I love leading Courageous Church! 9+ months into this adventure and I am still excited, passionate, still optimistic, and still courageous! However, I feel like I have done some of my fellow church planters a bit of a disservice by telling you about all of the success and all of the accolades without really giving you a glimpse into how hard this is. I haven’t told you about much pain. I haven’t told you about much drama. I haven’t told you about a crisis or two that we have dealt with. I have pretty much just told you about the BLING, but I need to tell you some more truth so that you know what to expect! So many pastors and leaders tell me regularly that they want to launch large and do things like Courageous Church and that’s cool, but I want to keep it real with you for a few minutes, OK?
- Did you read about the 10 Mistakes I’ve Made? I’ve made about 20 30 40 50 more. I want you to know that I have made a ton of mistakes so you don’t feel like an idiot when you make so many too. Church planting is like parenting…you can read every book out, but some lessons you have to learn on your own.
- We have had to fire some people. We had to let other people go because of budget cuts. We will likely do both again. This part of leading is harder than I ever expected.
- Our weekly offering is about 80% less than I projected before we launched the church. Yeah – I said EIGHT ZERO. 80. We hardly raise enough money to pay our basic bills and this is very stressful. Church planters that are a few steps ahead of me say this is normal. However, it still sucks.
- Our attendance plummeted 85% in the weeks after our grand opening and hit a low of just about 50 people. Yes. For real. See what that does to your ego. Since then we have steadily grown nearly every week to about 200 people in Sunday attendance and we have between 350-400 people that attend fairly regularly.
- I work very long hours. I am regularly up at the crack of dawn every day of the week and burn the midnight oil. I am nowhere near burnout and God has really graced me with the energy to do this, but it’s hard.
- Broken people love me and love our church. I love them. Tom Q. Perfect has never attended our church. Our church is full of skeptics, gay guys, addicts, adulterers, liars, hot heads, homeless people, and shopaholics. I prayed that this would be the case and this was one of the prayers that God decided to answer right away :-)
- My family still needs me. My kids still get sick. Dishes still need done. Wifey still needs me to be present. As a matter of fact, since launching the church, my family demands have increased (my baby daughter is crying now after waking up from a nap while my sick wife takes one of our sick daughters to the doctor).
I have a few more that I don’t have nerve enough to tell you, but I think you get the picture. Would I choose a different profession if I had the choice? No stinking way. I just want you to know that this requires you to be called, have thick skin, and some people to hold you up along the way!
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Pastor Shaun, I am praying for the greater work that God will use you to do. I sincerely believe that if we had more honesty and less hoax and hex-type leadership in churches, many churches would have a different outcome and win many souls for Christ. Be blessed!
Shaun, Thank you for being so refreshingly honest. It really is about reaching hurting people for Him. I am blessed to serve hurting people as well and I know that Pastoring and raising a family are not easy tasks. I am doing them both myself. And as you already said it isn't easy. Thank you for all that you are doing in the world today.
Shaun, I so appreciate your honesty. It's refreshing to see. God is going to continue to use you in increasingly powerful ways because of your sincerity and integrity. Keep up the good work.
Great post … church planting isn't for the faint of heart! Keep it up – appreciate you, Courageous and the kingdom minded presence you have online.
Shaun,
thAnk you for your honesty!! Tonight is the first service of our new church plant. I have been watching and learning from you for the past year or so and want you to know that I am praying for you and sacred city church is behind you!!
Live courageous!
Thank you for being courageous and honest…this definately has to be ur calling and thank God for HIs grace and mercy toward us who accept the call to work with Him as well as humble enough to know that we need that grace and mercy to "be" as He has called us.
That picture will haunt my dreams.
But as someone who is planting a church next year, this is gold. Thanks Shaun!
Great post. I am definitely feeling you on all those issues. Church planting is tough…really tough…alot harder than I thought, but you're right there is nothing I'd rather being doing with my life. Stay encouraged, your ministry is needed.
