I spoke at the Campus Church tonight... and hopefully made much of God's mission, reconciliation, and the cross. It's late and I am tired, but Liberty is not what I remembered. Tonight was 5000 students in God centered worship, some dancing, many on their faces, and all there voluntarily. All good-- just not what I expected. More soon, including updates on my meetings tomorrow to help Liberty plant 500 new churches in the next 5 years.

Update:

Now that I am bit rested and am sitting in the airport, let me share some more.

I graduated there from Liberty in 1995 (an eternity ago!). The school was doing well, but nothing like it is today. I was impressed with several things:

1. The students.

What an amazing collection of students. After I spoke, I had students say hello from all over the country. I even made a side comment about Mongolia-- and there was actaully a student from Mongolia who said hello. Amazing diversity. And, I was impressed with their commitment to Christ and passion for His mission.

2. The worship.

Honestly, I was surprised by the worship service. It was powerful and moving and much more contemporary then I expected (in other words, more what I was used to). Ergun Caner mocked me for being surprised, but he did not know what it was like when I was here over a decade ago! Grin.

It was great-- not cliché driven pep rally worship, but God-centered passionate praise. Ergun says he has the best job in the world and I can see why.

3. The plan.

We met this afternoon with Jonathan Falwell and about 15 others to talk about how Liberty and Thomas Road could help facilitate 500 church plants in the next 5 years. I think they have some traction there. Expect to hear more in the future from them on the subject. I think they have some great ideas and look forward to seeing them developed.

4. The campus.

If you have not been to Liberty lately, you should take a look-- it is quite an impressive facility, and growing every day.

A good day... and now time to go home and see my wife and daughters!

Recently, I shared some of the places I will be teaching. I am honored to teach at these different schools and enjoy the time to do so. However, I need to focus my teaching so that I can have more interaction with faculty colleagues, ongoing contact with students, and a more focused teaching schedule.

The folks at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School approached me a while back to talk about joining their faculty. The timing was not right as I was heading to LifeWay. However, since I have moved to LifeWay, we have talked again about how we might work together.

So, after recent faculty interviews and discussion with our LifeWay leadership, it was announced yesterday that I will be joining the faculty as Affiliate Professor of Research and Missional Ministry at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (and I have to learn to call it "TEDS" now that I am part of the team there).

I will not be leaving LifeWay, but this will help us at LifeWay Research by having access to students who are engaging in research and also help us connect to evangelicals in need of our research services. .

There are few schools who have assembled the scholars that the have at Trinity. I am currently in the process of co-editing a book with David Hesselgrave, Professor Emeritus of Missions that includes a chapter from Paul Hiebert, the recently deceased missions professor at Trinity. These men are some of the leading scholars in the world... and Trinity has a whole new generation of scholars as well.

Trinity has asked me specifically to help bring a "missional�? emphasis and I look forward to doing so.

I look forward to working with my new friends at Trinity-- world class scholars with a passion for global evangelization.

Thanks for Craig Ott and Tite Tienou for the invitation and their partnership.

This morning I left Orlando and it was in the 80s. Right now, I am in Chicago and it is 5 degrees. Ugh.

From the weather service:

At 1035 PM CST...radar indicated an area of snow across the Chicago Metro area extending into much of Northwest Indiana... travel conditions will be extremely hazardous. Blowing snow will continue to reduce visibilities to a quarter mile or less in open locations...with localized visibilities approaching zero... west winds gusting to 40 to 50 can be expected. The combination of the cold temperatures and very strong winds will produce wind chills of 20 below to 30 below zero overnight. If you must travel...allow plenty of extra time to reach your destination and exercise extreme caution.

Here's a quick recap of the week so far:

We had a good day yesterday in Orlando with the folks at Global Church Advancement. I taught on missional church planting. It was always good to get dinner with friends Steve Childers and Bart Johnson.

Early this morning, I jumped on a plane from Orlando to Chicago (where I am right now).

This is Church Planting Week at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. It also included an Acts 29 bootcamp. So, I did two sessions this afternoon. Then, we went to dinner with the Evangelical Free leadership and Trinity Faculty up at the seminary "mansion." It was a great time of dialogue about how a seminary can train church planters.

Then, Mark Driscoll, A.J. Hamilton, Scott Thomas drove off and went out for Buffalo wings. It was good to catch up with them and some other old friends... although Mark almost killed us driving back through the snow.

