daveferguson.org

My Favorite List So Far

If I could pick one list for Community Christian Church to be on, I think this would be the one.  Over the last few years a number of organizations and publications have started making Top ____________ (you fill in the blank:  fastest growing, most influential, most innovative, etc) Churches.  Because God has been extremely nice to us we have been on most all of these lists.  But a new list just came out for the first time in Outreach Magazine that listed America's Top 25 Multiplying Churches.  Community Christian Church was listed #7.  I'm not sure what the number actually means and I can already think of churches that are not on the list that should be on the list.  However, of all the lists out there I think this is the one that I would most like for our church to be on.  I think multiplying or (a better term) reproducing is the best way to accomplish the mission of Jesus given to us in Acts 1:8.  We need to reproduce leaders, artists, campuses, churches and networks!  When it is all said and done, I want our church to grow fast, I want it to influential and innovative, but most of all I want Community Christian Church to be reproducing genuine biblical community that transforms people, neighborhoods, cities and the world!  I want to be a part of accomplishing the Jesus mission.

A few people have already posted regarding the article, Church Squared 2007  and the top 25 list that appeared in Outreach. 

• Troy McMahon (who is now blogging!) has some things to say about this list, CCC and how he wants to reproduce this in the NewThing church they are planting in Kansas City.
• Todd Rhodes at Monday Morning Insight gives his take...always good.
• Kent Shaffer at Church Relevance is always quick to get us the latest news, explains how the list was compiled and tells us who is on the list along with what other lists those churches have been on.
• Mark Howell at Strategy Central finds it interesting  that 17 of the 25 churches were not on any of the other lists.

All-Staff Retreat & '07-'08 Initiatives

I spent all day at our Montgomery/Oswego location for an all-staff retreat.  I really love our team.  Seriously.  We have the best people and the best time when we are together.  And today was no exception.  The only problem today was that my volleyball team did not win it all.  We were destroyed by one of the Naperville teams.  Ugh!

This all-staff retreat is critical for finalizing our initiatives for the coming ministry year (October '07-September '08).  It looks like this coming year could include at least one and maybe two new locations with our sites on a third in the near future.  We are still working out the details to see if we can pull all this off.  This next year may also include a re-defining of spiritual maturity that calls all CCC people out of a infantile spirituality to adult spirituality (more to come).  One of the things that I'm most excited about is the possibility of experimenting with new forms of church to reach people we currently aren't reaching (again...more to come).

The next step for me is to take all the input I got from our staff and summarizes these initiatives into two or three key initiatives with a memorable theme for the coming year.  Then I will present this to our Lead Team and once everyone is on board I will present it to our staff at the end of August and to our Leadership Community on September 8th.

It's the last inning, there are two outs...

Every boy that loves baseball has at one time imagined,"it's the last inning, there are two outs, my team is behind and coming to the plate is...me!" And of course in your imagination you come through with the game winning hit, right?

Tonight was fun because that imaginary dream came true.  It was the last inning, there were two outs, we were down by one run with the tying run on third and the winning run on second.  And coming  to the plate is Josh Ferguson.  On the second pitch Josh hit a line drive into right field to drive in the winning run and clinch a season ending victory 10-9.  Mom, Dad, younger brother Caleb, Grandma and Grandpa - we were all going crazy!  The whole team stormed the field and mobbed Josh after the hit.  The picture is Josh (the one with the muscles!) and a couple of his team mates (Will and Brad) celebrating right after the game winning hit!

FREE Webinar on The Big Idea Tuesday!

This Tuesday, June 26th from 10:00 AM to 11 AM (CST) Eric Bramlett, Jon Ferguson and I will conduct a webinar hosted by Greg Ligon and Leadership Network.  A few days ago we did a test-run of the technology behind the webinar concept.  It really is a great low-cost interactive way to provide access to content, people, and ideas without having to leave the comfort of your very own laptop.  The topic for this webinar is based on our recently released book, The Big Idea.  So open up your laptop, get a cup of coffee, and join us.  Best of all, it's FREE!!  Click here to register.

