I am in Western Europe today and the internet connection is not good... I hope to post some tonight.

Update 1 Monday Night:

Five Hours later... finally, Internet. Ahhhh.

We met tonight in a cramped apartment in urban Barcelona. There were about 20 of us shoulder-to-shoulder talking about how to plant churches in Western Europe.

I brought a group of pastors with me that are passionate about reaching U.S. contexts-- and there was some great dialogue and mutual learning.

Earlier today, we walked the city and saw some of its cultures.

I am impressed with these missionaries-- they could easily be planting churches in gentrified U.S. cities and it would be a lot easier.

I do not intend, by any stretch of imagination, to call U.S. urban church planting easy. But, to take that cultural context and place it in a post-Christian European city, is quite a challenging thing.

I read unChristian on the plane over. A worthwhile read about the move of emerging generations away from historic Christianity. It was challenging and sobering—but sitting in Barcelona reminds me that these people were post-Christian for generations. It is a different world… and I wonder if North America will look similar in the next generation.

Here is what I posted recently about the Western Europe leadership team:

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!

Update 2:

Scott McConnell, the brains behind LifeWay Research, alerted me to recent Gallup Research that deals with Spain's spiritual views, among other things. You can find the full story here.

Now that I am on break sitting in a Starbucks in Barcelona, I thought I would catch up a bit on non-meeting stuff.

This is sort of my “Friday is for Friends” from the last week or so.

Billy Hornsby (Not Bruce Hornsby)

As I mentioned, I had a good week last week at Liberty University and had the opportunity to visit with Billy Hornsby. (No relation to Bruce and he does not have a “range.”)

He says some nice things on his blog, but he made me promise to say something nice about The Association of Related Churches (ARC). I am glad to do it!

He tells the ARC story on his blog:

Started seven years ago with two church plants, today the Association of Related Churches, (ARC) has planted 53 relevant, life-giving churches across the country, many of them now effective mega-churches. We are a non-denominational church planting engine that offers coaching, assessment and financing to young church planters and church networks. Because of the partnership of vision minded pastors like Greg Surratt, Chris Hodges, Dino Rizzo, Rick Bezet and Scott Hornsby, the ARC is poised to make an even bigger impact in the next few years. Great new friends have come along side of ARC to make the potential even greater…Guys like Matt Fry, Craig Altman, Craig Groeschel, Stovall Weems and many others have put the MO in the organization.

ARC is looking for planters and has resources for them… so check out their site for more info.

Rick Warren

Tonight (this afternoon in the states), I will interview Rick Warren for an upcoming podcast. More soon…

Ergun Caner

Though this will get me in trouble with some folks, I must admit that I enjoy Ergun Caner.

He is bombastic and sarcastic, traits that for some odd reason I can understand. He is also concerned deeply about evangelism and missions. And, as he puts it, he may have the greatest job in the world. Every Wednesday he speaks to 5000 young adults and challenges them to follow Christ to reach and change the world. (And, I am exceedlingly grateful he let me have a week with them.)

Now, Ergun is not what you expect in a seminary president. He drives a Ford Expedition that is tricked out with new rims, bullet holes, and a bumper sticker that says, “My Dean could beat up your Dean.” Now, I know the Deans of about 20 different seminaries and I am quite certain that is true.

Most importantly, he appreciates 80’s hair band music. While driving his Expedition, I was entertained by Queensryche’s “Operation Mindcrime” playing on “Hair Nation of Sirius radio. (If you don’t know, I can’t explain it to you—it was an odd few years in rock and roll.)

I hung out with Mark Driscoll on Tuesday night and Ergun Caner on Thursday morning-- and I think they would like each other. Not sure who would win the fight... but it would be close.

Monday is for Missiology

I must confess that I have done a terrible job finishing my Meanings of Missional series. It is not a dead project—just a delayed one. I have found adjusting to my new roles to be more difficult that I expected.

Not bad things, just too many things, and I need to get back to writing on missiology.

I will soon.

To my Evangelical Free Friends on the Emerging Church

I will post those resources on understanding the emerging church soon. Sorry I am delayed.

Now, back to missionaries in Barcelona...

Yesterday, I presented on “The Changing Church.”

Today, I presented on “Principles of Church Planting.” The response of the mission leaders was particularly focused on the need for peer support.

(I am just a small part of the program and many other activities are taking place.)

In our church planting research (click here a list of downloaded research projects), we found that mentoring, supervision, and peer relationships correlated with more effective church planting in the States. It would appear that the same thing is true here.

Many American church planters struggle with cultural adjustment, but the issues are magnified greatly here. Even though Europeans are dressed like Americans and buy our cigarettes, their worldview is distinct.

Last night, I broke from the group and walked the city. (I was looking for some hair product… no mocking please… and to grab some dinner.) I always make a habit of doing this when I am overseas—to listen, pray, and learn. And, I did. In two hours, I was clearly a fish out of water and needed someone to help me have a basic conversation.