Thanks for the transparency. Our 14 month old church plant has experienced many things similar to Courage Church. I too over estimated our budget from the beginning. I was foolish enough to believe that every week's giving and attendance would be like launch Sunday. We went from 125 on launch day to 25 the following week. The giving was reduced by more than 75%. After 1 month, I ended up reducing my salary by two-thirds in order for us to afford it. Many months I had to forgo or only take a portion of the already reduced salary so that all the other salaries and bills were paid. This inconsistency definitely made things tough at home. The awesome thing about the early days is that it forced us to be intentional and discerning with every dollar and we were better off because of it. It also taught me how to be a good steward of the Church's resources and it kept me from buying cool church toys that we could really do without. Since then, we've experienced steady growth, but no explosion. We've gotten up to the 100 member mark, and though I'm looking to gain a lot more, I know that I need to focus on being faithful to the ones whom God has already sent. My advice to every future church planter is to place as much importance on pastoral growth as church growth so that the people who walk through the door are truly shepherded. I love this job! I know that every challenge is simply preparing us for the future. Shaun, you're a real inspiration for a lot of us!
Thanks a ton LaVonne! Keep praying!
Thank you Rob! Keep pushing hard my friend.
Thanks a ton Tony! I appreciate your encouragement man. Let's keep supporting each other as we serve in Metro Atlanta.
Thank you Brett! I appreciate you too my man!
Hey Justin! So proud of you. I am following your work. Give it your best shot and focus on the fundamentals. Email me @ shaunking@courageous.tv if I can do anything for you or if you have any questions.
Hey Erik! Church planting is a beautiful thing, but it's hard man. Go for it bro and let me know if you have any questions or need anything!
Hey Lamar! Good to hear from you man. Hoping we can at least give each other some dap sometime soon!
Thanks for sharing your story Demetrius! So glad that things are turning back around. This is a marathon – not a sprint. Let's keep each other encouraged my friend!
Your honesty in labelling is refreshing. I get tired of finding enough bling for a monthly newsletter – we are serving as missionaries in Mexico.
I am not sure that all of the modern day talk on budgets, buildings, butts in the seats, wear yourself out "in the name of the church" is what building communities of grace is all about. (This is NOT a criticism at ALL of what you are doing – which I find amazing. It's only a relfection of years of doing this kind of stuff and now being confronted with some fresh thinking on what it means to be the church.) Having all of those wonderfully, honestly broken people hanging around – now there you have a chance to create a community of Grace. Have you read "Truefaced" or Bo's Cafe? I recomment the latter one first, then the former one… You have taken a step of grace by being totally, nakedly honest in your blog.
Hey Pastor S.
Hang in there….this is training ground. It gets worse : ) all the while his grace abounds towards you in a greater way. It get's 'messy' all the while he shows up and shows you the way of escape. Keep your hands to the plow. Keep plowing through all good stuff : ). He's tagged you and he's with you. Keep your eyes on him. The arm of flesh will fail 'U'. But 'U' have been called, 4 such a time as this. A pastor after his heart….2 all that others have thrown away.
GRACE! GRACE! GRACE!
I appreciate your heart to reach people customarily outside of the church. After trying to build a core team around some people that were committed Christians seeking to see their needs met, I released them all and have started all over again. It's been difficult to say the least, but in the end I think God wants to use some of us to reach out to people like the woman at the well, that may not even be familiar with the Gospel account of the woman at the well. Stay true to your heart and don't give up man!
Shaun,
I keep up with you on Youtube and now am keeping connected through Facebook. My wife and I are in the planning process of planting next year and these words are exactly what we needed to read. I will continue to follow your progress and pray for God's success in you and your ministry. We as minister have to keep Paul's words in our spirit, "I press". No matter how hard it gets, "I Press". No matter how dark it may be, "I Press". Know my brother that you are not in this thing by yourself. Keep pressing and keep praying!
Thanks Shaun for being transparent. I needed to read this today. I am leading a plant in Arlington Texas (The RAP) and everthing you said is so true. I have been following you on FB and Twitter and I pray for you and the work you have been assigned to lead. Your post are so real and practical. Keep up the good work one of these days we will have to trade victory/war stories. Be Blessed
Shaun,
Dude, I just love you man. I love how you share your good times (and there are many) and your gut-wrenching hard times. You keep it real and give permission to others to do the same! Keep traveling out loud man.