The Acts 29 site is rolling out a blog and Mark Driscoll posted Twenty Leadership Questions for Building a City within the City for those who are in the church (or are considering) church planting.  These leadership questions are based on Nehemiah.

If Christianity is going to make a difference in the world, its leaders cannot just sit around waiting for the phone to ring and answering every e-mail complaint that hits the inbox. Leadership is not keeping everyone happy (that will never happen-especially for me). Leadership is not just gathering a bunch of mostly stubborn people together on Sunday. Rather, leadership is moving people in a passionate drive toward the mission of God.

This seems to be the month of conference announcements as we all plan our new year.  I want to add another one for you to consider:  The 2007 Multi–Site Church Conference (the model is not multi-site through video venue but through pastors preaching at multiple sites).     The conference is hosted by Harbor Presbyterian & The model of church planting comes from by Richard Kaufmann, while Executive Pastor at Redeemer Manhattan, and now is the model they are using at Harbor Presbyterian here in San Diego. Doug Swagerty now serves as Executive Pastor and will be leading the conference.    We at Kaleo Church have embraced the model because it allows us to:

 - Plant churches faster and with lower resources. 

 - Centralized administrative tasks allow church planters to focus on ministry without the details of managing an organization.

Other info on the event from the website:

During the two days, we will be presenting not only the model and strategy that we are using at Harbor, but we also will be highlighting other forms of multi-site ministry that some of you are doing.  In addition, we want to share in more detail why we decided to use this model as a church-planting strategy to reach additional communities in San Diego.  So we are planning to present and address a variety of models for churches at all stages of their development.  Approximately half of the conference will be plenary sessions on such topics as “Why Multi-Site Ministry,” “Models of Multi-Site Ministry,” “Pillars of Multi-Site Ministry,” and “The Importance of Team Ministry.”  Then we will also have a number of breakout sessions on such topics as leadership structure, leadership development, central services, financing and budgeting for multi-site ministry, centralized ministries, and the nuts and bolts of getting started on a second site. 

You can register for the conference online by going to http://www.pca-mna.org/multi_site/2007MNAMultiSiteChurchConference.htm.  The dates will be March 13-14.

Here is the announcement that the 2007 San Diego Church Planting Bootcamp has been scheduled.  This conference is hosted by Kaleo Church and several other Acts 29 churches.  We are fortunate to have the Harbor Presbyterian churches with us and many of the other local denominations.  The conference is scheduled for  March 30th & 31st 2007.

Sessions Scheduled: (These are working titles, actual titles wil change.  Additional sessions to be scheduled.)

The 12 Musts of a Missional Church by Michael W. Goheen

The Gospel Story & Worldview by Michael W. Goheen 

Missional Ecclesiology (Newbigin's Missional Logic) by Michael W. Goheen

Preparing & Preaching a Gospel Centered Message by Richard Kaufmann  

Main Speakers:

Michael W. Goheen, Geneva Professor of Worldview and Religious Studies at Trinity Western University , co-author of The Drama Of Scripture: Finding Our Place In The Biblical Story and author of “As the Father Has Sent Me, I Am Sending You”: J.E. Lesslie Newbigin’s Missionary Ecclesiology.  (For more, open Michael W. Goheen 's 26 page PDF Cirriculum Vitae.) 

Richard Kaufmann, the Movement Leader for Harbor Presbyterian Church in San Diego, where he also pastors the Downtown and Uptown sites.  Prior to moving to San Diego in 1999, Dick was the Executive Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan for five years.

NOTE: You can view & download all the sessions from the 2006 Church Planting Bootcamp. (Except my session is located here Church Technology & Mission.)

Last month I transitioned from many of my responsibilities, such as overseeing our deacon development (which has entered a more mature season, we've installed 3 new deacons and have 3 more identified this year) into thinking through the process people go through from the time they visit the church, through connecting, being developed and being sent on mission. Over the next couple months, I'll document some of these thoughts in a Ministry Design series focusing on Connecting, Developing & Sending. 

The first step in this is greeting people when people visit our church.  Most churches have 'greeters' to welcome people on Sundays.  But how many churches are deliberate about using their greeters as a ministry beyond hospitality?  Each week I typically speak to 2-3 visitors who are attending a Kaleo service for the first time.  The 3 most common reasons people visit Kaleo are: they have newly moved to the area, they are looking for a new church or their life is in a transition.  In each of these there are direct ministry opportunities for us to provide these people. 

• People that are new to the area need to find gospel community and fellowship.
• People who are looking for a new church are leaving because there was some un-met need (whether consumerism driven or legitimate we are still responsible to minister to them.)
• People who are in a life transition (loss of job, health, death in the family) many need counseling, intense prayer and support.  

