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CCC is Top News Story and News Maker of 2006

I just found out that according to the Daily Herald that in 2006 Community Christian Church was one of the year's big stories.  Why?  For being named one of the most influential churches in the country.  If you are interested in seeing the list and finding CCC, click HERE.  And then the next day (because of CCC) I was listed as one of the news makers of the year.  There is long list of news makers, but if you want to see for yourself, click HERE.

Register for C2C Multi-Site Conference & Get FREE The BIG IDEA!

If your church is interested in going multi-site then you don't want to miss this premier event:  Coast-to-Coast Multi-Site Conference.  December 31st is the deadline for the $70 discount off the regular $299 price.  The first two times we held this event it sold out and I'm sure that this one will sell out too! So sign up now! 

And for everyone who registers for the conference you will get a FREE copy of our book coming out February 1st, The BIG IDEA: Focus the Message, Multiply the Impact.

They wanted to create some buzz for the Coast-to-Coast Multi-Site Conference and The BIG IDEA book. So they did a video interview with Jon and myself about CCC, multi-site and using the BIG IDEA.  I enjoyed it.  Check it out HERE.

stuff I couldn't throw away...

Community Christian Church is finishing up the most amazing year in our history and we are finishing it with a bang!   I don't have the exact numbers from last weekend but it looks like we are going to have a record attendance and record giving!  Wow!  A perfect ending to a year where we started two more campuses; completed a successful stewardship campaign to reach the next 5,000 people by starting seven new sites; a greater focus than ever on serving under-resourced people; and our NewThing Network starting to realize the dream of catalyzing a movement of reproducing churches.  I love this church!

While I have you here there are few things that I just couldn't throw away and I thought I would share them with you.

• I didn't get to comment too much on CCC being listed #7 on The Most Innovative Church list but Todd Rhoades has some thoughts at Monday Morning Insights.  Make sure you read the comments too!  Tony Morgan also had some thoughts.  And Gary Lamb makes a good point in his Mind Dump.  It sounds like some people don't agree with the list.  And some people are getting tired of these lists. What do you think?
• George Barna gives us his own list.  It's a list of the 12 Most Significant Religious Findings in 2006.  Take a look and let me know what you think...I'd like to hear your reaction.
• A great article from the Daily Press found (again) by Todd Rhoades about how Crossroads Community Church in York County, Virginia went to multiple sites. The cool part is that Crossroads is one of several churches that NewThing coached in this last year and we saw successfully reproduce a new site! 
• The ChurchPlanters.com Conference is getting some buzz.  Gary Lamb who knows church planting is hyping this conference.  And the guys at ChurchPlanters.com are getting pretty pumped too about the breakouts at this conference!
• But as long as we are talking about buzz - the Exponential Conference (which I'm serving as President) definitely has a buzz!  We will more than double our number of registrations from last year.  Check out this list of speakers.  Get the latest podcast from Ed Stetzer.  Now you know why they are calling it the largest gathering of church planting leaders in the world.

There is more, but that is the stuff I just couldn't throw away.  One man's garbage is another man's treasure.

Merry Christmas!

The First of 25 Christmas Experiences

What a great night!  We just finished the first of 25 Christmas Services at Community Christian Church this weekend. I was at the Naperville Yellow-Box location and the orchestra, jazz band and rhythm section were awesome!  They did a 30 minute pre-service concert and it was spectacular.  The only bad part about being multi-site is that even though I got to be at one location I missed some really great stuff at our other locations.  I really wanted to see Renea Taylor and our 50 voice choir (yes, we started a choir) at Romeoville!  And I love our 11 pm Christmas Eve Service At Montgomery...it feels awesome in that space.  And I hate to miss the first Christmas service at Yorkville or Chicago-Pilsen.  And Carillon always has the best hospitality.  And Naperville DownTown is the most missional and Shorewood is our fastest growing...? (Did I mention them all?) Since I'm not speaking tomorrow morning I will pick a CCC site...maybe CCC-Chicago/Pilsen?  But tomorrow night I'm back at the Naperville Yellow-Box for 5:00 pm , 7:00 pm and 11:00 pm.  And within 48 hours we will have had 25 Christmas services at 8 CCC locations.

