The Urban Perspective

10 Things to Know about Planting a Church in the Urban Context

2011-12-29T10:37:00.000-08:00

Here's a few things I've learned in my church planting journey:

1. You're a Limited Leader (Exodus 18:18)
People will want you to be the omni-gifted leader and you'll be tempted to believe it. It's important to know who you are and who you are not. The only thing worst than the people wanting you to be omni-gifted is the pastor who believes he is, this will quickly drain you of the joy of shepherding people. Embrace your limits and work your strengths.

2. Process your Hurt (1 Peter 5:7)
Pastors aren't exempt from hurt and many have 'daddy issues' that haven't been addressed and oftentimes the pulpit is the 'see I made it' platform to address the hurt caused by an absentee father or an overly aggressive mother. Whatever the case it's vital that you realize that you need God's grace and much counsel. In short get help and embrace your frailty and dependence upon the King. If you don't you will look for the church to heal these wounds only to find out that the help is not there and these wounds will only be highlighted in your church plant. Seeking counsel isn't a sign of weakness, but in fact it's a display of humble strength.

3. You're not Planting the Church your Family is Planting the church (Ephesians 6)
It's vital that you don't make the plant your baby. Your plant could fail and God may very well use that to bring you closer to Him. I'm sure you believe you're the exception and that's fine, I want your church plant to thrive, but the reality is that's not always the case. Church planting is ugly, brutal and tiring,but it has the greatest rewards. If the church is everything, you'll neglect your family and they don't deserve that plan for your family prior to planning everything for the church. Don't fail your family and include your wife in crucial decisions throughout the growth and pains of your plant. Your family is planting with you.

4. You'll Experience Inner and Outer Prejudice (Galatians 2:11-21)
Many people of your own race won't understand the theological stances and those outside your race will assume you're rare because of the lack of exposure to gospel-centered biblically orthodoxed African-American pastors. It comes with the territory, stay faithful to word word and don't build identity around this, if you do you'll see yourself as a savior to the context as opposed to be called to the context.

5. Go After Men (1 Timothy 6:11-16)
Men are an apologetic within themselves in the context because this is literally the most fatherless generation ever. It's vital that you speak to men, encourage men and give men a platform to use their gifts for the King. Nurture the men if your circle and train them to go after other men. Men will bring families to your church and I love my sisters, but it's vital that we don't exploit them by having them do everything at the ministry. Get men and get as many as you can.

6. Get a Spiritual Father (1 Timothy 1:2 & Philippians 2:22)
Some see this as charismatic, but the bottom line is its biblical. Get strong men that can speak into your life. Men that you would follow and submit to and allow them access to the you that only your wife and children know. Let them speak into your life about your family, finances, church, sex life and hurt. This will pay HUGE dividends in your life and the life of your church.

7. Date your Wife (Ephesians 5)
It's easy to replace your wife with the church. Allow her to be honest with you about how she's feeling and be intentional about dating her, loving her, listening to her and romancing her. Don't take her for granted she's worth more than that and deserves your best. Don't give the church your all and give her your leftovers. As you're visioneering for your plant be sure to visioneer on how you continue to intentional show and tell your wife how much you love her.

8. Establish Unity with Your Core Team (Philippians 1:27-28)
Have a clear sense of your philosophy of ministry and communicate it well with your core team. You want to be unified on three major fronts: Theologically, Relationally and Philosophically. Define your theological open and closed handed issues, examine how you relate with the leaders on your team and ask explicitly if they embrace your philosophy of ministry. This will ensure unity and a healthy board and longevity for your plant.

9. People will Leave (John 6:58-66)
In John 6 many walked away from Jesus after hearing hard truth and many will leave you too. Don't trip, but listen to what those that are leaving are saying, don't dismiss them all because you're hurt that they are leaving. Some of them will have vital points and people leaving is a necessary thorn in the flesh (2 Cor. 12:7-10) of a church planter to keep you on your knees. When people leave it will hurt and that's ok. Don't pretend that you're not hurt, but don't let those that leave define you either. Some will talk to you on their way out, many will just shoot an email or just leave and you find out on Facebook that they're at a new church. Although you may not want to confront them you should have streams for growth and exits. Conduct exit interviews for people on their way out, you may find some holes in your leadership team that need to be addressed. Lastly it's rare that people are honest with you about why they leave, but allow this to keep you reminded that Christ will build his church.

