The DNA of World-Changing Church Planters

This past week, I had the privilege of spending 6-7 hours a day training forty potential church planters at the Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. These future world-changers represent four countries and hope to plant churches and church planting movements in at least nine countries around the world.

 

We all have the DNA of Champions

When we are born again, we get a new DNA. God calls it a divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). In Christ, we are more than conquerors (Rom. 8:37) Jesus died to give all of us the DNA of world-changers and history-makers. “Christ in us” gives us the potential to be walking revivals wherever we go. If our new churches are not changing history, could it be that the planters are not fully living out their God-given DNA?

ACTS

The primary textbook for our course is the New Testament book of Acts. Acts is the story of the birth of the first church in the history of planet earth. It is the exhilarating tale of the church on fire; the church that God had in mind. It is the account of a group of imperfect people turning the world upside down.

Acts describes the church as it should be: an unstoppable force created to change the world. It is the story of the church as a tiny acorn becoming a mighty oak and the church as a spiritual oasis in the desert wasteland of moral bankruptcy and cultural relativism.

From one church, Christianity spread all over the earth. By the end of the first century, the first church in history grew from people gathered to pray to one million people globally! Think of that, from 120 to 1 million in seventy years. 

They made such a difference that their critics and persecutors claimed that they had “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6)!

Today, too many churches are merely sustaining and maintaining. They are retreating instead of advancing the gospel through their city and around the world. What if an army of disciples decided to model their lives after the book of Acts and gave their lives to advance the Kingdom of God to birth church planting movements? No doubt we would change the world.

 

THE DNA OF THE PLANTERS WILL BECOME THE DNA OF THE CHURCH PLANT

The lived out DNA of the church planter will become the DNA of the church. If church planters are living out their DNA as world-changers, the churches they plant will change the world. This is what happened in the book of Acts. 

Be encouraged, the characteristics of the successful planters in the book of Acts are more about character traits and habits than about personality type, academic achievement, or spiritual gifts.  The characteristics of the successful planters in the book of Acts serve as templates for evaluation for aspiring world-changers.

Critical Characteristics of world-changing Church Planters 

1.    They Were people of prayer (Acts 1:13-14; 3:1;4: 25-31;6:4).

Early church leaders prayed three times daily and fasted two days a week. They prayed until they were endued with power from on high. They build a prayer culture in their churches and lived in an atmosphere of revival and the super-natural. I am convinced that if we want the impact they had, we need to do what they did: become people actively reliant on the Lord in prayer.

2.    They were intentional evangelists (Acts 2:14-40; 3:17-20; 4:31; 8:40; 11:19; 13:5,32-39;14:1,15,21; 17:1-4).

Wherever they went they shared the gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and lived the gospel of the kingdom of God. They shared the gospel to large crowds and individuals. On top of that, they contagiously trained their people to share the gospel (Acts 8:1, 4) so they were capable of taking the gospel to the world and starting world-changing churches (Acts 11:19)!

 

3.    They discipled people in the Word (Acts 2:41; 11:26; 18:11; 20:8-10).

They were not only prayer warriors and evangelists, they were disciple-makers. They poured the words of Jesus (Matthew 28:20) into those who came to know Christ. They helped their converts bring their lives under the discipline of the Word of God. 
 

4. They WERE risk-takers (Acts 15:25-26).

It is impossible to please God without faith and there is no faith without risk. Barnabas and Paul were described as men who risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. These men knew how to hear from God and were committed to obeying God’s commands no matter what. It is never convenient, easy, or comfortable to plant a church. It is never the safe, secure thing to do. But it must be done if we hope to change the world.

5. They refused to quit (Acts 4:18-29).

Church planting is not for babies, cowards, or the faint of heart. It is incredibly hard work. It is spiritually exhausting. The enemy attacks us. People disappoint us. Seemingly nothing comes easy. But we can’t quit.

