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What Shane Claiborne Would Say To Church Planters

At the Urban Church Planting Forum we brought together some leaders from very diverse backgrounds within the evangelical world to discuss how we can plant missional churches in urban settings that are bringing about transformation that God wants to see.  Shane Claiborne was able to join us by conference call and was terrific!  His passion for Jesus and his love for people comes through with every world that he spoke.  I like putting myself in front of people who will challenge my thinking and methodology.  It's a great place to be stretched and create new possibilities and synergy's.  Shane did that.  When we asked Shane what he would say to a room full of church planters here are a few of his comments along with some of my own thoughts and questions.

"Beware of the commuter mentality."
Shane is a big advocate of the Parrish  church and believes that life is better lived in a walkable community that is designed to human scale.  I can't argue with that.  I agree.  We have partnered with a couple developers who have designed and built communities around new urbanism principles.  But on the other hand I can hear Lyle Schaller telling me, "the automobile is here to stay, so what are you going to do about it?"  What do you think?  How should church planters create genuine Biblical community in a place where most people use automobiles for transportation?

"Beware of political neutrality"
Shane pushed this one pretty hard when he said, "we do no justice if we separate the social from the personal gospel."  He went on to say something I'm still thinking about: "don't choose a political ideology; rather support and be involved in a political ideology."  OK, I'm going to have to wrestle with this one.  I am fully committed to community development.  We need to do this and Jesus calls us to do this.  After that it gets difficult for us at Community since we have locations in both under-resourced communities made up largely of first generation immigrants and we have locations in affluent suburban communities that are predominately Anglo.  You think they have similar political ideologies?  Probably not.  So what do you think, is political advocacy the way to go or should the church focus on changing peoples hearts one at a time and allowing those changed hearts to do acts of service in the community?

"Beware of big and celebrate small."
Shane said that above his door is a sign that says, "small things with great love or don't answer the door".  Gotta love it!  He described the ministry he is involved in and how they do all their ministry out of their homes.  He said, "church has to be lived out at the dining room table." He laughed about how mega-churches are trying to create small groups out of their large churches to give people the experience of community.  All good stuff.  Here is my question:  what do you do when you start a church, like we did at Community with a handful of college friends and it grows from one small group to five small groups to now hundreds of small groups with 5000+ attenders at 8 locations?  Am I just being defensive?  Is "big" really the problem?

Urban Church Planting Meets Community Development

Today we start the second day of the Urban Church Planting Forum.  We have brought together some of the very best practitioners and thinkers on the topics of church planting and community development.  We gathered people from suburban and urban mega-churches, urban ministries, church planting organizations, Willow Creek Association, Christian Community Development Association.  The conversation has been challenging and stretching.  Here are some of the most significant take-aways so far:

• It seems that God is at work bringing together the best of church planting leaders and the best of community development leaders.
• In the last 16 years the population of the United States has outpaced the number of churches.  We need 51,000 more churches just to keep up with the growing population in the U.S.
• There is a growing desire among the emerging generations to see the church be involved in justice and community development.  We see success as defined differently than just growing a big church.
• We have an expertise about how to plant churches.
• When looking for leaders in under-resourced at-risk communities you need to start by looking for local affirmation.
• Emerging leaders who want to plant churches in urban settings they need to go through an immersion in the city and an incubation process.
• A great resource for new churches are graduating colleges students who will be looking to relocate.  Another great resource for new churches are half-timers who are  trying to decide where to place their affluence and influence.
• Starting a new church with a CBO (community based organization) so as to do a needs assessment and understand community strengths allows the new church to do community development from the very beginning.
• It will take 12-18 months to plant a church if you are also starting a CBO alongside that new church.

Think it's been cold in Chicago lately...

Someone told me the other day, "oh yeah, the thaw begins in Chicago in late February...". I think that might be wishful thinking.  So for all of you who are trying to find a reason to go south and think it's been really cold in Chicago lately, read about this guy and you will feel toasty warm!

