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Starbucks Church
LU Grad Scott Hofert and his wife Taryn, along with co-pastor Matt O’Neil and his wife Donna, have given greater eternal value and purpose to the ubiquitous Starbuck Coffee Shops in Charlotte, North Carolina. In January 2004 both couples moved to Charlotte and began building relationships from which to launch Watershed Charlotte. Many of those relationships were begun and continue to exist via dialogue at Star Buck’s. During lengthy, open conversations within budding relationships, Hofert and O’Neil began discovering what questions/issues their Charlotte community was sifting through. One of these issues was, of all things, a desire to have deeper, more meaningful relationships. Hofert and O’Neil used this discovery to create a church atmosphere conducive to connecting people beyond the surface level. The result has been a weekly worship gathering that includes plenty of white collar atheists and agnostics searching for truth in a non-judgmental, accepting ambience.
Watershed is a non-traditional church launch affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, whose first official service was in September 2005. Although “service” is not a word used to describe Watershed’s weekly public gathering. Their Sunday morning services are called “Transit,” based on the London underground train and their bulletin is called “Frank.” Transit is held at Actor’s Theater on Stonewall St. in Uptown Charlotte and is expanding in January 2008 to 2 time slots each Sunday morning.
According to their website (www.watershedcharlotte.com), Watershed is: A church where urban lives intersect the Divine, where compassion, conversation, & creativity coalesce, where relationships go beyond surface-level, & where ALL walks of life converge.
Hofert has implemented affinity based small groups called Blocs with great success to further build relationships. Although the interest areas of these groups vary greatly, from men’s/women’s groups to marriage to parenthood to outdoors, the following 3 values are consistent across the board: 1) connection, 2) growth, and 3) service. Watershed is committed to serving needy families and communities within Charlotte. They have done extensive physical work within these neighborhoods as well as building friendships and sharing Christ.
Our prayers are with you, Scott and Watershed, as you reach out to new segments of Charlotte with the timeless message of life in Christ.
Upcoming Church Planting Course offerings
Winter 2007:
Jan 7-11
Dr. Earley - EVAN 660/EVAN 950 Leading a Healthy Church
This weeklong intensive is offered to both M.A. and D.Min students.
Jan 11-15
Dr. Wheeler - EVAN 565 Contemporary Evangelism
Spring 2008:
Dr. Earley - EVAN 550 Church Planting Wednesdays 1:45 - 4:45 pm
Dr. Earley - EVAN 610 Methods and Models Tuesday/Thursday 2:00-3:15 pm
Dr. Wheeler - EVAN 565 Contemporary Evangelism Tuesday/Thursday 12:25-1:40
Summer Intensives 2008:
June 23-27
Dr. Earley, joined by Daniel Henderson - EVAN 670/697/997 Strategic Prayer and Spiritual Warfare. Classes on June 23-26 will correspond with the National Prayer Summit sponsored
by Strategic Renewal and Pray Magazine.
Aug 11-15
Dr. Earley, joined by Dr. Ed Stetzer - EVAN 550 / EVAN 997 Introduction to Church Planting. Classes on Aug. 11-13 will correspond with TRBC’s Innovate ’08 Conference.
May 19-23
Dr. Wheeler - EVAN 565 Contemporary Evangelism
Searching for Church Plants
The Liberty Center for Church Planting is compiling a list of new church plants that have launched since its inception in July, 2006. If you are a Liberty alumnus and have planted assisted or know of a church plant in this time period, contact the Liberty Center for Church Planting at churchplanting@liberty.edu
LCCP Newsletters
May 2007 - vol 1 Newsletter
Sept. 2007 - vol 2 Newsletter
Oct. 2007 - vol 2 Newsletter
Nov. 2007 - vol 2 Newsletter
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Thomas Road Baptist Church and the Liberty Center for Church Planting host first annual Church Planting Emphasis Week at Liberty University
January 30, 2008 – February 1, 2008
A Church Planting Emphasis week will be held at LU for the first time, sponsored by Thomas Road Baptist Church and the Liberty Center for Church Planting of the Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. Goals are to 1) raise awareness of the need for new church plants; 2) motivate and educate future church planters to begin planning and training to launch; and 3) begin partnering relationships with several nationally recognized church planting experts.
