 |
Geoff Surratt remembers the old-school approach to leadership development, where 30-40 participants would sign up for multi-week, classroom training. It seemed not even the strong survived.
"By the 39th week, two people would be left," says Geoff, executive pastor of Seacoast Church. "And neither one of them was leading anything."
Dave Gibbons experienced similar bottlenecks in moving people toward missions ventures at NewSong Church.
"People were sick of having to go through the gatekeepers to get involved with a cause," recalls Dave, lead pastor of NewSong. "In the open-source world we live in, everybody wants to play."
These new realities are shaping the future of |
|
the church and sparking conversations--online and offline--that are generatingministry innovation. Church leaders who want to stay ahead of the curve are responding with digital-age solutions to modern-day challenges in leadership, spiritual growth and service.
Internet campuses, online leadership development and a "portfolio" approach to ministry involvement are just a few of the innovations that are emerging from church leaders and those they shepherd--with most of those discussions happening "after hours."
"One of the things we noticed is that people want to engage 24/7, rather than just during a traditional Sunday service," Geoff says. "People connect when they want to connect."
Based on that trend, the multi-site Seacoast staff also determined that people want to develop spiritually in a non-linear way. Rather than follow a step-by-step development process, Seacoast shifted to needs-based discipleship--all online at www.mynextsteps.org. Participants choose online classes they want to take based on spiritual health assessments, and then they integrate what they learn through. . . |
|
 |
|
| The Next Big Idea Conference |
How do good ideas become acts of service, love and joy? Find out at The Next Big Idea Conference, February 9-11, 2009 on the campus of Baylor University in Waco, TX. Join speakers Eric Swanson, Rick Rusaw, Kay Warren, and Lynne Hybels. You'll learn how to transform great ideas into action in your ministry.
| Hungry Children in the U.S. |
A recent report released by the U.S. Agricultural Department stated that close to one in eight Americans struggled to feed themselves adequately even before this year's sharp economic downturn.
|
| Church Produces "Top Ten" Movie |
With an all-volunteer, 1,200 person cast and crew, Sherwood Pictures--the name behind Sherwood Baptist Church (Albany, GA)--produced the movie Fireproof, starring Kirk Cameron as a firefighter trying to save his troubled marriage.
|
|
 |
 |
| Unique Gathering of Church Leaders |
Innovation3 is the only place where you can hang out with more than 100 visionary presenters including Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll, Nancy Ortberg, Dave Ferguson . . .
| Webinars Available for Free Download |
Soul Repair: Recovery Ministry Webinar
Dr. Dale Ryan, co-author of the new spiritual recovery book, Soul Repair, discusses many of the issues of recovery that people in. . .
| Engaging the 50-plus Generation |
| In this episode of Audio Advance, Don Wilcox, director of Leadership Network's Encore Generation Leadership Community, shares with Dave Travis about innovative churches who are finding new ways to engage the older adults in their midst. |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
"In our church, we've had to change what we measure," says Ken Fong, pastor of Evergreen Baptist Church in Los Angeles. "We no longer use size as our primary metric. Instead, we spend time and effort analyzing the compelling intangibles of the Spirit's work: devotion, love, and obedience."
Read this paper to find out how some next generation pastors are focusing on more than numbers.
|
 |
 |
 |
| You can peruse more than two years' worth of Leadership Network Advance feature articles, and get valuable information on a variety of ministry topics at the newsletter's Archives. Select VIEW ARCHIVES LIST for the full list of Advance archives. |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
