Tony Morgans blog is  http://tonymorganlive.com/2010/09/07/new-multi-site-survey-findings/

The full Leadership Network Report is available at http://www.leadnet.org/LC_Resources.asp?IsSubmit=true&LC=MultiSite#637

Is this something your church should be considering?

Mel

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New Multi-site Survey Findings

Warren Bird and my friends over at the Leadership Network released a new report last week on multi-site churches. There are an estimated 3,000 multi-site churches in the United States. The Leadership Network surveyed over 400 of them. Here are some of the highlights of the report that jumped out to me:

• The number of multi-site churches now outnumber the megachurches. That, of course, means smaller churches are beginning to use the multi-site strategy. (By the way, the number of megachurches continues to grow as well.)
• Multi-sites have a 90% success rate.
• Most multi-site churches launch an on-campus venue first before starting at a new location.
• The new satellite campuses tend to show faster growth than the original campus. In fact, 2 out of 5 surveyed churches have experienced growth of 50% or more the first year of their new campus.
• One-third of new campuses happen as the result of a merger.
• The median size of a multi-site church is 1,300 people including the attendance of all campuses.
• 4 out of 5 churches said multi-site has increased leadership development and volunteer mobilization.
• In-person teaching is more widespread than using video teaching except in large churches. Among churches that use video, it’s usually delivered by DVD.
• Churches who use a multi-site strategy are actually more likely to plant churches as well.
• For the 10% of multi-sites that didn’t work, poor location or weak campus pastor were the two most cited reasons for closing the campus.

If you’re interested in reading the full report, you can download it for free from the Leadership Network.

Mel

======================

Gospel Integrity and Pastoral Succession

via The Gospel Coalition Blog by Collin Hansen on 9/3/10

History tells sad stories of good churches that calcified as monuments to former pastors. Few churches we closely associate with prominent ministers maintained their influence when the pastor left. Fire twice destroyed London’s famed Metropolitan Tabernacle, once in 1898 and again when the Luftwaffe dropped an incendiary bomb during the Blitz of 1941. But these tragedies did not inflict so much damage as that caused when long-time pastor Charles Spurgeon departed in 1891 and died in 1892.

Charles Spurgeon

The “last of the Puritans,” Spurgeon reached millions through his sermons, both spoken and published. But he did not train willing leaders capable of carrying on his theological legacy in his absence. Cleanup crews sifting through the bombing rubble in 1941 discovered the church’s 1680 confession of faith, which Spurgeon had symbolically buried beneath the foundation in 1860. Writing in The Forgotten Spurgeon, Iain Murray found in this recovery a metaphor for the state of Metropolitan Tabernacle and the evangelical movement in England.

“There was in 1941 no influential congregation in England known to stand for the theology which that document contained; nor was there any college preparing men to preach that faith,” Murray wrote.

Notable exceptions to this worrisome pattern merely prove the rule. Martyn Lloyd-Jones thrived at Westminster Chapel in London following G. Campbell Morgan’s distinguished tenure, which ended in 1945. Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia has enjoyed the leadership of Donald Grey Barnhouse, James Montgomery Boice, and Phil Ryken. But even a track record that defies the trend offers no guarantees the next search to replace Ryken, now president of Wheaton College, will identify a worthy heir to the Tenth pulpit.

Perhaps God isn’t so concerned that churches should pass from glory to glory, if history is any indication. Or is it we who become so enamored with star preachers that we don’t share responsibility for the ministry and plan for the future in their absence? Many large, thriving churches today have been blessed by God with gifted preachers whose ministry spans the globe. As those preachers approach the end of their pulpit ministry, however, local churches face difficult questions about how they should prepare for life after their leader leaves.