CCC - #7 America's Most Innovative Churches

About 6 weeks ago I told you we got a call from Outreach Magazine wanting to talk with us about some the innovative ways we are doing church at Community Christian Church. In the process they hinted that we would be on the list of the the top 25 most innovative churches.  Well, I just got an e-mail from Eric Bramlett telling me that Outreach published their list and Community Christian Church is #7.  It's kind of like being the 13th Most Influential Church in America - I'm not sure it really means anything...but I hope it means something.  You know?

Since I just found out I haven't read the article, but I will.  After I get a chance to read it I'll give you my take.  But for now take a look at the list, read the article and let me know what you think.  If you want to read the article, click HERE.  If you want to check out their top 25 list, click HERE.

CCC-Pilsen featured in Outreach Magazine

A great article in the current on-line version of Outreach just came out that features CCC-Pilsen titled, Multi-Site Goes Inner City.  It  is a great interview with Eli, Sam and Tony.  I'm sooo proud of those guys.  God is already doing great things through them, but I'm certain it is just the beginning of stuff that can only be described as God-sized. 

If you don't know the story behind how Eli and the rest of the team got connected with Community Christian Church then read the article and click HERE .

If you are interested in church planting or doing multi-site in an urban context then you definitely need to read the article.  You know the routine...HERE.

Good Food, Great People!

Good food and great people is the best way to describe our all-staff Christmas party last night.  Oh, and I shouldn't forget Mark Nelson and his jazz quartet who set a great festive vibe.  There were 130 of us (can you believe that when we get all of our staff and their dates together that there are 130 of us...wow!?!) that got together at Keywester last night and really had a great time.  It was room full of some of the most amazing  people I know.  I can't tell you how much I love this team.  They totally get community and they totally get the mission.  And when you put a group of talented people together who love each other and love the mission of Jesus that is an unbelievable combination. 

Here is a pic of me and my date last night.  She is looking great, I'm looking a little sleepy.  All in all - an awesome night with good food and great people!!

"Pod Preacher" in Crain's Chicago Business

Crain's Chicago Business has a section titled On The Clock where they highlight different business leaders.   I mentioned that they did a phone interview and a quick photo shoot with me a couple weeks ago.  Anyway the article came out today and is titled Pod Preacher.  They thought it was cool that we do a podcast and they ran with it.  In the article they give me credit for the podcast.  The truth is that our podcast includes the teaching of Jon, Tim and myself and it's Eric that does all the tech work and gets it on the web.  The podcast is the audio of the shortfilm that we produce every week as one of our teaching products on the BIG IDEA.  If you want to read the article you can click HERE.  If you are interested, you can subscribe to the CCC podcast by clicking HERE. 

"First Christian Viral Videos"

A couple months ago during our Christian No More series we produced four "Mac vs. P.C" parody videos.  Eric has been doing a good job of keeping many of you in the know.  But for those of you out the loop the first of the four videos has now recieved more than 132,000 views and they are being called the "first Christian viral videos in the online era". In case you haven't been following this it has created quite a bit of conversation (some good and some not).  Throughout this little controversy the CCC staff has stayed out of the discussion.  Tom Greever, CCC's Media Arts Director who produced the videos decided to do an interview with MicroExplosion and explained his take on the videos.  Tom did a great job.  If you are interested in the interview, click HERE.

The Power of Passion

Passion is a tremendously powerful thing! I love this picture of conductor Benjamin Zander - a tremendously passionate person.  His talk at a WillowCreek Leadership Summit a few years back was passionate and stirring!

I was reminded again of the power of passion in a very memorable way at a recent campus pastors meeting.  We were looking at our newcomer follow-up process because that is an area we need to improve at every CCC campus...every campus but one.  The one CCC campus that seemed to be excelling at newcomer follow-up was our Romeoville location.  At CCC-Romeoville 35% of all the people who identify themseleves as newcomers come to Connecting Point.  And of those newcomers that come to Connecting Point 95% of them either get connected to a small group or start contributing through a ministry team.  Those are very impressive stats and we wanted to know why it was different at CCC-Romeoville.

We invited Kari Berg who oversees the follow-up process at CCC-Romeoville to come and tell us how they were getting it done.  She explained how they collected names of newcomers from a variety of places - good, but nothing new.  She explained how they had contacted people within 24 hours of coming to CCC for the first time - good stuff, but I've heard that one.  She even wrapped up her presentation with a five step process - great, but nothing brand new.

