As I mentioned and shared details on Saturday, I'm doing a conference tomorrow in Chicago. Whenever I come to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, I do a one-day seminar for pastors as part of my class.

In this case, I will be focusing on "missional leadership." I recently taught on the subject in Oklahoma. Here is the video:

Missional Leadership from Ed Stetzer on Vimeo.

You can get more information about this training at the One Day web page.

Here is the outline that I used in the video and I will be using tomorrow:

Missional Leadership

1) Reconsideration of Leadership

a) From superman to everyone
b) From church to kingdom
c) From me to we
d) From personal power to people empowerment

2) Rejection of Clergification

a) From three tiers to one mission
b) From "called to the ministry" to "called to ministry"
c) From "called to missions" to "sent on mission"
d) From exceptional to ordinary
e) From "priests" to a "priesthood of believers"

3) Renewed focus on mission

a) From "full service" to "simple mission"
b) From "pay, pray, and get out of the way" to "join God on His mission"
c) From decisionism to disciple making
d) From "mission statement" to "Jesus mission"
Luke 4
Luke 19:10

4) Realignment of priorities

a) God is a missionary God
b) I personally join Him on mission - modeling
c) I lead others to join Him on mission - leadership
d) I equip others - multiplication

I hope that is helpful. Be sure to watch the video to get the context.

In 2008, the staff of Exponential Network began following a large cross section of bloggers looking specifically for practical insights from other leaders. The material in this eBook is pulled from 22 bloggers and amounts to over 600 pages. The collective learnings represented in this 600+ pages of "nuggets of gold" is significant and the guys at Exponential want to get the aggregated resources out as a free resource to as many leaders as possible. Contributions have come from the blogs of Ben Arment, Mark Batterson, Chris Elrod, Dave Ferguson, Mike Foster, Seth Godin, Craig Groeschel, Alan Hirsch, Scott Hodge, Michael Hyatt, Gary Lamb, Brad Lomenick, Shawn Lovejoy, Will Mancini, Tony Morgan, Perry Noble, Bob Roberts, Jr., me, Tim Stevens, Tullian Tchividjian, Jud Wilhite, and Jared Wilson. You can download it here!

Leadership Network commissioned me and a team I put together to research the state of church planting in North America. The findings are encouraging, while pointing out we still have a long way to go. The State of Church Planting in North America is a four-part report: Church Planting Overview, Who Starts New Churches, Improving the Health and Survivability of New Churches, and Funding New Churches. Below are some highlights from the Church Planting Overview, but you will want to download all of the reports. You can download the study in its entirety here via the American Society of Church Growth Journal. You can also download a podcast we did related to the study.

Summary

North American Christians are interested in church planting in a way not seen for many decades. In response, Leadership Network commissioned a research project that surveyed over 200 churchplanting churches, more than 100 denominational leaders from dozens of denominations, and over 45 church planting networks.

I am a big believer in coaching and mentoring. Coaching is essential for Christian life. However, it is often absent or underappreciated in churches. Even when there is mentoring, it seems mentoring is for the "few" and not the "many."

I've been privileged to be mentored by several Christian leaders since I was a teenager. These mentors have provoked me, taught me, and challenged me.

I still remember Steve M., a volunteer youth leader, challenging me as a teenager. He asked if we could read Dietrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship together. We did, and it helped change my life. I did not have a license, so he chauffeured my girlfriend (now wife) and I out on our first car date. At 40, he looked a little funny as a groomsman in my wedding filled with 20-year-old friends, but I was glad he was there.

Mark B. was my youth pastor. He met with me and helped me memorize scripture and share my faith. I remember that he taught me not to be satisfied with lukewarm faith.

Steve C. met with me regularly in college. He taught me how to treat my fiancé, challenged me to deal with some areas of sin in my life, and pressed me to pursue a deeper relationship with Christ. Many times, I did not want to listen, but it did not deter him. He invested in me, and it helped transform my life.