Leadership Lessons From McDonald's

The other day I met Jon for our weekly one-on-one at McDonald's.  As we finished and got our stuff together to walk out I noticed a sign (on your left) at one of the exits that said "go for it all".  The sign very succinctly laid out a seven step career path for someone to start as a part of the Crew behind the counter or making burgers and eventually become the Director of Operations that offers a "six-figure income" and "significant leadership" responsibility and oversight of "multiple markets".   I'm lovin' it!  This simple strategy could make McDonald's a leadership magnet.  It gives every intrinsically motivated kid a quick guide for how they can move up the ranks in the McDonald's company. 

This is a great lesson for all companies and churches!  You need a career path or a leadership pipeline and leaders need to know about it! One of the most exciting things about successful reproducing churches is that they have put a high priority and intentionality on leadership development.  In fact, research tells us that those churches that have a Campus Pastor track or pipeline experience an average annual growth of 25%.  I'm lovin' it!  And that same study tells us that the biggest mistake that multi-site churches make was "failure of attention to leadership development".

I would encourage every church to have a clearly thought out leadership development pipeline.  For the last several years we have had a leadership development pipeline or career path that I could quickly draw on a napkin to explain to emerging leaders how they could continue to expand their influence.  Here is quick glance at our 5-step leadership development pipeline:

1. Apprentice Leader (leader in training)
2. Leader (of ten people)
3. Coach (leader of up to five leaders)
4. Staff (leader of up to ten coaches)
5. Campus Pastor /Church Planter (leader of staff)

Our career path does not promise a six-figure income, but it does promise significant leadership responsibility and a huge opportunity to change this planet and a way to make an impact that will be felt for all of eternity.  I'm lovin' it!

Planting Reproducing Churches Class at Wheaton

I had a great time today teaching a class in the Evangelism and Leadership Department of the Wheaton Graduate School on Planting Reproducing Churches.  Great students.  Good conversation.  It was fun talking about church planting!  Here is my partner in this project, "professor Jon Ferguson in action.  We had a lot more material than we actually got covered.  Partly because we over-prepared and partly because we had a lot of good conversation.  In addition to the lectures we had conference call interviews with Troy McMahon who is now heading up ReachOut KC and Hank Wilson of Reunion Christian Church in Boston.  Both these guys are NewThing church plant affiliates and did a great job giving our class some insight into the "nuts and bolts" of starting a church with a reproducing culture.

If you are interested, we assigned the class to read the following books which we are discussing:

• Church Planting From The Ground Up by Tom Jones
• Planting Missional Churches by Ed Stetzer
• The Multi-Site Church Revolution by Ligon, Surratt and Bird
• Confession of a Reformission Rev by Mark Driscoll
• The Big Idea, by Ferguson, Ferguson and Bramlett

The class will continue tomorrow and then a half day on Wednesday.  We will have interviews with Dave Dummitt of 242 Community and CCC's Eli Oroszco.  Good stuff!!

If I Could Change One Thing...

I don't remember the specific topic, but I do remember the question and my answer.  I was doing a phone interview with an author who wanted my opinion on something (that's what I don't remember) when he asked me (this I remember) "If you could change one thing about Community Christian Church what would you change?"  It came at me like a curve ball to a batter expecting a fast ball.  I'm always thinking about "what's next", "how to better accomplish our mission of hpftwbtG" and "how to reproduce __________ (everything)"; but none of those pre-occupations came to mind.  The answer was a lot more simple than most things I think about; but it was clearly the one thing I would change about Community Christian Church.  I said this out loud: "If I could change one thing about CCC it would be that every person hears from God everyday".  As I said it I felt like a big league hitter who was able to wait on the curve see it hanging and then hit it out of the park.  That was exactly it - I want every person who considers themselves a follower of Jesus at CCC to hear from God everyday!

