Do you ever go out and do things without thinking about it first?  If this is a consistent way of life, you’ll likely find yourself lost or with no progress after awhile.

Measurement is critical if you want to define success or failure in any circumstance.

So what does your own measuring stick look like?

How do you define and measure the successes of your ministry?

Without being explicit in your objectives and goals, you can easily go into the slippery opportunistic mode for what you are doing with your ministry.  This is when you fall victim to whatever fire needs to be put out or whichever “great deal” or “great opportunity” comes across your way.  Or better yet, being stuck in opportunistic mode keeps you constantly behind the 8-ball or become complacent when you are able to do just enough to keep the status-quo.

The same goes for the mission of a church.  Without strategic vision and a clear set of objectives to measure against, it is easy for a ministry to loose focus and loose ground.

The Wall Street Journal featured a piece, “When the Pastor Says It’s ‘A Time to Sow‘” which touched upon just one factor of measurement worthy of consideration for any church.  Tim Keller’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC takes a suprisingly unique way to measure their own success. (more…)

Once you listen to one of Dr. Tim Keller’s sermons at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC, you’ll be hooked.

There are a lot of reasons why Keller seems so spot-on.  One of them is his approach to how the Church, with a capital C, should approach Culture — with the aim of radical and penetrating transformation.

Dr. Keller recently spoke about Cultural Transformation a couple of weeks ago at the Westminster Chapel in London. Some of the points he makes are piercing and so full of truth, that you’ll find your head nodding in agreement many times during the videos.

The observation of how culture has robbed Christianity / religion of most of its assets is an interesting one. He certainly frames the path well which our world has taken to get to our now post-Christian world in this video. . . (more…)

WARNING:

THERE WILL BE A QUIZ ABOUT THIS

SUPER-DUPER IMPORTANT MISSIONAL CONCEPT.

READ & THINK CAREFULLY!

Liquid Church of Morristown & New Brusnswick, NJ features a weekly “411″ video previewing the next week’s sermon message or events.  They usually close the promo vid by giving a call to action for viewers to invite a friend next week to church…“just don’t be weird” about it they always say.

Isn’t that great advice for sharing the Gospel or inviting friends /associates to a church worship experience?

Got it? Continue on only if you think you have completely understood this concept. . . (more…)

I recently had a conversation about the importance of building rock-solid dynamics and culture for a new (or any church for that matter) church plant with Dave Ingland  — he’s on the frontlines doing kingdomwork on the “left coast”. As a church planter, he can identify with Craig Groeshel of LifeChurch.tv who has undoubtedly encountered this very same issue in his growing multi-site multi-state network of physical church sites (13 and counting?).

Groeshel’s recent book “IT” addresses the “IT” factor which determines whether a particular ministry is set for growth and vibrancy….or not.  So I asked Pastor Dave for his review of the “IT” book.  Enjoy!

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It: How Churches And Leaders Can Get It and Keep It is the first book from Craig Groeschel that I have read. If his other books are anything like It, then it is safe to say that if you appreciate Pastor Craig’s gift of preaching, you’ll appreciate his writing style as well—they are both very similar.

It is this essence of Groeschel’s delivery that really helps to connect people to his messages. It’s a very natural, humorous, and engaging form of communication.

The title suggests that a definition and answer of just what It is will be given. Forget about that happening!

Craig Groeschel shares something tangible in his description of what It is, yet never comes out and declares a definition. We learn what is not It, but have to find out for ourselves just what It is.  That is the beauty of the book!

The “ah-ha!” Moments come when Groeschel’s words connect with your own thoughts and cause sparks to fly and change to happen.

Not only does Pastor Craig share his experiences in his search for It, he also (more…)

Some of the world’s biggest marketing successes weren’t launched by $1 million/minute Superbowl commercials, loss-leader discount promotions or gimmicky jingle-heavy radio spots.

Instead, a product, service, or person catches on when the right things come into alignment.  And many times none of this costs any money at all.

Did you know there’s a formalized discipline to crafting “buzz”?  Yup, there is.

