the mission field called Connecticut

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i live in Connecticut...Bill LaMorey moved here to start a church...is he crazy?

"Why is it that there is a lack of pastors? (in the Northeast)"

Here was my reply:

"I am actually going to post on this soon. An obvious answer could be if you aren’t going to have a lot of support, why go to a foreign land without a lot of help? It’s easier to stay in your general area, and maintain local support networks. It’s of course, more than that. The baptist pastor (I mentioned in my last post) told me he stood up and begged seminary graduates of his denomination to come, even with the sweet package they were offering, they all wanted to wait for spots to open in CA, FL or AZ. Nobody wanted to come -it’s cold here and us New Englanders are odd birds; a little too much spirit maybe…
But check out this stat for my state from Barna:

“Taking into account each state’s aggregate adult population, the area with the greatest number of evangelicals is California, which is home to nearly two million of them. Connecticut retains the bragging rights to having the fewest adults who are evangelical, with just 26,000 of them in a state of more than two and a half million adults.” (From the August 23rd, 2005 Barna Update, www.barna.org).

When God called me here, it was clear to me that He wanted to start a new revolution in this post-modern and post-Christian place (He showed me He already had a revolution in the works, and I didn’t have to come, but if I did, I could join an army of pastors and ministers who got to see God work in a BIG way). It really is a mission field here, and it has been one that’s tough to crack. I heard a figure that roughly 220 CC church plants were attempted in NE and really only 1 out of 7 took. There are so many reasons for failures, but one has to be to come here there needs to be a mission’s based approach (we need to think and act like missionaries). The pastor can’t show up in a Hawaiian t-shirt and clogs and expect to be taken seriously. Also, we cannot hang the dove or the cross and expect to be a megachurch in 2 years; expectations have to be more realistic. Also, we need senders who are willing to get behind those of us that are stepping out (prayerfully AND financially). Because there is no CC or hardly any other significant “marketable church brands” established, so we need support from back home."



He also has a previous post worth the read called Get Big or die Tryin worth a read...as always, don't miss the comments

Comments

Anonymous said…
John,

Thanks for the link, my fellow Yankee!!!

-Bill
September 14, 2006
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