Lessons from the Journey

Here are some more thoughts on what Ive found during weeks two-three while starting Discover Church.

1. There is never the money you have hoped and planned for.
2. Fundraising requires creativity.
3. Place sabbath periods of rest as immovable objects during your week.  
4. Discouragement comes.
5. Discouragement is a tactic of the enemy; respond to it with the spiritual weapons available to us as Christ-followers (prayer, God's Word, faith).
6. There are far more well-meaning, cooperative pastors than territorial mean-spirited ones.
7. Fight the temptation to judge success by the scoreboard.  Especially early on, numbers are not an accurate determination of success. (see #4)
8. Your spouse needs to be your chief encourager.  Her words carry far more weight than most anyone else's.
9. Take as much pride in your study prep for 8 people as you have done for larger numbers of people in the past.
10. Find blogs, books, people that are not too far ahead of you and remember the early stages of a church start.
11. Stress on your teammates quickly becomes stress on you. Proximity enhances contagion.