We are finishing up a series today called Eat This Book.  It has been a great series and we have received tremendous feedback.  But what I really want is a chance to sit down with each and every person at Community Christian Church and explain to them one more time why hearing from God everyday is so important to their life and to the mission of Jesus.  If I could have a one-on-one with every CCC attender here is what I would tell them:

1. Everyday Read God's Word:  Find a time everyday to read at least a chapter from the Bible.  You don't forget to eat everyday; don't forget to feed your soul everyday.  Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 4:4, "People do not live by bread alone, but by every word from the mouth of God."  If you are going to read everyday you need to get a Bible reading plan.  It can be either one that you create yourself or one that we have at CCC on the quarterly book marks or the 3C Journals.  In summary - get a plan and work your plan to read the Bible everyday!

2. Everyday Listen for God's Voice:  It's not enough just to read God's Word; you need to listen for the the voice of God speaking personally to you.  Before you read the Bible, put your hands on God's book and pray this prayer, "God, speak to me personally through this book".  Then as you read, listen with your soul to what God wants to say to you.  I usually read about a chapter from the Bible and 90% of the time there will be two or three verses that jump out at me and say something specific to me and my life.  Everything you read in the Bible is true, but there are specific truths that the Holy Spirit will speak into your life if you listen everyday.

3. Everyday Write Down What God Says:  When you sense that God is saying something specifically to you - write it down!  That is a really, really big deal when God speaks truth into your life and you don't want to forget it.  That is why I want every person at CCC to have a 3C Journal, so you can record these truths that God speaks to you.  If you write them down you are more likely to remember them.  If you write them down you are more likely to act on them. And if you write them down you are more likely to share this with others who will hold you accountable.  So get a 3C Journal and write it down!

4. Everyday Do What God Says:  Do it!  The most mature person is not the person who reads the entire Bible from cover to cover every year.  No!  The most mature follower of Jesus is the person who reads the Bible, hears from God and then obeys His voice.  So, once you hear from God do what He says.

Listen, there is sooo much at stake.  There is a good life (John 10:10) that God meant for you to live and there is a mission that He wants His church to accomplish.  The only way that you are going to live the life that God wants you to live and that the church will accomplish the mission (Acts 1:8) that Jesus left for us to accomplish is when we hear from God everyday!!  That is the one thing I wish that I could change about Community Christian Church - that every person hears from God everyday!!

"Will You Sign My Book"

Ok, this was funny...  Eric and I finished our breakout session at the WillowCreek Arts Conference, The Big Idea:  Creating a Healthy Relationship Between the Lead Pastor and Lead Artist and started walking toward the atrium to get some lunch.  As we are walking down the hall, we notice that Bill Hybels is coming our direction.  I've recently gotten to know Bill better since I'm in a group of eight leaders from Chicago with him; so we stop and talk for minute.  He asks what we were doing and we told him we were doing a breakout on our book, The Big Idea.  He told us that he hadn't got a copy yet, so Eric (literally) pulls a copy of our book out of his pocket and hands it to him.  Then Bill holding The Big Idea says to Eric and me, "Will you sign my book?"  So imagine this scenario:  Eric Bramlett and Dave Ferguson signing a book for Bill Hybels.  Made me laugh! 

Ok, (just for fun) here is my question:  If Bill Hybels asked you to sign a book for him, what do you write in it?  Leave me a comment.

Willow Creek Arts Conference & The Big Idea

Left the Yellow Box this morning around 6 am to make the trek to mecca and be a part of the Willow Creek Arts Conference.  You can take all the shots you want at mega churches and how we don't need facilities (and I don't think facilities are necessary, oly important), but Willow's facility is remarkable!  Eric and several other CCC staff were here yesterday.  I guess Eric got his moment of fame on the main stage.  Sounded like he was very funny - if you want to check it out, click HERE.

