Church Planting Axioms

Here are some principles I've been thinking about. Some of them I'm sure I've ripped off other people. I gave credit where I think it's due.

1. You name it, we don't do it (Andy Stanley?)

Here's our program- connection grps. Doing life in community. Which leads to our second axiom...

2. Ministry is relationships (Brent Thomas?)

This will keep us from becoming a Christian country club. My second greatest fear is that I will neglect my responsibilities as a pastor in favor of becoming the activities coordinator on the titanic...Rearranging chairs and planning parties on a sinkng church

3. Let the theologians shape the content, let the artists determine the color

Fluorescent lights, drop ceilings, and white walls won't do.

4. No one starts a ministry unless someone starts a ministry (Stanley?)

Person: "Hey, Mark, have you ever thought of..."

Me: "That sounds like a great idea, and a great ministry for you to lead..."

5. What to do when we don't know what to do...2 Chronicles 20:12

Most of the time we won't know what to do

6. Beware of de-churched people with an agenda

If you're leaving your church because they didn't share your conviction about end times, breast-feeding, homeschooling, Calvinism, children's curriculum, or politics... you make me nervous. But if you have a desire to serve and be a part of what God is doing, you're wanted! Or, if you've never been to church or are giving church one more shot...come check it out! Who knows, we may be one more reason you decided to stay home and watch football or you might meet Jesus.

7. Speak English

Here are some non-English phrases we may try to avoid:
"if you want to go to heaven, accept Jesus into your heart"
"we trust you've had a wonderful week in the Lord as you've walked in the promises"

8. Our primary strategy for helping people meet Jesus: be normal

9. 18-29 year olds may not pay the bills, but they will change the world... Don't tolerate their mess, harness it

10. Be a local church with a global vision (Cstone Ames)

Our hope is that somehow Malawian orphans and unreached Hazara will be touched by Jesus.

11. The more risk and change averse we become, the older we are becoming. Old things die.

12. The wisdom of Solomon + Inaccurate facts = Fool's decision (Larry Osborne)

That's all for now. Maybe you have some advice, or an axiom you'd like to add to the list. Thanks ahead of time.

Where have we been?

Great question. The last month has been a blur with our move to Iowa City. Pictures tell a thousand words, so I'll go with that. But first, the timeline...

May 1/2- Commissioned at our last official Cornerstone services. Spoke on "Worship"

May 3-25- Tying up loose ends from 15 years in Ames. Most "loose ends" didn't get tied. I can't even think about all the people we didn't get to hug and say "thanks and goodbye" to.

May 25- Left Ames for the last time. Officially closed on our house in Ames June 1.

May 25-June 2- Spent some time in Omaha

June 2-early September- At our temporary home until our house is finished. On with the pics..

Aug 25- TSC in IC kicks off

Sept 12- First church service in IC

Cleaning out my office brought back a lot of memories. This is late Grandpa Bill's (click here) copy of "Pursuit of God", which he quoted all the time. It's one of the few books I've read more than a few times. It's this "pursuit of God" (my pursuit of him and more importantly his pursuit of me) that has brought this wonderful craziness upon us... a move to Iowa City.

Above: Jeff and Ashley Thune, our new partners in ministry, lived with us for 2 weeks in May. We had a blast...what an awesome couple! We put Jett on the table and let them compete over who Jett would go to first. Jeff won in this case... I think the jar of honey had something to do with it.

Below: I was hunting for a ball in the grass- a common occurrence when I golf- when I almost stepped on this huge snake. I screamed like a little school girl. Jesse Reyes manned up on the snake and pulled it out of the grass. Then Jeff took over. Notice I'm behind Jeff, a safe distance from the serpent.

Above: Recording in Minneapolis for the new Anthem album, which is going to be awesome. It should be out in late August if all goes well. I'm very pleased with how it sounds so far.

Below: One challenge with moving was that our strategies for containing our 10 month old were becoming less effective. He's escaping and going head first into the lego bin. The problem is that he doesn't think ahead of time how he's going to get out (below)

Leatha has been building some furniture for our new house (click here for link to knock-off wood.com). Dad helped us take it to the next level on our new dining room table with his finish carpenter skills.

Above: Dad playing with Jett

Below: How fitting. The very last items in our house were 3 boxes of kleenex. Leaving Ames was like losing a loved one; lots of grieving in the last days.

But we had a good time with family in Omaha after leaving Ames. I wonder how much longer Beck will see both his great-grandma's, both in their early 90's. Grandma Rena on the left, Grandma Marge on the right.

Above: All the travel and moving has been exhausting.

Below: One of the pleasures in Omaha... skating with longtime friend Curt (middle) and my brother Steven. I'm lobbying Leatha for a skate ramp in our back yard at our new house.

Above: Kids sleeping at our temporary home

Below: This is the best picture we could come up with for our support letter. The thing we realize is that the bigger our family gets, the harder it is to get a good picture.

