daveferguson.org

50% Off The BIG IDEA & other Innovation Series Books

I got an e-mail from Zondervan that for a limited time this summer they will be offering all of the titles in the Innovations series at 50% off!  This offer includes The BIG IDEA, and new releases like The Multi-Site Road Trip, which I just got a copy and it looks really good!  Other books you can get at 50% off are Servolution, Deliberate Simplicity, Sticky Church, The Monkey and the Fish and more.

To get any of the Innovation Series books at 50% off, just click HERE and find the 5 digit code.

Less Talk & More Action for 100+ Students!

Over the last couple weeks we sent more than 100 students on mission trips to New Orleans, Galveston, Mexico and Philippines.  This is a pic of some of the students (including my son Josh) taking a break at the beach after a hard day of work.  I'm extraordinarily proud of our students.

Our student ministry made a strategic decision this year that rather than send our students to another conference (they already have a Blast Winter Conference) they decided that they would encourage students to go on mission trips.  I think this bias toward less talk and more action is something the church needs if we are to accomplish the mission of Jesus.

One More Reason To Be A White Sox Fan!

www.facebook.com/daveferguson is mine!

At 11:00 pm tonight they allowed people to get a user address on facebook.  I got on early enough I was able to get www.facebook.com/daveferguson  It may not seem like a big deal...but I'm pretty happy!

Those Who Preach With "Substantial Content"

Learnings at Leadership Network was asked, "What are the blogs of young megachurch pastors who preach with substantial content?"  Here you go:

• Mark Driscoll http://theresurgence.com/md_blog
• Matt Chandler http://theresurgence.com/mc_blog
• Mark Batterson http://www.evotional.com/
• Dave Ferguson http://daveferguson.org/
• Mac Lake http://www.maclakeonline.com
• Troy Gramling http://www.troygramling.com/
• Perry Noble http://www.perrynoble.com/
• Craig Groeschel http://swerve.lifechurch.tv/
• Steven Furtick http://www.stevenfurtick.com
• Josh Harris http://joshharris.com
• Bob Roberts www.glocal.net
• Dino Rizzo http://www.dinorizzo.com/

You got a couple options for debate:  "do they really preach with substantial content" OR "are these guys really young?"  Enjoy!

2 New Community Christian Sites Coming to Aurora!

If you have been on the Community Christian Church website lately you may have noticed that when you click on the "locations" tab there are no longer 9 locations but 11!  We are excited to announce that we are currently forming launch teams for both East Aurora and Aurora (North).  Both of these launch teams have already attracted a large numbers of people and look to be big impact sites. 

If you are interested in learning more about  the East Aurora site, click HERE.  If you want more info about the Aurora (North) site click HERE.

NewThing and the Carroll's are Going to Europe!

This picture goes back a few years when Bill Carroll, Jeff Prosapio and myself went to England and France to experience and learn from the alternative worship movement in Europe.  We had heard a lot about Taize worship that started and was practiced in Taize, France.  So we left Paris and drove about 3 hours to Taize to for the experience.  When we arrived we were confused because this little village couldn't have had more than a couple hundred people and the only church in town looked severely under-used.  The reason we were confused is because there are two Taize in France and we were at the wrong one.  The other was another 6 hours away.  This is Bill and I looking at the map and the two Taize's in France.

Since that time Bill and his wife Rachel have fallen more and more in love with France.  After faithfully serving at Community for the last 12 years they are getting ready to take off with the whole family to plant a church.  We are all going to miss them immensely.  Bill is a tremendously hard worker and the most tenacious recruiter and developer of artists that I have ever seen.  I am currently finishing up a book with Jon Ferguson on the reproducing church and much of the chapter we wrote on reproducing artists is from what I've learned from Bill.  It is a skill that all our arts directors value and that's a huge part of Bill's legacy.  Rachel was the founding director for CCC's School for the Arts.  We have about 400 students in our school and it has been a huge help in us developing artists young and old.  More recently she served with the creative arts team in Kid's City. Rachel is a super talented artist and tremendously creative leader.

At the end of this summer Bill and Rachel will take off for France and after going through language school will plant the first of many reproducing churches in Paris.  We are thrilled that they not only go with our blessing and financial support but also as a part of NewThing.  This will be the first of what we believe will be many new churches NewThing will plants in Europe.  Thank you Bill and Rachel for passionately giving yourself to the mission of "helping people find their way back to God".  You have served us, the people in Chicagoland and God with great love and integrity.  We are so proud of you, love you very much and will be praying for you.

Explanation of Why We Love Social Media