Top 5 Posts, Links, and Tweets for Jan 2012:

1. New Data on Faith, Religion, and Perspectives on Church in St. Tammany Parish
2. Good Reads in 2011
3. Missional Garage Making
4. I Don’t Want to Be A Drive-By Disciple
5. “when you pray…And when you fast…”

Best Online Reads: (from my Delicious Account)

1. Missional Challenge: Are You Aware of Your Assumptions? by Dave Devries
2. Three Topics a Small Group Should Never Discuss by Rick Howerton
3. Five Steps to Leading a Good Meeting by Bob Logan
4. Three Important Church Trends by Ed Stetzer
5. A How To for Producing Events from Catalyst

5 Favorites of my Favorited Tweets in January:

1. @ThomRainer - Church isn’t about my preferences & desires; that’s self-serving. It’s about serving others & Christ. bit.ly/y3bc5x
2. @PastorMark – “I think men who have a pierced ear are better prepared for marriage. They’ve experienced pain and bought jewelry.” – Rita Rudner
3. @EntreLeaership - ”You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.” – Henry Ford
4. @VergeNetwork – “There are only 3 kinds of Christians when it comes to missions: zealous goers, zealous senders and the disobedient.” ht.ly/8t6bT
5. @davidkinnaman - ”Disciples are hand made not mass-produced”

A Few Links I Liked and Learned from this week:

• Calvin Miller’s Letters to a Young Pastor:

 ”One of our chief sins is that we school our students in the works of preachers with large churches and then brutally send them into the world of small churches…”

“When you read your church’s bulletin and determine the invitation you offer, you will know whether your church is a community center or the globalizing, wounded arm of the Savior.”

• David Putman wants to Rescue Church Planting:

“Church planting as a movement has lost its way and is in need of rescuing.”

We confess that we have made church planting more about…

• Building our little kingdoms instead of advancing his glorious Kingdom.
• Reaching “more of those” instead of the “least of these”.
• Puffing our own Narcissism instead of His glory and honor.
• Advancing our own personal mission instead of embracing his mission.
• Producing weekend services instead of reproducing the “Body of Christ”.
• Being relevant instead of proclaiming his liberating revelation.

• Six Types of People You Meeting in Church Planting: Family, Fence, Fans, Friends, Farm, & Foes. Very true.

From the Twittersphere:

• Tim Peters  “Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.” Vince Lombardi
• Jeff Vanderstelt  Its impossible to forgive someone if you feel superior to him – Keller
• 30 Second MBA Pessimists see difficulty in every opportunity. Optimists see opportunity in every difficulty. ~Winston Churchill
• Mark Driscoll   “I think men who have a pierced ear are better prepared for marriage. They’ve experienced pain and bought jewelry.” – Rita Rudner
• Rick Howerton Anyone who wants to make a big difference must first make a big decision… I will sacrifice all if necessary.
• FocusLeadership  Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power. Abraham Lincoln
• Rick Warren   If couples put even half as much thought preparing for marriage as they give to the wedding, there’d be fewer divorces.
• EntreLeadership  “You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.” – Henry Ford
• Eric Geiger  Assimilation and transformation are not the same thing…

Good Reads in 2011, part 2

I started a blog in 2006, because I enjoyed writing and creating and as a bit of a personal journal. I also saw it as a great way to put the stuff I couldn’t get out of the trunk in the sermon writing and delivering process. I thought I’d post sermon illustrations and stories I didn’t use, that people responded well to, and study helps that I utilized. It’s still a personal journal of sorts and I’m glad a few people choose to read it. And my mom doesn’t even have a computer, so I know it’s not her over and over again :)). So for what it’s worth…

My top 10 Blog Posts for 2011:

1. Discipleship and Choice - ”American Christianity has become about choices … And these choices are for the most part self-focused… The question is, How does this square with the New Testament picture of a disciple or follower of Christ?”
2. Warning! Do Not Let This Person Join Your Church! I’ve had a few pastors tell me they put this on the agenda at their monthly business meeting :)).
3. Put Your Faith in Action! Why? - 20 Reasons for putting your faith in action.
4. 12 Things I’m Thankful for After 12 Years of Marriage
5. Can Baptist Dance? and Other Recent Questions
6. Distinguishing Marks of a Quarrelsome Person
7. How Can My Church Get Involved in Church Planting and Multiplication?
8. Are You A Church Curmudgeon?
9. Ode to Mommy - My youngest son’s first original song.
10. Assessing the Need for New Churches – Why do we need new churches when we have so many already?

What Makes A Successful Church? A few links:

Spent part of this week crunching numbers getting ready for the Northshore Baptist Association’s staff mini-retreat next weekend. Every year I do this, it gets me thinking about what we measure. Are we measuring the right things? Are the metrics we use causing us to fire at the wrong targets? How would Jesus measure success in ministry? What do you think?

Came across a few interesting articles in this regard as well this week. Thought I’d share:

Scoreboard 101: 3 Kinds of Results in Church Leadership by Will Mancini

• Input results in the church world focus on the number of people and dollars that “come into” the church. Common ways we talk about input results include the “ABC’s” (attendance, buildings and cash) or “nickels and noses” or “butts and bucks”
• Output results refer to actual life-change outcomes that God intends for followers of Christ individually and together. 
• Impact results capture the broader effect of the church in the surrounding city or community.

Corporate Church vs. Movemental Church by Mike Breen. This one really made me think!

• Efficiency has replaced effectiveness. Many churches are organizationally efficient, but we aren’t affecting the lives of people the way in which Jesus imagined a family would do.
• while churches may claim to have “leadership development programs,” what they really have are “volunteer pipelines” that are run by managers, not leaders.
• What we need is a way of making and moving people so that as we make disciples, we release them into their destiny of pushing into new Kingdom-frontier.

