The weekend started on Saturday morning with hundreds of leaders cramming into the Yellow Box for a spirited Leadership Community to celebrate the commissioning of Rich & Dori Gorman and our COMMUNITY-Edgewater team. The photo above is our lead team praying for the Gormans and our elders praying and annointing the volunteer team from the Edgewater neighborhood that lead our new COMMUNITY campus there.  When Jon Ferguson asked Dori, "What was your greatest fear?" With a laugh Dori said, "My greatest fear was that no one would want to help us start this new site."  With more than 20 leaders surrounding the Gormans on the stage during the commissioning, that fear was definitely not realized. This was a great moment as our leaders prayed and celebrated together the beginning of our twelth COMMUNITY location.

Then on Sunday morning at 10:30 am those prayers were answered as a friends and neighbors from Edgewater filled the theater of Swift Elementary School. The photo above shows a diverse crowd standing and worshipping together.  

With each new site we start there are new learnings and one of the key insights we've gained from this new site is the priority of being a church both "in" and "for" the community. For the last year the Gorman's and others bulit relationships with Swift Elementary School,  Eco-Andersonville, Peterson Garden Project, Organization of the Northeast, Care For Real and Alderman Harry Osterman's office.  Each of those partnerships are strategic in helping us reach, restore and reproduce God's dream for this neighborhood. And it was so good to have each of those partnerships present for the first service and join us in this celebration.

I got this in the mail from Zondervan this week. Whenever they issue a new printing of a book you write they send you a new copy of your book along with a note of congratulations. This time the note said,"A copy of the 6th printing of your book, Exponential is enclosed." Wow, I'm extraordinarly grateful that this book Jon and I published just 2 years ago is already in in it's 6th printing. Exponential simply tells the story of how Jon, myself and some friends were able through God's power to start a reproducing church movement while explaining how you can do it too!  If you haven't got a copy, you can order it HERE.

One of the highlights of the 2012 Exponential Conference for me was the opportunity to interivew the Bill & Lynne Hybels family.  When we made the request that we interview the Hybels family I thought it would be good, but I underestimated just how good.  Bill, Lynne, Todd and Shauna each talk with great candor about the good, the bad and how to not just survive but thrive as a family.  I would love for every church planter who has a family to listen to this interview.  There is so much to learn.  As an aside I also found it interesting that after we finished the interview Bill told me, "Dave, this is a first for our family. We have never been on stage together before."  They should do it more often.  Watch the whole interview, you won't regret it.

Exponential 2012 Bill Hybels & Family from Exponential on Vimeo.

"I've never been to your church, but I love your church."  This was what COMMUNITY Campus Pastor Shawn Williams heard while getting his hair cut.  The conversation started when the women cutting his hair asked Shawn what he did for a living.  He said, "I'm a pastor at the Yellow Box."  As soon as he said that she responded, "My neighbors are a part of that church.  In fact, I've recently gone through a divorce and it's been really tough being a single mom.  But my neighbors who go to your church have been a big help getting me through it.  They've assisted me with carpooling; they've brought me meals and they've even helped me with small home improvement projects."  Then she looked at Shawn and said, "I've never been to your church, but I love your church."  I don't know your definition of a missional church, but stories like that tell me a church is doing it!

Many people wearing the badge of missional experts have said that missional and mega are incompatible; a church like COMMUNITY can't grow to be a large church AND exist for something outside of itself.  Unfortunately, many times they have been exactly right.  But for the last 24 months COMMUNITY has been in a transition to fulfill the dream of mobilizing every person in our large and growing church for mission. Last April myself and Alan Hirsch published our plan for transitioning a church for missional engagement in our book, On The Verge.  The On The Verge transition lays out the following three moves for a church who wants to become missional:

• "See It" - This is the phase where you capture the imagination of people through story-telling and teaching.  During this move people have the "ah-hah" and begin to see the mission of Jesus for the very first time.
• "Get It" - This is the phase where people begin to understand and feel passionate about the mission.  They begin to truly understand that our God is the missio Dei and as his people we too have a mission.  They also begin to feel a passion for the mission and it becomes this compelling cause for which they want to give thier lives.
• "Do It" - This is the phase where people begin to implement what they have seen and now understand into the flow of their everyday lives.  They eventually move to the place of becoming unconsciously competent about mission.  Simply put, they do it!

