Sometimes you just guess right

Since moving back to Tennessee people have been asking about my future ministry plans. My response is simple. I feel called by God to plant a church in the Knoxville area. I have a great burden for this area and a clear vision for accomplishing the task.

That is a weird concept for people to figure out. Why another church in the church saturated Bible Belt? My response to that is simply that East Tennessee doesn't need any other churches, just different kinds of churches. The vision is simple: To launch and build a church that is irresistible to unchurched people. A place where believers can bring their unchurched family and friends comfortably.

As a result of this answer at least 4, maybe more people have voluntarily criticized one particular church in our area over the last 4 weeks: Faith Promise Church.

As a 'professional' church person I knew what this meant. It was likely targeting unchurched people, not churched people. I was right. The Media, Music, and Message didn't look and sound like it does in most of the other Knoxville area churches, thus many of the church people in the surrounding area feel uncomfortable with Faith Promise.

But, Unchurched people feel comfortable - and not because the message is weak and positive thinking crap. The message was on the devastating effects of the Sin curse.

So, one more step in preparing for a church launch: Realize people will severely criticize what we do. I'm OK with that because of why I'm doing it and who I am doing it for.

- Brad