What I learned about Church Planting on Sunday...

My buddy Bill invited me to their 2 year anniversary service in Hartford, CT. It was great! He and I co-taught the message (which is always fun) on the subject of why a person should go to church. Bill is a good communicator, a sharp leader, and a great Pastor. He's got a good group of leaders around him. There's no limit to what God can do here.

It made me really think about church planting and guys who go to areas that are ridiculously saturated with churches. Do you know there are areas where there are zero churches reaching a younger generation? Yet I keep hearing about planters going to areas where there's already a church just like the one they're going to plant.

Seriously, do you want it to be easy, or do you want to make an eternal difference for the kingdom? When we came to Miami, there was no one doing what we were doing. The same is true for Bill. Bill's church is the only non-traditional church within 50 miles.

If you're going to plant, don't go where everyone goes (you know the places I'm talking about - I don't have to list them). Be different and go where you're really needed.

Comments

[paul]

Bob,

Thanks for putting it out there!

[Jonathan Herron]

Preach it, brotha!

[ca]

you guys co-taught......... how'd that work? can ya post the mp3? I'd like to hear that, seriously.

bill,
nice chapel

[Account Deleted]

bob,

would you give me a list of the places you feel need to be planted and a brief list of those you feel are over infested and reasoning. i am genuinely interested in your opinions on this. thanks in advance

[bobiswhat]

I'm not Bob, but I could give you a list. New England, Iowa, Either Dakota, Nebraska, rural parts of practically any state, Marin County, CA - no name a few. Essentially, Bob is referring to Southern California and Metropolitan areas of Florida, Washington and Texas. I could be wrong, but those seem to be heavily "modern-churched" areas.

[Bob Franquiz]

Ca - Bill has the message posted on his site...www.calvaryhartford.com

Chad - Pretty good list! You might be right about some areas of FL, but others need churches badly. I know that Miami needs churches that want to speak to a younger generation. We have the Spanish-speaking senior citizen crowd covered. There's a church on every corner in Miami for that group.

[Mark Rodriguez]

did you say ATL... ;-)

[Account Deleted]

thoughts on new england? nyc included or just other areas?

[Bill LaMorey]

Eric,

New England is ripe with need and opportunity. I would add NY and the entire northeast part of the U.S. In the last decades this area has been a graveyard for church-planters, but God is up to something here. There is a lot of talk of 1 3rd Great Awakening. The 1st 2 started in New England, I wonder about the 3rd.
I hope church planters will really consider coming here...we need you!
I think I might pull my hair out if I hear of one more guy who is called to conquer Atlanta for Christ!!! My friend moved there and got like 14 different church mailers in 3 months. I got zero mailers or invitations to church in 2.5 years where I am...except the one we sent out.

[Sean L]

I actually heard recently that three of the least church states are Cali, Oregon and Wash. Don't know if its true...but I was suprised on Cali.
There's two ways to look at the location of a plant.
1. Going where there's little or nothing
2. Going where the people are going

#1 sounds sexier than #2, but in the major metropolitan areas (incl the burbs) we are(still) not planting enough solid churches. We need somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-15 churches per 10k people and in some areas we're way, way, way behind that!

I say, go where you're called; if its somewhere where there's nothing - great and if its where there's something already, go reach those who aren't being reached.

[ca]

Sean L,
Where did ya' get those stats? Interesting. What I've found about the NW, particularly in less populated areas, is there are many many churches, most are small. The ground there is very, very rocky. Yes, there are exceptions there, but for the most part it is a tough place.

Sean, I would agree with you; go where you're called. Reach those who are not being reached.

[Sean L]

ca -
the most unchurched stuff - Rick Warren's podcast

the ratio of church to pop - acts29, and another church planting guru...can't remember who.

where are you located in the nw...let's chat further.

[Michael S. Foster]

Just because an area is heavily churched doesn't mean it has churches that are preaching a Christ-centered gospel. I don't think there is an area in this country that couldn't use another gospel-centered Bible-preaching church. The Midwest may be more outwardly Christian than the coasts but make no mistake it is just as inwardly corrupt and in need of Christ. Peter to the Jews, Paul to Gentiles. All need the gospel.