site, and how to use it as a springboard to building in-person relationships

Your pre-launch services set the table for your grand opening. Church planting leaders Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee discuss how you can create momentum for your church plant in the pre-launch phase.

1:01 - Danny explores the positives and negatives of three types of church launch services

3:28 - Lee talks about why he encourages church planters to not hold Sunday morning services until they hold a public grand opening

4:31 - Lee and Danny discuss their church plants' pre-launch services, their meetings prior to their grand opening and how volunteer teams were established

10:05 - Lee talks about how preview services work for church plants and the environment where they work best

11:46 - Danny and Lee discuss the importance and impact of sending launch team members to learn from other churches

14:33 - Lee and Danny talk about what NOT to do during the launch phase and the impact of making certain mistakes during this phase

16:40 - Lee and Danny discuss how to engage people who are not a good fit for the launch team but could be good in other roles

18:44 - Danny and Lee talk about how to find the right facility for your pre-launch services

22:30 - Danny and Lee talk about the importance of utilizing your team members and using the pre-lauch phase as a "tryout and practice" period

23:25 - Danny shares two of his biggest takeaways from his own pre-launch phase

23:57 - Danny and Lee talk about how to deal with people who attend services at one church and also attend services at your church plant. Is it ok for them to do that? Where do they give? What if youth ministry is a priority?

26:15 - Danny discusses the importance of challenging people vs. telling people what to do

A healthy launch team goes a long way in planting a healthy church. Church planting leaders Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee discuss the importance of a strong launch team when church planting and how to start and utilize your team.

1:15 - Lee and Danny discuss differences between "launch team" and "core team"

3:45 - Danny talks about his launch team experience, what worked and what didn't work

5:40 - Danny discusses the importance of having Christians and non-Christians on the launch team

7:26 - Danny shares ways to help people transition from another church to your launch team in a healthy way

9:24 - Lee shares four reasons why people leave a church, and why it's important for those reasons to not get in the way if serving on a church plant's launch team

10:25 - Danny and Lee talk about the need for a church planter to have a real relationship with other pastors in the community, even though established pastors might see you as a threat

11:37 - Lee discusses the need to have the right people on the launch team and protecting your church's DNA

13:53 - Lee talks about his launch team development and the timeline in relation to his church's launch

15:59 - Lee and Danny discuss why a church plant should have a minimum number of people in order to launch the church

18:44 - Lee and Danny discuss attrition rates on launch teams and why church planters lose launch team members

20:54 - Danny and Lee talk about what they wish they'd known earlier about sending and releasing people from a launch team

22:47 - Lee and Danny discuss how often his launch team met during the early phase of the church planting process and what the meetings looked like

Who will your church focus on reaching? Church planting leaders Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee discuss the importance of creating a niche for your church plant by targeting the audience you want to reach and share some thoughts on how to reach your target audience.

1:19 - Danny explains the importance and the biblical precedent of targeting an audience when planting a church

2:33 - Danny talks about how specific a target audience should be

3:45 - Lee discusses four groups of people - Atheists, truth seekers, practical Christians, self-feeders - and the reasons to NOT focus on all four groups

7:50 - Danny mentions the regional differences in targeting audiences

8:50 - Lee talks about the need for a church to reflect its community and having a sensitivity to the culture of the community

10:30 - Danny discusses the importance of being able to focus on specific groups while still being intentional about having a representation of all people who gather at your church

13:32 - Lee talks about the importance of being a student of the community in which you want to plant and knowing the need that God has called you to fulfill

15:00 - Lee discusses what part of a church plant will make a difference in its community

15:29 - Lee and Danny discuss practical examples of how targeting an audience impacts decision-making and strategy development

20:30 - Danny shares the downside of targeting an audience and what could happen if you're not careful

23:33 - Lee shares advice to help church planters create a niche and target the audience you want to reach

There are multiple ways to plant a church. Church planting leaders Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee discuss various models of church planting and how church planters can create momentum in planning by using the right model.

1:14 - Danny discusses the pioneering method of church planting and planting in a community where you have no local contacts

2:54 - Danny talks about the advantages and disadvantages of the pioneering model of church planting

4:22 - Danny talks about how a pioneer church planter can find little wins to stay motivated, and what an honest timeline for a church to start in a pioneering church planting situation would be

6:13 - Danny talks about the ratio of believers to non-believers at his church plant, and what it meant to the church's ministry

7:25 - Danny discusses ways for a pioneer church planter to make connections in a community

8:09 - Lee talks about the branching church planting method, in which a core group of people are sent out from an existing church to plant another church

9:00 - Lee talks about how his team decided who would join his church planting team, and how not everyone is cut out to join a church planting team

12:28 - Lee offers advice to a church planter using the branching model on how to guard the culture you want to create, and what could happen if you don't do that

13:33 - Lee talks about the skills and gifts that a branching church planter needs

14:45 - Danny and Lee explain the adopting model of church planting, in which a pre-existing core group wants to plant a church and brings in a church planter from the outside as a leader, and the challenges of the method

16:52 - Lee discusses the advantages of the parenting model of church planting, in which a group of churches come together to plant a church

19:00 - Danny talks about a possible negative ramification of the parenting model, and how planting churches can avoid it

20:21 - Lee and Danny talk about the missional community start model, in which a church plant begins with small groups our house churches

23:20 - Lee speaks about how multiple models can be used to honor God, reach people for Jesus and disciple believers

24:08 - Lee and Danny share the skills and gifts that would be most needed for a missional community church planter

25:11 - Lee shares the desire of church planting in the Converge movement

26:00 - Danny and Lee talk about the importance of models in the planning stage and the need to be flexible during the church planting process

Every church planter will face a personal, financial or leadership crisis, and it's likely they will face two or all three of them. Church planting leaders Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee discuss the ins and outs of facing crises and obstacles as a church planter. Lee and Danny are transparent about their own challenges and how the challenges affected them as leaders and in their personal and family lives.

