Pastoring in general and church planting in particular can be a roller-coaster ride of emotions. When we planted Redemption, I didn’t thoroughly think through the emotional nature of what I was doing. In building relationships with a growing number of church planters, I've learned that this reality isn't isolated to me. As I reflect on my own journey in church planting and on the conversations I've had with other planters, there seem to be three emotions common to church planting.

I was so mad. I couldn’t believe they had the nerve to say that to me. Who did they think they were? What was most frustrating was that no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t shake the angst I felt after the conversation. I couldn't shake it because they were right. When I started to ask myself WHY I felt the way I did, I didn’t care for the answer WHY revealed.

Redemption is what we refer to as "feedback rich environment." Because we believe everything can always be better and because D3 Leadership is so central to our leadership culture, we are constantly giving and receiving feedback regarding everything we do. When feedback is critical in nature it never feels good, but for some people feedback equals failure.