What defines a Successful Church? by Stephen Gray

1. Financially self-sustaining within two-years. (Urban Plants may be longer)
2. Self-governing after two-years.
3. Multiplication minded. (Involved in planting other churches from day one.)
4. Giving 10%, from day one, towards missions (Out of weekly offerings).
5. Growth which comes primarily through conversion.
6. At least 45% of attenders actively volunteering in the church.
7. Engaged in transforming the community. (Not just individuals)
8. Growing numerically.
9. Developing new leaders for ministry.
10. Members are continually and actively inviting their neighbors to church and sharing their faith journey with those around them.
11. At least 80% involved in small groups by year-two.
12. Actively involved in foreign missions work.

How large shall we plant? by Steve Sjogren - said the former mega-church pastor. Interesting.

• Mega-churches are cooler, hipper, usually more exciting than other area churches, therefore they are natural gathering points for already-converted people who are looking for “something more” – namely more program options, better worship, more services with fewer demands…
• My bottom line: I’d rather plant a network of 15 churches of 500 that are maximizing their potential for outreach than to have one church of 7,500 that is fun to lead, fun to be a part of, that strokes my ego…

2011 Profile of Large Attendance Churches in the United States by Leadership Network. Everyone’s got an opinion about big churches. What does the data actually say? Ed Stetzer’s summary here.

Church Planting Numbers that Matter by Steve Pike. Great equations and guide for the “big launch” model of church planting.

How to Shrink Your Church – Some good thoughts on how dying is gain in church life. Are we pursuing the Hallmark moment and whatever works to grow?

• while a generation of church leaders acquiesces to the demands of our consumer culture. The demands are simple: tell me something that will make me feel better (sentimentality for the churchgoer), and tell me something that will work (pragmatism for the church leader). Yet it is not clear how either one of those are part of what it means to be the church.
• you can grow a church without God if you have good preaching, great music, killer children’s ministry, and an engaging youth minister. In the pragmatic church, there is only one question that matters, “What will work to grow my church?”
• Convincing the church she does not exist for the benefit of her members, but for the life of the world is a bad church growth strategy. It’s also exactly what the church must do. It’s a tough sell because crucifixion seems like a losing strategy unless you believe in the resurrection.

What would you consider success for a church?

A few Favs from last week:

Links I liked & learned from:

1. The Pastor Driven Church – “The Pastor Driven Church sacrifices bold preaching and personal disciple making forpowerless people pleasing.”
2. What is Neighboring – “From the City’s perspective, there’s not a lot of difference between how Christians and non-Christians neighbor” ~ local city-manager.
3. 10 Ways to Help Your Church Reach Out through Social Media -
4. Are you Creating or Consuming? – “when it comes to creating versus consuming, how much balance do you have in your life?”
5. Francis Chan: From Mega-Church Pastor to Multi-Housing Church Planter -

From the Twittersphere:

1. DaveRamsey   Behind every successful man is a great woman and a surprised mother-in-law.
2. NationsBeGlad   ”The greatest form of praise is the sound of consecrated feet seeking out the lost and helpless.” – Billy Graham
3. brandonhatmaker  “The more you scatter your people for mission, the more meaning your gathering will have.” @hughhalter #leadnet #LNLive
4. RealEricGeiger   Everyone is a disciple of someone, but not everyone is transformed. Only 1 Leader brings transformation to His disciples.
5. CMAResources  You don’t graduate from learning until there’s a flatline on the screen next to your bed. #LNlive #leadnet
6. drboblogan   Don’t start churches to make disciples. Start churches by making disciples. @davedv
7. darrinpatrick  Instead of leaving the church because it doesn’t offer your pet program, consider staying and starting it. #forthecity

Links I liked and learned from lately

• 12 Signs the Church has lost sight of the story of God - #2: “The church will measure success primarily by how many people attend services and programs, and fail to measure what difference the gospel is making in their  neighborhoods.”
• 25 Ways to Engage Your Neighbors - “practical ideas to start engaging the people around me”
• Books that Equip Disciplemakers by Jason Dukes
• Are you a leader who is all in? 10 Characteristics of “all-in” leaders by Brad Lomenick
• The Missional Youth Group - “Youth pastors need to lead the youth to look past their own personal needs and attention to the needy in the community and church.”
• Helping My Boys Become Christian Men -
• Homeworks articles – Times-Picayune and Karen Baker’s op ed in the local picayune.

Why Plant New Churches?

I was recently asked to provide some info on why we need to plant new churches. Thought the links were worth sharing:

• Why Plant Churches by Tim Keller. “Nothing else–not crusades, outreach programs, para-church ministries, growing mega-churches, congregational consulting, nor church renewal processes–will have the consistent impact of dynamic, extensive church planting.”
• Why We Don’t Plant Church by Ed Stetzer.”new churches are the ultimate evangelistic tool because they begin with no other purpose than reaching unbelievers.”
• Assessing the Need for New Churches. “Many Pastors, me included, tend to think about a new ministry or church through the lens of what it may cost us. What if we thought about it in terms of the great cost to those who may never hear the Gospel.”
• Why Every Church Must Plant – info graphic from the North American Mission Board.
• Do We Really Need More Churches? by Ron Sylvia, excerpt from his book Starting High Definition Churches made available at www.churchplantingvillage.net.
• Why Start A Church? from Spin-Off Churches by Tom Cheyney, Rodney Harrison, and Don Overstreet.
• Northshore PROBE Results – If you’re asking the Why question in Southeast Louisiana, check out this research that points us to the fact that less than 10% of our population are attending evangelical churches.