Succession Without a Successor

Working with a small Bible study group, Tim Keller planted Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan in 1989. The transition from a church’s first to second senior pastor is particularly difficult for a thriving congregation. So Redeemer isn’t even bothering to try. Instead, Redeemer revealed in June that it plans to eventually divide into four distinct but networked congregations, each of which will try to plant another church. Redeemer leaders selected four pastors—David Bisgrove, John Lin, Scott Sauls, and Leo Schuster—to lead these neighborhood-based congregations. But for now these men will share preaching and leadership responsibilities with Keller, who will mentor them closely.

“My ‘successors’ are a new generation of a half-dozen to a dozen pastors,” Keller said. “The difficulty is that to even talk of this as a ‘succession plan’ gives the impression I’m stepping out of my job and retiring soon, but I’m not. I’m 59, and we expect the transition to take eight to ten years. So we don’t call it a succession plan, but that’s what it ultimately is, among other things.”

Indeed, the succession plan corresponds with a larger ministry reorientation for Redeemer. For about 20 years, Redeemer grew as members invited their friends to hear the exceptional music and Keller’s compelling sermons. Without Keller as a draw, however, the church’s strategy will need to change. Church leaders and members will need to become more missional.

Tim Keller

“Now, however, we enter a new season, that, God-willing, will last much longer than 20 years,” Keller wrote to the Redeemer congregation. “Our ministry will now be ‘Go and Tell.’ Redeemer is going to systematically impart what theological and ministry wisdom we have to its people and empower them so that, instead of only inviting people in to hear teaching, they will in the power of the Spirit go out into the neighborhoods to love and winsomely share the biblical gospel themselves. It means a culture of training such as we have never seen before at Redeemer. It means coming to grips with one of the most radical aspects of biblical teaching, that every single believer is a prophet, a priest, and a king, not just a bringer and attendee. According to Jesus, ‘the least’ Christian is endowed with the Spirit and is ‘greater than John the Baptist’ (Matt 11:9-11). It also means raising up a new generation of pastor-leaders. The vision is for a family of eight to twelve sister churches-covering Manhattan—ministering in their communities.”

Divesting Power to Empower Others

Pastoral succession looks different depending on a church’s size, personality, and convictions. But Sovereign Grace Ministries has won widespread acclaim for modeling gospel-centered succession. Many are familiar with how C. J. Mahaney, founding pastor of Covenant Life Church, invited the young Joshua Harris to live in his home and learn from him. Mahaney eventually resigned as senior pastor so Harris could take over. Another Sovereign Grace pastor, Dave Harvey, writes in his book Rescuing Ambition about stepping down in 2008 as senior pastor of Covenant Fellowship Church in suburban Philadelphia, the body he led for 19 years. Like Mahaney, Harvey gave way to a much younger leader, the 28-year-old Jared Mellinger. Showing just how deeply succession was ingrained in church culture, Harvey led Mellinger by asking him to respond to this ordination vow the day he was installed:

“Do you promise to begin praying for your ultimate replacement in ministry, with the hope of one day identifying, training, and transferring your responsibilities to him, so that this church may continue to grow and mature in future generations, for the glory and honor of God?”

Jim Collins writes in Good to Great that an organization becomes a monument to the leader’s outsized ego when it falls apart in his absence. Mindful of this problem, Harvey sought to put subsequent generations’ interests ahead of his own by setting up the church for success after he stepped down to take a leadership role in the Sovereign Grace network. But this wasn’t simply a matter of organizational success. Indeed, Harvey contends that succession testifies to what a church believes about the gospel.

Dave Harvey

“A true test of gospel application is seen in succession—in the health of what we leave behind,” Harvey says. “It’s a biblical way to measure success. If we simply build a church that fragments upon transfer, how does that glorify God or really serve the next generation? It doesn’t. Transfer isn’t about merely protecting programs or salvaging a legacy. It’s about preserving the gospel and passing it on to others.”

