Participants: Gary Krause (Host), Bob Lemon, Tim Madding
Series Code: GMS
Program Code: GMS000102B
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00:01 Welcome back.
00:02 We're talking about church planting 00:03 and my guest is Pastor Tim Madding. 00:04 Tim, thanks for joining us. 00:06 You're the senior pastor here at Beltsville, 00:08 Seventh-day Adventist church, 00:10 a fairly typical suburban church here in Maryland. 00:13 But you're not exactly a typical pastor, 00:16 because your passion is church planting. 00:18 Right. Where did that come from? 00:20 I started church planting early on in ministry, 00:22 I was a part of a growing church, 00:24 that had out grown its facility, 00:26 we'd gone to two services and the next question was, 00:29 well, what do we do now? 00:30 Do we just stop or do we keep growing 00:32 and so the natural response was, 00:35 was just plant another church, 00:36 let's start another congregation. 00:37 So since then it's just been a part of me. 00:40 Had a chance to re-launch another church, 00:41 which was the same principles of church planting, 00:44 for a church that had decreased and the leadership said, 00:46 we want to, we'd really want it to grow 00:49 and we're able to do that outside of Seattle, 00:52 and so it's just been in my blood ever since. 00:54 Wonderful, so you've actually been in the Pennsylvania region 00:58 and you've been carrying for the ministers 01:00 in that conference, but you felt called to come back 01:02 into church planting. 01:04 Now you're here at Beltsville, you're carrying for the church, 01:07 but you're actually inspiring them 01:09 for further church planting, how do you do that? 01:11 I mean, people come here every Sabbath day, 01:13 they're quite content, they have a nice program going, 01:17 how do you motivate them to church plant? 01:19 Now the good thing is Beltsville, 01:20 much like my very first church, has a great DNA, 01:23 it's very out ward focused, it's evangelism focused, 01:26 they want to be about ministry, 01:27 they don't just want to be about church, coming, 01:31 sitting in a pew, hearing a good music program 01:33 and a good sermon and going home. 01:34 They want to be engaged in mission 01:36 and they've been growing, the church has been growing. 01:39 They've gone to multiple services now 01:41 and so their next question was, what next? 01:43 What should we do next? 01:45 And so when they found out that I was, you know, 01:47 very passionate about church planting 01:49 and wanted to be involved in church planting 01:50 and they felt that was the next step for them, 01:52 it just seemed a perfect blend to make that happen. 01:55 Yeah, so what are your plans here? 01:57 Well, we're looking to, um, originally I was brought on 02:00 to be the church planter, 02:02 to plant a church in Silver Spring, 02:03 but at the same time their lead pastor had retired. 02:06 So they thought it would be best that if I become 02:09 the lead pastor to plant many churches 02:12 and so we're looking to find the new church planter 02:13 to replace us here and, to replace me 02:16 in planting in Silver Spring, 02:18 so we're going to plant a church in Silver Spring, 02:20 we'll take about 50 or 60 people from Beltsville, 02:23 committed people. 02:25 They'll be going as missionaries 02:26 to another community not far from here 02:29 and reaching a segment to the population 02:31 that may not be currently targeted and reached. 02:34 And then as soon as we send them, 02:35 we'll continue the discipleship process here 02:38 to develop new leaders, replace leaders, 02:40 develop new leaders, reach new people 02:43 and then begin the plans 02:44 to plant another church after that. 02:46 And then we hope this could be a continued 02:48 cycle of church planting, to just plant one church 02:50 after another church, after another church. 02:52 Now some of our viewers may not even be familiar 02:55 with the term 'church planting.' 02:56 We're talking about starting new congregations. 02:58 Starting new churches, right. How do you begin this process? 03:00 I mean how do you plant a church? 03:02 Yeah, it's not as easy as it used to be. 03:05 It's a little more complex. 03:06 You have to have a core group of leaders, 03:08 and those core group of leaders really need to be committed 03:12 to the same mission, the same purpose. 03:14 Each church has its own way of doing church, 03:16 its own strategy, its own life, 03:18 we call that the DNA of the church 03:20 and so when you're starting a new congregation, 03:22 a new church or church planting, 03:25 you want to have that core team develop the same DNA. 03:29 So the leader, the church planting pastor 03:32 or the pass sending pastor, whatever, 03:34 works with the core group of people and says, 03:36 why are we here? 03:37 What are we doing? What's our purpose? 03:40 You know, how are we going to be the same or different? 03:42 What's our community likes so that we can reach the people 03:45 in our community and then they work together 03:47 in the united effort to fulfill the mission in that context. 03:51 Wonderful, that makes sense. 03:52 So they come together, they pray together, 03:56 they plant together. 03:57 Then what's the first step? 03:59 Do you preach a series of public meetings? 