OutreachMagazine.com: 2009 Outreach 100: A Researcher's Perspective 2009 Outreach 100: A Researcher's Perspective ================================================================================ Ed Stetzer on 10/02/2009 Ed Stetzer: "We believe pastors and leaders of churches of all sizes can learn from these examples. We have." AS I SEE IT: ED STETZER My team has a love-hate relationship with this project of researching the 100 Largest and 100 Fastest-Growing U.S. Churches. They love “discovering” growing churches and learning from the churches whose commitment to reach people lands them on the lists year after year. Their favorite part is interviewing church leaders, hearing the stories of transformed communities and individual life change. They can’t get enough of that stuff. Then there are the rough days when they can’t get past the gatekeepers, whose job it is to protect pastors from research companies wanting to conduct surveys. Or when they can’t find out who in the church actually knows the attendance numbers. Or they can’t seem to get someone to grasp the criteria of attendance not membership, weekend not weekly. And then there is the rare but very rude staff member. Fortunately, my team is familiar with what it takes to handle a sometimes difficult personality, so they have strategies in place. But what bothers them the most is the lack of understanding about what this project is—a couple of lists that are simply meant to tell the story of how churches throughout the country are reaching people. As you read this issue, we ask you not to miss the stories behind the lists because the real-life examples of what God is doing in and through the local church are the best part (see Page 60). We believe pastors and leaders of churches of all sizes can learn from these examples. We have. Their examples of innovation, creativity and risk taking—all to reach people and then give God the glory—have inspired each of us personally. As we take a look at some of these churches, we’re also sharing some of the more common criticisms and comparing them to what we’ve heard from these churches. Unfortunately, we know telling the stories won’t dissuade all the critics. But we’ve learned that criticism actually does our research team and Outreach a favor by driving up the buzz and keeping us on our toes. WHAT ABOUT EGO? Don’t Lists Of Churches Just Put The Featured Pastors On A Pedestal And Feed The Mindset Of Hero Worship? While these lists do bring a certain amount of attention to churches and pastors, it is our intent to learn from them, not to elevate them. And though high-profile leaders receive somewhat extreme accolades the more prominent they become, they also get a pretty steady flow of criticism and outright attacks for what they are or aren’t doing. As we talked to leaders, we heard from many who intentionally strive to keep perspective through accountability and never forgetting that the glory is God’s. Bryan Carter, lead pastor at Concord Baptist Church in Dallas (No. 44 Fastest-Growing), says the church’s growth has challenged him to trust God more. “It has increased my faith,” Carter says. “I just didn’t see it coming. My prayer was that we would do well. But to watch the life change and growth—it has really blown me away in terms of what God can do.” Dwight Mason, the lead pastor at NewPointe Community Church in Dover, Ohio (No. 67 Fastest-Growing), says the growth there had little to do with him. “We’re experiencing something that can only be explained by God.” After several examples of life change, coincidental relationships and large, unexpected gifts, Mason summarizes NewPointe’s story: “I believe that the favor of God is key. It wasn’t wisdom or a formed strategy. I attribute it to the favor of God. That’s why it’s so humbling. I don’t have a story for you that says, ‘We’re just pushing the right buttons.’ Believe me, there have been enough buttons that weren’t pushed right to know this is bigger than who we are or who I am.” WHAT ABOUT CONVERSION GROWTH? Aren’t These Megachurches Just Swapping Sheep And Drawing In Church Hoppers? I can honestly say that most of the pastors we talked to in this study are strategically focused on reaching out to those disconnected from faith and church and helping them learn about God. They seek to connect them to the community of believers. Mike Bodine, senior leader at Central Christian Church (No. 11 Largest, No. 31 Fastest-Growing), describes what God is doing through the personal relationships Central Christian attendees are building in Las Vegas. “It’s a term we call one life—that every person at Central should have at least one life they’re praying for and building an intentional relationship with,” he explains. “And then they should be prepared to journey with that person and invite them to come hear a life-changing message of radical grace.” Las Vegas is experiencing a renewed spiritual hunger, Bodine says. In one weekend, Central Christian baptized 1,200 people. “These are real stories of real people pulling back from the brink of suicide. Marriages are being restored, families being put back together, and people are becoming productive in society.” Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Ala., (No. 33 Largest, No. 11 Fastest-Growing) also is reaching into the lives of others through the excitement of baptisms and ministering through small groups. “We haven’t even done any marketing in a couple of years because we’re seeing somewhere between 100 and 120 new families every weekend just based on this word-of-mouth,” says Chris Hodges, senior pastor at Church of the Highlands. “We baptize and we video these baptisms and ask every participant to share one or two sentences about how they came to Christ and the person most responsible. We show these videos every month in church in our worship experience, and people cheer when it’s over. That motivates the whole process over and over again. We have people actually invite friends to see their baptism video.” Church of the Highlands also places a strong emphasis on small groups. “We have as many people attend our small groups as attend our weekend services,” Hodges says. “We have over 800 small groups; that’s the pastoring side of our church. We believe that when people have problems, they are going to have more confidence to share it in a context of people in a smaller environment, people who know and love them. We say that the church needs to get larger because we are winning more people to Jesus; but we also say the church has to get smaller so that we can work out our issues and become more like Jesus.” LifeChurch.tv in Edmond, Okla. (No. 2 Largest, No. 13 Fastest-Growing), is one of several churches reaching well beyond any of its physical locations via its online church experience. Many of the people participating in the church’s online campuses are well outside the reach of any of its physical campuses, says Pastor and Innovation Leader Bobby Gruenewald. For many of these “attendees,” the Web is their permanent place of connection to the church. “Every week people from 140 countries participate in church online, so it’s very diverse geographically,” Gruenewald says, adding that he has numerous examples of people who have become followers of Christ in LifeChurch.tv’s online environments. And when these attendees come online, they are surrounded by community. “They come into an environment where they can chat with people,” Gruenewald explains, adding that his team recently developed a chat tool that translates into 32 different languages in real time. “That technology enables us to connect to a population of people that’s much more global and much more diverse.” However, Gruenewald points out that while some attendees come only to an online campus, LifeChurch.tv is not trying to push that as the final destination. “People have accepted Christ through our church online experience, and then we’ve connected them to a local church in their community” Gruenewald says. “It doesn’t have to be a LifeChurch campus. It can be any Bible-centered church. We have other people who may not be anywhere near one of our campuses, but they connect via the Web, and then meet with a small group in their city.” WHAT ABOUT MOBILIZATION FOR SERVICE? Aren’t People At These Churches Just Sitting And Soaking? On the contrary, some of the churches we talked to have made weekends of service an annual or twice–a-year activity. We heard stories of churches cleaning up foreclosed neighborhoods, sponsoring health clinics and stocking community food pantries. As a result, communities are seeing no-strings-attached compassion—the Church being the Church. (See the Faith in Action Web site for more information.) And many, perhaps most, of these churches are strategically and tangibly demonstrating the love of Christ to people with needs and hurts. Christ’s Church of the Valley in Covina, Calif. (No. 57 Fastest-Growing) learned that the largest homeless population in Los Angeles County is single moms and started an after-school program “We take these single moms who are trying to work two or three jobs just to make ends meet, and we go in with our teams to local schools,” Senior Pastor Jeff Vines says. “Our goal was to have an after-school program in every elementary school in San Gabriel Valley.” From 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. while moms work, Christ's Church volunteers provide a wide spectrum of care, from tutoring and teaching a musical instrument or a sport to preparing meals moms can pick up for the evening. At the same time the church started the after-school program, it opened a warehouse where moms could come and get food, clothing, and other necessities. Some 2,700 congregants signed up to participate in the outreach. “So while people have made a commitment to the ministry, at the same time there is a renewed passion for service,” Vines says. “They come in to use their gifts, their talents and their abilities to make a difference in the world.” Lifepoint Church in Tampa, Fla. (No. 24 Fastest-Growing), has learned that mission holds people together, Senior Pastor Brad White says. Via the church’s mission called Revolutionary Love, people can engage in seven initiatives, including efforts to counter sex trafficking, a significant issue in the Tampa area. The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas (No. 96 Largest, No. 43 Fastest-Growing), emphasizes missional living as a lifestyle. Lead Pastor Matt Chandler explains, “One of our church’s ‘family traits,’ as we call them, is missional living. The word ‘intentionality’ is constant there. So a lot of our outreach actually occurs not as a program, but as people just living their lives.” Chandler cites the example of a group of men and women from the church who moved into one of Dallas’ poorest neighborhoods to work with a church there that The Village partners with. Another gentleman at The Village intentionally uses his steel manufacturing business to share the love of Christ. The company gives its employees extra vacation time to go into different parts of the country and abroad to build buildings for orphanages. “Even nonbelievers go on these trips and assist in the building,” Chandler says. “These people see this as their ministry.” Lead Pastor Mark Jobe from New Life Community Church in Chicago (No. 96 Fastest-Growing) notes: “Since we’ve been focusing on how we can serve our communities, we’re