Topic: "Financial Discipleship". From the 01 09|10-2013 Regional Cohort Gatherings for church planters on the East Coast Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church.

1. Regional Cohort Gatherings
Loose Topic: “Reflections and the New Year Ahead”
Wed Jan 9, 11:00am - 2:30pm: NY/NJ Metro Cohort
Thu Jan 10, 11:00am - 2:30pm: Greater Boston/New England Cohort
Contact & Quick Info
all blue links are clickable in the post and pdf at www.jasoncondon.com
Jason R. Condon Quick-Start Guide to Church Planting
Associate Superintendent & Director of Church Planting, • "Understanding Church Planting on the East Coast
East Coast Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church Conference" (or www.jasoncondon.com/2012/04/
• jasonrcondon@gmail.com handout-understanding-church-planting.html) -
seminar handout introducing concepts & strategy
• (860) 479-2020
• "What Are We Looking For in A Church Planter?"
• www.jasoncondon.com (or bit.ly/Qfbiue ) - an overview of what we value in a
(Cohort handouts and resources posted here) church planter and his or her ministry
• facebook.com/jasoncondon • "Church Planter Identification Process"
(or bit.ly/TfnyKr) - an overview of how we assess
• eastcoastconf.org
church planters and pursue church planting within
• covchurch.org the East Coast Conference and the Covenant
Opening
• Welcome & Prayer
• Super-Quick Intros: name, ministry setting, why you’re here today
• Lunch: we’ll grab lunch whenever it’s ready/convenient
Reconnect & Reflect
Reflections Questions:
• What was your greatest church-planting highlight of 2012?
• Greatest challenge?
• Most important lesson learned?
• What opportunities and challenges do you see ahead in 2013?
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Regional Cohort Gatherings | Loose Topic: Reflections and the New Year Ahead Jan 9 & 10, 2013 | page 1 of 6

2. New for 2013!
Missions Giving Remix | encouraging more church planting
Background
• Covenant Agreement: Written into each church planter’s Agreement is the expectation and requirement that
each church plant practice the discipline of “tithes and offerings” through their 15% Mission Giving
• Historically: 10% Covenant + 5% Conference
New Opportunity: 3% Church Planting Fund
Starting immediately for January 2013
“8+4+3%” | Covenant + Conference + Church Planting Fund
• Example: $10,000 in Local Tithes & Offerings, Church sends two checks: 8% for Covenant, 7% for ECConf
• 8% = $800 to Evangelical Covenant Church, with option to designate up to half to a Covenant Missionary
• 50% General = $400
• 50% Designated = $400 to particular Covenant Missionary
• 7% = $700 to East Coast Conference
• 4/7ths = $400 directed to Conference Ministry Budget
• 3/7ths = $300 held by Conference in “[Your Church] - Church Planting Fund”
(uses subject to guidelines set by each Conference in conjunction with Dept. of CG&E)
Process for Designating Missionary Support
• Contact Patty Shepherd, Mission Advancement and Communication Associate Director
• request list of Missionaries, ask for suggestions, confirm you preference is approved, etc
• www.CovChurch.org/mission, 773/907-3321, patty.shepherd@covchurch.org
• Mark Clearly in Memo of your “Covenant Check” for Missions Giving each month:
• Evangelical Covenant Church - $Amount
• [Missionary Name] - $Amount
Benefits
• encourages & enables more direct Parenting of church plants
• encourages & enables more Partnering in church planting, especially with churches who otherwise couldn’t
• connects local churches more personally and directly to Covenant Missionaries and their global work
Discussion and Q&A
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Regional Cohort Gatherings | Loose Topic: Reflections and the New Year Ahead Jan 9 & 10, 2013 | page 2 of 6