21-Day Challenge thru the book of Psalm

Today is day #14 in the 21-day challenge to journal through the book of Psalm.  If you are a part of Community and you are taking on this challenge with me, how you doing?   Today we are on Psalm 55.  I love the way it ends, "But as for me, I trust in you."    Just checking. 

The Less I Post...

OK, I don't get it.  It seems that fewer posts on this blog results in more subscribers to this blog.  I have only posted one time in the last five days and I have seen a significant jump in subscribers.  Does that mean the less I say, the greater influence I have?  Weird!

And just because I didn't find time to write about this week doesn't mean that nothing happened this week.  It has been an amazing week! 

MONDAY: I flew out to Washington, D.C. and met with Todd Wilson and Jay Steenhuysen to talk about catalyzing a movement of reproducing churches.  There are currently three obstacles:

1. Leaders - creating a pipeline of young emerging leaders.
2. Training - equipping these leaders with how to lead a reproducing church and/or a network.
3. Funding - the finances to make it all happen.

If we can implement the stuff we talked about; then we could see that movement we all dream about!

TUESDAY:  Had some great meetings to put the finishing touches on the Generosity Conference that we are planning here at Community on February 2nd.  It is going to be an event that will mark the history of CCC.  In the afternoon I had a National Board meeting for the Institute For Community where we reviewed a plan to put a community facilitator (think church planter!) in 500 apartment communities across the United States in the next five years.  I love it!

WEDNESDAY:  A day full of meetings at Community where I met with all-staff, Campus Pastors and Lead Team.  In the afternoon I got to connect with Dave Dummit, the Apostolic Leader for one of our NewThing networks - he's doing a great job!  And then I got to connect with Dave Richa, who is in my  NewThing network and the guy who got NewThing started when he moved to Denver to start a church.

THURSDAY:  Great meeting with Ed Bahler and Joe Myers about the Cornerstone Knowledge Network.  After we talked about CKN we took a ride out to East Aurora with Kirsten Strand and I think we may have experienced one big God-thing!  I saw an old beat-up 50,000 sq. ft. building, but those guys saw a space that could bring transformation to a whole community. Stay tuned.  In the afternoon, Eli Orozco and I got to visit the Chicago Dream Center and see the amazing stuff that Wilfredo DeJesus and New Life Covenant Church are doing in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago.  Great stuff. Kingdom Stuff.  On the way home I got to catch up with  Alan Hirsch on the phone and talk about his main session at the Exponential Conference.  I love that guy and I love how he is graciously challenging the body of Christ.  He believes that the U.S. is at a pivotal time and it could either experience great revival or go the way of Europe.   I agree.  I believe God is going to use church planting and reproducing churches to save the day! That night Tim Sutherland and I took the boys to my first Chicago Blackhawks game. The first Blackhawks game for a Chicago grown boy!  Thanks for the tickets and the suite, Chuck!

FRIDAY:  Tried to take the day off since I worked on Monday.  Squeezed in an interview with Outreach Magazine for a future cover story on the state of Evangelism in America.  Pretty big topic and I'm not sure I'm qualified, but it was fun talking to Lindy about the church and what we see happening.  Finished  answering some questions for a chapter in a book that Geoff Surratt is writing.   It  will be a winner...watch for it!

And that brings us to today.  See, I wasn't loafing.  I just didn't get a chance to post about it.  But thanks for subscribing anyway!!

Taste of Small Groups

We had another first this weekend at Community.  For the first time ever we had a "Taste of Small Groups".  I was at our Yellow Box location in Naperville and it was wildly successful!  We had booths and displays representing all kinds of small groups>  service groups, neighborhood groups, alpha groups, young adult groups, women's groups, support and recovery groups and more!  Some of the groups were bribing people with nachos, others with cookies, brownies and Twitzlers.  But my favorite was the chocolate fountain where you could dip apple slices, graham crackers, marshmallows or pretzels.  Anything to get people in small groups!!

