daveferguson.org

The Multiplying Church

I just got my advanced copy of Bob Roberts The Multiplying Church and it's a must read for church planters and those of us passionate about being a reproducing church.  I have a lot of respect and admiration for Bob, his wisdom and his passion for church planting. Bob asked me to endorse his book and here is what I said  "The Multiplying Church teaches us new math by using age-old formulas to accomplish the mission of Jesus. Bob Roberts writes with the wisdom of an experienced church planter and the perspective of a man who has a global influence. If you are tired of attrition and want more than simple addition, then read, learn, and become a multiplying church!"  The book comes out March 1st, so get your copy now!

I'm laughing, but you seriously need to read this...

I've been a friend and a fan of Vince Antonucci ever since he started Forefront Church in Virginia Beach.  So, when I found out that he was going to write a book I was really excited for him.  When the copy arrived and he asked me to write an endorsement I was a hoping it would be good.  And it is!  It's real good! 

Here is the endorsement I wrote that appears on the cover:  “In I Became a Christian and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt my good friend Vince Antonucci tells my absolute favorite story of someone finding their way back to God…his own story. It’s amazing! It’s funny!  It’s a total God-thing! As Vince tells us his own story he also challenges us to live a life more authentically and fully following Christ. This is a book that will entertain you, inspire you and help you experience everything God has for you. Read it and share it with a friend.”

When my pre-release copy of “I Became a Christian and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt came in the mail I was getting ready to leave with Sue for a short vacation.  So, I handed the book to my wife and told her, "read this book, you will love it".  She really liked it saying it was "different than any other Christian book...real...and funny!"  I agree.

San Diego, NOC, book signing & getting work done on planes...

Just landed in San Diego for the National Outreach Convention.  It is going to be pretty quick for me.  I have a dinner tonight, a workshop in the morning a couple connections I'm making in between and then I'm back on a plane headed to Chicago.   

If you are here, come to my workshop on the BIG IDEA.  Or better yet - come to the book signing.  Seriously, they asked me to do a book signing which I have a hunch is really a cruel joke because nobody is going to show up.  Now  you might think this is me trying to be self-deprecating, but it's not!  They had a book signing for us at the Catalyst Conference and Jon and I stood at a table and one guy showed up to have us sign his copy of The Big Idea.  And I think he really just came up to talk to us and we started signing the book before he knew what happened.  Meanwhile Leonard Sweet is right next to us and he has a line full of people waiting for him to sign his book. Funny.  Oh well.  Probably good for me.

Did I mention it is not sunny in San Diego?  Ugh. 

And by the way - plane rides are great places to get work done.  I edited a powerpoint presentation, worked on my workshop talk and wrote two articles for different publications while flying from Chicago to San Diego.  That is awesome.

7 Principles of Decentralization

I finally finished up The Starfish and the Spider while on vacation...and it is terrific!  I highly recommend it.  For anyone who is interested in catalyzing a movement; seeing something grow beyond yourself or just better understanding the power of decentralization - this book is a must!  The subtitle oversells the "leaderless" part but I still like it:  "The Unstoppable Power Of Leaderless Organizations". 

The title refers to the central metaphor of the book comparing a starfish and a spider: while a starfish and a spider have similar shapes, their internal structure is dramatically different.  A decapitated spider inevitably dies, while a starfish can regenerate itself from a single amputated leg.  In the same way, decentralized organizations are made up of many smaller units capable of operating, growing and multiplying independently of each other, making it very difficult for a rival force to control or defeat them.

In the Starfish and the Spider they give seven principles of decentralization.  Below I have listed these seven principles with some brief commentary.  Think about your church and/or the movement or denomination of which you are a part as you review theses principles:

1. When attacked, a decentralized organization becomes even more open and decentralized. (This makes it nearly impossible to defeat or stop a decentralized organization or movement.)
2. It's easy to mistake a starfish for a spider. (This is why we mistake churches of small groups that are really churches with small groups.)
3. An open system doesn't have central intelligence, the intelligence is spread throughout the system. (In decentralized organizations much, if not most of the new learning is on the edges)
4. Great systems can easily mutate. (The church was created as a starfish organization that could adapt and contextualize itself to any culture.)
5. The decentralized organization sneaks up on you. (That is why you didn't hear about Facebook till there were already 30 millions members!)
6. As industries become decentralized, overall profits decrease.  (This is why I will never ever be rich!)
7. Put people into an open system and they will automatically want to contribute.  (All people were created by God with a desire to use our gifts to serve others and fulfill the dream of God.  When people are put into a healthy functioning church they will not have to be coerced into serving, they will want to serve!)

So, tell me what you think about your church, movement or denomination of which you are a part after reviewing theses principles.

Three Books...

I'm a little overdue in updating my book list so here are three that I'm recommending.  None of these books would fall into the category of Christian or spiritual, but I enjoyed each of them for different reasons.

I'm still finishing up "The Starfish and the Spider", but I'm totally into it.  The Starfish and the Spider argues that organizations fall into two categories: traditional “spiders,” which have a rigid hierarchy and top-down leadership, and revolutionary “starfish,” which rely on the power of peer relationships.  If you cut off a spider’s leg, it’s crippled; if you cut off its head, it dies. But if you cut off a starfish’s leg it grows a new one, and the old leg can grow into an entirely new starfish.  The subtitle, "the unstoppable power of a leaderless organization" isn't inaccurate.  The examples of the organizations, movements and tribes do have leaders, but not a single leader.  This book has a lot of application for anyone who is interested in reproducing multiple church sites or a movement of new churches.