When I got back to the hotel, I was watching the news… CNNInternational. When I saw the tornadoes in Tennessee, I called home. They had a tornado warning in place, the radar showed a supercell over our county, and Donna had the kids sheltered in the bathtub till the storm passed and they felt safe again. (Seven people died in our county.) And, I thought—I am far from home when my wife and kids need me.

Yet, these missionaries live both these situations every day—they are in a cross-cultural situation and far from the people they love. When in a culturally dissimilar setting, with little contact from family, this is remarkably taxing work (not mine, I go home on Friday). It is stressful work for these wonderful missionaries—and that became the focus of the conversation today. The big question: how can missionaries develop support systems that enable them to nurture, project, and deploy missionaries?

When I wrote Planting Missional Churches, I shared this about culture fatigue and shock:

Culture shock and fatigue

Every planter needs to prepare for culture shock, a feeling of disorientation (think: fish out of water) while relating to so many unchurched people during the start-up phase of a new church. These people think, talk, behave, and react to life in a way that may seem foreign to the church planter, especially one who is fresh out of seminary or another setting that could be described as the comfortable cocoon of Christianity.

And it can get worse. Culture fatigue is a nagging weariness from culture shock. The constant feeling of working as a “stranger in a strange land” wears down the optimism of the planter, who – at worst – finally feels worn out, maybe even overcome with emotional exhaustion, thinking, I keep telling them the right message, and they just don’t get it.

TellEurope.Org

On Thursday, I presented on the characteristics of effective church planters and asked what unique competencies were needed for missionaries in Western Europe. This led to some fascinating conversation.

It was good to finish up and head back from Barcelona. (I am writing this in the airport without a spell checker so please ignore any typos!)

Make sure you visit TellEurope.Org and learn more about what these church planters and missionaries are doing in Western Europe. I brought several innovative pastors with me and I think this will lead to some positive partnerships for the future.

Exponential Conference

If you have not already registered for the Exponential Conference (the National New Church Conference), be sure to do so this week. The Early Bird rate ends Feb. 15th.

If you don't already know, this is the largest church planting gathering in the U.S. each year. Here are some quick facts:

1. 12 Pre-conferences (including one that I lead for movement leaders wishing to connect for best practices).
2. Over 40 national speakers including keynoters Tim Keller, Andy Stanley, Steve Andrews, Dave Ferguson, Alan Hirsch, and myself.
3. 7 main tracks

Go to www.exponentialconference.com for more information.

Flying home today on the airplane, I read about my home county (Sumner County, TN) on the front page of the USAToday. You can read the article here.

Seven people died in these tornados in my county alone. Tomorrow, my family and I will see how we can help.

Union University

I also read about, and saw pictures from, Union University. The picture here of the dorm tells a powerful and tragic story.

Brad Waggoner (my boss) told me today that his son was in the dorm as it came apart.

My friend David Dockery is the president of Union and I know many of the faculty there. You can keep up with their situation through their disaster blog (http://www.bpnews.net/blog). Also, our friend Tim Ellsworth has updates at his blog (http://www.timellsworth.com/).

I am a big fan of Union and its president, David Dockery. David recently asked me to speak in chapel, and I could not work out the date he suggested, but I am now even more motivated to get there. I will work harder to make that happen.

Please pray for Union, its students, and its future. We can rejoice that no one died at Union, though some came close and are still recovering from injuries, both physical and emotional.

I hope you will join me in sending a check to:
"Union University Disaster Relief Fund"
1050 Union University Drive
Jackson, TN 38305

Update:

You can view a powerful video here:

And visit www.timellsworth.com for more videos.

Tim Keller is notoriously averse to publicity. I had to pull teeth to get him to agree to be profiled for this story. He does not speak at many conferences and has not written a book for a decade. So, for some of you who read the blog, his name may be unfamiliar.

This week many more will hear about Tim as he is featured in Newsweek. Click here for the article.

To many of us, Tim is a hero and a role model. I have even been publicaly accused of plagiarizing Tim. (OK, the accusation was a joke, but I did respond here.)

Here are some excerpts from the article and my thoughts:

Place: New York City... On a sun-splashed corner near Central Park a churchlike building is filled to the rafters with Christian worshipers. By 9:15, the room is at capacity. By 9:20, even the balcony is full. There's nothing sexy here. There's no rock band, no drop-down theater-size video screen, no 100-member gospel choir—just a few chamber musicians and a couple of prayer leaders to help the congregation along in its hymns. The crowd at Redeemer Presbyterian is overwhelmingly young, single, professional and—for lack of a better word—sober.

This is exactly my impression.

Last time I was in Manhattan I attended the church and spent some time with Tim on Monday.

I was most impressed with how, well, non-"hip" the service was. (The giveaway was the note in the program reminding you that you should not applaud.)