Tomorrow morning I catch a flight to Lynchburg to speak at Liberty University and meet with Jonathan Falwell, Ergun Caner, and Dave Early to talk about their aggressive new church planting plans.

More tomorrow about future teaching plans.

Here are a few Saturday night misc. items.

New Series

Tomorrow I will start a 4 week series on stewardship. The morning message will be based on :

1 Chronicles 29:10-14 (HCSB) "Then David praised the Lord in the sight of all the assembly. David said, "May You be praised, Lord God of our father Israel, from eternity to eternity. Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty, for everything in the heavens and on earth belongs to You. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom, and You are exalted as head over all. Riches and honor come from You, and You are the ruler of everything. In Your hand are power and might, and it is in Your hand to make great and to give strength to all. Now therefore, our God, we give You thanks and praise Your glorious name. "But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? For everything comes from You, and we have given You only what comes from Your own hand.

The series will include:

• God's Ownership (1/27)
• Debts Dangers (2/3)
• Greed's Antidotes (2/10)
• Money's Purpose (2/17)

Upcoming Conference:

I just received a nice note from Tim Keller. Tim has invited Mark Driscoll, CJ Mahaney, Darrin Patrick, and me to come to N.Y.C. for a conference in April. The conference is called "dwell" and it will focus on urban ministry.

The theme is built around Jeremiah 29:4-7:

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters--that you may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace.

It is my anticipation that after hearing Tim I will want to move to New York City, C.J. will make me want to be more humble, Darrin will make me want to be more culturally aware, and Mark will get me in some sort of trouble.

And, I do love N.Y.C., having been reared just outside of the city on Long Island.

Upcoming Conference:

The folks at New Spring Church have asked me to share about their upcoming conference. I have had the chance to share a platform and visit with Perry Noble, and the growth of their church is remarkable. Also, Tony Morgan (who send me this info) was on a panel I moderated at the National Outreach Convention.

Here are the fast facts on Unleash:

Unleash 08 hosted by NewSpring Church in Anderson, SC on March 13
One day. Two main sessions with Perry Noble. 14 breakout topics.
Featuring worship music from Lee McDerment's new CD.
NewSpring launched in 2000 and has grown to over 8,000 people each weekend. The Church is located in a town of only 25,000 people.
Early bird registration deadline is February 11.
Learn more at NewSpringMinistries.com.

Perry and Tony are both in my Bloglines reader and they both challenge my thinking.

A New Podcast

Doug Baker, a friend from way back, is leading a new podcast feature called InSight. Doug is now on the saff of the Baptist State
Convention of North Carolina and he recently sent me info about the new podcast. You can read the press release here.

His most recent interview is with Nathan Finn. Nathan is an emerging young scholar that does a great job blogging at The Fullness of Time.

The bowtie makes it hard for me to completely me endorse him (see our exchange about it here). Before reading the ugly reality of my bigorty, keep in mind that Nathan called me "pernicious" and, after looking that word up, I have to make a comment about the bowtie.

I see Nathan as one of those few who can demonstrate firm convictions, a sense of humor, and an irenic spirit. May his tribe increase.

If he just did not wear a bowtie...

Note:

Now, this leads to the obvious question: if you mentioned Unleashed and Insight because they asked, will you mention my conference/blog/podcast/t-shirt sale?

Probably not... but these guys are friends, so what can you do? Grin.

Schedule Next Week:

Next week is a crazy one.

On Monday, I am in Orlando at Global Church Advancement with Steve Childers (prof. at Reformed Seminary). You can find out more here.

Tuesday it is off to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago for a joint E.Free. / Acts 29 / Trinity church planting focus. I preached at Trinity's Church Planting Week a few years ago, so this is basically the same type of event.

Wednesday it is off to Liberty University to speak to Thomas Road's Wednesday Night "Campus Church" to speak on church planting, then to consult with Jonathan Falwell, Ergun Caner, and others about their plant to plant 500 churches in 5 years.

It would appear, based on the schedule, I am interrupting the series that Ergun is currently teaching: "Sex in the City of God." I imagine the attendance will drop from its current thousands to dozens when I don't address that topic.

Please pray for God to be glorified, for close flights to not misconnect, and for strength!

I am sitting in the airport heading back from a long day of teaching and conversation yesterday and the Evangelical Free Church Midwinter Ministerial. I was the guest presenter and the topic was, "Insights from Emerging Church Ministries and An Evaluation of Emergent Church Theology."

