We Have a Home
Christ City recently signed a lease with Minglewood Hall.  We are excited about this partnership with the premiere concert venue in our area. Minglewood has a similar heart for being a force for creative renewal in the center of Memphis, and is a well known gathering place for a lot of the people we feel called to reach. The management there has been very encouraging to us. The space is a fit for us in so many ways and has enough room for us to grow over the next year.

1st Preview Service
Sunday June 13th, we hosted our first summer preview service. Many of you were actively praying for this first public worship gathering and for that we are grateful. We got a sense that something unusual was happening when at 10:25 we had to start setting out more chairs. Our final count was 90 adults and 22 children – many more than we had hoped, prayed, or planned for. More importantly, there was a distinct sense of the Spirit’s presence as believers and unbelievers alike came together to sing and listen to words proclaiming the power found only in the sacrificial death of Jesus.

New Staff & Residents
We are in the process of bringing our first staff and pastoral residents on board. The first to join us are Caleb & Casey Sigler.  Caleb leads the church in worship and arts and Casey is working for us part-time in an administrative capacity. Their ministry and friendship along with the rest of our stellar team have been a giant blessing to us. Keep your eyes on http://www.christcitymemphis.org as we add more staff and residents this summer.

How to Pray For Us
This summer, there are several opportunities to pray for us:

• June 26th – 30th: I Art Memphis – multiple interactive art “mini-camps” that we are hosting in Midtown-area parks for families & kids. This is an effort to get know and serve our neighbors while simultaneously getting the word out about our new church.

• July 11th: Our 2nd preview service. I’m preaching on the idea that our final hope for the renewal of all things is what gives us energy and power to work for the renewal of our city here and now.

• August 15th: Our 3rd and final preview service before launch. The theme, that a response to God’s initiating love demands that we fight for loving community in the middle of diversity, will be used to launch our City Groups, home-based communities designed to help people live on mission together.

Also continue to pray for wisdom and discernment as we make crucial decisions and plans for the future, protection from the enemy for our families, that God would be gracious in granting a harvest of new converts, and that the leaders and families of our church would have a single-focused zeal to know and pursue Christ.

Financial Support
If you have or are currently financially supporting Christ City Church, your gifts are not in vain. We are so unbelievably grateful for your sacrifice – and you need to know that you are helping plant the gospel deep in center city Memphis. Thank you!

As we prepare for launch, we will to need more resources for new administrative staff, weekly facility rental, promotion and purchases for worship, Christ City Kids, and signage.

Will you consider Christ City Church for your budget? If you’re already a financial partner – will you consider recommending us to a friend or another church looking for a new work to get behind? If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Thank you again for your help, prayers, support, and encouragement. We could not do what we’re doing without the aid and support we feel from Christians literally around the world.

-Jonathan for the Christ City Team

Have You Seen?

• Our new address:
  673 N. Auburndale St.
  Memphis, TN 38107

• Our website and vision video.

• New Church will Bring Grace, Renewal and Love to Memphis - an interview with Jonathan in Memphis Connect.

• Roll Over, Elvis. Meet Indie Memphis. – an article from The New York Times on our neighborhood.

• Friend us at our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter.

You don’t have to have church-planting already in your DNA, however, to become a church-planting church. Let’s say that you pastor an established, traditional church & have never planted a new church or supported a church planter. Where do you start?

Meet area planters
If you’ve always been a pastor in an existing, established church situation, get to know church planters in your area. Take a couple out to lunch.  Most likely, they’re poor & hungry.  Church planters often feel like established church leaders are distrustful of them and their motives. Listen to planters in your area & their heart for reaching new people. Be available for conversation, prayer, and networking.  I hear story after story of church planters that are new to an area and can’t get pastors of established churches to even return a phone call.

Do a study
You and your church need to first believe in the importance of planting new churches on local soil.  If you expect some of your key leaders to be resistant on this issue – do a short study together on the importance of planting new churches, specifically in Western areas.  Tim Keller’s paper, Why Plant Churches or Glenn Smith’s article Does the U.S. Need More New Churches? are both great & simple places to start. The key leaders in the church, especially those who set vision and budgets need to be convinced of Keller’s words: “The vigorous, continual planting of new congregations is the single most crucial strategy for the numerical growth of the Body of Christ in any city, and the continual corporate renewal and revival of the existing churches in a city.”