10. Fundraise for Longevity (Philippians 4:15-20)
Secure your salary and healthcare and another guy to be on staff on the front end. If you plan on being bivocational for the life of your plant then you can have some leeway with this, but you want secure as much money as possible prior to launching because this is a burden that you don't need on top of everything else needed for your plant.

In all of this love Jesus and his gospel, your identity isn't in the success or failure of your plant it's in Him and as simple as it may sound you'll be prone to forget this. Remember this; you weren't chosen because you're special, you're special because He chose you (John 15:16). The truth is you don't have what it takes for what you're about to embark on and if your joy is in the plant and not Christ, this will become evident quickly and you'll burnout and quit or abuse your people and make the plant about you. Christ loves you and you're His son. He didn't die for you to be a great church planter he died for you to be His son and that's more than enough. I'm praying for you and wish you much godly success.

Practice what you Tweet

2011-08-22T12:25:00.000-07:00

In a world of Facebook status updates and 160 character one-liners, it's easy for us to drift further and further into an electronic personality and identity void of authenticity. The question is does our Facebook and Twitter identities match who we actually are? More and more people are rejecting the rewards of interacting with people to venting every issue and belief via the World Wide Web. Upset spouses argue via their status updates, friends take shots at each other in 160 characters, in-laws use the term 'people' to describe everything they hate about the spouse of their son or daughter, with one click the whole world knows that you're either single, interested or in a 'complicated' situation and yes preachers rebuke members they're upset with via their status update. Comments like "i'm glad the TRUE worshippers showed up today", when in reality he's (the pastor) mad because the church wasn't as packed as he believed he deserved. The list goes on and on about how passive-aggression is somehow becoming applauded and almost encouraged in our culture. The question that I believe must be asked is what's the danger in all this?

The End of Confrontation

Facebook and Twitter has created an outlet for people that don't want to confront people nor confront themselves. Behind a computer passive people suddenly become aggressive experts on humanity to offer advice that they rarely apply themselves. Matthew 18 clearly spells out how we're to address those that have offended or sinned against us, but many and I would say most avoid God process for a point, click and type response. The surprising thing about this is that we judge others by their actions and want to be judge by our intentions. Our Facebook and Twitter identities matter more to us than who we really. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of social networking, but most aren't using it for social networking they're using it for therapy, counseling, intervention and even sermons. We must understand that there is consecration in confrontation and to avoid these conversations with actual human beings in favor of 'electronic venting' creates a culture of people that are shallow and will never experience authentic relationships.

There's Hope

The end result of this evasion of confrontation and embracing the 'e-relaity' is that we'll become more obsessed with how many retweets and likes we get verses actually being the people God has called us to be. We become great dads on Twitter, but too busy to listen to our children because our heads are glued to our phones seeing who looked at our pictures and reposted our updates. We'll put up post on missions without actually engaging people with the gospel and we'll be great spouses on the web, but terrible ones in person. Let me be clear, I'm not against announcing daddy daughter dates, concerts, night-outs, church gatherings, etc. via Facebook and Twitter, but I think it's important not to substitute our 'e-relationships' with the real one that we're presented with daily in our co-workers, spouses, children, church family and relatives. The good news is there's hope for all of us and YES, I'm including myself. Christ has secured a new, REAL reality of holiness and missionality on the cross. He's secured what we never could secure for ourselves and in Him we no longer need to seek approval and identity in our 'Likes', 'ReTweets' and 'Repost', but we can rest in the regeneration we have in Christ Jesus. Now go and and copy this link on your status so I can feel successful.