The "band" was four men in suits who played wind instruments accompanied by an organ.

Yet, most of the crowd was young and engaged... a reminder that contemporary is not always contextual.
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More from the article:

Standing at the microphone is a man more than six feet tall with a shiny bald head and wire-rim spectacles, looking more like a college professor than a megachurch pastor. This is the Rev. Tim Keller, a Manhattan institution, one of those open urban secrets, like your favorite dim sum place, with a following so ardent and so fast-growing that he has never thought to advertise. He rarely speaks to the press.

And, might I add, he never moved from an imaginary 4 foot box on the stage.

Yet, he keeps my interest (and that of thousands of others) every time he speaks. And, since Tim reads the blog (and comments), I need to not go to over the top in my praise! But, he has blessed many of us with his teaching and leadership.

Simply put-- people are looking for content and transformation. Tim brings the content and points to the cross for the transformation.
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The story of Redeemer is remarkable. From the article:

Keller started Redeemer 17 years ago in a small rented church on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Now he preaches five times on Sundays, shuttling between three different rented venues and reaching more than 5,000 people each week (5,000 also download his sermon online).

New York is not a bastion of growing evangelical churches... and Redeemer is growing and multiplying at an rapid pace.
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Here is my favorite part of the story:

He is helping other pastors use his "formula," if you can call it that—orthodox Christianity and challenging preaching, with an emphasis on social justice and community service—in cities like Amsterdam, São Paolo, Berlin and Paris. Keller believes that young urban people too often face an unsatisfactory choice: the dispassionate formality of the established churches or the fire and brimstone of the conservative evangelicals.

Orthodox Christianity and biblical preaching, eh? Who woulda’ thought that would work?
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Be sure to order his new book The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism.

Thanks, Tim, for your faithful witness. See you in NY for the dwell conference!

Tim and I dialogued a bit last night and this morning about his Newsweek profile. (See my comments yesterday for context.)

Some have been discussing a few problems with the story, and a couple have mentioned the reference to evolution in the article.

Tim wrote (with permission for me to share).

We should be charitable to the writer on the issues mentioned. They are pretty minor.

Yes, it isn't my first book, but the last one was over 20 years ago. I don't preach at all 5 services--I preach 4 and every week someone from the preaching team preaches the fifth one.

I wouldn’t in the least style myself a new C.S. Lewis (who would want a new one when the old one is still so great) but she got that from publicity copy written by well-meaning people at Penguin.

I wouldn't want to characterize myself as another Rick Warren but she likes Rick and wouldn't see that as a negative statement.

I believe in the historicity of Gen 1-11 and Adam and Eve and I don't believe in young earth-creation or six 24-hour day creation, but, as far as she's concerned, that means I believe somewhat in evolution. She's not used to the fine distinctions on these things we make inside the church.

Also, I've never lived anywhere near Georgia (but maybe I've spent so much time in the airport it's affected my accent!)

And even the statement that my book disappointed her in comparison to my preaching is actually true—I’m a better speaker than writer, and always will me. That was more a compliment to the preaching than a criticism of the book.

Despite this list of nits to pick, it was an overall positive, even warm article, especially considering it comes from someone whose beliefs are so different. The writer clearly likes the church and appreciates the ministry in many ways. So I'm glad for her efforts.

Remember, we should not assume that secular reporters get the distinction between 6-day creation and evolution. And, yes, there are some minor story details that are incorrect. But, as I told Tim, I thought it was a strong article that I believe will bring glory to God.

Finally, the (mild) criticism in the article is normal-- no reporter writes a nice piece without a few critical comments. And, Keller is a great speaker, so the book will have to be very good to keep up.

Thanks, Tim, for the update and for your humility.

I recently had a great talk with Sharon. We first met at the recent Convengent Conference at Southeastern Seminary. She is articulate, gracious, and passionate about the gospel.

Sharon is a new writer, recent graduate of Duke Divinity School, a college minister to students from Duke, UNC- Chapel Hill and UNC-Greensboro, and a part of The Summit Church (where J.D. Greear serves as pastor).

Check out her blog at www.sheworships.blogspot.com.

She wrote me (and I have permission to quote) about women's ministry. I found her thoughts challenging. As a father of three daughters, I hope to instill in them such passion for the gospel and the Word.

Sharon wrote:

As a woman who has a passion for women's ministry, I am somewhat dismayed by the resources available to my generation. I have spent the last seven years of my life going to college and getting a masters in divinity, so it frustrates me that most women's ministries focus on merely surviving the perils of marriage and motherhood. I have yet to encounter a women's ministry whose goals involve preaching the Gospel, planting churches, changing your community, country and world. So while the current vision is important--women do need encouragement as they battle the frustrations of family life--it is also rather small.

Here are a few things from the week thus far...

Tomorrow, I am at North Central University in Minneapolis all day so I probably won't be blogging. You can read about the conference here. I will also be dialoguing with the school faculty in the afternoon. Should be a good day.

