March 14, 2012 12:00 AM
Read part 1. So what is the solution to the captivity of ministry leaders to business models? I've got a theory: to the extent that the church does not know its Bible, really know the Bible, the more it seeks...
March 12, 2012 12:00 AM
I first discovered Jim Gilmore when his book, The Experience Economy, was handed to me by a nationally known church consultant in 2002. If I wanted my church to grow, he explained, I had to employ the marketplace strategies in...
February 27, 2012 12:00 AM
Normally, February is the dullest month in the sports calendar. The NFL season concluded with the Super Bowl. March Madness is not yet on the horizon. Pitchers and catchers haven't reported. And games in the interminably long basketball and hockey...
February 2, 2012 12:00 AM
Shoot the Wolves from Harvest Bible Chapel on Vimeo. Above is a video from last year’s Elephant Room. The clip highlights a panel of popular pastors discussing the behavior of perceived “wolves” in the church and in Christian media. During...
January 28, 2012 8:25 AM
For the past few days I’ve been hanging out with hundreds of Southern Baptists and I have to say that I like these guys. (And I use “guys” because they only have guys in pastoral ministry.). I sure appreciated their...
December 30, 2011 12:00 AM
Another year of conversation is coming to an end on Out of Ur. Thanks to all of our writers, contributors, and commenters. It's been a great year. Like many others, Urbanites were caught up in the controversy surrounding Rob Bell...
October 24, 2011 12:00 AM
The latest edition of our free digital magazine, Catalyst Leadership, is now online. In this issue we have almost doubled the number of pages and articles, and with all of that new space we're tackling a critically important question:...
October 6, 2011 3:48 PM
I realize I’m surrounded by young Christian leaders, but I have a confession to make: as a general rule, I haven't always fully trusted leaders under 29. I know many who are brilliant, creative, fun, and spiritually deep, but I...
October 5, 2011 8:58 PM
Okay, so I've never read any of David Platt's books. And, quite, frankly, I didn't know what the fuss was all about ... until tonight. I'm not sure what happened, because I came here to "cover" Catalyst--as a detached, objective,...
October 5, 2011 8:55 AM
I'm just heading out to Atlanta for the 2011 Catalyst Conference. Stay tuned for updates from the conference over the next few days. Based on the theme for this year's conference--Be Present--the upcoming participants have posted the following "reasons to...
September 14, 2011 12:00 AM
For years I’ve been trying to help people see that popular consumer culture is a form of religion. It offers us a sense of value, identity, and context that traditional religions once provided. Similarly, pop culture has sacred symbols. How...
August 29, 2011 12:00 AM
Everyone in pastoral ministry has a bias. Some of us prefer deep doctrinal teaching. Others value ministry that is practical and immediately applicable. Others are all about reaching those far from God. And while there is nothing wrong with those...
August 25, 2011 12:00 AM
The latest issue of our free digizine, Catalyst Leadership, is now available online. This time we're covering "Authority Issues." You'll hear from authors like Eugene Peterson, Richard Foster, Charles Swindoll, Andy Stanley, and Skye Jethani. As always, we've included some...
August 14, 2011 12:00 AM
Last week was the Willow Creek Association’s Global Leadership Summit. The annual conference is a convergence of business, government, social, and church leaders curated by the WCA and headlined by Bill Hybels. Past Summits have featured speakers like Bill Clinton,...
July 15, 2011 12:00 AM
As a pastor, I have authority in my community. But authority is not really what I want. What I really want is influence. Authority is the ability to get people to do what I think they should do. Influence, however,...
March 29, 2011 12:00 AM
How do you define success? It goes without saying that those committed to Jesus Christ and his purposes in the world ought to define success differently than other people. After all, Jesus himself refused his culture’s narrow view of success;...
March 23, 2011 12:00 AM
I described in a previous post how our church community shifted from a complementarian view of women in ministry to…well…something different. Of course we had to deal with 1 Timothy 2:11–12, which seems to bar women from leadership in the...