Budget appropriately
This is where it gets hard, and is the first place that established churches turn back from becoming church-planting churches. If you are going to plant churches, you have to set aside money in your budget for it – and that most likely will mean taking some percentage from money that you already give to foreign missionaries or to your denomination’s missions sending agency.

Vision from the pulpit
Whenever the primary teacher talks about the mission of the church, evangelism, or engaging the world with the gospel, make sure that you tell your people that a key piece of your missional strategy is planting new churches. Putting it out there strong will help hold you accountable to your new vision. “We are not quite sure how we’re going to do it – but a key piece of us reaching the world with the gospel is that we are going to start planting new churches – right here. There are unreached people groups right under our noses -  and the best way to reach them is to plant new churches.”

Join a church-planting network
In addition to having access to church-planting resources, when you as an existing church join a church-planting network like The Acts 29 Network or ARC you signify to potential planters around you that you are serious about church-planting. Young potential planters are already watching these networks because of their success in planting. When you join up, potential planters in your area will start to look to you for church-planting support & internship opportunities.

Begin a church-planting internship
The next difficult step is to start an intern program for potential church-planters. Doing an intern program can cost less than you think, but is likely to be more time intensive than you first realize. A few brief thoughts on internships:

Have interns raise their own support
If a potential planter can’t raise support for a part time salary, how will he ever raise money for a new church? If his own grandma doesn’t trust him, why should you? You could consider a stipend for a candidate with a lot of experience, if the candidate has a family (with multiple kids) to support, the cost of living in your area is exceptionally high (like NYC), or if the candidate does not come from a culture with an assumed network of churches, friends & family who can back a pastor financially (generally non-white or non-western.)

Assess potential interns well
Two mistakes here: 1.You set the bar too low (ie you accept anyone who remotely expresses a desire in church planting). If this happens, even a year (or two) of training at your church will not produce of guy that you will want to plant, and you may end up sending out someone who never should have planted in the first place. 2. You set the bar too high (ie you expect him to already be network assessment ready). This is not your network’s complete, rigorous assessment – this is your own pre-assessment. You’re looking for someone who has the raw DNA to be a church planter but still needs 1-3 years to work on theology, a marital communication issue, or needs to have more teaching & leading experience. They do have to demonstrate character, entrepreneurial skill, and a sense of calling – the three things that I think are impossible to teach.

Mentor interns well
A lot of fast growing churches bring on interns without any sense of what do with them. Sure, the “grab an oar, let’s get to work” mentality is great – and gives you some needed hands on deck – but at some point interns need: 1. theological shaping, 2. real mentoring 3. leadership opportunities where they can safely fail.  Also, with potential church-planters, give them opportunities to start something.

Send them out with money & people
If an intern goes through your whole process, has learned from your church & added value to your church, has passed your assessments, and responded & learned from your critiques & coaching, then be prepared to enthusiastically send them out with money and people.  If they really do have entrepreneurial & teaching skills, strong character and a good family – then by all means, put your money where your mouth is.

Show your congregation
Celebrate church planters – both those you send out and those you support. Have them preach in your church (if they can handle your pulpit). Lay hands on them and publicly pray for them. As they’re planting, find out the good stories and share those with your people. Regularly show pictures of your church planters just like you might your overseas missionaries. Let your congregation celebrate God’s work among these new churches.

These are initial thoughts on becoming a church-planting church. Much more can and has been said. What are your thoughts?

Jonathan, Ashley, Cora, and Nola

As you know, the McIntosh family is planting a new church in Midtown Memphis in 2010: Christ City Church.

If you would like to make a year end gift to help start this new church – there are a few options to make this happen:
1. You can write a check, made out to Christ City Church.
Our temporary address is 889 Mt. Vernon Rd. Tupelo, MS 38804.
2. You can wire money to the Christ City checking account. Email me for details on how to do this.
3. You can donate now via PayPal using a credit or debit card or PayPal account.