Here some updates from the week thus far.

David Landrith

On Monday, I met with David Landrith. He blogs about our meeting here.

David is a fascinating guy. He is really a country preacher, with the accent and all. His college nickname was “Country.” I must confess to enjoying calling him that. (And his nickname for me is "Jet Plane.")

David is an East Tennessee boy to the core. And, he pastors a church that runs over 4000 people every week. David is passionate about doing whatever it takes to reach this region for the gospel.

I have written more about David here.

David is currently on sabbatical and you can follow his journeys here. I predict that David will increasingly become a voice for church transition among declining churches in this region. The Longhollow story is pretty remarkable. You can read their history here.

The Guys of Every Nation Ministries

I also had a meeting with my friends from Every Nation Ministries, Kevin York, David Houston, and Steve Murrell. I have consulted with them a few times about organizational structures that produce multiplication.

Every Nation is a ministry with a church planting / collegiate focus. They describe themselves as:

...a worldwide family of churches and ministries that exists to honor God and advance His Kingdom through Church Planting, Campus Ministry and World Missions.

I would say that they are "charismatic," but Steve writes that he does not like that here. So, I am not sure what to call them. To me, everyone who sings loud and claps looks like a charismatic. Sigh. So, I guess I will just call them "brothers."

It is a fascinating historical and missiological oddity that Steve pastors a church that with 30,000 attendees in the Philippines.

Steve explains:

my wife & i came to the philippines in 1984 for a "one month summer mission trip" - that never ended. longest month in the history of time.

We had a great time talking about their movement and its next steps. However, I left with one concern. Steve “outed” my appreciation of Nacho Libre.

In the future, I would request that all such movie references go unmentioned. And, for those of you are fans, “the priests say I don’t know nuthin’ about the gospel… but I do!”

Besides, Kevin and David like Nacho Libre more than I do. They actually own stretchy pants.

John Revell

It is always good to catch up with John Revell. John is the editor of SBCLife, kind of a denominational glossy newspaper. He has been crazy enough to publish a few of my articles. I might pull some of them out over the next few days.

I just wrapped up my day at the North Central University Missional Ministry Conference. I am heading home to see my family.

I spent two sessions with local pastors talking about missional church issues. I also spoke in chapel to the student body.

North Central has an urban campus in Minneapolis, and I was impressed to see the multicultural mix of the student body. This is the first time I have had a college chapel message interpreted for the deaf-- so it was nice to be able to sign a bit with some of the students after chapel. (I have not signed since my days back in Pennsylvania when we started the Millcreek Community Church of the Deaf.)

I particularly enjoyed a last minute "add on." A couple of days ago, the faculty from the Pastoral Ministry and the Theology Schools added an afternoon dialogue to my schedule. It was good to talk about the integration of theology and practical ministry. Hopefully my few suggestions will be a little bit of help as they think through these important issues.

Coming up...

Tomorrow morning you can drop by to dialogue with Western Europe missionary Larry McCrary about reaching Europe for the gospel. Stay tuned and come by tomorrow morning.

Larry McCrary is a dear friend who has been involved church planting in the United States and in Europe. There are few who have planted on two continents so his comments are worth hearing. I asked him to tell me about missiology in Western Europe and he wrote:

I like to think of Western Europe as a river with three major cultural streams affecting it right now. Each stream is a spiritual challenge in itself, but combining the three makes for extra-difficult navigation when it comes to engaging people with the gospel.

The first stream – which is decreasing in size – is that of the institutional church’s decline. This may be the Roman Catholic Church in some countries, the Church of England or the Lutheran church in other parts of Western Europe, but as a whole the churches are declining in attendance. What makes this stream interesting is that, while it is decreasing in size and influence, the veneer of the institutional church still has an impact on the culture.

From Baptist Press:

R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, will require additional surgery after a scheduled colonoscopy Feb. 11 revealed a tumor in his colon. An initial biopsy indicated that the tumor is pre-cancerous and further tests are to be scheduled, along with surgical options...

Mohler, 48, underwent major abdominal surgery in late December 2006, complicated by the development of bilateral blood clots in his lungs. Doctors will take special precautions to prevent a recurrence of the blood clots with this new surgery. Specialists are consulting on the case and a decision on the date and location for the surgery is to be made in the near future. The procedure is likely to require an extensive period for recuperation and recovery.

Details here.

I received gracious personal letters from both Paul Crouch and Dwain Miller regarding the incorrect citation of LifeWay Research’s study of "Private Prayer Language" on a recent TBN program. They were responding to the letter I mentioned in an earlier post. They have apologized and removed the incorrect information from their site. We at LifeWay Research are grateful and consider this issue settled.

I just received my copy of The Multiplying Church: The New Math for Starting New Churches.

Bob continues to crank out books... and he always makes me think. In this case, Bob's focus is churches that plant churches.