No matter how difficult it got, the first century world-changers would not quit. Even when threatened, they refused to back-up or back-off preaching Jesus. Instead of asking for a lessening of persecution they asked for an increase of boldness!

6. They sacrificed for the cause (Acts 4:36-37; 1 Corinthians 9:11-18).

Church planting is costly. It costs time, energy and money. It takes security and safety. But for world-changing church planters, the ministry was not a career but a calling. None of them got rich as church planters. Paul and other church planters were bi-vocational by working outside jobs or were supported fulltime as missionaries. 

If we want what they had – a different world- we must do what they did: pray, evangelize, train, take risks, refuse to quit, and sacrifice. 

One day, it will be worth it!

Militant Mercy: William Booth & the Salvation Army

In the late 1800s in the squalor in the ghettoes of east London, William Booth (1829 –1912) literally raised an army, a “salvation army” of spiritual soldiers. He was a man of immense compassion and courage. He and his followers ministered to the material needs of the poor masses of London and made disciples. His main converts were alcoholics, morphine addicts, prostitutes and other “undesirables” unwelcome into polite Christian society.

 

Evangelism and Social Justice

The primary methods used by Booth were street preaching, personal evangelism and practical philanthropy. He preached wherever people would listen including saloons, stables, theatre stages, and circus tents. But his specialty was open air meetings and street corners.Unlike anyone since Jesus, William Booth combined evangelism and social justice. He started soup kitchens to feed the poor and opened shelters for the homeless. He developed job training for immigrants. He wrote a bestselling book on how to combat poverty by reform (Darkest England and the Way Out).

Passion for Souls, Compassion for the Lost and the Least

What fueled this mighty mercy movement of justice, evangelism, and discipleship? It was Booth’s flaming passion for winning the lost. In a campaign to see 100,000 souls won to Christ, Booth pleaded with his troops, “Go for souls. Go straight for souls, and go for the worst.”

When his eldest son, Bramwell, was only 13 years old, Booth took him along as he went to preach in a bar late on a Sunday evening. Pointing at the huge crowd, William told his son, “These are the people I want you to live and labor for.”

Courageous Warriors

I love Booth’s fiery passion and militant mindset to cooperate with Jesus in building a church that would kick in the gates of hell. He said,

“We are not sent to minister to a congregation and be content if we keep things going. We are sent to make war and to stop short of nothing but the subjugation of the world to the sway of the Lord Jesus.“

After a few years, his “Hallelujah Army” as they were being called because of their aggressive, courageous approach and military motif, had ten fulltime workers. By 1878 they had grown to 42 fulltime evangelists and 1,000 volunteers. That year they also officially adopted the name, “Salvation Army.” Within twenty-five years, his movement spread to nineteen countries including the U.S., Argentina, Germany, Jamaica, Australia, and Norway. During his lifetime, the Army had outposts in 58 countries and colonies. His movement eventually spread all over the world and is found today in over 100 countries.He and his ministry partners were faced with intense persecution and frequent physical attacks. For example, in 1889 at least 669 of his co-workers were assaulted, including 251 women. Some were killed.

The Power of Prayer

Often Booth held all-night prayer meetings before he preached. As a result, people would flood the altars. It was said, “The power of God was wonderfully manifest in the meetings, people were frequently struck down, overwhelmed with a sense of the presence and power of God.”He taught his troops to “Work as if everything depended upon your work and pray as if everything depended upon your prayer.” When salvations were slow to come, he encouraged his troops to “try tears” in conjunction with their prayers.

Hard Work, Long Days

Booth, his family, and co-laborers did not merely talk about serving and evangelizing the lost. They were tireless workers. For example, author David Bennett followed Booth on a typical Sunday. After personal devotions, the day started with a 7 a.m. corporate prayer meeting. Following prayer, they served breakfast to the poor from 8 until 9.  After this came an early morning worship service held both in a large open hall and in the open air.  Next, another prayer meeting followed by a much larger morning worship service.Then they ate bag lunches in the hall before yet another worship service was held in the early afternoon followed by feeding afternoon tea to the poor. Then another prayer meeting was held, followed by another outdoor worship service.  This service was interrupted by a near riot caused by a gang, during which Booth and his crew were pelted with stones.The evening service was attended by 1,000 drunks, prostitutes, vagrants, and criminals. Many came to Christ for repentance and salvation. This was followed by a final prayer meeting closing the day after 15 hours of ministry!