And yet few pastors seem to view succession this way. Human nature makes succession plans like those plotted by Keller and Harvey difficult to pull off. Senior leaders don’t want to let go. They realize too late that they’re slowing down, a process that begins in many cases around age 60. Various aspects of the church’s vision become neglected, and the church stagnates. The senior leader’s gifting and experience mask underlying structural weaknesses, as in the case of Spurgeon. Meanwhile, younger leaders don’t want to wait around to take charge. Many capable young leaders know the long odds of a successful succession. So they prefer to plant their own churches or invest in smaller ones they can grow by God’s grace.

Even before the senior pastor steps down, generational tension may be evident as a warning sign that succession will be a struggle. The senior pastor with a long tenure may surround himself with leaders around his same age. Preaching load, administrative tasks, writing commitments, and even personality traits may inhibit him and his colleagues from investing in younger leaders who can eventually take their place. Conscious or not, Hezekiah syndrome sets in, and older leaders leave major problems for the next generation to tackle. “Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?” (2 Kings 20:19)

To avoid this problem and foster continuity, healthy churches incorporate leaders from several different generations. They also rely on a plurality of leaders together seeking the Lord’s leading for the church and sharing the burden of responsibility. In this model, trusted peers can persuade a reluctant senior pastor to take tangible, self-denying actions to divest his power so he can empower others to act in his absence. For example, a senior pastor might return from vacation on Sunday instead of Monday so he can sit among the congregation during the sermon, limiting himself to announcements or prayer. With this simple gesture, the pastor shows he can share authority and recognizes another leader’s preaching gift.

Succession isn’t simple. It isn’t smooth. It’s not often successful. Yet it’s a matter of gospel integrity. God doesn’t promise our churches will evermore yield wide influence through a preacher’s exceptional leadership. Surely, however, we can testify to his steadfast love by making more of Jesus Christ than ourselves. And that means planning ahead for generations who will never hear the great preacher’s voice.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/

Mel

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“How good will you be in your 60′s?”
by Dan Reiland

Patti and I experienced one of the best concerts we’ve ever attended. Carole King and James Taylor played at the Gwinnett Arena to a completely sold out crowd (4 hours!) of 13,000 people. Whether or not you like their music, you would be captivated by how good they are at this season in their careers.

Carole King is 68 and owns the stage with her charisma, winning smile and endless energy. She’s a Rock & Roll Hall of Famer (1990) with 25 solo albums to her name, and has a span of U.S. Billboard Top Ten Albums spanning 39 years. “Tapestry” (1971) to “Live at the Troubadour,” with James Taylor (2010). As a four time Grammy Award winner, and a prolific song writer, King has a legacy of 118 pop hits that she has written or co-written!

James Taylor is 62 and still makes thousands of adoring fans feel like each one is his best friend sitting in his living room while he plays contemporary classics from “Fire and Rain” to “You’ve Got a Friend.” He was inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. Taylor is a Grammy Award winner, and has a span of U.S. Billboard Top Ten Albums spanning 40 years. “Sweet Baby James” (1970) to “Live at the Troubadour,” with Carole King (2010).

Now I’m not saying they’re old, I’m saying they’re good! While many people begin to slow down and contemplate a rockin’ chair, others are still rockin’ it! How about you? You may be in your 20′s or in your 60′s but the question is the same. How good will you be? And what does it take?

The day after the concert, with a big thanks to Chris and Mary Anne Morgan for inviting us, I went out for my morning jog. I was thinking about the wonderful evening and began to make some mental notes about why JT and Carole are so good in their 60′s.

• They stuck with their craft.

If you read King’s and Taylor’s biography you would see that neither of them has had an easy road. They have paid a price and suffered the ups and downs of a long career in music. But they stuck with it and kept at their craft. That is a big lesson for all of us.

We live in a culture where people change not only jobs but careers. It’s difficult to become great at what you do when you change careers often. Changing jobs is one thing, that’s often the right thing to do. But think carefully before changing careers. Leadership in the local church takes time to learn. There is no short cut. Like a doctor, school teacher, lawyer, or engineer it takes time to learn your craft and get really good at what you do. Years don’t equal experience. Keep digging, asking questions and learning from those who have successful experience beyond you.

