Four years ago I instituted a semi-regular retreat day into my schedule for the purpose of prayer, fasting, and personal planning. Few things have grown and blessed my soul, my family, and my ministry like regularly withdrawing to engage with Jesus in this way. This practice started for me when I heard another pastor at a conference mention that he took a regular retreat day as one of his spiritual rhythms, so I decided to give it a shot. It was uncomfortable early on, as I didn't really know what I was doing and didn't have any real plan. Some of my retreat days were fruitful and some of them were, quite frankly, awful.

I hate to see my kids suffer. Ever since Ava and Ryder were born, some of my least favorite memories have been taking them to the pediatrician for their regular check ups and the dreaded...SHOTS! Even though they couldn't talk when they were infants, they would look up at me with that confused and pained expression that asked, "Why are you allowing me to experience this pain?" The answer, of course is, "Because it's for your good. I know it hurts and I know you don't understand, but trust me, it's for your good."

But, if I'm honest, the reason I hate it when my kids suffer has less to do with them and more to do with me.

Only God can cause growth and I believe God is sovereign over both the means (particular strategies) and the end (growth). I don't believe that any strategy is a magic formula for numeric growth, and if that's what you're looking for you should revisit your motives and reconsider your readiness to plant a church. We plant the gospel, not a strategy. A strategy is merely the means by which we plant the gospel in our various neighborhoods, communities, and cities.

As we labor to this end, I believe these three essentials are necessary for all church plants regardless of context (hence the term, essential). The way you work them out and what they look like may be dictated by your context, but the necessity of them remains. Here are the three essential means God has used to grow Redemption these past 3 years:

It seems like every church has "that guy". He's the guy who does not serve, does not give, does not want to become a member, and does not contribute in any way, but has an opinion about EVERYTHING.

- The pastor doesn't preach right.

- The music is too loud.

- The staff doesn't communicate correctly.

- Small groups should run differently.

But...

It had been a frustrating few months. I'd started a new position as a worship pastor at an existing church and thus inherited a group of 15 musicians with little talent and lots of attitude (a wonderful combination - is my sarcasm coming through clearly enough?).

One guy in particular was especially difficult. It was discouraging to lead him and he was demanding in his desire to have things “his way.” After one of many phone calls spent trying to get him heading in a healthy direction, I was particularly frustrated and brought this frustration to God in prayer. It went something like this...

"So, I know you preach on Sunday, but what do you do the rest of the week?"

If you're a pastor than you've been asked this question on multiple occasions. Is it just me, or does it seem that people only ask this question on the particularly hard weeks when almost anything sounds better than writing another sermon, walking through another crisis, or watching yet another person ignore the clear counsel of God's Word and thus shipwreck their life? In truth, while pastoral ministry is (in my biased opinion) the most amazing job on the planet, it is also one of the most difficult.

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.

My kids are two of the great evidences of God's grace toward me. My daughter, Ava is 3 1/2 and my son, Ryder is 1 1/2. If you have kids then you know that parenting is both a blessing and a burden. Kids (much like adults) can be selfish, draining, and difficult. Kids do not always listen and often have strong wills of their own (i.e. Ava is currently crying in her bed as I write because she doesn't want to go to bed...we do this every night -  is the crying really necessary?)

As my kids get older I continue to learn one lesson above the rest:

Some husbands are heretics. In Ephesians 5:25-33 Paul instructs husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church. This means Christ is the ultimate example of how I should love my wife - He sacrificed everything, including His comfort, convenience, and preference for His bride, the Church. Paul is clear that as a husband I am to reflect this same type of love in my relationship with my wife and that in so doing I’m saying something to her, to our church, and to our culture about Jesus.

So the question I’m asking myself this morning is,

At Redemption we work hard to evaluate everything we do. The underlying conviction behind this is the belief that everything can always be better. We can always lead more effectively, execute more efficiently, and create with more quality.

We've created a simple strategy that we filter every aspect of every ministry through and we call it D3 Leadership. Here's how it works.

It's time to kill our excuses. It's time to stop blaming our busyness. It's time to start running our lives instead of allowing our lives to run us. It's time to start reading God's Word...EVERYDAY! To make this desire a reality will require three simple keys.