4 of Top 10 Growth Areas Makes Mission Planting Vital for Texas

The U.S. Census Bureau recently released data on the 10 metro-areas in the U.S. with the greatest population growth in the last one year period. Four of the ten are in Texas. DFW-Arlington at #1 grew by 162,250 people. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown at #4 grew by 120,544. Austin-Round Rock at #8 grew by 65,880 and San Antonio at #10 grew by 53,925. Austin-Round Rock is also in the 10 ten in rate of growth at 4.3%.
That totals 402,599 and does not include the growth happening elsewhere in Texas. That growth is not an anomaly but is the norm for our state!

The Texas District has set a goal that through its congregations, 200 new churches would start by 2017. Some might think this goal overly ambitious, but when compared with the growth of our state, it looks modest.

Whether these statistics are merely interesting facts or create an urgency to share the Good News of Jesus personally and have a stake in planting new churches depends on your view of the church. If the church exists merely to care for those already in God's flock, the numbers don't mean much. If, however, you believe that the church is a living organism that does not exist only for the benefit of its members, the numbers mean much more.

In state where only 17% of the population worships regularly, many of those 400,000+ new residents don't know Jesus well. In fact, for many, no one has ever even told them that Jesus loves them and has paid the price to buy them back from sin, death and the devil.

Every pastor, church worker and member needs to be asking "What is my stake in planting new churches that reach new people?" It is not a question for some future time but for right now!
1 Corinthians 7:29, Paul said "What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short." We are surely in those "short times" The time to begin is today.

Timing Makes all the Difference!

Phil Stevenson, who will be the keynote speaker at our Texas District LCMSM2C Partner's Retreat, May 6-8 wrote the following about timing in his weekly blog "Expanding Wave", April 2, 2008. His article has great questions which will help you as you plan to live missionally.

Timing makes all the difference. Being in the right place at the right time can be the difference in an opportunity taken or an opportunity missed. A good idea can go unattended if given at the wrong time. In football the link between a completion and an incompletion is often the result of the timing between the quarterback and the receiver.
In II Chronicles 2:1 we read, “Solomon now decided that that the time had come….” This had to do with the building of the temple. David had wanted to build it. David had a wonderful dream, but the timing was not right. This reminds us that the distance between the dream given and the dream fulfilled can vary.
It was 1989 that God birthed in me the vision to participate in a multiplication movement through churches planting churches. It was not until 1996 I had the privilege to lead my church in planting a new congregation. It was six years between the birth of the dream and the implementation of the dream. During those six years I cultivated the dream through education (reading, listening, attending seminars, talking to others, etc…), prayer and scribbling down ideas. I discovered this key principle: Make preparations and wait for God’s timing!

Paul reminds us in Galatians 5:25, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Keeping in step with God’s leading is critical in timing A right idea, even if it is God-given, is limited when delivered at the wrong time. Some have said it this way:

• The wrong idea given at the right time results in ineffectiveness
• The wrong idea given at the wrong time results in failure
• The right idea given at the wrong time results in resistance
• The right idea given at the right time results in success

Since timing is such a critical element when do you know, as a leader, when it is right? When is it the right time to rally your congregation to a new mountain top? When is it the right time to lead a congregation in daughtering a new congregation? When is it the right time to build? Relocate? Begin a new ministry? Start another campus? Implement small groups? Plant a church? Go to multiple services? Move to a new ministry? This is only a sampling of “right time” questions leaders wrestle with.
To the question of timing, I offer more questions. Navigating through these will provide you some guidance as to “when.”
• How you given it enough thought?
• Have you talked to the right people?
• What is the fallout of the decision?
• What is the benefit of the decision?
• What is your leadership “pain” threshold?
• Is it right, or just popular?
• Is it right, even if unpopular?
• Is there a stirring among the people?
• Are you willing and able to implement the decision?
• What does your gut tell you?
• What are you hearing from God?

Last thought: Most leaders miss the right time more to an unwillingness to decide than deciding too early.Who will applaud the decision? Who will boo?

Revitalized for Missional Outreach

Ed Stetzer, in the book Breaking the Missional Code spends some time focusing on what existing churches need to do to really develop an external mission focus. I talk to pastors and leaders on a regular basis who say "we need revitalization" and Stetzer puts his finger on one of the key factors for this to happen. He says:

"Most churches are not breaking through - but they can. Churches that need revitalization need to ask why they are stagnant in the first place. It is amazing but consistent - churches that need to grow think they can do it without change! They think they can break the code by doing the same things they have always done. the problem is, if they keep doing things the same way, they will have the same results.

Instead, most churches need to be led to embrace healthy change if they are going to see different results. . . Change is often needed to be more effective. However, people resist change. But if more people can see that change will produce growth, they are often more open to changing.

Christians love seeing people come to Christ - they just forget that joy. Too frequently, they have chosen their traditions over their children. They have chosen their comfort over their effectiveness. they are part of that 89% of churches not experiencing healthy growth."

The challenge of course is what things might be changed for the sake of the Gospel and what things must not change. One of our congregations consistently uses the phrase "Eternity matters most!" By that they mean that they will do anything for the sake of sharing Jesus with people in their community so that they might be God's instruments in changing eternity for someone.

How are you doing with change? What would you be willing to change? What must never change?

Not Letting "Handicaps" Keep Us From Being Missional

As some of you might know, my wife Becky, Director of Youth and Discipleship at Faith, Georgetown, fell while leading a senior high youth retreat on January 5th of this year. The result of her fall was a left ankle with multiple fractures and a right foot with a broken metatarsal bone. The ankle injury required a delicate surgical procedure to rearrange all the bone fragments with a titanium plate and 5 screws put in place to hold it all together. Becky's orthopedic surgeon shares a good prognosis, but a fairly extended healing process of one year. Many well meaning people have said, "Why don't you just take it easy? You deserve a rest..." and other well-meaning statements of encouragement.

Becky could have filed for disability, and focused all her attention on her own temporary "handicap" and everyone would have understood. But...that's just not how Becky views life and ministry. The day of her surgery she was in the office taking care of phone calls and making arrangements for classes and ministries she is responsible for. She did take off the day after surgery, but 48 hours later she was back for as many hours as she could stand without her foot swelling like a balloon. Becky sees the urgency of her mission as Christ's servant as just too important to let a wheel chair and two broken feet get in the way. Its not that she feels the church couldn't live without her; instead, as long as God gives her strength, she wants to be about his mission. If she waited to heal and walk with her own two feet, it would be 3 months or longer before she would be back in the game.

How about your church? What "handicaps" do people sometimes use for not considering church planting, evangelizing, or supporting Texas District or local missions. Congregations say things like "once we can afford our new staff person...or once we get our new Family Life Center paid for...or once we get past some issues of disagreement then we will become missional."

If we allow our congregational "handicaps" to be the excuse for not carrying out the Great Commission, we can always find a reason not to plant a church or share Christ with our community. If we wait until all is perfect in our congregations, we will always find some "broken ankle" that will keep us from serving. What "handicaps" do you want the Holy Spirit to help your church to overcome?