Bob asked me for my input and I gave a bunch. I enjoy the dialogue with Bob because he really wants feedback and is not afraid to push back. We have great arguments-- and then we do it again. So, we had a good time talking through the book and "provoking one another to love and good deeds" (Hebrews 10:24).

You can order the book here.

Here is the foreword I wrote for the book:

The Multiplying Church.

Kingdom minded leaders stop focusing on what is hard or risky, move beyond the comfort of addition within their own building, and risk.

My friend Bob Roberts is a risk taker. It is evident in his ministry. As a result of shunning the safe in favor of radically chasing after the Kingdom of God, Bob has become a multiplier. He’s instilled that mentality in the members of NorthWood Church, the body of believers he pastors in Keller, Texas. The result: exponential Kingdom growth.

Not many people are able to grasp what it means to think and act exponentially, especially in today’s North American Church. But, Bob is there on both. That is what makes him uniquely qualified to share his insights. I can be pretty frantic, but I pause when I hear or read something that comes from somebody who’s “been there, done that.” Bob has always given me reason to pause.

Actually I did more than pause when Bob sent me this latest book, The Multiplying Church. I lingered.

I am on the way to California today for a conference called "The Comeback Challenge." I have never had a conference named for my book before, so it is a little intimidating! They are giving away a free copy of Comeback Churches to each attendee.

I have been told that a very special guest is going to show up but I don't see him on the schedule, so I better wait for the folks in charge to make that announcement.

More soon...

Eric Redmond, whom I have mentioned before, gets some good press on the front page of the Washington Post.

You can read the whole article here. I have excerpted parts of the Post article, along with a couple of other articles, and made some comments therein.

The Post explained:

Faced with a crisis of aging and departing members, the nation's largest non-Catholic Christian bodies -- Southern Baptists, United Methodists, Lutherans and Presbyterians -- are reaching out to minorities in ways they never have before.

Yet, while local churches often remain predominately black or white, the outreach does result in a more diverse national organization.

I don’t disagree with the thesis of the introduction. I think many denominations are facing a decline and are reaching out aggressively to non-Anglos, though I am not sure the decline is the motivation. At least in the case of the SBC, “language,” “ethnic,” and “black” ministry dates back decades to when the SBC was growing rapidly. Most denominations have been focusing on increasing diversity for decades.

However, the increase of diversity is important when discussing decline, growth, etc. If you were to remove the ethnic and African American growth from the SBC totals, the denomination would have been in numerical decline for several years. (I think we are in decline already, but churches report inflated numbers and report a category that is a mystery to me, "non-resident members.")

More from the article:

But of all the denominations seeking to diversify, many agree that the Southern Baptist Convention -- an association of about 40,000 congregations that make up the nation's largest Protestant denomination -- has the farthest to travel.

Having just completed a church planting study of all major denominations for Leadership Network, I can tell you that is an overstatement. There are some VERY white denominations out there (and other monocultural denominations that are not white). My denomination has some some of the worst history, but if diversity is measured by the number of churches (and that is the standard the article uses), we have made more progress than most. For that matter, I would say that most denominations in our study found their plants to be much more ethnically and racially diverse than their denominations as a whole.

So, here I am in California teaching a seminar built around my book, Comeback Churches.

It is called the "The Comeback Challenge."

It is a great conference so far-- Nelson Searcy, Voddie Baucham, and several other pastors. You can download the PowerPoint I used at www.comebackchurches.com.

And, who shows up to teach the last session of the Comeback Challenge? Rick Warren. He steals my last session and starts talking about my stuff!!! UGH.

Can't he write his own stuff?!?!?

Last month, it was announced he was speaking at the Exponential Conference, again following me around. Sigh.

Stop stalking me Rick!

He’s OK at teaching my stuff… and he even brought a little of his own. Grin.

We are doing dinner tonight and then a panel for a smaller group.

Here are a few quotes (written on the fly, but I think they are pretty accurate) from when Rick spoke.

You want to make them doers of the word and not just hearers.

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Jesus led people from "come and see" to "deny yourself and take up the cross" to "eat my body and drink my blood." That takes a while and it takes a plan.

Some of you are “come and see preachers” and your people need you to lead people to “eat my body and drink my blood.” They need you to lead them to harder truths. You need a plan to move people to high commitment of "denying yourself" and “eat my body and drink my blood.”

Some of you are “eat my body and drink my blood preachers” and you need a plan to help people “come and see.” Church is all about bringing people closer and closer to Christ.
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Saddleback may be the most spiritual mature church in the nation… we have more people in small groups than we have in Sunday morning worship… we have 13842 tithers… over 14,000 people having a daily quiet time… the over 15,000 people who are serving in ministry…
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Teaching a sermon will not disciple people… it is not enough.
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Spiritual growth is incarnational… it’s Christ in you… it is helping people let Christ live through them… Christ in you the hope of Glory.
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There are three dangers: hedonism, materialism, and secularism-- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

If you have been in the minsitry 10 to 20 years and kept your pants on, I honor you.
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Prosperity gospel: don’t ever put an adjective in front of gospel: Prosperity gospel, social gospel.

