Had a little fun the other night taking some shoots of my two boys! Had a blast.
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Over the next week, I’m continuing to share why you shouldn’t start a church. Part one is here, and the back story is here.
Lesson #2 :: You aren’t called to start a church
I have had numerous interactions with different aspiring church planters, each with very noble and admirable reasons to plant or continue planting. But, I always challenged each man to determine in their heart did Jesus really call them to plant a church. I dare to ask you as an aspiring church planter, ‘Did Jesus really call you to start a church or is there a deeper issue at hand that needs to be dealt with?‘
If you are wanting to plant a church, you’ve really got to dig deep and check your motives and calling. I know we have a lot of noble reasons to plant churches, but our noble reasons are nothing apart from a calling.
What I mean is that, often aspiring planters will want to plant for the following reasons:
- Pride or leadership submission issue
- To be the next North Point, Elevation or Newspring
- To be invited to speak a church leadership conference
- To prove something to your parents, old church, and/or current staff you are competent
Now, no one will say this. But, rather hide it behind some ‘noble’ sounding cause. This is where I believe you’ve got to dig deep and search your heart. I truly believe if we reflected on that, some of us would get confirmation in planting, but others would realize that they aren’t called to plant a church. And, it’s ok if Jesus didn’t call you to plant a church. It just means he has another assignment and calling on your life!
For me, I honestly, don’t know right now if I should plant a church. Maybe at some point in my ministry, but I know right now that’s not the calling nor the season. And I’m okay with it.
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I shared earlier this week that we shut down our church plant towards the end of last year. Through that process I learned a good bit about church planting, that will hopefully be encouraging and helpful for aspiring church planters.
Lesson #1: You might be called to plant, just not right now.
I know that the world and your city desperately needs you today. You are heaven sent and the people will cheer as you walk down the street because of your arrival and launch of your new church…just messing, excuse my sarcasm.
But, just because God put a vision, dream, and burden in your heart doesn’t mean he has called you to do it today. It might be another six months or six years before you get the opportunity to plant. Please don’t be discouraged during the waiting period, but rather embrace it. It will be valuable time for you to learn and grow.
You might be called, but maybe the Lord needs to work in your life some. He needs to fine tune your theology, motives, and heart. Maybe he is building a team and network around you that it isn’t quite ready yet. Be patient!
If God truly called you to plant a church, it won’t hurt to wait a little longer. You might just be surprised out much better things will be.
Any church planters have some wisdom you could impart about waiting on God’s timing before planting?
Tomorrow, I’ll share why some of you might not be called at to plant a church.
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So, do you remember that moment you tried really hard to impress your date, only to embarrass the heck out of yourself? Well guess what, your embarrassing story might just win you a free photo shoot with your Love!
All you need to do is tell the story of a time when you tried to impress your date, but found yourself a little embarrassed instead.
Here’s what you’ll win:
- A free photo shoot, a CD with the images from the photo session, and free bragging rights that you won this contest.
A couple rules:
- You must live within the Jacksonville area or able to fly me to your city…sorry I don’t have enough cash to buy a plane ticket!
- You must be able to do the photo shoot no later than March 15th.
- You must be over 18, sorry no high school romances…you might be broken up by the time I’m done editing the photos.
- You must be able to pay the contest fee of $50…ok only kidding!
Here’s how you enter:
- Tell us your story, by commenting below. Make sure to leave your name and email address.
- Then Copy and Paste the follow quote to your Facebook or Twitter status: ‘I entered the ‘I Tried To Be Slick Story Contest’ for a free photo shoot w/ @boydbettis, you can too: http://bit.ly/hE8HkM!’
- Enter by February 14th; we’ll announce the winner on February 15th at 8:00 PM.
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Sometimes I find it useful to learn more about the gear and tools people use on a daily basis. Here’s a glimpse of my daily office tools.
