Big Time Anthem Update

Anthem Church has been up and running for 2 months now, so I thought this was as good a time as any to put out an update to everyone that has been following our progress, praying for us and supporting us financially.

We launched on October 11th with a little over 300 people celebrating the day with us in two services on the campus of California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. It was an amazing day, so much fun to see who was there and to hear stories about how they heard abo

ut Anthem and what their hopes were for finding their way back to God. We had been coached to expect about 8 weeks of attendance decline before things really started to level out. We got a chance to see that first hand with each of the first four weeks being smaller than the previous. That was an interesting experience. We were still seeing a lot of new people coming through the doors, but many of those people weren't coming back consistently. As a staff we looked at our launch and realized that we really weren't equipped to connect the 300+ people that came on our launch Sunday. We decided to take 8 weeks and find out the answer to our first big question "who is Anthem?" That brought us into our current season of ministry that will stretch from the beginning of November through the end of the year. I am spending time with families and individuals that have come to Anthem on multiple occasions finding out who is going to be on board with us. It was been a great experience so far getting to hear people's hearts, stories and desires to be involved in what is going on at Anthem. I don't k

now that I could be more pleased with the initial response to the presence of Anthem in the community. The most consistent reaction to the first two months has been the phrase "God is here". I LOVE hearing that. We knew going into this that we could put on some pretty good music and teach the Bible pretty well, but if God didn't show up then it wasn't going to fly.

Ah, back to the story of the first two months: After 4 weeks of decline in attendance we have now seen steady growth for 4 weeks. We started our series on the book of Romans called "Manifesto of Freedom". So far we've studied Paul as a servant (1:1-15), the Gospel (1:16-17), God's Wrath (1:18-3:20), Hope in Christ (3:21-3:31). The response to the Romans series has been unreal! In fact, we stopped Romans to do a 4 week series based on Advent Conspiracy and it was met with some disappointment :) I love that people love God's Word and want to study it! What a cool start to the church! By the way, if you're interested in listening to any of the first few messages, check out our media section on www.jointheanthem.com That will link you to iTunes or you can stream live from our podcast site.

One of the most exciting aspects of the church so far is getting a chance to see a reproducing culture developing so early on. In the first 8 weeks of Anthem we have had 6 different bands lead us into worship at Anthem. 5 of those bands are part of our church and only 1 of them was a band that came from another church to lead us into worship! Ryan Hinkle, our arts director, has seen his role as raising up teams and leaders of those teams and as a result we have had Ryan, Dewey Coleman, Sean Ameche, Forrest Terry and Kevin Bailey all stepping up as worship leaders in the early weeks of Anthem. We also got a chance a few weeks ago to hear

from God's Word through the gifted teaching of Kevin Bailey. I have been so excited to see Kevin's development as a pastor and leader over the last 4 months. Kevin taught on guilt and shame and how we get from hiding from God in Genesis 3 to approaching the throne with confidence in Hebrews 4. The answer is found in 2 Corinthians 5:21 that in Jesus we might become the righteousness of God. Great stuff. We are also seeing our Community Groups reproducing. We currently have 6 community groups up and running, that number is going up to 10 in the first week of January. Brandon and Ariel Nunez have been apprenticing as CG leaders in Matt and Kristen's group, Chris and Heather Wallock and Sean and Rachel Ameche have both been apprenticing in Kevin and Keely's group. We are so excited to see these new leaders stepping out and taking on new roles in mission of Jesus!

The most exciting aspect of Anthem Church is the opportunity to see our mission affecting people's lives. We started this church to help people find their way back to God. That is happening in some pretty amazing ways! We have seen 9 people give their lives to Christ in the early weeks of Anthem Church. We've had 1 baptism with another bunch ready to go. It has been so incredible to see the reason that we came to Thousand Oaks becoming a reality. I am so proud of our team of leaders who are key participants in helping these people find their way back to God!

If you have been to Anthem, you've probably noticed that Kids City has been working hard to figure out the best combination of location, effectiveness, rotations and volunteers. Jenny Haseth and Kristen Larson along with Keely Bailey, Alex Casey, Kathleen Davidson and a number of key leaders are doing an amazing job making Kids City a place where kids are finding their way back to God and participating in the mission of Jesus. I am so proud of our team! We are hearing some of the most amazing reports what God is doing in Kids city! We get to have our first child dedication on December 13th and I have been so excited to see the response with a number of families deciding to dedicate themselves to raising their kids in the way of God.