After 24 months of working through these three moves at COMMUNITY and gaining missional momentum we had a breakthrough last weekend.  We asked all our small groups to work through a 6-week process of determining their mission.  Some of the groups would be "1-mission groups" and others would be "Multiple mission groups." Last weekend we had about 1400 students and adults and 140 small groups stand on our stages and say out loud their mission, be annointed, prayed for and commissioned by the leadership of our church.  The pic to your right is just one of our celebration services where groups filled the stage and made a public commitment to the mission of Jesus.  More than 70% of our people are in small groups and 73% of our groups participated in the commissioning service this weekend.  To you that might be a lot of numbers, but to me it is a sign that a very large church is clearly mobilizing large numbers of people for difference-making mission.

No, we are not done!  Far from it.  We have a long way to go.  We have to sustain the missional momentum that we are now experiencing.  But one thing I am increasingly convinced of is this:  the large church can be used as a platform for energizing and mobilizing large numbers of people for missional engagement.  In my own opionion, mega AND mission - it can be done!

As we begin to have small groups, teams, and individuals engage more in the Jesus Mission in a personal way than ever before, as expected, we are learning a lot. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you begin to get "on mission" that others are learning:

Be patient -- I know we get excited to get started, but remember to be patient as well. Sometimes it takes longer than expected to discover our group's mission, or to hear back from an organization we hope to partner with, or to "listen" to what the needs of people/our community are. God doesn't call us to move at a certain speed--just to be faithful and obedient. Don't give up; keep pursuing it.

Be relational -- There are lots of great ways to serve our communities (donating items, doing cleaning days for them, etc.). These are important, and we do pretty well at these as a church. But remember that now we are pushing each other beyond these to begin serving in ways that require us to interact with people (including those not like us!) and build relationships with them. Does your group's/team's mission allow for that?

Small is Big -- Sometimes we think of "being on mission" as needing to be something big/flashy enough to write a book about (like starting a non-profit, etc.), but remember that often engaging on mission with God begins with simply serving our neighbors and co-workers in tangible ways. The people in our lives who are far from God don't always need "big" things--they just need someone in their lives who is willing to listen to them, eat with them, pray for them, find ways to serve them, and share their story with them. These "small" things can actually be BIG ways to bring Jesus to people!

As we take new steps of faith we've never taken before, we'll continue to learn a LOT as we go. So let's keep sharing and collaborating. Leave a comment of things you are learning from your experiences.

(This post was written by and posted with the permission of Carter Moss the Small Groups Champion at COMMUNITY)

Who wants to be Sifted?  I know it doesn’t sound like much fun, does it?  When we first picked the Sifted theme for the Exponential 2012 Conference, I wasn’t a big fan.  I’m more of a big picture and positive sort of guy so thinking about being sifted made me cringe a little.  As we continued to develop this theme, I began to realize this is exactly what we need to be talking about.  God allows us to be “sifted” (Luke 22:31-32) through trials and temptations to grow us as followers and leaders.  How we respond as church leaders not only shapes who we become, but also those who we lead because we reproduce who we are.

Scriptural Summary:

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32)  Satan wants to sift (destroy) us because we are disciples and because we are making disciples. But God is allowing us to be sifted so that – as the chaff is separated from sifted wheat – the sin can be removed from our lives (the seeds), resulting in a great harvest. The sifting process develops us into the type of disciples that God wants to reproduce.

 The big ideas for each of the main stage sessions are as follows:

 Session #1:  Sifted

God will use the trials and temptations in our lives as a “sifting” process to grow us as leaders.  To make the most of this requires that we do the “hard work”, “home work” and “heart work” necessary to become the followers of Jesus that God wants us to be. As church leaders this becomes even more important because how we respond will be reproduced by others.

Session #2:  Calling

The trials and temptations that come during times of “sifting” will cause us to doubt and want to give up on our calling.  It is during those times of defeat and loss that we must not quit or give up knowing that we have been called by God to lead his church and that how we respond will be reproduced by others in regards to their own calling.

Session #3:  Purity

The temptation of sin is in direct opposition to the holiness and mission of God and is part of the “sifting” process.  By God’s grace the resistance of sin and the redemption of our sin can result in a stronger relationship with God and therefore more mature disciples and better leadership.  How we respond to sins temptation is important not only in our own lives but also others because how we respond will be reproduced in the lives of others.

Session #4:  Relationships

The “sifting” process not only impacts us but also the relationships that we value the most: our family and friends.  It is during those times that we must be devoted to our commitments and the hard work of reconciliation not only for the good of our own relationships but also knowing that how we respond will be reproduced by others in their relationships.