March 9, 2011 12:00 AM
I was raised and educated in church communities and traditions that held a complementarian view of women in ministry. So when I helped plant Evergreen, our community here in Portland, I did so with complementarian values. My original vision for...
February 24, 2011 12:00 AM
N.T. Wright is one of the more popular theologians today. When his views about the atonement are not stirring debate, then perhaps his understanding of the role of women in ministry will. In this video, Wright outlines the prominent role...
February 23, 2011 12:00 AM
The church is a family, and God has designated men to be the head of the family. That is the argument put forth by Bill Kynes in this Gospel Coalition video defending a complementarian understanding of the sexes. Does it...
February 21, 2011 12:00 AM
10 percent of Protestant senior pastors are women. That number has doubled in the last decade. But the issue is still debated and divisive. What role should women have in church leadership? Are certain responsibilities given to only men in...
February 17, 2011 12:00 AM
The upcoming March/April issue of Catalyst Leadership features an interview with Matt Chandler. Just over a year ago he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Through surgery and ongoing radiation and chemo treatments, Chandler has maintained his leadership role at The...
January 24, 2011 12:00 AM
Will Mancini, church “clarity evangelist” and author of Church Unique, is committed to helping churches find their vision for ministry. His work gives him an interesting view of the ministry landscape. Below are his predictions about new and enduring trends...
January 18, 2011 12:00 AM
One of my favorite guys and discussion partners in the world, David Fitch, wrote a post giving five reasons he believes the idea of "leadership" as it is currently used is unbiblical. I don't think it was Dave's intention to disown...
January 12, 2011 12:00 AM
There’s been much ranting and raving on the inadequacies of leadership in the church, but I must admit I recoil whenever I hear people say “leadership is Biblical” for a lot of reasons. When I say “leadership” I am talking...
January 3, 2011 12:00 AM
The latest issue of Catalyst Leadership has been released. This time we are focused on "The Drive." What fuels your ministry? What keeps you going? And what does a godly ambition really look like? As we being a new year,...
November 5, 2010 12:00 AM
While in Cape Town last month for the Lausanne Congress, I met with a number of friends who each participated in the 12 Cities | 12 Conversations tour leading up to Cape Town 2010. About half way through the congress...
October 1, 2010 12:00 AM
The Gospel Coalition has released this fascinating conversation with Mark Dever, Mark Driscoll, and James MacDonald regarding multi-site church. Both Driscoll and MacDonald are proponents of multi-site churches utilizing video preaching. Dever is not. He sees more value in raising...
July 20, 2010 9:38 AM
One of the advantages of being Catholic is that, whether you agree or not, at least you know who speaks for you. When a controversial subject needs to be discussed, there are vehicles and forums to help it get a...
May 19, 2010 12:00 AM
Spring weather means graduation is coming, ushering in a season of new beginnings for students finishing high school, college, and graduate school. After three years of seminary, I’m a master of divinity. At least that’s what the diploma will...
May 17, 2010 12:00 AM
In the spring issue of Leadership journal, Brian Hofmeister wrote an article titled “The Dirt on Organic.” Neil Cole, also a Leadership journal contributor and the author of The Organic Church, was written a response to Hofmeister’s article. Part 1...
May 10, 2010 12:00 AM
In the spring issue of Leadership journal, Brian Hofmeister wrote an article titled “The Dirt on Organic.” Hofmeister shared his experience as the pastor of a network of small, minimally structured, churches. While he celebrated the rich community and evangelistic...
February 9, 2010 12:00 AM
Ed Stetzer recently presented data to the attendees of the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta. Much of that data was shared in the Winter issue of Leadership journal. In this post, Ed Stetzer explores additional information that was, until now, only...
November 30, 2009 12:00 AM
Last week I came across one of those news articles that makes you wonder if we’re all just flying upside down. This headline comes from the UK Telegraph: ”Council sets up scrutiny panel - to scrutinize its scrutiny panels” A...
November 18, 2009 12:00 AM
How should you and your church respond to critics? Perry Noble has some experience with the subject and some wisdom to share....