But what came next I had never seen before.  Kari held up a newcomer form that a brand new attender had recently filled out.  She explained, "This card represents a person who is searching...they are searching for something."  She held that card like it was a winning lottery ticket and went on, "So, before I call each of these people I pray and ask God to guide my conversation with them."   She looked at the card now with tears in her eyes and said, "Each of these people have a story that has brought them to us...and each of these people are someone that I get to help find thier way back to God."  I had never seen anyone become emotional over newcomers cards.  I usually just thought of the card as a name, phone number and e-mail address that should be on a data base.  Kari didn't even call them newcomer cards, she called them "the golden ticket".  Because of Kari's passion for newcomers I wanted to call people.  I wanted to help with follow-up.  What I saw in Kari was someone who was absolutely passionate about follow-up.  It reminded me that passion is a very powerful thing!

What is it that makes passion so powerful?

1. PASSION IS CONTAGIOUS

We all have unique gifts given to us by God.  We all have a particular personality that was given to us starting at birth.  God also places into each of our hearts a passion.  Of the three:  gifts, personality and passion; passion is transferable.  Passion is the one I can give to someone else.  Passion is contagious.

2. PASSION IS EXPERIENTIAL.

I could literally feel Kari's passion as she talked about the importance and process of following up on new people.  I didn't just learn how to do it.  Through her I felt what it was like to feel passionately about a calling.  Hearing Kari talk about follow-up was not just informative, it was an experience.

3. PASSION IS ENROLLING.

When the meeting started I wanted each of our CCC Campus Pastors to find a leader and a reproducible process for following up on newcomers.  After spending time with Kari I wanted to DO follow-up myself.  Because of her passion I wanted to be a part of her cause!

4. PASSION MAKES A MEASURABLE DIFFERENCE.

Why did CCC-Romeoville have statistically better numbers in regards to follow-up than any of the other seven CCC locations?  Yes, I think they do a better job of getting names of newcomers.  Yes, I believe their 5-step process is good.  But the reason for the statistical difference is mostly about the passion of one leader!

Can't Miss Conference - CHURCHPLANTERS.COM

Over the next several months I'm getting some really cool opportunities to speak at some great conferences and great events.  But one event that I'm really excited about is the CHURCHPLANTERS.COM CONFERENCE.  Why?  Here are four reasons why I'm totally pumped about the ChurchPlanters.com Conference and why you should register now and join me:

1. Mountain Lake Church - This is the team that is putting on the conference and they are a model church planting church.  Shawn, David, Chad, Casey and the gang - these guys at Mountain Lake really get it!  I got to hang out with them a couple months ago when they came to CCC for our NewThing Multi-Site Practicum and I was really impressed.  I am personally pumped about getting to see what these guys are doing up close. 

2. Perry Noble - I have never met this guy, but I keep hearing phenomenal stuff about his leadership.  Perry planted NewSpring Church in 1998 and it has become one of the fastest growing churches in America according to Outreach Magazine.  I hear he is a phenomenal communicator and pure motivation.  The rest of the main session speakers are great! The line up includes: Shawn Lovejoy, Ed Stetzer, Matt Carter (and myself).  The only one of those guys who I haven't met or heard speak is Perry Noble.   I really want to meet this guy.

3. Church Planting - Anything that has to do with church planting has my attention.  I'm convinced that the future of the church will be with reproducing churches.  Our dream at Community Christian Church is to be a reproducing church which includes planting hundreds and hundreds of churches.  Our dream for the NewThing Network is that each of our churches will become a reproducing church and start their own network.  The ChurchPlanters.com Conference will be one of the premier church planting events in the wold!  If you are as into church planting as I am, don't miss it.

4. Warmer weather - I love Chicago and I am absolutely convinced it is the best city in the world!  But it will nice to get a break from the -30 wind chill factor on February 26 & 27.

If you want to register and you should, click HERE.

Three Books...

I'm a little overdue in updating my book list so here are three that I'm recommending.  None of these books would fall into the category of Christian or spiritual, but I enjoyed each of them for different reasons.

I'm still finishing up "The Starfish and the Spider", but I'm totally into it.  The Starfish and the Spider argues that organizations fall into two categories: traditional “spiders,” which have a rigid hierarchy and top-down leadership, and revolutionary “starfish,” which rely on the power of peer relationships.  If you cut off a spider’s leg, it’s crippled; if you cut off its head, it dies. But if you cut off a starfish’s leg it grows a new one, and the old leg can grow into an entirely new starfish.  The subtitle, "the unstoppable power of a leaderless organization" isn't inaccurate.  The examples of the organizations, movements and tribes do have leaders, but not a single leader.  This book has a lot of application for anyone who is interested in reproducing multiple church sites or a movement of new churches.