3. Monthly Reports Online
Who loves the current report form? (get out)
Question: why do these matter (or not)?
• scriptural reasons?
• practical reasons?
• other reasons?
Background
• these reports have largely been unchanged since back when I was planting (*shudder*)
• current format doesn’t really collect useful “data” that can be studied, shared, manipulated, etc.
• desperately tried to find or create a tool that balanced usability with functionality, had to “divide and conquer”...
Part 1 | Church Planter-Specific: Online Google Form
Initial Plan
• Reminder: you’ll receive an email at the beginning of each month (can fill out form directly in email or online)
• Input: you’re the only one who fills this out (not for other staff or volunteers to see or use)
Report Content:
• Self: How are you doing Personally?; Physically, Spiritually, Emotionally; Scale: Empty, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, Full)
• Family: How is your relationship with your Spouse & Kids? (if applicable); Scale: N/A, Poor, Fair, Good, Great
• Staff: How is your relationship with your Staff? (if applicable);
Pastoral Staff, Support Staff; Scale: N/A, Poor, Fair, Good, Great
• ChurchMetrics.com confirmation (just a check-box to confirm it’s been completed (see next part below)
• 15% Mission Giving confirmation (just two check-boxes for you to confirm if they’ve been sent in)
• Stories of Life-Change and Missional Health
• Life Change: share a story of transformation, life-change, conversion, baptism, etc.
• Missional Health: give an example from the church, share a recent story (positive or negative) illustrating the
missional health of the church
• VIM: Vision, Intentionality, Means
• We’re integrating this concept from the Covenant’s “Congregational Vitality” efforts.
The combination of these measures helps gauge where a church is with the
Vitality "Four Church Types": 1) Healthy-Missional, 2) Stable, 3) Critical Moment), 4) At-Risk
(see www.covchurch.org/vitality/downloads/ for further VIM resources)
• Vision: is the vision clear, compelling, and well-communicated? (over past month)
• Intentionality: are ministry efforts consistent, purposeful, and strategic? (over past month)
• Means - People: is there a critical mass of members and regulars enthused, capable, and engaged?
• Means - Resources: do you have the money and ministry tools necessary for this season?
• Scale: Low, Medium, High
• Assistance: Any specific ways the ECConf or Covenant can help you or your church?
• Any additional comments, news, prayer requests, updates, etc.?
Quick Demo! (we’ll put it on a screen if we’re able)
Quick Questions on Part 1?
Regional Cohort Gatherings | Loose Topic: Reflections and the New Year Ahead Jan 9 & 10, 2013 | page 3 of 6

4. Part 2 | Church Plant-Specific: ChurchMetrics.com
• created by LifeChurch.tv, a multi-site Evangelical Covenant Church, headquartered in OKC, that gives away all
their resources for FREE
Initial Plan
• Current: hacking it somewhat to make it work, with ECConf as the “church” and each church plant a “campus”
• Future: I’m working with the LifeChurch.tv Digerati team to see this tool upgraded for “network” church planting
• Reminder: the only “reminder” will be the Monthly Church Planter Report form asking for confirmation.
You will need to set this up with a few volunteers, as a weekly rhythm, with a few monthly-only inputs
• Input:
• ideally you set up two or more volunteers (not you!) to do the input (primarily “attendance” and “financials”)
• you’ll initially receive a couple usernames to access and input data for your church (differing permissions)
(example: “Hope Church NYC Staff”, “Hope Church NYC Volunteer”)
• Input & Volunteer Suggestions: have “ushers” do worship attendance count and enter on their smartphone,
have head children’s worker do kid count and enter on their smartphone, have one of the offering counters enter
amount as part of their counting workflow, have finance person enter monthly amounts, etc.
Report Content:
Weekly Metrics Monthly Metrics
• Attendance • $ IN-1: Appropriations Received (by end of month)
• Attendance - Kids • $ IN-2: Outside Fundraising (by end of month)
• Salvations • $ IN-3: Special Funds (by end of month)
• Volunteers • $ OUT-1: Month's Budgeted Expenses
• Contributions (local tithes and offerings) • $ OUT-2: Non-Budgeted Expenses (by end of month)
• PEOPLE-1: 1st-Time Visitors • $ OUT-3: Mission Giving: Covenant 8%
• PEOPLE-2: Membership (this shouldn’t change much • $ OUT-4: Mission Giving: ECConf 7%
from week to week :), but having it “weekly” is better • $ ONBOOKS-1: Fund Balance (at end of month)
for tracking and graphing)
• $ ONBOOKS-2: Total Past Due Bills (at end of month)
Quick Demo! (we’ll put it on a screen if we’re able)
• great dashboard functionality for Conference and you
• fully exportable data (so it’s not “trapped” in a particular app)
Discussion and Q&A
• We’ll begin using this Reporting approach immediately for 2013 (we’ll improve as we learn from real-life usage)
• Questions on both Part 1 and 2?
• How will this help?
• Where do you see potential problems and challenges?
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Regional Cohort Gatherings | Loose Topic: Reflections and the New Year Ahead Jan 9 & 10, 2013 | page 4 of 6