Our setup and tear down teams have been sharpening every week, to the point where we can unload and reload the trailer in fewer minutes every time. The teams are growing and learning better and faster ways to get us ready each weekend. Kelly Roach, Kristin Macejz, Ariel Nunez and Christina Walker have dominated the hospitality area, making it super welcoming each week with hot coffee and great food.

I know this has gotten long, but I cannot stop talking about how excited and proud I am of the team of people that God has gathered to live out his mission here in Thousand Oaks.

*Extra info on Matt and Kristen if you want to keep reading*

This has been an incredible season for us as leaders and first time church planters. God is teaching us so much about life, family, balance and sacrifice as we are adjusting to this new pace. Our kids have been unreal, truly seeing Anthem as their church and their mission. The boys are helping out with tear down each week as well as inviting kids to Kids City almost every week. God is truly blessing my relationship with my wife. We are enjoying our time together and growing in our love, knowledge and respect for each other.

One of the most valuable things that I learned in my leadership residency through NewThing is that there is a bunch that I don't know and I need to grow and learn from everyone that I can! So Kristen and I made the decision to continue my learning path. There is a group of pastors from around the country that are meeting once a month in Minneapolis to be coached in leadership by a pastor named Ron Sylvia and my EFCA coach Dave Page. These meetings are hosted by EFCA. I missed the first one (it was two days before we launched :), but the second one was so valuable and a great time to be challenged by other leaders. I'll be flying to Minnesota once a month until May for this coaching network. In addition to that I am currently on my way (actually on the plane as I write this) to the NewThing Network Gathering in Knoxville, TN. This group of guys are super influential in my early development as a leader and I am so excited to get together with them. We will be talking about all kinds of leadership issues especially as it pertains to reproducing the church.

I have been spending time with a few different pastors, gleaning and learning as much as I can. I am so grateful to my dad (Steve Larson), John Erwin, Troy McMahon, Chris Hornbrook, Chris Hall, Shawn Thornton, Caleb Kaltenbach, Leaf Zwerling, Kirk DeWitt, Mike Katzenberger, Brian Zehr, Dave Ferguson and Chuckk Gerwig for giving me the opportunity to learn from their experience. I have found that I LOVE networking, I feel that there is something I can learn from EVERYONE that I talk to.

Again, sorry this is long, but there's still more... I think I'll save it for another update. If you're a prayer (which I hope for all of us), here's where we need prayer as a church:

Obedience--I want our first commitment as a church to be a ridiculous pursuit of the Holy Spirit wherever He leads us. Pray that we would have the ears to hear what God is calling us to do as a church.

Humility--I know that there is no way that we can do this on our own. My prayer is that as leaders and participants in the Gospel we would be on our faces before a good and loving God. Please pray for a consistent hunger for humility for me, Kevin, Ryan, Jenny, John and all of our leaders!

Thanks for hanging in for this long! Thank you for your prayers, I know that God is hearing them and responding!

If you're interested in tracking with me/us here are the best ways:

www.jointheanthem.com

www.facebook.com/matt.j.larson

www.twitter.com/Matt_larson

www.twitter.com/ryanrhinkle

www.twitter.com/kevinbailey

www.twitter.com/anthem_church

Launch

Well, its official, Anthem launches on Sunday!

About a year ago, Kristen and I were looking at the calendar trying to figure out a good time to start a church. We picked October 11th. I don't have any real good reason. We thought it was enough time after school that things had settled down a little bit. There was enough time after we moved home from Chicago to be able to get things in order. Other than that... nothing special, we just wanted to start a church. Well, from that point on our life has been a veritable hurricane of activity. That's right, veritable. God has been teaching us patience, humility, gratitude and obedience in ways that we never expected. I've had to learn how to start a non-profit organization in the state of California (not super easy). I'm a boss to 3 employees for the first time in my life. But mostly this hurricane has been the building excitement and momentum toward October 11th. I'm writing this on Wednesday, October 7th and to be honest, I have no idea what's going to happen on Sunday.

As much as I want to make Sunday amazing, I know that the only thing God has asked me to do is to be obedient to Him. To live my life on His mission, for His purpose with His heart. The results of that life aren't for me to decide. They are completely and totally up to God. As a leader I want to see the thing that we are starting do well. I want to see people captivated by the God who I love. I want to see people finding their way back to God. But that's not the call. God has asked us to humbly obey Him and let Him do His work so that He gets all the glory.

I can't wait to see everyone on Sunday. I think its gonna be a lot of fun. But just like getting married, it would be foolish to be so focused on the wedding that you forget about the marriage. We're here for God's purpose. God wants to put His broken family back together. Anthem Church exists to help people find their way back to God and we are going to do everything that we can and everything that God has given us to live on that mission.