Schedule for the Church Planting Emphasis week is as follows:
Wednesday, Jan. 30th: Convocation Speaker: Pastor Matt Fry (LU grad who planted 3C Church in North Carolina)
Wednesday, Jan 30th: Guest lecturers in various the School of Religion and Seminary classes
Wednesday, Jan 30th: Dr. Ed Stetzer of Lifeway and Purpose Driven Church Planting speaks in Campus Church
Thursday, Jan. 31st: Guest lecturers in various SOR and Seminary classes
Thursday, Jan 31st: Evening session with Nelson Searcy, Church planter in Manhattan, New York in CN 1491
Friday, Feb. 1st: Convocation Speaker: Dr. Ergun Caner on Church Planting
 My Top 10 Favorite Church Planting WebsitesBy Dave Earley
“I believe I am called to plant a church. I am eager to get started. Where do I begin?”
That is the essence of emails I regularly receive as the Director of Church Planting at Liberty University. I usually refer to four resources that help the would-be church planter get started. I send them a list of the most helpful websites to search, books to read, and conferences to attend. Then I also tell them about the new MA in Evangelism and Church Planting from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. www.liberty.edu/seminary
In future articles, I’ll discuss some of my favorite books, and training options. In this article I want to give a quick survey of what I think are ten of the most helpful or interesting websites on church planting.
1. www.churchplantingvillage.net
This is the site presented by the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. It is absolutely loaded with information. There is information on everything you can imagine including multi-site church planting, bi-vocational church planting, indigenous church planting, church planter wives. If you go to the Discover Church Planting section, you can take several free online assessments to determine whether or not you are suited to be a church planter.
2. www.newchurches.com/
"New Churches" is Ed Stetzer’s updated site. Ed is an author, pastor, and church planter who currently serves as the Missiologist and Director of the Center for Missional Research at the North American Mission Board of the SBC. This site is laid out very nicely. It has lots of great tools, resources, information on events, blogs, podcasts, links, and info on vendors.
3. www.nextinitiative.net/
NEXT is a network of purpose-driven churches dedicated to launching 1000 churches in the next five years. NEXT is directed by Ron Sylvia who has been teaching the Purpose Driven Church planting seminar for many years. Ron Sylvia is the founding and lead pastor of Church at the Springs in Ocala, Florida and has a passion for training and coaching church planters. This website has some good downloads and materials. Most importantly, it is the door to getting involved in Ron’s monthly church planter coaching network.
4. www.churchplantingresources.com/
This is very professional organization that has a ton of highly practical stuff including setting up a 501c3, to writing a church constitution, info on how to set up blogs and pod casts, creating email campaigns, and more.
5. www.churchplanting.com/
This is Steve Sjogren’s new site. Sjorgren is an effective church planter, author, and the leading spokesman for servant evangelism. He has some good resources and articles available. I like it because I like servant evangelism.
6. www.acts29network.org/
Acts29 is on the forefront of the Resurgence Movement attempting to combine reformed theology and a contextualization of the Gospel. The Acts29 Network came out of Mark Driscoll’s Mars Hill church in Seattle, Washington. This site is very well done with plenty of media downloads, information on upcoming church planter training boot camps hosted by Acts29, and other resources.
7. www.organicchurchplanting.org/
This is Neil Cole’s site. It is dedicated to planting movements and organic house churches. There are many articles on house churches.
9. www.church-planting.net/
Passion for Planting is a not-for-profit church planting support ministry started in 2002 by a group of church planters from New Life Christian Church in Centreville, Virginia. They have a good looking site with a few nice free resources.
10. www.churchplants.com/
This is an extension of Outreach Marketing. They do have some good free articles. But most importantly, this site connects you to stuff you can use to market the new church.
Dr. Dave Earley is an experienced church planter and coach. He serves as the Director of the Liberty Center for Church Planting at Liberty Theological Seminary
He is also Chairman of the Department of Pastoral Leadership and Church Planting for Liberty Theological Seminary. He has authored ten books on subjects such as small groups, leadership, prayer, and the Christian life. www.daveearley.com
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