Video Transcript: What I Learned About Church Planting From Rich DeVos

Church planting is about starting a movement, a movement with maybe just a  few people, or more, or maybe it's starting churches in a whole area where you  live. It was in the early 1990s, when an Amway distributor approached me and  tried to get me into Amway. I was impressed. I was impressed that this ordinary  and let's call him a bi-vocational businessman, because Amway be network  marketing gives everybody a chance to be a businessman, that somehow or  other this ordinary person was trying to get me into Amway, and I was  impressed. So much so that I faxed back in those days, we had fax machines. I  faxed Mr. Rich DeVos of the Amway Corporation. And here's why I faxed him I  figured, if this guy and his partner Jay Van Andel could figure out how to get  ordinary people to sell and run businesses and start businesses, even if so  many of them failed in doing so that he would actually get people to attempt  something great like starting a business. I thought I could learn something from  him about leadership, church planting what it takes to get something off the  ground. Now, I am going to talk about this mentorship relationship, what I  learned from Rich DeVos, about church planting in the next couple sessions.  Now, a couple things about Rich, he said yes, to my fax, and within 24 hours  had sent me all his telephone numbers. We met various times, we went to things like Orlando Magic games together, we had many times where our wives and  families got together, to share and to talk and to encourage. So here is this  leader who raises up millions of people, giving advice on how to make things  happen and start things from scratch. And as a church planter or planting four  churches, helping leaders throughout the world, plant churches, restart  churches. I've taken this mentor relationship and information that Rich DeVos  has written and things written about Rich DeVos and put together these  presentations on what I learned about church planting from Rich DeVos. The  first thing you'll notice, when you meet Rich, is his attitude of you got to try  things. And maybe that's what you're thinking right now. You're sensing a call to  plant a church. And I would encourage you to give it a try. That's what Rich  DeVos would do when when if there's a calling, it's an authentic calling. And  you're sensing the Lord wants you to do it. But you're sort of worried is this  going to happen? Give church planting a try. Now I'm going to share a lot of the  writings of Rich DeVos in his book Simply Rich Life Lessons, life and lessons  from the co founder of Amway a memoir. Now when I do this, don't get worried  about if you hear the word Amway word. I'm not trying to get you to sell Amway.  I'm not promoting any business. Look for the principles in Mr. DeVos's writing  and see how they can apply to church planting because in church planting,  you're going to start something from scratch. So when you hear the word  Amway, you hear his life and I quote him understand, we were not getting  anyone to sell Amway. Instead, we're learning those cross pollinating principles  that start something new. And one of the things you'll meet in see when you  actually talk to Mr. DeVos is this idea of try or cry, give church planting a try. This

is what Rich says you can make excuses about not having the right education or experience. Not coming from the right background, being afraid to attempt  something new, or a challenge that appears too daunting. You can sit around  and cry about what you perceive as a life stacked against you. Or you can try  just try and if you fail, try again, in my experience, trying always beats crying.  You know, I've tried many things and you know, and very honestly, many things  failed but I never looked at the failure. I looked at what I learned church planting, give it a try. So as you are considering church planting in this class, why not give it a Try. Now, here are some critical principles in church planting. Be a positive  dad or mom to your church planter children make it a joy to be in a church  planters house. Rich put it this way. My father was a very positive man. He  believed in the power of positive thinking and he preached it. Even though his  own life wasn't as successful as he had hoped. He would always tell me, you're  going to do great things, you're going to do better things that I've done, you're  gonna go farther than I've gone, you're going to see the things I've never seen.  That's how I thought of my various church plants. You know, it's interesting, my  children have commented to me that they loved being in a church planters  home. They don't have a lot of negative to say about it, because it was fun. It  was positive. We were meeting people we were learning, we were growing. Oh,  there are some downsides, of course, because your life in the fishbowl. But  overall as the church planter, you have the opportunity to set that positive  attitude about church planting, facing challenges with a great attitude. Church  Planting puts you right at that opportunity of great challenges. In church planting is about keeping going with that positive attitude and learning how to keep that  positive attitude. Rich says, but for reasons I cannot explain. We simply took  rejection and any negativity in stride and kept going. Perhaps experience has  ingrained this positive attitude within us. Whatever it was, we simply had the  capacity or personalities to do whatever it took to brush off objections, and just  keep going. And I think we had the distinct advantage of being able to  encourage each other through the setbacks. When you do church planting,  there will be resistance. There will be spiritual warfare. There'll be your own  personal sin struggle, there will be things of your community that will hold you  back maybe government intrusion, there will be many, many challenges and  being a church planter. But with prayer, and with an attitude, to face those  challenges, whatever happens to you in a positive attitude. This is how you think like a church planter. Church planting is very much a team sport, a team  endeavor. Husband and wife together. I have observed over 30 years of being  around a lot of church planters that the best church planters include their  spouses. Rich says I introduced him first and separately this is talking about in  his Amway leadership. And when he had gone to some meeting to really  encourage those leaders. He says I introduced his life, Joe and later, I will go  back I introduced him first and separately introduced his wife. Joe later pulled 

