Starting a church is hard. Starting a church without an assimilation process is stupid.

Motion Church’s assimilation process looks great on paper – but we are finding out that it is much more difficult to put into practice.

The goal of the assimilation process at Motion Church is to move people to take the important, life-changing step of church membership – to become an owner of Motion Church.

The first step in the AP is to break the process down. We don’t think about the AP as “first-time guest to sold-out member” but we look at it in 3 steps:

1. First-time guest to second-time guest
2. Second-time guest to regular attender
3. Regular attenders to sold-out member

This allows us to identify the commitment level of frequent visitors and we have a process for each step in order to get people plugged into Motion Church.

Small groups have to be the most challenging part of starting a church. Small groups are where transformation happens (most people will agree with that) but they must be lead very well.

Here is some help: (make sure to check out these blogs regularly for small group info)
Here are the top 3 small group blog posts from this past year.

1. 4 things a church (small group) must do.
By Dan Lentz

2. What if I don’t know the answers?
By Allen White

3. What a small group leader is not.
By Sam O’Neal

And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Hebrews 4:13

One of the most difficult aspects of the Christian faith is to clean out the areas of your life that no one else can see.
Recently, my wife and I had some friends that stayed at our house while we were visiting family in Michigan. And if you’ve ever had anyone stay at your house, you know that the cleaning process is completely different. I began looking at my entire home differently – like I was seeing my home from someone else’s perspective.

This went well, that is, until I walked into our personal bathroom – the one that’s connected to our bedroom. Our personal bathroom, because it’s for personal use only, usually gets the shaft on deep cleaning (don’t judge me until you go look at your personal bathroom!).

I quickly came to realize that I allow more dirt and grime in our personal bathroom, because I know no one will see it. And it wasn’t until it became possible for someone to see it that I realized how bad I allowed it to get.

What area of your life do you allow to get dirty and grimy because you know no one will see it?
What is your personal bathroom?

Understand that God sees all – even our personal bathrooms.
What in your life would you not want God to see?
I would start cleaning there.

We took a close look at the demographics of Tampa and Riverview and began listing ‘Motion Mo’ and ‘Motion Molly’ (yeah, that’s from Saddleback Church).

Here are a few that we came up with:

• 18 -45 year olds
• Families: younger children
• Men: restoring masculinity
• Financially Middle Class
• Spiritually intrigued but don’t like church

What does a typical member of your church look like?

In order to have the greatest impact on your community, begin to market to your ‘Motion Mo’ or ‘Motion Molly.’

Why would someone go to your church and not the other churhes in town?

What is it about your church that is unique?  What is it that your church offers that can’t be found anywhere else in the city?

Matt Keller says (about the point of Godin’s book) that:

“if you and I drive through the countryside and see 2,000 black and white cows grazing on the hillside, we won’t think a thing about it.  But, if we see a purple cow standing in the field grazing next to the 2,000 black and white cows, we’ll stop the car, jump out, grab a camera, take a bunch of pictures, and call all our friends to come and see it.”

We should not attempt to out-shine another church by doing what they do better, but we should strive to be clearly unique.

Where do you complement other churches?

At Motion Church, it is our desire to be a church for churches.  We want to direct people who may not fit with our way of doing church to another church in the area that will better connect with their needs and preferences (yes, we shouldn’t cater to personal preference but we don’t want unhappy people in our church either).

Matt Keller has recently been added to my list of B.A. pastors.  I got a copy of his book at the 2011 Exponential Conference in Orlando.

Currently, I am in the planning stages of our church plant and Up the Middle Church is a great resource to organize thoughts and methodically create a game plan.  There is a section after each chapter that allows the team to discuss important practical questions that help pinpoint where the efforts of the team should be focused which creates greater effectiveness.

I highly recommend the book to all church planters and church leaders who desire to have the greatest impact on their community.  Up the Middle Church will help you focus in your effort in order to maximize your church’s effectiveness.

Fighting the Devil is easy (I’m calling you out Devil!).  Ok, not easy, but it doesn’t scare me.  I don’t get scared when I am going head to head with Satan.  Not because I’ve been working out, but because Jesus has got my back.

I’ll tell you what scares the H. E. Double Hockey Sticks out of me.

Is when Satan is at work … (whisper this next part) and I don’t even know it.

AHH!!!!  That is scary.  So many people fall for the wolf in sheep’s clothing trick.  The worst part is that they don’t even know it.  They don’t know they are speaking death into people’s lives.  They don’t know they are against God himself.  They don’t know they are being used as an instrument of evil.

Now that scares me.

Here are questions to ask yourself in order to identify if Satan is secretly at work:

1. Are your motives healthy?
2. Are you jealous of others?
3. Do you tear people down?
4. Are those around drained from your presence?

This is not an exhaustive list, but evaluate yourself honestly.

No question. Yup, the money aspect of the start.

Everything about it is scary:

1. what if my family can’t eat?
2. what if the church can’t rent a facility?
3. what if people don’t give?
4. what if we just don’t have enough money?

All very good questions and all very acurate fears of mine.  Starting a church from zero is a lot like beginning a small business — only no small business loan.

Told ya!  Scary.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

The purpose of God’s actions (Jesus’ payment on the cross) is for those who believe in him to experience life through Christ.  Christians get the God sent Jesus to die for our sins part (they should anyways).

People have an innate sense deep within-to the very core of who they are-that there is more to life than what they have come to expect.

The good news is that people are looking for what’s not there.

Our job is to provide people the answer.  Not drugs, not porn, not sports, not success.

But a real answer that is found in the person of Jesus.

The only word I can think of to explain how I feel.

In July 2011 Jessica and I will be leading a team of nine as we attempt to live out our calling from God.  A call that exceeds my abilities.  A call that is bigger than Jess and me.  A call that all nine of us can’t handle.  A call that God himself must accomplish.

Crazy how 10 years ago God placed this vision in my soul.  A vision that I have played over and over in my head — not knowing when or how this church would start.

The time is now.  The place is in Tampa.  The responsibility is God’s.