Daniel Im

Pastor + Author

Articles

Join Me at Exponential East 2016

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Here are a few ways that you can grow during one of the largest church planting conferences of the year, Exponential East 2016.

If You’re Not in Orlando…

  • Tune into the Exponential live stream here for all the main sessions.
  • Download my new eBook, Multiplication Today, Movements Tomorrow: Practices, Barriers, and an Ecosystem here
    • If you’re not registered as a Free or Plus member at NewChurches.com, then you can go here to register for free and get the eBook

If You’re in Orlando,

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Book Review and Best Quotes: Habits for Our Holiness by Philip Nation

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41WQr4W89ML._SX326_BO1,204,203,200_“The spiritual disciplines can help you, but they cannot save you.”

I love books written on the spiritual disciplines because I understand that my relationship with God is the plumb line to everything in my life. If I’m not regularly spending time with God in prayer, reading Scripture, and engaging in the other disciplines, my compass gets skewed and there’s fall out everywhere else.

Here’s the problem though: most books on spiritual disciplines lack one thing.

That one thing isn’t great stories, solid theology, innovative ways to practice the disciplines, or motivation. That one thing is how the disciplines connect to mission.

In Habits for Our Holiness, my friend and co-teaching pastor, Philip Nation, addresses what’s been lacking in most books on spiritual disciplines in a readable, yet comprehensive way. It’s precisely this,

Discipline leads to mission.

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The NEW Planting Missional Churches: Changes in the 2nd Edition

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PMC-Book-Image

When I began working with Ed Stetzer, one of the first things that I did was approach him about revising Planting Missional Churches. It has been such a helpful book to tens of thousands of people around the world, but much of the stories and content needed to be refreshed. Furthermore, there were new questions and issues that planters and multipliers were facing, like multisite, residencies, multi-ethnic churches, theological education, and the difference between denominations and networks.

So we decided to revisit the book, and in doing so, we ended up changing over 50% of the content. The stories, content, and models are different in each chapter. We also wrote five new chapters, completely reorganized the book, and integrated the research we conducted in the new State of Church Planting study, a research partnership of over a dozen denominations on church planting in the U.S., Canada, and Australia.

In addition to rewriting the content in the existing chapters, we wrote five new ones from scratch:

  • Chapter 8: Multiethnic or Monoethnic Churches
  • Chapter 9: Multisite Planting
  • Chapter 27: Residencies and the Future of Theological Education
  • Chapter 28: Denominations and Networks
  • Chapter 30: Spiritual Leadership

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Tomorrow’s Church Planting

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tomorrow

Church planting today is not what it used to be.

Before, church planters were the ones who couldn’t get a “real ministry position” at a church, so they started their own. Albeit, there were those entrepreneurial few who defied all odds and started churches on their own, by and large, being a church planter wasn’t what it was today.

Now, being a church planter is the thing to do.

Church planting is getting the attention of the masses. In fact, many church planting conferences are now larger than typical pastoral conferences. This is surprising when, decades ago, there was no such thing as a church planting conference. For example, the recent SEND North America church planting conference in 2015, hosted by the North American Mission Board (an SBC entity), had two to three times the attendance than the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting in 2015. That would not have happened 15 years ago. In addition, most seminaries now have certificates, tracks, and/or entire degree programs focusing on church planting. This too would not have been the case in yesteryear.

The evidence is clear. Church planting is exciting, it has momentum, and it is here to stay. But this article is not on today’s church planting, it’s on tomorrow’s church planting.

As I’ve been consulting with denominations, networks, and churches regarding their strategy to assess, train, coach, and fund church planters, there are a few trends that I’m beginning to notice. In fact, a few of these trends were the focus of Ed Stetzer’s and my writing in the newly updated edition of Planting Missional Churches: Your Guide to Starting Churches that Multiply. Not only did we overhaul every single chapter, but we also wrote several new ones. If you read the previous edition, it would be worth your time to take a look, since it’s practically a new book (over 50% new content). For this article though, I want to focus on three of the major trends that I’m beginning to notice for tomorrow’s church planting: Kingdom collaboration, bivocational ministry, and residencies and theological education.