November 2, 2009 9:00 AM
According to data from the National Congregations Study (2006-2007), 38% of people in the United States associate themselves with liturgical churches (Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopal, etc.); while 46% associate themselves with free churches (Baptist, Pentecostal, non-denominational, etc.). The 14% of...
October 15, 2009 12:00 AM
In recent years we have entered into lengthy discussions about how worship, spiritual formation, and evangelism are transitioning in the church. However, the most crucial area of transition, leadership, has received minimal attention. For more than 35 years, I have...
October 9, 2009 2:04 PM
> Professor Splash dives 35 feet into a kiddie pool with 1 foot of water....
October 9, 2009 1:50 PM
Ed Stetzer, president of Lifeway Research and adviser to www.BuildingChurchLeaders.com, released new research on pastors, which will be published soon in our sister publication, Leadership: Pastors still believe in the church Almost all pastors--88 percent--strongly agree that "If I had...
October 7, 2009 3:28 PM
When the Republicans went to Washington about a decade ago, their mantra was “we’re going to change Washington, not let Washington change us.” Nice idea, but it didn’t exactly turn out that way. David Kuo, former Special Assistant to...
October 7, 2009 9:50 AM
Catalyst is here. We'll be blogging for the next three days from the event in Atlanta. While the main event starts tomorrow, today the pre-conference "Labs" will feature multiple tracks and a lot of speakers/leaders. We'll be in and...
September 24, 2009 12:00 AM
In just a few weeks we'll be down in Atlanta for the Catalyst Conference. And we're excited to announce that Out of Ur will be the official blog for the event. We'll be posting throughout the conference with exclusive...
September 23, 2009 12:00 AM
The statistics are grim. Rainer Research estimates that 70 percent of young people leave the church by age 22. Barna Group argues that the figure increases to 80 percent by age 30. The Southern Baptist Convention recently observed that growth...
August 27, 2009 12:00 AM
This year's Catalyst Conference (October 7-9) will include a lab track hosted by Skye Jethani, Leadership's managing editor, featuring Nancy Ortberg, Mark Batterson, Reggie McNeal, and Scott Belsky. He will also host the evening “unplugged” lab session with Matt...
August 14, 2009 12:00 AM
From "Is the Era of Age Segregation Over?" an interview with Kara Powell in the current issue of Leadership. "[The church] realized in the 1940s that we were not offering teens enough focused attention. So what did we do? We...
August 7, 2009 7:57 AM
Opening illustration: Ship captains will sail if waves are 3 feet, 6 feet, or even 9 feet high; but what they fear are rogue waves--the unexpected high wave. All of us in organizational leadership this past 8 months have been...
June 12, 2009 12:00 AM
The editors of Leadership are finishing the summer issue due out in July. Here's a preview excerpt from John Peacock found in a report by Collin Hansen, "The X Factor: Most of the highly celebrated, experimental worship services launched in...
June 9, 2009 8:00 AM
The final day and a half of Advance 09 built upon the themes started on the first day, brought another talk from Mark Driscoll, and marked the arrival of the Baptists - researcher and author Ed Stetzer, local Durham pastor...
June 5, 2009 10:10 AM
A few months back, I noticed that a big conference featuring John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Ed Stetzer and others, and sponsored by the Acts 29 Network, was coming to a neighboring city. I don't quite consider myself Reformed enough to...
May 20, 2009 10:02 PM
My post from yesterday elicited a couple of comments asking for further information about the Moody Pastors' Conference going on this week. It wasn't my intention to be unhelpful, but I was. So, thanks, Jarrod and PastorM. You asked good...
May 19, 2009 3:57 PM
Skye and I are at reFOCUS, Moody Bible Institute's pastors' conference, this week. Skye is leading a breakout session, and I'm making the rounds to see what's what. This is my first time at a Moody event. The last conference...
April 16, 2009 12:00 AM
Today over twenty blogs are participating in a book tour for Skye Jethani's The Divine Commodity. The fact that Jethani is a card-carrying Urthling is why we felt the Ur audience should participate in the blog tour as well. Below...
April 6, 2009 12:00 AM
Leadership editors Marshall Shelley and Brandon O’Brien, as well as yours truly, will be attending the Catalyst West Coast event April 22-24, and we’d love to connect with a few Urbanites. If you’re planning to be there, give us a...
