According to the New Testament, evangelism is one of the primary tasks of the local church. The reality is that church planting can be one of the most effective methods for local churches to evangelize their cities and regions. With the renewed emphasis on church planting encouraged by the North American Mission Board, I would like to propose some values inherent to churches that seek to parent new congregations. The Bible encourages church planting as expressed throughout Paul’s ministry. He evangelized urban cities throughout his missionary journeys and left congregations of new believers in the wake of his ministry. In the book of Acts, Luke records the early history of church multiplication throughout the Roman Empire. In the New Testament, evangelism and church multiplication were inseparable. Sadly, many Southern Baptist churches function more like institutions than organisms. As a result, we have created complicated and cumbersome organizational structures that are difficult to replicate into new churches. This has caused a stagnation in church planting in the American context.

We need to remember that every Southern Baptist Church was a church plant at some point. Recent statistics show that 87% of Southern Baptist pastors believe it is the local church’s responsibility to plant churches (Spin-Off Churches, 13). We should be thrilled with the NAMB’s renewed emphasis on church planting (through SEND North America) and rejoice that most pastors believe local churches should engage in church planting. Unfortunately, only about 3% of Southern Baptist churches have actually participated in church planting through direct funding or parenting (Spin-Off Churches, 65). This reality seems to detail a giant disconnect between belief and action.

We need to be reminded that our heritage is ripe with church multiplication. The Sandy Creek Baptist Church, a North Carolina congregation, accounted for forty-two churches or missions in a span of just under twenty years beginning in 1755 (Spin-Off Churches, 19).   Furthermore, church planting has been an emphasis within the Southern Baptist Convention from its inception by relying on lay leadership and non-professional clergy for a large portion of its existence. So, with her heritage and emphasis on church planting, the question remains, “What will it take to encourage more Southern Baptist Churches and pastors to engage in church planting?”

Five Church Parenting Values:

Kingdom Vision—Kingdom Vision sees beyond the local congregation. It envisions what God has in mind for places and people not in our immediate area. While kingdom vision begins with our local community, it extends to the nations as well as to those in between. It is the vision of Jesus, Paul, and should be the vision of every body of believers.

Evangelistic Zeal—Churches who will parent and support other churches passionately believe in evangelism. Evangelism is the catalyst for church planting. Our goal is to reach new people, not merely shift believers from other congregations.

Simple Church Structure—One of the greatest benefits of the SEND strategy with NAMB is their assistance with planters designing transferable church models for planters. Existing churches (even successful ones such as Mud Creek Baptist Church) have transitioned to a place that transferring their model is difficult at best. Existing churches should explore direct parenting, but a good place to begin would be partnering with existing churches.

Equipping Leadership—Church planting churches are committed to equipping leaders to extend ministry influence. Paul trained and taught Timothy, Titus, Mark, Barnabas, Silas, Apollos, and others. As he evangelized and established churches, he equipped others to lead thus extending his ministry influence.

Commitment to Multiplication—Multiplication is the endgame for church planting. In order to reach the masses of unbelievers in our nation and throughout the world, we must shift our pursuit of addition and seek to multiply. Building a planting mentality into the DNA of new churches is a biblical, historical, and healthy model for multiplying congregations and believers.

While these values might be challenging to implement, I would encourage taking small steps. One simple way we are adopting this approach at Mud Creek is by supporting a church planter in Baltimore, MD through the SEND strategy at the North American Mission Board. We are hosting our planter this Wednesday at Mud Creek. His name is Robert Theodore, and he will be planting the Block City Church in downtown Baltimore. He will be targeting an unreached area in the city. When he comes to Mud Creek, he’ll preach in our Wednesday service, share his story, and cast a vision to our church for the Block City Church. We are committing to support him for the next several years financially, through prayers, and by sending teams. Partnering with NAMB allows us to adopt these values while sharing the cost and benefit of church planting.

Resources on church planting:

Green, Michael. Evangelism in the Early Church, 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003.

Payne, J.D. Discovering Church Planting. Colorado Springs, CO: Authentic Publishing, 2009.

Harrison, Rodney, Tom Cheyney, and Don Overstreet. Spin-Off Churches: How One Church Successfully Plants Another. Nashville, TN: Broadman and Holman Academic, 2008.

Moore, Ralph. How to Multiply Your Church: The Most Effective Way to Grow God’s Kingdom. Ventura, CA: Regal, 2009.

When I served as the pastor to high school students here at Mud Creek, I recruited people to teach our high school students on Sunday mornings. One of those couples was Todd and Cindy Overgaard. They taught the 10^th grade Sunday School class for a number of years. Cindy and Todd were a great team and popular among our high school students which is a tough task. Cindy was the primary teacher and Todd served as a relational role model for the class as a whole and the young men in particular. Anyway, that’s how I got to know the Overgaard family.

Todd played golf, and we were able to spend some time on the golf course together. We even won a captain’s choice tournament in large part because of Todd. He loved life and loved his family deeply.

I’ll never forget the morning Todd and Cindy came to see me at church. Somewhat emotional and uncertain, they shared with me that Todd had been diagnosed with ALS. They were pursuing opinions from other doctors, but wanted our prayers for his health and their future. The next few years were physically tough on Todd, and I can’t imagine the emotional turmoil Cindy and Andy, their teenage son, faced as ALS slowly took Todd’s health and life.

Todd struggled with ALS for a number of years, but some things about him didn’t change. He still loved life and his family, but his love for the Lord became more and more evident. He joined Dr. Mathis’ accountability group. While always quietly spiritual, Todd grew bolder in his willingness to speak out for the Lord and even sought out opportunities to be a witness. He assisted with evangelism training courses and shared how God saved him out of a works-based Catholic background. He also looked for opportunities to use what strength he had left to honor the Lord.

In May 2008 tornadoes ripped through northern Georgia, and our Carpenter’s Hands Ministry was asked to respond. Todd wanted to help, but even as he approached Mike Nelson, he didn’t know what he would have the strength or ability to do. His muscles were already experiencing the deteriorating effects of ALS. In truth, Todd joined our disaster relief team on faith. When they arrived in Georgia, North Carolina Baptist Men (our sending agency) had partnered with Samaritan’s Purse. Providentially, Samaritan’s Purse had a skid steer available to help with clean up, but no one to operate it. Well, Todd was proficient in operating skid steers, and God provided a tool and a task for him while on that disaster trip. Even as Todd’s strength was weakened with ALS, he moved more debris than any other team member because God decided to use Todd in a special way. Revealing his never-changing sense of humor, Todd even joked, “This is my first wheelchair.” To which Mike Nelson wittily responded, “Yes, bud I don’t think Cindy will let you bring it in the house.”

Todd’s life and story are filled with wonderful memories like this one. He is actually one of my personal heroes. His faith and willingness to serve even while his body was deteriorating is an inspiration. Cindy and Andy are two of my heroes as well. Cindy not only watched the love of her life lose his through ALS, but as the caregiver she experienced his disease in a more personal way than maybe even Todd. She shared her story in one of Dr. Mathis’ books Looking for God available here. Andy is also one of my heroes. Growing out of a shy little boy who wouldn’t dare speak to a stranger, Andy is now full of personality and maturity studying for full-time ministry at North Greenville University. The influential legacy of Todd, Cindy, and Andy Overgaard is one that has and will impact thousands. I know they’ve