Finding a facility is one of the most daunting aspects of planting a church. I’ve thought a little about possible locations in Ann Arbor, but I haven’t put the effort into the search that I know it needs. The Acts 29 Network blog has recently posted a three part series (part one, part two, part three) written by Mark Driscoll listing twenty-three factors to consider when looking for a facility for a church. Now the search looks even more difficult!

1. Sight – Does the building look nice and well-maintained?
2. Time Flexibility – Is there freedom to change service times, come in early to setup, add a second service?
3. Set-Up and Tear Down – How much effort is required? Is there storage?
4. Smell - Gyms smell like sweat, cafeterias smell like food. Keep in mind the original use of your facility
5. Comfort – Is there AC/heat? Is there ventilation? Is there proper seating?
6. Lighting – Is the room too light for projection or too dark for seeing?
7. Acoustics – How well does the room reflect/absorb sound?
8. Power – Does the facility have sufficient, clean power?
9. Location – Where is the facility located? Is it near major roads/freeways? Is it in the location to which you’re called?
10. Children’s Space – Is there sufficient space for children’s ministry? Can that area be safe, secure, and clean?
11. Room for Fellowship – Is there sufficient space for people to hang out and mingle before and after service?
12. Cost – How much does the facility cost?
13. Storage – Can things like sound equipment and children’s ministry supplies be stored on-site?
14. Public Perception – Will the location affect people’s view of the church?
15. Parking – Is there sufficient parking (one space for every two or three church attendees)?
16. Additional Space – Is there a kitchen/gym/dining area? Are there additional classroom spaces or office space?
17. Additional Use – Can the facility be used for special events or services or for midweek activities?
18. Cleanliness – Is the location clean? Cleanliness says a lot
19. Accessibility – Is the location easy to find? Near major roads or highways?
20. Signage – Can temporary or permanent signs be used to indicate events and services?
21. Conflicting Dates – Can you be “bumped” from the facility? Does your rental take precedence over others?
22. Contact Length – “It is to your benefit to negotiate for a long-term contract that provides you a short escape clause should you decide to move to another location”
23. Facility Options for Consideration – “schools, churches, hotels, warehouses, community centers, theaters, and concert venues.”

I started the Acts 29 Network application process back in March. The process includes completing a number of documents like a testimony & call narrative, an overview of my marriage & family life, my theological and pastoral positions, a planting strategy and timeline, and an essay written by Julie about my call, her rote in that, her thoughts, etc. Addtionally I took entrepreneurial and DISC assessments and got references from a supervisor (Joel VanderSchel, pastor at New Life Church), a friend (Chris Rhodenhizer, pastor at Image Church), and a disciple (someone who was part of the small group that I led in Virginia). It was a very thorough application process that I completed last Friday.

After completing all the materials, the next to-do is a phone interview with Tyler Powell, the Church Planting Strategist with the Acts 29 Network. I had my phone interview last night and it went pretty well, I think. I was pretty nervous before it mostly because of the unknown of what exactly he would ask, how I would respond, etc. Some things came up that are concerns as I go forward with the Acts 29 application process

1. Very low entrepreneurial skills as measured by the evaluation
2. A DISC “score” that would be inconsistent with the typical profile of a successful church planter. #1 and #2 combined “might” indicate that I’m more of a #2 than lead planter. This is one area that the Acts 29 Assessment should give me some clarity on.
3. The church polity (government) that I intend to follow differs from many in Acts 29 and I need to provide additional clarity about what I mean when I say “elder-led congregationalism”. For a good summary of a summary of what I intend, read P.J. Tibayan’s blog post
4. My timeline (18-24 months) is further out than is typical (12-18 months) for men going through assessment. I based my timeline on a couple of factors
   1. Re:Train goes through June and I will very busy with that.
   2. Being in a college town makes launching in the fall natural and fall 2010 seems unlikely
   3. Launching at the beginning of second semester may work in the south, but January in Michigan would be dicey

So, there are definitely some potential red flags, but none of them were a great surprise to me. What I have consistently said is that I desire the input of men who have gone through the church planting process who can let me know if they see this as what God is calling me to and equipping me for. To that end, Julie and I will be assessed at the November Acts 29 Boot Camp in Louisville and from there we hope and pray to have additional clarity about the call to plant churches in Ann Arbor and beyond.

I have also prayed for patience, wisdom, and insight from God as I go through all of this, that I would welcome correction and direction humbly and that I would not seek glory for myself through church planting, but that my chief aim would be to magnify the name of the Lord. If I can do that, worship the Lord and lift Him up, then I will be content however He uses me.

