Jenny spent a couple hours sorting through all of our pictures and video’s on my computer. Something about having 34 different folders randomly located all over with each holding an additional number of folders wasn’t organized enough for her. One of the videos that once was lost but now is found is below. This was a fun find as we had forgotten about Toby’s chipmunk laugh and his desire to stuff his face.
In preparation for the upcoming series “Acting School” a series on the first half of the book of Acts I chose to read C. Peter Wagner’s “Spreading the Fire” which is book one in a three part series. There were a couple of reasons that I was drawn to this book. First it was recommended by both Kevin Korver and my brother Andrew Schmidt. Second it is a book that believes the entire book of Acts is built off of Acts 1:8 a verse in which thebridge was sent out with. Third it is a book that is willing to talk about the Holy Spirit – which is someone many historical commentaries don’t talk about.
This book was very beneficial for me in my studying and most importantly helped me choose which portions of Acts to chunk together. For example I’m leaning towards teaching Acts chapters 6,7, and 8 together. I also enjoyed the insight Wagner had on the Hellenist and Hebrew Jews and the significance each had.
I have been blessed with the ability to have significant training from conferences, conversations, and books on church planting. One of the things that almost all of these will bring up as important in planting is your own unique context. Below are just five of the things that make the context of Ottumwa different then that of others.
1. Rural City – Ottumwa is the hub of southeast Iowa. Owning a population of just under 25,000 Ottumwa is seen as the place to go if you need anything. Yet it is a far cry from what most would consider a city. Sure it has a movie theater, restaraunts, and places to shop but even people from Ottumwa will travel an hour and a half to Des Moines or Iowa City to get additional things that they can’t get here. The city is surrounded by farm land.
2. Older Community – The population has held steady through the past 20 years but that is due in large part to the hispanic population moving in. I love the diversity but Ottumwa in general can be seen as an older/dying community.
3. Division – Every city has their own thing and Ottumwa is no different. Ottumwa struggles with being a divided city in everyway. The river divides the north from the south, there is class divide between those who have and those who don’t, there is a spiritual divide, political divide, and race divide. One of the ways this can be observed is listening to people ask where others are from and the response will always start with either, “I live on the North Side or I live on the South Side.” Jenny and I just say we live on Chester St.
4. 80/80 – Many cities have their churches and many cities have their bars. The nearest count I have in Ottumwa is that there are 80 of both. Because we meet in the Bridge View Center and they have a liquor license it is my understanding that we are the only church that can serve alcohol.
5. Economic Hardship – Ottumwa is privileged to have the companies John Deer and Cargil Meat Solutions but beyond them there isn’t much. I believe the School System, Hospital, and Wal-Mart round out the top five employers of Ottumwa.
This list is not intended to be read as things that are bad about Ottumwa. This is our context. This is what God has allowed us to enter into. Tomorrow I will list five surprise blessings from our first year.
We are sending a mailing out to everyone who has ever attended thebridge. Below is a preview of the front side. The mailing is a promotion for our summer series “Acting School” which will be on the first half of the book of Acts. I’m super excited and challenged by this series and will share more of the developments next week.
The White Board Conference was awesome! If you want a report on what each speaker’s one idea was I’d suggest going to Perry Nobles Blog (here). Here are a few thoughts and personal take aways.
I would highly recommend the DVD of this event. You can order it (here)
11. Release Control: Sponsoring agencies need to give freedom to the church planter.
I can’t imagine it any other way though.12. Support Emotionally: Adequate emotional support for the planter is vital.
13. Adequate Training: Church planters should receive more than one week of specialized training.
14. Staff at Start-up: Planting a church with a team is a must! Don’t send a lone ranger to plant a church.
15. Launch Team Size: A minimum of 40 people should be involved on the start-up team prior to launch – or wait!
16. Ministry Opportunities: Fast-growing churches had at least three ministries in place at time of public launch: worship, children, and youth.
17. Gathering Activities: Preview services and small groups should be utilized to build the start-up team prior to launch.
18. Preview Services: Preview or “practice” services should be on a bi-weekly basis for at least three months prior to a public opening.
19. Large Birth Weight: Do everything within your power to get at least 100 people to your public opening.
20. Stewardship Training: Start teaching stewardship within the first six months. Don’t be overbearing, don’t whine, and don’t be secretive about your finances; instead, be transparent.
21. External Focus: Fight like mad to keep your ministry focus outward.
After reading about Dave DeVries 21 differences between church plants that grow fast and those that struggle (here), (here), and (here) I thought it would be helpful for those who are following our story in Ottumwa to know what of these we have used, found valuable, or chosen not to do. In no way am I saying that we are fast growing church but rather I’d like to point out that most of the differences on this list have been helpful for us in being effective in what God has called us to. Below are the first 10 differences with a bullet comment by me for each.
1. Assessment: Using the Ridley Assessment is a must! The higher the score the better.
2. Finances: Adequate financial support is a necessity. There is a delicate balance between too much and too little support.
3. Full-time Planters: A majority of fast-growing church plants were led by full-time planters.
4. Shorter Support Period: An extended period of support is not good for a new church – recommend less than two years.
5. Give Additional Funding: A higher percentage of fast-growing churches received additional funding beyond the initial salary given.
6. Limit Additional Funding: Most growing church plants received less than $50,000 additional funding within a one-year time frame.
7. Planters Add Funding: Planters need to be responsible for raising a portion of their support.
8. Vision Ownership: The vision for the church plant should be birthed in the heart of the individual planting the church.
9. Audience Determination: The church planter should have the freedom to choose the target audience they want to reach.
10. Financial Decisions: Planters of fast-growing churches were given freedom to spend their funding as they saw fit.
Here are a few links
This week I’ll be headed out to Washington DC for WiBo Conference. I’m way pumped about this conference and now you can be there too! The conference has its own on-line channel – (here)
If you live in Iowa you are pretty familiar with the name Kyle Korver who plays for the Utah Jazz. You can read a great story about him from the Salt Lake Tribune – (here)
This past Sunday we held our first covenant membership class and we introduced our process as believe, belong, become. I first came across these words visiting Lon’s blog in November of 2006. A year and a half later and we at thebridge have made it our own. Thanks Lon! You can check his post – (here)
If you enjoy links then I would encourage you to go to Subverting Mediocrity. Jason seems to find new things each day - (here)
SNL did a political parody of the NBA commercials there can only be one. I found it pretty funny. You can view it (here)
The newest Nooma is now viewable on facebook (here) According to Lon it is up through Wednesday.
In my opinion Nelson Searcy is 3 for 3 in his books. I was super excited to read this book Activate An Entirely New Approach to Small Groups because of the recent success in implementing a number of ideas presented by Searcy in his first two books Launch and Fusion. My hope was to gain some practical and applicable ideas for implementing small groups. That is exactly what I found. Searcy proposes a simple system that can easily be implemented by us at thebridge. Below are some of the key take aways.
I’m so pumped about our Fall small groups that I almost want to jump over the entire summer to get them going. If you would like more details on how we will be implementing small groups let me know. If you are looking to create your own process I highly recommend this book.
Toby and Lydia continue to grow.
Toby is now sleeping in his new big boy bed. The first few nights though we would find him still tucked close to the crib.
Lydia has no trouble standing and is taking more steps each day.
The little guy getting his haircut.
Last week while mom was gone dad held down the fort – literally!
Toby and Lydia have taken to wrestling lately.