Against Diversity?

Recently, one of our church planters, Shaun King, brought up the issue of diversity on his blog. Shaun is a great guy that had over 600 people on his first launch. I understand where he is coming from and want everyone to know that he is my friend and we support what he is doing in Atlanta. He has received lots of response from the blog post and I have been contacted by several pastors and friends concerning it. I felt I needed to respond, so here it is.

First of all here is Shaun’s blog piece…following is my response…and then his reply.

The (White Male) Church Planters Conference…Part II
by SHAUN on FEBRUARY 27, 2009

A few months ago I said that I wouldn’t be attending a particular church planting conference because every main speaker, every breakout speaker, every worship leader, and every musician at this “national” conference was a white male.

Now the conference for the church planting organization that I am a part of looks pretty much the same.  I am required to go.  Just like the “national” church planting conference, all of these speakers are the bomb.  They lead great churches.  I know these guys and love them.  I’m just agitated by the lack of diversity.

My wife just said, “What are you going to do now big guy?“

Billy’s response:

Hey Shaun, since I am responsible for the line up at the ARC conference I thought I would chime in a little. No excuses here except to say that many of our churches are, on a local level, very diverse and are leading a movement to put diversity on the front burner of all they do. I feel the same way and previously, before ARC, I was the executive pastor of a church that had a beautiful ratio of 60/40 white/non-whites, mostly who were African Americans. I was probably responsible for hiring more African American pastors to staff our church than any other church leader in the country at that time. So, nothing in my heart is against diversity.

The fact is that there have only been a handful of leaders that have come to us that were African American, Hispanic, Asian or of any other diversity. We have helped plant a few of their churches that they pastor now and are thrilled that they are a part of ARC. You have been one of our heroes as far as successful church plants are concerned. We based our selection of each one of these on basically three things:

1. Were they qualified?
2. Were they a fit for the ARC model?
3. Could they meet the requirements for garnering resources and all other ARC guidelines.
In other words, race has nothing to do with whether or not we accept a church planter.

As far the conference is concerned we have no other criteria except that the speakers represent the heart and spirit of ARC and have an interest in furthering the cause of church planting around the USA and the world. The other criteria is huge…it is RELATIONSHIPS. Relationships is what we are all about. As we grow and become more diverse, our relationships will become more diverse and it will be a natural progression of events that place diverse leaders in a position where they can represent what we stand for and embrace.

I was disappointed that you make the “White Male” conference reference in the way that you did. There are much better ways to approach this. It is your blog however and you can do it however you want to, but it didn’t have to be done that way. Turn the tables and think about if I would say something with that intensity about “Black Males” and you might understand where I am coming from. I would probably be accused of a hate crime!

I believe in what you are doing in the Atlanta area for Christ and pray for you. Therefore I want to leave you with one final thought. Will this issue that you’ve addressed, and the way you are addressing it tend to make your church and ministry more diverse? Or less diverse? Shaun, stay in the Spirit of Jesus.

Love you and Rai and look forward to having lunch in Atlanta with you guys soon.

-Billy Hornsby

P.S. We just approved another African American couple and a mixed couple to plant ARC churches at our assessment this week.

QUESTION:

How does becoming more diverse work? Can it be forced, encouraged or does it have to just come natural? Let me know what you think.

See Shaun’s response below. I love this guy…Billy

Billy,  Thank you so much for your very thoughtful and instructive comment.  I am aware that a lot of ARC churches are diverse on the local level and that has always actually been a selling point for me.  The title of this post, in some ways, was meant to provocative but also somewhat descriptive of the speaker lineup.  I apologize if it comes off as crass or ill-conceived.  I will be taking your questions and suggestions to heart and will strive to do what we think will help make us more diverse.  I admire you tremendously and think of you as MY leader.  We look forward to seeing you all soon.  -Shaun & Crew

Keys to Overcoming Inertia in Church Planting

Church planters face huge challenges and need to use all available resource, relationships and wisdom to have success. Several things come to mind when I muse over these necessary components.

1. Strong Relationships – Building relationships is key to long term growth. People are the reason that you exist. When someone asked me recently how I realized success in the many ventures that I have taken, the answer was simple; “I get along with people.” I don’t let differences of opinion, doctrine, football teams, political persuasion, culture or race keep me from developing strong relationships. When we take a strong stand against what others think and believe, against what others love and support and who others align themselves with, we will in the end lose our relationship with them and eventually any influence we have in their lives. So, keep from the extreme positions that drive wedges between you and others…because, after all, it takes people of all walks of life, all persuasions and color to build a great church.

2. A Little Grease – There were five boys and a girl in my family. The boys spent every spare moments in the backyard playing football. This wasn’t ordinary football however, it was “all against all, rough and fumble football.” If you had the ball, everyone else tried to tackle you…and most of the time you went down. Then, as soon as you hit the ground you had to “fumble” the ball. You just tossed it over you head for the next person to take it and run with it. Well, often the one who caught the ball would holler, “GREASE!,” which meant, ‘Give me some running room.’ We all need a little “grease” in everything we do. Grease is “wiggle room,” “space,” or margin. Just some extra time, extra money, extra emotional and physical energy to carry out daily tasks and the rigors of fulfilling the church planters vision of building a great church. When the money is in the red, the family hasn’t spent time with “pastor-daddy-husband-CEO-soccer coach” in a few weeks, and when you are running on empty in the tank both emotionally and physically, you can expect that the wheels will begin to come off soon. Factor margin in your life. Schedule date nights, family nights, recreation and rest. Save 10% of your income at home and the church and invest in people on a social level…make friends. All of this will contribute to a healthy life, family and church.

3. A Network – At our CPR’s we cover the “8 Essentials for Successful Church Planting.” This is a two day, foundational training event on the basics of planting churches and growing your church. It is also a time when the new church planter and spouse have an opportunity to meet the ARC staff and leadership. Without knowing the basics, receiving coaching, and having a network of other church planters to help mentor you, it is very difficult to find success launching a new work. So, find a strong church planting network that offers a culture that you can relate to and learn from. Check the ARC website for details on how to get started. You will need all the help you can get and ARC is there just for you.