Video Transcript: What I Learned About Church Planting From Rich Devos Part 2

There's a certain thinking that operates in a church planters mind, it's a thinking  about process. It's a thinking about solving problems. It's a thinking about how to look for opportunities. And as I reflect upon my mentorship from Rich DeVos,  over the last decade and a half, I have seen, his process was always looking for  what is God doing? Now, it's interesting that many people have written about the thinking processes of Mr. Rich DeVos, the co founder of Amway, and have  written books about it, and one of the books was written by Pat Williams, how to  be like Rich DeVos. And I've gone through that book, I reflected upon  statements that Pat Williams made in interviewing Rich and his family over the  years, and then I'm going to share some things I personally received from Rich  DeVos as well, just ideas that are all about church planting. And I want you to  know that Rich DeVos was always and is always committed to church planting,  he always felt church planting is essential. Pat Williams writes to these  objections Rich replies, we need God, we need to be part of a worshiping  community. I don't think church is a place I have to go. It's a place, I love to go.  Because I want to share my faith with a community of believers and join with  them in worshiping God church, to me is not a building. It's people that love to  be with people. And that's the thinking of a church planter. If you're planting a  church, you're not planting a building itself. You're not saying I plant a church,  meaning that I get a building and put up a sanctuary. And that's a church.  Church planting is about people reaching people encouraging people, nurturing  people. And talking with Rich DeVos. In building a people organization, there's  many, many decisions that have to be made in a church planter has to make a  lot of decisions. Pat Williams says over the years of working with Rich DeVos, in the Magic organization, that Orlando Magic is a an American basketball team  out of Orlando, Florida. He says, I have seen him make many bold, risky, multi  million dollar decisions, from watching him and talking to him. In those moments  of decision. I have identified eight principles Rich uses whenever he has a  difficult decision to make these eight principles have made him one of the most  effective and successful decision makers of all time. So that's Pat Williams  interpretation of what I'm going to share with you next, which is important for  how a church planter is to think you're gonna make decisions. How do you make good decisions? Well, let's begin in this very appropriate for pastors and  leaders. For bi-vocational leaders, church planters, the first piece of any  decision is prayer. Prayer is a two way communication. So talk to God and ask  Him for wisdom, then listen for his answer. That is what Mr. DeVos did. So many times when I was with Rich over the years, we would pray about a decision that  would be the first thing that come to mind. And sometimes you say well, big  decisions you pray about. But you know, you can get into the habit of praying.  about every decision, even the same, you know, you're making a decision.  You're thinking about something in your church plant. And just right away, say,  Lord, what do you think? Can you help me here? And it's fascinating how 

sometimes the Holy Spirit just gives you an idea an insight, someone that you  should call a name of somebody. In this like the decision just got easier because the Lord is helping you because you asked the Lord to help you. The second  thing in making a good decision is define the decision that must be made. Ask  yourself, What am I trying to achieve with this decision? What is the problem  that must be solved? What are my options, avoid looking at the decision in an  either or terms. There are often three or more options to any decision. So think  creatively, and expand your options. So define the decision that must be made.  Think creatively about what you define. Number three, gather information, get as much information as possible. But don't wait too long to decide. Avoid the getting caught in the paralysis of analysis situation, usually a good decision can be  made with considerably less than 100% of the available information. 50 to 75%  is usually sufficient. So in other words, gather information. But don't be so  procrastinating when it comes to actually making the decision. It's a lot of little  good decisions, not a few amazingly great decisions that really bring church  planting. In terms of the leader, what really brings church planting out when  you're making decisions you want to gather, make good decisions and keep  moving on. When you're making a decision. List, the pros and the cons. This will help you think clearly and logically about the decision you have to make. If still  undecided, consider your worst case scenario. Think about this. What's the  worst thing that can happen if you decide this way or that way? Consider your  worst case scenario that will help you identify your the uncertainty and anxiety  that keeps you from deciding and it will bring into clarity your thinking. A lot of  times we have like a worst case scenario thinking but we're not talking about  we're not pulling it out of our brain, but it's there. And that may even hold you  back or it will give you unclarity is your there's sort of a mud of fear somewhere  in there. And you want to see what that possible worst case scenario is, then, in  making a decision. Finally, make the decision. Don't stall, don't procrastinate.  Decide, then act on your decision. And trust that you receive guidance from God through your reading of the Bible through prayer through relationships through  talking the pros and cons, the worst case scenario processes and proceed  forward in your decision. Now here as a church planter, again, you'll want to  have your leadership team with you. You'll want to if you have an elder board at  this time you want that elder board to speak in and be part of the whole process. In a lot of ways you don't want to be an island or a lone ranger so to speak, you  really want to be transparent as much as possible in your decision making. After  the decision, boldly go forward. If you want to be like Rich DeVos Pat Williams  says then don't wait to strike when the iron is hot, make it hot by striking. Don't  worry and fret about whether you're on the right track or not just make your own  track, be bold, be decisive, and you become a little more like Rich. Now, the  principle here in church planting is, you know, when you start a new church in  the area, it's a cold iron. Iron is not hot anyway. You're thinking in the illusion. If 