"Monster" is what the prosecutor called 16-year-old Steve Harmon for his supposed role in the fatal shooting of a convenience-store owner.  It holds you in complete suspense till the very last page and beyond.  Monster is brilliantly written as though you are reading the diary of someone who is imprisoned and working on a potential screenplay.  My daughter Amy recommended this because "Dad, you only read stuff about leadership".  She is right.  I need to read more stuff outside of my usual genre of church, spirituality, management, leadership, etc.  Monster is definitely worth the read.   

And now back to more of the usual stuff. "The Brand Gap" is a great quick read that gives a tutorial on brand strategy and management.  You and your organization do have a brand.  The question is whether or not you will be intentional about what you do with that brand.  The brand is your voice and how others perceive you. 

Another Sold Out Multi-Site Practicum

Today we started our ninth NewThing Multi-Site Practicum and the ninth practicum in a row that has sold out!  We have about 25 great church teams that are here at Community Christian Church and will leave with their own step-by-step strategy for how to go multi-site within the next year in their context.

I got to spend a little time with John Jackson who is here with his team from Carson Valley Christian Center.  What a great guy!  He basically made an appointment with me just to encourage me and affirm what we are doing through NewThing and express his excitement about The BIG IDEA book that is coming out.  I should meet with him more often! 

And I loved hanging out with the guys (Shawn, David, Casey & Chad) from Mountain Lake Community Church, who are also the guys behind ChurchPlanters.com.  They totally get it when it comes to being a reproducing church...I can't wait to see how they apply this multi-site stuff.  They will be brilliant.  They are doing a church planting conference, Church Planting Redone on February 26th & 27th and have asked me to do a main session.  I'm really looking forward to it!

Tomorrow will be awesome as we see all these teams bring to completion their own multi-site strategy.  If you are interested in bringing a team to a NewThing Multi-Site Practicum, the next one is in Falls Church, Virginia March 8th & 9th.

How to Market The BIG IDEA

Jon Ferguson, Eric and I had a great conference call with the gang from Zondervan and Leadership Network.  The book we are writing, The BIG IDEA is being published by Zondervan and is a part of the Leadership Network Innovation Series.  The BIG IDEA is the third out of nine books to be published in this series.  The two previous books are The Multi-Site Church Revolution and Confessions of a Reformission Rev.  Both of these books are outstanding books!

The conference call was to discuss the marketing strategy of the book.  And I have to say I was totally impressed!  Mike Cooke and the crew at Zondervan and Greg Ligon and his team at Leadership Network are connected with everyone.  So, I think when this book is finally released at the end of January lots of people will know about it. 

Jon, Eric and I will be connecting with some of you to see if we can get bloggers to post a review and get the word out in the coming months.  We are trying to work it out so we can give away copies of the book to people who will post a review of The BIG IDEA.  If you got other ideas about how to get the word out - let me know.  Since this is the first book that any of us have written this whole experience is pretty cool.

In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day

Mark Batterson, a friend of mine and the Lead Pastor at National Community Church in Washington, D.C. (and a guy who is from Naperville!) is releasing his very first book today -  In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day.  Order it.  You will learn how to unleash the lion chaser within you! In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day is inspired by one of the most obscure yet courageous acts recorded in the Bible: Benaiah chased a lion down into a pit.  Then, despite the snow and slippery ground, he caught the lion and killed it. (II Samuel 23:20-21)  Your greatest regret at the end of your life will be the lions you didn't chase.  You will regret the risks not taken, the opportunities not seized, and the dreams not pursued.  Stopping running away from what scares you most and start chasing the God-ordained opportunities that cross your path.

If you check out Mark's book on Amazon.com, notice that Amazon recommends if you buy In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day that you also buy The BIG IDEA.  Kinda cool.  In fact they show an interesting stat that says that 11% of the people that bought Mark's book also pre-ordered our book, The BIG IDEA.

The BIG IDEA available on Amazon.com

We just finished the interior design for our new book - The BIG IDEA: Focus the Message, Multiply the Impact.  A few things have really surprised me in this whole process of writing a book.  First, it cracks me up that the book is already for sale on Amazon.com since we are still finishing some editing.  I'm sure that every book is written and marketed this way - I just didn't know.  Secondly, it's funny that the book is currently #127,297 on the bestseller list.  (Hey, yesterday it was in the 300,000's...I have no idea why that happened and what that really means??)  Finally  I'm really suprised how much input Zondervan has let us have in the whole design of the book.  We came up with the idea for the book cover and we have also been very involved in the design, re-design and re-re-design of the interior look of the book,  It has been great to work with Zondervan.  (Kudos to Paul Engle and Brian Phipps!).  The book will be available in February 2007...but if you want to order one now, you can check it out here - The BIG IDEA:  Focus the Message, Multiply the Impact.

Another Edit on The BIG IDEA

I just finished up working on the galley proofs of The BIG IDEA.  I really have no idea what "galley proofs" are but that is what Zondervan called it when they sent the book back to me to do some more editing.  I guess "galley proofs" is just the edited manuscript put in a generic form so it can be proofread.  I got this edit done (and by I, I'm referring to Pat and myself) and sent back to Zondervan; so it's getting closer to being finished.

Why did Jon, Eric and myself write this book?  Because nothing is more dangerous than a single compelling idea that is lived out and nothing is more harmless than lots of little ideas never applied.  By creatively communicating one BIG IDEA every week your church will transform people into genuine Christ followers who live out the mission of Jesus.  Less is more!