Church Planting: “A Day In The Life” Ministry Strategy

Watchman Evangelism 

Church Planting "A Day In The Life" Ministry Strategy

By: Rob Schmutz 

     (This post describes a strategically foundational, approach to Church-planting…. If you have not yet read my post on Prayer Walking, please scroll down. In addition to praying daily for and prayer walking in your mission field, pray also for the people God is bringing you, for the people you are trying to reach and for the future of the church God has called you to plant. Then, let your prayers be accompanied by intentional actions designed to effectively build the Kingdom and strategically reach people in your mission field for Jesus.)

List your daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly approach to ministry and consider projections of potential results.

(Fill in the blanks with the name of your church plant.)

• Every day I will make at least 10 __________________ Connections in which I meet someone in the ___________________ community or area and introduce myself and pitch the ___________________ vision, giving them my card and inviting them to the next ___________________ event.  To the best of my ability I will then follow up (text, call, note, FB message...) with each contact I make within the week.  (The potential result of this is that after every 10 days I will have connected with at least 100 people, not to mention additional connections that will come due to family and friend relationships linked to those that I have connected with.)

- Every week I will personally lead and meet with a small group / home group of 10-12 persons and intentionally identify 1-3 persons and or 1-3 couples from that group whom I can entrust to start small groups / home groups at the conclusion of the initial existing small group.  (The potential result of this will be that I will equip a small group/home group which I will lead and then identify those whom I can empower to also repeat this highly effective process.  For example, if over 10 weeks of a small group, I identify 3 key persons whom I can then entrust to start small groups of 10 to 12 and teach them to also identify 1-3 key couples or persons from their group which they encourage to then start small groups/home groups after 10 weeks...  this can get crazy, quick!)

• Every week / month I will try to attend community meetings (city council, board of education, PTO, chamber of commerce, community development, Lion’s Club, Kiwanis Club or other civic groups, etc.) in order to stay or become aware of community needs, activities and potential ministry opportunities.

- Every week I will meet key community leaders and business owners/managers as a means of developing relationships and promoting __________________.

- Every week I will meet with and develop relationships with those persons God is revealing to me or helping me identify as potential key Human Resources for growing ____________________ and reaching more people.  I will meet them for coffee, breakfast, lunch, or whatever venue works for them in order to develop a deeper relationship with them, disciple them, and help them to be fruitful carriers of the DNA I am trying to reproduce.  As I do this, I will help them understand that what I am doing with them as their pastor, I will need them to also do as key persons within the __________________ ministry.

To the best of my ability I will always have one or two of my people with me, and I will internationally Walk my people through the 5-Step "WITH" (We Intentionally Train Harvesters) empowerment process:

1) They watch me do ministry...

2) They Help me do ministry...

3) I help them do ministry... 

4) I watch them do ministry...

5) They do ministry...

Every Month: I will host "member-guest" events in which current attenders of ____________________ will be invited but will be required to invite someone else if they intend to attend:

- Guy's Movie Night

- Couple's Date Night

- Spoons Tournament

- ClayShoots

- Progressive Supper

- Escape Room

- ETC.

Seasonally/Quarterly/Every other Month: I will host large attraction events promoted through word of mouth, print materials, social media, direct mail, etc.  Similarly, if there are already existing traditional large community events, I will volunteer myself and the ____________________ church folks to participate and help.

- Movie in the park

- Swimming or Water-Park Event

- Christian Concert

- Community Christmas Candlelight svc.

- Trunk or Treat

- Fourth of July

- Free BBQ

- Etc.

-

2017 Preaching & Ministry Schedule

Watchman Evangelism Ministries - Updated AUGUST through DECEMBER - 2017 - Preaching and Ministry Schedule To Date:  

If you see OPEN dates and you would like to contact me about a revival, event, pulpit supply or speaking engagement, shoot me a direct FB Message, a text, or give me a call at (316)200-0156.

If you would like to donate in support of Watchman Evangelism Ministries your gift would be much appreciated!  Here is a link: 

PayPal.Me/WatchmanEvangelism

Thank you!

AUGUST 2017

8/6/17 - Open Date Sun AM

8/6/17 - EVENING REVIVAL COORDINATING MEETING IN MEDICINE LODGE 6pm at UMC

8/11/17-8/12/17 - DCPI - CPE - Wichita, KS.  