In anticipation of being assessed as a church planter, I wonder how I will respond if my “grade” on the assessment indicates that church planting isn’t the most appropriate ministry for how God has made me. Maybe I’m better suited to pastor or replant an existing church. I don’t know, but I’m definitely praying about it.  This post from Scott Thomas on the Acts 29 Network Blog provides helpful thoughts when Envisioning a Replant.

1. Envision what the worship gathering could be (Acts 2:42-47).
   • Attitude of body during worship
   • Music
   • Prayer
   • Teaching
   • Communion
   • Children
   • Exaltation of God
   • Incorporation of arts
2. Envision what the evangelism could be (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8).
   • Who can you reach immediately?
   • What attitudes toward evangelism need to change?
   • Where or how could you boldly make an impact with the gospel?
   • What steps of faith need to be taken to reach the unchurched and the unsaved?
   • How could your youth evangelize?
   • How could households evangelize together?
   • What worldwide impact could you make as a body (i.e. foreign missions)?
   • How are you going to be an eternal value to your community?
3. Envision how education and discipleship could be effective (Acts 2:42).
   • How will it become a passionate pursuit of the body (“continue steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine,” Acts 2:42)?
   • What resources (people, qualities, gifts) do you have in place to launch greater disciple-making?
   • How will the fathers and heads of households (single moms, etc.) be trained to be the priest and spiritual head of their homes?
   • How will the older men and women teach and interact with the younger men and women? (Titus 2)
   • Will the age groups be segregated (children, youth, singles, college, married, etc.) or will they be integrated into the body?
   • What role will small groups play?
   • What training will be needed to help develop disciples who are passionately pursuing Christ?
4. Envision an Acts 2 commitment to fellowship (Acts 2:44-45).
   • In what ways will the body seek to meet the needs of one another (spiritual, social, financial, physical)?
   • What attitudes need to change to be sacrificially generous with time, money and resources for the encouragement and edification of the body?
   • How will the body serve one another actively and responsively in an unprompted way?
   • What will the membership requirements be? How will it communicate a covenantal commitment?
5. Envision an effective youth and children’s ministry.
   • Will they be integrated into the church ministry? If so, how?
   • How will families be strengthened through the student ministry?
   • How will the youth be encouraged and trained to evangelize their friends?
   • What role will the heads of households play in the student ministry?
   • Who (person or groups) will lead the youth and children’s ministry?
   • What facility changes are needed to communicate the value of children and youth?
   • What other positions of leadership need to be filled to be effective?
   • What leadership development with the students will be put into place?
   • What programs or customs need to be extracted from the youth and children’s ministry to avoid distractions from the ministry goals?
6. Envision an equipping staff (Eph. 4:11-13).
   • What changes need to be made with the staff (paid or volunteer) to meet the church’s goals?
   • Are the staff members doing the ministry or leading people to do the ministry? If they are doing the bulk of the ministering, how will they develop the body to do the work of the ministry?
   • Are you over-staffed or under-staffed to meet both financial obligations and the development of lay people (taking responsibility for ministry)?
7. Envision a body not reacting to finances to determine God’s call (Matt. 6:24).
   • How will faith in God calling a body to reach out to the community and world be weighed against financial responsibility and stewardship?
   • If mortgages or debts exist, how will they be paid off in a realistic way over a reasonable time period?
   • What attitudes or practices about money and finances need to be changed?
   • Is a budget in place? Is it a true reflection of the church’s giving and spending (balanced budget)?
   • What expenses can be cut immediately to be redirected toward the church’s mission?
   • Is the body (especially the leadership) making decisions based on finances or on God’s calling?
   • What creative ways can you generate more income without sacrificing resources, biblical principles, or expending paid personnel?

I’ve always struggled with pride. A guy that I played baseball with in high school called me the most arrogant guy he had ever met. I don’t think it’s true, but it’s a criticism that still stings to this day and one that I work hard to fight against. When people ask me about character flaws or struggles, I always mention pride/arrogance because I want people to “know that I know” and not let me off easy when I am proud. There’s no room for pride or arrogance in the life of a disciple of God and I am working against God when I seek glory, attention, or point-of-place for myself.

With that background, a recent post on the Acts 29 Network blog was especially appropriate. Acts 29 recently “added the measuring of arrogance and pride as a piece of the assessment process at the advisement of J. Allen Thompson, church planting consultant for Redeemer Church Planting Center. Allen calls these ‘stallers and stoppers.’”.

Allen calls the first staller/stopper “Self-Centered.” It is displayed by arrogance, betraying trust and being unethical. The measurable aspects of arrogance, according to Thompson’s research, are the following:

1. Takes criticisms of ministry programs personally.
2. When under tension is cold and aloof making others feel inferior.
3. Seeks to be the ultimate authority in the ministry.
4. Tends to be abrupt and impatient in manner.
5. Tends to live a parallel life from spouse.