February 23, 2009 12:00 AM
The following is an excerpt from Dave Gibbons' new book The Monkey and the Fish (Zondervan, 2009). The church is called to be a third-culture community. Third culture is about the two purposes of life for every Christ follower: loving...
January 30, 2009 12:00 AM
by Skye Jethani At any given moment we are each engaged in three dramas, but only one of them ultimately matters. First, there is the drama of the practical. These are the events and measurable conditions that surround us every...
November 21, 2008 12:00 AM
Dan Kimball: The churches I know that are winning new believers and drawing people who did not grow up in the church are not using too many liturgical elements. I think we might be seeing people who were raised within...
November 5, 2008 1:17 PM
In the Fall issue of Leadership journal, you'll find David Swanson's review of Consuming Jesus: Beyond Race and Class Divisions in a Consumer Church, by Paul Louis Metzger. Metzger, a professor of Christian theology and theology of culture at...
October 22, 2008 8:51 AM
A couple of weeks ago, Leadership assistant editor Brandon O'Brien spent a day talking with Out of Ur friends and contributors in Chicago. The result of his efforts is a series of podcasts we'll be releasing on Ur over...
October 9, 2008 2:14 PM
by Skye Jethani 6:20pm Groeschel encouraged us all to believe that there is "more in you." And to focus on a simple prayer: "God stretch me." But, he added: "Before God can stretch you, he's got to heal you. Before...
September 30, 2008 12:00 AM
Next week I'm sending two Urthlings, Marshall Shelley and Skye Jethani, to the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta. They'll be blogging live from the event October 8 - 10, and mixing it up with 15,000 other church leaders. Whether you’re...
May 22, 2008 12:00 AM
"This divorce of APE (Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist) from ST (Shepherd, Teacher) has been disastrous for the local church and has damaged the cause of Christ and his mission. In my opinion, this contraction of fivefold to twofold ministry is...
May 21, 2008 12:00 AM
The theme for current issue of Leadership is "Teams," and that is the subject of our first Out of Ur podcast. Teams have always been a critical part of ministry going back to the 12 unlikely men Jesus assembled...
May 20, 2008 12:00 AM
Beware of any literature that starts with these words: "Jesus was the greatest leader of all time." The sentiment behind those words may be true, but the point they make is irrelevant. It doesn't matter if Jesus was the greatest...
May 16, 2008 12:00 AM
I haven't seen MTV in years, with no regrets, but I recall a show on the network that impacted me like a train wreck. It was awful, gruesome, and terrible - but I couldn't look away. "Celebrity Deathmatch" featured clay-animated...
March 4, 2008 11:59 AM
The pastors who attended last week's National Pastors Convention have now returned to their churches across North America. David Swanson presents his final reflections on the convention and the issues it brought to his attention. Now that the National...
February 27, 2008 8:43 AM
David Swanson agreed to leave frozen Chicagoland to labor in sunny San Diego at this year's National Pastors Convention. He'll be sending us updates throughout the week of the goings on there. This is his first post. I arrived...
February 11, 2008 12:00 AM
Ronald Reagan once gave this nugget of advice, "Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don't interfere." Recently, John Ortberg read the biography of another president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and through FDR's story he came...
January 17, 2008 12:00 AM
David Swanson is back with the second half of his post about working with a church leadership team dominated by Boomers. He believes there are a few simple strategies that can help a younger leader not only survive in a...
January 9, 2008 12:00 AM
Let's be honest. The distance between the Boomers and Busters isn't just a generation gap - it's a generation gorge. The cultural, technological, and philosophical shifts that have occurred in recent decades have given these two generations fundamentally different perspectives....
November 13, 2007 12:00 AM
Angie Ward, Leadership contributing editor, calls for a boycott on worshiping ministry heros. It isn't the popular Christian leaders that she has a problem with, but the clouds of zealous followers that seem to follow them wherever they go. Below...
