The importance of rest in church planting
I wanted to reach people. I wanted to grow the church. I wanted to make an impact. But I didn't recognize what I was doing.
Resources for Emotional Health
Every good church leader has this quality
There’s one characteristic in a church leader that’s invaluable to the church but isn’t easily quantified.
Replant Cohort Helps to Revitalize Pastors and Churches
Alpharetta, Ga. — For three years, the North American Mission Board’s Mark Clifton and Brian Croft …
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Facing stress as a pastor and helping others do the same
By Tony Rose In proper amounts, stress is necessary for life. Undue stress, however, can undo …
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5 ways to generate vision and passion for church planting
My wife and I are church planters in Windsor, Ontario, Canada — directly across the river …
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Church planting as spiritual fathering
“For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I …
You don’t have to be a pastor to be part of church planting
By Ryan Paterson Each of us had been involved in ministry for a number of years …
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Spreading good news through an ice truck
God has no problem changing our plans. Like many churches, Redemption Road Church in Phoenix, Arizona, …
Phoenix church rediscovers the power of gratitude
“Thank you.” When you’ve had weeks of long hours and sleepless nights, these two simple words …
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3 Essential leadership qualities amid hurt and turmoil
By Dhati Lewis The foreseeable future of church planting seems uncertain. We don’t know or have …
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3 Myths we believe about our grief
By Dhati Lewis The past few weeks have been brutal. Our communities across the nation are …
Portland church serves as port-a-potty pitstop for homeless people
“Wash your hands” is the emphatic message we’ve all heard since the infamous COVID-19 virus forced …
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Pastor, you need to process your grief too
Last week was a hard week. It began with the public release of a cell phone …
How to plant your church without losing your spouse: Pay attention
If we are discussing “How to plant your church without losing your spouse,” the most significant …
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Brotherhood success stories: Ryan Rice
I never wanted to move back to New Orleans. It was truly a supernatural move of …
Brotherhood success stories: How brotherhood is accomplished
A significant part of the brotherhood I have experienced was an inherited grace. I take no …
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9 characteristics of a church planter: Emotional and spiritual health
Church planting is a not a young man’s sport, nor an old man’s sport. It’s a healthy man’s …
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The Emotionally Healthy Planter: Fears
Perfect love casts out fear (1 Jn 4:18). The promise presupposes certain realities. First, fear is …
The Emotionally Healthy Planter: Family
Where’d that come from? We’ve probably all asked this question from time to time. Something happens …
Why adoption is supposed to be hard: Part 3
What we are finding is that there is a special joy that comes from sharing in …
Why adoption is supposed to be hard: Part 2
As hard as this process has been so far—here is what we are learning, slowly and …
Why adoption is supposed to be hard: Part 1
This series of posts was originally written in November 2016. We have been home from China …
The emotionally healthy planter: Discouragement and 4 ways to combat it
The sun doesn’t shine much in Portland, but on this day the clouds surrendered and the …
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The Emotionally healthy planter: Fear and 3 ways to combat it
Church planting is, in part, fueled by faith—expressed in prayer, godly risk-taking and faithful labor. And …
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The Emotionally Healthy Planter: Anger
We don’t simply need to plant more churches, we need to plant healthy churches. A healthy …
Developing brotherhood in your city: Why and how it’s successful
Ninja strike teams When I was a kid, we used to jump all over the playground …
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Developing brotherhood in your city: Why you need it
Not Karate All over the world, people are being trained in the martial arts. That said, …
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The planter as generalist: Counseling
Anyone that has ever attempted to start a business quickly learned this truth: There is a …
Friendship and the pastor’s wife: In friendship, resist the discomfort of receiving
On my first Sunday as a pastor’s wife, a college girl approached me with a question …
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How to keep a healthy perspective as a pastor’s wife
I was standing at the door after church, talking with folks, when a woman who’d been …
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How to encourage your wife while planting a church
Regardless of where you are in your church planting journey, chances are you know how essential …
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Where is church planting in the Bible?