How do we connect with these people and gather this information in order to minister to them?  We are looking to train our greeters where there will be a 'front door' welcoming greeting team and a second greeting team inside near a resource table to meet these people.  Our goal is to partner these guests with people in our church who can help minister to them and help them connect.  We would hope to have our people pray for, meet with and love these guests. 

How do you ensure you connect with all visitors?  We will offer guests a Kaleo Vision Package.  This packet would include our vision/values and a cd that they could listen to in their car during their 15-minute drive home from church.  At the same time we would gather their information if we had not received it.  On subsequent visits 2nd time guests could pick up copies of our worship cd and third time The Gospel for Real Life (or other resource).  This is how we would see our greeting operating as a ministry to those who visit Kaleo.

Getting Things Done is a giant method of how to be productive and efficient, without being stressed out.  The goal is 1) to get all of the stuff you need to do and remember out of your head and into an external system that you can rely on, so your head isn’t trying to always do the remembering (namely, organized lists—a key value of this book), and 2) to get you to make decisions about your work right away.  Here is a link to Word document summary of Getting Things Done: getting-things-done-summary.doc

NOTE: The Getting Things Done Summary document was created by Leah Hardwick for David Fairchild at Kaleo Church.  (So if it mentions creating a 'Grace' file, etc. that is his wife.)

Addressing the big “E” on the eye chart: do I think this would be helpful for you?  Yes.  If nothing else, you can walk away from this with a few nifty “tricks” about how to get things done more efficiently, with less stress, etc., if you don’t adapt the whole method.  I have outlined the major points and methods of the book so you can determine what would be helpful for you to implement on a day-to-day basis.

Basic requirements of managing commitments:

1. If something is on your mind, it must be captured into a trusted system outside your mind that you know you’ll come back to regularly and sort through
2. Clarify exactly what your commitment is, and what you have to do, if anything, to make progress toward fulfilling it.
3. Once you’ve decided on an action, you must keep reminders of them organized in a system you’ll review regularly.

A few key points:

-         If your organization efforts are to be successful, you need to gather everything that requires thinking, and then do that thinking.

-         The key to managing all your stuff is managing all your actions.

Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life

Based on Allen's highly popular e-newsletter, Principles of Productivity, Ready for Anything offers fifty-two principles to clear your head, focus productively, create structures that work, and get in motion, including:
* stability on one level opens creativity on another
* you can't win a game you haven't defined
* the value of a future goal is the present change it fosters

With wit, motivational insights, and inspiring quotes, Ready for Anything shows readers how to make things happen with less effort, stress, and ineffectiveness, and lots more energy, creativity, and clarity. This is the perfect book for anyone wanting to work and live at their very best.

Welcome to Goodmanson.com .  If you are new(er) here, I began this blog in July of 2004 and today I've posted for the 500th time.  I got out my calculator and discovered that over these 825 days, I've made a post every 1.65 days.  Over the years I've posted a lot on church planting, technology, churches, leadership and culture.  Here are some posts I'd recommend if you haven't been here the whole time.

CHURCH PLANTING 

Five Trends for the Future of Church Planting 26Aug06

The State of the American Church - Why Church Planting is Critical to the Future of American Christianity 16May06

CHURCH

A Partnership of Externally Focused Churches 11Aug06

Emerging From Church De-Construction to Church Kingdom Building 19Sep05

Fun with Angry, Yelling, Legalistic Christians who Know Everything 03Apr05

Is the Twelve Tribes a Cult? 02Nov05 (From my year-plus stint as a weekly Sheep & Goat column for the San Diego Reader)

LEADERSHIP

Preaching the Gospel to Yourself 26Oct06

Deacon Training & Development 02Jun06

Triperspectival Ministry Assessment 12Oct06

The Dangers of Confession while in the Pulpit 20Oct06

TECHNOLOGY

Why God is more glorified by Web 2.0 09Oct06

Technology and the Mission: Conference Session 25Sep06

List of Church Technology & Website Blogs & Resources 27Sep06

CULTURE

My own ‘Sin City’ 18Apr05

The role of the Christian artist in the secular world 20Aug04

FAMILY

New Son Roman! 30Jan06

Gideon Turns 2 Years Old 26Mar05

The 2007 National New Church Conference website has launched.  This years theme: Exponential:  Moving Beyond Addition

It was Jesus that cast the vision for this emerging, seeker-targeted house church that would soon exponentially grow to impact the world.  As Jesus spoke it was very clear that this church had an unlimited potential – the potential to alter eternities and to change the world.   In the midst of the resulting chaos, the church experienced explosive growth; growth well beyond addition, and even beyond multiplication.  Exponential growth characterized by a spirit-led, missional, and reproducing DNA.  The conference experience is designed to inspire, encourage, train, equip, and connect church planting leaders.