The Secret of His Success

At the end of his life, Booth was asked the secret of his success. He replied,

“I will tell you the secret. God has had all of me… from the day that I got the poor of London on my heart and caught a vision of all Jesus could do with them, on that day, I made up my mind that God would have all of William Booth there was…God has had all the adoration of my heart, all the power of my will, and all the influence of my life.”Booth gave his life to reach the least of the least. At his death, approximately 100,000 mourners marched by to pay tribute. 

Jesus Died to Make You Dangerous

Jesus did not die to make you nice. He did not die to make you just a better person. Jesus died to make you dangerous…dangerous to the kingdom of darkness. Let me explain.

2,000 years ago, Jesus and His disciples were standing at one of the spiritually darkest places on the planet, the Gates of Hell in Ceasarea Philippi. This area was known as the Gates of Hell because there was a cliff with a giant crack in it and the followers of Pan believed THIS was the place where the spirits from Hell would come and go from earth. Pan was a demonic Greek god – the goat god. Therefore, the crack was called the Gates of Hell. They built a temple for Pan there and a court next to it where people all over the world would come to engage in sexual acts with goats during the Pan worship festivals.

As good Jewish boys, the disciples would never have gone to this place before. It’s twenty-six miles from Galilee, where Jesus and his disciples were from. Jesus used this setting as a graphic illustration. So at this dark, demonic, perverted place, Jesus introduces the word “church’ for the very first time in any of His teachings.

I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18 (ESV)

 
The Gates of Hell was not only a literal place on the earth, it also is a literal place under the earth which is the abode of the devil.  Hell [from the Greek word Hades]. It is used to describe the lower regions, the realm of the dead; the grave, death, hell, the infernal regions. It describes a dark and dismal place in the very depths of the earth, the common receptacle of disembodied spirits. Hades, or Hell, is the flaming internal region where God is absent.

 

What Jesus was promising His disciples was that the church He builds would be able to kick down the spiritual gates of Hell and rescue captives from darkness. Jesus died to make you a gate-kicker! Jesus did not die to make you nice. Jesus died to make you dangerous!
 
After all, that was His mission. In His very first sermon, He proclaimed:
 

“The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed…” Luke 4:18

 
If Jesus’ mission was kicking down the gates of Hell and rescuing captives, that is to be our mission.
 

Jesus said to them again, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” John 20:21

 
Paul and Silas were gate-kickers. In Thessalonica a riotous mob cried out, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too … They are all acting contrary to Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king—Jesus!” (Acts 17:6-7)
 
C.T Studd left everything to serve as missionary in China, then India, and later left his family to serve in Africa, He was a true gate-kicker. He said:

“Some wish to live within the sound of Church or Chapel bell; I want to run a Rescue Shop within a yard of hell”

        
Gates are not offense weapons. They are defensive. We should not be running from the kingdom of darkness, we should be forcibly advancing against it.

Jesus said I will build my church” The term “church” is the Greek word ekklesia. “This term was never used for a building, but was a political term describing an assembly of the government in Greek city-states. The ekklesia was responsible for declaring war and developing military strategy. “Jesus promised that He was going to establish a military base from which His kingdom would advance against and bring down the kingdom of darkness” (Engle)

Jesus did not die to make us nice. He did not die to make you just a better person. Jesus died to make us dangerous…dangerous to the kingdom of darkness. He died to make us gate-kickers! So…
 

KICK SOME GATE!!!

 

What are we Really Trying to Accomplish?