I will also be posting some of the documents I mentioned here at the blog.

I think it was a good day. My hosts had told me that many were coming "loaded" on the topic, but I think we ended with better understanding and clearer communication.

At one point, I had those who would consider themselves "emerging" raise their hands. I think the attendees were surprised at how many indicated they were.

I asked the emerging folk if they felt the presentation was fair and accurate and they indicated it was. (That is important to me because I think there are a lot of 9th commandment issues out there related to the Emerging Church.)

But, I am also a conservative evangelical missiologist, and I think that came through in the talks.

At the end of the day, I think we left with better understanding and God was honored in honesty, humility, and dialogue. We will post the audio soon.

As I mentioned last week, I was teaching at Biola University at their Talbot Seminary.

I always enjoy teaching and they give me some freedom to do so at LifeWay.

Last week's course was was:

D.Min., "Church Planting and Revitalization�? at the Talbot School of Theology, Biola University.

The course is part of the second year residency that is described as follows:

The purpose of the second year residency is to introduce strategies for turning around declining churches and for restoring health and growth to established churches.
An emphasis on church planting and multiplication as the primary means of effective evangelism is also explored. Strategies and practices of church planters, such as how to use demographics, select and train church planters, and daughter church planting will be studied.

Biola has put together a nice church planting track and you can find more info about that here.

If you have any interest in taking a class together, here are a few upcoming classes I am teaching:

D.Min., "Church Growth and Renewal�? at Reformed Theological Seminary

July 14-18, 2008, I am at Reformed Seminary (as I have the last two summers). They have asked me to teach, "Church Growth and Renewal�? a required course in their Doctor of Ministry Core (DMC 804). The description reads:

An exploration of church growth and renewal dynamics from a biblical, theological and cultural perspective. Topics include corporate prayer, worship, preaching, teaching, small groups, evangelism and ministries of mercy & justice. Special attention will be given to developing missional churches that engage today's culture with transformational gospel ministries.

Mark Dever and I taught the class last year and you can find the syllabus here.

D.Min., "Church Planting�? at Liberty Seminary

During the week of August 11-15, I will lecture in Dave Earley's class at Liberty. I am not the professor, but I am just lecturing. But, since Rod listed me on his newsletter (see here), I thought I would return the favor.

I will be there speaking at the Innovate Conference, which is Jonathon Falwell's remake of the former SuperConference.

D.Min., "Missional Church�? at Biblical Seminary

Then, Feb. 9-13, 2009, I am at Biblical Seminary in Hatfield, PA. Here is the course description for DM901 "Entering the Missional Conversation�?:

The impulse for a missional approach to theology, church, and life arises from the notion of mission as a central aspect of the character of God. The actions of the triune God are reflective of this missional character and explain the primacy of mission that is at the heart of the biblical narratives concerning the work of God in human history. This missional perspective involves continual intellectual and imaginative reflection on the interaction between the Gospel and culture and the creative outworking of this activity in socially embodied form of communal life. This course will introduce the ongoing conversation concerning the primacy of mission for Christian thought and practice and provide an orientation for further advanced reflection in missional theology and leadership.

John Franke is teaching the class this year and I will be teaching it next. I will probably edit the syllabus a bit since John and I are so different and I don't use phrases like, "socially embodied form of communal life.�? Grin.

D.Min, "Missional Church�? at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

March 9-13, 2009, I will be teaching at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Il. We have not yet nailed down the title of the course, but they did want me to lock in the dates. So, we did.

It will be a missional church focused course, I am guessing very similar to the course I am teaching at Biblical Seminary.

We are also discussing an M.Div. level course for the fall of 2008, but that is not certain yet.

D.Min., "Missions, Evangelism, and Church Growth�? at Southeastern Seminary

Finally, June 1-4, 2009, I will be teaching at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. I will be teaching one of their four core courses for their newly redesigned D.Min. program.

Southeastern is working hard (and succeeding) at becoming "the�? missions school. There are some exciting forthcoming programs in the school.

For the future:

I like the diversity of locations, but I am teaching at too many places. (In 2007, I taught at Midwestern Baptist, New Orleans Baptist, Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, Indiana Wesleyan, and Reformed.)

