Preachers, when you are preparing a message, remember there is a “now word” within the message. What do I mean by a “now word”? If you approach planning your weekend services like we do at Celebration Church, then it’s likely that you look at your yearly calendar and prayerfully consider what your sermon series should be during the year. That’s a great thing to do, and I think it’s how the vast majority of pastors approach weekend services and message prep these days.

When I plan out my sermon series each quarter, I pray and then seek the perspective of the staff before implementing them during our weekend services. However, even though the topic usually doesn’t change as the series launch date draws closer, I often find that there is something beyond the surface content of the message that God wants to accomplish in our church. It’s that deeper spiritual work that I try to elevate and push forward as I teach any particular series to our church.

For example, last year we did a series on family which took place just after Easter weekend — a typical time to focus on such a topic. Now, I don’t know about you, but after 13-plus years of teaching on family, I sometimes feel that the topic can become a little worn out. It can be difficult to find fresh ways to communicate the timeless truths of Scripture that surround this topic. That’s when the “now word” came into play.

I distinctly felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit telling me that what our church really needed was encouragement — they were doing better than they thought they were in this area. Although the title of the series was Fam vs. Wild (overcoming obstacles to family health), the constant theme that the Holy Spirit kept weaving through this series was the theme of encouragement. It was like a divine whisper in every message saying, You can do this. Don’t give up. You’re doing better than you think you are.

The “now word” is like the spiritual subtext of your message. It goes beyond what you are teaching to elevating what God wants to deposit into your church through the message, and knowing what layers of growth God wants to add to the church. The “now word” answers these questions:

• What does God want to add to our church?
• What areas do we need to be challenged in?
• Where does God want to take us a local expression of His church?
• What will keep us on track, passionately serving God without waning in zeal?

As speakers we put a lot of effort into planning our services and the messages series for the year, but let’s not forget that each weekend is an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to do something catalytic in our congregations. You can – and should – plan and prepare the message, but don’t forget to seek God for the “now word” within it.

Just like everything else we do at Celebration Church, we approach our Awakening 21-day season of prayer and fasting with intentionality and structure. It took us several tries to find out which approach worked for us in facilitating the greatest participation in the fast, as well equipping people to sustain their efforts and build momentum for the whole 21 days. This is how we structure our three weeks of fasting:

Week 1:  I will kick it off on a Sunday and cast vision and preach a message around prayer, fasting and spending time in God’s word. This week, we make it our goal to get as many people as possible to commit to daily devotions and begin the fast. Keep it simple to get them involved and just start the journey. You can find out more about how our church approaches daily devotions here. We also keep this week simple by not cluttering it up with meetings (even prayer meetings) or church activity. The first week of fasting can be difficult and many people experience some discomfort and fatigue at first because their body is detoxing and adjusting. But by the end of week one, people have adjusted and are enjoying it.  So now we are ready to build upon week one in week two.  Remember in the first week, we simply want people to get on the bus – to get disciplined and focused on God. Commit to daily devotions (a daily personal time in prayer and God’s word) and begin to fast.

Week 2: This week is the big prayer week. In week two, we build on the momentum of week one by incorporating additional prayer meetings. Upon the foundation of devotion to the word and personal prayer we laid in the first week, we hope to add the layer of more corporate, intentional, fervent prayer. We do this by opening the church at various times throughout the week for corporate prayer and prayer with our staff. We add prayer meetings in our men’s and women’s streams as well as small groups.  We also add extended prayer and worship in some of our services.  The entire church is in prayer mode this week. In my experience, learning how to pray intently is better caught than taught. There is something “catching” about being with other praying believers that ignites a fire in your own heart and stirs up a greater hunger and desire for prayer.  Week two is about building that prayer hunger and intensity.  Jesus taught his disciples to pray. Are we doing the same?

Week 3: The last week of the fast is about experiencing God like never before. To lay hold of God and go to the next level in our walk with him for the upcoming year.  In years past, we have had Awakening services at our main campus. When people show up at these gatherings after two weeks of fasting and intensified prayer, the faith level is so strong and the spiritual atmosphere is on fire! People experience the presence of God like never before and receive so many breakthroughs and even miracles. This year, we are having four Awakening Revival Nights, that will be incredible services that culminate the fast. These services are open to the entire city and we will even have people come from around the world to attend.  They will be absolutely amazing and I hope you can attend and see for yourself!

If you are a pastor who is trying to create a culture of prayer and fasting in your church, don’t forget to be intentional about how you structure your 21 days. Make the most of this heightened season of spiritual focus and momentum.

Thanks for the thoughts and questions from recent posts – I’ve been getting great feedback from pastors in this blog series. Some asked not to be named, but brought up questions and comments I think will help others, so I wanted to respond in a separate blog post. I will respond to two points brought up and I think they will apply to the comments raised in the previous post.

There was a question about the obvious exceptions to the ideal situation of being blessed and sent out by your senior pastor and ministry team of your local church. There has also been a question raised about the text of Act 13:1-3 and whether or not it contains a principle of submission to authority within it.

