ConvergeUSA Blog

How to Build a Launch Team - Free Webinar - December 2nd

Over 300 people have signed up for these free Church Planting webinars and the response has been encouraging.

Join us for Part 4 of the FirstSteps webinar series with Gary Rohrmayer as he provides a deeper look at another critical step of planting a missional church: Building Your Launch Team. We will be providing insights on:

• What is a Launch Team?
• How to build agenda harmony
• How to design your launch team meetings
• Building an Advisory Team
• Keeping the evangelistic temperature high in the launch team phase

Wednesday, December 2, 2009 at 2 pm Central (3 pm Eastern/12 pm Pacific)

Register Here

Find out more about the FirstSteps Network

FirstSteps for Planting a Missional Church Manual

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Perry Noble to Speak @ Ignite 2010 - March 24-26

Perry Noble is the founding and senior pastor of NewSpring Church with campuses in Anderson, Greenville, Columbia and Florence, South Carolina. At ten years old, the church averages over 10,000 people across all campuses.

Perry is a gifted communicator and teacher, convicted about speaking the truth as plainly as possible. God has given him a vision and a passion for helping people meet Jesus, and each week he shares God’s word and its practical application in our daily lives.

Perry, his wife Lucretia and their daughter, Charisse, live in Anderson, South Carolina. You can read all of Perry’s unfiltered thoughts about life and leadership at PerryNoble.com, and don’t worry, he holds nothing back.

Ignite 2010 will be a gathering of church planters, parent church pastors and church multiplication champions who will be issuing and responding to a call to start more churches in the next five years than we have in the last 20 years.   We are calling each of the 500 churches that were planted in the last 20 years to gather in Phoenix, AZ, March 24-26 for the IGNITE 2010 National Church Planting Conference and to declare their multiplication dream for the next five years.

Mark your calendars NOW and prepare your hearts to be inspired by Perry Noble and some of the best multiplication leaders in Converge Worldwide.  

Register Here

Generosity Sermon Series from GenerositySummit.com

Below are some video clips from the "Pirates" series done at Sun Valley Community Church. We hope you can incorporate these messages into your generosity talks at your church...

 

Week One | Week Two | Week Three | Week Four | Week Five

Generous church ministries strive to help churches maximize their potential by helping leaders create a generous culture in their local church.  The generous church strategy is simple:

Expose church leadership to generous living principles from God’s word
Coach them in developing plans and practices that create a generous culture in the church
Resource them through partnerships with organizations that add value to their ministry
Reproduce generous cultures in other churches through intentional mentoring in local church peer groups

Our goal is to help each local church maximize the generosity potential of their congregations while creating a network of local church generosity and stewardship teams that share best practices, resources and ideas which result in greater kingdom impact locally, regionally and globally.

Scott Ridout, Director of Generosity for Converge Worldwide, facilitates the Generosity Summit.  Scott has been Lead Pastor at Sun Valley Community Church in Gilbert, AZ for 10 years and serves on the Boards of Vision Arizona (www.visonarizona.org), a local church planting movement, and Vision Abolition  (www.visionabolition.org), which is committed to the  prevention, rescue and restoration of victims of sex trafficking and sexual exploitation worldwide.

Generous Church Summits are a ministry of Converge Worldwide.    (HT)

Networking Basics - Gary Rohrmayer

After doing a Google search on the word "networking" I realized that there is definitely a generational disconnect.  I see networking primarily as a highly relational activity, face to face meetings, personal contact, meaningful engagements...but I think the younger generation sees networking primarily from a technological perspective with a relational component...thus the phenomenon of social networking.  Now, I am not opposed to technology, for the last two years I have aggressively entered the world of "texting," "blogging", "tweeting" and "face booking".

Here is my concern; it is a rule of life that I have seen worked out in many ways...good things can become bad when there is an over-dependence on them.  Social networking is a supplement for our relationships; it should add value to our relationships, not be the replacement of our personal engagement.

The mission that God has given us is a highly relational mission.  Jesus said, "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you" John 20:21.  Jesus came into this world, lived in obscurity for 30 years and then spent three years relationally investing in twelve men, whose charge was to do the same thing by relationally investing in others. This strategy has worked for 2000 years each of us has been touched by someone reaching out to and investing in us relationally, thus advancing the gospel and the mission of God.

Missional leaders understand the power of connecting relationally in their community through personal networking. Ray Bakke offers this recommendation, “Pastors who network their communities, especially in the first year of a pastorate, may end up knowing that community better than any other person.  This upfront investment of time should pay rich dividends and provide the opportunity to help people…” (The Expanded Mission of City Center Churches, p 53-4)

Here are ten insights to help you as you enter the world of relational networking:

1. Trust in God’s provision. Live with a humble dependence on God.
2. Take the posture of a servant. Be known as a servant leader.
3. Be an effective listener. Talk less and listen more.
4. Be an initiator. Get out and meet people weekly.
5. Make a memorable first impression. Dress appropriately for the setting.
6. Take every referral seriously. 
7. Try something new.  Join something in your community.
8. Develop partnerships.  Build alliances with service groups
9. Keep accurate records.  Know the people you meet.
10. Always follow up.  Email or write a note after every meeting.   (HT)

Excerpt from FirstSteps for Planting a Missional Church

Check out Gary's Blog

Free Church Planting Webinar: Networking and Gathering Principles

In a desire to get critical training materials into the hands of church planters earlier in the process, I have taken up the challenge of providing a one hour, free, webinar each month that will bring some of the key principles found in the FirstSteps to Planting a Missional Church manual.

We will go through the Six Stages of a Missional Church Plant.

• FirstSteps Overview - Recording Available
• Stage One - Relating with God and Your Supporters - Recording Available
• Stage Two - Networking and Gathering - November 11th @ 2pm CT
• Stage Three - Building a Launch Team
• Stage Four - Designing Your Public Worship Services and Initial Ministries
• Stage Five - Launching Your Public Worship Services
• Stage Six - Establishing the New Community

To keep informed on upcoming webinars 

In a desire to get critical training materials into the hands of church planters earlier in the process, I have taken up the challenge of providing a one hour, free, webinar each month that will bring some of the key principles found in the FirstSteps to Planting a Missional Church manual.

We will go through the Six Stages of a Missional Church Plant.

• FirstSteps Overview - Recording Available
• Stage One - Relating with God and Your Supporters - Recording Available
• Stage Two - Networking and Gathering - November 11th @ 2pm CT
• Stage Three - Building a Launch Team
• Stage Four - Designing Your Public Worship Services and Initial Ministries
• Stage Five - Launching Your Public Worship Services
• Stage Six - Establishing the New Community

To keep informed on upcoming webinars