you think that your local community is welcoming your new church, it's not going to happen. So you as a church planter, you're gonna say okay, by persistence  and calling in spiritual direction, you dare to plant a church. So don't just wait to  strike when the iron is hot, make it hot by striking. After the decision, go boldly,  Theodore Roosevelt once observed, in any moment of decision, the best thing  you can do is the right thing. The next best thing is the wrong thing. And the  worst thing you can do is nothing. The successful person looks at a problem that everyone else calls impossible and sees only a bold decision that needs to be  made. So a successful church planter may fail. But failing is better than doing  nothing. A successful church planter may succeed. But what is it all about? It's  about proclaiming the gospel to do nothing is not an option. Okay, as a church  planter, you're going to be faced with lots of problem solving. And Pat Williams  outlines how Rich DeVos looked at problem solving. And I think it'd be very  helpful to talk about that in this church planting class as well, number one,  church planters are proactive, Rich DeVos doesn't wait for problems to find  them. He is proactive. He seeks problems out. He makes sure he catches  problems when they are small before they start getting out of hand. That's how  church planters are. Church planters sort of look in when we see something you  do not stay in denial about it. You right away identify the problem. Now, let me  talk about this once. You know there's negative thinking positive thinking and  some people confuse they say, Well, if you see problems, you're negative, no,  no, no. No If you see problems and see opportunities in solving problems and  new opportunities, you're not negative and you still see problems. A positive  person is not just positive Pollyanna, a positive person is seeing the negative  things. In fact, a positive person intuitively starts realizing that I want to see the  negative things as quick as possible to provide solutions and opportunities as  quick as possible. So the problems do not get big, lot of times a negative thinker just sees the problem exasperates. The problem becomes naysaying about  problems around here. And that's how they live their life never taking a risk of  never doing anything. church planters are proactive. They see problems. And  they see solutions, and they look for opportunities. So how do we go about that? Well define the problem. Once the problem has been identified, you must define  what problem it is in order to solve it. That means you must gather the facts  examine all the elements of the problem. So you have a clearer picture of what  the problem is, again, this is not negative thinking. This is very bold. It's very  important even in church planting. So you've seen the problem. Number three is  complexity. paralyze, paralyzes thinking, what does that mean? Well, simplicity  brings clarity once the clutter of complexity is cleared away. The simple solution  to the problem often becomes clear. Bob Schierbeek, a business adviser to Rich DeVos says, on business matters Rich is quick to grasp the concept, simplify it,  repeat it back, make the decision that needs to be made and move on. In other  words, you look at all of the things and try to say here is the problem we're going

