Baptisms on Stage from Life Connection Church on Vimeo.

This baptism was amazing.  I had to put the video up and I am still getting amazing response from people who where impacted deeply because of the experience.  Bless you all.

I have recently been inspired to interview other church planters and leaders about what they have shared with me about what they are doing and what they see in the American church. The inspiration of these interviews is based on the conversations that I get to have with many leaders through their process of growth behind closed doors. I want to invite you to be a fly on this virtual wall while I talk to them, behind those closed doors, about what is happening in their life and mind.

Matthew Hansen is a friend that I met in bible school some 10 years ago. We never where extremely close in school, but socialized a little (the truth is, he was apart of the sexy crowd). In recent times we have connected because of a commonality, or more of a like spirit, which is church planting and discipleship. He is extremely intelligent, balanced, and very in love with Jesus and His mission (I am not trying to hit on him!! I am in love with my wife). When you are reading the answers to these questions some of you may be thinking I answered them but I promise it was him. I pray that you will be blessed, as I was, and that it will encourage you to be focused and fervent in your relationship with Jesus. Take a minute after you read through His interview and check out his church web page and blog spot. I would also encourage you to pray about giving some financial support to this very important mission field, for all the information you need on how to get involved check out this link. Enjoy the interview!

Hey Matthew, take a minute and Briefly sum up yourself:

I am your average person who happens to be ignited with a deep love for Jesus, a vision and passion for church planting through discipleship, and a broken heart for men. I am going on 9 years of marriage, and can I say, there isn’t anything that I love more after Christ. I met Sarah on a mission trip to Morocco. Sarah and I have 3 kids – Serena, Ashton, and Eden, and are hoping to have number 4 next year. As for my hobbies, I love physical-fitness, I practice Brazilian jiu jitsu, and love to clear my head with a good run. I’m a reading freak, I’ll read anywhere between 30-40 books in a year, but nothing beats time with Sarah and the kids.

In the UFC, who is your favorite fighter?

That is a tuff question, since the question has the UFC in it. Although as of right now my favorite organization in MMA is the UFC, my favorite fighters have left – Randy Couture, Andre Arlovski, and Tito. Your best fighters in the UFC are BJ Penn, GSP, and Anderson Silvia. I love to watch Forrest Griffin and Rich Franklin, but as for my favorite – either BJ Penn and George St. Pierre or John Fitch

Mac or PC? I have three Mac’s and no PC – end of story

How did the vision for church planting begin to burn in you?

It definitely was an evolution of the soul. From the planting of a seed, to the forming of a small group was a span of over ten years. Sitting in a café in Moscow at the age of seventeen, I recognized God’s call on my life in Proverbs 31:8-9: Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. Until that time, the Bible hadn’t really spoken to me, but this time it so captured my attention that I knew it was God speaking to me through his word.

My life would take some dramatic turns that found my family in Austin, Texas and then on to missions training at Christ for the Nations in Dallas. In 1995 I met my future wife, Sarah, on a mission trip in Morocco. We were married in November 1999. From the beginning of our relationship, Sarah and I both knew God’s desire for our lives was vocational ministry. But just one year in our marriage, we were expecting our first child and had no more a picture of what our ministry was to be than when we started. With those immediate circumstances, our choices were quickly narrowed and I took a secular position in finance for the next four years. God continued to challenge and grow us through those years, as the experiences gained in leadership and through relationships were some of the most invaluable experiences to date. God began to give us a new heart for the church, but our heart for missions remained.

After much prayer God began to show us that the church can serve as a missionary in any culture to those who don’t know Christ. The church can “speak up for those who could not speak for themselves” because spiritually, they are lost. The church can “speak out for the rights of all who are destitute” and “defend the rights of the poor and needy” just as Jesus did.

What is the culture of the city you are planting in?

Austin is extremely pluralistic and diverse, we are often compared with Seattle and Boston in that we have Northwestern/eastern liberalism, pluralism, and intellect, with southern hospitality. That being said, our city motto is “Keep Austin Weird,” which comes from encouraging people to be very expressive in their uniqueness. I mean what other city do you know of that a cross-dressing homeless man can run for mayor and not only make it on the ballot, but also give his opponent a run for his money. South Austin, more specifically, zip code 78748, is the fastest growing zip code in all of Austin and its surrounding areas and is also very morally, politically and socially liberal. However our most interesting find is that south Austin has been labeled ‘the church planters graveyard.’

Why Austin?

Jesus said he came for the sick, not the healthy. That he would leave the ninety-nine to save the one. Throughout the scriptures, you find Jesus going to the most unlikely of people to share the hope and truth of his gospel. We are being sent as missionaries to a community for whom Jesus died and a people that he is broken for.

What stage of church planting are you at in Emmaus?