Eric and I just finished up a "cup of coffee roundtable" with a handful of arts leaders from across the country who wanted to talk to us about The Big Idea.  Kinda fun.  In about an hour we will be doing a break out for a few hundred people on The Big Idea:  Creating A Healthy Relationship Between the Lead Pastor and the Lead Artist.  Eric and I always have a good time doing this.  I am the one who over prepares and he is the one who wings it.  He always gets more laughs; but I like to think he needs a straight guy to get his laughs.  So, I will be playing the part of the straight guy. 

It's still kinda weird to walk into some place and see a book you wrote on a shelf...particularly when it is right next to a book by Donald Miller.

Also, kinda cool - thanks to a friend at the WCA I got to meet Mark Miller who is the Vice President of Training & Development for Chick-Fil-A.  He wrote a book with Ken Blanchard and John Maxwell titled, The Secret:  What Great Leaders Know and Do.  I have not read it, but I will.  He offered to connect at a later time to discuss franchising.  With 8 CCC locations and 13 NewThing affiliates, the more I understand about franchising the better.

Plain Joe Studio

Some of the places where we really excel at Community Christian Church are in starting new things; leading with a yes and an entrepreneurial spirit.  And I love it!  It has been challenging but we have done a terrific job of making sure all that new stuff is aligned with our mission to "help people find their way back to God."  But along the way we have had a hard time making sure that all stuff has a similar look, feel and brand.  So, a bunch of us will spend today with a group from Plain Joe Studios.  At the end of this process they are going to help us deliver a consistent experience of our brand at all our locations and through all our ministries.  I'm really looking forward to this!  I believe if we can tighten up our brand it will only give people more confidence to invite their friends to be a part of CCC at any of our locations.  Stay tuned...

Feels Good To Get Caught Up

Normally I take off Mondays, but I worked today since I'm planning on skipping out Friday and taking the whole family to the beach.  It is amazing how much you can get done when you have extended periods of uninterrupted time!  Since I don't have any  regular appointments on Monday I just worked straight through.  Wow!  I finally got caught up on all my e-mail and had some time to think about a few other things that are really needing some brain-power.  So, right now I'm feeling pretty good because I'm caught up (relatively speaking...I'm suddenly thinking of stuff that I'm still behind on...but I don't want to spoil the moment). So for now it feels really good to be caught up!  Yes!!

Join Me at Wheaton for Planting & Growing Reproducing Churches

There is still time for you to sign up and join Jon and me at Wheaton College Graduate School for a summer seminar, Planting and Growing Reproducing Churches.  I'm really pretty pumped about the chance to teach this class!  The seminar is scheduled for Monday thru Wednesday, June 18-20.  If you haven't yet registered, you can still get in on it.   You can register for 2 credit hours towards a graduate degree or you can just audit the class.  For more information, click HERE. 

In addition, Jerry Root will have a class that follows ours on Wednesday thru Friday on C. S. Lewis:  Apologist of the Head and Heart.  It will be great stuff.  So, if you're in town or live nearby, be sure to join us!

Preaching Today & The Big Idea

I mentioned a couple weeks ago in a post It's About Transformation, Not Information that I did an interview with Preaching Today.  They wanted to discuss our book, The Big Idea and how we use it to guide the teaching of Community Christian Church.  The complete interview will be on their website and since we did the interview in-studio they may decide to use it for their monthly Preaching Today CD.  That probably depends whether they thought it was good stuff or not!?

Whenever I do an interview I always will ask for the questions in advance.  I have my assistant type them up and print them out for me while leaving space to write out answers, thoughts and illustrations.  Since I still have that paper I thought I'd give you some of the Q & A that took place in the Preaching Today interview:

QUESTION: So that we are all on the same page in our conversation, would please take a moment to explain your concept of "The Big Idea".

