Church Planting is More than Preaching and Teaching?

 This week I had a meeting about my progress at Restore as a leadership resident. I am doing this residency at Restore with the intention of planting a healthy, reproducing church in the inner city within a few years.   My meeting was really encouraging, but there was definitely a few moments of me being challenged in a good way. The challenge this week came in the form of a question. "How are you developing in the areas of Leadership, Influence, Organization, and Execution?" To be honest I thought these were all the same, but after discussing them a little more I realized that these four areas will look different especially in the world of church planting.

So what are those differences and how do I plan to grow in these areas?

Leadership & Influence
Leadership and influence are both tied closely together. One thing I am learning is that you can be a great  leader, but without putting yourself in places to lead you will never have influence. Now, I'm not saying that I am a great leader, but I have been in different forms of leadership. Until recently I have had no influence at Restore because I have not placed myself in situations to lead.
Leadership + Opportunity = Influence. This takes time.
I will be able to grow in my leadership and influence by speaking on Sundays, leading our guest services teams, and leading our new small group that will begin next week.

Organization & Execution
Organization and Execution were the two areas that I had not given much thought to. In order to plant a church there will have to be a launch team. A launch team will be made of people who will lead different areas of ministry. The success of this will depend on my organizational skills and leadership. I will be growing in this area as I begin to lead areas of our guest services. This is a complex ministry with a lot of moving parts, so organization is a must.
I am leading the launch of our prayer room. We have planned how we will get the word out and how we will schedule people, now all that is left is the execution. Without execution there is nothing but meetings and planning, and we miss out on people finding their way back to God and growing in Him.

This residency is definitely challenging at times but I love a good challenge and I am excited to see how God will use all of this to grow his Kingdom in the inner city.