Some recent emails … continued

I had the opportunity of working with Troy Bronsink recently, which elicited this question:

Brian did an amazing job at the Festival of Homiletics today. He had a guy named Troy with him. I was wondering if there is a place where I can download some of the music that Troy used!
Thanks for your work – it is so important and you share the message in such a challenging and encouraging way. This is the 3rd time I have heard Brian and he just gets better and better.

You can learn more about Troy here … You can get Troy’s music and learn about his work as consultant and teacher there as well. I wrote some of the songs we did at that event … you can buy a CD or download songs here. You can also check out some of my songs on my youtube channel here …
More after the jump …

A really important question from a church planter …

Dear Brian,
My name is MNO. I’m a pastor of a small United Methodist congregation here in X. Recently however, I was told that I was the one chosen by my Annual Conference to start a new United Methodist local church. New Church Start is a growing movement in the UMC which aim is to plant new churches in the United States. There is an existing but almost dead UMC in the area. But instead of reviving it, the church, neighboring UMC local churches, together with the DS’s and bishop decided to let it die and allow a new UMC to emerge.
The reason for my writing is 2-fold or 3. First I’m reading your book A New Kind of Christian and I could not tell you how much I could relate with your experience and the story of the character in your book. … I came from a conservative evangelical-pentecostal background. Due to various orientations with postmodern thoughts in seminary, I slowly entered a series of paradigm shifts that deconstructed how I viewed ministry, reality and my own faith experience. The transition was long, painful and lonely and it affected my ministry negatively. I started to experience inner healing only about six months ago, when I joined a monthly support group and asked for spiritual counseling from a … priest I started to gradually build a balance paradigm that encompasses my various orientations without anymore experiencing inner conflict. I begun to embrace this change and used it as a source of ministry advantage instead of weakness. I experienced new excitement in pastoral work again after many years of dryness.
I have been hearing about the emerging church movement for a long time. But it’s only now that I’m trying to communicate with you. I’m desperate in finding some kind of guidance or some kind of community where I can find affinity with. In connection with that, can I ask about your mentoring program? I read something from deepshift that you offer coaching. If you can give me some information about that, I will really appreciate it.
Lastly, if you can find it in your busy schedule to respond to this question, “If you can give 2 or 3 pointers to a newly commissioned church-planter like me, what will those be?” I will value every word you will say.

My pointers would be exactly what you’re already interested in doing:
1. To find a good coach or consultant. I highly recommend my friends at deepshift.org and velocityculture.com.
2. To find a cohort of like-minded pastors and leaders. Emergentvillage.com is a great place to find or form a cohort.
3. Keep up the spiritual direction. By taking care of your own spiritual life, you’ll stay healthy and strong to lead your new congregation.
I hope that everyone who reads this will pray for this fellow – and for everyone who dares venture into the important work of church planting.
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