ANSWER:  This morning I got an e-mail from the New York Times with the latest news.  That single e-mail contained more information than the average person in 17th century England would have access to in a life-time.  On February 1st we published The Big Idea; that was one of 1000 books that came to print that day.  We are in the middle of an era of information overload!  Once, more information was a good thing - but now we are being bombarded with more information than we can ever process.  And we are doing the same thing in the church - we are bombarding people with more information than they can process.  From the moment people pull into the parking lot till they finally drive home they get hit with a multitude of little ideas: a different little idea in the program, singing, announcements, teaching, etc.  Why is that a big deal?  Because our teaching is to instruct, motivate and lead people to accomplish the mission that Jesus left for us (Acts 1:8).  And if people can not process and begin to really live out what we are teaching we are all wasting our time.  We believe the solution is not more, but less.  We teach one BIG IDEA every week to our adults, students and children in our larger group worship services (at all locations) and in our small groups.  Why?  Because we want them to not just know it, but live it out.  Our goal is transformation, not information!

QUESTION:  What role does the sermon play  in the BIG IDEA process?  Chief?  "Just one of the crowd"?

ANSWER:  Our goal is not to write great sermons OR to produce great worship services.  Our goal is to transform people into followers of Jesus.  We believe teaching is key to that transformation!   At CCC teaching leads the BIG IDEA process; but it is one of among many arts that make up a variety of experiences that point people toward a BIG IDEA for following Jesus!

QUESTION:  CCC has adopted a team approach to sermon preparation.  Tell us a bit about this process.

ANSWER:  Most teaching teams that I know function like a baseball team's pitching staff.  You have a 4-5 man rotation and everyone knows who is the ace.  Each person takes their turn on the mound and it is up to them all alone to deliver the message.  At CCC our teaching team is more like a basketball team.  All 5 players are on the floor and important to the success of the team. While a play is designed for one player to take the shot all the players will touch the basketball and run the play.  Everyone has a role to play and in order to score and win the game we need each person on the team.  We have multiple teachers from CCC and our NewThing Network that all contribute to the content and the writing of the message.  This process allows us to get a better message in less time and finish a complete manuscript several weeks in advance of teaching.  While everyone does not deliver every message, we all contribute to make it a winner.

QUESTION:  How could someone in a smaller church without a multiple staff adopt this method for sermon planning and preparation?

ANSWER:  Here are 4 steps to implementing the BIG IDEA teaching process:

1. Find 2-3 other pastors to be on your team.  These are probably pastors that you like and look forward to hanging out with when you have the opportunity.
2. Have a meeting to plan your BIG IDEAS in advance.  All you need is a calendar and agreement on what series and themes/topics you will do each week.
3. Agree on a process where you will "procrastinate early".  Determine how far in advance (1 week, 2 weeks or longer) you want to have your sermon/message finished.
4. Pick a time every week that you will meet.  The meeting can be face to face or by phone.  At this meeting you will agree on a sermon outline and then divide up sections to different members of the team to write it.

QUESTION:  You plan your BIG IDEAS 1 year in advance.  Would you advocate that for all preachers? 

ANSWER:  Yes!  We waste soooo much time and mental energy just trying to decide what to teach.  This kind of planning saves you all that time.  This kind of planning also allows you to align an entire worship experience around one BIG IDEA.  The biggest barrier to this happening is the Lead Pastor/Senior Pastor's willingness to plan in advance.

QUESTION:  From your experience what are some of the benefits of the BIG IDEA for the teaching team?

ANSWER:  There are more than a dozen benefits, but let me give you four:

1. Better Theology:  God meant for us to live in community.  Like every other function of the church our teaching is better off working with others within their area of spiritual giftedness.
2. Better Content:   When you have multiple teacher involved and you plan well in advance you will never have a "off'" week.   
3. Better Illustrations:  More people involved in the process results in more stories!
4. Better Use of Time:  What is amazing about the BIG IDEA process is that you will get a better message in about half the time. 

Where Do You Go To Get Staff?

I got an e-mail from Dr. Paul Boatman of Lincoln Christian Seminary last week.   He was working on an article about hiring staff from within a church versus going to a seminary to find staff. Dr. Boatman wanted to get my opinion on the topic; so the following is some of the questions and answers in our cyber conversation:

1. Does Community Christian have a "policy" regarding hiring staff who lack formal theological education?

No.  In fact we have very little "policy" about anything.  Policies tend to be reactive and you create them because you haven't found any other way to get people to do what you want them to do.