I did not leave most of my family, a great job and ministry, a beautiful home with an amazing view of the mountains, the opportunity to continue to write books and speak at conference and in churches, and a nice paycheck just to start a church. I love the church, and like Jesus, want to give my life for it (Ephesians 5:25b), but our vision goes beyond a single church. We want to play our role in catalyzing a 21^st century spiritual awakening in America and see 100,000 souls come to Christ in Las Vegas.

Most people live for small and temporal things. When we drove to Vegas this past summer, we were leaving that behind. Because we have a big God we have big vision. We decided to cash in all of our chips to give our lives to a huge and eternal vision. We want to see nothing less than 100,000 souls come to Christ in Las Vegas and a 21^st century Pentecost, a 21^st century Great Awakening in the United States such that it will shake the globe.  We want to see God’s kingdom come and His will be done in Las Vegas and the rest of the US just as it is in heaven.

 

We believe that God’s primary agency of evangelism is the local church. So we have started Grace City Church.

We understand that the church is all about Jesus. He is the head, we are the body. He is the shepherd, we are the sheep. He is the Commander in Chief, we are the soldiers. He is the vine, we are the branches. He is the groom, we are the bride.

We love our new church. It is growing and thriving in spite of the odds. Lost people are being reached, and new Christians are being discipled.
 
That is good, but we believe that the foundation and the fountain of everything else is prayer. It breaks our hearts that the church is declining in the US. It rejoices our souls that the church is exploding in several other places in the world.
 
Why is the church in much of the world seeing revival and the church in the US experiencing decline?  There are several reasons, but the clearest is that revival is born and maintained only through a culture of faith and prayer.
 
The book of Acts is not only the history of the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles and an account of the spontaneous expansion of the church. It is also a portrait of a church committed to prayer.  A quick read through the book of Acts reveals that prayer is the central theme.  It is mentioned thirteen times in the first fourteen chapters (Acts 1:14-15; 2:42; 3:1: 4:25-31; 6:4,6: 9:40; 10:2,4,31; 11:5; 13:2-3; 14:23). The first church was born after an intense 24/7 week of prayer Acts 1:14-15. The early church was devoted to prayer (Acts 2:42) and observed three corporate times of prayer each day (for example see Acts 3:1).  Jesus rebuked the people of His day because they neglected the truth that God’s house is to be a house of prayer for all nations. (Mark 11:15-17)
 
So the first thing we started nearly two years ago in Virginia was meeting 5 times a week to pray. The first thing we started in Las Vegas has been the Grace City House of Prayer.   Now we practice Word-fed, Spirit-led, worship-based prayer and intercession four days a week from 9:00 to 10:30am Monday through Thursday. We also have a short time of worship-based prayer and intercession with all of our Sunday servants every Sunday morning. We combine worship, prayer and discipleship training several times a month. We have a Night of Worship and Prayer at least one Friday night a month.
 
We plan on having an Upper Room Prayer Summit June 2-16, and Jericho week of Prayer August 11-18. (Maybe you want to come join us?) As God sends us more throne room warriors and worship leaders we will expand these times and opportunities (Maybe you want to come join us?) 
 
God has allowed us to see an unbelievable amount accomplished in the last ten months through prayer, planning, perseverance, and hard work. Why would this not continue as we continue to pray? 

 

Multiply!

I love Monday nights! Every Monday night about 6:57 PM, my doorbell rings. It’s Randy and Jordan coming over for our Discipleship Group. Currently, we are reading through the book Evangelism Is…: How to Share Jesus with Passion and Confidence. Every Monday night we talk about the people they ministered to the previous week. They have become proficient at winning people to themselves, winning people to church, and they are learning hot to win people to Christ. Last week, their assignment was to share their testimony with someone every day. This week, they are sharing The Romans’s Road to Salvation with someone. It is exciting to see how God is using them!

 

What is especially great is that both of them are beginning to multiply! Jordan is taking what he is learning and applying it with high school kids on Tuesday nights. Randy, who has only been saved nine months, has already begun his own Micro-Disciple Group with Greg.