me aside and said, You're doing the introduction wrong. It's Joe and Helene  Victor. We need to recognize Helene as an equal partner in this business. That  was a sound piece of advice. And that's how we refer in spoken introductions in  print to all married couples in the business to this day. So as Mr. DeVos, Rich  DeVos looks at his life and the principles, he came to realize that it's not the  church planter Henry, it's Henry and Pam, my wife, we planted churches, in  when you plant a church in your in it together it's very, very powerful. When you  meet other church planters always include their spouse. In fact, if the spouse  does not want to be included, when you're thinking about a church plant, that is  a red flag. Remember husband and wife are together in church planting. That's  how church planters think I would even encourage you that you would get your  spouse if you're if your spouse is interested in joining church planting as much  as possible to go through this class with you. church planters think in a walk  narrative way how that's how they communicate, walk, narrative  communications, church planting, church planting message that flows out of  your walk with God daily. Rich says they taught me that a key to public speaking is to use illustrations, tell stories, preferably from your own experience. If you  talk about that, if you talk about something that happened in your own life, you  don't need notes because you lived it. So stories from personal experience are  usually the best. A church planter is someone who's like that So you're living  your life, you're doing your seven connections that we talked about and  Christian leaders Institute in your personal life, your marriage, your family, with  your friends, and then what happens? It starts flowing out into that church  planting world and the kingdom of God those outside of your church, and then  the evangelism. So what happens is, you practice in your own life, in a sense, if  you compare the analogy to selling Amway, in Amway distributor first uses the  product to their own life. And as they use the product in their own life, this is  what the Amway distributor do, they would share how this product was very  effective in their own personal life. Think about that with God, as we walk with  God daily. And we actually have a living and ongoing testimony. We, in the  narrative of our lives, share that with others preach about that narrative, so that  others too participate in that narrative church planting is very much a narrative  thing. Jesus, when He came on this earth, what he did is he taught in these  narratives, these parables about real life out of his real life. So that's what we do a church planter thinks, in a narrative way. Develop a great work ethic. Church  planting is hard work and responsibility. Rich writes, those experiences and  lessons from my paper route in household chores were the foundation for  becoming a young at a young age, a diligent worker with a sense of  responsibility, an eye toward detail and appreciation for pleasing customers.  Okay? I love what he says there. Whether you're young right now, in thinking  about this, or whether you've been around the block, and you're older, and  you're thinking about church planting, get the expectation, whether you got it at 

a young age, or get it now, it's going to be hard work. It's about meeting people,  it's about getting up every day, and maybe some, maybe you have another job,  you're just going to be bi-vocational, it's about finding a very disciplined work  ethic where you work your pay job. And then you have very specific time where  you, you and your spouse, really focus on building a new church. So work ethic  is very important. A walk based life and church, you know, we talked about how  it's out of the narrative of your life. I want to go back to that in this sense, these  connection relationships are important in church planting, such as what people  see, honor your thought your parents set aside money for the Lord's work, give  to others, be honest, work hard, strive for good mental attitude. We did not share a meal before giving thanks for it. In prayer. And when the meal is over, we read  a portion of Scripture in church planting, have people over to your house and  model that you're actually doing this walk. So not only do your stories at church  reflect your walk, but you want people in your life to see that you're doing it. I  remember when I first had been mentored by Rich DeVos. I myself joined  Amway, with my wife back in the 1990s. And we had lots of distributors right  away. And one of the things we heard some of the people in the business say  was open your cupboard. People want to see if in your cupboard are the  products? Well, in church planting, people are always asking this question. Are  you living this, which you are proclaiming? So you have the narrative out of your life? But there's an aspect where they want to see, are you actually reading the  Bible in praying, memorizing Scripture? Do you actually have a walk with God?  Is it not just talk, but it's also walk. Be an encourager or a mentor, a church  planter thinks like that right from the start? see potential for instance, in young  people. I like what Rich DeVos wrote. When I graduated, my gentle, scholarly  Bible teacher, Dr. Leonard Greenway wrote a line in my yearbook that I'll never  forget. In one single line of encouragement, he wrote to a clean cut young man  with talents for leadership in God's kingdom. His line was simple, but it was a  great source of inspiration to a young man who is not a good student. And I've  been told that he was not college material, but a teacher who admired it had  seen me as leader. Wow, I never thought of myself in that way before. And that's how as a pastor, you Think of a church planter. You're always looking for  potential, especially in young people, but for everybody, so many people have  been beaten down and knocked out in a you as a church planter are that bright  encouragement that is powerful as thinking like a church planter, be then a  cheerleader. That's what it is. The church planter is the encourager in chief. Rich said, I still refer to myself as a cheerleader, because I keep encouraging others,  to have confidence to use their talents to follow their dreams. It's been one of  the most important reasons for my success in my helping others to succeed.  Everyday when you wake up as a church planter, you're asking yourself, Who  can I encourage? Who can I be a cheerleader to? Now church planting is about  facing opposition. There will be naysayers, there will be secular experts who 