to solve. You can't solve every problem, but simplify. After you think about the  problem and all of the information, simplify it to something that you can actually  make a decision on. Then go step by step take it step by step. Once you've  identified a simple practical solution, it's important to implement that solution in a careful step by step fashion. Dad's wisdom says Rich's son, Dan, is to stick to  the basics, keep the process clear and uncomplicated. Do everything in the  proper order, start with an A, then go to a B, then a C, even big problems can be solved once they are broken down into simple bite size chunks as a church  planter, when you're with your elder group, and that let all the talking go on your  advisors. But always try to say so are we saying this? Is this what we need?  What's our next step? What's the step that we have to approach? What's a hard  step that we don't want to approach that maybe we need to approach then take  your time and problem solving. It sounds trite, but it's absolutely true. Haste  really does make waste rarely does a problem need to be solved in a panic and  panic driven solutions usually make the problem worse, not better. So in this  whole process, you see my energy, but don't interpret it that way. These Hurry  solve problems, they don't we look at them, we mill about them, we pray about  them, we talk about them. And we make decisions and we do solutions. But  never in a panicky mode. Never in we have to make this or you know, we don't  know what we're going to do. And you know, all of that type of thinking can  create a lot of problems. So still, this is sort of the balance. Take your time. Then number six, listen to your intuition. After you've defined the problem, simplify it to its bare bones essentials and boil down the situation to a series of practical  steps. Ask yourself, What does my intuition say? Is there a still small voice  inside of me? That's the Holy Spirit. Maybe that's God given experience. Maybe  that's an wisdom and advice from somebody you know, still trying to get my  attention and warn me or encourage me? Or do my intuition in my intellect,  agree? See, those are very important things that there is a certain as you get  experience, as you listen to the Holy Spirit as you listen to mentors and you  listen to the counsel of many that that intuition becomes very informed and very  good at problem solving. Then, stay calm under pressure. One of the most  important qualities a problem solver needs is the ability to remain calm in a  crisis. Panic clouds the mind and paralyzes the will, making it impossible to  solve problems. In my interviews with people who know Rich DeVos, I heard  again and again, that he had an amazing ability to remain calm and clear  headed in an emergency. As Pat Williams talks about his autobiograph, or his  biographical insights into Rich DeVos, he saw that again and again, stay calm in problem solving. So church planters need problem solving. But another thing  church planters need that Rich DeVos mentored me in and also he shared with  Pat Williams, is they need to understand certain leadership principles. So let's  go through some of them as well, from Pat William's book, How to be how to be  like Rich DeVos, succeeding with integrity and business and life. And we're 

going to apply to church planting, too. First of all, it's about vision. And we've  been talking about that even in this class vision is the ability to imagine a bright  and optimistic future. All great leaders have the ability to envision a better  tomorrow, that energize and motivate people to turn that dream into reality. So  for a church planter, that's that calming. The ability to see that there is going to  be a church, where right now there is not a church, that spiritual insight from the  Lord. And people know it, when you have it, they see it. You don't even have to  really talk about it. They know that you see something that they want too two  communication skills, what good does it have to have a shining optimistic vision  of future a vision a church plant, if you cannot communicate that vision to the  people around you, a visionary leader must be able to articulate that vision and  promote that vision. In other words, all that we talked about in the people, skills,  class people smart class, various things here at CLI, your experience is about  communicating your vision to others. connected to that is number three,  leadership principles, people skills. A leader with great people skills, is always  respected and admired by the people who serve under him, you can hear the  respect and admiration of the voice of those who serve under Rich DeVos Rich  always has a positive attitude toward everything in life. And that rubs off on  others, observes Martin vendela and one of his friends and observance over the years. Now, here's the thing, that people smart class that you've taken here at  Christian leaders institute that you have looked at, if you haven't taken it yet, I  will tell you, it's those things that matter so much, because we are seeking to  love people and communicate our care and concern and our vision to others.  And it's a people skills issue. On that, on that topic of people skills, from that  experience. This is written by his son who wrote about Dad, Dad figured out that everyone enjoys talking about themselves. And he realized that he enjoyed it  realize that he enjoys listening and learning about people. That's why he asked  people tell me about you. It's his way of getting the conversation going. Dad  says it's not hard to get people to talk about themselves, you just have to ask  them. I'd much rather hear new stories from people I've met than tell my old  stories again and again. So you can just see how Rich his children see from  Rich that he loves people and he loves to hear people's story. Now I can say  over the years when I've observed Rich DeVos in action. He had that love for  elevator operators for taxi drivers for garbageman as well as these high ranking  leaders in our culture. It was a people smart and people skill, love that crossed  every economic boundary. He loved people because he knows, Rich, knew and  knows that people are made in the image of God. And they're God's people.  Whoever they are, he had that attitude of listening and looking them in the eye.  All these things we're talking about in the people smart class. You know, really is the ability to relate to people, a talent, something you're born with, or is it a skill  and ability you can learn practice and improve. In Rich's case was probably a bit of both is his son's appointed point that out, the ability to talk to people and get 