• They love what they do.

There is just no substitute for this loving what you do. You’ve got to enjoy your work. Life is too short to do something you don’t want to do. There are times when we must all do whatever it takes to provide for basic necessities, but I’m talking about the majority of our lives when we really do choose what we do.

It was obvious to everyone that performing was pure joy for Carole and James. They beamed an incredible sense of enjoyment that would be impossible to fake. Genuine performance is the ultimate expression of song-writers and musicians, and they loved every minute of it. All of us in the audience loved it all the more!

How would the people in your church describe you? Would they say you express joy in your leadership? Do they believe you love what you do?

• They are incredible collaborators.

Both James Taylor and Carole King wrote dozens of songs for other solo artists and bands. They played with other musicians and singers, and have collaborated together off and on over the decades. My wife Patti loves Aretha Franklin. Aretha was the first to make famous “(You make me feel like) A Natural Woman” written in 1967 by Carole. “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” (1960) was recorded by over 18 artists and bands! There are dozens of longer stories of great collaborations and James has dozens as well, collaborating with George Harrison, Paul Simon, David Crosby, Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon to name just a few.

Taylor and King are gifted artists, but the truth is they are even better when they work with other musicians. The same is true for your leadership. You have gifts and talents, in fact, you may be a great leader. But you will always be better when you connect and work with others. Partnerships in ministry, both formal and informal, produce great results. Who are you collaborating with? How are you sharpened by others and how do you invest in your colleagues? Don’t miss the opportunity to enhance the health and growth of your church and the Kingdom at large by establishing key ministry partners.

• They practice until it hurts.

There is a difference between working in your ministry and working on your ministry. It goes nearly without saying that you must work in your ministries because that’s how you get things done. Working on your ministries, however, is how you get things better.

A couple friends of mine are professional musicians and they tell me that when they are not on the road, they practice a minimum of 8 hours a day. Practice is defined by working on something you can’t do until you can. Leaders must practice leadership!

King and Taylor practiced till their fingers hurt and they were physically exhausted but that’s part of how they became great, and they still practice! How hard are you practicing leadership? How focused are you on not just doing what you do, but improving what you do? What is the last thing that you couldn’t do, and you worked on it until you could?

• They play it to the heart.

We know that music is art and it’s played to the heart, but what about leadership, is it art or science? It’s both, but mostly art! So how do you play it?

When I coach leaders who struggle, most of them are leaders who over-think and miss the heart. They try to put everything into a strategy or system. That’s important but it misses the big idea that covenant (starting in Genesis 12) is based on relationship! Even the most rookie of leaders know that relationship is far more art than science. It’s important to remember that the strategies and systems that you need are played out with people. Strategies and systems are ultimately relational in nature! When you miss that fact, policies turn into problems!

When Carole and James are in concert together there is considerable business and technology in play. But ultimately when they take the stage it’s all heart. They sing and play from the heart, to the heart. How you do lead? Are you aware of the emotional connection you have with the people you lead? What do you do to increase that heart level of connection?

My thoughts in this article are meant to be long term ideas to help you be your best for the long run! Whether you are 30 something or 50 something, there is much more in store if you stick with your craft, love what you do, collaborate with others, practice till it hurts, and play it to the heart.
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“This article is used by permission from Dr. Dan Reiland’s free monthly e-newsletter, “The Pastor’s Coach,” available at www.INJOY.com.”

Do we do what we do to bring people closer to God, or to be “relevant”, “contemporary”, or “cutting edge”?

Or because we want to know God better and help others to know him personally and relationally?

