23 Nov I Saw 4 Church Planters Get Punched In The Face And Here’s What I Learned!

I had the amazing opportunity to be a part of a NAMB church planter assessment retreat designed by leadership guru Mac Lake. He’s always on periscope sharing awesome leadership nuggets, so follow him. He did a periscope with us recently, you can watch it here.

During the 2 day retreat there were several different exercises that were funny scary eye opening.

The first was like Shark Tank but instead of Billionaires and Entrepreneurs it had Missions Investors and Church Planters.    

They set up the scenario as if there were 3 investors that had a combined $100K to invest in one Church Planter today!

Each Church Planter had 2 minutes to pitch their vision/plan then field questions from the “sharks.”

At first I thought the questions would “softballs” but the first two questions were more like a one-two punch in the face!

Q: “You said Small Groups were a central part of strategy. What is your exact strategy?”

A: “Well… we’re still dreaming about that, we have some ideas but nothing solid yet.”

And then the hammer dropped….

Q: “Tell me why should I waste $70k on you while you figure it out?”

BOOM!!

So for the next hour I watched (and took notes for you guys) as 4 church planters got slammed with some of the hardest questions I’ve ever heard.

Here are all the questions. They really made me stop and think about how I would answer these same questions. 

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What have you learned on your own about the this city’s culture?

 

Describe the exact person you’re trying to reach?

 

What things have you done or will do in the community?

 

What specific things will you do as the lead pastor?

 

I am a little fuzzy about your actual plan, can you better articulate what you will actually do?

 

Every Church Planter has a plan until they get punched in the face, what will you do when your plan fails?

 

Are you a contagious leader?

 

Why should anyone follow you?

 

Are you sure you have what it takes to plant a church?

 

How will you reach your neighbors?

 

What are your biggest fears?

 

What is the weakest part of your strategy?

 

What will you do about that in the next 3 months?

 

You know God is calling you to Boston but are you sure He’s calling you to be a lead pastor and not just a very involved member of an already established church?

 

How is you being a disciple different from you starting a church?

 

I have sent 4 church planters go to the exact area you want to plant in, 3 of them failed. How are you different?

 

How will you handle transfer growth from other churches and disgruntled christians?

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Whoa!!

Tough questions to answer even for established churches let alone church planters.

So at the end of the “Shark Tank” the sharks took a little time to give some insights into why they were so tough.

Here’s what they had to say.

 

“Plant your life, not a church.”

“We need people that are here for the long haul.”

 

“Your vision is not for sale!”

“Don’t let big givers from transfer growth buy their way into leadership.”

 

“You need to be teachable.”

“Know-it-alls fail in two years.”

 

“There is a huge differences between ideas/vision and an actual plan.”

“Prayer is not a plan.”

“I have little old ladies praying for free.”