File Under "Good Stuff"

I don't know where you want to file this stuff?  If I was filing it, I would put it in the file under "good stuff".  So here is some good stuff I've ran across in the last few days:

Did you check out Jon's post, "You Know You Are Not Leading When..."  It is getting a lot of attention in the blog world and now he is bragging about all the hits he is getting on his site!  But I have to admit, it's good stuff!

Tammy also had a great post about Kid's City Leadership Pipeline  Greg Ligon, author of Multi-Site Revolution (and all around good guy) read this and says that Tammy "is the one of the greatest places to get answers on multi-site and  leadership development."

In case you didn't get the word, Community was named one of the most innovative churches in the country.  In the last year we have been on the most influential list, top reproducing list, fastest growing list and now most innovative list.

Scott Longyear did a quick interview with me on Resonate.  I'm not sure this actually falls into the category of "good stuff", but since he put it on his blog, I thought I ought to at least acknowledge it on mine!?!

This weekend we start preview services for the opening of our ninth campus, CCC-Plainfield on March 2nd.  If you are wondering why Plainfield will be a great community for a new location check out this article from the Herald-News and this research by the Gadberry Group.  We already have about 170 people in our launch team and it looks like this is going to be a great launch!

Seems like The Big Idea is getting another surge of interest.  Cool.  Here is one guy who said, "Of all the books that he read in 2007 that The Big Idea and Communicating for Change had the biggest impact in my life, ministry-wise."  And another blogger put it in their top books for 2007.

And since we have our Generosity Conference coming up on February 2nd...I thought I should give you a peek at this article that says there is research that says "Giving Makes You Rich".  You decide!

Leadership Community - A Must Monthly Event!

One of the most critical events in the life of Community happens on the first Saturday morning of every month. Once a month we gather all our leaders (adults, students and kids ministry) from all of our locations for Leadership Community. Check out the Vision time from our January Leadership Community to see and hear about our initiatives for this year and why Leadership Community is such an important event for us.

I believe that Leadership Community is an absolute must monthly event for CCC.  If I was to choose only one gathering for our church, I would choose the small group.  If I got to add a second gathering, I would choose Leadership Community.  Third would be our celebration service.  That is how important I believe Leadership Community to be.  So, why do we need Leadership Community?  I'm glad you asked.  Here are at least three reasons.

• Vision Leaks - Even the best of leaders get worn out and discouraged and the vision that once inspired them to "keep on" begins to leak.  I once heard Carl George say, "the vision dies every 60 days"; that is why we need to keep the vision in front of all our leaders on at least a monthly basis.
  
• Leaders Need To Be Around Other Leaders - Only leaders know what it is like to face the challenges of leadership.  And because of that for leaders there is nothing like the encouragement of being around other leaders. So at Leadership Community we put leaders into coaching huddles where they can talk, trouble-shoot and pray together.
  
• It's a Great Place To Sharpen Your Leadership Skills - There is a specific skill-set that is needed to be the most effective leader you can be.  So at Leadership Community  we offer specific skills training so that leaders can be their very best!

At the September Leadership Community I lay out the vision for the coming ministry year and explain the 3-4 all-church initiatives that we are going after.  This year our initiatives were the following:

1. Reproduce A Campus In Plainfield
2. Operation Generosity
3. Alternative 3C Communities
4. Defining Spiritual Maturity

Usually in January I come back to those initiatives and give an update.  I did that that again this year.  It is our goal to have every leader understand where we are going as a church and to have all of us moving in the same direction.  This month, we captured the January Leadership Community vision time on video for our CCC leaders to review and share with others and for those outside CCC to check out.