I do teaching like this because I find it more personally enriching than conference speaking. For example, yesterday I spoke to several hundred pastors in Alexandria, LA. I had a great time, but honestly was only able to connect personally with a handful over break times. Teaching is a better opportunity to build community.

But, that community is best done by focusing and not being everywhere. So, in the coming weeks, I will be focusing my teaching... more soon.

I just returned from Louisiana College in Alexandria, LA. Yesterday, I did a pre-conference seminar on Come Back Churches. Then, I preached to the annual evangelism conference last night and this morning. They are still meeting, but I headed home to be with my family.

It was good to meet some new people and visit with some old friends.

It was particularly nice to spend some time with Eric Geiger. Eric is, according to Thom Rainer, the brains behind the book Simple Church. He is also fun to be with so he has no sense of driving direction at all (long story, but he got us lost).

Two fun moments with Eric:

1. When we discovered we were preaching from the same text. (We still used the same text, but I altered my message a bit so he could drill in on his theme... which I am sure he did exceedingly well.)
2. When he told me his mom was watching over the Internet and "texted�? him that she liked my sermon. (Hopefully she also liked Eric's sermon.)

For the record: My mom has never watched my sermon on the Internet and she does not know how to text. And, I don't think she reads the blog, either.

Sigh.

Terry Mattingly does his usual good job covering religion. He writes a weekly column for Scripps Howard news that is then run in papers around the world.

Terry writes:

The trend is clear. Vague talk is safer than clear action. Personal beliefs are good, but not if these doctrines lead to actions that indicate that some beliefs are right and others wrong.

Seeking is good, but finding is bad. Judging is even worse.

My personal favorite "Terry Mattingly" location is his web site, getreligion.org, an important location on my Bloglines reader. I have mentioned them twice before on the blog.

You can read his coverage of two recent research projects here.

My contribution was:

"There is a sense in our culture that is acceptable to believe in anything spiritual, as long as it makes you a better person and helps you find peace," said Ed Stetzer, leader of the LifeWay Research team. "One's faith only becomes a problem when that belief actually makes claims that contradicts the faith of others."

In an age of "I'm OK, You're OK" spirituality, he added, "American spirituality has glorified 'searching' for spiritual meaning, but de-emphasized 'finding.' In other words, it is good to be looking for spirituality, but it is intolerant to actually believe you have found a right faith. ... Intolerance is defined to mean actually believing that your faith is the correct one."

Terry always moves beyond research to analysis and I was impressed.

Here are my full answers to his questions.

On there being one way.

The change between the "higher or supreme being" question and "the God described in the Bible," would seem to say that Americans want "God," but they are not as sure they want to say God is the exclusive biblical God of Christianity.

For that matter, there is a sense in our culture that is acceptable to believe in anything spiritual, as long as it makes you a better person and helps you find peace.

One's faith only becomes a problem when that belief actually makes claims that contradicts the faith of others. Since Christianity (and other faiths) make exclusive truth claims, it becomes controversial when Christians (and others) start to actually believe and propagate the claims of their faith.

On generic faith.

As best I can tell, those who are not a regular part of a faith community still want to be "spiritual" people, but without a clear faith.

As an evangelical Christian, I would say that many fashion a tame God in their own image-- a generic god for a generic spirituality, not a God who actually intervened in the world through the death of Christ and calls us to follow and live differently.

For many, they want to get all the benefits of spirituality without any of the truth claims of a rigorous faith.

On Spirituality

I think the Oprah-ization of American spirituality has glorified "searching" for spiritual meaning but de-emphasized "finding." In other words, it is good to be looking for spirituality, but it is intolerant to actually believe you have found a right faith and want to invite others to such.

In "I'm O.K., You're O.K. Spirituality," the only sin is intolerance... and intolerance is defined to mean actually believing your faith is the correct one.

On why conservative churches grow even when the majority of Americans lean toward a universalistic faith.

Non-attendees want to ignore a generic God, but when/if they follow a faith, they want one that has robust beliefs and is worth following.

Since growing churches tend to have more defined belief systems, when people start a journey to faith, they want something they see as worth believing and giving their life to. A generic god is hardly one worth committing to.

Last week, I had the chance to do a live interview on CNN (which has replayed several times). The focus of the interview was our recently released unchurched research. You can read the research here.

Here is the video:

Click here to view the current issue. My article focuses on our newly released research on the unchurched.

I will be teaching in L.A. this week at Biola University at their Talbot School of Theology. That will probably mean limited posts, but we shall see. I will write more soon on my time at Talbot and some upcoming teaching.