Please pray for us. There is not a mountain ahead of us with this church plant. It's a mountain range. We covet your prayers and support ("support" is the subtle way of saying "money").

Speaking of money, I hate writing this more than you hate reading it...

But if you are interested in giving to the church plant in Iowa City (we're still deciding on a name), click here. It's easy from there (after clicking "one time gift" or "recurring gift", put in the amount and scroll down for my name). Or if you want to go old school, just write a check out to Cornerstone Church with "Iowa City- Mark Arant" in the memo and send it to Cornerstone Church, 56829 U.S. Hwy 30, Ames, IA 50010.

I'm sure I'll be doing more blogging in the days to come. Stay tuned for the adventures that lie ahead.

Quotes

"A pessimist and an optimist, so much the worse; so much the better." - Jean de La Fontaine, French poet (1621-1695)

"It takes a clever man to turn cynic and a wise man to be clever enough not to." - Fannie Hurst

"Putting off a hard thing makes it impossible." - George Horace Lorimer

So somehow I've got to incorporate this as I plant a church. Wow, thanks to the good people at youtube, planting a church is going to be as easy as "just add water." Thanks, Mikaela for the vine.

I guess the last video post ("This is church?") was a rip-off from this movie trailer.

Speaking of movies, last night I watched "Brothers" with Jeff and Ashley Thune, who just moved in with us temporarily before the move to Iowa City here in a few weeks. There's nothing "fun" about that movie, and as it ended, I was thinking... "Hmmm. If I had that 105 minutes back, would I have spent it the same way?"

But as I've thought about it today, that is one of the most powerful movies I've seen in awhile. In a word, I think the movie is about "grace." There is so much to be written on the themes that were brilliantly woven into the story line: family dynamics, father-son issues, jealousy, betrayal, faithfulness, forgiveness, child and adult psychology, anger, war, love and Grace.

The more I reflect on it, the more I realize how much I loved that movie. This is the most trite way I could think to end this post, but it's true: I want to be more like Jesus having seen this movie. More like Grace.

This is Church?

So we reinvented church and this is what came out...

Thanks, Tim, for the vine on this. It cracked me up.

Book List

I told some guys I've been mentoring I would give them a book list. Fellas, here you go...

1. Mere Christianity (CS Lewis)- If I only had one book next to the Dangerous Book, I'd take this one. Also, read all the Chronicles of Narnia, as they will expand your imagination.

2. Desiring God (John Piper)- This created a Copernican revolution in my theology back in '97.

3. The Knowledge and the Holy and...

4. The Pursuit of God (AW Tozer)- My grandpa Bill used to quote large chunks of Tozer to me. Tozer is in the "mystic" category, but your soul will expand reading Tozer.

5. The Supremacy of God in preaching (Piper)- If you're planning on preaching

6. Working the Angles (Eugene Peterson)- If you're going into ministry, this will remind you of the balance you need.

7. In Harm's Way (Doug Stanton) and Endurance (Alfred Lansing)- got me into historical non-fiction, WW2 history, and challenged me to love adventure, risk, and not giving up.

8. Systematic Theology (Wayne Grudem)- This is a must have resource

9. The Life You've Always Wanted (John Ortberg)- some lighter reading to mix in with the deeper stuff. You'll find this refreshing and helpful as you learn what ingredients go in to life with God. Disciplines of a Godly Man (Kent Hughes) is also good on disciplines.

10. Purity Principle (Randy Alcorn)- most concise and best book on purity

11. How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth (Fee & Stuart)- Bible interpretation 101

12. Let the Nations be Glad (Piper)... the first sentence of the book is worth the price of the book. "Missions is not the chief end of the church, worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't." Too many people without a heart for the nations are in ministry. This book will help you get off on the right foot. But having taken Perspectives... you already are!

13. Turning Points (Noll)- a primer on church history.

14. Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God and...

15. Knowing God (Packer)- doctrine of God (Theology Proper)

16. Shepherding a Child's Heart (Tripp)- this is for when you "grow up" and have a family. It's the best book on parenting

17. Pilgrim's Progress (Bunyan)- one of the all time best sellers

18. Master Plan of Evangelism (Coleman)

Books I'm ashamed to say I haven't read- but are in the dock:

1. The Cost of Discipleship (Jeff Dodge and Ed Noble will not be happy about this... I'm on it!)

2. Magician's Nephew (last book in the Narnia series... or first book, however you look at it)

3. Confessions (Augustine). I've read it once. I put it on the list because I'm ashamed I haven't read it more than once.

4. Institutes of the Christian Religion (Calvin)- maybe I'll read this in another life

5. The Divine Conspiracy (Dallas Willard)- I'm about half way through. The hardest part about this book is figuring out what not to underline.

6. Anything by Tim Keller (ouch!!!). Reason for God, here we come!

Alright, fellas, in 15 minutes, that's the best I can come up with. I'll add to this list as I think of more. Remember Ecclesiastes 12:11-12, "The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails- given by on Shepherd. Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body."