I've Been Thinking About This…

Imagine compressing the most important things you wanted to say to anyone into 9 minutes. If you were a skilled communicator, it would be a powerful message, wouldn’t it?

Now imagine sitting down with some of the best leaders in today’s church and hear what their “9 minutes” were. That’s the idea behind THE NINES. THE NINES is a free one-day conference that will take place totally on-line. It is designed for all current and potential pastors, church staff members and ministry leaders who want to be motivated and stretched in their leadership.

Over 6 dozen of the country’s best evangelical Christian leaders and communicators have each been given the opportunity to speak for a maximum of 9 minutes. At 9 minutes, you know each talk will be both intense and very specific.

THE NINES is an internet broadcast to be held on 9/9/09 at 9:09 Central (that’s 10:09am Eastern). These messages will help you and your church navigate into the future; each one will last a maximum of 9 minutes. Find out more at their web site here, and see their list of over 70 speakers – there’s the names of some impressive people whose books, blogs and tweets I read:

• Alan Hirsch (Forge Mission Training Network)
• Anne Jackson (FlowerDust.net)
• Dan Kimball (Vintage Faith Church)
• Dave Ferguson (Community Christian Church)
• Dino Rizzo (Healing Place Church)
• Ed Stetzer (Lifeway Research)
• Eric Bryant (Mosaic)
• Geoff Surratt (Seacoast Church)
• Greg Surratt (Seacoast Church)
• John Ortberg (Menlo Park Presbyterian)
• Larry Osborne (North Coast Church)
• Mark Batterson (National Community Church)
• Mark Driscoll (Mars Hill Church)
• Neil Cole (Church Multiplication Associates)
• Perry Noble (NewSpring Church)
• Pete Wilson (Cross Point Church)
• Scott Hodge (Orchard Valley Church)
• Scott Williams (LifeChurch.tv)
• Steven Furtick (Elevation Church)
• Troy Gramling (Flamingo Road Church)
  … along with 54 others that I’m looking forward to finding out about for the first time.

Praise Christian Fellowship is hosting THE NINES at 52 New Hartford Road, Barkhamsted, via internet feed. We’ll bring in lunch (bring a $5 donation to help cover costs) since the conference goes straight though the day. We’ve only just heard about this a few days ago, so unfortunately it’s pretty short notice. If you’d like to attend, please let us know in the comments .

Thanks – hope you can join us!

   Send article as PDF   

How do you write an entire book about one simple thing? Dave Ferguson’s (@DaveFerguson) The Big Idea: Focus the Message, Multiply the Impact is a book about one thought, and you’d think it would be pretty hard for the author to get past the first chapter – after all, that’s a lot of extra writing to go through once you’ve presented your single thought.

It might be a simple thing, but it’s also profound yet counter-intuitive in today’s church – just say one thing at a time. Say it to everyone. Say it clearly and loudly. Strip away all the competition to it. Get everybody on board. Drop the busy-ness of multiple programs whose schedules and resource requirements conflict and simplify everything into a more-easily-led approach.

The Big Idea reminds me of a business book I read some 10 years ago – Jack Stack’s brilliant The Great Game of Business – a brief set of profound truths backed up by the mechanics of how to build them into the daily business structure. That was one of the most exciting business books I’ve ever read (and I’ve read a bunch) – head and shoulders above trivial feel-goods like ‘The Apple/HP/IBM/Microsoft/Starbucks Way’.

What Stack did, and what Ferguson has also done, is to flesh out the mechanics of the process in subsequent sections. This is a good approach – techies (like me) connect to a structure through the blueprint; those who need help understanding (also like me) appreciate the explanation of the details that make an example of it work.

Unfortunately, churches with a more traditional and committee-driven structure will not be fully free to indulge in this approach. But I’ve talked about this concept to several pastors, and those who were positioned to take advantage of the concept got very excited. The idea of replicating a single idea throughout the entire congregation has a dynamism that can be both exhilarating and freeing – a permission to follow the vision of their heart.

An excellent book – worth a re-read once in a while.

   Send article as PDF   

1. Start the picture around the 1850s, at a time when almost everyone was still on board with a single sense of morality as defined by the Church & the Bible. Everybody believed a thing is either true on false – there was only absolute truth. It is a high standard to follow, and some fail. Many are already outside the church – alcoholics, prostitutes, the desperately poor, the willfully lost … which is odd, because they’re the very people Christ said he came to save, and with whom he frequently connected. Few Christians chose to notice this, however, and fewer did anything about it. (more…)

This afternoon I listened as a deaf musician explained how to listen; saw an eclipse of the sun from the far side of Saturn and heard about how education stifles children. The TED.com site is dedicated to lectures about creative ideas from eloquent speakers. Fabulous. Don’t miss the opportunity to spend time there.

   Send article as PDF