The Hellands in Holland

Editor's Note:  As executive catalyst for the church-planting network Mission Orange County, Chris Lagerlof works with churches in 34 cities in Orange County, Calif., to collaborate for the good of their cities and to plant churches that have a city focus. Here, Lagerlof reflects on more than 30 years of ministry experience to offer six practical principles any church leader can learn from as he focuses on making disciples in his context: 1. Don’t mistake participation for transformation.  In Orange County, we get so excited about events and people showing up that we sometimes mistake big attendance for actual transformation. In church planting, a number of the models that have been embraced for the last 25 years are event-driven. They’re about the big events: the preview services and the launch. Church planters and their launch teams often become event planners rather than what they need to be: agents of change. 2. Develop a discipleship strategy before a planting strategy.

Devouring God's Words When I discovered your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart's delight... Jeremiah 15:16 "You Are Stupid"             Words can create, shape, make or break us. When my brother Aaron was in kindergarten my mother realized that there was something wrong with his learning things at school. My mother pulled him aside and asked him, "Aaron, what is wrong? Why are things so hard for you at school."             HIs response floored her, "My teacher says that I am stupid and that I can not learn anything." My then four-year-old brother had accepted the words of his teacher as truth and had stopped learning.             My mother had a serious talk with that teacher and now my brother who has two master's degrees is doing great due to a mother who refused to accept those deadly words spoken over the life of her son. Who we are today is largely due to the words that have been spoken over us.