Mark T. mentored me as a young professor. He was patient but unwavering-- helping me to grow as a scholar, writer, and teacher. I dedicated my first book to him writing, "I knew the 'hows' of church planting but you taught me the 'whys' of missions."

I have a couple of mentors today-- typically one or two at any one time. I meet them occasionally, talk to them regularly, and they have permission and invitation to speak into my life at any point.

I also mentor a couple of people on an ongoing basis-- mostly movement leaders who work with networks, churches, or denominations.

I assumed that most people had mentors-- we sure talked about it often in the 90's. However, I have since learned that mentoring relationships like these are all too uncommon. I have assumed it was normal to have men who would invest themselves in one's life and ministry. It seems that it is more unusual than I thought.

Steve Ogne's and Tim Roehl's new book on coaching has been released. TransforMissional Coaching: Empowering Leaders in a Changing Ministry is a valuable read for those of you leading others in the church. I was privileged to write the foreword, and thought I would share it with you here.

Mark B., Steve M., Steve C., Mark T.

These are probably random names to you-- and they are probably not names that are important to you. But, they are to me. They are mentors who invested in my life.

Steve Ogne and Tim Roehl understand such relationships-- their essential importance and the way they best function. And, this is not a new phenomenon for them. Steve wrote his first coaching resource 13 years ago and set the pace for coaching in Christian ministry. Tim has been coaching and training coaches with Church Resource Ministries for 8 years and has previously authored two devotional books.

You will see their experience and passion for TransforMissional coaching as they describe a holistic approach to coaching that is especially empowering to young and emerging leaders. Rather than telling leaders what to do or how to do it they strongly advocate the art of listening and asking great questions as an effective vehicle to engage and empower the leader.

TransforMissional coaching is a holistic approach. Unlike business coaching models that are only concerned with productivity or results, TransforMissional coaching engages the whole leader in transformation. Steve and Tim suggest that coaches transform leaders by helping leaders clarify calling, cultivate character, create community and connect with culture.

Coaching may be the primary vehicle that makes the transition from modern to missional paradigms. Young and emerging leaders are looking for relationship, proximity and affinity with those they allow to empower them. They will receive coaching and mentoring from those they trust, those who will be there for them. TransforMissional Coaching is an effective process for empowering emerging leaders to engage in missional expressions of church.

The authors suggest the art of listening and the use of effective questions as the keys to empowerment. Emerging leaders are looking for empowerment that is consistent with their world view and life experience more than that of their parents. Listening and good questions effectively anchor the coaching conversation in the life and experience of the leader more than that of the coach. The resulting trust allows the coach or mentor to speak timeless truths in a timely way without imposing his views or preferences or models on the leader. As you will see TransforMissonal Coaching includes several lists of great coaching questions.

As you can see TransforMissional Coaching goes well beyond simple coaching formulas and will be very useful to those who are serious about transforming leaders and empowering mission.

There are few men that I consider both experts and friends. Steve and Tim fit that bill and they are worth heeding. I was blessed with good mentor--but TransforMissional Coaching will help me (and you) be intentional, biblical, and strategic in our coaching relationships.

You can download the Introduction, Chapter One and the Intro to Chapter Two at the publisher's website.

As the Compelled by Love Blog Tour continues Phillip Nation and I had a chance to be interviewed by Ashley Wolpert at Neue Resources concerning the ideas we present in the book. Neue Resources is a ministry aimed at equipping ministry leaders of the 21st century church. Neue is the from the team behind RELEVANT magazine. "What RELEVANT is for consumers, Neue is for the leaders, innovators and frontliners that are shaping the future of the church." What follows appears in Neue's newsletter (and is printed with their permission).

Missional Living
By Ashley Wolpert

In a culture that feeds off a vast array of social justice causes, it seems that the term missional living is being bandied about increasingly in our churches. But what does this really look like? Recently Dr. Ed Stetzer, co-author of Compelled by Love: The Most Excellent Way to Missional Living, spoke with Neue about what exactly "missional living" means, how church leaders can encourage their community live missionally and what some major barriers are. Philip Nation, Stetzer's co-author, follows with a list of practical tips to help communities engage in missional living.

