im a pretty big erwin mcmanus fan. maybe we are kindred spirits or something but i always seem to love what he has to say. here are some quotes from the outreach interview whenever somebody says i want to go deeper in the word what they really mean is that they want to become more academic. why isnt going deeper hearing the dreams of god why isnt it having a more vivid imagination being able to im...
[more]

the julyaugust edition of outreach magazine includes a feature article by tim gaydos campus pastor of mars hill downtown seattle. the article talks about the story the vision and the identity of this unique congregation. in the following excerpt pastor tim describes some of the ways god was working through mars hill downtown before it even opened for sunday services already ive seen people respon...
[more]

mars hill has received much attention for the live sms qa thats become a part of our sunday routine and a fixture at our conferences and seminars. both local seattle metropolitan and national associated press media have written stories about this experiment just one of the many ways were trying to live up to our distinction as one of americas most innovative churches view list. heres a recent cli...
[more]

......
[more]

this morning i spoke at new life christian church. you probably have never heard of the church but i think it is probably one of the five most influential churches in north american church planting. it was number 13 on our top 25 multiplying churches list see the article here. new life christian is an independent christian church. i have blogged about their group before after a lunch with a k...
[more]

the new issue of outreach magazine gives their readersubmitted resources of the year in several categories. what came in at the number one spot for leadership training resource of the year may surprise some of you and it greatly disappointed three authors who cowrote a certain book that was a runnerup.......
[more]

this is insightful and stirring wintley phipps dealing with the black notes on the piano and hymnody particularly the negro spiritual. ht steve campcheck out this wacky story of the librarian who got fired for reporting a guy viewing child pornography on the librarys public computers.read about the controversy caused by the recent time magazine cover.readis hating haters hateful by scott lively.a...
[more]

last time i introduced a little bit what i was going after in this series. and yes i know its going on a long time. before i get too much further into it i wanted to clarify why it is this question has some hold on me.as some of you know i am now for better or worse and elder at my local church. i have learned much met many new folks seen attendance rise not my fault heard squabbles shared joy and...
[more]

i was thinking about jesus and leadership today. i was thinking about what we typically think of when we think of growth in the typical church paradigm. for some but not all numerical growth is the obvious standard. and i get this because butts in the seats is measurable. we celebrate the 101 fasting growing church in america and make lists.a and i think about how this would feel if i were numb...
[more]

this morning i spent the day with the staff of three local churches living hope new vision and first baptist churches. our focus was on the missional church and how our churches might embrace such a vision. there are many who think that large churches simply cannot be missional. to be fair i think it is more difficult at a mega church. large churches can and do struggle with the tendency to tu...
[more]

2008 americas most innovative churchesdo church with collective imagination and enlarge your view of evangelism. it all began with an online survey they tell us that is how they solicited nominations. they tell uswe hoped to learn about the churches that you perceive as innovative and to uncover the diverse congregations that are doing ministry outside the norm. your input resulted in 127 differen...
[more]

americas most. innovative churches. americas most innovative churches. 2007. a2007 outreach magazine.......
[more]

outreach magazine has asked me to write a piece about great small church outreach ideas.a outreachs janfeb issue premiered the section small church big idea featuring small church outreach ideas that worked. heres where you come ina i need your ideas and your church could be featured in an upcoming issue.a heres what were looking for great outreach ideas for fathers day mothers day graduation sum...
[more]

tim keller is notoriously averse to publicity. i had to pull teeth to get him to agree to be profiled for this story. he does not speak at many conferences and has not written a book for a decade. so for some of you who read the blog his name may be unfamiliar. this week many more will hear about tim as he is featured in newsweek. click here for the article. to many of us tim is a hero and a...
[more]

some students really struggle with the idea of the role of religion in the founding and settling of america. among interesting misconceptions ive run into in the past 18 months spanish settlers of texas were baptists since so many texans are baptist today the religious fights in england leading to the english bill of rights was between christians and others. im not sure outreach magazines list o...
[more]

i love to read the thoughts of others.a they challenge me to grow and become a better leader.a recently someone linked me to an article by thom s. rainer and sam s. rainer iii.a the thoughts shared challenged me and i want to enourage you with them. the myth of freedom.a freedom. in high school most of us experienced the thrill of getting our drivers license going off to college or embarking on a ...
[more]

si su iglesia muestra seaales de una salud pobre un crecimiento atrofiado u otras deficiencias espirituales quizas el asunto sea mas grave de lo que usted piensa. analice medite ore y tome una accian pues las consecuencias pueden ser desastrosas. pecado 1 una doctrina diluida estan de moda las predicaciones que levantan el animo y la autoestima alentandonos a tener una actitud mental positiva. ta...
[more]