Update 1:It Begins

As expected, they are working me all day and night! I taught all day with a break for a nice lunch with the new Biola president, Barry Corey. (I was impressed.)

More soon... and the video folks are working on the CNN video and will post it here when it is ready.

Update 2: Brian Howard and Outreach Magazine

Brian Howard came by and lectured for a while. Brian is the pastor of Copper Hill Church and Los Angeles Director of Acts 29. He did a great job talking about how he has planted and grown Copper Hill Church and now how he his networking to plant churches throughout L.A.

I also had the chance to catch dinner with the editors of Outreach Magazine, James Long and Lindy Lowry. I have started writing a column for them in each issue (called "As I See It"). In the current issue, I deal with the recent Willow Reveal study. Next issue will focus on outreach with a tie in to our recent unchurched research.

Tomorrow, Don Overstreet and a pastor from the Set Free Church (a church planting organization focusing on bikers, addicts, etc.) will come by.

Thursday, it will be Neil Cole, author of Organic Church, from Church Multiplication Associates.

Update 3: Wed. with Phil Stevenson, Set Free, and Rev! Magazine

Had a good Panera breakfast with Phil Stevenson, Director of Evangelism and Church Growth for the Wesleyan Church. Phil has been a friend for a while and is doing a great job in his new role. He was formerly director of church planting and has written a helpful church planting book called The Ripple Church.

Don Overstreet, church planting missionary, and Pastor Ron from Set Free Church on Skid Row came by to share with the class today. We heard some incredible stories of God's work about the urban poor.

This evening was dinner with Alan Nelson of Rev! Magazine. Alan has a new book that I endorsed last year called Me to We: A Pastor's Discovery of the Power of Partnership. It is a good read.

Alan did a group interview of Gary McIntosh, Chip Arn, Phil Stevenson, and me for a future article on the church in America.

Mike Dodson and I just finished an article on church revitalization for a forthcoming issue of the magazine.

Update 4: Thursday with Neil Cole, Organic Churches, and the Foursquare

Today was my last full day in class. Neil Cole came by and lectured for the late morning. As always, he has the listener's spellbound as he shared an alternative story of church-- one built on relationships, multiplication, and church planting movements.

I always enjoy Neil's passion. You can read about his vision in Organic Church.

Here is what I wrote about him in our recent book, 11 Innovations in the Local Church (co-authored with Elmer Towns and Warren Bird).

Meeting Neil Cole is, well, anticlimactic. Here is a guy who has helped lead one of the more prolific church planting networks in the country.

He has written some significant books and he speaks all over. So I (Ed) was pretty excited when I landed at LAX and started driving over to his office.

Since getting lost in Los Angeles is as easy as falling asleep in a church business meeting, I splurged and got myself a GPS in the car. For each of miles from the airport to Neil's office, a nasally woman said "turn left" and "go three miles and take ramp on the right."

Anyway, my trusty GPS eventually announced, still in nasal tones: "arriving at destination." But there was nothing there. No sign, no parking. I assumed it was wrong, programmed it again, and drove around the block. Again I heard, "arriving at destination." So I gave up--when a woman tells you twice the right directions, you better listen. I got out and knocked on the door. And out came Neil Cole.

I don't mean to say that Neil himself is anticlimactic. Yes, he shrugs a lot and is very laid back, but it was his surroundings, not his persona, that gave me the letdown. You see, Neil, and everything Neil shapes, is "anti-slick." One of Neil's sayings is that "'simple' empowers Christians.�? And he lives it too-- his office is a mess, it's small and it's hot (air conditioning is too expensive to run, he says).

The couch where we finally settled had seen better days.

Neil's simple approach is not because he lacks money (although he does and you should send him some). It is because he has passion: a passion that the best way to propagate the gospel is with the idea that the church can and should be simpler and more organic--like Neil. Like Jesus. Everything Neil does (quoting him here and throughout) "is not bound by a large gathering or service we could reproduce quickly." That's the point--church should be simple and easy to reproduce. Normal people, with small messy offices and threadbare couches should plant and model planting churches led by ordinary people.