"Monster" is what the prosecutor called 16-year-old Steve Harmon for his supposed role in the fatal shooting of a convenience-store owner.  It holds you in complete suspense till the very last page and beyond.  Monster is brilliantly written as though you are reading the diary of someone who is imprisoned and working on a potential screenplay.  My daughter Amy recommended this because "Dad, you only read stuff about leadership".  She is right.  I need to read more stuff outside of my usual genre of church, spirituality, management, leadership, etc.  Monster is definitely worth the read.   

And now back to more of the usual stuff. "The Brand Gap" is a great quick read that gives a tutorial on brand strategy and management.  You and your organization do have a brand.  The question is whether or not you will be intentional about what you do with that brand.  The brand is your voice and how others perceive you. 

Interview with Crain's Business Chicago

Something a little different today.  I was interviewed by Crain's Business Chicago for the On The Clock feature.  They seemed very surprised and interested that a church would have a podcast and produce a shortfilm every week.  I guess maybe it is different; it just seems normal around here. 

On The Clock is a once a week feature where they do a profile on a Chicago business leader.  Usually it profiles a person with a career that is a little different than your average business person. Last week it was Jay Congdon who is President and one of the disc jockeys for Fourth Estate Audio. The week before that it was Edith Vosefski who is the founder and owner of The Etiquette School of Northern Illinois.  So I'm not sure how you jump from DJ to manners to pastor, but they did.  It should be published in the next couple weeks. 

Extreme Bedroom Makeover!

I got back yesterday from my trip to NYC (more pics and details to come) and to my surprise after being gone for about 48 hours my wonderful wife did an extreme bedroom makeover!  She had completely stripped off the old nasty wallpaper, patched the wall and then painted our bedroom!  I was totally  surprised and completely impressed!  Not only is she a babe, a great mom, but also a home improvement expert!  Way to go Sue!!

Interview with Christian Standard

I just finished an interview with Brad Dupray of Christian Standard.  The topic was the wide spread acceptance of the multi-site church and an effort to better understand this new life form in the church.  I'm not sure when the article will actually be in print, but if you are interested you can download the notes that I proofed before sending to Brad right here: Download Christian_Standard_Interview_proof.doc .

BIG IDEA endorsed by Leonard Sweet

The BIG IDEA is now completed and going through the final stages of editing before it is released at the end of January.  As a part of the process we are now getting back some of the endorsements for The BIG IDEA.  Here is an endorsements from Leonard Sweet...

"I finished this book with an emotion I have rarely felt as a reader and reviewer:  regret that it was not longer.  The BIG IDEA shows how to do little large, and with mega impact.  The authors deserve a prize for giving their readers a maximum return on a minimum investment of time and money.  I predict (and hope for) many more BIG IDEAS.  I'll be recommending this book to so many people that I'll be doing my part contributing to their church's fun fund'."  - Leonard Sweet, Drew University, George Fox University, wikiletics.com

New York, New York

After speaking at our Naperville locations and kicking off our new series Christmas Chaos (which went great!) I got on a plane and headed off to New York City.  Tomorrow I'm going to a management team meeting for the NewThing Network church plant in Manhattan, Forefront Church.  The rest of the day will be spent hanging out with some other Lead Pastors of NewThing church plants including Dave Richa of Jacobs Well Church, Dave Dummit of 242 Community and Hank Wilson of Reunion Church.  It's a tough job, but somebody  has got to do it! :)

CCC or NorthPoint? Yes or No?

I ran across an interesting couple posts that compare the church cultures of North Point Community Church and Community Christian Church.  David Rudd compares the cultures by using the words "Yes" and "No".  He has an initial post that he titled, And Then The Light Bulb Went On... and then a second post simply titled, Continued...  To me it was interesting for a couple reasons:  1. It was interesting to get an outsiders take on CCC and our culture.  2. It was also interesting to hear someone compare us to a terrific church like North Point. 

His BIG IDEA is that North Point says "No" a lot and that CCC says, "Yes" a lot.  He then points out that North Point has a strategic "No" and that CCC has a missional "yes".  If you read his two posts, tell me what you think.