This post was previously written by Steve Pike on April 10th. Since Steve is out of town, we will be revisiting some classic posts and updating previous church planter stories over the next couple of weeks.

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So, in our last post we wondered about whether our old faithful gauge of missional progress is really all that meaningful. What does it really mean when seats are filled or unoccupied on Sunday morning? It is certainly more fun to preach to a full house than to an empty room. And I don’t mean to downplay the fact that God does use the foolishness of preaching to confound the wise. People do make life changing decisions as a result of being present when the anointed Word is communicated with passion and integrity. Please don’t misinterpret what I’m trying to say. Sermons are good. People listening and responding to sermons is good. But, is that all there is? And again, I must ask, how much can we learn about the spiritual vitality of a group of people assembled in a church meeting on a Sunday morning? Is the person there because they are seeking God? Are they there because they are trying to please their spouse or a friend? Are they there because they hope to make a business contact? Are they there because that’s what they always do and they would feel guilty if they weren’t there? Are they there just to see the spectacle of a preacher living on the roof and hoping their their presence in a room will convince him to come down? (see part one of MMM) And what impact might their reason for being there have on how much benefit they receive from the experience? So, are head counts a reliable gauge of spiritual formation? Read the rest of this entry »

This post was previously written by Steve Pike on April 10th. Since Steve is out of town, we will be revisiting some classic posts and updating previous church planter stories over the next couple of weeks.

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In the interest of full disclosure and to be fair, this happened nearly thirty years ago, so I’m telling the story to make a point, not because I believe this is a wide spread practice. However, it does illustrate, in the extreme, what I believe might be a core measuring problem that is “dumbing down” our missional aptitude.

I once heard the pastor of a church advertising on the radio that he would actually live on the roof of his church until the number of people attending one of his worship services exceeded 1000 people. I’m not making this up. He was serious and he made quite a spectacle of himself. The newspaper picked up the story and he got a lot of free publicity. And if I remember correctly, he did end up with over 1000 people seated in a room listening to him preach.

This story is a dramatic illustration of what I believe is a core problem with our approach to starting new churches. We measure the wrong stuff. Let’s think about the story of the preacher on the roof for just a minute, by asking a few analytical questions. After all his efforts, what did he end up with? Who would be attracted by this type of gimmickry? What would be the reaction of the typical unchurched person to an invitation that went something like, “Please come to my church so my pastor can stop living on the roof!” ? What about the 25,000 other people living in the community? Why just live on the roof until 1000 came to church? Why not stay up there until everyone showed up? If all we are trying to do is get people to sit down and listen to a preacher preach, then I guess he succeeded. But a healthy church engaged in healthy spiritual formation is interested in way more significant outcomes than just getting people into pews. Read the rest of this entry »

Around 4:30pm CDT I’ll be walking out the door into two weeks of vacation. I’m not answering email. I’m not answering my phone. I’m not going to be posting any blogs (However, we will be running some vintage blogs with fresh content mixed in so keep coming back!). I’m going to give my full attention to my family. I guess James Dobson would say I’m going to “focus on my family.” (Sorry…I know that was corny).

The “main event” for my vacation plans will be this: My one, only and best daughter Lindsy is getting married on July 5, 2008 and I’m going to give her away with a tremendous amount of pride. It would be awesome of you think about it to pray for us and Lindsy during this time.

Thanks for your friendship, prayers and support! I’ll be back!