I ask Neil a lot about the numbers. I am a missiologist. I was born to count. I'm especially interested in new believers and new churches. But Neil explained, "If you are successful in a multiplication movement, than you cannot count them... if you can count them, you are not a multiplication movement." Neil is concerned about reaching people, but not concerned with the number and longevity of his churches. He instead is concerned with making disciples. "The greatest sin of today's church is self preservation.... If a church lasts one year and gives birth twice, it is a success."

Neil is the anti-attractional leader for the anti-attractional church. And Neil likes it that way. He does not want a big church; he wants a reproducing one. He does not want a quality church; he wants a transforming one. He explains, "We must lower the bar of how we do church and raise the bar on what it means to be a disciple."

Talking to Neil is just odd. Usually it takes about 5 minutes for the typical pastor in a growing church to work the conversation around to this week's attendance. Not so with Neil. He is about people--and he tells a lot of stories about them. Many transformative and some discouraging. "It hurts more to do church this way, but its still worth it."

Neil could be pastoring a good sized (what some would call) "real" church, but he sees that as a flawed system. He boils the principles down to a few "simple�? ideas:

1. What we are doing isn't working.
2. What's really happening around the world tends to be in house churches.
3. If multiplication is your desire, it will need to be simple, transferable, and ordinary.

For Neil, that simplicity boils down to the right DNA:

D- Divine Truth
N- Nurturing Relationships
A- Apostolic Mission

Neil believes we have created a culture of clergy co-dependency. The church leadership is the codependent and the parishioners are the irresponsible ones who are dependent. What is needed is radical detox. We have to stop relying on Christian leaders who tell us "when to stand up, when to sit down, and when to kneel."

Many house church advocates take swings at what they call (usually with a smirk) the "institutional church." Not so with Neil. "I think the old wineskins should hold the old wine... do not dismantle the old." Instead, Neil believes we should "invest in apostolic architects, not in builders... and don't put a lot of money in it." Neil lives it. His massive operation without a parking lot has a grand total of 1.5 employees while training 2,000 people in 12 states and around the world.

Not bad for a guy with a nasty hole in his couch.

I closed the evening with a nice dinner in Pasdena with Glenn Burris, General Supervisor of the U.S. Foursquare Church. I have been working with Glenn for two years, coaching and consulting with their movement. It has been an honor to be a small part of working with Glenn and Jack Hayford as they retool their movement to be more faithful to their calling.

Busy week... but, tomorrow I am home!

USAToday provides a story in today's paper and on-line here. It is also on the their front page on the internet and is the most commented upon story.

The USAToday article focused on the views of the unchurched in a few key areas. The story is attracting a slew of comments in their feedback section.

The good folks at our LifeWay communications office have just released our story on the research here.

Our focus is more on the opportunities for people to share their faith:

Open to friends

Despite their negative opinions about the institutional church, most unchurched people are open to discussing spiritual matters with a friend. The research showed that:

--78 percent of those surveyed said they would be willing to listen to someone who wanted to talk about their Christian beliefs. The number rose to 89 percent among adults 18-29 years of age.

--Only 28 percent of adults 30 years and older said they think Christians they know talk to them too much about their beliefs.

--78 percent of adults 30 years and older said they would enjoy an honest conversation with a friend about religious and spiritual beliefs, even if they disagreed with the friend.

"Even though the unchurched have a confused view of God and a negative view of the church, they are overwhelmingly open to someone sharing about their Christian faith," Stetzer said. "We think religion is a topic that is off-limits in polite conversation, but unchurched people say they would enjoy conversations about spiritual matters."

From Scott McConnell:

"Eighty-nine percent of these unchurched people say they have close friends who are Christians," he said. "We don't have to search for the unchurched folks around us; we actually know them. It's really a matter of starting conversations about spiritual matters with the unchurched people we know.

And one final thought from the article:

Stetzer explained, "There will always be the stumbling block of the cross. Yet our study shows that many are tripping over the church before they hear the message of the cross."

We also have some interesting data contrasting the views between the younger and older unchurched. You can download the findings here.

This difference between age groups will also be the focus of my Catalyst Monthly column coming out soon.

Finally, we have more data that we have not released that will be shared in a new book called The Younger Unchurched and Churches that Reach Them. The book will be based on this and other research done at NAMB's Center for Missional Research and LifeWay Research and will be co-authored by Richie Stanley, research director from the North American Mission Board, and me.

More soon...

Update 1:

Lots of interesting dialogue over at USAToday (at 500 comments as of right now). Here is the graph they produced from our data.