(PAYPAL*CHRIST CITY will appear on your credit card or bank statement.)

This money goes towards salaries, administrative costs, staffing strategic leaders, promotional needs, and facility rental once we launch.
If you’d like to see a copy of our first year budget or the vision packet, don’t hesitate to email me.

Take a look at my kids in the picture above. Do it for the children.

Seriously, do it because you believe that planting new churches is the best way to spread the gospel in city centers.
Do it because you resonate with the vision of a gospel-centered, missional church.
Do it because you strongly desire to see a community formed that proclaims grace and works for city renewal.
Do it for the glory of God and the good of the city of Memphis.

With much love and gratitude,
-JMac

I call this “idealized city idolatry.”

You know the people that have an ideal version of some church in their head? They keep waiting for this perfect church that suits them just perfectly in all the perfect ways. They keep waiting for this church that does not exist and so they never commit. They church hop all their days.

I don’t do that. At least not with churches. I do that with cities.

In the past, in processing a call to start a church, I have idolized the idea of what city I would plant in. It’s hard to explain, but if you know me, you might understand that I was waiting for that perfect city. In recent months God has broken me of this.

Hebrews 11 paints a picture of Abraham also yearning for a city – but his city was designed and built by God (v. 10).  That is what gave him and all those saints who faced tremendous difficulties the power to follow God on mission – they hoped for (and in) a lasting city – a city with “foundations.”  Abraham’s city was the new City to come.

Why don’t you (and I and all urban lovers out there) make a decision to stop looking for an idealized city here on earth (London! San Fran! Boston! Wherever You Last Visited!) and instead love the city right in front of you, plain as the nose on your face? It’s not going to be the perfect city.  In fact, isn’t that the point?  The real city (not the idealized one in your head) is most likely extremely broken.

But you and I are called, through the work of the gospel, to love that city, to help shape that city. Are you working, living, shopping, building relationships, doing justice, loving mercy, creating culture, and planting churches in such a way that the city right in front of you increasingly resembles that new City to come?

Why Memphis?
The short answer is that we love it. For seven years, Ashley & I lived just outside of Memphis, and a lot of the earliest memories of our life together were formed there: Ashley said yes to me as I knelt at the Memphis Botanic Garden. We listened to a lot of jazz & shared romantic dinners at Cielo (now Mollie Fontaine).  And whether it was hanging out at Overton Park or movies at Studio on the Square, we found ourselves drawn back to Memphis over the years, specifically an area called Midtown.

Memphis is connected in some surprising ways to St. Louis, our home for the last five years of our lives.  The economies of both cities have been shaped through time by their dependence on the Mississippi River, and understanding each includes understanding the racial and socioeconomic lines that divide both cities. Memphis is also the home of the Redbirds, the minor league affiliate of the Cardinals, which means we still get to root for the Cards!

It makes sense, after five years away, that we would come to Memphis to plant.

Midtown Memphis
Our sights are set on Midtown Memphis – known for its diversity, the best restaurants in the city, its music and arts scene, and a growing theater district.

Midtown is home to many of Memphis’ creative class. The urban progressives who call Midtown their home love their city (a popular bumper sticker claims “Midtown is Memphis”) and disdain the “suburbanization of Memphis.” Thus, one key to reaching the Memphis Metro area is reaching Midtown and letting all of the implications of the gospel for the public square take root and grow there.  The pathway is open for churches that proclaim Christ and love their city to be planted in this area.

What You Can Do
The number one obvious answer is prayer. Absolutely, more than you or I understand, we need many, many people to pray for us.

From my experience, church planters endure much spiritual warfare – so please pray for us. Pray for our family, for our marriage, pray for Memphis and specifically Midtown. Pray that key relationships will be made that will open up doors for the gospel. Pray.

And, without a doubt, we need money. Given our country’s current economic climate, it might appear foolish to head out and plant a church at this time. I know, however, that our God has accomplished much more with much less. With Him, all things are possible.

If you’re a leader of a church-planting church, and you are in step with the gospel-centered missional emphasis you’ve seen through Rethink Mission, strongly consider putting this new work in your 2010 budget.  We need many financial partners to give monthly toward this work.

