Jump into the ARC

I know, I know, you've patiently waited all day for the updates I promised would be coming your way. Well wait no more. The conference started yesterday evening at the amazing campus of Church of the Highlands. It is nothing short of a miracle that a seven year old church has built such an astounding campus. I'll tell you more about the campus in a later post but for now I want to give you some highlights of the incredible things the ARC is accomplishing through a group of guys that are relationally connected with the singular stated purpose of planting life-giving churches that impact the world.

Since its inception 7 years ago (Chris Hodges' Church of the Highlands was the first ARC church plant), the ARC has given away 40 million dollars to local and global missions. In 2007 the ARC planted a new church every 17 days. In 2008 that number is a new church every 12 days. There have been 59 church plants since inception and the average weekend attendance at all ARC churches combined is 99,976 people. All I can say is... wow!

Chris Hodges kicked off the conference with a powerful message highlighting the church planters favorite verse: "Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you... Be strong and of good courage... Only be strong and very courageous." Joshua 1:3, 6-7. He reminded us that even though the territory had been promised, there would still be a battle that required strength and courage. He highlighted the kings that Israel had to contend with in order to possess the land. He likened it to the spiritual battles church planters face daily as they contend with their own demon kings. The following are some of the major battles facing church planters.

• The battle against the king of demonic attacks
• The battle against the king of rejection
• The battle against the king of loneliness
• The battle against the king of temptation
• The battle against the king of discouragement

He further highlighted the three things that would help us win the battle against these "kings."

• Humility - a man on his face cannot fall from that position
• Honesty
• Holy Spirit - the greatest church planting tool God gave us was the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

Digest these amazing nuggets and I'll connect with you again tomorrow with some more great stuff from the conference.