 Hey, good morning, everyone. Welcome to the session. Let's begin this time with a word of prayer, then we will get into our class. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much once again for giving us this wonderful opportunity to come together and study and learn and pray God that even as we gain insights on church planting and the call that you have for us, I pray that Lord, you will fan into flame, passion and desire to know you more, to walk in your will of God. Lord, we just surrender ourselves. Lord, each one of us, everything that we study and learn, Lord, let it be good seed on good ground, bearing fruit in our lives. We just come at this time into your hands. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. So before we go ahead, let me just do a quick review of what we did yesterday. So yesterday we looked at quite a few points and Chapter 22 recognizing your call as a pioneer. And, you know, we established the fact that the call of God is very important for our lives. And then the big question was whether we are called to be a pioneer or whether we are called to serve under another ministry. But we looked at certain indicators of grace, meaning the grace of being a pioneer. A pioneering spirit is somebody who has the ability to do something new, always being adventurous, ability to build bridges, to work independently, being a visionary, so to see things in the future, a stirring in the heart to, you know, to plant, to start something new, a clear confirmation and direction from God's word. And there are times when we accidentally find ourselves being a church planter. We looked at wrong reasons also when it comes to church planting, not to be motivated or strive for competition. And many a times we try to get into ministry or church planting just because the other options didn't work out. Looking at it as a job, right? Okay, this is my job, so I'm going to do it. Now, we got to get out of that mindset. This is not a job. Ministry, you may be a paid staff. We may be working in under some ministry, but it's not a job. You are serving the Lord. You have to do, we can't say, okay, this is what I'm going to do. This is my responsibility. So this is the only thing that I'm going to do. No, you've got to step out. You've got to, you know, give you 110%, not just 100%, right? It's, you know, when you look at the corporate, they give you 100% or 90%, 100%, but it's just not so in the kingdom of God and ministry. You just got to go above and beyond, right? There are things that you have to do. And even if it's not something that we are comfortable doing, there are times we God will ask us to step out and do it, right? So it's not just a job, but you're serving the Lord. And another wrong reason to do, to engage in church planting is for personal reasons. You know, I don't like the city. I prefer to move to another city. And these are wrong reasons, right? Or I don't like the sculpture. I don't like the language, or I prefer to do something else in another place. So again, we need to have the right direction from God when it comes to church planting. Then we looked at whether to pioneer within an existing ministry or to do things independently. So we looked at advantages, right? So the advantages are more when you're looking to pioneer within a ministry, right? You have a well-established strategy. You have methods. You have people. You have like-minded people. You have resources within the organization. You have, you know, as an organization or as a church, you may be already been in the church or been in the city for about eight or 10 years. So you've gained recognition. People have seen the fruit of your labor. So starting new ministries within a church is always good. And also when it comes to transitions and handovers, you've always got people within the church plant that we can handover and train and build up people, right? But there are also areas that we need to be cautioned when it comes to working under a ministry or starting a, meaning when it comes to pioneering within a church, right? Pioneering a church plant within an already established church. We saw that number one should be that you should be spiritually and, you know, aligned with the vision of the church, right? Remember the example that I gave you yesterday, right? If you are example this person in a Pentecostal church and he wants to start a church plant in that same church. And if he says, you know, I don't really believe in the gifts of the spirit, it does not make sense for him to do that because Pentecostal church, we know they emphasize on the gifts of the spirit and even a charismatic church, right? So be aligned to the vision, be aligned to the culture of the ministry. And thirdly, is there freedom for the release of gifts and, you know, the release of the gifts of the Holy Spirit flowing in the gifts of the spirit? Is there freedom? Do you have the liberty to minister freely, right? So these are certain aspects that we must think about. And does the ministry itself have a heart for this? So for example, there's somebody already working in the church. He wants to start a church in another city or another state. To ensure that, okay, does the church have, you know, a heart for this place? And do they, is there a long-term commitment from them that I can see? And does the church have well-defined systems in place to provide support and assistance? And I also shared that, you know, we have a