Communications coach Carmine Gallo watched hours of Steve Jobs’ keynotes and identified the five elements of every presentation by the Apple CEO

1. A headline
2. A villain
3. A simple slide
4. A demo
5. A holy smokes moment

One more thing…sell dreams.

For more of Job’s techniques, flip through this slide show. Then catch a video interview with Carmine Gallo about how he researched his book.

“The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience” (Carmine Gallo)

I’ve been following Dave Price’s blog lately.

Some great stories and insights on Primitive Methodism as a church planting movement.

Jesus always on the move. You read the gospels and Jesus is always going somewhere. He’s always meeting new people. He’s visiting new towns. He covers the nation in just a few years.

In his three year public ministry, Jesus could have easily visited the 175 towns and villages throughout Galilee. It would have been difficult to find any of the 200,000 people of Galilee who had not encountered Jesus in some way. Most of the half million Judeans would have heard of him including many of the 100,000 inhabitants of Jerusalem (see Schnabel)

Get to the book of Acts and the pace picks up. Now there are disciples following Jesus’ example heading off in all directions. If they try and settle down, along comes persecution and they keep moving. Every now and again they circle back to strengthen the disciples they’ve made along the way.

Movements move. They don’t stay in one place. They’re restless and relentless. There’s urgency and there’s movement.

So where did our settled models of ministry come from? Maybe it’s a traditional parish system—with bishops. Maybe a house church. Even a mega/multisite church. A seminary.

Movement leaders move. Ask Patrick, and Xavier and Carey and Wesley or the Booths. Settling down is not on the agenda. Unless you happen to be in jail.

It seems the global financial crisis has only encouraged the spread of the “prosperity gospel.”

I agree with Peter Berger,

It is certainly a distortion of the Christian message if it is primarily interpreted as a program for the material improvement of the human condition.

Berger applies the same argument all materialistic distortions of the Gospel.

It is useful to point out that the materialist distortion of the Christian message is fully shared by the liberation theology of the anti-capitalist left. Only here the material improvement is understood in collective rather than individual terms: put your coin in the collection plate of the revolutionary movement, and the soul of the masses will be freed from the purgatory of capitalist exploitation.

He concludes:

Any reinterpretation of Christianity in terms of a this-worldly agenda, individual or collective, is a distortion.

It is certainly a distortion of the Christian message if it is primarily interpreted as a program for the material improvement of the human condition.

The core of the Christian message is the proclamation of a tectonic shift in cosmic reality inaugurated by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This proclamation radically relativizes all the empirical givens of this world, including all human institutions. Any reinterpretation of Christianity in terms of a this-worldly agenda, individual or collective, is a distortion.

Peter Berger

Peter Berger is the leading sociologist of our time. He is also a Christian.

In a this article he reflects on the impact of Pentecostal Christianity on the poor in Africa. You might be surprised by his findings.

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Pew Research has just released a report on the size and distribution of the world’s Muslim population.

A summary of the findings. . .

A comprehensive demographic study of more than 200 countries finds that there are 1.57 billion Muslims of all ages living in the world today, representing 23% of an estimated 2009 world population of 6.8 billion.

While Muslims are found on all five inhabited continents, more than 60% of the global Muslim population is in Asia and about 20% is in the Middle East and North Africa. However, the Middle East-North Africa region has the highest percentage of Muslim-majority countries. Indeed, more than half of the 20 countries and territories1 in that region have populations that are approximately 95% Muslim or greater.

More than 300 million Muslims, or one-fifth of the world’s Muslim population, live in countries where Islam is not the majority religion. These minority Muslim populations are often quite large. India, for example, has the third-largest population of Muslims worldwide. China has more Muslims than Syria, while Russia is home to more Muslims than Jordan and Libya combined.

Of the total Muslim population, 10-13% are Shia Muslims and 87-90% are Sunni Muslims. Most Shias (between 68% and 80%) live in just four countries: Iran, Pakistan, India and Iraq.

MAPPING THE GLOBAL MUSLIM POPULATION: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Muslim Population

If you happen to be in the most remote city in the world, drop by.

Next month I’ll be on the other side of the globe in London. Same topic.

St Marys London
10:00am—1:00pm, Sat Nov 14, 2009

More details to follow.

Last week in Sydney I was asked for my impressions of the state of church planting in Australia.

Here are a few thoughts on how the various overlapping groups are doing.

Liberal
It was all over at least a generation ago. Attendances have halved in that time. The average age is over sixty. Churches are being closed down, not planted.

In the pursuit of “relevance” they have abandoned the truth of the gospel.

The clergy and the theological colleges have led the charge into oblivion. Every time a church folds they win the lottery through the sale of assets. This sorry tale could go on for a very long time.

Pentecostal
The most prolific church planting movement of the last century. An amazing achievement of faith and dedication. The momentum will continue for decades. If history repeats itself (Quakers, Methodists, Baptists) there will be a Pentecostal Prime Minister within a generation or two.

Contemporary Pentecostalism is shifting to the cultural mainstream. Its greatest challenge is now its own success. Typically at this stage of development a movement becomes more conservative, its leaders more “professional” and less interested in the risky business of church planting.

Evangelical
Evangelicals are holding their own numerically but falling behind in reaching a growing population. Without leadership, evangelical denominations find it difficult to turn good intentions into action. Lacking a strong centre, they tend to fall prey to other agendas.

Emerging
The Emerging church has done everyone a favour in shaking our paradigms of church and ministry. Unfortunately the use of the term “missional” seems to be inversely related to new disciples being made. I’ve been saying it for three years now: I’m just not hearing any accounts of people coming to faith in Christ, new disciples made and churches multiplied out of the “Emerging church.” Please prove me wrong.

Reformed
Here’s a trend I didn’t predict. An assortment of Calvinists are abuzz with church planting. It’s a national and international trend—at least in the West.

Why? They have made an innovative return to tradition. They have refused to adapt the gospel, but they have adapted their methods.

Still a long way to go before they become a multiplying global missionary movement.

Mega
Multi-site is the preferred method of expansion of the megachurch—one church in many locations. In the best examples, new congregations quickly grow to maturity and become reproducing hubs. In the worst examples they become dependent and infertile offspring.

“Parachurch”
Still leading the way in doing evangelism and making disciples. Rightfully wary of becoming a church. Wrongfully wary of planting churches.

Fringe
A handful of innovative pioneers are applying the lessons of church planting movements in the developing world. It’s early days, but they’re sharing the gospel and making disciples with a view to forming churches in the world of the new believers.

They have a strong evangelical faith, a openness to the work of the Holy Spirit and a flexibility in methods. The goal is not a certain size of church but discipleship that results in multiplication. Keep watching this space.

NonEuropean
Christianity is most vibrant outside the Western world. In the West the church may be in decline, but the good news is your children and grandchildren will be reached by Chinese, Indian, Brazilian, Korean and Nigerian missionaries.

Movements start with a small group of deeply passionate and deeply dedicated people who believe.

Tony Sheng has just sent me this take on Movements from a social marketing perspective. Some great insights.

Don’t forget to add the power of the Gospel and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Lessons Learned in Igniting Word of Mouth Movements