Mel

Mel

http://columbiapartnership.typepad.com/the_columbia_partnership/2010/03/the-coming-death-of-national-denominations.html

The Coming Death of National Denominations

A Travel Free Learning Article

By George Bullard, Ministry Partner with The Columbia Partnership

Voice: 803.622.0923, E-mail: GBullard@TheColumbiaPartnership.org, Web Site: www.TheColumbiaPartnership.org

Many national denominational organizations in North America are dying. The causes and signs of their demise are obvious, but few are choosing to make wise decisions to morph into 21^st century denominations. Too many are choosing to recommit to old patterns or suicidal patterns of denominational life.

The death of national denominations is not imminent; it is not coming in the next five to ten years. However, if current trends continue some national denominations could reach subsistence level within 25 years. The death of national denominational structures does not necessarily mean the death of the denomination itself or its regional or middle judicatory expressions. These latter expressions may thrive in some locations.

Here is a beginning list of things national denominations are failing to do or succeeding in doing to drag themselves down. What would you add to this list?

Denominations are dying because of their failure to do the following things.

First, they are failing to renew themselves, and sustain vitality and vibrancy, by being catalysts for the starting a number of new congregations each year equal to at least three percent of the number of congregations affiliated with it at the beginning of the year. Without a high priority focus on new congregations, national denominations are missing two factors.

1. Sufficient numerical growth in affiliated congregations and adherents to offset the loss of congregations and adherents through congregations who are dying, declining, or dis-affiliating.

2. Increased vitality and vibrancy throughout the denomination that comes through the excitement surrounding new congregations and the challenge they offer to existing congregations to be more intentional about their ministry.

Second, they are failing to help their leading edge of faithful, effective, and innovative congregations to soar and fully express their spiritual gifts, strengths, and skills. These congregations are generally 10 to 15 percent of the total number of congregations affiliated with the denomination, but may account –along with new congregations—for at least 50 percent of the new adherents in the denominations.

Denominations assume these congregations do not need or want their help rather than realizing they want high quality peer learning experiences than the vast majority of denominations are offering. They would love to help their denomination soar, and they yearn for their denomination to understand and celebrate their situation.

Third, they are failing to help only those congregations who are ready and eager to transform to go through transformation processes. Instead they are trying to help any plateaued and declining congregation who asks for help regardless of their capacity to benefit from the assistance or their readiness for transformation. Further, they define transformation as a healthy, faithful congregation rather than one that is also effective and innovative in fulfilling their mission and vision and thus becoming more vital and vibrant. Thus, they have lowered their expectations of congregations. Faithfulness has become a euphemism for mediocrity.

Fourth, perhaps worse than ineffective service to congregations is the diminishing of an emphasis on serving congregations, or helping to create and sustain more vital and vibrant congregations. Over the past several decades numerous denominations have decreased their efforts through staff, budget, and resource materials that focus on church planting, church growth, and church transformation. Some national denominations have one office or department that seeks to handle all three of these emphases. Denominations are forgetting that congregations are their basic building block and why they exist in the first place.

From another perspective, national denominations are trying to serve congregations through old concepts that assume national denominations do for congregations what congregations cannot do for themselves. This is a gapology approach that no longer works. The number of things congregations are dependent on their denomination to do are less and less.

Fifth, they are failing to jettison their institutions from core denominational financial support and ownership through trustees appointed or elected by the national denomination. Over the past five decades many, if not most, colleges/universities, seminaries/divinity schools, benevolent institutions, and other institutional entities have developed multiple funding streams and are not longer dependent on the national denominational budget for their survival and vitality.

Wise national denominations are withdrawing core operational funding and creating partnerships with their institutions in strategic areas of need for the denomination, and funding those on a renewable project basis. Institutions that cannot survive without funding from the national denomination for core operations may not need to exist in the 21^st century.

Denominations are dying because of their success in doing the following things.

First, many national denominations are demanding loyalty rather than earning loyalty. Congregations who respond to the call for more loyalty tend not to be the growing, vital, and vibrant congregations, but rather are the plateaued, declining, and passive congregations. Dying denominations are successful in reinforcing the myth that congregations exist to serve the denomination.