04:01 Do you make friends in the community, 04:03 what's the process? 04:04 Yeah, there's all different ways of doing that 04:06 and people involved in church planting 04:08 or starting new congregations 04:09 all have different opinions on how to do that 04:12 and I'm not going to be critical of any of them, 04:14 whatever advances the kingdom of God, 04:15 I'm in favor of. 04:17 But I think a huge part 04:18 is developing relationships with community. 04:20 Getting to know who the people are in the community, 04:23 spending time, getting to know people. 04:25 If there's a square or city center, 04:28 spending time there, getting to know people. 04:29 Actually talking with people, or going door to door 04:32 and getting to know what the needs 04:33 and the feelings of the community are, 04:36 developing relationships with the leaders 04:38 in the community, etc. 04:39 So you get a feel for the community. 04:40 And then you can hold the public series of meetings, 04:45 like an evangelistic series, inviting people to that. 04:48 You can do a series of invitations 04:51 where you're inviting people to maybe smaller groups 04:54 or Bible study groups or informational meetings, 04:57 where people are developing relationships through there 04:59 and it's kind of slow start to get going 05:03 and then you launch, launch big. 05:05 Wonderful. Now, Tim-- 05:07 There's a whole lot in that. 05:09 Believe me, there is. 05:11 Um, some people say, well, let's fill up our church first 05:15 before we start thinking about church planting, 05:17 how do you respond to that? 05:18 Well, I think that'll be a wonderful idea 05:20 but it's, for the most part, not working. 05:23 Statistically, to revive a dying church 05:26 is a whole lot harder than starting a new one. 05:29 That was why I left Pennsylvania, 05:32 it's why I left ministerial. 05:33 I loved serving as a ministerial director 05:35 in Pennsylvania, I loved the pastors, 05:37 I loved the people. 05:38 But I realized that there were a lot of churches 05:41 that were really focused on themselves 05:43 and I would try to come along side the pastors, 05:45 and sometimes working with church boards 05:47 and elders and leaders in the church 05:49 that try to help change their church. 05:51 But in reality they didn't want a change. 05:53 They didn't really want to be outreached. 05:55 I mean, I sat down with leaders of churches 05:57 who said, we're happy the way we are, right now, 06:00 we don't want a change. 06:02 But yet there's people in their community 06:03 who don't know Christ, there're people in their community 06:05 they aren't ready for Jesus to come. 06:07 There're people that, they're going to be eternally lost 06:09 and the church is oblivious to that. 06:12 And if we could grow the existing churches, great. 06:15 But that's not necessarily happening 06:18 and when you think about the early Christian church, 06:22 church planting is how they grew. 06:23 They didn't just grow the church in Jerusalem. 06:25 They went out, God even sent them out to the far reaches, 06:28 where they worked in small groups, 06:31 developed new churches and grew from there 06:33 and so church planting was how the church grew, 06:36 it's how they fulfill the mission early on. 06:38 The Seventh-day Adventist church, which we're part of, 06:40 is, began the same way. 06:41 A small group of people, but then they planted it 06:43 intoanother area and planted it into another area 06:46 andsometimes even went across state lines 06:47 and planted even further away. 06:49 That's how they-- 06:50 the advancement of the gospel continued. 06:52 That's how the church grew, was through church planting 06:55 and if we're not growing now may be we need to revive that, 06:58 that emphasis in church planting. 06:59 Not just say those people in those churches 07:01 are bad people or- 07:02 They're wonderful, God fearing, loving people. 07:06 But they're not really focused in their communities. 07:08 Tim, thank you for singing the song of Global Mission, 07:11 planting two congregations and best wishes 07:14 for your initiatives here in this area. 07:17 And let's return now to Pennsylvania, to Simplicity, 07:20 to see what we're talking about in practice. 07:23 Another much needed service here 07:25 is mentoring the children. 07:26 The parents of this community work hard 07:29 and the children have a lot of time alone. 07:31 So Simplicity Missionaries host the children 07:33 on a regular basis so they can learn to use their time wisely. 07:37 The kids like it here so much that they come on their own 07:40 and visit often. 07:41 Here, they play games, they make new friends, 07:44 and they learn about Jesus 07:45 through songs and Bible stories. 07:47 They each come here for different reasons. 07:50 Because it's fun. 07:52 I love learning about Noah and Jesus. 07:57 The activities. 07:58 Because it's fun. 08:00 Because it spread some joy in people life. 08:05 Michelle's children also come to the center. 08:07 For her, Simplicity has been a lifeline. 08:11 She learned about this community center 08:13 when Andrew came by her house to do a survey. 