I look forward to my assessment at the November Acts 29 Boot Camp, Lord willing, and I am praying that through the Holy Spirit’s power in my life, I will be able to fight against being self-centered. I greatly covet your prayers in this process.

The Point Community Church in Frankfort, KY is a member of Acts 29 and committed to planting churches. Here’s an overview of what they do

Church Planting Initiatives (CPI) is our focused and intentional effort to be a church planting church. Church planting is a key strategy of The Point Community Church.

Through church planting we aim not just to plant a church, but to plant churches which are committed to our Core Values of Teaching Truth, Worshipping Jesus, Living in Community, and Missional Living which are expressed through members and extended to the community.

Our church planting vision is to plant new churches led by a plurality of male elders who share our mission and vision, who gladly embrace our statement of faith, and who are committed to identifying with being evangelical, reformed and missional.

CPI includes

• Monthly Lunches and Roundtables for Church Planters
• Quarterly Meetings with regional Acts 29 Network churches
• A Church Planting Residency Program

Their residency program is something that I would love to model someday at Ambassador. Here’s their description

The Church Planting Residency is a specialized training track focused on developing an appropriately gifted and qualified man into a lead church planter. Success in this leadership development endeavor requires:

• Identifying the core competencies that are crucial to successful church plant leadership
• Assessing the resident’s current capacity in these areas
• Implementing an customized action plan tailored to the specific needs of the resident

Pray for The Point Community Church as they seek the kingdom’s growth in Central Kentucky

A tip of the hat to the Sojourn Church Planting blog for this link.

I blogged two weeks ago about my journey into church planting and discussions I have been having with various denominations. The discussions have been illuminating and enjoyable.

Fast forward to last week. I was in Seattle at Re:Train learning about Spiritual Formation and Discipleship. It was an encouraging and challenging time and I’m excited for how God will work in me and the other students over the course of this year. One of the curious items last week was the number of posts in the “blogosphere” that seemed to cast derision onto Re:Train, the faculty, Mars Hill, Mark Driscoll, and Acts 29. They all came from websites associated in some way to Southern Baptists. It was quite disheartening and it sure seemed like Satan was working last week to stop the work of godly men and women to advance the Gospel.

Today, Scott Thomas, Acts 29 Director, posted an article detailing some of the back-and-forth. The clarification is important, if for no other reason that it destroys the straw men used in the other blog posts. My prayer is that this “controversy” stops, for the Devil would love nothing more than to continue this “death by ‘brothers‘”

From Bob Thune of Coram Deo in Omaha, Nebraska

I believe that being a good learner (and therefore a good teacher) doesn’t mean knowingwhat to think, but knowing how to think.

…

So read the what-to-think stuff. But dwell in the how-to-think stuff. The three books below are a great place to start. I’m sure thoughtful commenters will recommend others. But I’m writing this, so my opinion gets front page.

Dynamics of Spiritual Life: An Evangelical Theology of Renewal by Richard Lovelace – a theology of renewal… one of the best books you’ll ever read on how the gospel brings renewal to people and churches.

The Gospel in a Pluralist Society by Lesslie Newbigin – don’t be throwing around words like ‘missional’ until you’re familiar with Newbigin’s work and understand why it’s a watershed.

Renovation of the Heart: Putting On the Character of Christ by Dallas Willard – Willard isn’t the most Reformed of theologians, but he’s a master of spiritual formation. And if your goal isn’t to form people spiritually as Jesus would want them formed, then you shouldn’t be planting a church. Don’t read Willard as a how-to manual; read him as a wise mentor who will force you to think about spiritual formation.

From Bill Minchin at the Acts 29 2006  Troy, NY Boot Camp

Reference Materials

• Church and Clergy Tax Handbook by Richard Hammer
• National Association of Church Business Administration
  • Includes compensation data
• Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability
• National Sex Offender Registry
• VolunteerSelect

Guiding “Theology”

• We live in a litigious society and the church is not immune from that
• God has placed us in positions of responsibility and has called us to be faithful stewards
• Therefore, we should give proper attention to the corporate side of the church

Misc

• Make sure that sub-contracting vendors have adequate insurance
  • Liability ($1 million)
  • Have vendor name you as “additional insured”. Makes the vendors insurance primary and yours secondary
• Exempt and non-exempt employees
  • To be classified as exempt, making over $26k, pass duties test
  • Non-exempt gets minimum wage and overtime
  • simply paying an employee on a salary basis doesn’t automatically make them exempt
  • Non-exempt cannot volunteer to perform the same duties for which they are paid
  • Non-exempt should document hours on a daily basis

