Networks have grown in prominence over the last decade. Actually, few national networks are more than a decade old. However, it is not a secret that they are growing in participation and in influence.

This has not been free of controversy. Many in denominations are concerned and some are critical at the rise of networks. They have some valid concerns: networks often have less racial and economic diversity, they tend to be often less involved in global missions, and they are often driven by one methodology.

I just received and email from the folks at Global Church Advancement about their upcoming conference. Yesterday, Acts 29 posted their upcoming conference. The Next Initiative (the Purpose Driven church planting guys) are also planning their church planting conference that week. And, we will be talking church planting at Liberty that same week. Yikes.

What does it all mean? God is working in church planting! And He appears to be doing it all in one week.

Take a look and attend a conference of your choice.

Global Church Advancement

The GCA email I just received explains about their Orlando conference:

Ed Stetzer, Director of LifeWay Research and LifeWay's Missiologist in Residence joins Steve Childers, Tom Nebel, Randy Pope, Scotty Smith, Daniel Montgomery, Chan Kilgore, and 20 other church planting leaders at the North America Church Planting Conference January 28 - February 1, 2008 in Orlando, Florida... Join 400 other church planters and leaders for Ed's half-day Workshop or experience the entire week of excellent training (more than 75 workshops), networking (with leaders from 30 denominations), daily corporate worship and heart renewal.

Steve Childers, the President of Global Church Advancement, has a heart for planters--and they do a great job preparing them in both the biblical and the practical.

Acts 29

The Acts 29 site just posted the ckeeky title, "No Blow-Hards in the Windy City."

They explained:

Speaking at the boot camp in Chicago is Mark Driscoll, Ed Stetzer, Mark Dever and Darrin Patrick. Dr D.A. Carson has also been invited but is not yet confirmed. We are blessed to have the caliber of men to lead and train this conference. The boot camp is a theological compass to guide the church planter. It is not a "how-to" for church planting. Participants will hear about contextualized preaching, gospel-centered theology, how a missional church is a biblical church, leading the mission of Jesus, the characteristics of a missional church planter and marks of a healthy church plant.

Carson, huh? We will see if he shows. Grin. But, either way, it will be a great week focusing on the gospel and transformation.

The NEXT Initiative

The guys at the NEXT Initiative also have a conference in Ocala that week. Ron Sylvia, the director, has asked me to be a part and I am trying to be there, but they have a great group already speaking. They explain:

Jan 29-30, 2008 || Ocala, FL, Feb 5-6, 2008 || Phoenix, AZ Start with a Crowd, not a Core! Most churches never grow beyond 200. But over 70% of churches we've coached have broken through the 200 barrier in the first two years! NEXT emphasizes the power of the Gospel to transform an audience into a congregation. Don't miss the NEXT conference! We will show you how to start a church with momentum by launching large.

These NEXT Initiative guys have a passion and a plan to start 1000 churches... and they are well on their way. Ron and I have been friends for years and he is the real deal.

Thomas Road and Liberty University

On Wednesday night, I will be speaking at Thomas Road in Lynchburg, VA. The next day, several of us are meeting with new pastor Jonathan Falwell, who wants to create a major church planting initiative. They have already set part of the theme for their new Innovate Church conference around church planting. Liberty already has a great church planting center, but they are talking about stepping it up to a new level.

So, a big week for church planting. Hope to see you there.

By the way, we like to list church planting conferences at our church planting site, www.newchurches.com. If you have a conference, please let us know at NewChurches.Com at this page. I co-sponor the site along with Church Plant Media, and Passion for Planting. (Passion for Planting are the guys who help coordinate the Mother of All Church Planting Conferences: The National New Church Conferencehttp://www.exponentialconference.org/.) By the way, the NNCC (now called "The Exponential Conference" is already at double the registration from last year...

Mark Driscoll

I always enjoy teaching with Mark Driscoll. This week was no exception. We did two Q&A panels, one at the Acts 29 bootcamp and one at the Convergent Conference.

It is always interesting to read how people report these things... and one blog called us "Bert and Ernie."

I'd prefer a different comparison, but I am glad to call him friend.