Generosity Conference at CCC on February 2nd

One of the new things that God is doing at Community is challenging us to be an even more generous church!  And the biggest shift is an understand that generosity is not something God wants from us, it’s something God wants for us.  During the first 2 weekends in December, we called an Audible and shared a bigger vision of what we believe God is calling us to as a church.  This vision includes a real strategy for accomplishing the following:

• Eradicate Poverty
• Help1 Billion People Find Their Way Back to God

A vision that big requires commitment, sacrifice and generosity beyond what we have ever experienced.  What are the barriers we need to overcome to accomplish this vision?  We asked you that question and we heard your answers:

• Debt
• Budgeting
• Generosity: Obligation vs Opportunity

How can we begin to help each other move beyond these barriers to advance this vision?  On February 2nd we will host the CCC Generosity Conference at the Yellow Box from 9am-1pm.  Come join us and hear from James MacDonald, Senior Pastor at Harvest Bible Chapel, and Patrick Johnson, Vice President for Church Partners at the National Christian Foundation.  The day is packed with powerful worship and practical breakout sessions (addressing the three things listed above!) as well as refreshments and a complimentary delicious lunch!  Additionally, I will be delivering a message on Generosity With a Purpose.  You won’t want to miss it!  Complimentary lunch and programmed childcare with fun activities will be provided, so you must register so that your lunch and childcare spot will be reserved.  If you want to get more info or register, click HERE.

It's Really This Simple...

On Thursday morning I stay at home and teach my youngest, Caleb.  Yes, we home school (insert joke or militant statement here.) and it has been a great experience for us.  But that is not the topic of this post.  The topic is that the first thing that Caleb did this morning was to pull out his Kids' City 3C Journal (the pic to your right is a Kids' City 3C Journal), read some from the Bible, reflected on it and wrote down a few things along with prayer.  First thing! I love that.  And I am grateful to our Kids' City staff for not only creating this 3C Journal but also reinforcing the value that kids need to start their day with God.

Just yesterday I was working on a book outline with Jon and we ran into our good buddy Scott Hodge at a Starbucks where we hang out and we were talking about how it all comes down to something this simple:  hearing from God and courageously obeying Him everyday!  That is it!  It really is that simple.

• My life would be all that God meant for it to be if I would just hear from God and courageously obey Him everyday!
• Community would be exactly the kind of church God meant for it to be if we would all just hear from God and courageously obey Him everyday!
• The mission of Jesus: all people finding their way back to Him and every man, woman and child living with hope for today and eternity would happen, if we would all just hear from God and courageously obey Him everyday!

It really is that simple - hearing from God and courageously obeying Him everyday!  Way to go Caleb!

WCA Defining Moments featuring The BIG IDEA

I jut got my February issue of the Willow Creek Association's Defining Moments.  Defining Moments is a monthly audio journal where Bill Hybels and Nancy Beach interview church leaders.  A few months ago they invited Jon Ferguson, Eric Bramlett and myself to discuss our book and the concept of The Big Idea.

This was a really cool experience for us.  First, it's just cool to talk with Bill and Nancy.  Secondly, it is almost un-imaginable that they are actually interviewing us!?!  Thirdly, it was very weird to think that they both sat down and read The Big Idea.  And lastly, Hybels gave The Big Idea a huge endorsement.  He was so enthusiastic about The Big Idea that I almost didn't believe him!?! 

If you don't subscribe to Defining Moments, I highly recommend it.  I have been a regular listener for several years.  And if you want to get a copy of the Defining Moments on The Big Idea, click HERE.

Exponential '08...one more reason to be there!

I got a text on Sunday afternoon from David Chrzan, Saddleback Church Chief of Staff (now that is title!) asking me, "Do you still want Rick to speak at Exponential on April 24th?" And what is the answer if to that question?  "YES!" So we talked yesterday and I was given 100% confirmation that Rick Warren will be speaking at the Exponential Conference this year.  So, if Andy Stanley, Tim Keller, Alan Hirsch and the largest gathering of church planters and reproducing church leaders in America is not enough...now you have one more reason to come to Exponential  '08!

