One City Story Among Many
Brian Hook - City Catalyst, Vision360 DFW
Some of the best things I’ve learned in church planting have come from the experiences of others. Books, conferences and even Seminaries didn’t teach me all that I needed to know about starting a church. Some great lessons are being learned in Dallas, and maybe some of these things can be applied to your city as we join together.
I am working with a group of business and church leaders in Dallas Fort Worth. They want to see churches planted with the glocal DNA (glocal engagement with church multiplication). They also want to do it together. That means we have Lutherans, Presbyterians, Charismatics, and even some Baptists rolling up their sleeves. When we sit around the table, we are also multi-ethnic. We have Asian Indians, whites, Latinos, African Americans, Africans, Egyptians, and many others collaborating to provide a strategic plan of city transformation.
How are we doing that? Well, it begins with a team of high caliber business and church leaders that we call a board. Eighty percent of the board is from the business sector. I know that sounds corporate, but these guys are corporate. They are also servant leaders that want to reach the city. They don’t care as much about church planting as they do seeing Dallas Fort Worth transformed by the power of Christ. They see the importance of glocal churches to help accomplish this task. These guys are seeing some momentum develop as they dream, plan, and leverage their influence together. We have the president of one of the leading movie theater chains hosting an event this next week. Al Weiss, the President of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts is joining him to share his testimony and heart for church planting. It has been fun to watch business leaders take the initiative in starting churches.
We now link key churches and networks together with the city board to provide a strategic focus. Today we have 13 different churches and 5 networks/organizations collaborating together.
We also provide a learning community for some of the best church planters in the city. This learning community includes assessment, training, coaching, resourcing and connecting. As of today, we have trained over 150 planters, and eight are ready to go. Yesterday we had our first Church Planters round table with 23 in attendance. Pat Combs, one of our board members, spoke on “Engaging the Business Leader In Your City.” Pat blew the guys away with his transparency and insight that many “preachers” don’t hear at seminary or church planter conferences.
Pray for us in DFW. We call our group Vision360 Dallas Fort Worth. We have so much to learn, and maybe your city can help us. We’d love to hear what’s happening in your neck of the woods.
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Dec 7, 2008 at 08:06 PM
I am interested in being involved in some way with your network. Please let me know how I might get in touch with you all. David Aldrich .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Dec 8, 2008 at 02:04 AM
Hey Guys
I don't have much to offer from our city yet, but the ideas represented here are amazing. Any chance you guys recorded Pat Combs message and would be willing to make it available to others?
Dec 8, 2008 at 03:15 PM
Great Stuff Brian, Great stuff. Glocal transformation in DFW would also easily spill out into the whole world.
Dec 8, 2008 at 04:29 PM
Travis
We did have Pat's message recorded, but it is very difficult to hear. Next time we will use a microphone.
I do have the notes, and I can make them available in the next couple of days. Just come back to the blog.
Steve - Thanks man. I know you are excited about this.
David - I will contact you.
Dec 9, 2008 at 09:41 PM
Great to see the church multiplication vision of Vision360 come to DFW, my home city for 3 1/2 years.
As a point of connection, New York City, through the ministry of Concerts of Prayer Greater New York with whom I served, had been involved with Vision360 for some time. But if you are looking for another CM model consider the Church Planting Alliance of New York City which is a work of Redeemer Presbyterian (Tim Keller - author "Reason for God") and COPGNY. This partnership offers training, support and prayer. Prayer is believed to be the most vital of the three. Hope that will be the case with Vision360DFW for prayer must build and sustain the Church.
Dec 9, 2008 at 11:27 PM
We are starting something similar with "out of the box" church planters here in Austin. We are having our first gathering on the 18th. I also would love to see the note from what Pat shared, if you could email those to me.
Dec 10, 2008 at 07:57 PM
Brian -- I am familiar with Redeemer and love what Tim is doing through their model. We work with a Presbyterian church in Dallas. Vision360DFW does not have a certain CP model, but rather, we have many models we work with (house, high impact, seeker, etc.) We also have may networks we work with, including Acts29, Glocalnet, LINC, FCCM, and others.
