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    Church Planting Is for Wimps (Redesign): How God Uses Messed-Up People to Plant Ordinary Churches That Do Extraordinary Things
    Church Planting Is for Wimps (Redesign): How God Uses Messed-Up People to Plant Ordinary Churches That Do Extraordinary Things
    Church Planting Is for Wimps (Redesign): How God Uses Messed-Up People to Plant Ordinary Churches That Do Extraordinary Things
    Ebook139 pages2 hours

    Church Planting Is for Wimps (Redesign): How God Uses Messed-Up People to Plant Ordinary Churches That Do Extraordinary Things

    By Mike McKinley

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    About this ebook

    This book tells the story of the revitalization of Guilford Baptist Church in northern Virginia. Weaving together scripture and biblical principles with humor and personal anecdotes, author Michael McKinley asserts that a pastor's faithful exposition of God's Word, passion for sharing the gospel, and care in the training of other godly leaders are more important than the size of his church.
    McKinley honestly shares his own fears and rookie mistakes, along with encouraging stories of how God moved at Guilford Baptist. We are reminded that God uses weak and fearful pastors in plants and revitalizations; church planting is indeed for "wimps." For pastors and seminarians considering a church plant and those already struggling in their own fledgling congregations, this book is a thoughtful and encouraging resource.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCrossway Books
    Release dateMar 20, 2017
    ISBN9781433558306
    Church Planting Is for Wimps (Redesign): How God Uses Messed-Up People to Plant Ordinary Churches That Do Extraordinary Things
    Author

    Mike McKinley

    Mike McKinley (MDiv, Westminster Theological Seminary) is senior pastor of Sterling Park Baptist Church in Sterling, Virginia. He is the author of a number of books, including Am I Really a Christian? and Church Planting Is for Wimps. He and his wife, Karen, have five children and live in Northern Virginia. 

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    • 4/5
      An exciting and challenging little bookThis book is the story of Mike McKinley, a church planter out of Capital Hill Baptist. He chronicles his journey in planting the church, and highlights both the essential principles along the way (preaching the Bible, establishing leadership structure, training men, praying large, etc...) and struggles (lack of trust in God's word, fear of man, discouragement, focus on numbers, etc...) that church planters go through.I should also mention that the author is absolutely hilarious and this book was a true pleasure to read. (He also likes punk rock, which is a bonus.) He is a skilled writer and knows how to combine both a lively story with serious instruction. The quips, funny and heart-wrenching stories, practical advice, and helpful insight are endless. I just finished the book tonight and shared pretty much everything I read with my wife--we had a great time seeing the ways we need to grow, and being amazed at God's grace that will do it!One helpful thing he emphasized at several points throughout the book was the importance of ministering to the poor, and the importance of diversity. Churches should not be aimed at a target audience. The very nature of the church demands diversity.Many times I felt that this book was speaking directly to me or about me. It was incredibly encouraging. I would highly recommend it to any in the work of trying to get the church to grow.I walk away from the book with a renewed sense of vigor to trust in the power of God's word and to proclaim it boldly and well, to get to work in training leaders, to pray more vigorously for God to perform a mighty work, to look for efforts to reach out to the poor, and to double my efforts in the work entrusted to me.

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    Church Planting Is for Wimps (Redesign) - Mike McKinley

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    Church Planting Is for Wimps

    Other 9Marks Books

    Church in Hard Places: How the Local Church Brings Life to the Poor and Needy, Mez McConnell and Mike McKinley (2016)

    The Compelling Community: Where God’s Power Makes a Church Attractive, Mark Dever and Jamie Dunlop (2015)

    The Pastor and Counseling: The Basics of Shepherding Members in Need, Jeremy Pierre and Deepak Reju (2015)

    Why Trust the Bible?, Greg Gilbert (2015)

    Who Is Jesus?, Greg Gilbert (2015)

    Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, 3rd edition, Mark Dever (2013)

    Finding Faithful Elders and Deacons, Thabiti M. Anyabwile (2012)

