The Fastest Growing Areas in the U.S.
The U. S. Census Bureau released some important information last week on the fastest growing areas in the country. You may find the press release HERE. As you look at the tables below, you’ll notice information on both metro and micro areas of the country. As you prayerfully consider where to plant churches, it is [...]
Have You Considered Rhode Island?
The Christian Post recently released an article addressing the decline in churches in Rhode Island. While there are Kingdom Citizens faithfully preaching the gospel in the highways and hedges, more laborers are greatly needed. Only 2% of the population of the state is evangelical, with one evangelical church for every 8,500 people. Some of the [...]
Growth in U. S. Urban Population
The U. S. Census Bureau recently released some important findings on the growth of our cities. The United States has been a highly urbanized country for many years. This recent information supports the reality that the urban contexts are growing at a faster rate than the rest of the nation. Consider the following from the [...]
Missions To, Through, and Beyond the Diasporas
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life recently released an important report on the religious affiliations of international migrants. I sent out a few tweets linking readers to Pew’s site and the fascinating interactive maps. If you have not seen them, you need to check them out HERE and HERE. 214 million international migrants [...]
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Don’t Reach Everyone with the Gospel
One of the thoughts that often arises in the minds of missionaries as they approach a city, village, population segment, or people group is, “How in the world are WE going to reach everyone with the gospel?” When they begin asking this question, they have ceased to think like missionaries. This is not a wise [...]
Update on The Barnabas Factors
I recently received notice that Missional Press is ending operations as of April 5, 2012. While I did not enjoy hearing this news, I understand. It is a difficult day for smaller publishers. I consider it an honor to have published The Barnabas Factors: Eight Essential Practices of Church Planting Team Members with them in [...]
Time to Enlarge the Church Planting Table
For too long we have been guilty of making church planting a ministry for only the high capacity, high caliber leaders. These are the individuals that I describe as the 8-, 9-, 10-caliber leaders. Now, while I am all for equipping and mobilizing such church planters (I have done this many times over the past [...]
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Raising Leaders from the Harvest and for the Harvest
Earlier this week I was doing missionary training in Auburn, Alabama. It was a great blessing to work with a wonderful group of guys who have a heart for planting churches across North America, and throughout the world. One of our sessions included an extensive discussion on rasing up leaders to pastor the new churches [...]
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Leadership Development: You Are What You Eat–And You Reproduce It Too (part 2)
In my last post on leadership development, I addressed the fact that many of us are looking toward unhealthy paradigms for equipping others. This problem should not surprise us. We reproduce what we know, and we know what has been modeled before us. And what is often set before us in North America is not [...]
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Leadership Development: You Are What You Eat–and You Reproduce It Too (part 1)
I remember a Public Service Announcement that would air on television whenever I would get home from elementary school. It was this crazy 60-second cartoon of a strange character who would remind kids to eat healthy food. His jingle included the phrase “You are what you eat from your head down to your feet!” Leadership [...]
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