You are right on with prayer. We believe prayer to be vital for what we are doing. Prayer helps us see what God is initiating in the city among his people. Prayer is also vital because we are engaged in war. Breaking down barriers between the clergy/laity system, and also denominational strongholds is more than just a good idea. It's warfare. We have numerous prayer initiatives we are joining within the city.
Tony, I will share the notes with you. I love all that is going on in Austin. Vision360 would love to partner with you as God initiates.
Dec 10, 2008 at 08:25 PM
Hey Guys,
Here's the notes from the Round Table the other day.
Church Planter’s Roundtable
“Engaging the Business Leader”
I. Today’s economic headlines:
A. Foreclosures at all-time highs
B. Equity markets down 45-50% off their highs
C. Credit markets frozen – no or little lending
D. Bond markets in disarray – little or no debt financing for companies
E. Consumer confidence levels at all-time lows
F. Higher education costs at all-time highs
G. Cost of living going up
H. Incomes flat
I. Taxes – soon to be heading up
J. Savings rates at all-time lows
K. Government debt tops $30 trillion (refer to chart)
L. 401(k)’s are now 201(k)’s
M. Currencies around the world are being devalued
N. The banking system nearly collapses
O. Thousands of bankruptcies going on now and in the next year
P. Trillions of dollars of savings wiped out
Q. Unemployment at 5.7% and climbing, will maybe hit double digits next year
II. So, how do you feel now? Pretty crummy?
A. No, you in this room should feel like today and in the next year will be the greatest opportunity to lead business people to a relationship with Jesus Christ than you may ever see in your lifetime. (Can I hear some Amens?)
B. Why do I say that? (There is no need to fear the unknown, when we have a known God)
C. There are thousands of business leaders who need what you have to offer.
D. Now, what you have to offer will be the key to seeing your ministry grow and for you to fulfill what God has called you to accomplish.
E. We, as ministers of the Gospel catch more people when they are ready to fall and fail. That was the model that Jesus showed us and the question now becomes, “Are you ready?”
III. Fear
A. Fear is high and it may be at a near high comparable to that of the Great Depression.
B. But, that is OK. We have a business system and a government system that is broke and there are great opportunities all around us to step in and help business and government leaders to get back to the fundamentals (which includes the fundamentals of our faith).
C. Just to put this in context of my world – Warren Buffett
a. Do you recognize this guy?
b. Warren has been a net buyer in the market in the last month. He says to “have fear when there is greed and to be greedy in the market when there is fear.” (The Master of Value Investing)
D. We should keep in mind Rothchild’s famous statement that one should buy the market “when there is blood in the streets.”
Men, we definitely have blood and carnage in Wall Street today.
IV. So, why should this be important to you as a Church Planter today?
A. What is your economic policy?
B. How are you going to start that Church? Most of you are good looking guys, but has anyone found that bank yet? (You know the one that gives loans based on looks?)
C. No, we need and we have in this country plenty of capable business leaders who are and will be more willing to help you in the future.
D. But, the problem is – they have not been properly engaged by the church.
V. We could spend a lot of time on the reasons, but let’s get to the practical heart of engagement for you.
VI. What Engagement with business leaders is not:
A. It is not about you! (Now, who made that line famous?)
a. I have met many successful pastors and left with the feeling that the meeting was all about them and their needs.
b. They came with their hand out (sometimes I gave or tried to help, but most of the time it backfired)
B. It is not about your next great project
a. Who knows what your needs are before you ask?
b. Who is giving you the vision for this new plant?
c. Do you think that God has already pre-arranged that this vision will be funded?
d. Then, what amount of coercement or arm-twisting will help you get your church funded?