How would you define "missional living"?

Missional living is essentially living with our primary perspective as that of an ambassador for the Kingdom of God. It means making our lives not about us, but about Jesus and His Kingdom.

In an alliterated sense, missional living is an incarnational (being the presence of Christ in community), indigenous (of the people and culture) and intentional (planning our lives around God's agenda) focus on the power of the Gospel to bring the reign of God into people's lives.

When did you first arrive at this idea of "missional living?"

I think I first read missional ideas in The Missional Church (1998), edited (primarily) by Darrell Guder. I believe the subtitle of the first chapter is a great summation for the entire work: "From Sending to Being Sent." After that, I was most impacted by Francis Dubose's God Who Sends, which I read during my Ph.D. in Missiology.

Through their writings, and those of many others, the late 21st-century Church was again reflecting a local missiology for churches that moved from "pay for others to go" to "pay the price for me to go."

Working through these ideas for nearly a decade as a church leader and missiologist, I arrived at the conclusion that the vast majority of missional literature and conferences were solely for the benefit of church leaders. So, I asked Philip to co-write with me to address that. Compelled by Love is a remedy for the average believer who is looking for a theological and practical bridge to move their lives in a missional direction.

What would you say is the greatest example of "missional living" in the Bible?

Without hesitation--it is Jesus Christ. He is sent by the Father. He is the incarnation of God. He sets aside His privileges (and rights) to live in our neighborhood. He communicates the Gospel in a way that is understandable to us. And, He is supremely sacrificial in the manner of His life and death.

Choosing one such example from mortal humanity is tough. However, for today, I'll choose Moses. Without his knowledge, God was preparing him to participate in God's work of deliverance. After he had failed miserably because of his sin, God still chose to use him--an imperfect vessel for God's great work. In his old age, Moses served as God's emissary to declare the glory of the one true God, awaken hope in the people of God and shake a society.

How can church leaders encourage their community to live missionally?

Missional living must be motivated with the truth and from the heart. Without the truth of Scripture and the Gospel, there is no reason to live any particular way. Since God has revealed the truth of His character and will, we should teach it to the Body of Christ as what we should do. Church leaders leading people boldly to understand God and His Kingdom should influence our manner of living.

We are blessed that God also desires for the truth to affect us. So through such heart motivations as love, hope, urgency and compassion, believers can be shown how missional living must be a compelled portion of life. Obviously, that was the point of Compelled by Love, as we used 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 as the central theme of the book. Because they are learning the greatness of God and His truth, believers must exhibit a deep desire to share such with the world.

What keeps people from missional living? Would you say there are any unique barriers for twenty- and thirtysomethings?

Believers do not live missionally for two primary reasons:

a) because they believe someone else is doing it; or worse,

b) they are selfish.

Too many Christians assume or deceive themselves into believing that someone else has explained the Gospel to our neighbors, co-workers and friends. Beyond that, believers choose their traditions over the mission. Entire congregations have decided that "the way we do things" is superior to the mission to go, be and tell the Gospel in understandable ways to the culture surrounding them.

The unique barriers for twenty- and thirtysomethings are also twofold. First, many are trying to await the renewal of the Church. Their hope is to show up one Sunday and it will suddenly be different--more missional, more externally focused, more compassionate. The problem: It won't, unless they are willing to lead the way by serving in the church to which they are committed.

The second barrier is that the culture they face is farther from the Gospel than any other in American history. The young adults and families today have grown up without a mooring to biblical truth, and young Christians now have to begin at the beginning. They were raised to present five-point Gospel outlines, and it is not working very often. Instead, they must describe God in Genesis 1 and then Colossians 1. They will need to share about the freedom God offers first from Ecclesiastes and then Galatians. What I am trying to say is that twenty- and thirtysomethings must recognize the distance their culture is away from the cross and be prepared to work in soil that is dry and parched.

Philip's ideas for missional living are also in the magazine:

1. Understand the Gospel. The mission of God is consumed with the person and work of Christ. As you understand Christ, you can accurately participate in God's work of redemption. So read the Gospels--a lot.