lot of church plants in India, in different places in India. And what we do is we do encourage them. We are always there for them. We have missions where we go and as teams we go. We minister, we help build churches. So we can say that, you know, even through these church plants within already an existing church, it's good for the leader or the pioneer to be involved in at least a certain amount of involvement with the pioneer is always good, right? Because they feel loved. It could be different cities, different states. But when they're attached to the, or they're in touch with the pioneer and in touch with the mother church, so to speak, what happens is there's this greater sense of confidence, greater sense of reliability. There's a feeling of, hey, I'm not just, you know, a small church, but I belong to a bigger church community. And that really encourages us. So whether any one of us are planning to start independently or just planning to start a church plant within an already established church, we need to keep certain things in mind. Get to clear direction. And I also mentioned that, you know, especially if you're planting a new church or a new ministry within an established church, make sure that you discuss with the pastor. Be open, be free. Discuss all the points that you'd like to, you know, discuss. Be an open book, share your thoughts, share. Ask the pioneer, the senior pastor to share. What is their expectations? If you share your expectations that way, you know, everyone are on the same page, right? So we stopped here in Chapter 22. Let's get into Chapter 23. In the initial portion of this course, we look at a few personal preparations that are involved when it comes to church planting, but let's look at a few more in Chapter 23. Church planting is not for the faint hearted, because I love what Jesus said. When you put your hand to the plow, finish the work, right? You must be committed. If it is hard work, it is dedication. It is going back to God. It is receiving guidance from God. You know, I was just saying this in the other post earlier this morning. There is a cost to the anointing of God upon our life. There is a cost for... When God calls us to be a pioneer, there is a cost. We can never compare ourselves with others and say, He is not praying for three hours, so why should I do it? No, the call of God is different. You must be committed. When it comes to church planting, it is basically going into a heritory where the devil has his presence and you are establishing the presence of God there. It is not for the faint hearted. It is not for people who will easily give up. No, not at all. You and I have to depend on the power of the Holy Spirit. We have to depend on God when it comes to personal preparation and pioneering a church. Let's look at these points. Number one point. Be spiritually strong. Maintain a consistent, constant personal spiritual life. Sometimes church takes priority. You have to step back and say, No, I am going to maintain my relationship with God and out of that should flow everything else. Out of that should flow the whole aspect of pioneering and building. Being spiritually strong is basically building a good foundation. If you look at a pioneer and if the person is not spiritually strong, I said this yesterday, but I am going to say this again. We can start a church. People also will come. No problem. People will come. But are we able to build them up? Ephesians 5, Paul writes about the 5-fold ministry and he says all of this is there for the building and for the equipping of the church. We need to be as leaders, as senior pastors of the church. We need to maintain a strong personal commitment, a strong relationship with the Lord. You have to get equipped. You have to read, you have to learn, you have to spend time in God's presence. We can never come to a place as pioneers. We can never come to a place saying, Okay, I have done it. I have studied as much as I can. I am satisfied now. We are a student of God's word every single day. We get up in the morning. We pray. We surrender ourselves. We surrender our lives. We surrender the ministry. We just put everything and say, God, it's all about you. And we must equip ourselves. We must be prepared. Picture this pastor. You are going to preach every Sunday. Eventually, you are going to have Bible studies. Eventually, you are going to have youth meetings, teen meetings, men's meetings, women's meetings. And you have got to know content. You have got to have good material to teach them. Nobody is going to listen to the same thing again and again. Meaning, even if it is repeated, it has got to be anointed of God. Be clear with your calling and vision. Because you, as a pioneer, are the vision bearer. You hold the team together. You hold the vision. And you are the vision caster for the ministry. So be clear of your calling. Be clear of the vision. Look at Jesus, Matthew 6, 22, 23. Shall we read that? Matthew 6, 22 and 23. Yes, can one of us please read that? Matthew 6, 22 and 23. Matthew 6, 22 and 23. The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. Yeah, thank you. So, Matthew 6, 23. The Lord Jesus is just putting out a statement. And he's saying, this is what it is. Let me get there. The eye is the lamp of your body. If your eyes are good, your body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. You know, when in other places, even the Lord Jesus says, I've come for one task. One is to