The majority of Christians I meet like the idea of church planting conceptually but would never …
Free guide: How to build a successful marriage
The majority of Christians I meet like the idea of church planting conceptually but would never …
The Bible speaks about the reality of a conflict we face as believers, and we popularly …
Another year brings with it the history of story after story of pastors who are removed …
How to navigate through dark days
The dark days we experience as pastors bring many difficulties. But maybe one of the most …
Navigating dark days: Spiritual sickness
I’m not exactly sure how I got there. I assume there were numerous factors that caused …
How to find freedom from regret
Regret is as deadly as worry. One confronts an unknown future, the other an unfortunate past. …
Navigating dark days: Dark places
“The iron bolt which so mysteriously fastens the door of hope and holds our spirits in …
Several years ago, I was asked to share with a group of missionaries in Chili about …
We all have spiritual heroes. We admire these leaders God has placed in our path, even …
Christians understand the necessity of burden-bearing relationships. We know that we are broken, sinful men and …
Brotherhood: Giving encouragement
All ministry is hard and church planting is typically harder. Obstacles abound within the church planting …
For as long as I can remember, I’ve struggled with approval. The question, “What do people …
How to manage power as a church planter
You will be your own boss. Starting a church is like starting a business. In the …
People with a natural passion and ability to keep plants alive are said to have a …
The Planter’s Wife in Community: Challenges
Odds are, when your wife joined you on the journey of church planting, she left her …
The Planter’s Wife in Community: Intentionality and Cultivation
Community requires intentionality and cultivation Think of something that happens quickly. A roller coaster ride. A …
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The Planter’s Wife in Community: Openness and Vulnerability
For the first eight years of our ministry at an established church, I didn’t have a …
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The Planter’s Wife in Community
She Needs Community “Lonely and isolated” are words that many ministry leaders, male and female, use …
The Planter in Community: Defer Leadership
A few years back I attended a missions conference and struck up a conversation with a …
The Planter in Community: No Masks Allowed
I was in the middle of small group when I got the barrage of text messages. …
The Pastor in Community: You Need It
I remember sitting at a conference for a particular church planting network. We had reached the …
An Important Question to Ask Ourselves
What is your greatest insecurity? It’s a good question to ask yourself, but it’s not so …
The importance of prioritizing as a church planter
This summer I stood in front of a room full of church planting wives and took …
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Why spousal support from pastors is important
One of the more pleasant surprises of this blog the past few years is the opportunity …
On the playground of spiritual disciplines fasting gets picked last, and sometimes not at all if …
You don’t have to be or live in the city in order to understand the concept …
There’s something about becoming a professional Christian (aka pastor, church planter, missionary, etc…) that makes the …
Every first Sunday of the month, as a church, we take communion together. Before we take …
Our culture is sick with busyness and constant connectedness. Almost everyone seems exhausted just trying to …
Let’s just put this reality on the table: many church leaders struggle with prayer. We know …
Living in the Word: Bible Intake for Church Planters I was a new believer, and my …
Abide: Introduction to John 15:5
Imagine you are listening to a sermon and the preacher asks “How many of you truly …
Stories of Doubt: Kent Bateman
Stories of doubt from an apprentices’ perspective Send Network: Tell us about the church you are …
Send Network: Tell us about your church plant and when you all started meeting. Andy Hall:Redemption …
Stories of Doubt – Jeff Phillips
At the immense risk of sounding negative, this reality is true when it comes to church …
Putting God first: Leading my family
The heresy of the evangelical order A divine order has become almost sacrosanct in evangelical subculture; …
Putting God first: Leading myself
The most difficult person that you will ever have to lead is yourself. You are a …
Most of us are safe and we like to stay that way within the confines of …
The following blog is an excerpt from Paul David Tripp’s regular blog which can be found …
The following blog is an excerpt from Paul David Tripp’s regular blog which can be found …
Jonah 3:1 – God’s grace gives us a fresh start
The following blog is an excerpt from Paul David Tripp’s regular blog which can be found …
Counseling tools: Recoverig from addiction
The Darkness Runs Deep I’ve done recovery ministry for six years, and it didn’t take long for …
Radically Unprepared I was in the 10th grade when I had my first real brush with …
Porn wreaks havoc on every church. Some people cower in shame and fear, hoping that they …
How to stay healthy in the ministry
A few years ago I felt the itch to do something I had never done before. …
Of witness and fitness When planting a church, fitness doesn’t tend to show up on the …
Planting healthy: The gift of rest
The Lord gives good gifts. Few people would likely disagree with this claim. He gives love, …
It has been said that pride is the original and underlying issue for any sin—a willful …