Church Planting Boot Camp: Day 1

Humility.
Reluctance.
Repentance.

These are the words that are on my mind as I come out from the first night of the Acts29 Church Planting Boot Camp.
I just couldnt ask for more..

Matt Chandler started off this morning saying, that if we build our churches on INFORMATION ALONE and not TRANSFORMATION, we are headed into big trouble.

He also said (and this is for the legalist religious people), that you cannot have a doctrine of grace and still walk with a swagger.
And thats so true...
You cannot preach grace...
You cannot preach that you are a sinner that needs Jesus every day...
and walk with pride.

Matt Carter followed by declaring that there is a big difference from the Christianity that Jesus taught and the Christianity that we live out.
We must be for the poor, for the needy and not only for the rich.
He described in Amos 5 where people come together for church and God literally says, "Stop it... just shut up." He would not accept their offerings or their noise (songs), because they were not caring for the poor and needy...
Looks like the church that we have today in America and God is telling us to stop it.

Darrin Patrick talked about Cultivating a Culture of Repentance. What a message!
I literally teared up, recognizing that we need to repent well.
These words burn in me.
I am afraid for my life that my gospel proclamation will outpace my gospel application.
We, as leaders sometimes must be weak, because in our weakness, He is made perfect.
He also talked about the sins that pastors face.

We must memorize James 3:16, "For where JEALOUSY and SELF AMBITION exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice."
But James 5:16 says, "Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."

Mark Driscoll basically called us prideful and arrogant because we think that we can do it better than anyone else.
He told us, that as church planters, we must strive to make Jesus look good because He is good.
He told us to walk in the light.
He told us to be humble and not prideful.
He admonished us to repent well... to repent of our sin publicly.
He told us to turn critics into coaches.
He finished the first night by telling us to persevere.

Without the hubba hubba...
Without anyone falling down their chair because... well just because.
Without the heavy breathing of the preacher catching his breath...
these preachers called every one of us to repent of our sin and look to the work of the cross.

Tomorrow we continue this journey.
I met a couple of people... some young, some older, putting small differences away but all with a heart to serve one another.
What an amazing thing the body of Christ is.