Session #5:  Movement

God will use the trials and temptations in our lives as “sifting” process to grow us as disciples of Jesus and as leaders of His church. How we respond not only shapes who we become, but also all who follow us.  For there to be a movement of reproducing churches that will accomplish the mission of Jesus there must first be leaders who are living lives worthy of being reproduced.

I am now super pumped about the Sifted theme and know there is a ton at stake in creating a reproducing church movement.  We reproduce who we are; so as we reproduce (plant more churches, missional communities and campuses) we want to reproduce healthy churches that continue to reproduce. 

Ever feel overwhelmed by so many needs and so much injustice in the world that you end up paralyzed and do very little?  I was feeling that way and Dr. Soong-Chan Rah gave me some insight in how to respond when there are so many causes and so little time.  I was at a special gathering planned by CCDA and World Relief to inform leaders like myself about the need for immigration reform. Sitting with me were Troy Jackson and Kirsten Strand, two good friends and leaders who have a great understanding about restorative justice issues.  In the middle of this gathering I began to feel convicted about the need to give clear Biblical teaching and take a stand on this issue.  But at the same time I also felt like this was one more justice issue I was being challenged to champion. The list keeps growing:  immigration, education, home ownership, homelessness, hunger, environmental/green issues, women's rights/leadership, pro-life, human trafficking, racism, etc.  Feeling overwhelmed I confided in Troy and Kirsten, "There are so many injustice issues I feel convicted about, but it also can be overwhelming. So how do I decide which  issues to invest my time?"  Troy advised me, "See that guy sitting across the table, that is Soong-Chan Rah of North Park University.  He has planted a church, pastored a church and has written & taught on issues of restorative justice, you need to ask him for some coaching." So, I did exactly that.  I set up an appointment with Dr. Rah and here are some of my take-aways from that conversation:

• IT'S OK TO PRIORITiZE.  One of my best take-aways from our conversation was the permission I got from Dr. Rah that I didn't have to provide leadership for all of these causes. Having someone with his understanding and wisdom tell me, "It's ok for leaders and churches to prioritize one justice issue over the others" was tremendously freeing.  He encouraged me to be informed on many, teach the truth on all of them, but provide leadership for just one or two.

• ASK "WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?" This is the question that led Jesus to tell the parable of the Good Samaritan and this is the right question to help us understand where we should prioritize our efforts to bring about justice.  What makes this such a good question is that it is a question about context and relationship.  Thanks to Dr. Rah (and Jesus) this will be one of the driving questions for me.

• DO WHAT IS GOOD FOR THE KINGDOM.  The temptation will be to take up a cause that is currently acceptable by your church or your constituency.  Resist this temptation.  Don't take up a cause that is good for you.  Don't take up a cause that is good for your church.  Take up a cause that is good for the Kingdom of God. Simply put, do what the Kingdom needs!

The Bible speaks very clearly on so many injustices that are taking place everyday. Sitting on the sidelines and doing nothing is not acceptable.  So take the advice I got from Dr. Rah and prioritize by asking "who is my neighbor?" and act on what is good for the Kingdom and not you!

"What an amazing event!"  That was my reaction this morning as my family and I helped out at two of our four 2011 Gift Marts.  In this interview you will hear from Kirsten Strand, Community 4:12 Director who along with some friends started this Gift Mart 9 years ago.  The first Gift Mart had about 100 volunteers and 800 toys donated and we gave back to the school about $800.  And this year at just our two Aurora Gift Marts we will have more than 1000 volunteers, 8000 toys donated and give back to the schools about $10,000. Those numbers will increase dramatically when we get the totals from our other two Gift Marts in Joliet and Chicago.  But perhaps the most impressive number to me is that we have apprenticed several other churches and there are now 15 Gift Marts across the country making this kind of impact in thier community.  

My good friend Bob Bouwer was having lunch with the campus pastor of COMMUNITY a couple weeks ago when he said, "Everyday at the top of my journal I write these three letters:  E (emotional), P (physical) and S (spiritual) and then give myself a 1-10 rating." He went on to explain how this daily routine of rigorous self-evaluation helps keep him in a healthy place.