The Glorious Ruin
Let me say this as well: you, too, should consider moving to Memphis. No city reminds me more of Francis Schaeffer’s term for humanity: “The Glorious Ruin.” As you look at the city’s people, its architecture, the rich cultural and musical history – Memphis is a glory indeed. At the same time, many would acknowledge with one glance at the schools, past (and current) race relations, and the conditions of many living in the city center that something in Memphis is profoundly broken.

Do you have hopes of living for something greater than yourself? Are you a dreamer, a builder, a risk-taker? Pray. Pray about moving to Memphis, getting a job, starting a business, or raising money and being an integral part of this new work.

If you are interested in joining our launch team in 2010 or are interested in becoming a financial partner, email me to request a vision packet.

Watch this site for more details in the month to come.

1. Pray for us.
2. Partner with us financially.
3. Consider joining us.

For the gospel. For the city.

-JMac

There are a ton of lessons I’ve learned over the years about what went wrong and why, but I’ve distilled five of the most important.

Here is How to Kill a Church Before It Gets Off the Ground:

1. Plant for a culture that is different than your setting.
Our new church was oh, so hip. (I’ve said more about The Hipper than Thou Church.) The problem was, this was a small town. In the South. Influenced by what large churches in large cities (primarily in the Midwest & Northwest) were doing, I was more in love with “hipness” than trying to understand the culture I was actually planting in.  Thus, in an effort to be relevant, we failed to be properly contextual. If you want to kill your church, don’t study your culture or do the hard work of contextualization. Don’t die to your preconceived notions about what your church has to look like. Plant a church like one you’ve been to or read about, not one that will actually connect with the people in your area.

2. Plant a church for rebellious evangelicals that is intentionally not like the church down the street.
We’re not like… your parents church… those Baptists… those fundamentalists… those… well, you get the point.  Our church plant was more obsessed about what it was not than what it actually was going to be for.  Almost anything that is reactionary will take an unhealthy turn in the opposite direction.

You don’t like legalists, I get it, but what will you stand for? You won’t be the church that asks for money, yells at people, makes people sit/stand/sit/stand, and where you don’t have to wear a suit & tie – that’s fine. But I hope you have more vision than just that. Deconstruction is easy (and a lot of times necessary) but it can’t stop there. What healthy thing will you actually build? How will you shape your people and your city positively with the gospel?

3. Don’t preach the Bible.
My highest calling and greatest gift to the church is to study the Bible and preach what I find there. To teach people to read and treasure scripture. And most importantly to look at the story of the Bible and point to Jesus and his work to redeem humans.

And yet, in an effort to be relevant, I was more eager to preach series based on movies and pop culture instead of the Bible. (I’ll save myself the embarrassment of telling you those sermon titles.) I strongly believe that we need to pay attention and come awake to the often subtle ways that God reveals himself through culture. However, what both believers and seekers need more than anything is to come in contact with the God of scripture.  That happens as we (intelligently, winsomely, passionately) preach the Bible.

4. Don’t protect or provide for your family.
Christ’s Bride became my mistress. (So it really wasn’t about Christ or his Bride… it was about my ego.) Driven by pride and a desire to be everyone’s savior, I didn’t put boundaries in place to protect my wife or our family time. Out of ignorance I didn’t raise enough money to support our family, and so in laziness I played around with my church plant while my wife worked a soul-killing job to support our family. It was almost the end of our marriage, and I was too blind to even see it. You want an unhealthy church? Sacrifice your marriage and family at the altar of “ministry.”

5. Plant before you’ve dealt with your own obvious sin issues.
You’ve probably heard it before, but it bears saying again: whatever is in your heart will come out at some point during this crazy church planting adventure. I am not saying that we need perfect pastors.  They don’t exist and as soon as you start acting like they do, everyone wants to play the I’ve-got-it-all-together-smiley-faced-perfect-pastor act. We do, however, need pastors and church planters who are living in the light – living lives of authentic gospel repentance.

There were hidden persistent sin issues in my life. Instead of paying attention to the darkness and opening up to trusted community, I just kept my head down and went back to work, feverishly hoping that it would all just go away. It’s obvious to say that it didn’t go away.  By God’s grace, my sin could not and would not stay hidden.