November 6, 2007 12:00 AM
The line between ministry and the business world has blurred. It is increasingly difficult to tell the difference between secular leadership and sacred leadership, and there are some influential voices arguing that any differentiation is artificial. As a result, many...
September 14, 2007 12:00 AM
In part one of our interview with Dan Kimball he talked about the intersection of the emerging church with missional theology. Simply changing the church's worship style isn't enough, he says. Becoming truly missional requires "an ecclesiological change." In part...
September 4, 2007 12:00 AM
Few books in my library have offered more quotable material than Jean Vanier's Community and Growth (Paulist Press, 1989). Here's a nugget: "In order to be able to assume the responsibility for other people's growth, leaders must themselves have grown...
May 29, 2007 12:00 AM
We caught up with Dan Kimball, pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, California, and author of They Like Jesus but Not the Church (Zondervan, 2007), at a conference where he was talking to other leaders about consumerism and...
April 26, 2007 12:00 AM
Recent excerpts we've posted from An Emergent Manifesto of Hope (Baker, 2007), edited by Doug Pagitt and Tony Jones, have generated a lot of discussion. This final installment should keep the trend going. Sally Morgenthaler writes about our cultural shift...
March 22, 2007 12:00 AM
The spring issue of Leadership is just a few weeks away from the mailbox. The issue focuses upon the formation of the pastor's soul and character; the behind-the-scenes work of God in the lives of very public church leaders. Matt...
March 13, 2007 12:00 AM
While studying for my ordination a few years ago I was required to read Oswald Sanders' classic book, Spiritual Leadership. I've forgotten most of his practical advice about leading a church, but one short section has stayed with me. Sanders...
February 23, 2007 12:00 AM
David Fitch's church, Life on the Vine, is a missional community that has abandoned the leadership model that most churches employ. Life on the Vine has no senior pastor, and they don't want one. In the first part of his...
February 19, 2007 12:00 AM
Pastor/Professor David Fitch is back to describe the leadership structure of his church, Life on the Vine, in Long Grove, Illinois. Like an increasing number of churches seeking to be "missional," Life on the Vine has rejected the notion of...
January 25, 2007 12:00 AM
David Swanson, associate pastor of Parkview Community Church in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, is back with his second report from Park City, Utah. In this post he questions our assumptions about church and culture, and asks leaders to consider a new...
January 23, 2007 12:00 AM
For all you women out there, I'm thrilled to announce the launch of Gifted for Leadership. It's a new resource designed specifically for Christian women who are capable, called, and gifted leaders. Unfortunately, many Christian women in leadership feel alone...
October 18, 2006 12:00 AM
"Most Christian leaders sense that there should be something different about our leadership than what is offered in the secular marketplace, but we're not always sure what that is." -Ruth Haley Barton is a spiritual director, teacher and retreat leader....
October 5, 2006 9:30 PM
Leadership editor Marshall Shelley is in Atlanta this week for the Catalyst Conference, where almost 10,000 mostly younger leaders of churches are meeting to discuss ministry in today's culture. Here's his second report. Today was the conference's first full day,...
June 15, 2006 12:00 AM
In May, NY Times book reviewer Michiko Kakutani surveyed seventeen books written about the leadership of President Bush. Her article, which summarized what Bush’s fans and critics have observed about his leadership style, caught the attention of Out of Ur...
June 13, 2006 12:00 AM
In 2000, Bill Hybels invited President Clinton to speak at Willow Creek's Leadership Summit. The controversial move was based on the assumption that pastors could learn from Clinton's leadership experience - both his triumphs and his mistakes. Following this tradition...
June 1, 2006 12:00 AM
Dallas Willard has said that most churches are not intending to produce disciples, but increase their ABC's - attendance, buildings, and cash. Dave Terpstra, pastor of The Next Level Church in Denver and regular contribut-Ur, believes many church leaders focus...
May 17, 2006 12:00 AM
Andy Stanley, pastor of North Point Community Church, is interviewed in the current issue of Leadership on his leadership style. Highlights from the interview were posted on Out of Ur in March. Stanley defends the incorporation of secular business practices...