Speakers include: Bill Hybels, Wayne Cordeiro, Ed Stetzer, Dave Ferguson, Bob Roberts, Bil Cornelius, Mark Batterson, Jim Putman, Rick Rusaw, Matt Chandler, Darrin Patrick, Shawn Lovejoy, Vince Antonucci, Bob Logan, David Putman, and more. 

This year their will be several different 'tracks' for people to choose between:

• pre-launch track - If you are considering planting or you've already decided to take the plunge, this track is for you. You will learn Biblical principles that will shape the way you think about church planting and how you shape the DNA of your new church. As leaders and influencers for the work of the coming harvest, it is crucial that we prepare well. Regardless of the church planting model you pursue, the next generation of church plants needs healthy DNA.
• post-launch track - You survived the stresses of launching a new church and now you face a whole new set of challenges. In seeking to establish traction and momentum, you experience a range of emotions including joy, anxiety, frustration, fatigue, peace, humility, rejection, encouragement, discouragement, and fear.
• reproducing churches track -The Reproducing Churches Track is all about expanding your influence to help more people find their way back to God! This track will inspire and equip you in whatever stage of church life you now find yourself. You will discover the basics and innovations in Reproducing Leaders and Artists which will revolutionize your local outreach and is foundational to reproducing at a macro level.
• networking track - The National New Church Conference is like a reunion for many church planting leaders. It's a great networking opportunity, a chance to catch up with friends, and to take care of a little business. Recognizing that up to 25% of conference attenders may choose to spend their time networking rather than participating in other tracks, we've added a networking track. Although attendees selecting this track are in charge of their own schedule, there will be several special optional sessions of interest to people taking the networking track.

Their is a Super Early Bird Registration Special for $99 for those who sign-up now.  This is a great gathering of church planters, those who are considering church planting and churches looking to grow in their ability to plant churches.

How would you like: (1) Access to capital and entrepreneurship networks. (2) Theological foundations. (3) Professional consulting services.  These are three of the components of Redeemer's Entrepreneur Incubator.  Here is a church leading the way in thinking through how to connect 'capitalism' with 'Kingdom'.  Keller connects how investment banking can be Kingdom minded in his seminar Cultural Renewal: The Role of the Intrapreneur and the Entrepreneur.  He argues that God is keenly interested in this world and restoring it from the fall.  We are called to bring about this change, but ultimately, it will be fulfilled when Jesus returns.  He goes so far as to say, "the purpose of salvation is to make this world a great place.  Salvation is only a temporary means to an end."

This thinking is most certainly novel.  Are there Christian venture capitalist who desire to seek both earthly and spiritual returns?  A search for "christian venture capitalist" brought only one 'venture capitalist' organization, Kingom Ventures, that "is a philanthropic venture capital firm focused on supporting emerging Christian ministries around the world."  The search also brought an article (Venture Capital and God: Commentary on Kingdom-Based Investing ) by Ken Eldred, who has founded many successful companies including Ariba Technologies, Inc (NASDAQ: ARBA) the leader in the Internet Business-to-Business industry and which has reached a market valuation as high as $40 Billion. He was also Founder, Chairman and CEO of Inmac a company which he took Public in 1987 and grew to $400 million in yearly revenues as the first business to sell computer products, supplies, and accessories by direct mail and later merged with MicroWarehouse.  I searched for 'Ken Eldred ' and found his own venture capital company, Parakletos Ventures.  Ken served as co-editor of the book, On Kingdom Business: Transforming Missions Through Entrepreneurial Strategies.

On Kingdom Business proposes a new model for using business in missions: kingdom entrepreneurship. Kingdom entrepreneurs are "job-makers," starting for-profit businesses of all sizes–real businesses that meet real needs. This book provides a conceptual foundation for kingdom entrepreneurship and explores its contemporary development using case studies of kingdom businesses and reflecting on the lessons kingdom entrepreneurs have already learned.

I don't know why there aren't more Christians rallying behind the physical expression of God's restorative plan.  It is encouraging to see Al Weiss form Vision USA, with the aim to raise $300 million over the next 10 years for aggressive church planting in 50 of the country's most influential cities.  Weiss is reaching out to business leaders to invest in this necessary plan.  But…

how great would it be to login to a site like Kiva to provide funding support to Kingdom-minded entrepreneurs, church planters, missionaries and the lot.  

