Who knows? Maybe I’m right.

Sometimes you never know how significant a year is until centuries later. 1776, 1492, 33… those were all big years but nobody living in them understood how big they really were at the time they were living in them.

I do know that 100 years from now when our great grand kids are talking history, they might at least refer to 2008 as the year the AG turned a corner. Here are some reasons they might think that:

1. In 2008, the Church Multiplication Network was formally conceived, approved and launched as a General Council initiative to leverage the scale and assets of this fellowship to work together to reach as many Americans as possible through vigorous new communities of faith started all over America.

2. 10 BootCamps were held and hundreds of multipliers were trained to start new churches and help existing churches learn how to multiply.

3. 43 churches were funded and launched through the efforts of the AG Trust and the CMN matching fund project.  These 43 churches have connected with over 70,000 previously “un” or “de” churched individuals, recorded 955 confessions of faith, baptized 189 folks in water and are giving an average of 11% of their income to missions.

4. The initial leadership team for the Church Multiplication Network has been selected and activated. I’ll be announcing our “starting lineup” in a blog post in the near future. Suffice it to say, God’s blessed us with a great team and we are ready to for what’s next!

I’m extremely grateful to the visionary executive leadership team that God has given the AG fellowship. It is an extraordinary privilege to work with George Wood, Alton Garrison, John Palmer, Doug Clay, Zollie Smith and John Bueno. Along with the Executive Presbytery team, these outstanding leaders have taken a bold step in facilitating and financing the creation of the Church Multiplication Network.

Tomorrow, we all start another trip around the sun. By God’s grace, it’s going to be a good one! 

Fall… summer slowly releases it’s grip on the weather and the multi-colored leaves slowly release their hold on the trees… and yet another BootCamp season draws to a close.

This last camp of the season was excellent. Steve Tourville, Tom Rees and the Penn-Del District are to be commended. They’ve got an incredible location for getting away to get ready for what’s next.  

2008 has been a great year… over 500 leaders experienced the BootCamp processed and were prepared to go out and multiply God’s church. Every camp has it’s own unique features and there are a bunch of stories wrapped up in the lives of those 500 leaders… and I think the best is yet to come.

One of the great stories from this most recent camp is that of Brian Bolt. Brian works in partnership with Jeff Leake and is planting a church in urban Pittsburgh. Brian’s story is simply amazing. He’s been shot at and the shooter didn’t miss. He’s planted a church in a tough place and not only is the church thriving but it’s actually producing revenue to support itself. Brian also told me to tell you he’s also the best looking and the most incredible communicator you’ll ever hear.

Brian is just one of the amazing people you meet at BootCamp. 

The good news is that Brian and a bunch of other “characters” like him will be at Multiplicity 2008 in Houston in just a few weeks. It’s going to be challenging, inspirational, collaborative, surprising and outstanding… And it’s a great deal for the readers of this blog. Just use the code 2008ZERO to receive the special discount registration price of $109. It will save you $90 off the regular registration fee. I hope to see you there!

This week I had the privilege of being with a great group of leaders at Camp FaHoLo in Michigan. (We interupt this blog for a little trivia….The first time I heard it, I thought “FaHoLo” was a Native American word, but I found out that it stands for Faith, Hope and Love). These men and women are preparing to start new communities of faith to build bridges of life to people far from God in America.

I love being around “multipliers.” These are people who have decided that God’s agenda is more important than their personal comfort and security. Some of these folks are preparing to multiply in communities where no vigorous church presently serves. Others are working hard to help an existing church re-engage with the Mission of God.

This particular BootCamp was a cooperative effort between the Michigan and the Midwest Latin American Districts. It was awesome to see the diversity of methodology and style. Each of these new or revitalized churches will certainly be very different in their methodology, but they will all have the same basic Mission…to seek and save that which was lost.

I especially enjoyed meeting with a superb group of Hispanic pastors and multipliers.  In 2007, the AG collectively started 309 new churches throughout the US and more than half of them were started by leaders affiliated with a Spanish language district! Our Spanish language Districts are truly leading the way in multiplying the Kingdom. I’m very excited about the diversity of the AG…as we work collaboratively across ethnicities we are all better for it.

Thanks to our great team of facilitators who made this BootCamp a success…Roger Stacy, Trinity Jordan, Tim Satryan , Rex Bornman, Todd Clair, Rocky Alvarez and Larry Gruetzmacher. Steve Bradshaw and his team at Camp FaHoLo were great hosts. And as also, Debbie Armstrong kept everything flowing smoothly.

Our next camp is in Pennsylvania in just a few weeks. I look forward to connecting with yet another group of world changing multipliers!