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.

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.

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!

Multiplicity is our annual get together for doers, dreamers and leaders of church multiplication efforts. This year, we literally have something for everyone. Whether you are parenting, satelliting, planting, thinking about planting, leading planters…anyone who does anything connected to multiplication will find something helpful in this years edition of Multiplicity. Dr. George Wood will also be sharing his passion and vision for planting with us and answering your questions about whatever you care to ask. 

Our theme is Zero…because that is where every journey of faith begins. You’ll hear from and interact with multiplication leaders who have stared “zero” in the eye and then believed God to provide everything they need to do what he’s called them to do. You’ll hear from some of the nationally known leaders in the world of multiplication along with a diverse group of lesser known but very anointed leaders who are part of God’s plan to multiply His Kingdom everywhere to everyone. We’ve also selected a location that is easy to get to…CT Church is only 5 minutes from Houston Hobby airport, a Southwest Airlines destination…which means even if you need to fly, the travel cost is minimal.

So check out the website and register today. Readers of this blog can benefit from our discount code that will save you $90 off the full registration price. Simply enter 2008ZERO in the discount code blank and you will receive the lower price. We also have even better deals for teams who register together. We’re only a month out from the conference so don’t delay!  

His challenge is having a enough skilled leaders to train the emerging “in place” leaders. All the “best” leaders are wooed away by great salary packages offered by large suburban churches. Otto wonders what happened to the “pioneers” and “barbarians” who founded this movement. Do the still exist? Neither he nor I would ever imply that the only valid ministry opportunities exist in urbanized settings. But the proportion of people “called” to safe and comfortable suburban settings compared to the smaller number of those willing to go slug it out in the urban places is out of balance. By definition, urban places are where most people are. Yet, oddly enough, it appears that most leaders are called to go where there are less people.

And so he wonders… is God still calling leaders to urban places? And we know that answer has to be “YES!” So where are they? Good question. I know where some of them are… guys like Jay Covert, Ken Brown and Chilly Chilton.  You’ve read their stories in this blog. We’ve got some great leaders serving in the tough, unforgiving urban places. But we need more.

Which brings us back to Otto’s question. He doesn’t think importing leaders from outside the urban context will work for the long haul. But he does believe he can import trainers of leaders to equip urban leaders to lead effectively. The combination of good leadership principles together with knowledge gained in the school of hard knocks will help these great testimonies of God’s grace to know how to rise up and lead their communities toward transformation!

So Otto has issued the call… if you are an experienced leader, he’s looking for your help to train leaders in place. He feels like he’s running out of time so if you feel like God might be pointing you in this direction, give Otto a call. You can connect with him through his website.