to know them was a skill he consciously worked on. He taught himself to  become aware of people to seek them out, to greet them, to ask them about  themselves. It started as a learned skill. And with practice, Rich raised it to an  art form. Hey, church planters. That's it consciously work on your people smart  skills, not to manipulate, not to control but to love, to care, concern, to lead  servant leadership, and work on those skills. That is a crucial principle in church  planting. Principle number six, good character, a leader must have good  character in order to inspire others with his vision for the future. As leadership  guru, John Maxwell observes, people buy into the leader before they buy into a  leader's vision. That's true. It's about trust. Good character skills is not  something you can fake. It's something you are. And then when you are that it's  not really even a skill. It's just good character. People see it. People buy into you as a leader. Now, does this mean you're perfect? No, no one's perfect. But it  means you're transparently on a journey. And you are being transformed by the  Holy Spirit. You're being changed by God, you're in a process, you see Christ in  your life, and you want to grow, and you're going to take out of your life, anything that could damage what God is doing in your local church. Now, again, with  today's scandals that you see everywhere, many people say I live in dare to  plant to church because I'm not perfect enough. No, you are being made  perfect. You want to put yourself in a place where even your sinful nature will not harm what God is doing in your life. So you put yourself in accountability, with  your spouse, relationships, you seek to grow spiritually every day. And even  when you struggle with something, that struggle becomes the struggle that you  are going through by the power of God. And as you grow in character, people  will see that and that's all related to elite powerful leadership principle in church  planters are called by God to grow. Yes, we're sinners, but we're saved by  grace, and we're being changed by the power of God. So good character.  People see it, and they want to buy into the leader before they buy into the  leader's vision. Principle number seven, no favoritism. This is what Pat writes, I  resent anyone who says about a non professional worker, he's just a mechanic.  He's just a salesman, or is just anything he's or just anything. He's a warm,  giving, highly complex human being cast in the image of God himself. He is the  backbone of this country, I practically burst with pride in his achievement and  respect. For all he's done. That's what Rich has said, Rich has this attitude. If  you see it, no matter who you are, you are an image bearer of God, You know in church planting, you're going to meet a lot of different people. And you don't  want to spend more time with the people who have money in less time with the  people who don't you see everybody as a soul, a human created by God and  worth your time. I look back at my church planting. And I see, whenever I've  gotten to the trap of treating one person better than the other. It comes back to  hurt me and the church plant. So a critical leadership principle is never show  favoritism. leadership principle number eight is boldness. If a leader isn't bold, 