A final warning.
Shutting the doors on our dream was one of the most difficult things we’ve ever done – but it was, without a doubt, the best decision for that time. Ashley and I became a part of a healthy church and worked on our relationship and leadership.

I know that the idea of church planting is hitting a peak in popularity. It’s chic. Better than that, there is a need. We need courageous, zealous teachers and leaders who relish grace and want to take a giant risk to plant new churches in cities and villages across this planet.

Before you do, however, stop. Think. Are you ready? (Do trusted, wise advisers say you are ready?) Would time in a healthy, gospel-centered church as a volunteer or intern better equip you before you go? Could a better plan and better preparation in a community that knows you and knows your junk possibly help? Go. Plant a church. But not to the detriment of those you lead, your marriage or even your soul.

“Years ago, I was at a point of growing our church big. I was concerned about how fast we could get there…

I was walking in a pasture behind my house one day.  A pastor not far from me had had affairs with five women; he crashed and burned.  Another guy north of me had a megachurch, but he was going to the pen for embezzlement.  I told God, ‘God, I’ve got my pants on.  I’ve got my hands out of the offering plate.  You’ve got these guys over here doing all this stuff.  Why aren’t you blessing me?’

All of a sudden this little question came to my mind: When will Jesus be enough for you? Sometimes, I think that’s when I became a Christian.  I just began to weep, because I realized he wasn’t.  I was miserable because of our attendance the day before. That’s wrong…

Why is my joy based on having to grow my church as big as Rick Warren’s or Bill Hybels’s?”

So, pastor, the question for you & me: what is your joy based on? When will Jesus be enough?

I have given you authority… However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. -Jesus, Luke 10:19-20

As always, you delivered.
(Note: A lot recommendations were made, but only books that received multiple votes made this list.)

The Short List

Confessions of a Reformission Rev. by Mark Driscoll
Drisoll’s personal, inside look at the planting of Mars Hill Church in Seattle topped your list.  Why? Simply this: Confessions of a Reformission Rev. is so practical, real, and non-theoretical.
You said:
“It’s a blow-by-blow account of someone who’s been in the fox hole of church planting rather than a collection of good theories.”
“It personalized the planter’s journey. And his story just resonated strongly with me. Biography often trumps ‘theory.’”
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Total Church: A Radical Reshaping around Gospel and Community by Tim Chester & Steve Timmis
Total Church tied with Confessions in the number of votes received in the poll. The boys from Britain bring us a book that has the church deeply rethinking (and restructuring) how and why we do what we do.
You said:
“Nails what a faithful missional ecclesiology looks like and church planters should care about it as much as Timmis and Chester do.”
“Takes the gospel from mere intellectual assent to its Kingdom purposes, that is, engaging a robust ecclesiology here and now.”

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Planting Missional Churches by Ed Stetzer
Planting Missional Churches is Stetzer’s update to his earlier Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age, and is considered by many to be a one-stop shop, the must-have handbook on church planting.
You said:
“Planting Missional Churches intelligently addresses most of the practical issues facing a church planter, and also answers why those issues are important.”
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Vintage Church: Timeless Truths and Timely Methods by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears
The third offering from the Driscoll/Breshears team, Vintage Church is described as “the kind of book you could hand to someone who has questions about ecclesiology but finds the very term ecclesiology intimidating.” Vintage Church gives answers to practical questions you don’t learn in seminary on how to lead and run a missional church.
You said:
“Vintage Church is a clear and concise coverage of church applicable in multiple contexts without a singular model.  A great reference book for planters.”

The Longer List
All of the following received multiple votes.

Launch: Starting a New Church from Scratch by Nelson Searcy

The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church by Alan Hirsch

The Redeemer Church Planting Manual by Timothy Keller & J. Allen Thompson

The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay

The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations by Ori Brafman & Rod Beckstrom

Deep Church: A Third Way Beyond Emerging and Traditional by Jim Belcher
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What’s your take on these books? If your favorite book didn’t make the list, you’ve got a chance to recommend it here.
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See Related: The Best Books Right Now