Second, many national denominations are professionalizing, formalizing, and centralizing their clergy education, credentialing, and support systems in an attempt to achieve a purer and more effective collection of clergy leaders. This approach certainly provides more control and creates more dependency among the clergy leaders, but is does not necessarily produce purer or more effective clergy leaders. It may also result in a lack of sufficient new clergy leaders, as persons called into clergy ministry seek out denominational families with a more open and flexible system.

Third, some national denominations have become experts at dividing and driving away congregations and adherents by badly addressing explosive moral and theological issues. The big ones these days focus around sex—homosexuality, promiscuity, and pedophilia. When national denominations combine with sex the issues around clergy ordination and discipline—or lack thereof—it creates an “ensmallment” movement within the denomination.

Fourth, many national denominations believe that restructuring themselves or re-tasking national agencies is the same thing as renewing the spiritual, strategic direction of the national denomination. No consistent evidence exists that restructuring national denominations alone leads to the renewal of these denominations. Restructuring actually is a step in preparing for another restructuring within five to ten years. Restructuring fits in the same category as rearranging the chairs on the Titanic.

Fifth, many national denominations continually reallocate their core funding stream receipts from congregations rather than looking for innovative ways to increase the generosity of adherents and congregations. They have a basic funding stream or two that they have had for several decades rather than an innovative plan involving at least 12 funding streams. The reallocation is in response to a decreased buying power of the funds coming from congregations, and like restructuring leads to the next reallocation.

Important Things to Know

George Bullard is a Ministry Partner with The Columbia Partnership. He is also General Secretary [executive director] of the North American Baptist Fellowship of the Baptist World Alliance. The Columbia Partnership is a non-profit Christian ministry organization focused on transforming the capacity of the North American Church to pursue and sustain Christ-centered ministry. Travel Free Learning is a leadership development emphasis. For more information about products and services check out the web site at www.TheColumbiaPartnership.org, send an e-mail to Client.Care@TheColumbiaPartnership.org, or call 803.622.0923.

In the course of our time together I thought Jim made several insightful comments:

• “We need to see evangelism as a spiritual practice of relationships, not a program”
• “If we filter our approach to evangelism by doing only what we would want done to us, we will find more authentic ways to share our faith”
• “A better measurement tool for a churches evangelism is how many people are in a real relationships with pre-Christians than only how many are saved”

He also shared three skills to the spiritual practice of evangelism:

1. We must learn how to notice people. We get so busy and insolated in life we often fail to see the people and their needs around us.

2. We need to pray behind people’s backs. That is, we need to pray for the things we notice in people’s lives.

3. We need to ask “How are you?” and then listen.

If we do these three spiritual practices, God will open the right doors to authentic conversations.

Check it out and see what you can learn from this parable.

Mel

To know Him and make Him known,

Mel

LENT 2010 from Life at the Ridge

Easter where we remember Jesus 40 day fast in the wilderness and join him in a time of fasting for spiritual growth and intimacy.  Many people choose to fast or “give something up” during lent.  I did not grow up with the regular tradition of practicing lent but I have found over the past years that lent is not only a very meaningful time for me but it has also proven to be very powerful in realigning my heart with the heart of Jesus.

Over time, lent for many has become a time to give up something bad.  I would argue however, the intent behind lent is less about giving up something and more about having something to gain.  By following Jesus in fasting, we choose to make our fleshly desires second to our spiritual desires.

I encourage you to consider fasting for lent this year.  Here are a few tips on how I choose what to fast during the lent, I hope you find them helpful.