Not sure exactly how to wrap this up except to say this, if you're ready to be a part of something bigger than yourself, simply live "not my will, but yours be done". It's not about what we want, it's about serving God and pursuing Him wherever He takes you. So make it hap'n cap'n :)

Preview Service/Poker Tourney/All around Good Times!

This is so one of those weeks that simply wouldn't be possible without the strength and goodness of God!

Anthem's first preview service is this Sunday (the 16th). Our whole world has been pointed towards getting things ready for this all week. It's been great, so much fun to see people getting excited along with us. In the midst of all of our prep for that we are also getting ready for our fundraiser poker tournament that's happening on Saturday (the 15th). Again, amazing stuff is happening there. Local businesses and friends are coming through with amazing donations for both prizes and catering!

In the middle of all that action, Andrew and I both got racked with a wicked 24 hour flu on Wednesday/Thursday. It wailed on us for a very short period of time and has since left us a little on the wiped out side.

If only I were on a boat (I never thought I'd be on a boat) I might be able to get shipwrecked like Paul... Maybe next week.

Join us at the preview service this Sunday at 10 am at CLU (California Lutheran University). Check out www.jointheanthem.com for more info and a map!

Dewey's latest song

Go Generosity! Go Anthem!!!

This last week Anthem Church was able to donate over 80 backpacks to Ventura County's Foster Care system because of the generosity of the people of Anthem and the people of Thousand Oaks and Camarillo!

These kids face one of the more challenging upbringings that exists. Parents who have struggled or left and ultimately the kids are without a true family... until one of these foster families steps in and cares for them. If you have a heart for kids and you want to affect real change in real brokenness, please consider being a foster parent. Here's a link to the informational meetings about how to become a foster parent in Ventura County.

My big ask

Heyo friendly people :)

As most of you know at this point, I'm getting a new church started in Thousand Oaks, Ca. On the one hand (spiritually) it is an amazing time to start a church. People are hungry for something bigger than themselves. We are seeing it already here in TO and that is so much fun. On the other hand (financially) it is a ridiculously rotten time to start a church... as many of you know.

So, here's my ask:

Anthem Church needs some startup money to pay for equipment, salaries and facility rental among other things in our launch phase. We realize that there isn't a lot of money out there. So we have put together a campaign that we believe will help solve that issue... We are looking for 1000 people who will give $100 each giving Anthem a substantial startup opportunity of $100,000.

Will you help me start a new church by giving $100?

You may think I'm writing this to someone else, but I'm not, I'm writing it to you.

Still you.

I know that many of you aren't accustomed to giving money to anything, let alone a church. If I may, this is one of those unique opportunities to invest in something that goes well beyond your normal $100 investment. This is something that is and will continue to transform lives, give people hope, turn a generation from takers to givers and to bring isolated, hurting people together to join the mission that we have all been called to.

$100 gets us started.

Yes you can give more.

Yes its a tax deductible donation to a non-profit organization...

Yes you can give and then ask your friends to give too

Yes every $100 helps

Yes you can call me and ask questions about the campaign

Yes I need your help

Yes you can give online

Yes you can give

Yes you can

Yes you

Yes

Click on ANY of the HIGHLIGHTED text to go to www.jointheanthem.com where a PayPal button awaits your most precious click. The giving is automatically in increments of $100 so if you want to give more, just click the button a few times. We will update the site with the progress.

Thank you so much for your generosity. Your investment will pay off forever!

Existing Churches Helping Church Starts

I've been doing a lot of thinking over the past couple weeks that there are a number of existing churches out there that would love to help new church starts but feel they have limited resources to offer. This blog is designed to initiate ideas and possibly conversations on how existing churches, large or small can provide resources for new churches. This does a number of things 1) it maximizes kingdom resources 2) it provides a creative option for churches to consider 3) it answers some big challenges for church planters without forcing them to beg :) and 4) it fosters a relationship between existing churches and new church starts.