Outreach Magazine Interview about Innovation (part 3)

Over the last few days I have been posting the Q and A I did with Outreach Magazine as a part of their just released Americas Most Innovative Churches issue.  I would encourage you to not only get this issue but figure out a way to have your staff do research on each of the top 25 most innovative churches and then discuss innovations that would be applicable to your context.  This is the third and final post.  If you want to go back and read the entire interview, here is part 1 and here is part 2.  Enjoy.  In this interview I focused on three particular innovations at Community and directed all my comments toward those three applications.  OK, now back to the interview on the topic of innovation.

 OUTREACH: Do you know of other churches that are following your lead in these areas? How are you intentionally resourcing or teaching other churches in these areas?

• Multi-Site to Poly-Site: We have trained thousands of church leaders in how to become a multi-site church through a variety of conferences, practicum’s, training events and mediums. Most of these churches are reproducing sites exactly like the original site and because you want to build upon successes we encourage churches in this direction for their first off-site. However, there are a growing number of churches that are realizing that we need all kinds of sites to reach all kinds of people – those churches are making the transition to poly-site. Our doors at Community are always open and we allow leaders from other churches to   come and hang watch us. In addition we offer a Multi-site Practicum 3-4 times a year where we work with leadership teams that are preparing to go multi-site. Our commitment is that they will leave with a step-by-step plan for how to go multi-site that fits their context. We also offer a Hitchhikers Guide to Multi-Site where church leadership teams and spend the weekend with us and get a vision of what a reproducing multi-site church looks like.
• Network to Networks: I don’t know of any churches in the western hemisphere that are leading networks where they have made this transition. There may be others, I just don’t know about them…but I would like to know about them!!
• Partnership with under-resourced public schools: Just recently we have begun coaching      another church that is exploring this model of outreach through partnering with public schools.  We have offered workshops at local conferences to share the model with other churches.  We are planning to become more intentional about this, as we receive requests from around the country from churches intrigued by this model.

OUTREACH: In your opinion, what were some of the keys to making these innovations work?

• Multi-Site to Poly-Site: At Community we not only have a leadership culture, but I believe an entrepreneurial leadership culture. And these entrepreneurial leaders have embraced the following values that foster innovation:
  • Rather fail than not risk something new.
  • Bias for the new over the established.
  • Love the lost more than the found.
  • Prefer the edge over the center.
• Network to Networks:  We are ready to trade our lives for the dream of “being a catalyst for a movement of reproducing churches”.  When we talk about this we ask, “What would it take to impact one billion people?” I believe that kind of commitment to a dream forces you to take risks and re-think how you are doing church. This kind of commitment and re-thinking has led us to reproducing networks.
• Partnership with under-resourced public schools:  A commitment from the senior leadership down to be a church that is intentional about reaching out to people different from themselves is where this starts.   This vision must be cast and recast and recast and recast.  Then it will require weekly messages that continually challenge people to move out of their comfortable life-styles toward a lifestyle of generosity.  However, the pivotal moment came when we had hired a full-time staff person to lead this outreach ministry. And when that person was so passionate that she and her family sold their home in affluen t Naperville and moved to an under-resourced neighborhood in Aurora this innovation really got some momentum.

OUTREACH: Does your church host an annual conference for other churches? If so, what are you communicating that you believe these churches aren't hearing anywhere else?

• Multi-Site to Poly-Site:  We offer a Multi-site Practicum 3-4 times a year where we work with      leadership teams that are preparing to go multi-site. Our commitment is that they will leave with a step-by-step plan for how to go multi-site that fits their context. We also offer a Hitchhikers Guide to Multi-Site where church leadership teams and spend the weekend with us and get a vision of what a reproducing multi-site church looks like. In addition to that, we regularly participate in conferences on the multi-site church. For more information check our NewThing website.  
• Network to Networks: We offer a Reproducing Church Experience several times a year that gives leaders and church planters an understanding of the culture of a reproducing church. This is foundational to understanding how to reproduce artists, leaders, campuses, churches and networks. For more info check our NewThing  website.  I am also serving as the President of the Exponential Conference which is the premier event for church planters and leaders of reproducing churches.    
• Partnership with under-resourced public schools: Hmmm ... not yet!