Mali Music "UNPLUGGED" Avaylable

2011-02-12T02:15:00.000-08:00

My Princess Boy vs Facebook Thug

2011-01-07T15:16:00.000-08:00

Is Your Girl a C.E.O.?

2010-08-06T03:32:00.000-07:00

Is Your Man Wearing 'Baby Gap'?

2010-07-30T11:04:00.000-07:00

Lukewarm and Loving It! by Francis Chan

2010-07-19T17:44:00.000-07:00

LeBronatry...

2010-07-09T10:08:00.001-07:00

I'm sure many of you know by now that LeBron "King" James has decided to join Wade and Bosh in Miami. The following behind this news has been crazy. It really showed me how quick people change when their idols fail them. Today's blog will take a look at idolatry in our culture and the one and only hope that we have.

Suggested Read:

Tim Keller does an excellent job of exposing idolatry and how destructive it is, while pointing us to the cross.

You now have the mic, join the convo...

The Gospel & Craigslist

2010-06-17T13:31:00.000-07:00

I'm sure ALL of you have heard of Craigslist, but just in case you haven't, it's nothing more than a site that allows people to sell used items from cars to PlayStations and just about anything you can think of is for sale. Like all things there are good and bad aspects to Craiglist because some people use it as a means to scam people. One of the most common scams is with automobiles, picture this:

2010 Mercedes S Class for $2000.00

Now I'm sure that no one with any amount of common sense would believe this to be a legitimate post, but let's pretend that it was real and the person didn't have some lame story about moving or being divorced and lying about the incredibly low price. Picture the person driving this vehicle to your house and you know it's real because your eyes are on the car and they have the keys and the title in hand and you can't wait to get it before they change their mind because you know that this is the deal of a century.

Now what does this have to do with JESUS?!

Jesus has given us an even better deal in the cross. He is taking our sin, our filth, our broken promises, our failures, our lies, our lust, our confusion, our deceit, our selfishness, our pride, our bad attitudes, our selfish ambition, our greed, our false praise, our false humility, our ungratefulness, our laziness, our excuses, our prejudice, our bigotry, our hatred, OUR SIN. In exchange for HIS beauty, HIS righteousness, HIS holiness, HIS salvation, HIS perfect record before God the Father.

The Gospel is the good news that Jesus died for our sins in our place because we couldn't bare the wrath of God. In the same way a 2010 S Class Mercedes for two grand would be the deal of the century, Christ has given us the deal of eternity; HIS life. Christianity isn't a religion built on rules, but a relationship with a Holy God built and sustained by HIS love for HIS own glory and honor. Salvation isn't a birth right, but it's the gift of life to us who are dead in our sins if someone doesn't save us and that's what Christ did for us. It's not a scam, like the Craigslist post, but it doesn't make sense that a holy God would die in our place.

In Christ Alone

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless Babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save

?Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live, I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory
Sin?s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From a life?s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man
Could ever pluck me from His hand
?Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I stand

I will stand, I will stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground, all other ground
Is sinking sand, is sinking sand
So I stand

There is only one hope for us all and it's Jesus Christ. Trust HIM today with your life...

Is all Secular Music Sinny, Sin, Sin?

2010-06-11T18:44:00.001-07:00

Is it wrong for you to like and listen to R&B, Neo-Soul, Rock, Hip-Hop and any other genre of music if it isn't about Jesus? This is the position that I was presented with early in my Christian walk and many are still proponents of that school of thought. For years I would look at anyone that claimed Christ and didn't listen to gospel music as an 'Unsaved Hypocrite'. Over the years my views have changed as I have dived deep into scripture and began to gain a deeper understanding of the gospel. While I'm not rigid in my approach to music I do think that we need to be wise in what we listen to and aware of our motives for embracing certain styles of music with questionable content.

The Urban Perspective: Is all Secular Music Sinny, Sin, Sin? from Jerome Gay on Vimeo.

To all my music lovers. Check out today's vlog and talk back to me.