I use my 15in Macbook Pro for everything. There are days I want to downsize to a 13inch, but find I need the additional screen space to edit photos and do design work. I’ve been taking photos with my new Canon t2i, but honestly, wish I had the 5D. I’d love to be able to utilize the full frame sensor.
I use two types of moleskine journals. I use this one to take down bible notes, sketch out stuff, and to record random tidbits. And, I’ll use this one to memorizing scripture only.
I use to own an iPhone 3gs, but traded it for a Nexus S. There’s things I absolutely love about it and cause me to not miss my iPhone. But, I am very envious of the iPhone 4 at times. I switched carriers awhile back to save some money. Overall, I am very pleased with the Nexus S.
I carry everything in this messenger bag.
Online, I use gmail, google calendars, google docs, evernote, and dropbox. I love how my gmail account syncs perfectly with my Nexus S. I don’t miss at all having to sync my contacts and calendars by plugging it in. I read the Bible through Youversion. I am connected via social media on Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr.
And on my desktop I use Photoshop, Aperture, and iPhoto. I think I’m running a Photoshop from like 3 generations ago…any have an extra license to update me!
How about you, what are some daily tools, programs, or gear you use? I’d love to find out about some new ones!
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Here’s a couple photos from my recent session with Scott and Erica Magdalein. These are some of my favorite people to hang around.
Scott leads out the team behind Youversion. They have the best Bible application and web reader that is available. They represent the folks at Lifechurch.tv well! Erica, is a certified Dive Master. Which, means she can make you a legit diver. I love these two people! I also, I have the honor of calling them my brother and sister in law!
You can see more photos from their session here.
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Most of you know last year, my wife and I, transitioned off staff of Rivertown Church to plant Jacksonville City Church. We started meeting as a core group in July of 2010. We had six families and a good thing going. Except, a few things.
As the leader of this group I was beginning to sense a little bit of hesitancy going further with the plant. I was wrestling daily with two things: Is this the right time and is the right city?
I couldn’t shake it. I’d have numerous conversations with my wife about it each day. I finally had to make a painful, yet freeing decision. That was to pull the plug on Jacksonville City Church. I always wanted to be a leader that leads with integrity and I knew I couldn’t do that with the doubts I was having. I will assure you of this, there was no scandal! I didn’t steal any money or cheat on my wife. It was a timing and calling issue.
We ended up pulling the plug around the beginning of November. We had a great crew of people and things were looking great for the church plant. It is hard at times to not be planting, but we are eagerly waiting for what the Lord has next.
Another great thing is, a good friend of mine, Michael Smith, is planting a new church on the other side of town. And, we were able to help them get a head start by providing them with a church name and equipment! We are excited for them as they take over the Jacksonville City Church name. You can check them out here!
I’ve learned a handful of lessons through this process that have been very humbling, painful, and yet joyful. I hope to share and impart on the blog over the next week or two. I hope that it will be beneficial to aspiring church planters.
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I remember reading a blog post by my friend, Ben Arment, about replacing your salary with alternative forms of income. It really got stuck in the back of mind for a while. Until recently, I had no idea what that looked like until now.
One little venture I’m setting out to take is, creating a side project in doing freelance photography. It’s always been something I’ve really enjoyed and have been told I’m good at.
Over the next couple weeks, I’ll be working on creating a photo session experience for people. I’ve also, seen this as a way to help some folks out. There’s a lot of people who would love some great photos of their kids, but can’t afford a top local photographer, nor want to venture to Olan Mills.
I’ve created two photo sessions, that will be very economically affordable for people.
I’ll also, be posting more frequently here on the blog snippets of photo sessions I’ll be doing.
Let me know if you are interested in setting something up, by clicking here! If you mention promo code: #BBPLAUNCH in the designate spot, I’ll discount the two hour session $50.00 or the one hour session by $25.00!
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Hello Boydbettis.com readers.
It’s been a while since this place has seen an update.
The last few months have been a little bit of a roller coaster.
But, I’ve got a lot of updates to share and some changes coming to the blog.
Thanks for checking in!
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