From High Brow Pirate to Hometown Pastor

I am not one who follows convention without questions.  I question pretty much everything as opposed to accepting the status quo.  Going into a church plant there are a lot of conventions that are accepted.  I have read some of the play books and feel most of them fail to account for the least of these.  I am not sure, for instance, that an 80 year old man who claims God spoke to him in a burning bush would be qualified to start a church according to the WCA play book.  I know that Jesus and Paul and Peter would not pass their standards or accept their assumptions or measure of success.

When I talk to non Christians or Christians who are not hep cats to the Evangelical lingo, they always say that it is cool and then they ask me what the church will do and look like and feel like.  When I speak with Evangelicals, they say it is cool, but their first question is always the same.  "Have you got your core?"

Now, for those of you who do not speak Christian-ese, the core is a core group of people who you meet with before starting the church.  These people are supposed to share your vision and take some role in its beginnings.  Elders, deacons, worship leader, greeter, that sort of thing.  

Now, this is a church that is meant for people who have given up on church or been wounded/ignored by the church.  Someone needs to apologize to these people and help them through this journey of life and not only accept and embrace unconditional love and grace, but know what that means to your life.  Frankly, I am great at talking to those people.  I KNOW those people.  I love those people. 

I have been in a panic, because I am not really that good at talking to Christians who have their s### together.  It is also hard for me, admittedly, to ask people to be a part of this vision.  I can tell them about the vision and minister to people with ease…asking you to follow me on this quest is hard for me.  I am still trying to work out why.  Maybe I lack confidence, faith, or whatever.

In my Tuesday meeting with Fran we have spent the last two weeks with me trying to work this out.  Today, Fran helped shape my vision and my perception on this and take the sting out of it.   It seems changing perception takes me back to the core of what this vision is about. 

I am looking at the people wrong and trying to fit them into categories.  What needs to happen is to just invite people to meet with me over the summer.  We have some bbq once every other week and start talking about what it means to be a follower of Jesus and a church and explore this together and let the "core" organically develop from there.

This church is driven by a desire for a real community that changes lives and improives lives and the core needs to reflect that.  So, the convention of a core is a good one, but the execution of the core cannot be formula driven.   

Yesterday was a busy day in the formation of the church from a legal standpoint.  The FEIN# was completed, and the Articles of incorporation are submitted to Illinois.

 I also got a phone number for the church and a web domain with hosting.

 The next steps will be to have the website have content, get a po box, and get a not for profit letter from the state (called an E-Letter in Illinois) that allows me to make purchases without paying sales tax.  At this moment, as a church, I am able to give people certificates that show they made a donation to the church that can be tax deductible.

The mechanics of what I had to do are not that difficult.  To get the FEIN # all I had to do was go to the IRS website and apply online.  In short time I was given an FEIN # and certificate emailed to me on a pdf. Now, the articles of incorporation are a slightly different matter.  In Illinois you have to have at least 3 directors, including yourself.  You also have to have a set of bylaws.  The bylaws are simple.  It was a very basic template I used that is a good skeleton document to not only meet the requirements of the State, but also allows for growth and amendments to something more comprehensive as the face of the church develops.    Along with 2 copies of the bylaws, there is a form from the State of Illinois you have to fill out along with a check for $50.  When the church website goes live in a few weeks, I will provide a link where anyone interested may view sample bylaws and forms that they can modify for themselves. 

Once I receive the incorporation approval from the state of Illinois, I can then apply for an E letter.

Does any of this change a life?  No.  But it does pave the path for legitimacy and allows me to more aggressively get space for the church to meet on Sunday mornings, I can get a bank account, and I can develop a core group of elders to give me more official accountability to prevent us from wearing nikes and serving kool aid.   

Last Tuesday I had a meeting with Pastor Fran.  He is the pastor of the church that is helping breathe life into my church.  **Side Note**Not comfortable calliing it my church, it is God’s vision and I am merely trusted to make it happen, but it is easier to write it that way. **End Side Note**

Anyway, this was the most significant meeting yet.  We set a plan.  It is broken into 6 categories.  

1. Define and Spread the Vision.

2. Gather People.

3. Make Disciples.

4. Be Missional.

5. Prep-as-you-go

6. Organize.

The organize part is the part that panics me to be honest.  It is where I may even lack faith.  I can trust that this is God’s will.  I can trust that people will be touched and I will grow.  For some reason, I get scared of the filing paperwork.  Will we find a place to meet, can we afford it, will we get what we need to change lives?  Though it may be the least important part of the journey, I admitted to Fran I needed that part settled and progressed on for me.  The steps in that area are bylaws, articles of incorporation with a board of directors, incorporate, get fein #, open a bank account, get a treasurer, eventually get a 501 c3 (churches are automatically exempt and I can give tax receipts to people from day 1, but it is still nice to have in some instances).  Knowing this part is important, Fran threw me a bone for which I am eternally grateful.  He helped me draft some initial bylaws, I got my board of directors to start with (me, M, and J-initials only until I get permission to use their names in a public blog) which was hard asking people to take on such a responsibility, and on Tuesday we incorporate which leads right into the FEIN #.   When I have the FEIN # I will pop a grand into an account to seed the church.  In one week 4 things get addressed.  In other words, this upcoming Tuesday, the church becomes legal on paper.  Between now and Tuesday I am also going to purchase a web domain, a p.o. box,  and get a phone number.   These events may not change a life, and they may not save a soul, but they make this a little more real and it makes me a little more bold.  When I have the web domain, I will provide a link to the paperwork filings that other pastors can use as a guide.  There are sites that will "help" pastors do this for a fee…but information should be free.  If someone else wants to pastor a church and I can help them weed through the mire, I will. 

In prep as you go, Fran and I will meet every Tuesday, I will continue to meet with his elders, I have five books he wants me to read (later blogs will provide book reports), I will attend his planter meetings, and I will go to his twice a year leadership network events (whatever those are).  

Now, independent of them, I also have to develope an updated draft of my vision and gather a core of people who want to be a part of this (dunno where they are gonna come from), and develop this vision.  This falls into bits of the other categories and I will go into more detail on those in the days ahead.  

I am so fortunate to have people like Fran and his team in my life and I am beholden to them.  They share my vision and I cannot wait to see how my core develops so we can make this vision come to life in Bolingbrook.