If you are going to plant a church anywhere, the first step you take is to go there. Simple.

When you get there, you find as many ways as you can to connect with people.

You find needs to meet.

You celebrate life with the community.

You walk right along side the community.

This has to happen first. before one note is played in a worship gathering. Before one word is said from a pulpit.

The same goes for planting a church on the internet.

How do we meet needs and celebrate life on the internet?

{photo | etrusia_uk}

If you liked what you just read you may like:

• Three internet campus models
• Gateway church internet campus studio tour
• Gateway Church Internet Campus Launch

I’m sure there are different schools of thought on lawn care, I haven’t delved deep into the inner workings of the lawn care philosophy community, but I have my own ideas on how to produce lush grass. I would qualify that by saying that my current lawn is my first attempt at such an endeavor and it is only 200 square feet, so controlling the variables is probably easier for me than some dude with half an acre.

My lawn looks killer after a few weeks.

So here’s my secret:

Start from scratch
The beauty is in the fact that there isn’t any grass there that is stuck in its ways. There hasn’t been time for weeds to settle their roots. I could pick the type of grass that likes to live in the local climate. I was able to rip open the ground before planting so I could put up to date irrigation in that would meet the needs of my lawn. Now all of the grass that is sprouting up is new and I bet if I could talk to it, it would be pretty darn excited about what’s going on.

Starting from scratch has its advantages for a church too, which is one of the reasons I have been involved in church planting for the last 5 and a half years.

I mention this as a primer for info that I will be delivering very soon. Exciting news.

If you liked what you just read you may like:

• Planting a church on the internet | step 1 – show up
• Monday Mornings
• Wounded Warriors

I am a church planter. This is my second go around and I am doing it bi-vocationally. It’s better for my family in that we can afford to eat. It makes for a slower growing church. But I am not going insane and breaking my family to do it.

Mondays are for work. I try not to think about church today, which is hard.

9-11 :: answer email and voice mail from clients and potential clients :: check stats on the websites that I depend on for income :: make adjustments to said sites based on the data :: flip through my Google Reader and check in on all your blogs :: maybe post something on my blog

11-3 :: creative time, this is where I try to create new stuff, making sure that I am well caffeinated

3-6 :: maintenance, I try to do maintenance at the end of the day because it doesn’t require a lot of brain power which is nice because at this point in the day I have very little to offer

6-9 :: church staff meeting. We do our main church staff meeting in the evening so that folks with jobs can drop in

it’s boring but it’s my life_

If you liked what you just read you may like:

• Planting a church on the internet | step 1 – show up
• The Church Lawn
• Wounded Warriors

Church planters are warriors on the front lines. The sacrifices we must make to accomplish this is immense. If you have ever had church planters close to you, then I don’t have to tell you. They are amazing.

So it is with a broken heart I ask you to lift up our Wounded Warriors at Catalyst Church. When I heard the news from Jake, it came at an appropriate time for our team at Impact Church. We are at almost the same stage in the game as catalyst and we are staring down the barrel of hard decisions.

It is truly the price we pay for the life we choose.

Keep your heads up guys. I can only imagine the growth in your life through this.

If you liked what you just read you may like:

• Planting a church on the internet | step 1 – show up
• The Church Lawn
• Monday Mornings