8/13/17 - "iWalk" Larned Church of The Nazarene Sun AM 10:45, 4pm Prayer Walk, 5pm Assessment, 6pm Worship.

8/17 - Speaking at Gideon's Camp Meeting, Abilene Emmanuel Church, 6:30pm

8/18 - Coaching Visit, "The Vine" Hays, Ks

8/20-8/23 - Revival - Emporia Church of The Nazarene

8/25-8/31 - 3rd Annual MOA ELK HUNT, Colorado

8/27/17 - BOOKED MOA

SEPTEMBER 2017

9/3-9/6/17- REVIVAL - Ark City Church of The Nazarene 

9/9-9/13/17 - REVIVAL Cimmaron Church of The Nazarene (starting with a meal on Saturday PM)

9/17/17 - 9/20 Westside Church of the Nazarene, 2300 S. Seneca St. Wichita, KS, 67212

9/21-24 - Attending Minister & Mates Retreat, Horn Creek, Co.

9/24/17 - Attending Minister & Mates Retreat, Horn Creek, Co.

OCTOBER 2017

10/1 - 10/4/17 - Severy Church of The Nazarene.  

"iWalk Series"

10/8-10/11/17 - Medicine Lodge Revival, Medicine Lodge, KS Sun-Wed 

10/15/17 - REVIVAL, Pleasant Hill Church of The Nazarene, Sylvia, KS.

10/22/17 - Preaching Sunday AM - New Trail Fellowship, Abilene, KS "45 ACP"

10/22/17 - ABILENE Community Revival (Afternoon / Youth & Evening / All)

10/29/17 - BOOKED FAMILY SCHEDULE

NOVEMBER 2017

11/5/17 - Open Date (Available to speak Sunday AM/PM Only)

11/12/17 - Open Date (Available to speak Sunday AM/PM Only)

11/19/17 - Open Date (Available to speak Sunday AM/PM Only)

11/26/17 - 11/29/17 - REVIVAL, Fort Scott Church of the Nazarene

DECEMBER 2017

12/3/17 - Arnold NE, "Last Call Ministries" Community Outreach

12/10/17 - Open Date

12/17/17 - Open Date

12/24/17 - Open Date (Sun AM only)

12/31/17 - Open Date (Sun AM only)

So... How Do I Start A Men’s Accountability Group?

I get a lot of questions about how to start a Men's Accountability Group.  Here are a couple of great books and a basic set of accountability questions you can use.

How To Start A Men's Accountability Group: 

1) Talk to a friend/brother in Christ about the idea.

2) Set a time and a recurring date (early mornings once a month works best for me).

3) Pick a place (I'm a coffee-shop / local cafe / restaurant kind of guy). 

4) Show up and have breakfast, drink strong coffee, go through the questions, discuss a book designed to help you be a better man, and invest one hour a month in an accountability relationship/friendship that can greatly empower you and help your walk with Jesus.

(Don't just think about it, pray about it and talk about it... Do it!)

"As Iron Sharpens Iron, so one man sharpens another." - Proverbs 27:17

Accountability Questions For Men

1. Have you spent daily time in Scripture and prayer?

2. Have you had any flirtatious or lustful attitudes, tempting thoughts?

3. Have you exposed yourself to any explicit materials which would not glorify God? (Sexuality, Profanity, Violence, etc.)

4. Have you been honest in all of your financial dealings?

5. Have you spent quality time with friends (brothers in Christ)?

6. Have you spent focused, phone-less, alone time with your wife?

7. Have you done your best in your job/ministry?

8. Have you told any half truths or outright lies, putting yourself in a better light to those around you?

9. Have you shared the Gospel, or personally prayed for or with an unbeliever this week?

10. Have you taken care of your body through daily physical exercise and proper/adequate eating/sleeping habits?

11. Have you allowed any person or circumstance to rob you if your joy?

12. Have you lied on any of your answers today?

How To Start A Prayer Walking Ministry

Here is what I would do (and have done!):

1) Start a Prayer Walker Team.

2) Pick a consistent day and time (Sunday afternoons and/or evenings in the Summer often work well) and begin to Prayer Walk. (If at first you can't get anyone interested then you go ahead and start, take and show pictures, and talk about the people you met and talked to and the experiences you had each week at church.)

