Jim Griffith and Bill Easum the authors of this book are experts on this subject having both planted several churches and having made lots of mistakes.  One of the things I enjoyed about their book is its simplicity.  They have brief introduction chapter followed by chapters on each mistake.  They do not write more than is necessary or do an overkill on the subjects.  I am tired of reading books that could be much shorter if the author did not feel it was necessary to have more pages in order to sell more books.

Now being in our sixth month of planting a new church campus I can testify to some of their findings.  As they say it is easy to neglect the great commandment (to love God and others) in pursuit of the great commission (reaching new people).  I feel we have kept this in balance but it takes focus to do so.  Also, they point out that one of the mistakes is failing to take opposition seriously.  We have not faced nearly the opposition that some church planters face but we have in fact faced opposition particularly in the realm of spiritual warfare.  In fact, I don’t know that I have ever been engaged in a greater spiritual battle.  The intensity as we began to meet with our core team this time last year was much greater than anything we face today.

Not many of you will want to read this book simply because it is not applicable to where you are in life but for those who are involved in a new church plant it is a great resource.  On a side note, now that I am a church planter so to speak, I can honestly say nothing is more exciting and rewarding.  In recent weeks we have had a young man commit his life to Chirst, an elderly lady did the same and two children accepted Christ as their savior recently.  In addition, we have had several others who have recommitted their lives to Christ.  I am firm believer that we need to start more new churches and church campuses.