Going Deep Into Church Planting, With Joel Brooks

I recently listened to a talk given by Joel Brooks, Lead Pastor of Redeemer Community Church in Birmingham, Alabama. This talk, which was geared toward potential church planters, was extremely insightful, immensely practical, and very encouraging. Joel basically broke down the nuts and bolts of what a church planter should expect when he plants a new church. A few of his points were:

• Nobody, including the church planter, gets the church they want.
• Don’t focus on numbers. Satan can destroy a church in two ways: by keeping everyone from your church or by bringing everyone to you church.
• Invest in leaders as soon as possible.
• Hold your initial vision loosely. Or better yet, don’t have an initial vision at all. Wait and see what kind of vision God creates in you.
• From the very beginning, make missions a part of your DNA.
• Don’t get angry with staff or attendees for not seeing all the needs of the church.
• Enjoy every season of the church plant.

I highly recommend listening to this message, even if you’re not a church planter. It will help you understand all that goes into planting a church.

Listen to the message here.