Here are some practical ideas for how existing churches can support new churches:

1. Equipment. I've worked at a few different churches and I have seen the amount of equipment that goes unused in a church setting. I'm not saying that church plants are a place to dump the old junk, but it would be a generous use of your time to do a legitimate inventory of the equipment that you own as a church, evaluating what gets used and what doesn't. By doing this you may find that you have 17 SM-58's when you use a max of 9 on any given weekend. Maybe you keep 4 as backups for when yours break down, you've still got 4 to give to a new church. The same is true with cables, speakers, lights, soundboards, computers, kitchen equipment, rolling carts, kids ministry equipment, tables, chairs, trailers, etc. If you are interested in church planting, but there isn't enough room in the budget to support a church plant, this is a practical way to assist. Odds are, church planters aren't going to come to you and ask for your equipment. It's not the way we operate because we don't have those expectations of you as an existing church. So, if this strikes you as interesting, find a church planter in your area, invite him over to your church for an afternoon and show him what equipment you have that he could have. Loans are useful, but you should assume that you will not be getting your equipment back in the condition it was when you loaned it. Portable church is very hard on equipment so if you're thinking about this, you may as well give away the equipment.

2. Books. There are so many helpful books out there on leadership, elder boards, theology, etc. Most pastors of existing churches buy many of these books, I know because I was one of them for 10 years. So, when you buy a book please consider doing one of two things 1) read it, then give it to your local church planter to read or 2) buy a second copy for your local church planter.

3. Facilities. Many existing churches have them, nearly all church planters do not. I understand that it's your building and you need to use it for your ministry. But just like equipment, it would be worth doing an inventory of when your building is used and when it is available. Meet with your local church planter and let him know the times that your building is available. Maybe it helps him out, maybe it doesn't... but either way the conversation is a huge blessing and it opens up some great opportunities. We had a local large church open up their facility for us to use for our launch team meetings, the fact that they knew we existed and wanted to help us get started was such a huge encouragement.

4. Expanded networks. Perhaps you don't have room in the budget to support a church planter, but if his mission is something you believe in and you want to get behind it, take him with you to your local denominational gatherings, leadership conferences, etc. Introduce him to people that may be able to help him financially. Networks are like capital, maybe you can't donate cash, but you might be able to donate your network.

5. Honorariums. You may not have money in the budget to support a church planter, but there is usually money in the budget for leadership development and guest teachers on Sunday mornings. Invite your local church planter in to talk to your leadership about evangelism, entrepreneurial adventures, new models of ministry, etc. It would be a great conversation starter and a chance for you to throw $200-$500 his direction from within the budget. Invite him to teach on a Sunday morning and provide an honorarium for his services.

6. Technology. I've spoken with a guy that works as a graphic designer for a church. He creates series graphics, videos and worship backgrounds for his church. He offered to bring an external hard drive up with everything that he has created to give to us at Anthem Church. If you have someone at your church that does this stuff... Give it away!!! What a blessing to a new church that doesn't have the time, resources or manpower to create content like this.

So, here's the proposal. I don't get a ton of traffic at this blog, but I am banking on some serious ReTweeting from church planters and existing church leaders to get this out. If it works out, the comment section of this particular blog could become a Craigslist of sorts for churches and church planters.

If you're interested, here's the next step:

Comment with:

Your Name

Your City

Your Church's Name

Your Needs/What you have to offer

Your Email Address

Let's see if we can get some real collaboration going on. If nothing else, send out the link on Twitter and Facebook to see if there are more guys out there that can help.

Also, let me know if you have suggestions of things to add, I'll keep adding to the list as people reply. Thanks!

Why I'm going to Tulare

This morning I'll be driving north to Tulare, Ca. For the last month I've been working on a campaign to get 100 churches to support Anthem Church at a one time gift of $1000 each. That would give us $100,000 to get help get Anthem off the ground. It's been an interesting experience making phone calls to pastors and churches all over the western part of the US. Some of the pastors I know, some of them are straight up cold calls. There are two consistencies that I've seen in this process. The first is that money is a struggle for EVERYONE right now. There just isn't a lot of money out there. The second is that pastors are genuinely excited about seeing new churches get started. I've had some pastors stop what they were doing and pray for me on the spot. I've had other pastors talk to me for over an hour about what we're doing, how we're doing it, and what I've learned from spending time with the NewThing crew. I even had one pastor tell me that he was in on the spot for $500 and he would talk to his leadership team about the other $500. Those were the encouraging stories. On the other side of the coin is the struggle. Tons of pastors at the end of everything they can think of to keep churches alive, afloat, etc. There is a lot of struggle out there.

Anyhow, I'm going to Tulare because one of the pastors I talked to, Rich Davis, is the lead pastor of Tulare Evangelical Free Church. He invited me to come up and share with their cluster (Tulare/Fresno area EvFree churches) about what we're doing and cast the vision for them to get involved. I'm pretty excited, I get to share for about 15 minutes about what we're doing and invite these churches to be a part of Anthem Church in Thousand Oaks!