This is the part where the Church could get a little extra boost by taking notes from. . . (more…)

My name is Benjamin White. I study Theology and the Bible at Princeton Theological Seminary — and I am a coordinator and cell leader of Circle of Hope Church (www.circleofhope.net), a network of cells in the Philadelphia metro area.

Spurred by Kenny’s recent posts, I was just looking at the websites of a few of our nation’s major mega churches (hardly an exhaustive sampling I assure you).

I noticed that none of these churches posted any real information about the people who were the church (at least not anywhere I could readily access it). All of the pictures were professional and all of the contact info was part of the machine. Look, another excellently lit, joyful mother and child fading into a sweet shot of a padded teen doing a frontside nose grind! If you need help call the prayer line! If you need childcare take this ticket and follow the blinking lights to the proper pod!

There is no way to actually connect, human to human. Where is the mess? (more…)

Known for his church of 8,000 Strong & the “fastest growing church” according to ABC News, Pastor Mark Driscoll was featured on Nightline this week.

If you know him or know of him, you are sure to have a personal opinion about if what he’s doing at Mars Hill Church is “right” or “wrong”.  (BTW, Mars Hill Church is not to be confused with Mars Hill Bible Church where Pastor Rob Bell preaches — a personal favorite of mine with his Nooma series)

Mark Driscoll has written a bunch of book that are refreshing for anyone that thinks the Church needs some shaking up, while hanging onto its core beliefs.  I want to share his ministry because anyone that wants to get to Church 3.0 needs to be aware of the things that are being done NOW to mix it up for how we “do church”.  Mark Driscoll’s work at Mars Hill is one of those data points you need to understand in order to integrate, refute or augment in your own vision for religion and Christian living.

For those that missed the TV interview, here it is again for your viewing pleasure: (more…)

I found myself in line at the grocery store in a daze, waiting for my turn to empty the wallet again (Am I the only one noticing that food prices have skyrocketed lately?).

But I suddenly awoke in noticing that the 3 people ahead of me all had these big colorful containers…of Mr. Peanut Dry Roasted Peanuts!  How odd. . .that 3 in a row picked-up the same item.

So I quickly turned around and scanned the end-caps for a promotional display. I didn’t find one, but did see the aisle in which peanuts would be found.  I abandoned the line and went in search of Mr. Peanut. Why? Purely because of the packaging.

Sure enough, I found Mr. Peanut and he accompanied me back to the checkout line (yes, I got the same spot in line again).

This impulse buy kept me thinking as I snacked throughout the week. It seemed like just another classic success story in product marketing. “Who better to serve American’s favorite peanuts than Mr. Peanut himself?”

But what I’ve come to understand in my week long relationship with Mr. Peanut is that the Church has something to learn from him: (more…)

One of the first thoughts people express when you talk about an online church or iCampus is how individualistic it might be. The first conclusions tend to head toward assuming technology doesn’t lend itself to connect people with each other.

But the true power of the Internet is aggregation of individuals. The real effect comes into play as more and more individuals who may normally never meet each other or even be aware of each other’s existence are brought together for common purposes. It’s a network after all, not billions of separated silos.

We are called to worship God together with the body of Christ, not alone in a corner. And if you take another look at the potential for using the Internet to bring together all who are yearning for greater purpose in their lives, to be encouraged by others and also encourage others as well, you’ll simply be amazed.

If you open your eyes and mind a little wider, you’ll hopefully be able to see both the “I” as well as the “US” in iCampus.

Liquid Church in NJ is taking this vision and putting it into action with the launch of their own official church iCampus in January.

Perfect for the New Year and new beginnings, why not try something new on January 11 and jump online to join in iWorship at the Liquid Church iCampus?

Current plans include digital hosts in each room, live prayer rooms where your personal spiritual needs can be met, and live video-based (multiple webcams) small group Bible study meetings online.

Pastor Dave Adamson heads up the iCampus at Liquid.  An example of the potential for this medium himself, he moved from Australia to New Jersey after connecting with Liquid from the other side of the planet!