Revolutionaries Series To Start This Weekend.

Being a Christ-follower is not a religion or merely a set of beliefs that you acknowledge as true.  When you make the decision to be a Christ-follower, you are called to be revolutionaries who changes the world.  This weekend we will be begin a series that is appropriately called Revolutionaries. 

We will build this series around the biographies of some Christ-followers who revolutionized what it means to follow Jesus: John Wimber, John Wesley, and Jim and Elisabeth Elliot.  As a part of this series we will be producing a film based on an original screenplay called “I Will Follow” where these three sets of characters interact in a fictitious setting. We will parallel these different characters lives to the life of King David to help people experience the importance of celebrating, connecting, and contributing.  If you want to check out the movie trailer, click HERE.

This will be a series that will challenge you, impact you and if you let it - revolutionize your world.  Invite a friend by clicking HERE.

Outreach Magazine Interview about Innovation (part 2)

In the upcoming issue of Outreach Magazine they interviewed a number of people to discuss innovation in the church.  Since I spent some time answering all these questions and only some of them are in the article, I thought I would go ahead and post my response to their questions in full here.  This is the second part of  the interview.

OUTREACH: Tell me about the impact you've seen/experienced--metrics (if you have them), inspiring anecdotes, personal experience.

DF: In some cases we have seen significant impact and in other cases we are just beginning to see what I believe will be a huge impact from these innovations.  I’ll comment on each:

• Multi-Site to Poly-site:  In addition to the “regular” sites that we have, Community has also reproduced a site that is meeting in a 55+ gated golf community. This site is one of our most healthy locations: we are seeing people become Christ Followers at the age of 75-85. This location is on a good growth curve, and has 20% more people in small groups than at their weekend services! We also have a growing and dynamic site that is in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago; a community that is made up of first generation Spanish-speaking Mexican immigrants. In the coming year we are looking forward to starting another Spanish-speaking site and beginning to experiment with 3C Communities. 3C Communities will be sites of our church that do not meet at a church facility. They will meet in “third places”; offices; health clubs and other locations where our leaders can assemble them. We are estimating that at least 35% of the current population will never under any circumstances enter into a church people. These 3C Communities will go to them. 
• Network to Networks: Two years ago we had four churches in this young church planting network. Last year we had eight churches in the NewThing Network. This year we have doubled again and now have sixteen churches and are going international. As the network continued to expand it was becoming increasingly obvious that a movement will not be made up of a single network. So, this last year we reproduced two more networks and now NewThing has three networks led by apostolic leaders. What is inspiring is seeing the ownership of this network shift from one church and a few leaders to many churches and many high-capacity leaders. All of our new churches have plans to go to multiple sites (many this year) and all are involved in reproducing other new churches
• Partnership with under-resourced public schools: We have become a church that knows you    can’t call yourself a church unless you care about the poor.  We still have a lot of growth to do in this area, but regularly we challenge our congregation to give of their time and resources to be involved in the lives of people different than themselves.  Our relatively resourced and primarily Caucasian church has partnered with the public school system in a neighboring community that is almost 90% Hispanic and where nearly 70% of children are considered low-income. Through the schools, we have built relationships with teachers, administrators, students, and parents.  From the beginning our focus has been on relationship building and “community development” rather than simply providing hand-outs and donations.  We provide such things as tutoring, ESL classes, and community events such as a Christmas Gift Mart, parent mentoring programs, teacher support, and internship opportunities for students.  We have taken the approach of SHOWING the love of Jesus before PREACHING the love of Jesus.  As wedevelop relationships in the community with other churches, non-profit organizations, the city government, and the schools, we are building a base of support for a church or site we will plant in the community.  Before the church opens its doors, it will be seen as a church that is highly invested in the community. We challenge people to start by helping at a big event and then moving to more regular, consistent service, and even to the point of relocating their families to    under-resourced communities . . . to do as Jesus did and live incarnationally among the poor.  We’ve seen parents empowered to get involved in their children’s school, students make academic progress they wouldn’t have made without extra support, people who have seen faith in God as a rigid set of rules start to question what it means to have a personal relationship with Christ.