have discredited salvation from God. Rich says doctors especially were  opposed to us. This was he was talking about his early days were in Nutrilite,  when they were promoting supplements. Now today, everybody believes that  supplements are good to take. But it was interesting, you're when you're faced  with kind of a professional opposition. You really have to stand firm, some told  patients who are our customers, you don't need any of this stuff. It's phony.  Today, of course, daily vitamins and mineral supplements are accepted within  the medical community. But in those days, this was in the 1950s Supplemental  Nutrition was frowned upon, not always because doctors doubted their value,  but because we were intruding into their world. Now I bring this story up.  Because more and more that's what we face as church planters, we come into  an area. And what do we have the scientific community of discrediting God as a  creator in view of evolution, you have local municipalities who are set against  the planting of churches, you have governments who actually persecute  Christians do not want churches to come up. And despite all of that, you are  called to be a church planter. So you have to toughen up, you have to sort of  have this attitude, I can face opposition. Opposition is not something that's going to hold me back from church planting. Church planting is not just about yourself,  in your family. Church planting is really also about organizing others to help you  get this idea how to raise up leaders to help you reach people, you need others.  So you're being an encourager, and a cheerleader, not just for their faith. But for  them using their gifts in ministry. Rich said, we would ask, we would ask people  to host meetings in their homes and invite as many people as they could think of friends, relatives, neighbors, church members, co workers, whomever. Now, in  the case of church planting, that's what you do. When you reach someone,  you're right away taking an interest in who they are. You're also taking an  interest in who they know, because you want everybody they know to know  Christ. It's not you want everyone they know to come to your church. No, it's you and everyone they know to walk with God. And they have an entree, in a sense  when you ask them to help you. You give them a stage, you are organizing them to reach others for Jesus Christ. In church planting, there's so many aspects to  it. In thinking about church planting, one of the things church planters need to do is to keep making the point deeply. church planters keep improving their public  communications. So you've been at Christian leaders Institute, we have  preaching class here, we have other ways to help you communicate better and  better and better. And I like what Rich DeVos talks about. He said, The Carnegie method also taught a speech formula, and I want to give that to you. So no  matter where you're at, this is just a very tried and trued speech formula. First,  make sure you always tell your audience the subject of your speech. Now this  could be even a sermon. But but there's so much speaking and being a church  planter so always sort of say what am I trying to say? I've heard too many  speakers talk but never tell me what they are really talking about. They talk 

