In August, I will be hosting the first meeting of a Church Planting Leadership Fellowship. This meeting will include time with Bob Harrington (Stadia) on church networks, Hutz Hertzberg (Moody Church) on assessment research, Thom Rainer (LifeWay) on organization leadership, and Steve Pike (Assemblies of God) on influencing your denomination. In addition, we will have peer-to-peer interaction among church planting leaders from different denominations. The first meeting is in Nashville, August 24-25th and the focus of this, and subsequent, meetings is how denominations can be more effective in church planting by sharing ideas and best practices.

The Mission America Coalition had asked me to convene a Church Planting Leadership Fellowship to help denominational leaders connect and collaborate around church planting learning. There seems to be a need for a place for peer learning and I am glad to help facilitate the group.

Chris Conrad (Director of Church Planting for the Wesleyans) and I will be working on this leadership community for people in denominational church planting leadership. It will meet three times per year: one in summer, once in fall, and once in spring (in partnership with the Exponential Conference). The group will be limited to those in similar church planting leadership roles. The focus will not be planting together, but rather learning from one another.

There may be an additional group that helps networks and network leaders connect together, but we have not decided on that quite yet. If you would be interested in that group, please let me know in the comments. (We won't post them but will contact you.) Also, feel free to email this information to your denominational church planting leadership if you think they might be interested in participating.

Here is the email we sent out earlier this week.

Dear Fellow Church Planting Champions,

I pray this finds you doing well as you continue to roll up your sleeves and give your best efforts to serve, support and celebrate church planting and church planters in your context.

Each of you receiving this e-mail have indicated an interest in being part of the Church Planting Leadership Network as we discuss best practices and work together to increase the number and effectiveness of church plants being launched.

So far we have two meetings scheduled:

August 24-25 (Nashville)
November 18-19 (Location TBD)

Our August meeting will include presentations and discussions about the following subjects all of us in the church planting world face:

• Recruitment
• Assessing
• Training
• Networking
• Multiplying

Attached you will find flyer that will give you more information as well as an application. To join the Church Planting Leadership Network, simply fill out the application and send it in, along with the membership fee, to the address on the application.

We look forward to having you with us in this "Best Practices" community.

Thanking God for you,

Ed Stetzer and Chris Conrad

This summer LifeWay will partner with NEXT to host a coaching network at LifeWay Headquarters in Nashville starting July 21. This is a small group of lead pastors meeting one day each month with an experienced pastor/coach.

We believe it is critical to the health of the church that pastors enlarge their thinking, network with other church leaders and establish some intentional learning relationships. We'll present specific tools to help pastors gain leadership perspective, expand the church's missional efforts while still addressing the details of weekend services, staffing, conflict & growth. I'll join a session or two as will others from our team.

As pastors, there's a tendency to get buried in the day-to-day problems of the church, even to the point of missing the mission of the church. Gaining proper perspective is foundational to leading well. Jesus modeled the way on the importance of pulling back in order to gain perspective. In Mark 1:29-39, we find Jesus ministering to hurting, sick, needy people all day and well into the night. At some point in the wee hours of the night, Jesus said, "I'm done," and He left. The text says that He went to a solitary place to pray and recharge. He needed perspective in order to lead more effectively.

If you are challenged in a particular area, or you've decided that 'business as usual' won't cut it this year, then come be a part of this group. In addition to Nashville, we'll start a network at Church of the Highlands in Birmingham July 13. Check it out at nextcoachingnetworks.com.

Matt Fry and J.D. Greear

I had a great time this weekend in Raleigh Durham with Matt and J.D. Saturday night I had the opportunity to speak at C3 Church where Matt serves as pastor. On Sunday morning, I spoke over at the Summit Church where J.D. is pastor. I was very impressed with both men and their churches. We had a brief time in J.D.'s study and got a pic.

Preaching was great. Their churches are amazing. And, I will write about both churches tomorrow. However, I had some special fun with J.D. and his daugher Karis in a gokart race at Frankie's Fun Park (for the record, it was a tie). And, let's just say I have a picture of Matt in a stylish (a cat-in-the-hat-like) hat when we went to the Marbles Childern's museum with his son Caleb. Great fun with a couple of great guys.

Both Matt and J.D. blog, so be sure to see visit their blogs.

Cathy Grossman and USA Today

One of the most fascinating jobs in America must be covering religion. I recently had the chance to speak at the Religion Newswriters Association and learned more about this challenging job. As a conservative evangelical, most of my evangelical friends have a negative view of the media. Sometimes that perception is earned. However, I must say that I think that many of these writers try hard to understand us-- and we are not that easy to "get."

Cathy Grossman has worked hard to report well on evangelicals (and many others). And, I am glad to see her enter the blog world with her Faith and Reason Blog. I would encourage you to drop by and take a look. You can find the full religion page here and there is a link to a forum (usually on the left) where there are lots of topics to debate!

Chicago, My Kind of Town

I am excited that I am getting connected to Chicago. Charles Campbell, who helped organize the conference I spoke at last month while at Trinity, shared with me a pretty impressive undertaking.

Matt Willis is a church planter who is using the Wiki technology to create a prayerwalking map of the Chicago neighborhoods. He and others are seeking to mobilize large numbers of people to come to the city to pray and post their observations here.