OUTREACH: What were the challenges and risks involved in innovating in one of these areas? How did you overcome them?

DF: The risks and challenges almost always involve: fear, finances and finding the right leadership.   Here are the details as they apply to specific innovations:

• Multi-Site to Poly-site: It is definitely a harder work and there is a greater rate of fatality when you start sites that are not the same as the “successful” site you are already operating. We      even had one site that failed. But we have always believed that if we don’t have some sites that fail that merely means that we are not trying enough new things. So you overcome the fear of failure by assuming that part of the price of innovation is failure. And as followers of Jesus we are not called to success, we are called to risk and as a leader that sounds like innovation to me!
• Network to Networks: The greatest challenge in moving from a single network to reproducing networks is relinquishing control and putting your trust in other leaders. We knew that control is really only an illusion and that our dream would never come true if we held onto the illusion of control. And then God sent us some great leaders in Dave Dummit (242 Community Church) and Greg Lee (SunCrest Christian Church) an we asked them to step up and lead one of our networks. We are just beginning to see the benefit of this; but it is clearly the right strategic move if we ever hope to see a movement of reproducing churches. 
• Partnership with under-resourced public schools: The biggest challenge we faced was      people’s fear: fear of working with people that speak a different language; fear of physical safety; fear of committing time and money to such a needy area; fear of moving out of      comfort zones.  We have had to provide people with lots of different opportunities to get involved at all different levels.  We make it very easy for people just starting out on this journey of working with the poor and culturally different to just show up and experience an activity      in a large group.  Making that first step is the hardest and then we have lay leaders whose primary role is to coach and guide people as they want to move deeper and deeper into a serving life-style.

(more to come...)

Outreach Magazine Interview about Innovation (part 1)

I did an interview with Outreach Magazine for their January/February issue on America's Most Innovative Churches. I got an advance copy of the magazine and there is some great stuff in this issue.  I also got to be on the panel that helped nominate churches for America's Most Innovative Churches list.  That was fun, and much more challenging than I thought.  I really tried to find innovations that were occurring in churches that no one had ever heard of and nominate them.  But if there is cool stuff happening out there, chances are someone has heard about it already. Anyway, that is another post for another day.  Some of the interview they used in their cover story and some of it they edited out.  So, over the next couple days I will post some of the Q & A from that interview.

OUTREACH: If you think of innovation as something new--something that hasn't been done before--what would you say are three of the most innovative initiatives/strategies your church is doing currently in the context of outreach or you're doing through your church?

DF:  There are a number of innovations in the works at Community, but three that seem to be gaining traction are the following:

• Multi-Site to Poly-Site: Our vision at Community is no longer just to be multi-site, but is to be poly-site and to reach out to more people and more different kinds of people. A Poly-site church reproduces not just sites, but many kinds of sites to reach many kinds of people.
• Network to Networks Community’s NewThing Network is now NewThing Networks.  NewThing is not only reproducing new churches but has made a shift to reproducing networks. It is the reproducing of networks that will allow us to be a catalyst for a movement of new churches.
• Partnership with under-resourced public schools. Community’s partnership with under-resourced public schools is helping transform a neighborhood, our church and provide outreach opportunities beyond our imagination!

OUTREACH: What prompted you to try these initiatives/strategies?  What was your motivation?

