1. Traffic Cops. These individuals are well meaning dragons that come to church not to serve, but to control the serving. You're certain one day they will show up with white gloves and a whistle so they can direct traffic.
2. Seismologists. These are walking Richter scales, gifted in the art of fault finding. If they don't feel a quake, they'll shake the room.
3. Umpires. These individuals enjoy calling the shots. They expect hustle from the team while they watch with a critical eye. Usually umpires have no interest in dialogue once they have made their call. Issues are black and white, and truth is as true as they see it.
4. Taxidermists. These individuals enjoy taking dead controversies and issues and stuffing them with artificial importance to make them appear lifelike. Instead of letting things die, the taxidermist will attempt to preserve a matter as long as possible.
5. Stenographers. These individuals are often friends with seismologists and taxidermists. They are very perceptive and record every discussion in earshot for the purpose of reproducing their notes without the expressed written consent of the one giving their testimony.
6. Town Criers. These individuals take it upon themselves to make announcements or proclamations either by speaking loudly in public places or simply shouting in the streets. Town Criers are often very committed to the church and assume their role is irreplaceable. Who would know anything without them?
7. Morticians. Morticians are often friends with taxidermists. These individuals thoroughly enjoy dressing up corpses. They revere pastors who served before you and subtly communicate that you'll never be as attractive until your dead and under their care. Morticians attempt to hide decay and death behind a façade of rosy-cheeked make up.
8. Curators. Curators are guardians and superintendents of minor religious artifacts. They spend their entire life dusting and polishing insignificant secondary doctrinal issues and can not understand for the life of them why others don't have the same passion. Curators prefer time alone with their rapture theories or theonomic plans to rule the world. Please be advised, curators are often socially awkward and may resort to theological turrets and blurt obscure passages of scripture while using multi-syllabic words that end in "ism," "logy" or "ist."
9. Astronomers. These individuals often find themselves gazing at far off issues that don't seem to have much relevance at the moment. Astronomers are usually more concerned with what might happen at another church while forgetting their call to serve the one they attend. So interested in otherworldly matters, they often have difficulty connecting to people on their own planet.
10. Synchronized Swimming Coaches. These individuals were left last because their event is often given the 3 am time slot for the Olympics. Next to the wildly popular Canadian sport of curling, this may be the most unimportant activity in the history of mankind. However, these coaches are confident that their particular ministry has just not received the right support, but if they did, the entire globe would be changed by the mere sight of their pinched-nosed water ballet. SSC's are constantly on the lookout for ministries that are completely irrelevant to the vision and mission of the church. SSC's politicize their case persistently until someone gives them their much needed attention. Shortly after they make repeated attempts to convert every other ministry and absorb all additional resources to their pet cause. If their ministry fails to deliver the global impact it promised, blame is immediately assigned to the church leaders and administrator for not granting a larger line-item on the budget.

The cruciality of community
On the night before his death (John 13ff), Jesus said that the purpose of his death was to form a new community. His disciples were to become a new humanity which was to be a 'demonstration plot' of the kingdom of God. In their relationships to one another, and in the way they related together to the rest of the world, they were to be a sign that Jesus is the Lord who is going to redeem all of creation. Christian community is a comprehensive and distinct way to be human in deep relationship with others who have been transformed by the gospel.

Every church plant has a lead guy.

And, in planting a church the lead guy quickly finds himself doing too many things, most of which he is not skilled at and generally makes a mess of. So, it is imperative for the planter to develop leaders before he pursues masses of people. The selection of an inner circle of trusted leaders and emerging leaders help to ensure that the church does not continually bottleneck at the leader and thereby slow or retard progress of the church and cripple the overworked leader.

Everything is a sermon. When you meet, where you meet, and how you meet are all proclaiming something about your perception of God and your new congregation. Therefore, in selecting a facility a new church plant is doing a great deal more than simply finding a place to house a gathering. You are crafting a sermon, and in crafting that sermon there are multiple variables to consider according to your priorities. The following booklet is intended to be a practical means of aiding young churches as they consider a physical home for their gathering(s). The information is collected over a few years of personal struggle as our young new church met in four locations at four different service times in the first two years.

Adequate financial internal controls are necessary to safeguard the funds you have been entrusted with. Your internal controls will also be taken into consideration if or when the church attempts to obtain a bank loan. The ideal internal controls should be developed with the following in mind.

Adequate financial internal controls are necessary to safeguard the funds you have been entrusted with, and to protect the reputation of the people handling the funds. Your internal controls will also be taken into consideration if or when the church attempts to obtain a bank loan. Last month I wrote about general procedures for internal controls. This month I briefly discuss internal control procedures regarding income.

In past articles I have explored the roles of the church administrator in the context of the relationships you will have with the pastor, the church and the community. In addition to these roles, there are also priorities - areas where the administrator should be consistently focused. In general terms, these areas are provision, protection and perspective.

There are three key areas that are important for the church administrator to develop as you launch your new church: Your relationship with your pastor, your relationship with church members and your community, and preparation for the future.

A called-by-God church planter is a truly focused individual. He knows that he needs specific things in order to do what God has called him to do in the city to which He has been sent.

Building

In the last article I talked about the opportunities available for receiving funding for your church plant needs, as well the general thinking of the successful businessman. In this article I want to give some steps that will be helpful in getting money from the people who have it. The difficulty in any methods-based approach is the tendency to follow the procedure while avoiding the principle behind the procedure. Since church planters are at various stages in their church, this process will obviously have to be adjusted based on your particular situation.