Jeff Lee's Zone Blog Welcome to my weblog (which most people call a blog). The opinions expressed herein are my own personal thoughts and opinions. Check back often for my musings and updates on the Launching Zone. Feel free to e-mail me your comments on my entries or use our contact form.

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Fear of the Unknown
Church planting is all about facing the unknown. Can we get this church off the ground? How will we fund this new work? Will other churches support the new work? Planters are faced with these types of questions on their journey of launching a church. One of the issues that we want to address with our existing churches is the fear that new church plants will steal members from their congregations. Over time I pray that we can build bridges between our established churches and our new churches. Church planting is truly about kingdom work and no one church will ever reach all of the unchurched in an area. I was reading an article in Outreach Magazine about the 50 leading church planting churches in the US and many of these churches had planted one or more churches right around their own church. For some churches this would seem crazy, but truly kindgom minded churches realize that their church can not reach everyone and that maybe another church can better reach and meet the needs of people in your area. In essence it boils down to the DNA of the church. One of our goals is to plant churches that enstill multiplication in the DNA of their core members and this becomes the expectation of the church so that kingdom work can spread exponentially rather than through addition. The reality is that some churches and some pastors will not understand the need for planting more churches in the "Bible belt" where we have churches on every corner. My encouaragement is for each church to take a look around a 5 mile radius of your church and see if there is a group of people that your church is not effectively reaching. There may be many reasons why you are not reaching these people but try to focus on the needs of these unchurched families. Their eternity is at stake and we all must start thinking with a bigger mindset than just with the goggles of our own church. Could it be that a new church, with a different worship style or a different approach could more effectively reach these people. Maybe that is God's call for your church to step forward to expand your ministry and the kingdom by planting a new work. When we do get to heaven I truly believe that God is not going to ask us how big our church was but what kind of impact did our churches have on His kingdom. When NorthStar was preparing to launch over a year ago many people and church leaders were afraid that this church would steal members from area churches. I can say without a doubt that there are plenty of unchurched people out there and our records bear witness to that. A vast majority of our new members were not active in any area church and some had not ever really had any connection with a church. NorthStar is averaging 420-450 and we are just over a year old. The sad thing is that NorthStar has only begun to make a dent in the unchurched population of our area. Are you willing to face the unknown, try something different, start a new service, or a new ministry at your church. The time is right for all of our churches to face their fears and recognize that we can and we must plant many more new churches of all kinds if we hope to make any headway for the kingdom.
posted at 03:14AM	comments

Friday, March 23, 2007

The Big Mo
Our first Launching Zone Meeting was on March 20th. We had 62 people present, representing most of our associations and several different churches. People seem to sence the urgency for church planting with the recent announcement that Toyota will be building a plant just outside the Tupelo area. Marc Howard talked about the importance of us planting more churches to keep up with the growth that will come over the next ten years. I want to encourage all of our churches to pray about doing something to get into the church planting movement. Even our small churches can do something to help a new church. I also want to encourage our churches to begin praying about planting new churches. Becoming a missional church begins with a change in the mindset of the church. Leaders in the church are the key to helping churches move forward with an outward focus. Pray about becoming involved in the Launching Zone in some way. We need prayer partners, people who can contribute financially to help new churches, and people who may feel God's call to become involved in planting new churches. Contact your pastor to let him know your interest and so he can give you direction about how to become involved with the Launching Zone.
posted at 09:56PM	comments

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Launching the Zone
For the last year, I have been part of launching a cutting edge church designed to reach the unchurched in the Saltillo area. We have been amazed to see how God has moved in so many ways to pave the way for us to reach a new generation of people with the Gospel. At first some churches were likely scared that this new church might steal members from their church but the reality is that the churches in our area have not seen a mass exodus of their members. We are excited to see the continued growth of First Baptist Saltillo and their plans to relocate. The reality of life in northeast Mississippi is that it is a growing area with thousands of unchurched who are looking for life's answers. Sadly many seek happiness in negative ways and others seem totally uninterested in God altogether. The time is right to plant new churches that seek to take the gospel to where the people are and to address the issues that people face with clear answers from God's word. The Leadership Team at NorthStar just returned from the C3 conference at Fellowship Church in Dallas where Ed Young Jr. is pastor. One of the highlights of the conference was hearing Dr. Ed Young Sr. share about his commitment to youth and children's ministry. Here is the pastor at one of the largest SBC churches and at the spry age of 70 he raised the roof talking about children. Dr. Young also shared one alarming statistic that re-energized my commitment to church planting. Dr. Young said that 6 out of 8 youth who leave our churches have accepted Christ as their personal Lord and savior. If we are not reaching our own "church" kids then we know we are not reaching the unchurched kids. New churches consistently reach more people for Christ during their first 10 years. God is calling a new generation of church planters to catch a vision of the need to reach different ethnic groups, different communities and the unchurched. These new churches will have many styles, locations, formats and passions. The one constant in all of these churches must be a commitment to the centrality of scripture, a commitment to the Southern Baptist Convention through mission giving, service, and doctrinal integrity.
posted at 12:19AM	comments

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

The Launching Zone is planted
Over the last several months Marc Howard and I have been dreaming about the idea of planting a new wave of healthy New Testament churches that reflect a commitment to our Southern Baptist heritage and a realization that the church of the future will look different than the churches that our parents attended. My hope is that this new ministry will be the catalyst for new churches that are truly kingdom minded and outward focused. I spoke with Kevin Wood pastor of the new Trace Crossing Church in Tupelo the other day and shared with him the support of the Launching Zone and the support of NorthStar as they contiue to move toward their public launch. Other area churches have also expressed growing support for this new church plant. Keving is diligently working with his core group to share the vision and handle the myriad of details necessary for a successful church plant. It makes me think of the hurdles we faced in launching NorthStar not quite a year ago. The momentum leading up to launching a church is both exilerating and scary at the thought of birthing a completely new church. Our prayers are with Kevin and his team over the next few months. I firmly believe that God is raising up a group of men, young and old, who realize that we can't continue to do things the way we have for the last 50 years and hope to reach the current generation. The speed of society today demands that the church jump on the technology bandwagon and at least engage the culture at the risk of becoming irrelavent if we don't. With cell phones, BlackBerries, Ipod, Bluetooths and a host of other gadgets, pastors and churches have a great capacity to stay connected with members and the community like never before. Can you imagine the idea of a church running 100 in attendance being able to put the pastor's sermon on a podcast that could be downloaded by anyone in the world, the time is here! Large and small churches can truly have a global impact with the power of the internet and other technologies. The Launching Zone's only mission is to help people with a passion to plant new churches to have the resources, training and support they need to reach this generation for Christ as they plant churches of all different style, ethnic groups and in all types of locations. The cost of stagnation and inactivity is too great for the kingdom. I invite you to come join this effort as we step out of the box, roll up our sleeves and plant the next generation of churches to reach the "lost generation" living next door to us.
posted at 12:16AM	comments