Marriage will Make you 'Cuss'

2010-06-04T14:38:00.000-07:00

Before you jump to conclusions about the title I want you to think about something. What do you expect from the person you're involved with? Are your expectations realistic? Is God at the center or is He just a means to your happiness? I ask these questions because it's important to know these things before and while in marriage.

Marriage is sacred, it's God's idea and He's committed to it. The question is are we? For many of us if we're honest the answer is, NO!

Today I want you to consider three things about marriage and let the convo begin:

1) Marriage is about holiness, not happiness
2) Conflict should strengthen your marriage, not separate you two
3) The beauty and point of marriage is Christian maturity

These three points are important to understand because you can bank on this, you will be sinned against and you will sin against your mate. If you don't understand this you will place a standard of 'emotional perfection' that you don't and can't live up to. Sin is to be expected and should remind the two of you of God's grace, love, mercy and patience with you. As the two of you meditate and live in that reality there isn't room for pointing the finger at each other, because both of you are living in light of God's grace. The beauty of marriage is realizing how much God love you two and sharing God's unconditional love and grace with each other.

This particular video will be a series because I obviously can cover everything in one video. As we continue to unpack this together I need your comments, questions and experiences.

You have the mic, let's talk...

Life Lessons from a Leper

2010-06-02T19:47:00.001-07:00

Waddup family I wanted to share notes from a sermon I preached several months ago. I think it's prevalent and applies to our daily lives as we press to be more and more like Christ.

Life seems to operate in cycles about 90% of the time. Things happen that always remind us of past experiences, there are few experiences that we only experience once. There is always the initial shock, joy, fear or anxiety for an experience depending on what it is, but after it’s over we either want to repeat it or we never want to go through a particular valley or feeling again. The Old Testament is filled with stories of people just like you and me that find faith in God through life itself. The interesting thing is that we always see God engage the sinner to break the destructive cycle in their lives as HE does in our lives. As we look internally through the lens of the gospel I want us to go old school and look at the life of Naaman and gain some Life Lessons from A Leper. Scripture is here for us and it is sovereign so that we don’t have to repeat every mistake and travel every valley as people before have already traveled. My prayer is that the jewels in this account of biblical history will rock us to seek Christ in all areas of our lives.

The Backdrop:
2 Kings was written by the Deuteronomist since the exact authorship is unknown the author or authors of 1 and 2 Kings seem to have a deep love and passion for the book of Deuteronomy. It covers the monarchy (realm) of ancient Israel from 970-586BC.

The Main People:
Naaman, the servant girl and the prophet Elisha

Meet Naaman:
His name means pleasant, he was commander in chief over the army of Ben-Hadad (who was the king of Syria) and he had leprosy.

LEPROSY was regarded as a direct providential infliction). This name is from the Greek lepra, by which the Greek physicians designated the disease from its scaliness. We have the description of the disease, as well as the regulations connected with it, in Lev. 13; 14; Num. 12:10–15. Lepers were required to live outside the camp or city (Num. 5:1–4; 12:10–15, etc.). This disease was regarded as an awful punishment from the Lord (2 Kings 5:7; 2 Chr. 26:20).
This disease “begins with specks on the eyelids and on the palms, gradually spreading over the body, bleaching the hair white wherever they appear, crusting the affected parts with white scales, and causing terrible sores and swellings. From the skin the disease eats inward to the bones, rotting the whole body piecemeal.” “In Christ’s day no leper could live in a walled town, though he might in an open village. But wherever he was he was required to have his outer garment rent as a sign of deep grief, to go bareheaded, and to cover his beard with his mantle, as if in lamentation at his own virtual death. He had further to warn passers-by to keep away from him, by calling out, ‘Unclean! unclean!’ nor could he speak to any one, or receive or return a salutation, since in the East this involves an embrace.”
That the disease was not contagious is evident from the regulations regarding it (Lev. 13:12, 13, 36; 2 Kings 5:1). Leprosy was “the outward and visible sign of the innermost spiritual corruption; a meet emblem in its small beginnings, its gradual spread, its internal disfigurement, its dissolution little by little of the whole body, of that which corrupts, degrades, and defiles man’s inner nature, and renders him unmeet to enter the presence of a pure and holy God” (Maclear’s Handbook O.T). Our Lord cured lepers (Matt. 8:2, 3; Mark 1:40–42). This divine power so manifested illustrates his gracious dealings with men in curing the leprosy of the soul, the fatal taint of sin.