So, if you think about it, pray for me. If you think about it, pray for the pastors of these churches. And if you're a church leader and I haven't called you yet... my cell number is 805.551.9965, maybe you should give me a call :) We are looking for partners to help share the load of getting this new church started.

Check out all of our info at:

www.jointheanthem.com

Anthem Prospectus

www.efca.org

www.efcawest.org

www.newthing.org

Thanks for reading!

Dinner with Al and Deb

Wednesday night was a pretty unique experience. My wife and I along with Kevin and Keely got a chance to go have dinner with Alan and Deb Hirsch. Alan is a missiologist from Australia who has moved to the US to see discipleship training and church planting accelerate here in the West. It was a wonderful meal shared with Katz, Ed and Dana Rouse (hosts), Brian and Carmell Field and Kirk DeWitt. After dinner we sat and shared about our journey to this point. Mike Katz shared about the birth of Emmaus and how Alan and Deb have been influential in his understanding of church and discipleship. Kristen and I got to share our heart for the reproducing church and how NewThing has influenced us (Alan has spent some time getting to know NewThing as he prepares to launch Forge America). Brian and Kirk shared about their histories and how they ended up at Calvary Community Church. Then Al and Deb shared about their time in the US and what they've seen particularly in Thousand Oaks. It was a great time for us to discuss the limitations and challenges of reaching a place like Thousand Oaks. There are extreme challenges with the average person in TO. Needs exist, but they are hidden skillfully. People will work to project wealth and live unsatisfied lives. We talked about the potential of Thousand Oaks. If we are able to cast a vision of generosity, TO could become the economic engine that drives God's work all over the world. There was an amazing anticipation in the room as we all got a vision of the future. We talked about sharing resources, meeting together for prayer and encouragement and intentionally pushing each other to be dissatisfied with mediocrity. We agreed to read ReJesus (not Alan's suggestion :) over the summer and to meet again at the end of the summer to discuss it.

In the end we left throughly challenged and encouraged about the future of what God has for Calvary, Emmaus, Anthem and the Hirsch's.

Unbelievable Generosity

So excited about Calvary Community Church's generosity as they have extended their facility to Anthem Church to use for our Launch Team Meetings. Blown away by their willingness to help us get going!

Anthem Prayer Update

Hey prayer people,

Thank you again for praying for us! I'll keep this short cause I know you've got a lot to be doing/thinking about. 

Our big prayer request for the week:

Tomorrow, Sunday, June 7th is an Anthem Launch Team Meeting. This is really our first one since Kristen and I have moved home and it is a major opportunity for us to build momentum as church. Please pray that God would move the hearts of people who are far from Him to consider being at this meeting. We are going to be talking about the Gospel and how vital it is that every one of us gives our lives to Christ. In addition to the excitement of starting a new church, there will be a clear picture of the sacrifice that has been made for us. Please pray that God brings people, opens hearts and organizes our church out of a passion for helping people find their way back to God.

Thank you for your prayers. If you think about it and you want to be praying during the meeting, we are meeting at my house from 3:00-4:30 on Sunday afternoon. Thank you again. You have no idea how significant your ministry is!

Matt Larson
Anthem Church 10.11.09
www.twitter.com/Matt_Larson
www.jointheanthem.com

Anthem Church Prayer Update

I know not everyone digs being on a prayer team cause you get the weekly updates and then you feel guilty when you don't actually pray, so here is the update for that person. Just check the blog from time to time and get the update, when you take the time to come look, it means you're probably ready to pray for us :)

Here's what I sent out to our Prayer Team:

Good weekend to you all :)

This week was challenging and encouraging at the same time. We are working on fundraising and location stuff which are always at the mercy of other people, but God open some amazing doors and encouraged me in ways that I didn't expect. Here is the prayer request for this week:

Starting a church involves gathering outside support to help sustain the ministry in its early stages. This is a particularly tough thing to do right now as churches and individuals are struggling financially. Please pray that God would open more doors and create new partnerships to give Anthem a healthy place to start from.

Thanks for your prayers! Give me a call if you have any questions or want to spend time together. If you're going to be a part of Anthem and we haven't hung out yet, I would love to spend some time with you here in the next few weeks. Talk to you all soon.

Reproducing in Action

I love seeing things that reproduce. I think its a natural, healthy approach to church, business, relationships, marriage, leadership, etc. I started to take notice of a company last year because they sold stuff that I liked, snowboard gear. As time went on I started to see a pattern that I'll outline here. Maybe there's something to learn from these guys.

*Disclaimer, I'm not 100% sure about the facts that I have for this story, but the point still gets made.

