Part-3: Planting is not easy, but still excellent

Here is part-3 of a mini-series on over-coming false thinking that planting a new church gets easier after the launch and a few years of developing.  Please consider reading blogs 1-and-2 on this topic to pick-up the momentum from some of my own stories of how planting is not easy, but still excellent!

Story-3: Be-trayed, yet Be-loved.
A key bit of advice from my own planting coach was to not officially name anyone to a leadership title before year-3.  That way, people could prove in good time they were participating as a "it's all about the kingdom cause" and not as a "it's all about the them cause."  My coach's advice was godly.

Right from the start we had one family that seemed to be stellar in faith, but the father was always asking when we were going to have a "council" because he would like to serve on it.  At year-3, I named him to the first "vision team."  A mere one month later, he pulled his first power play, gathering-up a couple other families and insisting that we change our course of planting action--- including for me to fire a key staff person whom I loved having on board.

The new vision team member got quite angry when I said, "Sorry, but that's not the best course of action for anyone," so he and his wife began spreading some simple lies to deceive enough folks to leave our church plant--- right at the very time our 3-year financial covenant with our mother church was wrapping-up!  Over 60 people left our plant with their thousands of dollars of offerings.  It was like watching a bunch of Ben Franklin's with wings attached, all flying-out the window at the same time!

Spiritual warfare?  Of course.  You can expect such with a new church plant.  Why do you suppose Satan had babies 2-years and under killed around baby Moses and then again around baby Jesus?  Because both babies would be great threats to darkness if allowed to grow up!  It's the same with baby church plants that are Bible-based and Holy Spirit led to transform cities!  Satan wants them out of the picture because they are a direct threat to his plans.

Planting a church is not easy, but still excellent!

By God's instructions (literally, God told me to hold tight before man the vision HE gave me) our fledgling church plant over-came the above adversity.  Our leaders went deeper into prayer and the Word.  We repented and re-focused on God's vision for us to be a church of the city.  In less than 3-months, our growing worship numbers not only made up for the loss of the departed, but surpassed our previous attendance.  Likewise, our financial giving not only made up for the earlier loss, but surpassed as well.  Surpassed!  Through it all, our congregation witnessed our collective obedience of trusting in the Lord and how He would guide our path.  We lived and witnessed Proverbs 3:5-6.

Indeed, planting a church is not easy, but still excellent!

Next week, I'll wrap-up this mini-series with a couple more stories of God's goodness in the mist of a church plant seeking to be transformational for the city--- even when things get tough.  My hope is that my experiences will inspire you to keep the faith and keeping planting.