As Christians, we need to be concerned with the needs of the people in the city. The Bible is greatly concerned with the economics of the poor and their well being.  I believe one powerful way for Christians to represent the already/not yet establishment of God's plan for earth is to be entrepreneurial, starting companies rooted in our desire to see the gospel transform the city for the common good.  (I preached a sermon dealing with some of this, entitled, The Christian Social Revolution based on much of Keller's/Clowney's influence.)  In fact, Redeemer already is doing this:

Redeemer’s vision is to cause cultural renewal in all the institutions and professions that comprise New York City and impact the world around us. As part of this vision, we hope to not only empower intra-preneurs, who create change within existing companies and organizations, but also support entrepreneurs, whose new ventures challenge or augment the services of existing institutions and help advance both the private and public sectors.

The Entrepreneurship Initiative is designed to equip, connect, and mobilize entrepreneurs within Redeemer’s congregation to create new ventures that bring about gospel-centered transformation for the common good.  The Entrepreneurship Initiative plans to form a community that will support entrepreneurship through workshops, conferences, mentoring relationships, and The Redeemer Incubator.

I'd encourage you to visit Redeemer's Center for Faith & Work. Or listen to a few of their presentation on how the gospel impacts the creation of business:  (Their Entrepreneurship Forum lists a few add'l presentations on this.)

Cultural Renewal: The Role of the Intrapreneur and the Entrepreneur (click on title to listen)
Rev. Dr. Timothy Keller, Senior Pastor, Redeemer Presbyterian Church

Gospel-Based Leadership: Total Integration of Faith and Work (click on title to listen)
Dennis Bakke, Co-founder of AES Corporation and Founder of Imagine Schools 

Principles for Action (click on title to listen)
Rev. Dr. Timothy Keller, Senior Pastor, Redeemer Presbyterian Church 

If this is a topic that interests you,  I spoke with Justin Browne @ Redeemer, who said the next forum will be on March 10th, 2007.  Redeemer is planning a Business Plan Competition within their church to select, fund and become incubators for companies & non-profits.  It is similiar to Urbana's Business Plan Competition:

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA is sponsoring a business plan competition for triple-bottom-line businesses: businesses that have financial, social, and spiritual impact. A total pool of $40,000 is available to winning business plans! Two-page Executive Summaries are due October 27, 2006.

There are many opportunities for Christians to impact society, for churches to find catalystic leaders who are missional in their field, but also seek to redeem their area of expertise.  Don't just reach the accountant seek to change the accounting industry by the gospel.

Question - How is your church going to equip and send business leaders that seek to redeem your city's industries? 

Today the elders of Kaleo Church met to discuss the different ministries.  We agreed that we needed to assess the current state of the ministries and we needed a framework of how we would keep an ongoing tab on the health of the ministry.  We can determine the state of each ministry using analysis from a triperspectival framework. 

Don't know the triperspectival framework?  This framework is based on John Frame's The Doctrine of Knowledge of God.  John writes: “The knowledge of God’s law, the world, and the self are interdependent and ultimately identical” (The Doctrine of Knowledge of God, Presbyterian and Reformed 1987, p.89). “Human knowledge can be understood in three ways: as knowledge of God’s norm, as knowledge of the situation [environment], and as knowledge of ourselves. None can be achieved without the others. Each includes the others.” (p.75)

Normative: the Word, authority
Situational: the World, environment
Existential: our self

These perspectives were perfectly fulfilled in Jesus Christ as a Prophet, Priest and King. 

Role
Prophet - Jesus declared the norm/Word with authority
Priest - Jesus ministered God’s presence to the people perfectly redeeming them.
King - Jesus exercised God’s control and had full dominion over creation.

It is from these perspectives that we must evaluate the ministry as Prophet, Priest & King.

Triperspectival Ministry Assessment 

Prophet Analysis - What is the purpose/goal/vision of the ministry?  Do these goals agree with the Bible?  Are those involved in the ministry aware of the theological convictions guiding their ministry?  Have we taught on these areas as needed? 

Priest Analysis - Is the ministry grace centered?  What is the motivational structures people use to serve in the ministry?  Is it the gospel?  Does the ministry take the needs of the people into account?  

King Analysis - What people, systems, resources does the ministry need?  What needs to happen to improve the ministry?  What development, training or other coaching would benefit the people involved?

Other Triperspectival applications: How triperspectivalism should shape your worldview, How triperspectivalism shapes Church Leadership and how you staff a church, Triperspectival Leadership Conflict Resolution, Triperspectival church planting, Triperspectival Deacon Training & Development

Also see David Fairchild's posts, such as Ministry through the lens of Multiperspectival Epistemology