Be Yourself

Being a church planter is the hardest job there is. I don’t care what else you do, or have done, church planting is the hardest thing ever! The biggest lie I ever believed from the pit of Hell is the idea that 6 years later and hundreds and hundreds of changed lives later, that things would be easier.

One of the toughest parts of church planting is realizing that people come to your church and leave your church because of you. Did you catch that? So part of the church planting process involves coming to peace with who you are and who God created you to be; To embrace what God has uniquely gifted you to do; and conversely not to do! To embrace the fact that you are NOT Andy Stanley, Rob Bell, Ed Young, or Bill Hybels (Does anyone still want to be Bill?).

I think I am coming to that place. A place where I am comfortable being the person God created me to be. I also thank that the closer I get to that place, the more people are drawn to the church I lead. I ran across a Scripture recently that could change your life in regards to this issue.

 2 Timothy 4:5 (NKJV) ⁵But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

 Paul said: “Timothy, fulfill YOUR ministry. NOT someone else’s; your own.” The only one we are responsible to is God! As church planters, we’ve GOT to come to a point where the ONLY person we’re trying to please is God. Could that be the X factor for church planting success? Maybe…Shawn