Thursday, December 4, 2008- 9am- Right now, I’m listening to Dave Ferguson talk about multi-site multiplication. He says their core value is reproducing churches. He says that the churches that are reproductive, reproduce at the smallest unit…they reproduce disciples, small groups, churches and networks. Powerful stuff!

Friday, December 5, 2008- 6am- OK, it’s Friday morning and I’m heading out for day two at Multiplicity. As I reflect on yesterday, I observed several unplanned “sub-themes” that ran throughout the day. 

1. We’re called to make disciples.

2. The foundation of discipleship is relationship with God and people.

3. Healthy churches are built on a foundation of redemptive relationships.

4. The diversity of the AG is an incredible strength. Everyday we are becoming a family that looks more like heaven.

5.  The level of enthusiasm for building new bridges to connect with people far from God is higher than ever.

More to come….. 

Friday Morning December 5, 2008- 9am- Alan Hirsch is talking now. He’s talking about a round table that occurred in Luther’s study on Reformation Sunday. It was a convening of key thought leaders from around the world. The question was “do we need a reformation?” Alan suggestion was that maybe what we need is not reformation but rather “refounding.” Going back to the basics of who Jesus is. He says that Christology determines missiology which determines our ecclesiology.

Dave Mills was outstanding. He talked about building bridges of connection to communities through meeting felt needs with no strings attached. Encouraged intentionality in kindness.

Bob Roberts is really hit the ball out of the park with his thoughts on being a disciple making church first. He basically said we need to stop planting churches and start making disciples. Churches emerge out of the seminal activity of discipleship.

Dave Olson told the truth and gave us hope that better days are ahead for the American church.

Dr. George Wood wrapped up the day with a powerful exegesis of the Acts account of the church as Ephesus.

It was a phenomenal gathering! 

Cherri and I just got back from a phenomenal time with an outstanding group of multipliers who are connected with the Northwest Ministry Network. This team of leaders serve together in a region of the nation that is severely underchurched and they are committed to doing whatever it takes to be on mission with Jesus in building bridges to “tribes” that are disconnected from a personally incarnated Gospel witness.

We joined with them in a Church Planter Intensive to think together about what needs to happen to build hundreds of new bridges. I came away incredibly encouraged with the caliber of leaders God is raising up in this part of the nation. Les Welk is the Network Team Leader (Superintendent) and from his very first day in that role has been a passionate proponent of multiplication. Dozens of new churches have been started during his tenure. Being the outstanding leader he is, he understood that his role did not afford him the luxury of giving direct oversight to the Network infrastructure needed to support the starting of new communities of faith. So he asked Dave Cole to take on the task of building out Network systems to catalyze multiplication. That assignment matched perfectly with Dave’s passion and experience and for the past 6 years he has helped the Northwest Ministry Network become a great place for multiplication to happen.

A key feature of this Intensive was to announce a new shift in leadership responsibility. As the Network continues to flex with the culture and God’s direction, it has become clear that Dave’s gifts could be best applied in other crucial tasks. So Dave and Les along with the broader Network leadership team selected Del Chittim to step into the role of District Multiplication Director. Along with Del they have invited my friend Dan Serdahl to facilitate coaching support for Network multipliers.  These are outstanding leaders and I believe the future is bright for every aspect of multiplication in the Northwest Network. CMN looks forward to partnering with them to leverage our scale as a movement and doing everything we can to empower them to be successful.

Another great privilege of this trip was connecting with some of the amazingly gifted and creative leaders at the front lines of ministry in the NMN. The Intensive was held at All Saints Church in Seattle, pastored by Bill Berger. All Saints is located in the heart of the Queen Anne community of Seattle. This is an arts oriented setting with a lot of personality and personalities. Bill fits right in! I loved the sign on the outside of the building…All Saints Believe, Doubt, Seek.

Sunday Morning we got to be at one of the 3 worship gatherings of a 4 year old plant called Canyon Creek Church in Mill Creek, Washington pastored by Brandon Beals. This team is doing an outstanding job of connecting into the culture of their neighborhood with the right message, music and methods. Brandon preached a challenging uncompromising message without building a wall with unnecessary obstacles for pre-Christians to climb over.

Cherri and I came away very encouraged. The AG family is broad and robust. If the Northwest Ministry Network is a “leading indicator” the future of ministry in the US is heading in the right direction. Jesus is still building His Church.

At least once a week I receive a call from an aspiring planter that includes a some variation of the following question…”where is the best place in America to plant a church?” When I probe to make sure I understand the question, almost without exception I discover that by “the best place to plant a church” they mean a “fast growing” typically suburban community where the time and money investment will be quickly recovered. Such reasoning certainly makes sense if the only consideration is going after the “low hanging fruit.”

A major problem with this approach is that everyone is doing it. Go to any fast growing suburban community and you will find a bunch of new church start ups.  Typically, these new start ups are pursuing a similar strategy… good marketing, excellence in presentation, relevance in message, cool brand… And so, in the “best place to plant in America” you end up with a group of planters playing a game of “our church is better than the other churches.” And only the very best survive. And as I’ve pointed out in other blogs, David Olson’s research indicates that when the dust settles they’ve mostly succeeded in playing a good game of musical pews. 

So maybe a better question to guide our planting efforts is “where will I find the right place to plant a church?” Since there are unreached/disconnected people everywhere and God loves them all then it stands to reason that He’s not just calling multipliers to the fastest growing suburbs. He also cares about rural America, tough urban places and communities that aren’t fast growing. Places like Scranton. I have a feeling that God is calling people to the harder places, but His still small voice is being drowned out by the stampede scrambling to the fast growing suburbs.

It’s time to stop. And listen. Maybe He is calling you to a fast growing place. But it’s actually more likely He’s calling you to a place like Scranton. God loves people there too.