Note to My Former Church Planting Self: The Gospel of Ooh La La
The year I began my ministry journey was the year the band – Faces – recorded Ooh La La. Being a bit reflective, I find myself singing the bridge of that song in my head over and again. “I wish I knew what I know now, when I was younger.” So, pushing four decades of...
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Church Planting Leadership: I Can Do Nothing … Without Him
In Luke 15, Jesus said that if we remain in Him, we will produce much fruit. Apart from Him we can do nothing. In my early Christian years, even into my twenties, I struggled to really believe that. Don’t get me wrong. I wanted to do things with Jesus. But, apart...
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City-Wide Volunteer Day Helps Church Plants Make an Impact
EDITORS NOTE from MATT MURPHY: As soon as my friend Josh Burnett planted Revolution Annapolis in 2010, he turned to me and the other members of the launch team and told us the next step was collaborating with other churches in Annapolis. We had been supported by...
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Church Planting in Baltimore: Reflections from (C)harm City (Part Two)
What does it look like to create a movement of churches marked by incarnational presence? It would look like starting new, humble, city-centered churches focusing on loving their neighborhoods. In addition to starting them, it means supporting and creating engaging...
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An Epic Easter 2018 at Stadia Church Plants
By Tom Jones, Executive Director Easter is a huge opportunity for Stadia church plants to reach people who don’t know Jesus. As anticipated, God showed up in a big way over the weekend. Check out these reports from our churches and be encouraged by what God is doing...
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Church Planting in Baltimore: Reflections from (C)harm City (Part One)
A few weeks ago, Baltimore, the city where we planted a church in 2013, was highlighted in a USA Today article[1] as “the nation’s most dangerous city.” A week later, a Forbes Magazine contributor listed Baltimore as one of the “coolest cities” to visit this year.[2]...
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3 Tips for Big Impact with Small Resources
After spending four years at my home church as a youth leader, assistant youth pastor, and eventually college and career pastor, I left to answer the call to take over as campus pastor of a struggling historical church in Long Beach, California. With five buildings...
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Rise City: Changing the Spiritual Landscape in San Diego
“SAN DIEGO IS A PLACE WHERE PEOPLE GO ON VACATION. IT’S NOT A PLACE PEOPLE ACTUALLY MOVE TO AND LIVE.” Pastor Brandon Grant said these words not long before moving to San Diego with his wife, Jamie, to plant a church. Brandon’s friend Chris Hornbrook was trying to...
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5 Questions Your Board Will Ask about Going Multi-Site
In order for a church to become a multi-site church, you need a culture that is already naturally multiplying in other areas and a culture that is based in the community, not the building. Your church leaders are going to have questions about this proposed idea of...
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Church Planting Leadership: The Desire to Fix vs the Need to Listen (Part 2)
In church planting, it is inevitable that people are going to come to you with problems. In my last post, I shared how it is instinctive for many of us to go straight into fixing mode instead of listening, and how going into fixing mode robs the person with the...
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Bold Generosity: More than a Coincidence
LeRoy and Nancy were visiting family when they heard a guest speaker describe church plants that care for children, both in poverty and prosperity. Their imaginations were captured. LeRoy and Nancy had recently created a donor advised fund, a strategic way to...
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Stadia Welcomes Three New High Impact Leaders to Our Team
Stadia is thrilled to welcome three new high-impact leaders to our team. As you can see from out interviews below, these new staff members bring church planting expertise and wisdom that is certain to position Stadia toward our church planting vision in even greater...
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It Takes All Types: Church Planters Care for Children
A few years into our church plant, we came to the realization that a lot, if not most, of our time, energy, efforts, and focus were geared around children in some capacity. Some of it was focused on our internal children’s ministry. Some of it was focused on our...
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Church Planting Leadership: The Desire to Fix vs the Need to Listen (Part 1)
Church planting is one of the best ways to fix the problem of people needing Jesus. Maybe that is why my desire to fix trumps the need to listen. It’s an involuntary impulse ... that moment when someone comes to me with a problem, and I begin scrolling through my...
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5 Questions to Answer Before Your Church Goes Multi-Site
If you and your church leadership are considering becoming a multi-site church, there is a lot to consider. How to create a culture of multiplication in your church that reaches across multiple campuses can be difficult. Stadia reached out to some pastors and leaders...
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