A few weeks ago I was greeted by a full-page ad in the Merced Sun-Star announcing that Jay Conrad Levinson would be speaking at Merced College. I have his book, Guerilla Marketing, so I knew that the $25 being charged for the seminar was a huge bargain. I checked my calendar and called the college to reserve my spot.

Levinson is known and respected internationally as the guru of small business marketing. His ideas are inexpensive, easy to do, and very effective in gaining the attention of prospective customers. They are also quite applicable to non-profits and to churches.

I told people about the all-day seminar. I said that it would normally cost them $150 to attend such a conference. I told them who was hosting it and where to call. But on the day of the conference, only about a third of what the College and sponsors were expecting showed up.

I know it had to disappoint the sponsors and the College. Only one third of the expected crowd to hear a world-class speaker. You could tell by the calibre of the people at the conference that these were determined and committed folks. And their lives would be enhanced by what they learned that day.

I was trying to be a good steward of our money. So after the marketing company delievered us a business card and stationary proof I got bids from three companies. It took about two or three weeks to get all the figures together, and I chose the one that gave the most for the money.

In retrospect, I would have gladly paid the extra money it cost to have another printer do the work for me. The printer I chose took nearly a month to get my puny little printing job done, largely because of a comedy of communication failures by the salesman. It was no problem for him that I didn’t have my cards.

Now I finally have them. I have wished, for weeks now, to have something that didn’t look Mickey Mouse to hand to people around town. First impressions are often very important.

Last week I joined a business networking company, and I’m going to take my new cards to this week’s meeting. It will be nice to have the chapter members handing out my cards to their friends and contacts. It will reflect well on LifeSpring Church and the Lord.

What I’m doing makes others nervous. What I’m doing makes me nervous. “Do you have enough time to do this?” is a question that I get asked. In fact, a good friend asked me that just yesterday.

Indeed. Do I have enough time? Normally a church planter would market like mad, have a big launch service and then be off and running.

The time issue has caused me some angst. The calendar reminds me that time is flying by but I’m not making “normal” church planting progress. All this has led me to change the way I evaluate this. I have moved from asking, “What can I do to make this happen?” to “What is God doing in this place?” The change of question completely altered the way I view this.

The new question is not intended to remove my personal responsibility. (God does not reward laziness.) But, like Gideon, I’ve had to learn that if I turn my time over to God, I have to be prepared to accept whatever consequences that brings. For Gideon it was going to battle with only 300 men. For me it is watching my planning calendar be blown to smithereens.

Do I have enough time for this? Not if you put it on a spreadsheet. There’s not enough money to do what I’m doing, and that is terrifying. But if you ask “Does God have enough time to do this,” then you get an entirely different answer.

Recently we drove to Patterson to help out a fellow planter and his congregation. They were having a special service and wanted every member to be present to participate. So Bev and I were the nursery attendants.

We had five toddlers. I have decided that watching toddlers is like herding cats. I kept praying for the Spirit of Sleep to come over the group, but he never showed up. When the door finally opened and parents started arriving to collect their children I felt liberated.

I came back to Merced with two strong impressions. The first was the importance of Christians networking together to get things done. I know that the Patterson church would do the same thing for us. All we have to do is say, “Will you help us?”, and it is as good as done. Getting help from fellow disciples opens up doors of blessing in a way that nothing else does.

The second impression is comraderie that is created when we are united by a single vision. Over lunch we talked about the progress of our individual plants, strategies we are using, and our hopes for the future. We understood each other.

I would herd cats again for our friends. I know that this sort of investment is more than a couple of hours of helping out with the children. It is also friendship, trust, and serving one another.

We were told that we should enlist friends and family to pray for us in a regular way. The longer we do this, the more we see the importance of this team of supporters. Knowing that over 100 people are regularly asking for God to bless us has given us enormous confidence.

Especially when we occasionally hear from them. “We’ve been praying for you.” Or “We enjoy reading your monthly newsletter.”

I think the power of those statements comes from the fact that they are a connection. A completed circuit. Two people entering into a communication with God about life and ministry.

Current travels from the request to the intercessor to God and returns in personal encouragement and God’s answer. There is no more powerful way to encourage another person.

Jim Elliot was one of the missionaries that died in the jungle of Ecudaor trying to take the Gospel to the Waodani tribe, a tribe known for its violence. Elliot is the author of the now famous quote, He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.

The movie, “End of the Spear”is about the redemption of the people who murdered Jim Elliot and his fellow missionaries, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming, and Roger Youderian. The inspiring story is told through the point of view of the son of Nate Saint.

At the end of the film, the now adult son of Nate Saint reflects on how people don’t understand the great blessings that have arisen out of great sacrifice. That’s a hard lesson to teach Westeners who live in the anesthesia of great wealth and cannot imagine living without it.

It’s no surprise that Jim Elliot also said, God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, LORD Jesus. Amen.

It surprises me. I went to the meeting believing that I had thoroughly considered the merits and disadvantages of the issue. I took my place in the circle of chairs and waited for the meeting to begin.

I enjoy watching the process. People with different careers, experience, education, and gender mix their thoughts together like a cakemix. There is no shortcut to the process.

Invariably ideas are shared that I have never thought of regarding the issue being discussed. I’ve heard it said that a knowledgable committee produces a better result than a person working alone. I would say that is true.

These groups presented their ideas with respect and tolerance. Ridicule or censure are not permitted. There is no end to the good that can be done when people treat each other with deference and respect.

I’ve been told I have blown up the church planting model I was given. I didn’t mean to do it. It was all quite innocent. I didn’t realize it was going to shape up this way.

The first model is based on marketing. It requires a team of helpers and lots of advertising. My model requires joining organizations, volunteering for service projects, and starting conversations with strangers. One model starts quickly and then builds relationships. The other starts slowly and builds relationships one at a time.

Both are valid, serviceable models. Which one is used depends largely on the personality of the church planter and the context of the plant. I wouldn’t recommend the networking model for everyone.

My strategy comes partly from pragmatism. I don’t have the money for marketing, and I don’t have a core team to help me with the project. So I have to do things that are within my reach. Joining the Chamber of Commerce is something I can do. But not spending lots of money on mailings.

Of the two models I like networking best. It fits my spiritual gifts well. It’s one of the things I enjoy and feel passionate about. It also forces me to exercise my faith that God will bless what I am doing even if I can’t see around the next corner.

I love blogging. It’s such a good way to give my friends an update on what is going on. There’s far too many of them to call individually or even write a letter to. So, unlike the cartoon, I’m not avoiding people contact. I’m just trying to provide a timely update to the church plant.

Six degrees of separation is the theory that anyone on earth can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances that has no more than five intermediaries. The theory was first proposed in 1929 by the Hungarian writer Frigyes Karinthy in a short story called Chains.

Various people have tested Karinthy’s theory, and generally agree that this is, indeed, a small world that we live in. And we all have our own “small world” stories to tell.

I’ve become interested in the webs of relationships that we all live in because of my work as a church planter. Someone knows someone who knows someone. The first someone may not be the person who can help you, but the someone two or three connections down the line may be.

I’ve quit discounting the help that anyone might give me. They may be radically different in theology, philosophy, lifestyle, or interests yet because of their connections they may be of great assistance. I am finding that, approached correctly, most people are quite interested or helpful with respect to my project.

Human relationships are like a giant spider web. We’re all connected in one way or another. Respecting that is a first step to great accomplishment.