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.

The Bible has no shortage of amazing stories. Stories of God’s providence, provision, and protection of His people. Stories of God coming through for His people when all else had failed and circumstances appeared dire.

The story of Joseph is a prime example of this. I’ve been reading his story in Genesis 37-50 lately, and I continue to be amazed at this picture of God’s providence in Joseph’s life. I’ll summarize it for you, but you should really check it out yourself.

Preachers face a lot of pressure these days. We live in a day and age marked by easy access to an amazing caliber of preaching. This means the bar is set extraordinarily high for the average preacher. It's intimidating to know that your audience podcasts pastors like Mark Driscoll, Andy Stanley, James MacDonald, Steven Furtick, Matt Chandler, and John Piper throughout the week and then shows up to hear you on Sunday.

Pastors should be working hard to preach the best sermons possible, but the best sermon is only as good as the audience listening. Preaching is a two-way street. The preacher is responsible for preaching well, and the audience is responsible for listening well.

Listening is a lost art in our culture, so how should we listen to a sermon?

Leaders have a God-given desire to grow. Within the heart of every leader lies a perpetual dissatisfaction for what is, and a desire for what could and should be. This includes the leader's own leadership ability. Every good leader I know desires to be a better leader than they currently are.

Here are four ways to grow your leadership:

In early 2006, I was working as a Worship Pastor at a church about 40 minutes from where we planted Redemption.

One Tuesday night, as I sat in one of the many meetings that pastors attend each week, I heard God speak to me more clearly than ever before. Before you panic, I'm not someone who "hears God speak" every day. This was an experience I had never had before and one I haven't had since. God said three things:

It was Tuesday and, like any other Tuesday, I was sitting at my desk, Bible open, wrestling with the upcoming Sunday's sermon outline. In short, I was being a good pastor, doing the hard work of preparing to put another meal on the table for my church family. In the midst of my faithful stewardship of the pastoral responsibility God has given me (said in a pompous and sarcastic tone), I received the following text message from my wife:

Recently I met up with Dave Heiniger, our new deacon over Student Ministry, to talk vision for this new area in our church. As we talked, he highlighted three things students need from their volunteer leaders. I plugged them into Evernote because I immediately realized that these are three things every person, not just every student, needs to feel from their pastors.

I think most would agree that “chaos” is a fitting description for what we experience on a day-to-day basis. The constant onslaught of never-ending to-do lists, errands to run, kids to shuttle, meetings to attend, meals to make, and deadlines to hit leaves us worn out and willing to do almost anything to simply experience a few moments of calm in the chaos. Yet, if you don’t do the hard work of intentionally seeking to pursue calm, you may move from being worn out to burned out. Burnout is the quickest way out of whatever mission God has called you to.

So what do we do? Here are four ways to find calm in the chaos of life:

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.

Sermon prep is difficult work. It’s long, arduous, and tedious. Because of the difficulty inherent to prepping a gospel-centered, culturally-intelligible, Biblically-saturated sermon, many opt for other types of “sermons.” Some preach creativity.

Some preach comedy.

Some preach social observations.

Some preach practical pep-talks.

It’s simply easier to “preach” these other things than it is to open God’s Word each week, find a fresh sermon for God’s people, and put spiritual food on the table.

We live in a culture largely void of honor. In short, honor is dead, both in our culture and in our churches.  We use our freedom of speech to dishonor public officials, people in positions of authority, and anyone else we choose without giving it a second thought.

While this should not surprise us culturally, the commonplace nature of dishonor amongst Christians is, frankly, shocking.

Psalm 71:8"My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day."

I read this the other day and immediately asked myself, "What's in my mouth throughout the day? Is my speech continually marked by a constant praise of who God is and what He's done for me?"

The obvious answer was of course, "No."

We started Redemption Bible Church believing that Biblical leadership would be crucial to planting and pastoring a healthy church. We believed both then and now that the health of our church would directly relate to the health of our elders. If you do not know, elders are the senior leaders of the church also called pastors, bishops, and overseers in the New Testament (Eph 4:11; 1 Pet 5:2; Acts 20:28). The elders are men chosen for their ministry according to the clear biblical qualifications of 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9. In addition to these Biblical qualifications, there are three specific traits we look for in potential elders:

At Redemption we are meticulous about keeping track of our numbers. This is NOT because we find our identity in, nor measure our worth by the numbers, but because behind every number is a name.  Every number is a life that has been influenced and impacted by Jesus.

Last week we had a members meeting and Ashely Herr, one of our elders, put together a presentation that served as a celebration of God's grace in and through our church, as well as an incredible blessing to our church family.

Here are some of the things we celebrated in a few areas of focus at Redemption:

I was frustrated - which in and of itself is not an abnormal experience for me, unfortunately. I was in the midst of one of the few short walks I take each day, trudging around the neighborhood next to my office, wrestling through one of the many leadership issues every pastor faces on a regular basis. In this particular situation I had tried everything I could think of. I did not know what to do. I was tired of trying to figure it out.

Connection Essential #3 - A Mechanic

It does not matter how nice of a vehicle you drive, at some point it requires a mechanic to keep it running. The same is true of your connection vehicle. No matter how clear the next steps and how fine tuned the system, someone has to keep it running.

Connection Question | Who is going to keep the connection vehicle running?

Connection Essential #2 - A Vehicle

Once you have determined where you are trying to go, you are ready to design the vehicle by which you can help people get to this desired destination.

Connection Question | What are the necessary next steps?

Connection Essential #1 - A Destination

No one ever sets out on a journey without first determining their desired destination. Therefore, the planning of every trip starts with a basic question: “Where do we want to go?”  A similar question is necessary in the planning of an effective connection strategy for your church:

 Connection Question | What exactly does “connected” look like at my church?

There is no shortage of reasons people leave one church to attend another.

• “My last church wasn’t Biblically faithful.”
• “My last church didn’t offer the programs I wanted for my kids.”
• “My last church had unqualified people in leadership.”
• “My last church had cutting edge worship strait out of the 1500s.”
• “My last church was amazing, but my job moved me away.”

Obviously, some of the reasons a person leaves one church to attend another are good while others are selfish, consumer-driven, and disobedient. Sometimes people leave churches because of their own sin and often times people leave because of the unrepentant sin dwelling within the leadership of the church itself.