It was a great weekend for ARC and the New York Giants. Several ARC churches had record attendance (C3, Matt Fry’s church broke 3300) and Eli and his Giants team beat the unbeatables. I was amazed at the NY Giants’ determination to win under such pressure. The odds against them were huge and the media darlings, New England Patriots, were the by and large the favorites. But that didn’t play out in the end. Pure determination and guts won at the end of the day.

Sometimes I think that pure determination and guts wins in church planting situations. When we get tired and depressed that our church isn’t growing like we had hoped it would we start to give in to the status quo and accept the idea that we will remain a small average church. We learn very quickly how to buy into the idea that our city is a church "graveyard" and we are one on those statistics. We begin to agree with all the other pastors in the area that "religous" spirits and demons have our city by the throat and if we can just "hold on to the rope" for a few years maybe we will grow enough to eventually buy a building and carve out a niche in the city for our struggling church.

Take a lesson from Eli Manning….break loose from the enemy and chunk your best effort down the field…maybe someone will do something extraordinary to keep you in the game. Maybe that individual will be the Holy Spirit. God has great plans for you and wants to celebrate with you on a victory that only the determined and overcomers will participate in. It’s nice to have wins along the way and even necessary, but we must win the "big one." In the case of the church planter, that big one is the conviction and belief that God wants to win many souls in your city through your church (and others) and that your purpose is not to just get in the game, but to accomplish what He sent you there for.

Enough football? Not yet.

During the game I paid attention to the coaches and how they interacted with the players. It was amazing to see how each coach was constantly consulting with the players, both individually and in groups. No team can win without a coach! Question: Who is your coach? Who do you call for new plays? Who is mentoring you and guiding you through the next phase of your church plant? Who do you call each week to go over your situation with? Who is listening to your messages and giving you feedback? Who is watching you play and helping you make adjustments? For many of you the answer is, "No one." That is the basic problem that most church planters have. ARC has coaches available to help you make weekly adjustments if necessary….call one. It could be a church planter that is a year ahead of you or it could be the weekly teleconference with ARC leaders that we offer. These pastors are innovative, creative and successful and willing to share what they have with you. Just call in and listen or contact ARC for the name of one of our pastors who would be willing to coach you.

Pure determination and guts……Just do it!

Billy

Here I am with my new friend Nelson Searcy. Nelson is the author of a fantastic book on church planting called Launch and he was also a special guest at the Liberty University Church Planting emphasis week.

Matt Fry is the man! Wednesday January 30 I sat in the huge dome on Liberty University campus to hear Pastor Matt Fry speak at the convocation to 10,000
Liberty U. students. He stirred the crowd with a message on vision and
living out your destiny in God.

Later that evening we attended Campus Church at Thomas Road Baptist Church.
Walking in to the auditorium it felt like a rock concert…really cool
stuff. Smoke filled the huge 5500 seat room with red, blue, yellow and green
strobe lights flashing everywhere. The worship set was wonderful and the
5000 students really entered in with many dancing raising their hands in
intense worship. I thought I was as Bethany World Prayer Center for a few
minutes! Great time.

Ed Stetzer did a great job teaching on the ministry of reconciliation out of
2Corinthians 5. Dozens of students responded to the call to be church
planters. It was a moving experience.

Thursday morning I had the opportunity to teach a class lead by Dr. Elmer
Towns on church planting. I was honored to get the opportunity to speak at
Liberty U. and share all that God is doing in ARC.

At lunch 16 leaders convened for a Church Planters Roundtable with many
great leaders from around the US. Jonathan Falwell, Senior Pastor at Thomas
Road Baptist Church led the meeting and shared his vision with us to plant
500 churches in 5 years in the USA. His passion for reaching the lost is
incredible. Each one in the room had an opportunity to share what they were
doing and give input into the direction of this initiative. ARC will have a
part.

It was decided that one of the means for planting 500 churches would be for
Thomas Road Baptist Church and Liberty University to partner with existing
church planting organizations in the effort to do this. It was decided that
ARC would be a part of this and that students that identified with the ARC
style and model would be encouraged to plant with ARC. What an honor to be
able to partner with such a great church, university and a leader like
Jonathan Falwell.

At the end of the meeting Pastor Falwell prayed specifically for Charlene’s
healing and for peace and strength for us both during the challenging time
we are facing with Charlene’s battle with cancer. I was deeply moved by
this.

Please pray with us that God will give direction and wisdom to all involved
to be able to carry out this initiative.

It was an incredible two days in Lynchburg and I was humbled by the
reception and hospitality of the Liberty U. staff and leadership.

My friend Dr. Pat Murray came from
Dayton, Ohio to watch the LSU/Ohio State game with me. This is a pre-game
lunch at a good LSU/Cajun restaurant in Birmingham, Alabama. LSU 38-Ohio
State 24…. Pat and I are still friends!

Here we are with our dear friends Matt and Martha Fry.

At C3 church in Cleveland, NC a few of us gathered with Rick White of the
Peoples Church in Frankin, TN, Greg Surratt of Seacoast, Matt Fry, Jonathan
Falwell of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA, and Frank Lacey of
Farmville, VA. Along with other members of the staff at Thomas Road Baptist
Church we had a roundtable discussion and fellowship. Jonathan has taken
over the pastorate of Thomas Road Baptist since his father, Jerry Falwell,
passed away last May.

“Only God knows how much glory He can get from the hardships that we go
through. But we are learning more about his grace and faithfulness as we
walk through a great trial. Charlene shares her thoughts about a doctors
report she received in October 2007. She is strong, full of faith, and her
love for life, her family and for God is unmistakable.” -Billy

To start the 2008 right I went to Massachusetts to visit David and Ginelle
Payne at LifeSong Church. What a wonderful time we had. There were nearly
300 people in the service on Sunday morning and the style and quality of
each component was life-giving and excellent. LifeSong is a great example of
an ARC church less than two years old.

We started on Saturday with leadership training and then a time of fellowship. That evening we went to a great Italian restaurant for dinner…Mama Mia was it good food!! Sunday was great. David and Ginelle are great hosts and are doing a great job in pastoring, leading, and administering a great church. Thanks to them both for a wonderful time in Mass.

Have you been looking for a way to extend your knowledge of the Bible
but don’t have the time to go back to school? I’m excited to tell you
about a special partnership between the ARC and Globe International.
The Globe School of Ministry is designed to help busy people study the
Bible and prepare for ministry.

By
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reach your personal growth and ministry preparation goals! Globe School
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has agreed to offer ARC members special, reduced rates for online Bible
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Click this link to find out more about GSOM.