The story is currently the most emailed story in the whole publication and in the two ten for "most read," "most commented," and "most recommended."

Why? Because I think it strikes a chord.

Be sure to read more than just the USAToday story-- their focus was on the attitudes of the unchurched toward the church. That attitude is, admittedly, bad. But be sure to read the rest of the story here, which tells the good news about the openness of the unchurched to a personal witness.

Update 2:

The very capaple people from LifeWay's communication department have provided some helpful graphics here. You can download high-res, color, and black and white graphics.

Here are they web versions of the graphics:

1 2002 Ford Sport Trac, 125K miles, (probably) totaled, $7000
1 Blackberry cracked, $250
1 sore back and two sore legs, $2 in Motrin

Walking away from a rollover accident at 60 miles per hour to go home and see your wife and daughters.

Priceless.

Here is a photo of the vehicle on its side:

More tomorrow...

My favorite part of the evening (other than living): talking to the fighfighter who, at the end of the conversation, said he wanted to come to church on Sunday with his wife.

Romans 8:28 "We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose."

Update 1:

Having never had an accident of this kind, some of the "best" moments included:

1. Crawling out of the sunroof of my truck because the airbag gas was choking me. (Nothing better than watching a fat man squeeze-- and, oh, I was motivated.)

2. Having the police officer suggest that, after walking away from the wreck with some bruises and a minor cut, I might consider getting a lottery ticket before the end of the day.

3. Getting a kind call from Thom Rainer that starts with, "I heard you broke the blackberry."

4. Hearing from my boss, Brad Waggoner, who suggested I not "text" when I drive.

5. My daughter kissing me on the arm (where I had the small cut) and saying, "That will make it better."

6. Calling back the guy who I was talking to when the crash happened. (And, yes, I was using my hands free set, for the record.) Doug told me that all he heard was my yelling that I was about to crash, several crashes, then a horn. He waited on the line for 30 more minutes not hearing anything and told me later that he though I was dead.

7. Finding an old picture of my daughter as I cleaned out the car... and it reminded me that, although I am ready to see Jesus, I am glad I have some more time with my daughters.

Accidents remind us of what is precious. This Sunday, at my church, I will preach on the biblical value of community. As part of that message, I will confess that I am not yet in much community-- being new to town-- but I will make an added effort to be.

It has been nice to be off the road for a while. But, all holidays must come to an end... including holidays from travel.

Today, I am at the NoBA meeting at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. They have over 100 leaders, from around the country, attending. It should be a good event. They have a great diversity of breakouts as well.

Associations are regional partnerships of churches that tend to focus on local (city, county, etc.) missions. Many associations have been rethinking their identity and purpose. I will be speaking on how regional partnerships like this can help encoruage their churches to engage, reach, and serve their communities.

The folks at SermonCentral are gracious enough to publish some of my articles. In this one (out earlier today), Mike Dodson and I talk, "Getting Ministry Traction Instead of Just Spinning Your Wheels."

I serve on the Advisory Council of Sermon Central and I have been working on a plagiarism post that relates to their "Preacher's Pledge"... more on that soon, but this will be a busy week of research related materials, so it may be later in the week.

Here is an excerpt from today's article:

Here is a little "Breaking News" for you...

You might enjoy coming to the Exponential Conference, where Rick Warren has just joined the line-up.

Thursday will now include sessions from Warren and Tim Keller... who woulda' guessed they would be sharing the same platform? I have the privilege of knowing both men, but it is unique to see them together at one conference.

(If you are looking for me, I will be in the green room watching the dialogue.)

The line-up at the conference is largely because of the hard world and church planting vision of Todd Wilson at Passion for Planting (who partners with me at www.newchurches.com) and Dave Ferguson, who in addition to helping spawn a movement of reproducing churches, is also a great guy.

The main sessions are as follows:

Yesterday, I focused on "communion" with God in my message. I will link the audio soon. I taught on how Jesus was the Great High Priest. The outline is below.

During my message, I briefly mentioned legalism and recommended Grace Awakening by Chuck Swindoll. The book was on my mind becuase I recently read an interview with Howard Hendricks and Chuck Swindoll where Swindoll defined the legalism problem as:

...when we get into areas that are not set forth in Scripture, either in precept or even in principle. These may be such things as length of hair, tattoos and other body piercings, skirts or pants for women, makeup or no makeup. Those are not scriptural issues. Sometimes these issues are cultural, and you do have to address them when you are in that particular culture. But I think legalism begins when you do or refrain from doing what I want you to do or not do because it's on my list and it's something that I am uncomfortable with.