C. It is not about “Show me the money”
a. We have a name for the types of people who used to try and hang around us as ballplayers, because they thought there may be some financial benefit (Green Flies)
b. I have watched certain pastors over the years hang with only the “wealthy” folks in the church.
c. They even vacation with them (Free!)
d. Fenton Moorhead story (Porsche)
VII. What Engaging the Business Leader should look like:
a. First, let’s set the record straight on who you are:
i. You are God’s chosen priests
ii. You are undertaking one of the most incredibly challenging things a human being can even attempt and that is to plant a church today in the US
iii. You are incredibly gifted in many areas, talented beyond belief, confident in your abilities, educated, articulate and man, do you know your stuff.
iv. God has chosen you for this season, for this reason, and you will succeed. You will succeed. There is not a doubt that you will succeed, because you are right in the middle of His will!!!
v. And, you have a divine purpose to meet and to lead all people who God brings your way.
VIII. If you will allow me, I would like to pass on a few tips that I have learned along the way:
A. There is no doubt that you know your stuff, and the stuff that you know is the stuff that a lot of business people want to know. (Sometimes they just don’t realize that your stuff is way more important and has the potential to really make their stuff a lot more valuable).
B. But, here is the deal on “knowing stuff.”
a. Many business leaders learned their stuff over years of hard work and experience and some of them even believe that they did it all their own.
b. Some of them don’t realize that they are really just the turtle on the fencepost
c. Bottom line is that they think they know more than you, because they have made a ton of dough and you have not!
C. What most of them don’t know is that there is another economy.
a. Yes, it is God’s economy – and if one chooses to follow God’s economy, it would be a whole lot better for them and their families and they would not have much of the financial stress that they are currently experiencing. (Neither would our government!)
b. You, who have studied God’s Word know about God’s economy.
c. You have something that many of them don’t have and it is up to you to find them, teach them, guide them and direct them towards a better way, in fact the best way.
d. You will show them how they will be blessed beyond belief when they learn to become true stewards of God’s resources.
IX. Now, how you do that is the key
A. I want to encourage you to find a business mentor, if you don’t already have one.
a. All the great leaders that I have worked with or been around have a mentor and have had many of them.
b. Bob Roberts has a business coach – and he was kind enough to share that man with me. He is also my business coach.
c. You need one that will meet with you regularly and coach you in business techniques and strategies.
d. If you want to engage business leaders, you need to know who they are, how they think, and why they do the things they do.
e. I have had the great opportunity to learn from some of the best in the world (Flip, Mark McCormack, Admiral Ed Allen)
B. Engage, engage, engage
a. I want to teach you a quick process for every engagement that you have with another person
b. EXCEL – the model used by some of the most successful business leaders that I know
1. Some of them do it instinctively and some have had to learn the process and practice it before it became natural.
2. Engage, X-plore, Communicate, Empower, Launch (use Brian to show them)
c. Use EXCEL to build a network of contacts – make it a goal to add at least one business leader per week to your network (so, how many new contacts will you have at the end of a year? Wrong, you could have 7,800 – based upon the rule of 150)
X. Lastly – Follow-up
A. This is the key in business and it is a skill that the best business leaders respect (Mark McCormack story or calling)
B. Some practical tips:
a. Write thank you notes (handwritten)
b. Follow up on all action steps
c. Contact them as much as they will allow you (I always ask my clients how often they want me to call or email)
d. Be aware and look for opportunties to minister to them (keep up with the news – Bob Roberts with the market)
e. Develop a “business leader advisory board” – people who you can meet with a few times a year to help you and each other
f. Serve them and their needs without any obligation and then you will experience the real benefits of an engaged business leader:
1. They will join in on your visions
2. They will develop leadership skills, as you disciple and train them
3. They will pour out resources that will sustain and grow the Church
4. They will help you transform a neighborhood, a community, a city and beyond
5. I know this about most business leaders: “What the believe, they will practice” – it has what has made them successful. “What they value, they will support” Most know they did not make it on their own.
XI. My experience
A. I have 4-5 men that speak into my life on a regular basis (Brian and Bob are two of those people)
B. How do they make me feel when I am with them?
C. I love these men and will do whatever I can to help them be successful
D. That is the key, men. Engage these business leaders and “Capture their hearts first – If you capture their hearts through that unconditional love to serve them, then their heads will follow.”
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