by Mark Smith

Billy Hornsby, who heads the Association for Related Churches (ARC), spoke next on how pastors can refocus their attention on regaining their zeal for ministry, and subsequently gain a zeal for church planting.  Hornsby started ARC in of 2000 after 30 years of missions work, planting churches and observing successful and unsuccessful ministries.  The ministry was launched after he learned that more than 80 percent of new churches fail within the first five years and that many of the new church planters that began with excitement and vision abandoned ministry along with their churches.  The result of losing one’s zeal in the pastorate, Hornsby said, is three-fold.  When our zeal is lost we:
1.    Become ineffective in fulfilling our mission.  (The result is a loss of interest, desire and passion for ministry.)
2.    Feel rejected.
3.    Feel insignificant.
In order to regain a zeal for ministry, Hornsby said, pastors need to do the following:
1.    Re-engage your heart to return to the basic call of God to reach people.  (“Reach out to people on purpose, daily,” he said.  “Re-launch your ‘boat’ back in the deep waters to catch ‘fish.’”)
2.    Plant churches.  (“Church planting takes the limits off your church,” Hornsby stated.)
The ARC (www.relatedchurches.com) is a powerful resource for local pastors wanting to get new idea, as well as an information site for new pastors wanting to get the best strategies for planting their churches.