The story starts with an online business called www.backcountry.com. A few years ago they set out to be the #1 online retailer for outdoor and backcountry gear. They created a business model that sold things cheaper than you could get from a store because of the low overhead of an online business. From backcountry.com came an idea for a new type of website. www.steapandcheap.com became a clearing house for backcountry.com. They sold items one at a time at ridiculous discounts. The website became popular very quickly. People started watching the site so that as one item sold out or time ran out, a new item was immediately posted. They created a forum so backcountry, skiing, snowboarding, biking, surfing and all around outdoor enthusiasts could collectively celebrate great deals.

Steapandcheap.com continued to grow in popularity so out of that was birthed a new website called www.whiskeymilitia.com. Whiskeymilitia.com catered to the younger generation of aggressive skiers, snowboarders, skaters and surfers who loved the occasional deal on steapandcheap.com that fit their genre. A similar thing happened to whiskeymilitia.com. Backcountry.com now had two popular websites that were clearing out items and creating a following around amazing deals specifically catered to these smaller groups of enthusiasts. As time went on (a short amount of time), both websites became so popular that the individual groups on each forum were calling for higher frequencies of their favorite items. So as Whiskeymilitia.com and Steapandcheap.com accelerated in sales and popularity, more websites were born.

www.brociety.com was created to sell snowboard gear pure and simple. www.bonktown.com was created to sell road biking gear. www.chainlove.com was created for mountain biking. Whiskeymiltia.com was able to focus on clothing and skate/surf culture. Steapandcheap.com zeroed in on the backcountry/outdoor worlds of hiking, camping and skiing. Each website operates in nearly the exact same way and as far as I know from the same warehouse in Utah.

This evolution of a company caught my attention because of the unique approach to doing business. They chose to continually reproduce the model to increase in their ability to speak the language of and deliver the product to a specific contingent of people.

That's the story. Not sure why I thought you'd like it, but I hope you did. Let me know if you have any thoughts or corrections on the story.

Peace. Out. 

So You Think You Can Dance

So, the Lakers lost last night. It's hard to go to bed right after the Lakers lose. Kristen and I stayed up and watched the So You Think You Can Dance premier with my mom. I could not believe the way some of those dancers moved. I was blown away! The only downside of the show, dawg, for me, for you tonight was the judges. After a few seasons of American Idol, you kind of learn to love those guys, but then you see another show take a shot at the format and it is kind of obnoxious. Sorry if you love em', but I thought they were annoying.

Yes, I know this is a waste of a blog, but what good are blogs if you can't rant about the show you watched last night :)

Today's Plan

I'm sure that this is of extreme interest to many of you :), but it's helpful for me so here you go:

1. We have two desserts, one tonight and one tomorrow night. They are primarily to thank our supporters who have contributed over the last year to our Leadership Residency and church plant. We are pretty much all set, but I'm going to prepare some notes for saying thank you, sharing what we learned in the Residency and casting vision for where Anthem Church is going.

2. We are going to start two community groups next week. They are primarily designed to take our potential community group leaders through a shortened group to get to know us and let us get to know them. I'm going to be inviting leaders to join us starting next Thursday and Sunday.

3. We are raising funds and have a plant to bust through the economic downturn :) So I'll be working on two different fund raising letters and get those ready to send out asap.

4. We're having a launch team meeting at the end of May so I'll be finalizing the details and informing everyone about where and when that's happening.

5. I'm meeting a church planter from Ventura for lunch at his friend's pub in Santa Paula. He planted Catalyst Ventura recently so I've got a lot of questions for him.

6. I'm meeting up with one of our launch team members to go for a walk this afternoon. He and his wife are going to lead a community group and he may be one of our key leaders. 

7. I'll be coming home and Kristen and I will be getting the house ready for dessert tonight at 7:00.

A day in the life of a new church. Want to help get this thing started? Email me at Matt.j.larson@gmail.com and we'll get you on a team, point you to how you can support us financially or get you signed up for our Anthem Prayer Team.

Check out www.jointheanthem.com for more information on Anthem Church. Thanks for your prayers and support!

Stuff I learned on our drive home

1. Due to the new Obama infrastructure plan, there's road construction EVERYWHERE!!! Nice to see people working.

2. Driving an Expedition while towing a heavy trailer is the perfect solution to my small bladder, we had to stop for gas every 160 miles... ouch.

3. If you have the choice, do a road trip in 2009 rather than 2008 because the gas is half price.

4. When driving with 3 kids 6 and under, it's better to leave at 3:00 am for the driving days because then they get to sleep for 4 hours of drive time. Definitely worth the sacrifice of being a little tired.

