Travis Johnson

Chris and Benny

Looking forward to having Chris from Compass Pointe Church  in Lakeland and Benny from Freedom Culture in Miami at Life Pointe tomorrow.  I also love the tradition we have where visiting pastors treat me to lunch.

National New Church Conference Audio

The 2007 Exponential Conference (National New Church Conference) was excellent. In case you missed it, you can get the audio to the plenary sessions here:

Plenary Session 1 with Wayne Cordeiro
Plenary Session 2 with Ed Stetzer
Plenary Session 3 with Dave Ferguson
Plenary Session 4 with Bill Hybels

For the rest of the pre-conference podcasts, click here.  Thanks to Steve Addison for the heads up.

Stages of a Growing Church

Ben Arment shared a good post here about the growth stages a church goes through.  I'll summarize his summary like this:

1. Growth solely from the pastor/planter.
2. Growth from core people inviting their social networks.
3. Growth from advertising and coordinated outreach.
4. Growth from multiplication of small groups.
5. Momentum Growth from Word-of-mouth.
6. Growth from sub-congregations (second service, additional locations, age specific congregations, etc..)
7. Growth from critical mass (a crowd attracts a crowd)
8. Church Reproduction.

While there's no scientific pattern, this does explain how some styles of churches (like us) grow.

Church Planter: Brent Stephens

In the past, Awakenings or Revivals came by way of persecution, crusades, student-led prayer ministries, and overseas missionary endeavors.  I believe there may be an awakening taking place today and church planters are involved in a big way.  I'm blown away by how many really awesome guys are laying it down to establish new life-giving churches.

I am glad to see my friends, Brent and Sarah Stephens going public with their decision to plant a church in the Atlanta-area town of Acworth.  They are leaving a relatively comfortable, upwardly mobile denominational position working for someone I consider to be one of our very best denominational leaders to step out into the arena of the unknown.   I'm incredibly proud of Brent and Sarah.  I've known both of them for over 10 years.

If you know of anyone in the Acworth area that would like to be a part of a launch team for a new church, have them check out www.acworthchurchplant.com.  I'd also encourage you to consider supporting these guys in prayer and with cash.  Its an awesome thing to be a part of the mission of Jesus.  Its a beautiful thing to be a part of the Church. 

Mark Driscoll on Male Church Planters

I guess Bill Hybels had a beef with the video because of Mark's perpective on women in ministry.  I too find Scriptural support for girls to be pastors or even Apostles. Nonetheless, Mark Driscoll brings home a message to men on church planting in my kind of language.  He makes me want to go fight someone.  Mark is leading the way, drawing people to the central message of Jesus in a city where God is largely unrecognized.

National New Church Conference

I'm registered for Exponential.  I'm looking forward to seeing some of the fellas there.  I'm signed up for the Post-launch track.  I can't wait.  On Friday, the 27th, we have a crew going to the Wired Church Regional Conference at Flamingo Road Church as well.  They'll be in Simply Strategic Volunteers and 1st Impressions tracks.

Man Church

My friend, Chris Elrod was on Fox News yesterday talking about "man church."  Watch it here.

Meeting with Flagship Cinemas Executives

This coming Sunday, we will have been in Flagship Cinemas for 1 year.  It has been a good home for us.  In a couple hours, I'll be meeting with a few of their corporate execs to discuss some really groundbreaking opportunities that are availabale to both us and the theater. 

We've discussed it in the past and it looks like we are all on board.  It looks like we'll be able to map out next steps to create exceptional worship environments for us and second to none corporate presentation and high-tech gaming space for community business and youth.

These new developments will significantly cut down our weekly setup time as well as greatly improving our environments.  Flagship Cinemas also has locations in Massachussetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Maryland.  If you are a church in those areas or know of one that is in need of quality meeting space, check these guys out.

Rich Wilkerson and Nathan Griffis

Was taking care of church business yesterday with Matt Robinett and on the fly got to hang out with a couple great guys/pastors.  Spent some time with Nathan Griffis, a church planter in Weston...wish he would start blogging.  Spent some time with Rich Wilkerson, pastor of Trinity Church in Miami Gardens.  I love pastors that are down to earth, real, and straight-forward.  I don't know all of Rich's story here in Miami.  But, he's been at Trinity for 8 years and they are in the community in a big way.

Playing it Safe Sucks!

We are coming down to the last days of the due diligence period for selling our church building.  The building and property is rock solid and the only contingency is the inspection.  Still, I know that anything can happen.  Deals are never deals until they are closed and the money is in the bank.  That's the way big deals work.  Chase, uncertainty, victory (immediate and delayed).

When I was in corporate sales and marketing, I loved the chase.  I loved the strategy behind long, complicated deals.  And, of course, winning tasted good.  Losing fuels the fire to be better next time.

To be honest, if I was in a typical church, surrounded by people fearful of change, I may miss it.  But, we are constantly in flux, pursuing change.  For the last two years we have been pressing every button, pursuing the angles, and going for broke.  At times, it has been difficult and even scary.  But, it has been right and God has always come through.  The journey has been an adventure.

So, as we wrestle and embrace change, we stand at the precipice of a new day in our existence. A multi-million dollar contract is teetering ready to close...but it is possible it might not...anything is possible until the deal is closed. We could wish for the perfect ingredients before we do anything.  Or, we can launch out and go for the mission of the Church of Jesus Christ in a big way.

Seth Godin said in a recent post that one of the biggest factors in the success of the US isn't our natural resources or location. It's that so many people in this country came here seeking a thrill.

I echo those sentiments.  Our success in mission does not rest with the selling of a physical church property.  It rests in the fact that God is who He says He is and we put our faith in action, seeking a great thrill on an eternal mission of connecting people with a Holy God.  God did not call us to play it safe, to give up on the verge of victory, or to become satisfied or stagnant upon realizing comfort.  Really, playing it safe sucks.  That's how you lose.  Going "all in" with a radical pursuit of the mission is the only way to get it done. 

Monday at 5 PM, the deal is set to go hard.  If it happens, we have less than a month to get out.  If it doesn't, we'll likely dip back into the market place and recontact potential buyers.  Regardless, I'm all in.