To be black and white about this, we are in the fundraising stage. We are a ground-zero church, meaning since we live in an area in which the average person sees no reason for church or God at all, we can’t rely on them for money or resources. So in order for this to work, we are in the process of building a network of relationships with people who buy into the vision and see the need for what we are doing. When Sarah and I first got married, I always thought of being a missionary as packing your bags, heading to a country in which you can’t speak the language, and going from there. I never thought of being a missionary as walking out your front door, waving to the Hindu couple on one side, and the homosexual couple on the other, speaking English, and living in America. But this is the reality of Austin, so I like to look at this as a missionary endeavor that a church will evolve out of, rather than a church plant that does missions

Can you talk about what you biblically see discipleship to be and how are you practically living that out in Emmaus?

If we truly believe we learn by example then we have to ask, “who was the best discipler in history?” The answer—Jesus!. Here’s what we know Jesus did, he lived life-on-life with people. He used real life situations to draw out his disciples inner issues, and then revealed his ideas, plan, or way through those real life situations (John 6:5-15 and Matthew 15:21-31). When you do life-on-life, it gets messy, you as the lead must be transparent and real, you have to walk the journey with people versus setting in the stands and cheering them on, and you have to be willing to get into people’s junk. Not only is this hard but it has been ingrained into Pastors that if we get the same results Jesus did (John 6:60-71) then we did something wrong! I’ll quit there, I could get angry. However to get a good picture of discipleship read chapter 4 and 8 of the Forgotten Ways, by Alan Hirsch.

How do we live this out in a practically in Emmaus? We have three focal points: Communion with God (1 John 1:3), and this is about taking personal responsibility for own personal relationship with Jesus through prayer, Bible study, meditation, and worship. Second is, community with each other (James 3:18), we believe community is actively building truly transparent and accountable relationships with other Christ followers in Emmaus as we join together on mission for one common-unity. Then finally, conversation with humanity (Colossians 4:6), which is intentionally engaging your lost friends in relationship so that you may have the opportunity to articulate and activate the gospel in their lives. We say, when you are living in all three, it is then that you are truly engaged in being a disciple and discipling. To get a perfect vision of Emmaus read The Tangible Kingdom – You’ll love it.

What’s been the most frustrating aspects of starting a church?

Hands down – support. You’d be amazed at how many pastors in Austin have patted me on the back and said, “WoW-South Austin, You’re brave!” Part of me wants to set them down, and say “if you understand that this place is so resistant to the gospel, and you really believe that Christ came to seek and save that which is lost, can we partner together, because you know it takes money.” Honestly for me that’s it, I love tension, I love suspense, and I love the journey.

What is the biggest problem you see in the American Church?

Jesus is seen as a whore! I know that isn’t very pc, and there isn’t a church that would say that, but if Jesus is the whore I sleep with to get my greatest desires fulfilled – prosperity, health, healing, the perfect mate, the American dream, etc – then pastors are no more than pimps selling Jesus to bring in the crowd so they can make more money…After all Jesus shouldn’t be that hard to sell, who doesn’t want the perfect one-night stand? On more mild terms, Jesus seems to be the road map to desire, rather than being the actual desire, the actual fullness of all truth and of everything good.

I was reading your blog and you wrote, “The church is a sending agent, not a shopping mall enticing the lost with its sales people to come buy the goods—period!” I love this, can you take a paragraph or two and elaborate?

I basically summed up the last half of this quote in the above question. But to define the church as a sending agent, I would have to say, I long to see an Ephesians 4 church, verses a church ran by CEO’s, managers, bosses, salesmen, and customers. The church, on an institutional level, is an equipping organization. We gather to be equipped and trained and edified and rebuked, and then are sent out to be ‘fishers-of-men.’ Even though I live in an urban area, and do not fish, nor do I know many fishermen, this analogy is still very, very plain – very little training on how to be a fisherman is done in a classroom. Often times a seasoned fisherman will verbally give you the basics, but to really train a person to be a fisherman, you have to send them out to the rivers, the lakes, the ponds, and the oceans, where the fish are living, there is no way around it. I don’t know when it became so sexy to see who can gather the most self-indulged Christians or the most Christians who are afraid of the world, and then compare who has the highest attendance, as if that is some sort of an achievement.

What would you speak to the elders and the community that would help us in the vision to multiply disciples?

First of all, congratulations, you have chosen the best yet hardest way to do church. I don’t know the elders, so I can’t pick on you all – HA – but here is what I would say, at some point you all, us, everyone who is focused on discipleship will be tempted to move over to being a salesman. Don’t do it! No matter the cost, don’t do it. I believe the only way to keep from this, is to make sure that your personal relationship with Christ is always top priority in your life – period – above your wife, your children, and the church. And secondly, keep yourselves surrounded by people who will keep you in check.