I’m on my way back from a couple of days at the June 2008 edition of the Northern New England BootCamp. These events are very energizing to me. It’s simply amazing to be around a bunch of folks who are serious about being with Jesus on His Mission!  I especially appreciate the commitment of the entire Northern New England Executive Leadership Team to church planting. Superintendent Dennis Marquardt (who may be THE most tech savvy District Superintendent EVER, seriously check out his website!), Assistant Superintendent Dan Abbatiello (it was just announced that Dan is going to become the District Church Development Director, overseeing Church Planting and Revitalization) and Secretary Treasurer Greg Randall  (Greg is in training to serve as a BootCamp Facilitator) have been backing up their words with actions for years. They provide leadership in one of the most challenging mission fields in America. And slowly but surely they are getting it done. Northern New England is also blessed with one of the leading assessors and assessor trainers in the United States. Roland Ludlam (Pastor of Church on the Rock in St. Albans, Vermont) has been a great blessing to numerous districts and leaders over the years as he has provided highly competent assessment services and outstanding training experiences all across the nation. NNED and the Assemblies of God is blessed to have him on the team!

It was also a blast to be with an outstanding facilitation team. The Church Planting side was anchored by Roger Stacy who was assisted by Terry Broadwater and Tony Fundero, with Greg Randall in training. The Church Health side was led by Jim Armpriester, Roland Ludlam and Jim Risner. Both sides were well supported by a great team of coaches. Debbie Armstrong did her usual outstanding job of administrating the BootCamp. By the way, last week Debbie celebrated another trip around the sun! Happy Birthday Debbie!! Wednesday night the facilitation team went out for dinner together at Newick’s in Dover, New Hampshire. Most of the facilitators (and especially Jim Armpriester) really enjoyed some freshly caught Maine lobster. Go to the “rest of the entry” to see some more pictures.

Anyway, being at the BootCamp reminded me once again of the value of the BootCamp process. Many first time BootCamp participants are surprised by how the BootCamp process works, because they come expecting a traditional teacher/student experience and end up getting something quite different. Instead of experts working through lists of “how-to’s” and “here’s how I did it” stories, BootCamp participants find themselves discovering the answers to 6 crucial questions that help them know what they need to do to cooperate with the Lord of the Harvest to build “barns” to contain the fruit of the harvest. The result is that each participant leaves the week of the camp with a set of custom action steps impacted by essential factors that help them determine what the church needs to look like to be effective in reaching lost people in the particular ministry context to which they are called.

In fact, the BootCamp process actually works cooperatively with the way that God designed the brain. Recent discoveries of how the brain works reveal that when a brain is actively engaged in a discovery process, new connections are actually formed that “hard wire” the new concept into the brain. In contrast, passive learning models (expert to student) do not catalyze new connections as effectively, if at all. The result is that the BootCamp process has now helped thousands of leaders discover and act on powerful Biblically based ideas that have enabled them to reach tens of thousands of folks who were previously far from God with the powerful Gospel of the Kingdom.

If you are planning to plant a church, I hope you take advantage of the BootCamp experience. I believe it has become an essential part of the journey for anyone who is planting a church. By the way, the BootCamp is model neutral. By model neutral, I mean that we do not advocate a particular approach to planting. The BootCamp discovery process leads to foundational principles that apply to every model of planting. So don’t worry that your approach won’t be compatible with BootCamp…unless your approach will not produce a Biblically sound community of disciples who join Jesus on His Mission, the BootCamp process will be a blessing to you. To find out more about upcoming camps, click here.