08:16 She was extremely hopeless that day. 08:19 She was at the darkest point 08:20 of the most difficult situation in her life. 08:23 So when Simplicity came to my home, 08:25 I didn't even want to see them. 08:27 They had a list on a piece of paper 08:29 of all these different community services 08:31 that they offered. 08:32 One of them was Bible study, help with your finances, 08:36 that type of thing. 08:39 I signed up, I checked off every one 08:42 and I always wanted to do Bible studies 08:45 but I never had an opportunity so I was interested. 08:49 As she showed interest in the different services, 08:53 Michelle began to open up 08:55 and she felt the positive connection to the missionaries. 08:58 They asked Michelle to pray for her and to her situation. 09:02 Losing her kids to social services 09:04 was a devastating experience. 09:07 It's really hard, you know, losing my kids in a-- 09:13 I actually started to pray. 09:16 I felt this tingling, warm sensation 09:20 come down through the top of my head 09:23 and it hit my neck, 09:24 the hair on my neck stood up. 09:26 All of a sudden I felt happy. 09:29 I had this overwhelming feeling 09:32 that everything was going to be all right, 09:34 that I was going to get my kids back 09:36 and I couldn't shake that feeling. 09:38 Just like I couldn't shake, prior to that, 09:40 the feeling that-- of devastation. 09:44 This feeling took over. 09:46 Now I knew they were-- I was going to get them back. 09:49 Sure enough, miraculously, 09:51 social services returned her kids the very next day. 09:55 They even apologized for the incident. 09:58 Now Michelle just had to learn more about the God 10:01 who could control emotions and solve the hardest problems. 10:05 As she studied the Bible, 10:07 she made important decisions in her life. 10:09 She began to regularly attend events at the center. 10:12 She quit smoking and even began to volunteer. 10:16 As Simplicity Ministry connects with the community 10:19 through different avenues, they genuinely want to help. 10:22 They want to assist in whatever area people need. 10:26 That's what we hope to communicate to the community 10:28 that we're here to help and that we are a people 10:32 who is understanding and that is helpful 10:35 and that really cares about their needs, 10:39 their families and their lives. 10:41 Just be yourself with them. 10:43 Just show them that you really don't want nothing from them. 10:47 That you just came to give them. 10:49 Give your all to them, like that you are really here 10:52 to just to help them, just to do whatever is in your hands, 10:57 in your reach to help and to try to improve their life. 11:01 We work really hard to let people know 11:03 that that we're not in at just to give them a Bible study, 11:06 not just to get something out of them but that we're willing, 11:09 if they need a friend we're willing to stop by, 11:11 you know, a couple, three times a month 11:12 and be friends with them. 11:14 They don't have to, they don't have to, you know, 11:16 get us there under some pretence, 11:18 we're willing to be there for them. 11:20 And of course we love it when we get to study the Bible 11:22 with people, we've got a number of people 11:23 that we've been studying with for a while now 11:25 and so we don't turn that down 11:28 but, we want people to know 11:30 that we're genuinely interested in them. 11:33 Giving Bible studies gives me great joy. 11:35 Because the Bible is God's word to us 11:39 and so in there we find incredible freedom. 11:44 It's like I spoke about, that many people 11:46 they have addictions and they have, they have burdens, 11:48 they have troubles and trials and so in there 11:51 is just the precious peace and assurance that they can find. 11:54 Christ understood people. 11:57 He knew how to befriend and bless. 12:00 The simple acts of kindness speaks sermons 12:02 to the hearts of people who have not yet met God. 12:05 As we establish centers of influence in urban areas, 12:08 please pray that the Holy Spirit 12:10 revives all of Gods missionaries 12:12 to evangelize through our actions. 12:14 We can all play a part in this Simplicity ministry. 12:19 Each year millions of visitors come to the Lincoln memorial, 12:22 here in Washington, D.C. 12:24 and Lincoln once said 12:25 that people who don't show freedom to others 12:28 don't deserve to receive freedom themselves. 12:30 And it raises the question of, what do we do 12:33 with the freedom that God has given us? 12:35 Do we use it to focus on our own needs 12:37 or do we use it to focus on the needs of others? 12:40 Well, I hope you've enjoyed today's 12:42 Global Missions Snapshots. 12:43 As we've looked at mission around the world, 12:45 please remember to pray for front line mission work. 12:48 Pray for the people and places you see on this program. 12:51 Pray for Global Mission pioneers 12:53 who are starting new congregations 12:55 in difficult areas of the world. 12:57 Before we go, I'd like to offer you 12:59 a free Global Mission calendar. 13:01 This calendar is full of faces of mission 13:03 from around the world and it's a daily reminder 13:06 to pray specifically for people to come to know Jesus Christ. 13:10 Well, that's it for today's program, 13:12 I'm Gary Krause, and I hope you can join me next time, 13:15 right here, on Global Mission Snapshots. |
Revised 2015-03-12