What we are going to see in this story is how God is not impressed with our ability, but with humility. Naaman has success, status, power and money, but there is always a ‘but’ in the way of true peace.

Read 2 Kings 5:1
There is always a ‘but’ in our stories prior to meeting God, there is a sense of happiness that isn’t complete, a portion of knowledge that isn’t fulfilling, no amount of resources can provide eternal security all the things this world can offer provide a temporary illusion of who and where we are in life. What is your ‘but’ today?

2 Kings 5:2-5
Isn’t it funny that a slave girl who is captured in a raid would lead Naaman to the Lord? The voice of God always comes from unlikely sources.

Life Application Point #1
Doubt and Desperation should lead us to devotion

2 Kings 5:6-7
In this part of the story we see that somehow Naaman thinks he can earn his healing with money, status and power, but those things he is using to remedy his situation are the cause of it. In other words we can’t repair ourselves and it’s only through a humble encounter with God will we realize the enormity of HIS grace.

Life Application Point #2
God doesn’t choose the qualified, HE qualifies the chosen!

2 Kings 5:8-11
Naaman shows up with horses and chariots assuming that because of who he is the prophet will come to him and heal him. What he doesn’t understand that leprosy isn’t his issue, but not having faith in God is.

Life Application Point #3
Assumptions on how God will work is rooted in self-entitlement (some of us think we know what we need and how, but we are the source of all our pain and hurt, the only loophole is Christ)

2 Kings 5:12
Naaman’s response prove LAP#3 because the very thing he is desperate for has condition. Until we are unconditionally desperate for deliverance we will never aggressively seek it.
2 Kings 5:13
They are asking Naaman is what Elisha asked you to do for you really that hard. Here’s the even BIGGER point. God doesn’t need us and we are the beneficiaries from entering a relationship with and obeying HIM.

2 Kings 5:14

The answer to the but in our lives is two-fold.

One: We need to move out the way and realize our attitudes, arrogance and apathy are what keep us where we are.

Two: The answer to our issues is always casting our cares on Jesus and resting them there. Remember devotion always demand denial. A call to God demands that you deny the most important person in your life, YOU.

2 Kings 5:15
Naaman finds God in the midst of desperation for healing. God isn’t Naaman’s primary objective or focus healing is, but God meets us where we are and calls us to himself.

Read Lev. 13:2-8

If you read Leviticus chapters 13 and 14 you find that it was up to the high priest to determine if someone was clean enough to enter the camp and commune with other people. People with leprosy were outcast and they were not allowed in the camp, if one of them came close people were instructed to yell ‘unclean, unclean’. The point is this the high priest would determine who was clean and also intercede on people behalf, but the high priest determine cleanliness based on the outward, Christ sits as our high priest and he says there is room at HIS table and even though we are unclean, HE desire to cleanse and qualify us to bring us into HIS camp.

Read Lev. 14:1-32

If you read these to sections of scripture you may be asking why would ‘I’ have to go through all that work to be cleansed, but I want you to notice that the high priest is doing all the work to get you cleansed so that you can enter fellowship with the rest of the camp. Christ is our high priest and he has gone to desperate measures to bring you into relationship with HIM. Our response should be desperate devotion to HIM daily.

Child Support and the Cross!

2010-06-01T16:43:00.001-07:00

It blows my mind how many men run away from their children and then boast about it as if it is a badge of honor. I think it's important to understand that people who claim Christ in particular men who claim the name of Jesus can't comfortably walk away from their kids and claim the faith.

1 Timothy 5:8 says...
But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worst than an unbeliever.

Strong words right? But hardcore and TRUE. Why is this so common?

This video will expose a little more insight on this topic...