Sean Benesh's Blog, page 5

How Startups Could Be What Funds Your Ministry and Other Lessons Learned from Launching Them

When I watch the revolving door of church planters, I’ve concluded that we don’t have a ministry problem; we have a funding problem. In each case, these were viable churches that could’ve existed for decades. However, what wasn’t viable was the need for these small churches to pay a full-time salary package to the lead pastor. So when that no longer seems like a viable option, the church shuts down, and the pastor/planter moves on.

As you can see, there are multiple threads woven throughout. Each...

Partnering with Intrepid to Support Your Church Planters, Pastors, and Missionaries

If you know me, you know I love startups. They are invigorating, meaningful, challenging, and loads of fun. I didn’t realize it fully until the last few years. It takes a lot of physical, emotional, mental, and creative energy to get them off the ground. Then it takes even more to cultivate and execute a plan to scale them up and grow. It’s been exhilarating and humbling to watch and be a part of the growth of Intrepid. I am astounded.

Often when you’re in the middle of something, you lack perspe...

How Your Startup is Not Just About You

It's pretty obvious I'm a big fan of people starting their own businesses and non-profits. Almost everything I do through Intrepid is helping church planters, pastors, missionaries, and ministry leaders launch their own startups. However, I spend most of my time teaching, coaching, and writing ...

Why Launching Startups is One of the Best Ways You Can Serve Your Community

Before I stepped into bivocational ministry and then startups, later on, I had naively assumed that the most significant value I could bring or add to a community was starting a worship service (i.e., planting a church). As a pastor, that was my chief goal. Start a church, pray like crazy it grows, help people grow in Christ, and repeat. I was wrong.

Well, not wrong, just misguided. Maybe not misguided. My thinking was underdeveloped. My understanding of the overarching missio Dei was in its infa...

Ten Low-Cost / No-Cost Startup Ideas for Pastors, Church Planters, and Missionaries

Not all startups are equal. Not all are the same regarding what is needed to get it off the ground. I hear from many church planters, pastors, and missionaries who are unsure about what to start. More than that, they’re looking for ideas to get their creative juices flowing.

That’s why I wrote a book.

...

Almost All Church Plants Fail for the Same Reason ... and It's Not a Spiritual One

My anecdotal evidence suggests that 95% of church plants fail. Sure, we can haggle over the exact number. Your city probably differs from mine. But in the cities I’ve lived in out West, I’d suggest it’s at least a 90% failure rate. While we see the “what” I feel like, we often skirt around the “why.”

The why is obvious.

Money.

While the answer lies in plain sight, we couch it in spiritual terms to lessen the blow. Our egos are already fractured, so we’re off the hook if we apply a spiritual answer....

How Did I Get Into Startup Coaching?

So much of what happens in life is reactionary, a response, or a byproduct of something bigger. We are where we are because of multiple experiences, both good and bad, of things that happened to us. At times they are significant and life-altering. Other times they are small and almost unnoticeable.

I like to share how tearing my ACL in college redirected my life. That lone injury and surgery changed so much. First, I got serious about academics because all I could do was go to physical therapy an...

Three Keys for Landing on a Startup Idea

It’s no cliché to point out that there are opportunities everywhere … because there really are. New businesses and non-profits are popping up every day. The larger the city the more we notice them, and that’s simply the ones that are observable. There are even more that we never see because they’re being run at home or from a coffee shop with a laptop computer. Others are on wheels … literally. I came across one of those recently.

I have been having issues with the dropper seat-post on my mountai...

Why We Need Startups To Fund Ministry in Off-the-Beaten-Path Places and Among Marginalized People

I like to point out that I began exploring the intersection of startups and ministry because of marginalized people and what I call the “urban hinterlands.” What I discovered was the overall neglect of lower-income communities when it came to where church plants were starting and the focus of denominational or church planting network strategies. Still, to do this day, most church planters opt for the family-friendly suburbs or alluring gentrifying urban neighborhoods. That leaves enormous swaths...

Books From Intrepid That Will Help You in Ministry

Over the past few years, my writing focus has begun to shift. Initially, all of my books focused on cities, ranging from a city's theology to exploring cities through Scripture, urban church planting, and more. Suppose you've followed Intrepid for any length of time. In that case, of late, you’ll notice that most of the topics I am exploring revolve around bivocationalism, startups, entrepreneurship, calling or vocation, and how it all intersects with church planting and local church ministry. S...