The gospel is good news: Christ died and was resurrected for our sins.
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[Referring to the temptation of Jesus] The plan was that Jesus would be worshiped because he died on a cross not because he jumped off the temple.

The National Council of Churches has released their annual yearbook of U.S. and Canadian churches.

A few highlights (or lowlights, depending on your perspective):

Only three of the top 10 – the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Presbyterian Church (USA) – are "mainline" Protestant churches.

By far the largest church in the U.S. is still the Roman Catholic Church, numbering 67 million members. The others in the top three are the Southern Baptist Convention (16.3 million) and the United Methodist Church (nearly 8 million).

Jehovah's Witnesses, who rank 25th in size among U.S. churches, reported the largest increase in membership since the publication of the 2007 Yearbook : 2.25 percent, with 1,069,530 members. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints grew 1.56 percent to 5,779,316 members.

My prediction: there will be more Mormons than Methodists in twenty years.

(And, one quibble: I would not consider Mormonism / JW as faiths belonging on a list of Christian denominations, but in a catagory for other faiths.)

Other bodies in the top 25 churches that reported membership increases were the Southern Baptist Convention (0.22 percent, to 16,306,246 members), the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (0.21 percent to 1,443,405 members) the Roman Catholic Church (0.87 percent to 67,515,016 members) and the Assemblies of God (0.19 percent to 2,836,174 members).

All other communions in the top 25 said they lost members or reported no increases or decreases.

What are the implications? It depends on who you ask. As you read the comment below, put me in the catagory of the "some will wish to argue."

"Some will wish to argue that the slowing growth rate is evidence of an increasing secularization of American postmodern society," Lindner writes. "While such an explanation will satisfy some, caution in drawing such a conclusion is warranted."

Many churches are feeling the impact of the lifestyles of "Gen X'ers" or "Millennials" – people now in their 30s and 20s – who attend and support local congregations but resist becoming members, Lindner observes.

However, I would also point out what the National Council of Churches will not-- the more liberal a church is the faster that denomination is declining.

More breakdown:

Pentecostal churches represent three of the top 25: the Church of God in Christ (5,499,875), Assemblies of God (2,836,174) and the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (1,500,000).

Six of the 15 largest churches are historic African American Churches: the Church of God in Christ, (5,499,875), National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc, (5,00,000), National Baptist Convention of America, (3,500,000), National Missionary Baptist Convention of America, (2,500,000), Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc., (2,500,000), and the African Methodist Episcopal Church, (2,500,000).

Interesting times...

Eric and Larry bring some insightful conversation in the comments here.

Today, I spoke to a group of associational leaders in Orlando. These leaders all coordinate the mission work of churches partnered together in associations-- much like districts or judacatories in certain denominations. In some cases they are a few dozen churches (like Cleveland and Pittsburgh) and in others it is hundreds of churches (the Dallas Baptist Association has over 300 churches-- larger than some small denominations).

To be in the group, there association has to cover a geographic area including at least a million people. They also tend to be in urban centers.

We talked about the future of cooperation and missions-- a fascinating dialogue. I will probably share some more later here at the blog.

The next two days are way more important... Disney World days with my two oldest daughters!

It is not often that you see programs like NBC's ER so clearly illustrate the emptiness of a faith not rooted in God and His Word. Click the video below to learn more.

The clip reminded me of our recent research. Below are some excerpts of comments I wrote a few weeks ago for the story Terry Mattingly published through his Scripps Howard News Service column. Terry was covering our recent research you can review here.

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...

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...

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...

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.

Behold: even NBC knows that a generic faith in a generic God does little good when it really matters.

HT: Justin Taylor

Today I am at Cedarville Univerity in Ohio teaching one session this afternoon and delivering a message tonight. So, it may be a day or so until I catch up on the blog.

They describe the conference theme as, "Breaking Down the Walls: Evangelism that Renovates a Community." I really like that title. Other than me, it is a good group of speakers:

Featured speakers in 2008 include Ed Stetzer, Emir Caner, Eric Geiger, Forrest Pollock, Chuck Kelley, Scott Dawson, Willie Jacobs, Ralph West. Cedarville University's HeartSong touring team will serve as conference worship leader. This Hope and Cedarville University ensembles will provide special music for the conference.

More soon...

I just escaped the blizzard moving into Dayton, OH and landed in Georgia to pick up a dear personal friend.

You see, a terrible thing happened last week and my friend and I were separate for seven long and painful days..

On Tuesday night, I flew the red-eye back from my dinner and panel with Rick Warren, Eric Bryant, and several other California pastors. You will notice that while I am bringing a clear and compelling answer to an important question, Rick Warren is doodling his plan for world domination. Sigh.

