I am heading to Florida in 10 days with the family. The Baptist General Conference is gathering 18 pastors of churches about the same size as The Journey North for a think thank. I am getting very excited to talk with some of the best and brightest up and coming leaders in our conference. I feel like planting this church has been the great thrill of my life but it has also been the greatest education.

Many years ago I committed to the idea of being a life long learner. I am increasingly convinced that churches that grow are lead by leaders who grow. This planting gig would have to go down as the greatest learning experience I could have ever imagined.

There are a lot of churches planted in the US every year. Some succeed and many fail. As I have looked back over the past four years recently there are four things (or really people) that I would point to that have significantly impacted our success and have helped me grow as a pastor and as a person.

  1. Dave Reno
  2. Brian Stevens
  3. Joel Nelson
  4. Rick Warren

Dave Reno was my Senior Pastor when I worked at Grace Fellowship. He took me under his wing and taught me what it meant to be a pastor. I spent 5 of the best formative years of my life watching and studying how to pastor from him. He met with me almost every week during those years. And when I was ready to launch The Journey North he offered to coach me. For our first year and half we spoke on the phone almost every week. He gave me insights and cautions. He challenged me and cheered me on. It is safe to say that The Journey North would not be here at all if wasn’t for Dave.

Brian Stevens has been my best friend and most significant planting partner. We both launched our churches at the same time. We have laughed together, cried together and been pissed off at our congregants together. He has called me every week on the phone to just find out how the heck I’m doing. If I needed him to, he would drive the two hours from the Twin Cities to Brainerd at the drop of hat. I have looked to him for wisdom and insight as well as for someone to just bs with. I know that he would be with me in the darkest of days and on the mountain tops of life. He is committed to my growth and my success. I love that man.

Joel Nelson is our Minnesota Baptist Conference guy on the ground. He has put together and developed resources that make Church Planting in Minnesota fun. I love the vision that he champions. Unlike any other district in the Baptist General Conference, Joel has continued to lead ours to support the parenting model. In Minnesota, churches plant churches not the denomination. So he has fanned the flame of a grass roots model that puts practitioners into the driver’s seat of the planting movement. He sees the district role more along the lines of resourcing the planters after they have been assessed and then helping create opportunities for the planters to grow as well as helping us not feel isolated. Some of the ways that happen is through retreats and conferences. I am so grateful for the systems that he is helping create and for the freedom to parent new churches our district affords us.

Rick Warren has given us so much and he is in many ways The Journey North’s unsung hero. He wrote a book many years ago that rocked the church world called, Purpose Driven Church. It is so important to us that every member of our church gets a copy when they become members. I still remember when I read it 10 years ago for the first time and found my eyes open to the ways I wanted to structure a local church. It has given us a track to run on. I am forever indebted.

But it wasn’t just the book. Rick loves pastors. He has dedicated his life to pastoring one of the most influential church plants on the planet (Saddleback) and helping pastors become the best they can become at fulfilling the mission of Christ on the earth. One of the very practical applications of that was the development of a resource called the pastors forum. Part of the pastors.com website is a forum where pastors from all over the world can come to discuss, learn and grow in purpose driven ideas and kick around thoughts of leading our congregations. This has been a life saver for me. I have been spared from so much leadership pain by watching others as they have lived their lives out loud. Every time I have a question, curiosity, wonderment or concern, I have dozens of pastors that are willing to help me think it through. I have also made some friends there that I am sure I will have the remainder of my life. I count it as a great privilege to be part of the forum.