1.  Don’t fast anything that is purely for personal gain. i.e.  “I will give up sugar and also lose a few pounds.”  Jesus is paying attention to your heart, he get’s it when your fast is selfish in nature.
2.  Choose something that you will feel.  Discomfort reminds of the intent behind the fast and our mission to know, love and follow Jesus.
3.  Examine your life for addictions and dependencies.  Is there something your body or mind is addicted too?  This is a great place to start.
4.  Think about what you stand to gain through the fast.  If you give up Starbucks then you will end up with money.  How could you give that money instead of spending it on yourself?  If you give up television, what will you do with the free time you create?  Consider these resources to be invested into spiritual growth and serving others.
5.  Be honest with yourself and sincere with Jesus.  Again, he wants to grow your heart and its capacity to love more than yourself.

Let me know if you are joining me in fasting for lent this year.

On the mission,
Josh

LENT 2010 Kaleo Church Spokane

Lent: A Heavy Wait Edging Toward Hope

Last night Kaleo hosted an informal yet focused gathering designed to help us enter the season of Lent together.  Our observance of this season, while informed and tethered to centuries of practice by faithful Jesus followers, is not rooted in a desire to appear more spiritual, earn righteousness, etc.  Instead, we recognize the value and need of preparation.  Many among us have demonstrated this through a regiment of bodily exercise focused on an upcoming performance such as Bloomsday.  Others have done so by going back to school in order to prepare for a career that vibes with who they’re made to be.  There are countless examples of how we believe in preparation, and therefore orient our energies accordingly (at home, at work, at school, etc.).  And so the season of Lent is quite fitting, seeing as how it is a preparation for fully engaging the most important event, reality and hope in the history of everything, Easter.

So here is a little resource that we put together (from various sources) to help us enter the season of Lent.  Each day has a suggested exercise intended to help us come to grips with our own sin and struggle, as well as God’s good redemption enacted by Jesus and distributed through the Holy Spirit.  The reason for this is because the Lenten season is closely identified to Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness where he was tempted and overcame the devil (Matthew 4:1-11).  You’ll also notice that each Sunday suggests reading through the story just mentioned, and then enjoying the day.  The reason for this is because throughout Lent Sunday’s serve as days of feasting, as days made to remind us of what’s coming in just a few more Sundays.

So download the resource, honestly confess, repent and believe the Gospel, and let’s walk through this season, “a heavy wait edging toward hope,” together. (And feel free to share your experiences with the calendar resource, and the season in general in the comments section.)  For in our fasting we learn to feast.  In our confession we learn to celebrate.  In our preparation we learn to become, more fully, the good news in the places we’re planted.LNETLEMN

Justin

He saw a list of some of the best Church Web sites via Collide magazine.

•       www.2pc.org

•       www.fbcoviedo.org

•       www.lifepointchurch.org

•       www.oasisla.org

Check them out when you get a chance.



Northwest Ministry Network podcasts

The Northwest Ministry Network, which I am a part of, podcasts all our training events. Our vision is to “Strengthening and developing empowered leaders and churches.” The most recent event was Calibrate, a training for church planters and multi-site churches. There are also some excellent messages from our Ministers Retreat. About May 1st we will add 16 more sessions from our Annual Conference workshops, plus all the plenary sessions.

Cornerstone Simi Video podcasts

These are the services from Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley California with Francis Chan. If your want to see a great model of simple Bible teaching, check them out. This is one of my favorite to listen to on the road. They are also available as audio only. BY the way,  if you have not read Francis’ books (“Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God” and “Forgotten God: Reversing our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit”) I highly recommend both.

“Think Missional: Becoming the People God Intended” Book

The Northwest Ministry Leadership Team as part of an AGTS class produced a wonderful book to help churches become more missional. It could be used as a Bible study with boards, ministry leaders or small groups. If you were interested, you can buy a copy for $10.00 from Greg Stern (Director of Operations) Northwest Ministry Network) gregs@northwestministry.com — 35131 SE Douglas Street, Ste. 200, Snoqualmie, WA 98065, Tel 425.888.4800. If your liked it and wanted to use it with groups there are also discount pricing for larger quantities. The book includes ten chapter or studies.