about a lot of things, but I but I want to know, what's the subject today? What are we going to be talking about? What is the point of this? Okay, so that's the first  thing. Second, tell your audience why we are going to talk about the subject.  Why is this subject important. And third, illustrate the point of the speech,  illustrate, illustrate, illustrate, we talked before about narratives. illustrate with  some of the stories of people that are reached in your church, illustrate positive  ways so people can see the leadership coming from you. They can see and  imagine and they're not bored by what you have to say. To think like a church  planter is about keeping your word. Keep your promises to your church and  leaders. Rich said, so I'm charging you to remember what you have promised  people you will do and make sure you keep on doing it. This thing is rolling so  fast, and it's going to be so big. So the things that you do today, and the things  you set in place today are going to be very important. God has blessed you, and you're going to be held accountable for your promises. This was a precious time  for me, hearing my dad's advice, wise and caring words. What Rich's talking  about here is his father, he he actually gave him advice when Amway was very  young. And one of the advice, advice, principle principals he gave is to keep  your promises. church planters have this all the time. One of the things church  planters do they don't mean to do it, because they over promise. And under  deliver. Like we're gonna have this program, we're gonna do this, we're gonna  do this. And then people come in. And you know, where's this program? Where's that program? I learned as a church planter, go the other way. Only promise  what you prayerfully know, that you can deliver. Keep expectations low and  exceed organizational expectations, rather than to promise a lot and deliver  less. If I would say the one thing is that I learned in a church planter has hurt me more personally is this one point over the years, because I'm a sales type of  guy. So I will see more than there is just because I love to promote. You see me  here at CLI like that. So I've always checking myself as I develop to become  more mature. To keep this point, keep your word, only promise what you can  deliver. A church planter leads out of respect. And the church planter must lead  Rich said, I was thinking, I think about this. I think this was a key lesson for us  about the true meaning of leadership. For one thing, Jay and I decided that it  was essential. Now Jay is Rich DeVos's partner, he is now with the Lord. They  founded Amway together for one thing, Jay and I decided that it was essential  for us to lead. And we must have the courage to lead. The fact that everyone  was following also was meaningful. I believe they followed not because only  because they respected Jay and me, but because our asking them to join us  showed that we respected them. To this day, I firmly believe that effective  leaders only truly gain respect by showing respect. And other words, when you  reach people, and you're forming relationships, listen to their story, respect  them, then out of that respect environment. Ask them to participate. Ask, Don't  assume say, Would you like to come to my house for some hospitality? Would 

you like to come to our church? Would you like to be part of our church as we  reach out in this community? Don't ask like a guilty disrespectful way. Like you  know, you know, a lot of people in this community are going to hell because they don't believe in Christ and they better like get on board with this church. You  know, that again, you never do that, I'm sure. But notice that attitude of  disrespect, have great respect and ask people to participate with you. Another  principle I learned for church planting in thinking like a church planter was help  leaders keep proclaiming the gospel. In other words, if you have someone fired  up, help them get fired up more and give them the tools. The gospel is central in  church planting as strongly as I believe in free enterprise optimism, and other  principles I've shared in this book. I believe in one thing even more strongly a  personal God In His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the mission of his church, I have  never tried to force my personal faith on others but I am willing to declare my  faith publicly. If my faith has been such a rewarding if my faith has been such a  fulfilling, rewarding part of my life, how can I not share such good news with  others. And that's the attitude we want is when we reach people, whether they're businessmen, or whether they're factory workers, or whether they're truck  drivers, or whether they're housewives or whether they're women in the  workforce, it doesn't matter. Our goal is to keep the central thing, the central  thing that is that Christ saved our life. The gospel is the good news. Jesus is  rose from the dead if we can start a personal relationship with the God of the  universe in Jesus Christ, and try to help everybody keep that message before  church planting that really energizes church planting. Another principle in  thinking like a church planter directly from Rich DeVos is the idea of stay in the  building stage. church planters must think like builders, Rich once said, he said,  I once even shared the four stages with President Gerald Ford. The speech  covered four stages in the development of any organization, the building,  management, defending blaming. I had known Gerald Ford, since he was our  US, Congressman from Grand Rapids. This was back when he was actually the  president in the 1970s. I was visiting him in the Oval, oval office one day, and  was told I would get 10 minutes to spend chatting with him. Now, Rich writes  how he shared just one little thing about the stages. And then President Gerald  Ford said, I want to hear the whole thing. And Rich said, why I only have 10  minutes. And Gerald said, I want to hear the whole thing now. And that's how it  is in church planting. In church planting, we must stay in that building mode. And even if the Lord increases our number, be very careful not just to be  management, defending and blaming, and every organization, many  organizations, if, if someone is not self aware of leadership, they can do that  they build, then they start managing the growth, then things happen that are  challenging, so they defend what they're doing. And then what happens is they  get into the blaming pattern, because they're not growing anymore. People say  why aren't we growing anymore? So they blame? The answer to it is build, 