Right after he got saved, Randy began praying for his best friend Greg to come to God. Five months ago, Randy brought Greg to church and Greg responded to the invitation and came to God that day. Now, every Monday night after he meets with Jordan and I from 7:00- 8:30 PM, Randy meets with Greg from 8:45- 10:00 PM. They go over what we covered in the earlier group. Randy is now training Greg to be an effective evangelist.

 

I feel like I am living what Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2: “And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” I am committing what I know to two faithful men (Randy and Jordan). They are taking what they are learning and teaching others (Randy to Greg and Jordan to high school students).

I plan on continuing with Randy and Jordan for several years in order to train them to be highly effective evangelists, powerful prayer warriors, and multiplying disciple-makers.  The goal is that both of them will at least be leading their own multiplying house church in a few years.

At Grace City, we passionately pursue revival through prayer and spiritual warfare, a harvest of souls through evangelism, and a multiplication movement through disciple-making. We want to train an exponentially expanding army of highly effective evangelists, prayer warriors, and disciple-makers.

It is exciting when those words above are not just on a page, but can be seen in people’s lives!

 

Grace City 1st Quarter Summary 2013

The last three months have been extraordinarily busy and fruitful. We concluded this quarter with a great weekend, as on March 29^th we held a Good Friday Worship Night and Celebration of the Lord’s Table. On Saturday, March 30^th, we passed out over 3,000 fliers and prepared 2,000 eggs for a huge Easter Eggs-travaganza.  Over 300 people came and many came to church the next day. A few of those were saved!

Easter Sunday, March 31^st, 260 people attended our first Easter Sunday worship service, where many gave their lives to Christ. Yeah God!

 
 

We believe that all the good God did this quarter goes back to January 1-21: 21 Days of Prayer.  We set aside the first three weeks of the New Year to passionately pursue the Lord in prayer and fasting. First, we asked our church to join us for corporate prayer daily at 9 am. We also held a Night of Worship and Prayer on Friday evening, January 18. Beyond that, we had Eight Great Days of Prayer and Fasting – January 13-20 as we “abstained in order to obtain.” We held worship-based prayer nightly that week. The attendance at the prayer meetings grew daily from 13 people on January 1^st to over 40 people praying daily and our entire church praying Sunday, January 20^th.
 

 
Grace City UNLV returned January 22^nd as we re-launched our two on-campus large group Bible studies and added a third group. Eighty students attended the first week!

On Friday evening January 25th, we received word that we would not be allowed to meet at the middle school on the upcoming Sunday. We quickly put together a plan, made a ton of phone calls, prayed the rain away, and held “CHURCH IN THE PARK!” On Sunday, January 27th, over 175 people gathered to worship the Lord in the park. Several people gave their lives to Christ. Everyone stayed around in order to enjoy hamburgers, hotdogs, and hanging out. 
 
February 2^nd, we held our first Discover Grace City Church Membership Seminar and challenged the participants to dedicate themselves to seeing “Sin City” transformed to “Grace” City by living out the commitments displayed by the original church in Acts 2:41-47.  Sixty-five people, many of whom are new believers and represent a variety of ethnicities and ages, responded to the challengd by signing a covenant of membership and being publically commissioned as missionaries to the city of Las Vegas. Plus, one young man was saved and five committed to Christian baptism.
 
We now have 13 City Groups meeting all through the week and all over the city. In February, total City Group attendance topped over 200 people a week!
 
After following us around and interviewing us for over two weeks, Las Vegas Weekly featured our church on the cover of their magazine in an article titled, Saving Las Vegas! Can a Group of Liberty University Evangelists Save Las Vegas?

 

 
This magazine has a readership of 180,000. Because the article received so many likes and posts, it was reprinted in the Sunday edition of The Las Vegas Review Journal, the largest circulating newspaper in Nevada.  With a teaser about Grace City Church on the front page and a huge picture and big story on the cover of the third section, the article clearly contained the gospel and will potentially be seen by a few hundred thousand people. 
 