Anyway, I flew back on the red-eye overnight flight to present some Cooperative Program research to the SBC Executive Committee. It is not particularly exciting and won't make CNN, but it is very important research for the future of cooperation in my own denomination. I flew all night to present about 10a.m. in the morning.

Needless to say, I slept on the plane. But, I had to do some work before I went to bed so I took our my laptop. When it was time to sleep, I folded up the laptop and stuck it in the seat pocket in front of me. Three hours of airline quality sleep later, I was up and leaving the plane to catch a connecting flight in Atlanta... forgetting the laptop behind. Sigh.

Now, I must confess that I love my laptop... not just like, I LOVE it. When I came to LifeWay, they actually let me choose what laptop I had. (NAMB, like many organizations had a standard laptop with two options, take it or leave it, so picking my own laptop was quite an exciting moment for me...) It is a constant companion and help!

So, as I boarded the next flight and noticed that "my precious" was missing, panic set in. But, due to the crack service of the Delta pilot, they called over to the other plane, found the laptop, and put it in lost and found.

I actually thought about getting off the plane and going back for it, but this was important research for the Executive Committee that's been scheduled for a while.

So, today, just moments ago in the Atlanta airport, we were "re-united and it feels sooo good." One week apart... with my laptop all alone in the Delta lost and found... is just not good.

Blogging will be more consistent, email more rapid, sermons more Biblical, and the sky filled with more sunshine for the rest of this week.

Off to the Georgia Evangelism Conference

This week is my Pentecostal week.

I can only do one week a year without getting in trouble or at least getting empowered. Grin.

When you tell Pentecostals that it can't be done, they go ahead and do it. It bugs me.

I wish everyone had their passion... particuarly for church planting.

Here is a graph of where Pentecostals are primarily concentrated in the U.S. Click here to blow up to full size:

For example…

Assemblies of God

When Steve Pike, national director of church planting for the Assemblies of God asked me if I could spend a day with his national church planting team this week, I declined. I was already speaking too many places this week and could not travel anymore.

Well, Pentecostals get things done... so he brought his team to Nashville. So, if you need me today (Wednesday), I will be unavailable and talking church planting with Pentecostals in Nashville with a friend of mine, Danny Sanchez. The A.G. leadership will be meeting and strategizing today and tomorrow.

In preparation for the meeting, I received a new book by George Wood. George is the new President of the Assemblies of God (taking Thomas Trask's place).

Accoring to his new book, he will lead the Assemblies to five key values:

Passionate Proclamation
Strategic Investment
Vigorous Planting
Skillful Resourcing
Fervent Prayer

Don't miss this-- one of the top five stated A.G. values is church planting! Nice. Pentecostals get things done.

I thought about guessing where my denomination would put church planting on it "value" list... and then discretion won out. Grin.. But, we ALL need to elevate it to the top level of church and denominational life.

Church of God

So, I thought I had enough time with the Pentecostals this week. But, a few months ago, the Church of God folks called. They asked me to speak at a conference for Pentecostal innovative leaders. Well, I could not come because I was doing a missional church conference in Oklahoma until Friday morning.

Well, as I said, Pentecostals get things done. So, the Church of God is sending a plane to fetch me. I wish I could say it was a fancy plane, but it has propellers and not jets... and my wife is none too happy that I am flying on a plane with propellers.

So, I will be at the Engage 21 Conference with my Church of God friends. (It will be especially good to catch up with Paul Walker, former pastor of Mount Paran Church of God in Atlanta and now a denominational big-wig with the Church of God.)

Here is a Church of God fun fact for you: the denomination existed BEFORE the Azuza Street experience and was NOT a Pentecostal group (really, no one was Pentecostal before Azuza street or at least before Topeka). They were actually a holiness denomination and then became Pentecostal. You can read their history here (and, if you are so inclined, don't miss my fun facts about the Assemblies of God... I have been told they were passed around the AG leadership.)

But, I like to "give a little extra" on the blog, so check out the Wikipedia history:

Elder Richard Spurling (1810-1891), an ordained Baptist minister, rejected some of the views of the Baptists in his area as not being in accord with New Testament Christianity. In August of 1886, he and seven members from the Holly Springs and Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Churches in Monroe County, Tennessee and Cherokee County, North Carolina organized the "Christian Union". They agreed to free themselves from man-made creeds and unite upon the principles of the New Testament....

A. J. Tomlinson, a former Quaker, united with the church at Camp Creek in 1903, after climbing what is now known as "Prayer Mountain" (located in the Fields of the Wood park that is run by the Church of God of Prophecy in Murphy, NC) and reportedly being divinely assured that this fledgling church was indeed God's reestablishment of the New Testament church upon earth. Tomlinson was selected to pastor the congregation, and his drive and vision brought about efforts that resulted in other churches being organized in Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee...