Reach more people. Get back to the Gospel, stay in the building stage, and  learn how to stay in the building stage, even while you're managing and you're  defending. And yes, there's always gonna be some blaming, but may the  blaming defending and management, not be the dominant corporate culture in  your new church plant. As a church planter learn to be cross cultural, because  there will be various people coming into your church. Even if you're calling to  reach a specific people group, you still have to be very contextual. As you're  sharing the gospel, a church planter learns how to get the message across  appropriately. Rich writes, The first time I tried to use a joke in China, I got no  reaction from the audience. The same joke that usually got a big laugh and from  an English speaking audience resulted in dead silence from the Chinese. While  speaking in a foreign countries, I also avoid anything related to politics, because I'm not in my own country. And I'm not authorized by Amway to express my  opinions. So I find something else to talk about. Now, what is he saying here?  When it comes to church planting, keep the focus on the gospel. Watch your  humor is very important to use humor, yes. But be very careful not to talk about  the big hot issues of the day. A church planter is not going to win any battles by  being polemical, there's a fighter with all of the issues that are talked about in  the news. Instead, we're about life. We're about the gospel. We're about keeping the main thing the main thing and understand that the people who are going to  come and join us are humans just like us. So what do we all share together in  our humanity is, we need a savior. We need Christ Jesus. How do we get our  voice and our message to be cross cultural? Another thing I learned from Rich  DeVos is never forget who you are. church planters need to freely connect their  testimony narratives See, we know before we talked about proclaiming how your walk is like we talked about living in showing that you're opening the Word of  God and praying. But a church planter is always about their own testimony with  the Lord, standing in a podium, Rich writes, in looking over the crowd, after my  grand introduction, I think this man for his generous words, but added, that  introduction really doesn't describe me, let me tell you who I really am. I'm a  sinner saved by grace, a Christian saved by Jesus Christ. This is who I really  am. This all happened more than 20 years ago, and I have often introduced  myself that way since even with non Christian groups of people, you know, in  apologetics that is the defending of the faith, who can argue with your testimony. So as a church planter, really hone in how did you describe your testimony with  growing with Christ Jesus, our Lord. Another thing to think like a church planter  is to handle recognition, well, recognition will encourage or kill the church  planter. That's right, because standing backstage in an arena, seating in 1000s,  of 10s, of 1000s, listening to your glowing introduction, and then hearing  thunderous applause as you stepped into the spotlight, can be a very heady  experience. But I have tried not to let it go to my head. For one thing I know I'm  just a sinner saved by grace, not a rock star, even if some people may have 

treated me as one. I believe the response I feel in those moments, it has to be  one out of gratitude. You know, that is how it is, as a church planter, you will be  recognized because you're leading people, but always know who you really are.  You are no different than anybody else in a church planter has that humble  approach, as he or she is planting a church. Cultivate stages for others. church  planters, do this. They they make stages. How do you do that? Well, they honor  people who have done things that are worthy of being not that are worthy of  being covered by the media or are applauded and receive a standing ovation is  something we need to cultivate. In other words, and again, whether the media is involved or not. Mr. DeVos is about hey, honor people. Now another part of this  would be creating stages actually help people discover their gifts. And once they use their gifts, create that applause that recognition. Now some people say, you  know, we don't want to get into all that recognition stuff. What says in the Bible,  the apostle Paul said in Philippians 4, take note of those who live according to  the pattern we gave you. So creating stages and taking note of people's and  their accomplishment is very important for a church planter. Another thing to  know about church planting is, it's very much a person to person type of  business. It's about people, person to person, church planting, Rich DeVos said, we eventually stopped going door to door and making cold calls because we  had come to understand that ours was a person to person business. Instead, we made a list of everyone we knew, and asked them to refer people they knew and started seeing customers by appointment. I will tell you this right now, as a  church planter in many churches, this is a little kernel, do not forget, I found that  if you talk to people, they knew people who actually intentionally asked them,  Hey, who do you know that might be open to God to come to a church, you  actually sit down with people, they will open up their lives if you never ask your  leaders or the people who come? Who else do they know? They're, they're not  necessarily going to think to say anything. Now this church is for me to go to, it's not for anybody else I know to go to. But if you ask them, you will be surprised.  In fact, what often happens, you say, Hey, we're gonna have hospitality in our  house. Do you know if someone that you can bring that maybe wants to meet a  pastor and talk about spiritual things, and people really do respond. Really,  really think about thinking like a church planter? Church planting is about  growth, get good at reaching out. Rich, says many leaders in the church see the numbers dwindling, and say they're not good at bringing in new members. I tell  them, You better become good at it, or the church will die. So here's Rich DeVos talking to us pastor types. If an Amway group didn't continue to add members. I  would tell them they're going to fail. That's the same challenge facing our  Churches. So a church planter sees the gravity. The gravitas is about growing in growth. You know, as Rich DeVos mentored me and many things, what I  appreciated was the intense desire to expand the kingdom of God. And as you  are taking this class does that intense desire well up in you, that you can reach 

people and build a church, and to think like a church planter, to think as  someone who is called by God, to be that catalytic force that is going to take  what a place where there was no church, and actually plant a church where a  church is planted to reach people for the gospel of Christ. As you're considering  this pray that God will give you that fire or that God will lead you into a place  where you can have that energy led by the Holy Spirit to plant new churches.