    Am I Really a Christian?, Mike McKinley (2011)

    What Is the Gospel?, Greg Gilbert (2010)

    Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church: A Guide for Ministry, Michael Lawrence (2010)

    It Is Well: Expositions on Substitutionary Atonement, Mark Dever and Michael Lawrence (2010)

    What Does God Want of Us Anyway? A Quick Overview of the Whole Bible, Mark Dever (2010)

    The Church and the Surprising Offense of God’s Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline, Jonathan Leeman (2010)

    What Is a Healthy Church Member?, Thabiti M. Anyabwile (2008)

    12 Challenges Churches Face, Mark Dever (2008)

    The Gospel and Personal Evangelism, Mark Dever (2007)

    What Is a Healthy Church?, Mark Dever (2007)

    Building Healthy Churches Edited by Mark Dever and Jonathan Leeman

    Discipling: How to Help Others Follow Jesus, Mark Dever (2016)

    Church Elders: How to Shepherd God’s People Like Jesus, Jeramie Rinne (2014)

    Evangelism: How the Whole Church Speaks of Jesus, J. Mack Stiles (2014)

    Expositional Preaching: How We Speak God’s Word Today, David R. Helm (2014)

    The Gospel: How the Church Portrays the Beauty of Christ, Ray Ortlund (2014)

    Sound Doctrine: How a Church Grows in the Love and Holiness of God, Bobby Jamieson (2013)

    Church Discipline: How the Church Protects the Name of Jesus, Jonathan Leeman (2012)

    Church Membership: How the World Knows Who Represents Jesus, Jonathan Leeman (2012)

    Church Planting Is for Wimps

    How God Uses Messed-Up People to Plant Ordinary Churches That Do Extraordinary Things

    Mike McKinley

    Church Planting Is for Wimps

    Copyright © 2010 by Michael McKinley

    Published by Crossway

    1300 Crescent Street

    Wheaton, Illinois 60187

    All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

    Cover design: Faceout Studio, www.faceoutstudio.com

    First printing, 2010

    Reprinted with new cover, 2016

    Printed in the United States of America

    Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

    All emphases in scripture quotations have been added by the author.

    ISBN-13: 978-1-4335-5704-0

    ISBN-10: 1-4335-1497-4

    ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-2464-6

    PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-1498-2

    Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-1499-9

    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

    McKinley, Mike, 1975–

    Church planting is for wimps : how God uses messed-up people to plant ordinary churches that do extraordinary things / Mike McKinley

    p. cm. (A 9Marks book)

    Includes bibliographical references and index.

    ISBN 13: 978-1-4335-1497-5 (tpb)

    ISBN 10: 1-4335-1497-4 (tpb)

    ISBN 10: (invalid) 1-4335-2464-6 (ebk)

    1. Church development, New. I. Title.

    BV652.24.M37 2010

    254'.1092—dc22  2009031789

    Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

    2022-03-03 11:45:32 AM

    For Karen,

    God’s gift to me on this journey

    Contents

    Acknowledgments

    Introduction: Justify Your Existence

    1 Church Planting—Slightly Preferable to Unemployment

    2 So, How Exactly Does One Plant a Church?

    3 One Thing Is Necessary

    4 Cleaning Out the Sheaves

    5 God Always Gets His Way

    6 How to Ruin Everything

    7 No Offense, but You’re Doing Everything Wrong

    8 Redefine Extraordinary

    Appendix 1: Church Planting Memo Prepared by Mark Dever for the Elders at CHBC

    Appendix 2: Men’s Discipleship Training Syllabus: Grace Community Church (Ashburn, Virginia)

    Acknowledgments

    I owe a lot of people a lot of thanks. Please allow me a moment to express my gratitude at the outset.

    A great deal of thanks is owed to my friends at 9Marks. Jonathan Leeman has been both an excellent friend and an excellent editor. Matt Schmucker and Mark Dever have taught me the gospel in word and deed for fifteen years. I am very grateful to God for you all.

