Salt Lake City – Day 2

When my kids were small, they had a toy that would play the song “It’s a Small World After All.” The song is used by Disney to talk about a child’s world of small things. We as adults use the song a bit differently. We are usually referring to the close connections we find we have with others, or seeing someone we did not expect to see. For me the latter has come to be very real while here in Snowbird. I have met the brother of a pastor friend of mine in Pittsburgh and another pastor who now lives in Michigan but used to serve in a church five miles from my previous church. It is a indeed a small world and I am not talking technology.

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This morning we had our opening plenary session. The speaker was Jim Griffith. He is in his late 50s and has planted 5 or 6 churches. He now serves as a coach for New Church Developments and judicatories that are assisting in planting churches. His talk this morning was the Ten Most Common Mistakes New Church Starts Make. It is copyrighted so give him credit for most of this. I will not mention all ten mistakes, for some did not really apply to me or Fountain Park. But three were very applicable.

#1 Pursuing the Great Commission while neglecting the Greatest Commandment.

This is no doubt a very real danger for folks like me. His joke was that the AAA on his bumper sticker is not an auto club, it is a personality type. I could really identify with that. Here is a key question he asked, “Am I a church planter trying to love God or a lover of God trying to plant a church?” This really gets to the core of the issue. I must as a pastor of a new church be sure that I love God with all my heart, soul, mind and body first. If not, nothing else will matter.

#2 Failure to take Opposition Seriously

Prayer and Fasting cannot be a phase in the life of a church, it must be a lifestyle. There are four kinds of opposition he mentioned.

Tribal Opposition – This is opposition from other pastors and churches. I intend to write about this in depth in the future as it relates to my church, but it is very real in my life right now. I must admit I want to take the guys outside and show them how we handled this stuff where I grew up in North Carolina.

Cultural Opposition – Some areas will not be glad a church is there and growing. They are not happy to see land come off the tax roles.

Relational Opposition – Some people in churches get very close and then turn on you. Get ready for this will happen. This is opposition you never recover from, and you never should. We are to be about relationships, so this will happen and it will hurt.

Spiritual Opposition – We are not battling the people, local municipalities, other churches or pastors. This is not a flesh and blood conflict. It does not matter whose lips are moving, this is spiritual warfare. Do not expect the enemy to just say “Come on in!”

#3 Failure of a Young Church to Act their Age

Jim sees this as the number 2 human reason new churches fail. (#1 is Premature Launch.) We should not try to look and act older than we are. Babies do not go to school. There is behavior for babies that is normal. To dress them up as adults, does not make them an adult. There are some ministries that we are not going to be able to provide. Do not pretend we can. Do not promise and not come through. This violates trust. Instead simply say, “I am sorry but we are unable to provide this at this time.”

Now on to other work, then hit the sack for tonight and get ready for day 3.