DF:  I don't mean to sound hyper-spiritual, but we really believe that these things are promptings by God's Spirit...God-things!  And our motivation is always to "help people find their way back to God" and to accomplish the mission of Jesus.  Here is some more on each of these innovations:

• Multi-Site to Poly-Site:  Most of the current thinking and application amongst multi-site churches is to reproduce new sites exactly like all the rest. At Community we currently have eight locations in Chicago  and our dream is to have two hundred sites. The dream forced us to ask ourselves, “how can we reach the growing senior population; how can we reach the growing ethnic populations; and how can we reach the emerging generation who may never come to a church facility?" Those questions and subsequent opportunities brought these initiatives. And our motivation is always: “helping people find their way back to God”.
• Network to Networks Our motivation comes from NewThing’s dream: “to be a catalyst for a movement of reproducing churches.”  This dream requires that we move from a single network of reproducing churches to reproducing networks of reproducing churches!
• Partnership with under-resourced public schools. After over a decade of strategically focusing our outreach on people like us, we knew it was time to expand our focus beyond people like us and into places that were culturally and economically different from our own community.  We knew we needed to help our congregation live out the 3,000 versus in the Bible that talk about poverty and injustice and our responsibility as Christ-followers to do something about that.  Our motivation was a commitment to live out the whole gospel and serve and reach people in a wholistic way---by meeting physical, relational, economic and spiritual needs.

(more to come...)

6 Questions for Discovering Your God-Given Possibilities

For the last several years I have used the last week of the year and the first week of the new year to evaluate who I am; who does God want me to be and how I am doing.  The process has continued to evolve over the years, but much of it revolves around prayerfully working through six questions. These six questions help me discern the God-given possibilities for my life. 

There is just something powerful about writing down (or typing on your computer) your goals and having an intention about who you want to become!  I can now look back and remember writing down that I wanted to plant a church; write a book and start a church planting network.  Would those things have happened if I had not written them down?  I don't know for sure.  I do know that writing these down and reviewing them periodically keeps me moving in the direction that I feel God is calling me. I personally think everyone should do it.  So, I would encourage you to get some time alone and prayerfully work through these six questions:

1. What is my PURPOSE?  It starts with a purpose statement.  Just write something down.  Don't let this question intimidate you.  You can always edit your answer later.  Here is how I answer that question now: "To be a Spirit-led leader at home, church, and in new ventures resulting in a movement of people finding their way back to God."  It has taken me a few years of revisions to get that down.  It's a little long, but it includes everything that it is important to me.  So take a shot and write down a purpose statement for your life.
2. What is my PASSION?  Next you should list the things about which you are passionate.  There are four things about which I'm passionate:  Jesus, family, church and new ventures.  So, what are you passionate about?  List them.
3. What are the POSITIONS I hold?  Next I list all the positions I hold in relationship to the things about which I'm passionate.  For example, in relationship to my family I have two positions:  husband and father.  Another example, in relationship to to my church I have at least four positions:  visionary, Lead Pastor, teacher/motivator and intercessor.  List all the positions you hold in relationship to the things about which you are passionate.  You get the idea.
4. What are the POSSIBILITIES for my future?  This is my favorite part - dreaming with God about who He wants me to be in the positions He has put me in.  This is where I begin to dream about all the possibilities for my life.  This is the long view and it answers the question of who I will have been after I have lived on this planet for 75 years. (I'm planning on living to 75 and if I get more time that will be bonus!)
5. What is the PATH for making that future possible?  Now that you have a list of all the possibilities for your life you need to figure out the path to get you there.  I have a path that I break into 5 years chunks of time.  There are markers that I need to meet every five years if I am going to see those possibilities for my life ever happen.  So take a look at your list of God-given possibilities and create a path with markers along the way that show you are progressing towards those possibilities.
6. What is my PLAN for this coming year?  The last question you will want to answer has to do with 2008.  This year is the next step on the path to your future.  So, write down your plan for this year and make sure that it is taking you towards the next markers on your path to your God-given possibilities.

Happy 2008!