do the will of the Father. And what was the will of the Father? That was, you know, we know that He came into this world to die on the cross. He knew His calling. The Lord Jesus knew it. He knew the vision. He knew the purpose for what He has been sent for. And He was the vision bearer. Can you picture this? Jesus took 12 people. And almost all of them were not very valid testimonies in society. When He used them, those 12, to turn the world upside down, they went to different parts of the world and preached the gospel. That even today, we're talking about the Lord Jesus and His disciples. Be clear of your calling. Be clear of your vision. What God has for you. Now, over time, the way you fulfill the vision can vary. It changes. Methods can vary. Practices may vary. Conferences and events may change and vary. But the vision is always constant. It's always constant. The Lord Jesus' vision was to do with the will of the Father. And how He went about doing it. He did miracles. He did science. He did wonders. It was very different. But the vision was to do the will. So, you and I, as a pioneer, get that calling. Get that vision right. I get to speak to quite a few pastors and leaders. Recently, I spoke to a pastor who was leading a church in North India. Just from the rural areas of North India. But it's a good developing area. Good church. The church is growing. Sharing a few thoughts with me. He was asking about how we can... They're still looking at options of doing things online as well. Media. Trying to get those things involved. And I asked him. It's about 8 or 9 years that his church has been functioning. He's got about 100-150 people in his church. It was good. He said, I don't know what is the vision. I just want to share the gospel and bring people to Christ. I was able to just care with him. It's important to have a vision. Have a mission and a vision. And have values within the church. Because now that you're 150 as the church grows, it becomes 500. Or even 1000. What's going to happen is you need to have a vision. You need to be a vision caster. Why are we meeting on Sundays? What do we want to achieve as a church? What is the vision that God has given us as a church? How can I involve in that vision? So he began to understand there's so much that is it's not just about starting a church. But we thank God that God is definitely using him. But there are times when we have to go back to the minors. Meaning go back to the beginning. Sort things out there and then do what we have to do. Look at this. Be willing to work twice as hard as others. This is the most difficult part. Everyone wants to be pioneers. But doing the work is sometimes the challenge. First Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 10. First Corinthians 15 and verse 10. That's what it says. But by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace to me was not without effect. No. And I worked harder than all of them yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Paul is saying, look for what I'm doing for what I have achieved up to now, I worked harder than everyone. Now it sounds like boasting but it's a fact. There's a great preacher said, when the apostle Paul started off he was about 50 years old. 33 when he had the Damascus approximately 33 when he had the Damascus experience 17, 14 years, 3 years in the desert, 14 years of waiting almost about 50 years. This 50 year old man started his first missionary journey and there's a saying that he alone did what all the 12 disciples did together. He worked the hardest he traveled the most, he was shipwrecked beaten, he went through constant persecution but he's saying all of this have been able to do the most of the grace of God. So wonderful, he ends that by saying, yet not I but the grace of God that was with me. As a pioneer, remember you and I must work twice as harder. Right, if God wants to use us we got to work twice as harder than others. Now the mistake we make sometimes is again we share our spiritual life with others and we're not to do that. You can never say, hey my friend is praying one hour a day and why should I pray two hours or why should I my friend he doesn't go to church every Sunday he goes at least once in two weeks or he goes two weeks in a month why is it that I have to go every Sunday and I'm going and serving there no, we got to work twice as harder and that's how God has designed it. We got to spend time in His presence. Now this working hard could be both physical and also it could be a lot of sacrifice sacrifice of sleep sacrificing friends food, there are times you have to fast and pray like everyone are eating and enjoying and we may think to ourselves why is it that I am the only one struggling that's because you are the pioneer if God is called you and me we got to go through it greater the call greater the responsibilities can you look at this in the in the Old Testament everyone were having fun, why does Elijah have to go through all of this trouble sitting in the mountains with Jeremiah everyone were fine everyone were enjoying they were looking at Jeremiah they were laughing at him saying why are you going through all of this Jeremiah said no I got to do it I am the prophet for this nation I got to work I got to sacrifice for the people right so you and I it's a call we can't escape it now what happens if God has called us as a visionary or a pioneer and we don't work hard what's going to happen we are going