he isn't a leader a bold leader takes risks and encourage risk taking throughout  the organization. Church planting is about it's a big risk. You can fail. church  planters face great obstacles and challenges. You got to be bold in the boldness comes from God. leadership principle number nine is servant leadership.  Whatever it takes, Rich says I want them to take care of relocate them in In the  organization if you can, if not, make sure they get severance packages and help them find new jobs. Just make sure they're taken care of. Now, he wrote this in  the context of challenges within the organization over the years when they've  had to downsize. And even when he would have to lay people off. His attitude  was always whatever it takes. I want them to be taken care of. In church  planting, there will be negative relationships, there will be the church planting  version of downsizing, when somebody maybe disagrees with you. Maybe they  weren't antagonists, and they leave and you can sort of like, say, good, they're  gone. But still, as far as it is, it says in the Bible, live at peace with all men,  spiritually, take care of them, pray for them, end those relationships with peace.  But servant leadership even goes beyond that. It's that attitude that you are not  doing this because of some ego trip. You're doing this because you are serving  the Lord. Okay, we've talked about leadership principles, I want to talk about a  few more things that come out of this book, simply Rich. And, you know, one of  the things Rich writes about is, and I'll tell you, it's true church planting is hard  work and responsibility, Rich said, those experiences and lessons from my  paper out into household chores, were the foundation of becoming at a young  age, a diligent worker with a sense of responsibility, an eye toward detail, in an  appreciation for pleasing customers. This is from Rich's own hand, his book  simply Rich, this is now again, not Pat Williams book. But I wanted to bring this  point up, because a church planter has to develop a very intense work ethic.  Now, this does not mean that you avoid your family, you love your family. But  what it does mean for a time, especially when you're taking off, is that it's first  going to be a lot of hard work and to know that. Getting back to Pat Williams  book I just love. Another principle in church planting is not only do you receive  mentors in your life, but you sort of realize that you are a mentor now in the  community. And that's how you think so be a mentor. Helen DeVos explained to  me that Rich's, motivation for mentoring others, it comes from his faith, she said  Jesus mentored the disciples, He taught them, spend time with them and lay  down his life for them. Rich looks at the life of Jesus and says, That's my  example. That's the pattern for my life. She's been. So being a mentor to others  just flows from who Rich is and what he believes. Let that be said about you. As  a church planter, you say, you know, Jesus laid down his life, he mentored  others, his disciples, that's now a pattern that you want to place on your life as a  church planter, think like a mentor. Taking risks in planting a church, when you  take a risk, and it is, as we just explained earlier, I mean, you're gonna go into  enemy territory, you have to accept the very real possibility of failure. In fact, if 

we live as risk takers, we will certainly fail from time to time, the failure is never a failure, unless we fail to learn from it. Proverbs 24:16, says, Though a righteous  man failed seven times he rises again, that is the Rich DeVos story in a nutshell, 

according to Rich DeVos, according to Pat Williams, about Rich DeVos. So  that's sort of how we think we think about the opportunities wherever the  problems may face, we have an eye for communicating hope. The church  planter brings the hope of the Gospel into the lives of those he reaches. Again,  Doug DeVos, about his father, dad uses his speaking skills to improve the lives  of others. When he speaks, he transfers hope to people. That's the essence of a church planter thinking is how do I bring hope to other people the hope of the  gospel, and how do I exhibit that in who I am? Help people get what they want.  Neal Plantinga, Dr. Neal Plantinga, the former president of Calvin Theological  Seminary, in fact, I've known Neil over the years, and he's known Rich as well.  And one of the things he says about Rich and this is something a church planter does. Here's the centerpiece of Rich's wisdom. We flourish only by helping  others to flourish. Rich's entire life has been spent helping others to achieve  great things. A church planter thinks this way, how do I create stages of  opportunity for people to use their gifts people to grow in God, people to be part  of the body of Christ for people to meet other people? How do I do that? How do I help others flourish, if I help others flourish, that is going to build a local church. That's how a church planter thinks. It's about helping people. Rich DeVos has a  light a mission in life. And his mission is to help people help themselves, Rich  has a focus has focused his entire life on helping other people. And that's why  he always puts other people first, he has impacted millions of people over the  years by his approach to life. Now, it's interesting, at this point, you can say,  well, how does a billionaire talk like this? Isn't he about making money? It's  about helping people. It's making an impact in the lives of others. And the  blessing of God is the blessing of God. But we never forget, you know, if I've  known Rich a long time, and in every encounter that I've been with him, I see  that he's part of his life mission. If in planting a church, we grasp that our life  mission, in what we are all connected. I'm going to end this presentation with  just a few personal mentorship comments where Rich and I were talking over  the years and some of the encouragements that he has given me and I'm going  to pass those encouragement on. One of the things he says to me over the  years, Henry, you're always a doer, I like that a doer. And what he meant by that  is whether it was starting Christian leaders Institute, planting a church, meeting  someone maybe you know, connecting some people in a relationship, you know, maybe, you know setting up a couple people in my congregation for a date or  whatever. Doer, be a doer. A church planter is a doer. James 1:29 says, for  anything, for if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer. He is like a man  beholding his natural face, in a mirror, and not doing anything. See, be a doer of  the Word of God be a doer of church planting. Another thing he would, I would 