5. Loved the iPhone. It changes a road trip completely! Gas, food, lodging, mpg, banking... there's an app for that!

6. Buy a big box of sweet tarts from Wal Mart before you go. It costs $1 and it keeps you from buying candy at every stop. You can eat two Sweet Tarts and it satisfies the sweet tooth.

7. Audiobooks by Clive Cussler, Mark Driscoll and Harlan Coben make the 3:00 am

 departure doable. Riveting stuff.

8. Red Box is amazing. They have them everywhere. You can rent dvd's anywhere, return anywhere and it's only a $1. They are scattered all along the 70 and 80 interstates so you can rent on your roadie!

9. Eastern Colorado is flat and boring.

10. Eastern Nebraska is lush and gorgeous

11. There are parts of Utah that are scary when you're only getting 9mpg. Longest stretch without anything was 110 miles of mountainous, desert terrain.

12. Los Angeles is a bummer of a place to end a road trip. 30 miles from home and the 101 is totally log jammed in traffic.

13. Load your trailer correctly. When loaded incorrectly it sways worse than a certain republican senator.

14. St. George, Utah was an anomaly. Tons of blonde 20 somethings hanging out

 on a

Friday night like it was Hollywood. Also the home of Brigham Young's house and the oldest LDS temple.

Ok, that's all I could think of. Here's a few pictures from the trip :)

Lessons from Reproducing

Here are some notes from three church planters/reproducing church leaders that shared their experience from launching new sites recently. Very helpful stuff from the NewThing Network Gathering.

Dave Dummitt:
1. The Big Brother Syndrome: No matter how much we communicated the blessing of reproduction and prayed that people would have the graciousness of the prodigal father, there were still people, leaders, that were the older brother. They were skeptical and questioning of our decision. That was tough.
2. Launch team around 150 with the goal of breaking the 200 barrier before launch.
3. Start with a campus pastor if at all possible
4. Spiritual warfare is real

Greg Lee:
1. The Big Brother Syndrome--The new campus was getting everything they asked for, but there was a strategic decision to run lean at the original campus so that the new launch could be successful. This created a little bit of a jealous big brother situation.
2. Surprised both positively and negatively about how for some people the reproducing conversation kicked in, but for others it was totally foreign even after two years of talking about it.
3. Excellence. What is it that we are trying to reproduce. Is it the excellence that we have at our originating location or is it self-defined at the new location?
4. Expectations. What do we expect at launch? What are the numbers and the level of impact that we're going to have? It was hard not to communicate the expectations differently to different groups of people (congregation, staff, management team)
5. Campus Freedom. The idea of being one church

We sent 120 from our original campus and that filled back in immediately.


Brian Moll:
1. Motive check: larger church? Newer fad? Fitting in with NewThing? or helping people find their way back to God?
2. Remain confident in the plan. We had a lot of connection events that nobody showed up to. Just because one connection event doesn't succeed doesn't mean the church isn't going to succeed.
3. Buy-in: My wife, the staff, the leaders, the congregation. This is going to mean a lot of effort, energy and time.
4. Location pastor is necessary if they are sold out to making the location successful.
5. Very easy to make the church about Sunday (worship, program, etc.). We found that we need to be thinking about the years ahead and the development of a real church happening.
6. 2nd campus launch team was great because everyone on board was sold out on the vision of reproducing.
7. It tested the depth of our bench.
8. It raised the value of reproducing.
9. It provided an opportunity for new volunteers.
10. Bar was raised for both locations (language, signage, series choices)
11. Echo: Spiritual warfare is real

Check out www.jointheanthem.com for more info on a future reproducing church.

NewThing Gathering

I am so excited about the NewThing Network Gathering that is taking place today and tomorrow in Naperville, Il. I get to hang out for the next 48 hours with a group of guys that are months and years ahead of me in the church planting experience. They care deeply about the things that God has put on my heart. They love Jesus and live accordingly. If you have a few minutes, take some time to read up on the mission of NewThing and check out some of the churches around the NewThing Network.

