I’m at 35,000 feet headed home from yet another outstanding BootCamp. The host district was Peninsular Florida ably led by my friend Superintendent Terry Raburn. Terry and I go way back to days of yore in the Peninsular Florida District when he was the “DCAP”(for you youngsters out there, that stands for “District Christ Ambassadors President”) and I was the Youth Pastor at Evangel Temple in Jacksonville, Florida. The host church was Life Assembly of God, a strong community of disciples led by an anointed and cool dude named Duke Matlock.  Duke is the sectional presbyter and a big advocates of church planting. Life Assembly is located in the Orlando metro area of Central Florida where Mickey and Minnie also make their home.

Church planter extraordinaire Larry Mederich served as the lead facilitator. He was joined by Joel Hunter, Ben Hodge and Tim Satryan. (That’s me with Joel in the picture to the left.) As always, Debbie Armstrong kept the “train from jumping the tracks” by exercising her great gift of administration.

This BootCamp was unique in several aspects.

First, the timing. In just about a year from now, thousands of AG leaders from across the nation will convene in Orlando for General Council. Starting new vigorous churches will be a strong focus of this next council. Many of the projects represented at this camp will be in the early phases of their public launch and it’s my hope that the level of support and prayer for these and future church plants to come will be significantly increased because of the increased visibility given to planting next year back here in Orlando.

Second, the diversity. This particular camp was the most ethnically diverse camp that I personally have been a part of. Representatives from the General Council of Trinidad attended hoping to learn more about how to provide a greater degree of support for their church planters. A wonderful variety of leaders planting ethnic churches in the US were also present- including Korean, Filipino and Hispanic. The room looked a little bit like heaven. This was very encouraging to me because US population is trending toward an increasing diversity of ethnicity and the church cannot afford to ignore the trend.

Third, the challenges. It seems like we encountered an unusual number of obstacles leading up to this camp, not the least of which was Tim Satryan’s trip to the airport on his way to the BootCamp. Tim was in a serious accident (air bags deployed) that totaled his car. Incredibly, he was fine and some friends happened by the accident scene and were able to give him a ride to the airport so he could make his flight. OK, Tim you get first prize in several categories- Most Determined to Be at the BootCamp, Most Dangerous yet Anointed Facilitator and perhaps Most Macho Man Amongst Us.

Bottom line- I continue to see incredibly encouraging signs that God is with us and has amazing plans for our future. I’m doing everything I can to be obedient and stay on track with Him!

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Today, June 3, 2008 at about 2pm in the afternoon, the Executive Presbytery of the Assemblies of God voted to launch the new Church Multiplication Network. Over the next five years, the Network will emerge as a service organization deployed from a national platform to resource, catalyze and facilitate all manner of planting new churches in America.

Initially, the Church Multiplication Network will be deployed in the form of seven systems laser focused on resourcing all manner of church planting in every “corner” of the fellowship. When the Network is fully deployed, Districts, parent churches and planters will all find relevant and substantial support for every aspect of their efforts to multiply communities of disciples in America. The systems that will be developed by the Church Multiplication Network plan include: Read the rest of this entry »