see, he would encourage hospitality. Hospitality is huge. I've observed over the  years Rich welcomed people into his home. I mean, he welcomed to be a lowly  pastor in his 30s into his home and into his life. And he went out of his way to  not meet me at a restaurant and then see you later. But he had this attitude of  opening up his home. I Peter 4:9, be hospitable to one another without  grumbling. You know, what I've learned over the years in church planting, and  we're going to talk about this in this class, is the power of hospitality. And I've  seen that with Rich and Helen DeVos. Fail forward. I remember him once said to me, I just decided I'm going to fail forward. Is that what do you mean by that  Rich? Well, you know, we're all going to fail. But how can we say, Lord, what are you teaching? Or what? What can I learn? Or how can I repent from something? Or why does my ego have to be so fragile that I just get stuck when I fail?  Philippians 3:14, I press on toward the goal for the prize of a high calling of God  in Christ Jesus. Here's another one. And this is very apropos in church planting.  Take an occasional cold call, you know, sometimes when your church planter  people want to talk to you, a businessman, a local person, somebody else  you're thinking, you know, this has not affected my church plant in a positive  way. But I will tell you, once upon a time, I called Rich DeVos, a complete cold  call from an unknown pastor. And that started a mentoring relationship with him,  and indirectly it was used by God in that first call his first cold call, later on, God  used that first cold call now to bring CLI into being you know, Mr. DeVos was  one of the first it was the first board member with Ron Parr. These two men were eventually a once upon a time I had to talk to them a first time. So as a church  planter, talk to people, even if you don't think you're gonna necessarily be  benefited by them. Just listen to them and you have no idea. People would take  you the first time and meet you, for the first time, you need to meet people even  you don't think are going to benefit you. In other words, God has a plan for  everyone you meet, and when someone tries to meet you, hey, find out who  they are. Related to that is make a cold call. Sometimes you just have to make a cold call, it's better than doing nothing. Now people have said, Hey, what's a  cold call, it's going up to someone you don't meet, calling them or walking over  to them, and just meet them. Hi, I'm Henry Reyenga. And you don't know what  God has in store. Here's something else I learned. Take your dream as far as it  will go. He once Rich once told me he said many people quit. But Henry, you  don't quit. I took that as one of the biggest compliments that Rich ever gave to  me. One of the biggest compliments of my life. My wife said this to me many,  many times. And every time my wife has said this to me, I've always felt  encouraged. Richard said this to me. Many people quit Henry. But you don't quit. Romans 15:20. Yes, making it my aim to preach the gospel where Christ was  already not where Christ was already named. But I might not be building  someone else, or another foundation. You know, many people will quit. But as a  church planter, don't have that attitude. Now there may be a time that the church

is going to stop. You're into this church planting, but it's not working. God is  saying no, the door is shut. But that doesn't mean you quit. It just means that  God has another plan for you. I applied to churches that have quit, they've  stopped. They've looked like they've failed. We learned many, many things from  them. But I have not quit. Because I am not quitting until my last breath. You  know, I've learned many things in the mentorship relationship with Rich DeVos.  But this is what I've learned. I've learned once you put your hand to the plow,  you don't turn back. I've learned learn quickly. I've learned don't have a lot of  negative relationships in your life. Make peace. I've learned don't listen to the  naysayers. Listen to God. I've learned put positive people in your life. I've  learned that being a church planter is one of the most beautiful gifts that  anybody could be called to be part of. It's a gift by God the calling is a gift it take  every day. That's precious, and we look forward to seeing what does God have  in store. If you are called to be a church planter? I encourage you to put your  hand to the plow and don't look back.