First, there are a FEW obvious things that could be exceptions to being sent off under good terms by your pastor. If your pastor denies Jesus, falls into heresy, has a moral failure and is non-repentant, thus ship wrecking his faith, if he is removed from his position, disqualified, or the church fails and he quits the ministry, then these extremely rare cases would be an exception. However, you should still seek to plant your church in relationship with someone who knows you, believes in and can attest to the call of God on your life, can support you relationally, and provide credibility to your ministry. Again, I can’t state how important this is for YOUR success. It actually has little to do with your senior pastor’s comfort or happiness. It has to do with setting YOURSELF up for strength and success as a church planter going into a new environment where no one knows you and people will be questioning your credibility. In ARC, we sometimes encounter church planters who for one reason or another are not being launched out of their local church. The reasons range from dramatic (“shipwrecked faith”) to doctrinal (“We want to be a non-denominational church, and I come from a denominational background”) to missional (“church-planting is not a part of my local church’s outreach strategy”). In such cases, we require that the church planter find a sponsoring church, develop a relationship with the senior pastor of the church and be “sent” from that church after a short time. Yes, it delays the start time a bit, but the long term benefits are well worth it. Remember, ministry is a marathon, not a sprint, and loneliness and isolation are one of the main reasons so many pastors leave the ministry annually. Also remember that this is not about if God will use your ministry, if lives will be changed or impacted or whether or not you are called. This is about STRENGTH and HEALTH. You need both for success and longevity.

Secondly. A question was raised if there is a chain of authority implicit in the gathering of Paul and the men gathered together in Acts 13:1-3. My answer to this is yes, there is an authoritative relationship implied. Notice that the Bible says that teachers and prophets were gathered. These leaders in the early churches were responsible for teaching doctrine and leading the churches. I am sure Paul was leader, too, but all the same, he submitted himself to the leadership of others. When the Bible says that “they” (likely the entire church together with its leaders — cf. 14:27 and 15:2) laid their hands on Paul and Barnabas and sent them off, it is referring to a custom of the ancient world, centuries old by that time, whereby blessing, agreement, and investment with authority was confirmed. This was not a peer to peer activity, but a act performed by someone in authority to someone under their authority. No, the exact words “senior pastor” aren’t used, but this scene would have been recognizable to the first century reader as an impartation of authority upon Paul and Barnabas by those above them in leadership.

More important than that is Paul’s evident belief that his greatest chance of success and blessing would result from the agreement and authorization of the elders there. You can easily study more about this on your own, but this moment of commissioning by the church elders was a launching point in Paul’s ministry. There was a due process of order that he had to go through, and I believe that church planters should still submit themselves to due process which should culminate in the act of being sent out by people who know you personally and can confirm the call of of God upon your life and timing of the launch of your ministry. Yes, there are exceptions, but they ARE exceptions. I would not qualify something such as “outgrowing your pastor” as an exception. You should still be able to be sent off under good terms.

If you know that you are called to plant a church, the next step is to be sent out from your local church with the blessing of your senior pastor.

This is so important to the success of a church plant. A church planter needs to be sent out by a pastor and ministry team who recognize and affirm the calling of God on his life, and are in agreement about the timing of the decision to plant. The Apostle Paul gives us a great example of this principle.

In Acts 13:1-3, the elders at the church in Jerusalem were gathered together praying, and the Holy Spirit said, “…Set apart for me Paul and Barnabas for the work to which I have called them. Then, when they had prayed and fasted, they laid their hands on them and they sent them away.” Now, there can be no doubt that Paul was called by God to plant churches and preach the gospel. The circumstances of his calling were dramatic and left no question about God choosing him for a mighty work! And yet even Paul did not just start his ministry solely based on his incredible experience with God. He went to the elders at Jerusalem and prayed with them, let them get to know him, and waited till God released him for ministry under their covering and with their approval.

Notice that it wasn’t the elders who called Paul and Barnabas and empowered them for service. They received that commission from the Lord and by the Holy Spirit. The laying on of hands by the elders was a sign of their witness to the call of God upon Paul and Barnabas. It was so that the church could be in agreement with their work. This is what being “sent out” means. It means that there is the power of agreement and authority behind the work that God has called you to do. This is a powerful component of the process of church planting because it gives you credibility in the eyes of others and validates your ministry. The Bible says “..every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” (2 Corinthians 13:1) There has to be a senior pastor and a ministry team the church planter has served under that can validate their character and calling. I don’t care what kind of corporate board a church planter has, he must have confirmation in his calling from his senior pastor and the blessing from the church he has served in.

The blessing of your senior pastor and your ongoing relationship with him and your local church should be an incredible resource for you as you move forward with your church plant. Make sure that you wait on the timing of God and that you are sent out from the proper authority and under authority as you plant your church.

Stovall

So you want to plant a church? That’s great! If you read my last post, then you know that I am big fan of planting prevailing, life-giving local churches. But before you plant, make sure you ask yourself this question:
 
Do I know a fully as certainly as humanly possible that I am CALLED to plant a church and to be a senior pastor?
 
I don’t mean to be the bearer of bad news, but I think this is a true statement:  If you are not certain that planting and pastoring a church is your life’s calling, it is very likely you will not succeed.
 
The demands that ministry places on you, your family, your finances, your health and your own personal faith will swallow you whole if you are not fully convinced that it is your God-given calling and destiny in Christ.  Of course there will be moments of doubt and discouragement. Everyone has those moments – I have had them, too. But no matter what is gong on, I can never deny the moment God called me to ministry. Paul wrote in Phil. 3:12b “…I press on to take hold of that for which Christ took hold of me.” Pastoring Celebration Church is the purpose for which Christ took hold of me and I am compelled by Him to keep pressing forward in that calling even in times of trial.
 
In a time when planting a church has a near science behind it, it’s important to remember that still it takes a LOT more than a hot venue, cool lights, and clever marketing to birth and sustain a prevailing church. Planting a church is not merely an entrepreneurial endeavor, like opening a business franchise. Even in the 21st Century, church planting and pastoring are still sacred callings from God. It will take tremendous sacrifice, relentless prayer, and what I call “Kingdom sweat.” If you are considering planting a church, make sure you aren’t looking at it like a career option. If you are looking at it as just a career option, you already don’t have what it takes. God’s true churches are birthed by His Spirit through those whom He has truly called.

Stovall