to see stagnancy meaning we are going to be in that same place now church especially when it comes to a local church the success or the fruit of a local church is not always numbers it's not numbers always it's also about how many how many leaders you are raising up how you are building up people from being babies in Christ to being mature in Christ right just remember this you know when I just share this when I was in Bible college and I really wanted to do something right so we were those who are here in person would know it but we had this whole timetable 5 am in the morning we wake up pray get ready then come to your classes by 8, 8.30 and all that I just knew that I wanted to do something more so I kept asking God what should I do remember God ministering to me and saying I want you to wake up earlier than everyone else this is very hard for me right because it's not something you know I used to stay with the boys for for almost the entire time I was studying and I wanted to wake up early so it was very hard I said God everyone are sleeping everyone are you know just resting and why should I wake up I had this question many many many times why should I wake up they are the ones who should be getting up and studying and they are the ones who should be doing I do well in my exams I've done well in all my tests I kept saying why me I don't want to get up I realized that if it's I read this book where forget the author he says why not me why not me ask is when the question comes why me say why not me so I said okay God I'm going to change things in my life I remember the just waking up at early in the morning 4 am and I would spend time in God's presence and then 5 am everyone would get up and initially I was so upset you know after the prayer also now these guys are getting up I woke up much before them but over time I began to enjoy being in God's presence that there came a time that for the entire time when I was in Bible college every single day I would wake up at 3 am because I wanted that 2 hours extra in God's presence was it easy? definitely not easy but I knew there's a call of God in my life and if I want the anointing of God and if I want God to speak to me I cannot be comparing myself with others I cannot be comparing myself with what others are doing they may be right they may be wrong it doesn't matter but God this is what I want to do I thank God that that habit has stuck on it's normal for me by the time I come for the first class 6 hours that I am normally awake I enjoy it it's not a burden it's not like oh man I am getting up 3 others are all enjoying no because we are enjoying it enjoying being in God's presence and you know that God is spilling you and it's not about working hard but it's about God's anointing just doing things in our life and as a pioneer these are steps we have to take we have to be able to you know go that extra mile 5 pray, plan, prepare don't be hasty Proverbs 21, 5 would anyone like to read that please Proverbs 21 verse 5 the plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty the plans the diligent lead to profit so pray plan, prepare and remember we I talked about this as a church you know we have administration we looked at the different stages administration so we have different themes that are involved and so right now what we do I think I've already said this but if there's a conference that's happening we already have the 2024 calendar out right every event for the entire year is already working on it it should be out anytime soon and if there is a conference we work 6 months in advance for one conference 6 months in advance right so first we confirm the date then we send in save the date e-mailer to the entire church so for example the conference all the men of the church get a save the date e-mailer then they get a then we go to 3 weeks of announcements so it goes on the video announcements on Sundays then they get an sms and then the e-mailer is sent with the link for registrations registration link is sent that the sms is sent with the registration link the reminder is sent and then the entire process as this is happening on the other side you have the teams that are involved in admin side booking the venue whoever is teaching there are teachers or preachers who are facilitating the conference maybe some of them coming from auto station within Bangalore so there's so much that happens 6 months in advance and then after that we have follow up after each conference like that so great plan and prepare don't be hasty don't just make decisions because haste can end up in destruction or haste can end up in a loss be emotionally strong very very important you'll have people coming and sharing your thoughts you as a person, as a pioneer remember you're just a person you're a human being you will go through ups and downs in life you will go through emotions you'll sometimes feel up sometimes feel low you've got to be able to maintain and be emotionally strong that's where being in God's presence really helps us in all of this 7, get things ordered in your personal life don't let personal weaknesses become an entry point for satans disruptive attempts get things ordered in your life in your personal life now for example speaking to this happened many years ago speaking to this pastor and he opened up to me and we were just talking and he shared that he, this pastor was, as he was sharing, he said that I have one weakness and that weakness