3) After each organized prayer walk have a mission debrief: "What did you see?" / "Who did you see/interact with?" / "How did God speak to you?" (You will get tons of data and info from these debrief sessions, and what you are revealing through them are the needs in your community/area that God can use you to incarnationally begin to meet.  (When I lead the "iWalk" trainings I talk the folks who show up for the training through this process.)

4) Plan on setting a goal of covering a specific area or areas that are of significance to your church and congregation.  Hang up a map and highlight the streets walked until the map is completely highlighted.  Once you achieve that goal, celebrate the accomplishment with a worship and celebration time but also use it to begin to envision and plan ministry outreaches to that area based on the "What? Who? and How?" questions above.

5) The next step is the surveying of that specific area so you can find out who you are being called to reach and what their real-life needs are.  As you collect the hard data from your target area (which you have already covered in prayer) crunch the info and follow up with incarnational ministry and outreaches to that area that you have prayed for and surveyed.  The key here is that you are letting God speak to you from and through your mission field and you are responding now in relevant ministry to these needs that have been revealed. (I can provide you a survey that is adaptable to your church or community.)

6) God will begin bringing you people through this process, and now you have got to be prepared to and begin to welcome them and help them find real connections and to help facilitate the building of relationships with others who can help them grow in their faith and their relationship with Jesus.  The real people you will be reaching truly want the church to be both relevant, and a place where they can make real connections and have real relationships.  Having and starting Small groups and Home groups that you can plug them Into is key here.

7) As your prayer walkers begin to rediscover their community through walking through it and feeling the burden of the Lord for specific areas of need or ministry possibilities, it is also important to empower them and help them begin to get involved in real ministry in these area.  This is the point where I would always start a "SWAT (Servants With Angelic Tendencies) Team."  Which was a charted breakdown of areas of ministry and need revealed through prayer walking that you can organize specific teams made up of persons with a heart for that area of need or ministry.  Then, turn them loose to be the Church through these teams.  It's a "High Trust, Low Control, with High Accountability" empowerment and I can answers specific questions about how to do this.

SWAT TEAM (team examples)

1) The Prayer Walker Team

2) Community Disaster Response Team (aka DRT or "Dirt" Team)

3) Community Crisis or Critical Incident Intervention Team

4) School & Community Outreach Team

5) Community Survey Team

6) Hospital & Home  Visitation Team

7) Addiction & Recovery Team

Etc. (The idea here is that you identify and empower teams of people to work together to meet the revealed needs in your mission field)

Then...

You repeat the process.  I have found prayer walking to be a tremendous source of inspiration, interaction and information regarding real "Jesus With Skin On" (incarnational) ministry.  And, as you empower your SWAT teams, you create a leadership factory that helps produce real people in real ministry in real ways in their community.

If I can be of any help to you or your church in any aspect of this process, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Keep on Keepin' on IN Jesus!

- Rob Schmutz

Jeremiah 29:11-13

Forward Progress?

Forward Progress?

2 John 1:9 "Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son."

There seem to be a whole lot of folks out there today running forward as fast as they can and calling themselves "progressives" as they do.  Progressive... man, that really is a great word isn't it?

But, when someone calls themselves progressive today, it seems naturally to imply that anyone who is in disagreement with whatever they themselves might be intent about progressing forward, then... well... that person must be a... regressive, or uninformed, or unenlightened...

Personally speaking, I'm all for progress.  I love moving things forward, especially if... ultimately it involves reaching new and more people with the good news of the transformational message of the gospel.  And, if the reality of the progress involves introducing people to the power of God's Spirit and helping them find freedom from Sin, Compulsion, Addiction and whatever other kinds of bondage our world so readily offers today, then I'm all for it!

The Scripture above is a reminder to all of us who are followers of Jesus, that it's okay to run ahead, to make and to push forward for progress, if...  If we continue forward with the Word and in the teachings of Christ.  If, however, we run forward, and in so doing... abandon the teachings... we do so... without God.  But, whoever (runs forward or progresses ahead and) "...continues in the teaching, has both the Father and the Son."

And, truly, that's the progress we need as the Church as we all keep on keepin' on in Jesus!

For Tomorrow, Now

This just came to me this AM and I felt like someone might need to hear it today:

"Joshua told the people, 'Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.'" Joshua 3:5

"for tomorrow..."  How easy it is to fall into the trap of forgetting that tomorrow, through faith, is designed by God to be an amazing day.  It can so easily become our default reality to subconsciously assume that "yesterday" was a better day, and that years ago was when things were as they should be.  Sadly, we can choose to live in the false or faithless reality of believing that our best days are behind us.