On February 22nd-23^rd, sixty persons participated in our second Freedom Encounter. 
Our homeless ministry continued to grow and expand. We out grew the apartment at the Retreat and now meet at the SNBA library.

March 9^th we held a Spring Festival at Desert Bloom Park.

March 17^th, we baptized five people.

Obviously, God has been busy working through us at Grace City. Thanks for your support and prayers. They make a difference as we are making a difference.

 

The Passion, Mission, & Primary Pursuits of Grace City Church

       We desperately need more churches and church leaders fueled by God-given passion. When I use the term passion, I am talking about an “Intense, driving, overmastering feeling or conviction.” Passion is that which stirs the emotions, affections, devotions, and decisions of a leader or an organization. Passion is an unrelenting sense of who you are and why you are here. It is the burning heart of the church or the leader. 

       Passion is different than a goal or vision. When you can put your passion on paper, you answer the questions, “Who am I? & Why am I here?” A goal, on the other hand, describes what you are trying to accomplish. A plan describes how you intend to get there. A timeline answers when various aspects of the plan will be achieved.

       Vision, goals, values, plans, and priorities are all very important. But even more important than knowing where you are going and how you intend to get there, is the need to know who you are and why you are here.

       God-torched passion is an often over-looked power tool in the toolkit of the high-impact leader and the difference-making church. I would rather a leader with mediocre skills and great passion over one with great skills and no passion any day. The passionate leader will spark others to action. They will keep going when others quit. They will turn a weekly meeting into a life-changing event.
  
       In many ways, passion is more important than education, experience, or talent. Passion makes up for a multitude of inadequacies. Passion is the foundational and fueling qualification of high-impact spiritual leadership.

       At Grace City Church, Our driving passion is God. We zealously pursue His presence. Our mission is to join Jesus on His mission to liberate captives and transform “Sin City” into “Grace City.”

      In order to accomplish this, we dedicate our lives to three primary pursuits:
 

 

1.   Prayer, Worship, and Spiritual Warfare leading to Revival: 
       Prayer is the key to revival. We know that there will never be a spiritual awakening, a huge spiritual harvest, or a sustained disciple-making movement without an atmosphere of revival and prayer.  Currently, we live this passion out by being a House of Prayer that practices Word-fed, Spirit-led, and Worship-based based payer every  Monday through Thursday from 9-10:30 AM. We also hold prayer meetings Monday and Tuesday evenings at 7 PM. Beyond that, we take back the darkness by having a monthly Friday Night of Worship & Prayer. We also host regular Freedom Encounter Seminars in which people experience truth and power-based deliverance from hurts, habits, and hang-ups.  
 
 
 
2.   Evangelism and Social Justice leading to a Harvest of Souls
       To love Jesus is to love what Jesus loves. Jesus loves the poor, the lost, the captive, and the weak. Currently, we live this out by not only feeding and clothing the homeless, but getting to know them and showing them the love of Jesus. We also hold community Block Parties/Park Parties a few times each month. During the winter season in replace of Block Parties, we serve the community food and fun in order to show them the love of Jesus. We also see people come to Christ consistently in our worship gatherings.
 
 
 
3.   Disciple-Being & Disciple-Making leading to Multiplication: 
       The Great Commission compels us to lay down our lives to follow Jesus as His disciples and His disciple-makers. When done well, this leads to a multiplication of disciple-makers. Currently, we live this out by providing open City Groups that focus on outreach, application, fellowship, and prayer. As well, we have as system of Micro-Groups focused on accountability and making disciples, Disciple Groups where we multiply leaders by ministering to those leading City Group, host a series of Discipleship Seminars, and have a School of Ministry where young leaders are trained to replicate the Grace City values throughout the city and around the world.  
 
 

 
To the extent that we live out this passion, mission, and pursuits will be the extent that we cooperate with the Lord in changing history.

Pray for us…or better yet, join us!