2. Can you describe your personal perspectives on the practice of hiring staff who lack a formal theological education?

The first qualification we look for in potential staff is “proven faithfulness”, not formal theological education.  We are definitely not against a formal theological education (I have one!), but that is not what we look for first when trying to find new staff.  "Proven faithfulness" tells us a lot about a person's giftedness and passion.  We think that is very important.

3. Can you briefly share how you develop potential staff members?

Most of our staff are people who have come from within Community Christian Church.  Typically, these are men and women who have proven their faithfulness as an apprentice leader; then as a leader, next as a coach and often times as an elder at CCC.  What I just described (apprentice leader -> leader -> coach) is our internal “leadership pipeline”. 

4. Have you seen instances (in your church or elsewhere) where "hiring from within" was the preferred pattern?

Yes.  At CCC it is currently the preferred pattern and practice.

5. What are some of the advantages of hiring staff from within your church?

Here are seven advantages of hiring a person from within:

1. A “person from within” - you can observe their character before hiring.
2. A “person from within” - you can observe their proven faithfulness before hiring.
3. A “person from within” - you can observe their giftedness in action before hiring.
4. A “person from within” understands and buys into your philosophy of ministry!
5. A “person from within” understands and buys into your vision!
6. A “person from within” loves that local church!
7. A “person from within” offers a lot fewer surprises! 

Missing Pieces...

One of my Outlook folders is titled, "Blog Ideas".  And whenever I run across something that has to do with Community Christian Church, NewThing Network or something I think is interesting I just slide it over there until I can eventually include it in a post.  I'd say about 50% of the stuff never makes it to my blog.  Occasionally I take a look at all the stuff that missed making my blog and and I throw it all into a single post.  So that you don't feel like you missed out on anything - here are all the missing pieces.

• A lead article in the Leadership Network Advance is titled Churches Responding To The Age Wave and it features Community Christian Church's Carillon Campus and Earl Ferguson.
• I've been reading Alan Hirsh's book Forgotten Ways (a great read that I highly recommend) and checking out his blog too.  Here are a couple posts that are worth reading:  Church Follows Mission and Distilling The Message.  And if you like that stuff, check out my dinner conversation with Alan last month.
• Did you know that according to a study done by the University of Chicago that Pastors ranked the highest in job satisfaction and general happiness out of any occupation?
• Bill Carroll has some great pics and a quick review of some the fun we had when the NewThing Network Lead Pastors were in town for the NewThing Gathering.  Matt Payne also gives his own review of this (at the least) annual gathering.
• John Jackson gives us his list of leaders who make me think.  Brian Jones lists the biggest Christian Church influencers.
• Not sure what to make of this, but Floating Axhead says that we are moving toward "One Church" and that the NewThing Network is one of those leading the way.
• Mark Nelson tells us why he believes in The Big Idea.  And Josh Reich lists The Big Idea on his list of must read books for preaching.  And if you love The Big Idea we have a date for the very first Big Idea Practicum - September 17 & 18.
• John Ciesniewski made a big impression on David Putnam of ChurchPlanters.com after a recent visit to CCC when they discussed FTE's.
• Dave Travis of Leadership Network tells us that he has received more than 50 reports from large churches where they have baptized in the hundreds on a single weekend.
• Matt Mahaffey is going to plant a new church in Miami on January 20th.  I think this church plant has big potential. He paid a visit to CCC and talks about it on his blog.

CCC Does It's Own Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Here is one more reason I love Community Christian Church!  We just finished up an extreme makeover of a home for a woman in our community (who didn't go to CCC) and it was amazing!  Just read this article from the Joliet Herald titled, Mom Asks For Washer, Gets Home Overhaul.  After you click and read the article, think about Matthew 5:16, "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in Heaven."  Great job to our Romeoville Campus for making this happen.