Faith, however, suggests something far different.  Faith, and the reality it calls me to live in, reminds me that today I can prepare for the best that God has prepared for me in my tomorrow with Him.

Help me, Lord, to live today as a means of consecrating myself, in faith, believing that my tomorrow with You is going to bless my socks off!

"...Things which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, nor has ever entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him."  1 Corinthians 2:9

Yesterday I stood...

Since Sunday morning, I've been out here in Morton County, Kansas preaching a revival in the community of Elkhart, meeting the people, seeing the sights, and taking it all in.  And, believe me, out here in Morton County, there is a lot to see, and what you see, goes on forever and ever.

Yesterday I stood and prayed at an interesting point here in the State of Kansas.  It's a place called "Three Point" or "Eight-Mile Corner."  "Three Point" is literally in the very corner of Kansas, and is where the State lines of Kansas, Oklahoma & Colorado all come together.  There is a Survey Plate in the middle of a dusty, nondescript, country road that marks the precise location, and on the Kansas side there is an old windmill tower (the "Three State Windmill") with what looks like a "wrought-iron" weathervane with a buffalo on top of it and the words "KANS, COLO and OKLA" all pointing in their respective directions.

As I stood there in that place and looked back over my State, a State that had been home to me all of my life, and that had been home to my family ever since my Great, Great Grandfather headed west and homesteaded in Dickinson, County, back in the 1860's, in that moment I just stood there and felt the weight and significance of that place.  What swept over me at the very moment I stood there, was the realization that there were in that very instant, so many simultaneous things going on in my State.  There were "business-as-usual" or "everyday-Kansas-things" to be sure, unpredictable weather, work, chores, taxes, traffic, deadlines, road maintenance, school, life, the family hustle and bustle, the daily grind, but in this moment there was also more...  there were other things going on, heavier things happening, unsettling things taking place in that very instant... tragic things, difficult things, life threatening things, families struggling, people trying to figure out where to turn and what to do, there were property losses, community evacuations and... fires... spreading...

A sense of what I can only best call a "passionate, tragic, immediacy" hit me as I was standing there.  It was almost as if I could "see" or "feel" all of Kansas in that instant, and all spread out before me.  Though I can't fully describe what I saw, or felt, or experienced, I think it was the closest thing to what the Old Testament refers to as "The Burden of the LORD..." that I have ever experienced in my life.  And, as I felt it, I knew that God desired a Statewide Spiritual Awakening.  It was crystal clear to me.  There was absolutely no doubt in my mind.  So, right there, my good friend, Pastor Keith Davis of the Elkhart Church of the Nazarene, and I prayed for that very thing, and as we did the image that came to my mind was an image of people, Kansas people, running to a fire, a fast moving, all consuming, uncontrollable fire, a fire that was not life threatening, or property damaging, but one that was instead, Life... Giving...

There is a sign as you enter Elkhart, Kansas, that welcomes you and also reminds you of Elkhart's nickname, or moniker, if you will.  Elkhart, here in Morton, County, is known as "The Cornerstone of Kansas."  Think about that for just a second.   

There was a time in the early history of Kansas when this territory and our fledgling State "to-be" was known as "Bleeding Kansas."  But, what if... Kansas, in our day, could be known as "Burning Kansas?"  Not because of destructive, out of control wildfires, but because of an outpouring of the Spirit of God as an answer to our prayers, drawing us to Him and into a future He has prepared for us.  And, (now this sounds really crazy...) what if the Spiritual fires of God's Grace, Mercy, Love, Forgiveness, Power, Passion, Holiness and Holy Spirit, ignited through our prayers lifted up here in Kansas, could lead to an all Consuming Fire of Spiritual Awakening that then swept our Nation?  Is it possible?

I think it is.  I want it to be.  I prayed for it yesterday as I prayed for our State and for a cessation of the fires that were burning, endangering and negatively impacting so much of our State and so many in so many ways.  I prayed for a New Fire, a New Great Awakening, from here at the Cornerstone of Kansas, all across our State, and... "Oh Lord let it be possible, all across our Nation.  Bring us back to you Lord.  Bring us back to You!  Whatever it takes, bring us back to You!  Bring us back to You as One Nation Under God, and let Kansas, let us, let me, play a Key Role in Your Perfect Will for Revival!  In Jesus Name, Amen!"