Then, he gives his blunt advice:

The problem with legalists is that not enough people have confronted them and told them to get lost. Those are strong words, but I don't mess with legalism anymore. I'm 72 years old; what have I got to lose? Seriously, I used to kowtow to legalists, but they're dangerous. They are grace-killers. They'll drive off every new Christian you bring to church. They are enemies of the faith. Other than that, I don't have any opinion!

So, if I am trying to force my personal list of no-no's on you and make you feel guilty if you
don't join me, then I'm out of line and I need to be told that.

Download the interview here.

Here is the message outline:

Explore Ministry Opportunities in Western Europe at "The Gatherings"

As I have mentioned before, LifeWay shares part of my time with the International Mission Board.

I will be going to Spain in February to meet with the leadership and do some teaching. The IMB leadership will be doing some events in the states as well. Please connect with them if you can...

Here is the info:

The Western Europe region of the International Mission Board invites you to participate in The Gatherings, a two-day event designed to connect you and your church to the work God is doing in Western Europe.

Join IMB workers and other stateside church leaders/members at one of two locations in 2008: Stafford, Va. (March 3-4), or Atlanta, Ga. (March 6-7). During The Gatherings, we'll dialog about ministry among postmoderns and fast-growing immigrant groups in Paris, Barcelona, Zurich, Rome and other places in Western Europe.

Find out more information and register online: www.telleurope.org.

We hope to see you soon at The Gatherings!

Upcoming Church Planting Events

On January 28th, I will be leading a one day conference at the Global Church Advancement seminar in Orlando. (Drew Goodmanson throws me under the bus here, telling people to go to his seminar instead. Drew is probably right... he will do a great job.)

I usually do two days with the folks at Global Church Advancement, but my friend Steve Childers let me off a day early so I could speak at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School for the Acts 29 Bootcamp on Tuesday, the 29th. I usually do two days at such bootcamps, but my friend Scott Thomas let me off a day early so I could go speak at Liberty University on Wednesday, the 30th. (We will be working with Liberty and Thomas Road on Thursday to talk about their church planting plans.)

Thanks to Ergun Caner for sharing his speaking platform. If I understand it correctly, I am speaking at the young adult ministry on Wednesday night. It is at this meeting where Ergun was "tazed for Jesus" (my description, not his). You can see it on YouTube here. (Promises have been made that no harm will come to this guest speaker.)

Coming up at Dallas Theological Seminary

The folks at Dallas Seminary sent this along for me to share about an upcoming conference.

On March 31 - April 1, 2008, the Center for Christian Leadership at Dallas Theological Seminary is hosting Beyond the Church Doors.

This conference is about more than programs and strategies; it's about igniting passion in your congregation to see God transform their community.

On Day 1, you will hear from Drs. Ed Stetzer and Alan Roxburgh as they discuss the theology and practices of a missional church and prepare you to lead your church toward a missional focus.

On Day 2, your ministry team will interact with Drs. Alan Roxburgh, Eric Swanson, and Bob Roberts and engage in group process time to formulate practical steps for developing a missional culture within your congregation.

For more information and to register online, please visit www.dts.edu/ccl.

Jonathan Edwards Looks at the Emerging Church

My friend Bill Henard raises Edwards from the dead to evaluate the emerging church movement. He presented the paper at the Academy for Evangelism in Theological Education and graciously allowed me to post it here. It is an interesting read... it has to be with a title like "Sinners in the Hand of the Emergent Church: Jonathan Edwards Join the Conversation."

Can Michael Vick Be Forgiven?

Jon Walker asks and answers the question here and in a new e-book. It is a good and timely question.

Warren Bird Takes the Cake (and writes the books)

My friend Warren Bird recently had a celebration that included a cake. The cake looked remarkably similar to a book we had recently co-authored with Elmer Towns. The book, as the cake "clearly" shows, is 11 Innovations in the Local Church.

Warren is a freak of nature. He has written more books than any one man should (at his age, at least, since Elmer Towns has written many more). Warren now coordinates the reseach for Leadership Network in addition to co-authoring every other book in the universe.

Brandon Park studied 11 Innovations along with his church staff and made a great summary that you can download here.

Enjoy the book, even though you can't have any of the cake.