Behind the Scenes with "Al"

You can enjoy the whole Al blog series here.

Latino Settlement in the U.S.

J. B. from the International Mission Board keeps a sharp eye out for helpful new reserach. She sent this on to me today.

Latino Settlement in the New Century [pdf]

The Pew Hispanic Center offers timely commentary and research on a wide range of issues related to the Hispanic population within the United States.
Over the past few years, they have put out working papers on immigration, economic forecasts, employment, and pending legislation. This report by their senior research associate Richard Fry was released in October 2008 and it offers a detailed demographic portrait of the growing Hispanic community in the United States. Throughout its 35-pages, visitors will find detailed statistical information on the transformation of the Hispanic population over the past decade, along with material on which counties are experiencing the greatest statistical increase in the number of Hispanics. Finally, the report is greatly enhanced by its use of tables, graphs, and county-level maps of the US.

Mark Driscoll and Acts 29

Mark Driscoll and I have been emailing back and forth about a new project. More on that as soon as possible. However, in the meantime, you should consider listening to this recording where Mark talks about the values and focus of Acts 29. Crazy idea-- if you have questions, it might be good to actually listen to the vision and values. But, what do I know? Have a listen here.

You can also listen to an interview I did with Mark a while back here.

I have not had much of a chance to be at many Acts 29 events lately, but I am excited about a forthcoming meeting that Mark, John Piper, Matt Chandler, I, and several others will be doing in June 2009 in Raleigh Durham. Should be a great week. I will be teaching a class at Southeastern and doing the conference in the evening, etc.

When I started using Twitter I wasn't sure that I would like it, or continue to do it. But I have really taken to this social networking service. It is an easy way to share parts of my life, thoughts, or links that do not warrant a blog post. Since I tend to write LONG blog posts, this is a refreshing change.

Others have shared their thoughts on why Twitter is worth it. Michael Hyatt gave 12 reasons to jump on the bandwagon, and also wrote a helpful beginner's guide. Now that I'm comfortable with Twitter I thought I'd share a few pieces of advice for those getting started.

1. "Tweet" the angles (Twitter is the service, "tweet" refers to the update/post).
It's not worth tweeting that you had lunch. But the fact that your boss stole fries off your plate while he thought you weren't looking is. Avoid the obvious and find the angle of an experience. People want you to share your life, so give them the good stuff.

2. Use your cell phone.
Part of what makes Twitter so great is the easy of updating via your phone. If you have a Blackberry be sure and get TwitterBerry. It is easier than texting all the time. You can also send email if you use Twittermail.

3. Use your cameraphone.
If your cell phone doesn't have a camera, it's time to throw out that Nokia 6110 and upgrade to a phone released in the 21st century. The ability to share an image of where you are, or what you're doing can let people in on fun, exciting, or even deeply meaningful moments.

4. Do not respond to all comments.
People won't expect you to. Most are rhetorical. And, if you respond to most, people will expect you to respond to all. Just respond to those you want think others might find interesting. Remember, that when someone asks you a question like, "Why are you reading The Shack?," only people who read their Twitter see it... so people who read your response won't know to what you refer. However, if you respond, everyone who follows you sees your response. So, try to restate the question in your response if you choose to respond. All of your responses are public unless you use direct messaging.

5. Pace yourself.
Don't tweet multiple times in a row. If you have that much to say write a blog post.

6. Think before you tweet.
Keep in mind that anyone can see your Twitter, not just your subscribers, so don't say anything you wouldn't say on a blog.

One word of caution. If you want to get people upset on Twitter, just point out that you don't use a Mac, and that a Mac is for people who are not technologically savvy (like when I mentioned that my mother recently bought a Mac).

You can follow me on Twitter here.

It is exciting to see God continuing to raise up new ideas to reach the world through church planting.

I was in Richmond recently and Jerry Rankin and I talked a bit about Table 71. It is an odd name, but it has a great purpose.

From the website:

"Table 71" is a loose association of Christian organizations committed to working together in partnership among the remaining unreached people groups in the world in order to help:

• Evangelize
• Make disciples
• Begin and nurture indigenous church planting movements

How was Table 71 established?
In God's providence, a group of ministry leaders were a part of the Strategy Sessions at the Billy Graham Conference on Evangelism in Amsterdam in the fall of 2000. As they strategized about how to reach Unreached People Groups, they asked one another what they could do to help finish reaching all the remaining Unreached People Groups. In the course of their conversations, they realized that they could achieve some goals more effectively by working together more closely. They agreed to begin working to that end immediately.

What is the significance of the name "Table 71?"
There were over 100 tables at the Strategy Sessions at Amsterdam 2000. The table where the partners had their original discussions was numbered, "71." It became the "Table 71" group and the name stuck.

I appreciate the fact that several mission organizations are working together to focus on hard people in hard places.

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.

This evening I took a fall while speaking in Maryland... so, tonight, I'm here in my hotel bed with little to do but blog, take pain medication, and pray for a swift recovery. It was not just a fall, but it was one of those fun, standing on stage, arms and legs flailing, then flat on your back, falls that just embarrass the socks off of you.

But, it was still a good meeting. I taught on the Kingdom of God and was pleased to see that folks were responding to the Missional Network.