2. Take an eternal view of people. The friends, neighbors and co-workers around you have an eternity in front of them. We need to see them as God does and care for them accordingly.

3. Be friendly. A Christian should be the most trustworthy confidant another person has in the world. Believers should be the kind of people everyone else wants to be around.

4. Watch for a chance to serve. People use up all of their energy on family, work and menial chores. Look for ways you can care for your neighbors--even if it is just cooking a simple dinner for them.

5. Be truthful. Missional believers contend for the faith while speaking in a way understandable to the hearer. No matter what, be ready to talk about the truths in Scripture.

6. Love like Jesus. He lived a robust life of caring for the lost. In elevating sacrificial love far beyond any previous thinking, He gave an example for us.

7. Be on guard. As you work alongside the King to extend His Kingdom, our spiritual enemy will immediately attack. Guard your heart in holiness.

8. Live missionally at home. Family is the first place for the mission of God in your life. When people see the impact it has on your home, they will be more willing to trust its veracity for their own lives.

9. Show patience. People are farther away from understanding the Gospel than in previous generations. Do not hesitate to invite them to submit to Christ, but know that they have plenty of questions that might need answering first.

10. Do it for one reason--the glory of God. The only reason to be missional is to make Christ more widely known. God is worthy of being honored by all of creation, and it should be the main reason why we participate in His mission.

Yesterday, I received an email from Alan Nelson, telling me about some changes in his role. Alan is moving to California and moving from full-time editor to part-time Executive Editor of Rev! Magazine. He will be doing more speaking and writing now and you can find out more about him at www.alanenelson.com.

Anyway, all that to say that it reminded me of a recent article I published with the magazine, I think it was in the last issue. If you are a subscriber, you have already read the article. But, if not, let me share it below.

The theme of the article is change. This has been a "change" week for me. I am right now at Ridgecrest, NC where I have been teaching on the subject for the last few days. And, I just started reading Who Stole My Church, which is, so far, and excellent fictional parable of a church struggling with change.

When Mike Dodson and I wrote Comeback Churches, we did so to help churches change to reach their community. And, yes, it requires change. You cannot do the same thing and expect different results. However, Alan Nelson at Rev! challenged us with the question: how do you motivate people to make that change. The result is the article below:

Below is an article I wrote for Outreach Magazine. Outreach has asked me to present an "opinionated" voice in my column-- to bring, I hope, a thoughtful and probing approach to the issues addressed. (This month, my subtly-titled article is called "Jerk Free Evangelism.")

I think that every movement needs thoughtful reflection. So, I listed some of my questions in the article (which you can see below). Now, to be transparent, I preach at a multi-venue church every week, so I would not consider myself "anti-," but I do like to think through the consequences, intended and unintended, of new approaches to church. You can see my thoughts below. Feel free to comment... I would like to hear your thoughts.

Geoff Surratt, who co-wrote The Muiltisite Church Revolution, wrote me a great letter in response to the article, kindly differing with some of my conclusions. If you come to the blog Friday, I will post that letter and Geoff and I will dialogue a bit about it here at the blog.

Questions for McChurch

The multi-site argument goes something like this:

If I open a new coffee shop on your side of town, it may take years before people figure out I'm there. Even then, they may never check out my lattes because they already get their coffee at a place called Buckstops.

On the other hand, if Buckstops opens a new shop, almost immediately hundreds of people will become regulars. Why? They already know the Buckstops brand.

Many congregations are moving to a multi-site strategy for this exact reason: a church plant may take years to get a footing, but an extension site of an established church will grow immediately. Instead of starting with 20 attendees, they may start with hundreds. (When Andy Stanley started the Browns Bridge Campus of North Point, thousands showed up the first day!)

Limitations to the Attractional Model

But is it all good? Since my column is to take a contrarian tone (yes, it is in my contract to be the Andy Rooney of each issue), let me share my concern that the attractional basis of multisite ministry also has some dangers.

