How would you like to have a billion dollars worth or real estate to help with your newest church plant? We did and it was better than we expected. Illegal At The Beach We actually started our last congregation under a tree in a beach park—illegally. Not real fun when the policeman would slowly check…

I learned much about making disciples by watching an older man remain relevant to people much younger than himself. Nathaniel Van Cleave became my pastor at the height of my rebellious teen years. During his first sermon, he watched my friends and pried the gunpowder from a box of bullets and two shotgun shells while…

I sighed heavily on the phone as I was coaching a young church planter. I knew what was coming next. The struggle. The heartache. The bewilderment. This wasn’t my first rodeo of coaching church planters and after 10 years, I knew what came next was the unpacking of broken dreams. Unfulfilled expectations. Confused priorities. Flawed…

The last seven days were incredible. My wife and I first attended the 45th anniversary of the first Hope Chapel in Hermosa Beach, Califonia (www.hopechapel.org) . We hung out with Zac and Julie Nazarian who carried the church far forward while launching many churches. We saw friends we have loved from afar and got to…

Okay, you all know I’m no stranger to controversy. This may be the most controversial podcast I’ve ever done. I find that sad to be honest. The church is often on the wrong side of social justice issues, as it was in the 1960s. There’s hope though. I find more hope coming from church planting…

Recently I was able to spend several hours hanging out with a church planter  who is in trouble. It seems he called the wrong bunch when launching his church. This church plant was a congregation “hiving off” of a larger church that has a vision for planting churches. He had freedom to recruit anyone but…