by Jason Todd
Wow! What an amazing week! The National Church Planting Office held its Church Planter’s Candidate School at Orlando Baptist Church in Orlando, FL, this last week (January 23-27). We want to thank Pastor Dave Janney and his staff for being wonderful hosts.
We had 12 church planters, two missionaries, and various local pastors and staff that attended most of the classes during the week. We certainly want to thank all of our teachers for taking their time to be with us and sharing their hearts with those in attendance.
John Arnold shared with us in the area of prayer, Rick Carter talked about stewardship and fundraising, Mark Milioni taught his classes on church planting about pre-launch and launch, Wayne Guinn dealt with their personal and church finances, Duke Hergatt shared his story of how he planted his church, and Keith Bassham shared the history and function of the BBFI as well as giving a discussion about leadership styles. Also there to challenge everyone was Terry Kizer, Dave Janney, BBFI founder Al Janney, John-Erik Mosler, Mark Hodges, and Ron Barber.
One of the church planters wrote, “I highly recommend this school not only for church planters but for all church staff. I was refreshed and motivated in ministry.”
Joey Baynes of North Carolina said, “The lessons, principles, and values will be a great asset as we plant a church for the glory of God.”
Troy Wolfe of Texas writes, “The session of greatest value to me was John Arnold’s class titled ‘Prayer Habits that Last a Lifetime.’ There were also leadership principles shared that will impact my life and our church for years to come.”
Another church planter said, “This has been the best training school I’ve ever been to.”
A New York church planter commented, “This was a fantastic conference. Not only did it stir my passion for evangelism and church planting, but it gave me direction and a strategy to actually pursue planting a church.”
Ben York, an Ohio church planter, wrote, “John Arnold’s session, ‘Prayer Habits that Last a Lifetime,’ has overwhelmingly impacted me.”
David Harris, church planter in Rusk, TX, said, “This has been a great encouragement to me and renewed my strength to continue the battle to plant a church in Rusk. I encourage anyone who intends to plant a church to attend this school.”
Be watching for information on our next Church Planting Candidate School coming in January 2013.