is every month at least once or twice I watched pornography I was taken aback he's a good pastor right not in this city not different city, good pastor loves the Lord wonderful ministry churches growing good leaders good family but he said this every month if not once or twice I watch pornography what do I do so I said first thing I said is close the door for the devil get things right if you have to take a break from ministry because sometimes we feel that if we are not there the ministry is not going to happen which is not true even if we take a break there are people who can come in and do things never feel that without me nothing is going to happen nobody is irreplaceable every person in this world can be replaced that's a hard fact but it's true get things in order in your life don't let these weaknesses become a door for the devil right don't let the enemy to come in he's like a roaring lion he will look for an open door he will look for an open opportunity our responsibility is to close those doors I'm not saying that we walk a perfect life we do make mistakes we do get temptations we do have things in our life that we need to change but if we keep pushing that sin under the carpet it's going to remain there you know the saying like an elephant in the room it's going to remain there but we got to get rid of it we got to get rid of it close the door so it doesn't happen again and God has given us his Holy Spirit God has given us scriptures that we can declare we can proclaim, we can overcome he's given us the weapons he's given us the armor of God he's saying we overcome the enemy by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony we use all of this now even though even though you and I may have the vision sometimes or very often it is your family that is doing the church planting why? because now this is in certain cases not always but in certain cases we have the vision but others are doing most of the work no, get things right in your life and I've heard of many many stories well-meaning anointed pastors who have just fallen because they thought they are irreplaceable or nothing is going to happen to me no, the enemy is out to get us but God has given us the strength God has given us his weapons so get things right in our personal life don't be ashamed if you have to get counsel if you want to get help go ahead there is nothing wrong never feel that hey I am a pastor how can I go to another person and ask for help never feel that be open develop your ability to draw strength motivation and discipline from God strength we need physical strength mental strength when it comes to church and church ministry we need mental strength you got to be strong to motivation something you are doing ministry for a person that you can't see where is the Holy Spirit where is Jesus and sometimes we may feel or get monotonous doing the same old thing again imagine five years you are just waking up every morning and praying same thing same prayer thank you Jesus bless these people same thing it can get monotonous definitely yes imagine you are leading worship for the past 10 years it can get monotonous it's natural but you got to get motivated by God say God even though I have been doing this for 5 years or 10 years now but Lord when you come you will make the difference and you bring get motivation then there is discipline as a child of God we must have discipline a church a pioneer in the ministry a leader must be disciplined we cannot be without discipline and just do things we got to make sure that we walk in a disciplined way have a disciplined lifestyle these are the things I am going to do so whatever works for you you can just chalk out your days plan what you plan this is how I am going to do it I am going to try my best to stick by these timings be disciplined in life never compromise on your time on the word of God and prayer when it comes to church ministry activities be disciplined there are things that has to go emails that you have to do people that you have to call get it done procrastination is not a good sign of a leader be disciplined be motivated from within inside of you learn to relate with people well we talked about this last class a pioneer must be able to build bridges among people and the apostle Paul did that beautifully he said to the Jews I will be a Jew to the Gentiles I will be a Gentile when he went to Athens and when he went to Corinth he was able to build bridges he went to Crete he was able to build bridges when he was in Ephesus and the churches in Galatia he was able to understand and relate to them and we must be able to do that we need to love and care for them genuinely the problem is what we must not do is look at people as projects and okay these are the project project one to five did they do get done did they come did they do the work no they are people relate to people learn how to manage relationships where to draw the line the ability to say no this is something that took me a long time to learn because I always thought okay it's coming from the corporate sector working in the corporate for quite a few years and then I came and joined Bible everyone loved each other everyone cared for each other it looks very nice initially I was like wow this is how heaven is supposed to be everyone is so good to each other loving each other I was in a rude awakening when people started saying no and people started there were times when there were assignments