5 Questions with Tim Kirkpatrick

Tim Kirkpatrick has served at churches in Louisiana, Michigan, Australia, and North Carolina. He is currently the Discipleship Pastor at Foster St. Wesleyan Church in Asheboro, NC.  Tim helped me review the Ja Lalanne juicer here.

1. What’s your primary goal and responsibility as the Discipleship Pastor at Foster St.?

My responsibility at Foster Street is to create an environment of connectivity in our church. This is primarily done through the implementing of LIFEgroups (small groups) in our adult congregation. The end goal will be people feeling connected to the church, but not tied down to the church. Usually churches are really good at connecting people to their church and thus creating a christian social club. Other churches, like ours, are really good at letting the congregation loose to go out and reach the world. So it is a bit of a balancing act. We noticed, however, many people in the church did not actually know others in the church. One lady, who has attended for 42 years, said she felt like a stranger in her own church. That’s a problem. And we, as the staff, are partially to blame. We realized we needed to create an environment where people feel comfortable, supported and encouraged to dream with the Kingdom in mind; and we are starting to see that happen.

2. What’s your process for choosing the best curriculum for your groups?

There are some GREAT resources out there. It depends on our budget, the topic, the people, etc. We decided to go with North Pointe’s small group DVD curriculum and model to start off with. The reason being is it is safe, practical and simple. We have a diverse congregation and many of our facilitators are at different levels. We are starting everyone off at that same spot, with the same simple curriculum (again the goal isn’t spiritual depth right now, it’s connecting). We’ll gauge where the different groups are near the end of the quarter, reevaluate and over some new and some similar curriculm in the Winter/Spring time. Our desire is for the groups and facilitators to begin to seek out their own topics/curriculum/sermon studies in the future.

3. You served in Louisiana for a while. I think most people assume the work rebuilding New Orleans is complete. How do we fix the church’s ADD when it comes to events like Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti?

Louisiana (and by this I mean the Hurricanes) was both a very hard time and a very rewarding time for me. I was going through some personal turmoil at the time. I almost moved out of LA two weeks before Katrina hit. I could write a book about my 4 months working 12+ hour days providing relief. But I’ll try to stick to the topic.

There are 3 phases to disasters like Katrina/Haiti: 1. Relief, 2. Recovery 3. Rebuilding. Everyone wants to do Relief. It’s sexy, it’s often bloody and messy, and it is visibly/emotionally/physically rewarding. It is needed but it is short-term. The doctor’s leave when the people stop bleeding, (this is also when the money stops coming in, enabling the Church to help). However, recovery and rebuilding are what is necessary for long term sustainability. Recovery will last up to a year or so after the initial 1-6 months of relief. Rebuilding is what can take lifetimes. We still have not rebuilt America after the civil war. Yes buildings are restored, but their is a rift in America (racially and geographically) that still has yet to be rebuilt.

The best way the Church (as a whole and the reader’s church in particular) is to partner with other churches locally and internationally. Build the relationship and be ready. It is hard to be ADD when the relationship is there. You never hear of someone blaming ADD when tragedy strikes close to home and they spring into action. If your church has friends, family, missionaries who are in need in places where disaster strikes; chances are the church was there before Red Cross got there and will be there long after Red Cross leaves. A great example of this is the Wesleyan Church’s connection to La Gonave in Haiti. The relationship is the key.

4. What’s the most rewarding thing about ministry for you?

When people realize God’s grace for the first time, or for the first time in a long time. It breaks my heart in a good way. Seeing that (and sometimes experiencing it myself) always brings a freshness that I never get tired of. I would like to mention another thing. I’m a Christian, as one I do not think we ever stop ministering. However, I am also a pastor whose job is to equip others for ministry. So my job is, as a pastor, an equipper. And the most rewarding part of my job as a pastor is seeing people that I have equipped be fruitful in their own ministries.

5. What are you reading right now? Anything you’d recommend?

Robert Welch’s “Church Administration: Creating Efficiency for Effective Ministry(Amazon link).” I know it sounds dull and my ministry friends have made fun of me for choosing to read this willingly. However, the first 3 chapters alone are worth the whole book. It delves into the different leadership styles of churches and often the different outcomes (good and bad) of those leadership styles. It is helping me plan better by helping me see the consequences of my planning.

I close my endorsement by saying, this will probably be the book I will refer back to (other than the Bible) the most during my ministry. Not only is it that good, it is that practical for everything church related from running finances to planting a church to having proper guidelines for renting out your church for a wedding.

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