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Book Review and Best Quotes: BiVO by Hugh Halter

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BiVO book coverHugh Halter, in his book BiVO: A Modern Day Guide For Bi-Vocational Saints paints a picture of bivocational ministry for Western church planters, pastors, and missionaries. Not only does he share examples from his real-life experience of doing this, but he also give us an inside picture of his church and how they operate as a ministry served and led by bivocational leaders.

For example, in one chapter, he actually outlines the bivocational lives of each of his leadership team members. Here are three out of the nine that he shares:

Hugh & Cheryl: As I did my first church plant in Portland, about one third of my income came from personal missionary support, while the other two-thirds came from house painting. Because of our son’s epilepsy, my wife Cheryl has never been able to work until about five years ago. Now, about nine years into the church life, I receive one third of my income from Adullam, one third from speaking and training other church leaders, and one third from Cheryl’s real-estate career. Over the nine years Adullam has been a church, I have averaged about twenty-five hours a week for the actual church leadership roles. The rest of my time has been spent on the road, training leaders or painting as it was in the early days.

Matt & Maren: Matt was my original partner with both the church and with our national ministry platform called Missio. Matt worked with FedEx one third of the time, worked at a golf course for five dollars an hour, and had another one third of his income come from missionary support. As the church grew, Matt replaced his FedEx job with a one-third time stipend from the church and pieced the rest of his income together between church, training, and coaching. Two years ago, Matt gave up his church stipend and set out to start a small but successful publishing company. He remains one of our “elders” and continues to give Adullam about fifteen hours a week as a volunteer. His wife Maren has decided to stay home and be a mom.

Greg & Becky: These two are book agents and writers but emerged as key lay leaders, pastoring almost one third of our congregation with marriage issues. They serve on our leadership council and continue to give about twenty hours a week to the pastoral needs of the congregation without any pay.

Halter’s main premise is to help church leaders understand that their two callings are to work to provide for themselves and their family, AND to see their “entire lives leveraged and in use for God’s kingdom purposes, to live intentionally as a missionary saint.” Living out these dual callings is what he terms as BiVO. After all, “if none of us got paid, God would still expect us to lead and serve the world.”

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Book Review: Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders

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Spiritual Leadership, with an emphasis on the word spiritual, is definitely an accurate description for J. Oswald Sanders’ book. He covers popular leadership principles, such as, time management and the importance of developing our talents, but the majority of his points and illustrations are all in reference to spiritual leadership.

Sanders introduces each chapter with a scriptural reference, by which he uses to ground his ideas within the chapter, but much of his explanation is rooted in his wealth of experience and/or the experience of other notable figures, such as Charles Spurgeon, A.B. Simpson, A.W. Tozer, and J. Hudson Taylor. Sanders believes that all Christians are leaders and that we should all develop our leadership potential.

Central to this book is the belief that God is the one who calls forth leaders in the church and then subsequently anoints them.

Spiritual leadership is a matter of being chosen, rather than choosing. Spiritual leadership is all about being last, rather than first. A spiritual leader is one that imitates Christ Jesus–the greatest spiritual leader of all. As important as it is for a leader to listen, lead, articulate, and inspire well, what takes precedence over any method or skill is one’s connection to the vine–Jesus Christ.

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Prophets of a Future Not Our Own – Oscar Romero

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Here is an amazing poem attributed to Archbishop Oscar Romero. Enjoy!

Wikipedia
Wikipedia

It helps now and then to step back and take a long view.

The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,

it is beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction

of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.

Nothing we do is complete,

which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.

No prayer fully expresses our faith.

No confession brings perfection,

No pastoral visit brings wholeness.

No program accomplishes the Church’s mission.

No set of goals and objectives include everything.

This is what we are about.

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Multiplication is Impossible Without Intentionality

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*My post here was originally published on Nov 10, 2015 in Christianity Today.

Wikipedia - Calvin Teo
Wikipedia – Calvin Teo

Growing up in Vancouver, there were a lot of 7-Elevens around. In fact, one of my favorite things to do as a child was to buy a Slurpee, nachos with cheese, and some chewy coke bottle candies. Ah, the memories. So when my Sunday school teacher offered to buy my friends and I nachos and cheese, in exchange for not making his life miserable, you could’ve probably guessed my response. I was like a child with a halo around his head. Who knew bribing a child could be so effective!