    Many thanks are due to the brothers and sisters at Guilford Baptist Church, who are a source of true joy and encouragement to me. Special thanks are due to my friends Gail Smith, Tim Fanus, Paul and Lisa Emslie, and Aaron Pridmore for their partnership in the gospel work at Guilford. I also must draw attention to some of the long-time members of the church, particularly Nancy Higgs, Doris Jenkins, Lem Jordan, Sharon Brown, and Lee Thompson, who trusted God enough to hand their church over to a twenty-nine-year-old who didn’t know what he was doing. Being your pastor is one of the greatest honors in my life.

    Finally, I am grateful for the wonderful family with which God has blessed me. My in-laws, Virgil and Susie Andrews, have been far kinder to me than I plan to be to the man who steals away my only daughter. My brother and sister-in-law have been generous with their prayer and encouragement. I also owe great thanks to my parents, whose love and support I’ve never doubted.

    Without my children, Kendall, Knox, Phineas, and Ebenezer, life would have far fewer adventures, smiles, and joys. Thanks for giving up family fun day for a season so that I could write this book.

    And to Karen, whose love and service I do not deserve . . . words fail me. Thank you for everything.

    Introduction

    Justify Your Existence

    The history of my life will say to the world what it says to me—There is a loving God, who directs all things for the best.

    Hans Christian Andersen

    One online e-zine has a regular feature called Justify Your Existence. The gist of the feature is this: they take a band that you probably haven’t heard, and they put to them the supreme challenge. They ask the band to convince the readers that it’s worthwhile to grant them a hearing.

    Well, I am aware at the outset that I bear the same burden. You haven’t heard of me. There’s no obvious reason you’d want to read anything I have to say. I don’t pastor a large church. Despite what my mom thinks, I am probably not destined to be a famous preacher or conference speaker. I don’t have a particularly brilliant methodological insight that will transform your life or ministry. But maybe that’s all okay. I am not writing this book to help you build a giant church or to advocate a technique that guarantees wild success.

    What’s in This for You

    Instead I want to share with you my story of planting a church (well, kind of planting a church . . . we’ll get to that later). It’s not a particularly original way to present this material, but I think it is appropriate, because Christians are people in the middle of God’s story. The small victories and slow progress of the gospel in our lives and churches are actually spectacular evidence of God’s grace and exactly the things that make up part of his wonderful story of redemption.

    So I hope that my story overlaps with your story in a way that’s encouraging and helps your ministry. I have learned that God uses messed-up people like me and you to plant churches that look utterly unremarkable to the world. The marvelous thing is that, in his kindness, God does amazing things through those churches. My hope is that my testimony to God’s everyday amazing grace will

    inspire some people to become church planters,

    encourage others who are in the middle of the church planting journey,

    spur pastors of existing congregations to invest heavily in church planting,

    and give all church members a better sense of how they might love and pray for church planting teams, especially if God sends them on one.

    It would be my joy if, by the time you are done reading this book, you’re thinking, If God can use this moron, surely he can use me as well!

    To that end, I’ll make a deal with you: I’ll be transparent about my failures and struggles, which are legion, if you promise to be amazed by God’s kindness. Do we have a deal?

    The Quick Bio

    First, what do you need to know about me? I was raised outside of Philadelphia, so I have anger issues. You would too if you were an Eagles fan. My parents were brought to Christ through a painful family experience when I was about nine or ten years old, and they began dragging my brother and me to a large evangelical church in our town. One Sunday God showed mercy to me by giving me ears to hear the gospel, and I turned from my sin and trusted in Christ.

    Even though I was serious about my faith growing up, I had what people today kindly refer to as issues. My grades were good, and I didn’t get into trouble with girls or drugs, but my soul was a mess. I was proud and judgmental, pretty much convinced that everything and everyone else was idiotic. I was a jerk, and I didn’t know it. Had someone told me, I wouldn’t have listened. Let’s face it, as long as teenagers in the church are not getting into trouble with girls or drugs, no one is going to bother them. So I was left to grow more proud and more angry at other people.

    As I grew older, church fit me less and less. Instead I found an outlet for

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