2007 August » russbutcher.com

Starting Right

Church at the Grove, Church Planting, Missional 1 Response »

Aug 162007

Yesterday I went with Craig Story (CATGrove’s other church planting pastor), Terry Little (East Metro Church Starting Strategist), and Mike Keaton (Pastor of Crossroads-Walton County) to visit with Ritchie Miller the pastor of Avalon Church in McDonough, GA.

Ritchie was awesome! He and his Executive Pastor Dusty Beach spent over two hours sharing their journey, vision and what they learned in seven years of doing church at Avalon.

Here is what Ritchie said was key to Avalon’s influence and growth (they have over 1200 in weekend attendance):

Starting right-Vision, direction and focus on people without Christ.
Taking Risks-Ritchie shared many stories of how they made decisions that normally wouldn’t make sense, but they followed God’s lead and God blessed the decisions.
Commitment to the Vision and not compromising WHY they started the church.
Quick Decision Making-They have structured their church where they can make quick decisions on the spot.

What does this mean for CATGrove?

We have to be LASER-FOCUSED to the vision that God gave us at the beginning! Please see this POST to see THAT VISION!
We took a risk to start the church! We took a risk to go to 2 services! We must continue to take risks! Many will not make sense.
We must remain committed to think of those that are the “least likely to go to church”. We must commit to EXISTS FOR THOSE THAT ARE NOT YET HERE! We must remain committed to those that are without Christ, disconnected, and unconvinced.
Quick Decision Making is an absolute must. ~~Committees~~ do not facilitate quick decision making. We have STARTED RIGHT and set up our structure to make “on-the-spot” decisions. This is HUGE for churches meeting in temporary facilities.

Thanks to Ritchie, his staff and their hospitality. Check out our pics below:

Mike Keaton, Ritchie Miller, Russ, Craig Story, Terry Little

Executive pastor Dusty Beach in the middle.

How to Invite People to Church

Church, Church at the Grove, Missional 1 Response »

Aug 142007

Below is an incredible Blog Post from a Pastor named Shawn Lovejoy on how to invite people to church. I pasted it below OR you can go directly to the BLOG POST HERE to read it.

ONE of the mistakes I think we Pastors make as much as any other is telling people WHAT to do on the weekends without showing them HOW to do it. For instance, so many pastors every weekend tell the members of their congregations to “go share Jesus with the lost”. However, I am convinced that most of the time, people don’t know HOW to share Jesus with the lost! That’s so broad! As Pastors, we’ve got to do a better job, not just telling people WHAT to do, but showing them HOW to do it. IN honor of this truth, and in light of my message this past weekend, I wanted to share THE TOP 10 WAYS TO INVITE SOMEONE TO CHURCH WITHOUT GETTING PUMMELED:

1. Send a co-worker or friend one of our promo e-mails or send them a link to our church website, with a note that says: “Just thought you might connect with what our church is going to be talking about this weekend.”

2. Send a link to one of our church’s online sermons with a note that says: “When I heard this message, I thought about what you’ve been going through…” Go to www.churchatthegrove.com and click on “listen online”.

3. Take a worship guide in to work with the message series title on it and say: “When I heard this message title, I thought of you.”

4. Have a BBQ and invite some co-workers or friends over to eat. Here’s the only criteria for the INVITATION list:
They can’t go to church anywhere.

5. Invite someone to lunch on Sunday (or dinner on Saturday) and then say: “Hey, would you guys be interested at all in meeting us at our church beforehand, and THEN going to eat?

6. Think of someone who;s had a tough year this past year, drop them an email or a phone call and simply say: “when I was listening to my pastor’s message this past week, I thought about you and prayed for you (IF you actually prayed for them).”

7. Invite a family friend’s child over to spend the night with our children on Saturday Night and then ask the family’s permission to take their child on to church with you and drop them off afterward. If our Children’s Ministry rocks, this child will be one of Jesus’ biggest advertisers afterward!

8. Just say: “Hey, man, what would I have to do to talk you into giving God and the church one more shot this week?”

9. Just say: “Hey, are you going to church anywhere right now? Why don’t you come hang out with me this weekend at our church? It’s SO AWESOME!”

10. Say: “You would not believe what my church is going to be doing this next weekend…”

Not just WHAT, but HOW…DOES THIS HELP AT ALL???

Influence

Church at the Grove, Church Planting 1 Response »

Aug 142007

One of our desires at CATGrove is to be a church of influence. We want to be a churchplanting center where churchplanters come through, work with us and then get sent out to plant a church. We wanted from Day One to have in our DNA a multiplying GENE that influenced other churches, pastors and church plants.

We are less than a year into CATGrove and it is happening!

This past Sunday we had a church planting team worshiping with us. Mark James and his launch team from LifeSong Church came to observe what is happening at CATGrove. Here is what Mark had to say about CATGrove.

This past Sunday WellSpring Church in Senoia, GA (Coweta County) had their first preview service. We have had the opportunity to invest into their church with $$$$ and equipping.

River Hills Church in the Winder/Bold Springs area had another preview service this past Sunday. We have been supporting them financially for a while.

On Thursday morning August 23 here at the CATGrove office we are hosting a Church Planter “round table” fellowship with approximately 10-12 churchplanters. We will serve breakfast and hang out with these guys.

What we are doing is having impact in our community and far beyond our community.

Why start a church?

Church at the Grove, Church Planting, Culture 1 Response »

Aug 142007

Here we are 11 months into the life of CATGrove and I am asked more than ever, “Why did you start a church?” and “What led you to start a church like CATGrove?”

Over the next month I plan to write some posts reflecting on this first year of CATGrove. I begin with attempting a simple answer to the question, “Why start a Church?”

We can statistically say with certainty, depending on where you live that approximately 80% to 85% of the people in our community do NOT attend church. It is not hard to get a picture of this truth as you drive anywhere on Sunday morning. Contrast the traffic flow and congestion on a Sunday morning with the traffic congestion during the week and you can easily see that MOST people are NOT finding their way to church.

We have determined that those in their 20′s and 30′s are the first generations born and raised in a “post-Christian” American culture. Prior to these generations, a “Judeo-Christian” understanding and ethic prevailed. Most people in earlier generations had a basic understanding of the central message of the Bible, Jesus and Christianity. Although they personally may have not chosen to follow Christ, they were basically familiar with what is meant to follow Christ or “be” a Christian.

Simply put, we felt an “extreme” burden and call to begin a church with these, “disconnected, unchurched, unconvinced” people in mind.

Most church environments are designed and crafted for the “already convinced” in mind. We wanted to create an environment and culture for those ”not yet here”.

The United States is now among the largest mission fields of non-Christian people in the world. We must lead followers of Christ to see their neighborhoods and circles of influence as “villages” of people that need to hear the gospel of Jesus.

Does Jesus CARE about those people in our “villages” that have yet to turn to follow Him!?!

I believe HE DOES! See here…..… and here….… and here….. and here……

That’s WHY!