Sexual Abuse Prevention Policy

• Written application
• Interview
• Institutional reference
• Six month rule (need to be member six months before serving)
• Two Adult Rule
• Maybe Criminal Background Test (VolunteerSelect)

15 Passenger Vans – 1o Point NHTSA bulletin

Gross Negligence

• Board members can’t be sued for normal negligence
  • Can be sued for gross negligence
• 15 Passenger Vans (no safety measures)
• Sexual Abuse (no screening)

Tax Issues

• Housing allowance is tax exempt
  • Must be recorded in official board minutes
  • Must be done every year and is NOT retroactive
• Employee vs. independent contractor
  • IC – worker who contracts to do work using his/her own methods and is only supervised as to end product
  • 3 different tests (in Hammer’s book)
• Tax deductibility for contributions
  • Must be a gift of cash or property
  • Services are NEVER deductible
  • Contribution must be unconditional and without personal benefit
  • Contribution must be made to organization or for the use of the organization
  • IRS wants to see “Full administrative and accounting control to use gift consistent with churches mission and purpose”

From Bill Minchin at the 2006 Troy, NY Boot Camp

• There needs to be intentionality about financial issues in the church
• Preaching the gospel does not make you exempt from financial mis-deeds
• Financial controls – process
  • designed to provide reasonable assurance that a church’s business affairs are being handled appropriate
  • adherence to God’s law and principes
• 2 major components
  • Separation of Duties – separate physical handling of assets with responsibility to handle accounting
  • Independent Verification – have two people involved in every function, especially counting cash and signing checks

Lessons Learned

• Counting and handling of income – 2 persons involved in all transactions
• All income goes through church account, not just tithe received in Sunday service. Eg. donations for food at membership class, money received at youth group car wash fundraiser
• Check signers should have no financial responsibilities
• Bank reconciliation done by other person
• Independent oversight by board or committee
  • Who is asking the important questions?
  • • Are the mortgage payments being made on time and properly?
    • Bank reconciliation – are records up to day? is it being done every month? Is it accurate?
    • Has legal counsel been utilized in the last 6 months?
    • Has the church received any threatening correspondence?
    • Have there been any expenses over a certain limit?
• Provide user-friendly financial report to ministry leaders and congregation
• Get outside independent CPA audit
• Have procedures in written form
• Background checks and confidentiality agreements
  • No secrets, but we’re a family – there are things that are wise to keep in the family

Process

1. Create budget
   • Vision-driven
   • Create standardized worksheets and account codes
2. Have volunteer counters
   • Minimum 2
   • Records on form
3. Business office enters numbers into accounting software
   • All income!
4. Expenses
   • Tries to give priority to personal reimbursements
   • Large checks require elder signature
5. Bank reconciliation
   • Physically get mailed to elder’s home
   • Elder reviews bank reconciliation
6. Monthly reports provided to church and ministry heads
7. Quarterly audits
   • Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability

From Dominick Brignola’s talkat Acts 29 Boot Camp

1. Incorporate
2. Adopt by-laws
3. Apply for Federal recognition as church
4. Apply for State recognition as church
5. Get benefits available for ordained ministers
   • Housing allowance
6. Religious Corporation Structure
   • If you sell things (bookstore, etc)
   • Define membership structure, board structure, voting age
   • With big decisions, there needs to be definition of how approval happens
7. Association
   • Group of people joined together for common purpose
   • Leaves individual members of church to legal action
   • Sometimes associations can’t own real estate
8. How to incorporate
   • Fill out paperwork (charter) with state
   • Need corporate name
     • Isn’t federally protected. to do that, need search at LOC
   • Need corporate management (trustees, etc)
   • Identify membership and rights vested in members
   • Define corporate purposes
9. Draft set of by-laws
   1. Membership participation clause (including discipline)
      • Christian arbitration (you will not sue church)
   2. Non-discrimination clause
      • Have right to limit membership / involvement based on religious reasons
   3. How to replace elders (build something that will outlast you)
   4. Housing allowance
      • has to be renewed each year by IRS. By having in by-laws, you can say “treat money given to pastor the same as last year” so that you don’t get dinged at audit time.
   5. Have designated contributions clause
      1. Money’s given to church are distributed at the church’s discretion

Misc

• Get IRS Tax Guide for Charities and Non-Profits
• IRS has 15-month lookback
  • Created Jan 1, 2006
  • Paperwork comes back Jan 1, 2007
  • All donations given in 2006 are for sure deductible
• Getting 501c3 makes things much, much easier when it comes to deductions
• Have clause in by-laws to indicate that church works hard to confirm where money is going