given it's thought to get done but I really enjoyed those times at a very young age I got into this pastoral team and I went through a very tough time because I didn't know how to say no even though I didn't like it I would say okay as you wish I could not say no because these people are they are better than me they know more than me but then I thank God that over time I began to understand that as a leader I must be able to say no and of course we do it lovingly we correct also lovingly but we must develop the ability to say no we cannot agree to everything what people say right without feeling guilty right for example there were times when this happened many years ago not in ABC there was this one time these pastors had invited me to come and at a conference this conference was supposed to happen in Indore and so it was summer during Christmas and I was working in the corporate sector at that time and summer during Christmas and he said can you come and I really wanted to go but I also didn't want to go because it was Christmas time I wanted to be in my hometown with my family but then I I said no guilty because the pastor said to me see you don't have a wife, you don't have children why can't you come why can't you come whether it's Christmas or Christmas it's about Jesus only you can come so when I entered the call I felt sort of feeling guilty I said no to God's work and I remember calling him back and saying okay I will try to come and then eventually I had to ask the Lord to remove that guilt and I could confidently say no I can't come but again this this comes over time right God will give us the strength, God will give us the wisdom I went to say no, how to say no so being in God's presence helps develop required skills okay time management very important money management extremely important communication how to communicate with people ministry is about people you're talking to people you can say if there are three sentences you have to say it in three sentences you don't have to say it in six then by the time we say it in six sentences the other person will be wondering what is he saying just practically clear, concise communication right and then again in a time that we are living in now we do need technical skills, we got to learn we got to adapt to what is happening around us right so we be able to develop these skills time management is something that as pioneers because we be very busy people will come people want to meet you you would have to go to visit people different areas in the ministry that you will have to oversee and so one of the things that you can do is something that really helped me is so I what I do is I different ministries that right now that I'm handling what I do is I just you know I break them down these are the number of hours I'm going to spend in this week or the church the second area life groups these are the number of hours I'm going to spend the third area men's ministry these are the number of hours bible college these are the number of hours worship, practice, worship team all those things these are the number of hours so these five different area these are the hours per week is what I'm going to spend so I'm managing trying to manage it's not like I've mastered this art I've mastered learning but it has helped me than randomly just looking at different things then develop sensitivity to identify opportunities for kingdom work learn to respond quickly be proactive, be responsive right so as a pioneer there will be opportunities for kingdom work not only in your city but other cities and you learn to respond be proactive if you're in a place to go minister you see that you carefully consider this as a door that God is opening go ahead step into it be proactive and be responsive establish good mentoring relationships for yourself so as a pioneer this is something that we may lack or not only pioneer but others as well pastors we may not have good mentoring relationships and this is something that we must develop we must have either other pastors other senior leaders seniors in ministry to speak into our life to give us some guidance now it's not like we have to listen to whatever they say but just being there to mentor to help us this will especially encourage us, exhort us as pastors and leaders and finally stay aligned and accountable to your church right if you're sent from an existing church stay aligned, be accountable if you're a pioneer still you stay aligned and be accountable to your church members be accountable to your staff and the people who are working with you be accountable to your volunteers just being accountable gives you a sense that okay we're all in it together it's not like the pastors here and we are doing all the stuff right we're all accountable to each other so we'll stop here and we'll pick up from the next class so we we have chapter 24 making the journey and we see chapter 25, 26 and 27 just a few pointers that we will we can probably discuss and then the appendix is for major cities in India so with chapter 27 we will be completing our course so we probably need another two or three sessions more and then after that we can I'll post the assessments on the classroom and then we'll be done with this topic and we'll also take a session to just do a quick review of everything that we did for the entire course right so thank you so much everyone for joining this class have a good day, good week ahead I'll see you soon, bye