Met with a great guy who wants to plant a church. We spent some time talking, but he asked me a question that I haven’t been able to shake. He asked, “What qualities are needed to be a successful church planter?” I thought it was a great question, so I thought I’d share my answer.

(I purposely omitted all the stuff that’s been written about ad nauseam)

#1 – Passion – you have to be excited about what/ where God has called you. If you aren’t excited, no one else is going to be.

#2 – Hunger to Learn – Leaders are curious people. They read, listen to messages, talk to other leaders. They want to learn how to do what they do better. If you think you’ve got all the answers, it’s over before you started.

#3 – Optimism – You have to believe that things will get better. Every day we should wake up believing things will be better today than yesterday. Feel free to disagree, but I know this: pessimistic, gloomy leaders never go anywhere. I believe this has everything to do with how you view God. If you believe “all things are possible” then you tend to be more optimistic. I don’t believe you can lead well if you believe you best days are behind you. But when you believe the best is yet to come, life is good!