5. Stuff to Get Right in 2013
Church Management Systems (ChMS)
• The City (www.onthecity.org)
• Quick Debrief
• How is The City working for those using it?
• would you pay for it on your own?
• would you recommend it? why?
• Fellowship One (www.fellowshipone.com) - Webinar Guided Tour: January 22, 2013 at 1:00pm ET
• Church Community Builder (www.churchcommunitybuilder.com) - Drew & Hope Church NYC going with it
• Others?:
Bookkeeping Services Update
Planting Partnerships with Established Churches and One Another
Open Discussion
Regional Cohort Gatherings | Loose Topic: Reflections and the New Year Ahead Jan 9 & 10, 2013 | page 5 of 6

6. Coming Events | Mark Your Calendar (subscribe at eastcoastconf.org/calendar)
February
• NO Cohort Gatherings Currently Confirmed Attending cont’d
• Covenant Midwinter (San Diego) 6) Michael Carrion (& Liz?) (pre-paid spot)
Feb 4-8 (Mon-Fri): www.covchurch.org/midwinter 7) Efrain Alicea (& Erika) (pre-paid spot)
• Feb 15 Deadline: COMS paper work for March 19-20 8) T.C Moore (& Osheta) (pre-paid spot)
(Andrew & Phil are on, any others?) 9) Stephen Sharkey (& Kathleen) (pre-paid spot)
10) Ryan Yi (pre-paid spot)
March
• Church Planter Cohort Gatherings: 11) Andrew Mook (pre-paid spot)
• NY/NJ Metro Cohort 12) Drew Hyun (pre-paid spot)
Wed March 6, 11:00am-2:30pm (Location TBD) 13) Derrick Jackson (registered on own)
• Greater Boston/New England Cohort 14) Kim Wright (registered on own)
Thu March 7, 11:00am-2:30pm (Location TBD) 15) Brynn Harrington (registered through CG&E)
• COMS Interviews (Committee on Ministerial Standing) 16) Dan Lee (registered through CG&E)
Tue & Wed, March 19-20, approx. 2 hours in Berlin CT
Kreig (Dir. Congregational Vitality) is also inviting
• necessary for those new to credentialing process a select handful of his Vitality Cohort pastors,
• 3 year check-ins for those just with “license” should be an incredible time all together!
• final-prep for those nearing Ordination
April May
• Assessment Center
• ECConf Annual Meeting (Harleysville PA)
April 11-13 (Thu-Sat): eastcoastconf.org/annual-mtg • Wed May 15, 8pm - Sat May 18, 12pm
• Location: currently Chicago, may move to Hartford
• Exponential Conference & Retreat (Orlando) • for invited church planter candidates
www.exponentialconference.org • Church Planter Cohort Gatherings:
• NY/NJ Metro Cohort
• Full Details: www.jasoncondon.com/2012/09/
Wed May 29, 11:00am-2:30pm (Location TBD)
exponential2013.html (read first before registering)
• Greater Boston/New England Cohort
• April 22-25 (Mon-Thu): Exponential Conference + Thu May 30, 11:00am-2:30pm (Location TBD)
Covenant Connections [NEW!]
June
• April 25-27 (Thu-Sat): ECConf Retreat!
• NO Cohort Gatherings
• Optional Bonus Dates: Check-in as early as Sat • Church Planter Training Intensive (St. Paul)
April 20, 4pm (Jason will already be there :) Tue Nov 6, 5:00pm – Sun Nov 11, 12:00pm
• Very Affordable: automatic $400 scholarship, • Covenant Annual Meeting (Detroit)
crazy-cheap resort housing, plus other funding Thu, June 27, 2013 – Sun, June 30, 2013
built into newer Church Planter Agreements. www.covchurch.org/am
Housing and house groceries for week, only $300
(always let Jason know if finances are a hardship)
• Currently Confirmed Attending! (as of 10-05-12)
Full Calendar for East Coast Conference
1) Jason (& Lisa, Jaron, Bryn) (pre-paid spot)
• Visit www.eastcoastconf.org/calendar, subscribe
2) Howard (& Ann, Terra) (pre-paid spot) through Google Cal, iCal, or other calendar app
3) Kreig Gammelgard (pre-paid spot)
• Entries labeled “Church Planting” specifically for
4) Aaron Engler (pre-paid spot) church planters, rest for Covenant pastors in general
5) Kiho Lee (pre-paid spot)
Regional Cohort Gatherings | Loose Topic: Reflections and the New Year Ahead Jan 9 & 10, 2013 | page 6 of 6