The name Church of God was adopted in 1907. In 1909, Tomlinson was elected General Overseer. The Church of God was known as a "holiness" church more than a Pentecostal one during these early years, though some had experienced the "Pentecostal Blessing" of being "baptized in the Holy Ghost". In fact, Tomlinson himself did not believe he received the "baptism of the Holy Ghost" until some time later, when the church had moved to Cleveland, TN, when a special meeting was held by the church. At that revival the guest speaker was an individual who visited the Azusa Street revival, and during those services Tomlinson finally experienced this signature blessing. Thereafter, the Church of God began to place additional emphasis on the Pentecostal aspect of the church.

According to the aritcle, they started by rejecting "some of the views of the Baptists." Sigh.

By the way, uberblogger Travis Johnson is part of the Church of God and will be at the conference.

I am not a Pentecostal, but I do appreciate their passion for planting and their global missions emphasis. I look forward to a good week with my Pentecostal brothers and sisters in Christ.

In case you are wondering, here are the growth rates by "types" of Christians according to a site that gathers and summarizes such research:

-Pentecostals: 8.1%
-Evangelicals: 5.4%;
-All Protestants: 3.3%
-Roman Catholics and Others: 1.3%

Evangelicals could learn something about passion for planting from Pentecostals.

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So, in case you want to track me this week:

Monday, Cedarville University Evangelism Conference
Tuesday, Georgia Evangelism Conference
Wednesday, Assemblies of God Church Planting Leadership
Thursday, Oklahoma Missional Church Conference
Friday, Church of God Engage 21 Conference

This marks the last week of too many trips in one week. My new plan: one conference per week. Really. I promise. Really.

Uberblogger Ben Arment sent this along and asked me to tell you that the super early bird registration ends Friday at midnight.

Go to www.thewhiteboardsessions.com for more information. It really should be a fascinating conference.

Since I hate posting conference commercials, and may soon start saying "no" to such requests, let me at least make it interesting and have a little fun with some friends.

Here are some blgoworthy thoughts on the flyer and the conference (and the flyer above):

1. Is my head really that freakishly large?

2. If I was taking a third grade IQ test, and was asked, "Which one does not fit?," it would have to be Dever. (Now, remember, I like Dever so that is not a bad thing.)

3. My favorite Dever line (from when we co-taught at Reformed): "I guess you could say we are a blended church. We blend the best of the 16th and 17th centuries." I am really wanting to bring a tape recorder into the green room and just start some friendly banter like, "So, Mark and Perry, what do you guys think about the Regulative Principle?"

4. Ben worked very hard to crop Dever's picture to remove the tie... but we all know he is wearing one, Ben. And, $50 says he will wear one when he speaks.

5. I think I have been on a teaching or speaking platform with most of these men, but never together. Ben has certainly crossed the streams of evangelicalism. (And I think that we can learn some things from each other.)

6. Is it just me, or does Tim Stevens look disturbingly like Moby?

This is Moby (and not Tim):
However, I bet Tim could take Eminem in a fight.

7. I once confused Tony Morgan with Tim Stevens. I think I need new glasses.

8. Someone needs to tell Perry Noble it is time to update those glasses... the 80s called and they want the glasses back. He is the hippest guy on the stage and those glasses are just holding him back from his full potential. Even a old guy like me got some new glasses.

9. I am the final speaker of the day and am thinking of my theme being, "Synergy." Not sure, but I am considering it... something about how we can learn from different parts of the body of Christ. Other possible topics for me: missional, the Kingdom of God, the purpose of the church, etc. Still kicking that around.

10. Fun Fact about Reston (where the conference is being held)

When you come to Reston, you should know that it is one of the few places in the world outside of Africa that has had an Ebola outreak. Be careful while you are here to stay away from monkees. (Good advice all the time, really, not just for the Whiteboard Sessons.)

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_Reston

So, there you go... you should come for the conference.

And, I think I am doing a church planting training the next morning. For more info on that, you can click here.

Oklahoma Baptists are talking about missional churches. They have started a process to help their churches be missional. Their State Exec. is Anthony Jordan and he is helping to set the tone. Leaders like Scott Phillips, Bob Mayfield, and the team are working hard to cast a vision for missional ministry. Recently, Scott Phillips and I wrote a couple of missional church articles you can find here in a magazine for their pastors and church leaders.

Part of that includes the annual missional ministry conference. The conference has grown rapidly as people are seeking to engage culture and live in and for the mission of Jesus.

Here is a photo of the meeting I just left:

One story recently explained:

Churches were challenged to abandon religion by Anthony L. Jordan…

Jordan challenged Oklahoma Baptists neither to act like a religion nor to be identified as another religious body, but as a people following Christ. “Jesus did not come into the world to start a religion, he came to start a movement that is relational, transformational, and incarnational,” Jordan said, during his Tuesday morning address.

“The Jesus movement is relational in that the relationship is with Christ ab