West to East (cause we read left to right and west is better)

Momentum Christian Church (San Diego)

Anthem Church (Thousand Oaks)

Ikon (San Francisco)

Church! At Bethany (Beaverton, Or)

Jacob's Well (Thornton, Co)

Paseo Christian Church (El Paso, Tx)

Restore Community Church (Kansas City, Mo)

The Ridge Christian Church (New Berlin, Wi)

The Village Christian Church (Minooka, Il)

Community Christian Church (Naperville/Plainfield/Cari-llon/Yorkville/Montgomery/Shorewood/Romeoville/Pilsen/DT Naperville)

Waterfront Christian Church (Schaumburg, Il)

Suncrest Christian Church (St. John, In 2x)

2|42 Community Church (Brighton/Ann Arbor, Mi)

Southpoint Community Christian Church (Trenton, Mi)

Crossings (Knoxville, Tn)

Lifepointe Church (Raleigh, NC)

Reunion Christian Church (Boston, Ms)

Forefront Church (New York City, NY 2x)

Community Christian Church at High Vista (Davenport, Fl)

The Pursuit Christian Church (Miami, Fl 2x)

Bill and Rachel Carroll (Paris, France)

Frontline Ministries (San Pablo City, The Philippines x2)

I know that's a lot of clicks... but if you've got the time, check em' out!

Wait! Don’t Start That Church... yet.

Theoretical church planter checklist = 

Reputable Bible college: Check. 

10 years + of youth ministry experience: Check. 

MDiv from a good seminary: Check. 

Awkward choice of facial hair: Check. 

Smokin’ hot wife and three amazing kids: Check. 

Son of a lead pastor/planter of a large church: Check

According to the standard checklist issued by WCPO (World Church Planting Organization--which I just made up) I seemed to have it all. I was told by a couple people that I had the “pedigree” of a church planter and I was ready to roll. I made it through assessment with flying colors and was even blessed/encouraged by a denomination. What more did we need? I don’t exactly know how to say this because it wasn’t a case of being gun shy, we just weren’t ready to start a church. There was still something missing.

In our ongoing conversation about church planting my wife and I spoke frequently about a church that reproduces. We wanted to be about more than starting one church, but about reproducing leaders at all levels and sending people out to do it again. It made sense to us because we believed that people our age weren’t going to drive from long distances to hear a preacher, so if we want to reach them, we have to go to them. The thing that is causing people to catch the vision of Jesus’ mission is the idea of being Christ followers together, doing life together, seeing the world transformed by truth together. For that to happen, the best strategy was to reproduce and recreate churches or locations throughout the county in southern California that had captured our hearts (Ventura County). The only problem with this is that I had no idea how create a reproducing church culture. If we were going to be successful at accomplishing the vision God had given us, we needed to learn from people who had done what we were called to do.

About 12 months ago I was hanging out at a conference in Naperville, Illinois and through a series of conversations I was introduced to the concept of a Leadership Residency. I had never heard of anything like this in the church world before. I had heard of internships, but I had already done one of those. The leadership residency concept was new to me. The way it was described was simple, a doctor goes through college in pre med, med school and then, when he’s done with the book studies he does a residency at a hospital. This is where a doctor hones his craft and learns the intricacies and style of the particular area of medicine that he wants to practice. I loved the idea, but it just didn’t make sense with a house, kids and a heart for starting something that could barely be contained.

It didn’t take long for God to open us up to the reality that this type of thing needed to happen. If we wanted to see this vision of the reproducing church become a reality we needed to be a part of that life and culture gaining the hands on experience, building our network and learning from people in the world of the reproducing church. God was using this concept to alter our understanding of the ordinary path of a church planter. It’s gotten to the point for me that I would say don’t start that church without doing a residency. Honestly, I can’t tell you if it has “worked” or not because I haven’t started a church yet. Regardless of what “works” there is a healthy way to prepare to start churches. I believe that going through a residency is an extremely healthy way to prepare yourself and your spouse (if applicable... meaning if you’re married... if you’re not then this doesn’t apply... meaning not applicable). If this has sparked your interest, I’ve provided a few links at the bottom of this blog for you to check out. You can also contact me for more questions and yes... if you want to be a resident with me at Anthem Church and witness the launch of a brand new church, give me a call. We will be hosting a NewThing resident with the goal of preparing you to launch a church/campus in the future. 

Some reference points on Leadership Residencies:

www.newthing.org (contact Eric Metcalf: Eric@communitychristian.org)

www.hcbc.com Hill Country Bible Church Residency Program (click “Church planting”)

www.theaterchurch.com/about/protege National Community Church Protege program

Launch with me

After a year of doing a Leadership Residency with NewThing and now a month of conferences at Exponential and the NewThing gathering we are on our way home to start Anthem Church in Thousand Oaks, Ca.

I can't really describe how excited we are to get home and continue this mission of helping people find their way back to God. Kristen and I have been preparing for this and praying that God would give us that heart of abandon that goes beyond a job, hobby, gift set or even the right thing to do, but that this would be truly our only calling in this life.