1:02 - Lee tells his story of personal, financial, spiritual and leadership crises merging together

6:18 - Lee shares the challenges to his faith that came with physical struggles and grief

9:16 - Lee shares the Bible verse that helped him understand his struggles and the reason for them

10:12 - Lee talks about the financial toll that came along with the physical and spiritual pain that he suffered

11:22 - Lee shares the story of one of his church leaders turning against him, how he felt during that season and how he even considered stepping down

14:09 - Lee discusses the battles he faces in the future and his feelings toward God in the midst of those

15:00 - Lee shares the disciplines that helped him to release emotions and grow in deeper relationships with God and others

16:10 - Lee talks about how his church grew through his example and experiences, and the changes he needed to make to his own leadership style

18:49 - Lee shares advice on how to deal with struggles

19:48 - Danny tells his own story of facing challenges and pain as a pastor

25:30 - Danny talks about the loneliness that came with making a tough decision and facing

26:44 - Danny tells what he learned by facing a difficult challenge head on, and the effect it had on the church

28:35 - Lee talks about the challenges that come with being a leader, and the target that is put on a leader's back

28:57 - Danny and Lee share advice for a church planter facing a personal, financial or leadership crisis

What are the critical questions church planters face? Church planting leaders Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee continue their discussion from the last episode of Unfiltered, when they discussed three of those critical questions. In this episode, Lee and Danny tackle two more questions facing potential church planters: should you align with a tribe and what are the most difficult challenges facing a church planter?

1:35: Question 4: Will I have a tribe? Who should I pair up with, or should I go on my own?

2:17: Danny discusses the question of IF a church planter will align with a tribe, network or denomination.

3:35 The importance of aligning with a tribe and picking your tribe well

4:52 Danny and Lee discuss four factors that church planters should consider as they make an alignment choice.

8:04 The challenges of aligning with multiple tribes

10:09 Danny discusses some of the possible challenges that come with affiliating with multiple tribes or groups, and how to face those challenges

13:12 Danny and Lee discuss why they chose to plant with Converge, from financial backing to relational connections to coaching to the opportunity to serve and pour into the next generation

16:10 Lee and Danny discuss the importance of understanding expectations

16:35 Question 5: What will be the most difficult challenge?

17:00 Lee talks about three challenges every church planter will face

18:01 Danny discusses the leadership challenges involved in church planting

19:08 Lee talks about the need to recognize that there will be spiritual battles involved in church planting, and how they affect you as a leader

What are the critical questions that potential church planters face? Church planting leaders Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee discuss three of those questions, including how church planters get paid, how to transition into the church planter role and how church planting could affect the church planter's family.

1:11 - First question: How do I get paid?

4:40 - How long did it take Danny's and Lee's churches to become self-sustaining?

6:50 - Danny explains why he is passionate about raising financial support before planting a church

7:25 - Danny explains what to consider in establishing a pastor's salary package before launching a church plant

8:33 - Danny and Lee discuss specific metrics that have been successful in establishing a pastor's salary

11:07 - Lee and Danny talk about the challenge of health insurance and options to explore

14:19 - Second question: Now that I know I'm called to plant, how do I transition into that role?

15:43 - Danny and Lee talk about the importance of communication and clear expectations between a church planter and his current ministry employer during the transition

17:50 - Lee and Danny talk about how a church planter and his current church can address how to approach potential difficult situations together

22:59 - Question 3: How is this going to affect my family?

23:29 - Danny discusses how planting a church effected his marriage, and how things changed after they had children

24:38 - Lee talks about the important role his marriage played during his church planting experience

25:42 - Lee talks about the church planting experience for his young children and the importance of protecting his family and training them how to have key conversations

27:35 - Danny remembers how much fun his children had during the church planting experience

28:25 - Lee shares the most important advice he could give a church planter about family life

28:58 - Lee and Danny talk about the boundaries they put in place to guard his family and his physical and emotional health

[Recorded live at Exponential] Every church planter will face a personal, financial or leadership crisis, and it's likely they will face two or all three of them. Church planting leaders Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee discuss the ins and outs of facing crises and obstacles as a church planter. Lee and Danny are transparent about their own challenges and how the challenges affected them as leaders and in their personal and family lives.

1:33 - Lee shares about three types of crises that church planters face during a church plant: financial, personal and leadership

2:05 - Danny shares his story about a particular crisis that almost bankrupted his family

7:24 - Lee discusses the challenges to his faith that took place two years into his church plant

7:56 - Lee tells his story of personal, financial and leadership crisis

9:01 - Lee discusses the difficulties with physical crisis as a pastor

10:00 - Lee shares about the time with God that reset his path of ministry

10:50 - Lee talks about the major crisis that transformed his ministry, marriage and life

14:18 - Lee addresses learning how to suffer well

16:10 - Danny and Lee dialogue about what it was like preaching from a wheelchair

18:45 - Danny shares his experience in learning through empathy and suffering

21:00 - Lee encourages us to be transparent as a leader

22:50 - Q&A: "Do you guys ever miss planting or pastoring now that you are in a leadership role with Converge?"

25:10 - Q&A: "Can you give an example of what you saw in your church from suffering and being transparent?"

28:05 - Q&A: "How do you balance the boundaries of pain in ministry with your spouse?"

31:23 - Lee finishes the podcast with his emotional challenge of dealing with grief