The funny thing about 7-Elevens, and other convenient stores like them, is that they have a strategy for multiplication. They don’t just haphazardly place stores wherever there’s cheap rent, nor do they wait for entrepreneurial leaders to show up at their door step. They are intentional. Incredibly intentional. They do their research on the best location for future stores. They develop leaders because they know that the success of their stores rises and falls on leadership. Intentionality is everything.

The same is true for church planting.

Intentionality Matters in Church Planting

When we conducted the largest and most thorough research project ever done on church planting, we discovered that intentionality was everything. You can download the U.S. and Canadian version of the report at www.newchurches.com.

We discovered that:

  • Church plants who were intentional with evangelism had more unchurched people in their congregation
  • Church plants who were intentional at having a highly public presence had a larger worship attendance
  • Church plants who were intentional at starting at least one daughter church within their first 3 and 5 years saw a consistent increase in attendance
  • Church plants who prioritized leadership development saw more people make a decision for Christ

And the list goes on and on. The fact is, intentionality matters.

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Why You Should Read Multiple Books at the Same Time

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Flickr - missusdoubleyou
Flickr – missusdoubleyou

I’ve discovered that if I’m not reading, I’m not learning. And if I’m not learning, I’m not growing. And if I’m not growing, I have no right to be leading.

Reading and learning are the gasoline to my car. I’ve discovered that, the more I’m reading and learning, the further I can go in life and the better that I can come up with ideas and strategies to implement and execute them.

I love the following quotes about reading:

Some books are to be tested, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested – Francis Bacon

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body – Richard Steele

A person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read – Mark Twain

He that loves reading has everything within his reach – William Godwin

The one technique to reading that I’ve discovered is to never read just one book at a time. 

The greatest innovations in history have often resulted when two seemingly disparate ideas, from different disciplines, are brought together. That’s why I’m always challenging myself to read from different disciplines, all at the same time.

The one technique to reading that I’ve discovered is to never read just one book at a time.

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With my current responsibilities in directing LifeWay’s initiative to resource church planters, multisite churches, and multipliers at NewChurches.com, in addition to consulting denominations and networks, writing books, preaching regularly, and leading a software development initiative to transform the way churches and denominations assess, train, and coach, I have a lot on my plate. That’s why I need to keep my mind sharp by reading, learning, and growing.

Here’s what I’m currently working on:

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3 Ways Tesla Affects Your Church Metrics

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*My post here was originally published on Oct 13, 2015 in Christianity Today.

tesla1

When you think of Tesla, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind?

For most people, it’s electric cars, but what if I were to tell you that this was not going to be their greatest legacy? Yes, they did vastly expand the driving range of an electric vehicle from 73 miles (117 km) to 200 miles (320 km) on a single charge. Yes, they did reimagine the electric car and the way that it is powered. Yes, they did open up the black box on their technology patents so that other car manufacturers can benefit from and improve on their technology. However, since electric vehicles only account for one percent of the market, unless more people begin to buy electric vehicles, Tesla’s impact will be small, if not negligible. In addition, with the recent report that revealed Tesla loses more than $4000 on every Model S car that they sell, the future is looking dim for them.

Although Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, may want his company to be remembered for electric vehicle technology, he might actually be inadvertantly writing his legacy elsewhere. Even more than their advancement in battery technology, I believe that the greatest impact that Tesla will make in the automobile industry is from their dashboards. After all, while only one percent of customers might buy an electric car, one hundred percent of vehicles have dashboards. Have you ever seen the dashboard on a Tesla? It feels like a thing of the future. Not only have they gotten rid of all the manual dials and gauges and made them digital, but they have also reimagined what a dashboard could be. I wouldn’t be surprised if other car manufacturers quickly follow suit.

Here are three ways that Tesla has reimagined the dashboard:


1. From static to dynamic. Most cars still have manual gauges to change the temperature, measure the RPM, or change the radio station. In the Tesla dashboard, everything is digital and dynamic.

2. From single-function to multi-function. If you look at the dashboard in a common vehicle, you’ll have single-function gauges. In the Tesla, you have the ability to display anything you would like on your dashboard. For example, you could measure the energy consumption on your car, while adjusting your car’s height suspension, and follow your GPS all at the same time. Your dashboards are digital screens.

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