In an increasingly unchurched culture, even the best worship and highest quality projection can lose its attraction. For example, there are few multi-site churches in Europe. Will a great speaker and powerful music appeal to a truly post-Christian culture? For some, maybe. But the popularity of YouTube and proliferation of amateur podcasts show a whole generation emerging that is less concerned with polish and more concerned with authenticity and accessibility.

I'm not suggesting we employ a strategy like the one I recently saw on a sign outside a church: "No coffee. No doughnuts. Just the Bible. Come and get it." I'm enthused about new methods and technologies to reach people for Jesus.

But as we rush into multi-site, we should pause long enough to consider at least these three things --

Candidates include (in order they were announced):
1. Bill Waggner.
2. Frank Cox.
3. and Avery Willis makes three (posted with his permission).
...and watch for Johnny Hunt's forthcoming nomination from Ted Traylor (also posted here with permission). (Updated: Here is the official announcement for Johnny Hunt.)

It should be a good year with so many godly men interested in leading this convention through challenging times. Pray for God's direction and guidance. I believe that God can bring us together and focus us on His mission.

From the Foster Letter (see www.garydfoster.com)

The 2008 Harris Poll of American leadership confidence has measured the confidence finds 15 of the 16 items listed show a fall in confidence from '07. They are leadership in medicine down from 35% to 28%, the White House down 22% to 15% and small business leaders from 54% to 47%,. Wall Street, major educational institutions, the courts and the justice systems also saw significant declines.

The 6 institutions enjoying the highest confidence of Americans are:

The military (51%); Small business (47%); Major educational institutions (32%); Medicine (28%); Organized religion (25%): The Supreme Court (25%).

The lowest levels of confidence are in:

The Congress (8%);
The press (10%);
Organized labor (11%);
Wall Street (11%);
Major companies (14%).

(Pastors Weekly Briefing 3/7/08, cited in the Foster Letter).

The "State of Church Planting" reports I referred to yesterday are listed below for your convenience. You can download them from the Leadership Network website at the links below. If you haven't seen them already, check out:

Church Planting Overview
Funding New Churches
Improving the Health and Survivability of New Churches
Who Starts New Churches?

You can also access all the Leadership Network downloads at www.leadnet.org/churchplanting.

Last year, the folks at Leadership Network asked me a question: "What is the state and status of church planting in the U.S?"

I said, "No one knows for sure."

Then they challenged (and funded) me to put together a group of people to find out as much as we could. A summary of those results were released today.

I will be in New Orleans today. I plan to yell at David Meacham for not telling me this news. Then, I will speak at this conference:

If you are in the area, come on by. Click here for more information.

Sometimes, I don't know what I think about Geoff Hammond, new President of NAMB. He just does not do things "right."

My co-author and long time friend, Mike Dodson, will be teaching today as I make a one day trip to fellowship with friends and speak at the NAMB State Summer Leadership Meeting in Atlanta. I hvae missed the blissful fellowship and fried chicken of my Baptist fellowship...

Mike was really the brains behind Comeback Churches so I think a good time will be had by all at Indiana Wesleyan University.

Ed

Tomorrow, I head down for a day in Atlanta for a meeting sponsored by the North American Mission Board. New NAMB president, Geoff Hammond, has been facilitating a discussion about the future of church planting, evangelism, and sending missionaries in our convention.

In our SBC polity, state conventions are not districts of the national office. Instead, they are seperate organizations that choose to work together. The same is true with the local expression, the association. So, few people have to come to this meeting, but they do. Interestingly, this year has marked a record attendence.

Could it be that we are ready to cooperate to reach North America for Christ?

You can, and really should, watch NAMB's presentation in San Antonio. You can do so by clicking here (click on the video archives).

I wrote Geoff an email about his presentation in San Antonio: "In your report, you made much of God's mission, missionaries, and cooperation-- I believe God was glorified, and Southern Baptists were encouraged, by your report."

I will do two presentations in Atlanta: one focused on the research from Comeback Churches and the other looking at best practices in church planting.

Tomorrow, I will post on the future of denominational mission agencies.