April 30, 2006 12:00 AM
In part 1 of his post, Andy Rowell lamented the preoccupation his generation has for image management, and the way GenX church leaders have adopted this vice. In part 2 Andy offers a few antidotes to younger church leaders seeking...
April 27, 2006 12:00 AM
Not long ago I attended a young adult ministry conference. My wife commented that I looked out of place because none of my clothing was torn. I showed her the frayed cuffs of my pants to verify my young-church-leader credentials....
March 27, 2006 12:00 AM
How is ministry leadership different from other kinds of leadership? In the next exciting issue of Leadership, Pastor Andy Stanley and business expert and author Jim Collins (Built to Last, Good to Great) offered answers that left me scratching my...
March 7, 2006 12:00 AM
How do we organize a church without becoming "organized religion"? Dan Kimball, author of The Emerging Church and pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, California, wrestles with this paradox in the upcoming Spring issue of Leadership. Here is...
February 22, 2006 12:00 AM
Leadership's editorial team is posting from sunny San Diego this week. We've gathered with 1700 other church leaders for the National Pastors Convention. At the opening session Methodist bishop Will Willimon spoke (with his charming and colorful Southern humor) about...
December 1, 2005 12:00 AM
Brian McLaren has been proclaiming the need for a different, more generous approach to orthodoxy. His critics say "generous orthodoxy" is an oxymoron that exemplifies the problem with the postmodern church. In part three of our interview, McLaren explains what...
October 28, 2005 12:00 AM
Islam has its five pillars. Buddhism has its eight-fold path. Evangelicalism has its four spiritual laws. And now the Emerging Church has its seven layers of conversation. Last month I was part of a small gathering of church leaders that...
October 27, 2005 10:53 AM
Marshall Shelley becomes a fan of the newly well-led White Sox. Though I've lived in Chicago more than twenty years, when it came to the White Sox, I was only a casual fan (is that an oxymoron?). Until recently. Yes,...
October 24, 2005 6:50 PM
(Here is the remainder of James MacDonald's commentary on emerging culture. MacDonald is pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, and its several satellite locations. He is also the featured preacher on the radio program Walk in the...
October 17, 2005 11:18 AM
(James MacDonald is pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, and its several satellite campuses. His preaching is featured on the radio program Walk in the Word. His is another perspective in the postmodern, emergent church dialogue.) Let...
October 11, 2005 10:18 AM
Tony Campolo and Brian McLaren are influential among church leaders, although their influence is often from a negative position. Some would say their value is in how many people they make mad. Both men have taken contrarian stances on many...
October 9, 2005 8:19 AM
The following is from Jennifer Oxford, one of our Leadership team in Atlanta for the Catalyst Conference. Erwin McManus took stage and continued to expound upon the very clear message of the entire Catalyst event...that it's not about formulas...the church,...
October 7, 2005 7:21 PM
Leadership editor Marshall Shelley offers this report on his conversations with young leaders at Catalyst. "It's funny. It's like theology is back," said Rusty, who is planting a Methodist church near Auburn University in Alabama. The church is meeting in...
October 7, 2005 12:11 PM
(Here's a post from Cory Whitehead, editor of the Building Church Leaders newsletter, one our Leadership guys on site at the Catalyst conference here in Atlanta.) Integrity. We hear all about it today, or at least the lack thereof. Enron,...
October 7, 2005 11:34 AM
Leadership editor Marshall Shelley reports from Catalyst, a conference for young leaders. After two days at the 2005 Catalyst Conference in Atlanta, I've picked up the mixed feelings that the emerging generation has about leadership. Even though Catalyst is billed...
October 6, 2005 10:40 AM
Hello from the Catalyst conference in Atlanta. I just heard a new Guiness World Record set: more than 8,000 people sitting on Whoopee cushions simultaneously. It was explosive! I am hopeful that the rest of the Catalyst conference will be...
October 4, 2005 4:36 PM
Tony Campolo and Brian McLaren have much in common. They have been hailed and hammered, venerated and vilified. Lately they are said to have an orthodoxy that has become too generous. The pair was interviewed by Keith Matthews, former lead...