becoming more and more known as a place that is dealing with the issues that hit the community.” The church hosted an event for a local Mexican migrant community that drew more than 1,000 people to good food and fellowship. New Life also works with community and ministry organizations to invest in lives, from college assistance and domestic abuse programs to youth efforts. “The church is leading the way in this,” Jobe says. “To me, that’s huge when the community starts looking to the church for answers, not just spiritual, but answers for how can we turn our community around.” The Rock Church in San Diego (No. 19 Largest, No. 36 Fastest-Growing) believes so strongly in serving its community that it measures its effectiveness in service hours. People text in their hours and the church posts the tally on its Web site. They are on target to reach their goal of 600,000 hours for the year. The Rock Church’s emphasis on service has empowered lay volunteers to initiate and lead creative personal outreach ministries such as serving as grief counselors for fire victims, mentoring foster care children and caring for prostitutes. We discovered that as these churches grow rapidly, healthy volunteerism is essential to keep things going as well. The leadership of LifePoint Church in Smyrna, Tenn. (No. 59 Fastest-Growing), realized that they couldn’t afford to hire people to keep up with their growth, so they recruit and equip volunteers, giving them a sense of ownership in the ministry. Similarly, First Baptist Church Concord in Knoxville, Tenn. (No. 87 Fastest-Growing) has more than 1,000 active volunteers who work together to reach about 2,600 children each year during First Baptist’s Vacation Bible School. Senior Pastor Doug Sager encourages the staff toward creativity and urges them to use their talents for ministry excellence. Many of the pastors of these outreach-oriented churches admit that not every ministry works. But the rewards of managing the chaos and seeing lives changed is worth the sacrifice. WHAT ABOUT THE CHURCHES THAT WILL NEVER MAKE THE LIST? Isn’t It True That Many Healthy, Growing Churches Will Never Qualify To Be Listed On Some Largest Or Fastest-Growing List? Of course. I have been to some incredible churches and know great pastors who will never be on these lists. Not because they aren’t reaching the lost, seeing life transformation or reaching out to their communities. I know churches that plant several churches a year. Since they give away people to the new plants, they barely “break even.” Others are growing at a pace that eclipses (by percentage) those on these lists, but they don’t yet meet the qualification for the Fastest-Growing list of at least 1,000 attendees. Still others are seeing steady growth, but they are in a geographic location or demographic situation where it’s just harder and slower—but the ministry is still good, and it is blessed. There is nothing about these lists or this report that is ever meant to diminish or take away from the great work so many of these churches are doing. If a church doesn’t make the list, I have to ask, “So what?” If you can’t get to the point of asking “So what?” about these lists, you can’t ever get to the answer to the question. If pastors are so driven by an unhealthy desire to be recognized that they will tweak or contort the numbers to make the list, by all means, it is time for them to step back and not participate. If pastors are a little excited about their church making the list and having not just their work but the work of the whole church recognized, I get that. I get awfully excited when my blog hits escalate after I’ve posted a particularly brilliant entry (or a funny picture of my family). So I can only imagine the first time your church makes this list, it’s pretty darn exciting. Because these pastors are egomaniacs? Maybe some. But the reality is that a lot of blood, sweat and tears get poured out when leading and shepherding a church of any size and connecting with the unchurched. Some recognition is appropriate. At the end of the day, these are just lists. Lists are tools used by people to organize the world they live in. Our goal is to help you find some churches, discover their stories and hear about some great work that God is doing in and through them. But they are just lists—not a declaration that one church is better than others. And certainly not a dismissal of all the terrific churches out there that are not listed here. John Piper once wrote, "In spite of all the legitimate warnings against hero worship, I want to risk waving a flag for holy emulation—which includes realistic admiration. Hero worship means admiring someone for unholy reasons and seeing all he does as admirable (whether it's a sin or not).” We ask you to find what is good, right, helpful and insightful here and learn from it. Leave the rest behind. Ed Stetzer is president of LifeWay Research and co-author (with Richie Stanley, and Jason Hayes) of Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches That Reach Them (B&H). Lizette Beard, LifeWay Research project coordinator, assisted with this article. How to obtain a copy of the report: Buy The 2009 Outreach 100 special issue and get the lists, plus what we can learn from the churches, and the features on evangelism, growth barriers, 100 ideas and much more. 144 pages. $9.95 (quantity discounts available) Purchase and download a PDF of the listings as part of a 19-page Outreach 100 supplement, including the Largest and Fastest-Growing Churches by region and by denomination. $4.95 Subscribe to Outreach magazine today and get a year of outreach inspiration, information and ideas — plus you'll get The Outreach 100 bonus issue for free.