As I heard Bob talk I was inspired to do the same; but to use a tool that is a regular part of our coaching of leaders at COMMUNITY and explained on page 120 of Exponential:  How You and Your Friends Can Start a Missional Church Movement.  We refer to this tool as "checking your RPM'S."  This tool is based on Luke 2:52 that says, "Jesus grew in wisdom (mental) and stature (physical), and in favor with God (spiritual) and men (relational)."  So for the last week on a daily bais I have put at the top of my journal these four letters: R (relational), P (physicial), M (mental) and S (spiritual) and given myself a 1-10 rating.  I am already convinced that using this tool on a daily basis, rather than just during coaching sessions may be one of the most powerful self-leadership tools around.  I would strongly encourage you to try it for yourself.  Let me briefly explain each of these and give you a few questions to ask in your own daily self-evaluation.

RELATIONAL:  Our relational world typically includes the people with whom we interact on a regular basis: our immediate family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and small group members. Here are some questions you can ask yourself.

• How are my relationships at home?
• What about my marriage, dating, or family life is going well? What’s not going so well? What would I like to change?
• Who do I consider my closest friend? How is God using that relationship to grow me?
• What are my relationships at work like?
• Which of my relationships give my energy and life? Which are the most challenging or draining?

PHYSICAL:  Our physical well-being is often the most overlooked aspect of a leaders life. Yet diet, exercise, sleep, and rest are all vital to our ability to lead effectively. If we are serious about developing as a whole person, we have to take seriously our physical well-being.  Here are some good questions to ask:

• Am I getting enough rest?
• How is my current energy level?
• What am I doing to maintain good health when it comes to exercise and eating habits?
• Is there anything about my physical health that I'd like to change?

MENTAL:  Another often-overlooked aspect is the development of our minds. In order for us to stay sharp and be a lifelong learners, we need to be challenged. Here are some questions we can ask to see if we are developing mentally:

• What have I been learning lately?
  
• How am I applying what I are learning? 
  
• What magazines, books, or websites do I read or access? 
  
• What thoughts have been dominating my mind? Are they drawing me closer to God? Are they pulling me away from him?
  

SPIRITUAL:   It is also imperative that we discover and act on whatever it is that helps us grow deeper in our relationship with Jesus. Here are some questions we can ask to see how we are developing spiritually:

• How would I describe my relationship with Christ right now?
  
• What does it look like when I am feeling closely connected to God?
  
• Which spiritual disciplines seem to help me draw closer to Jesus? Prayer? Journaling? Worship? Solitude?
  
• Who is holding me accountable to practicing these disciplines?
  
• What has God been saying to me lately through his Word? The Holy Spirit? Other Christ followers? Prayer?
  

The longer I am in leadership the more I am convinced that the most important leadership we can offer is self-leadership.  Use this tool everyday and lead yourself!

Over the last 18 months at COMMUNITY we have made strategic moves in order to mobilize all (yes, we mean ALL) our people for mission.  Part of that process has been to clearly articulate in a simple way our mission and how we will carry it out.  The mission is "helping people find thier way back to God" and the way we will accomplish it is throug the 3 R's. What is below is the script from a voice over I did for a video to explain in a concise way the Jesus mission at COMMUNITY.

MISSION:  At COMMUNITY we have accepted the mission of Jesus and simply say it like this: "helping people find their way back to God."  This mission is made up of three tasks:

REACH.  First, we must reach people far from God. The Western Church is observing a dramatic shift from a Christian culture to a post-Christian one.  It is now suggested that 60% of the people we want to reach will never enter the doors of our current forms of church.  If that is true, we then need to allow our imaginations to be profoundly shaped by the biblical notion that God is sending us as He sent Himself in Jesus.  Matthew 28 says to "Go!" and we are challenging ourselves to be the church who will reach people who are far from God.

RESTORE.  We must also restore God's dream for the world. A common perception among pre-Christians is that Christ-followers talk about poverty and justice issues, but that we don't do much to address those issues.  But Jesus expects us to change that perception.  "He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free."  (Luke 4:17-18) It is our mission to be a people who restore God's dream for the world.

REPRODUCE.  We must then reproduce the mission in others. If we are called to go to "Jerusalem...Judea...Samaria... and to the ends of the earth," we have to find a new way of counting that results in rapid reproduction and exponential growth.  This new math counts on you and your friends to start a missional church movement.  Every movement starts with one person.  When you and your friends follow the biblical example to become apprentices of Jesus, (2 Timothy 2:2) the result can be the beginning of a missional church movement.  Through these apprenticeships, we will reproduce the mission in others.

That’s the Jesus Mission. Now go.

Time Magazine compiled a list of the 10 best commencement addresses ever. This list included speeches by Winston Churchill (Harrow College, 1941); John F. Kennedy (American University, 1963) and even Steve Jobs (Stanford, 2005). Also on the list was Stephen Colbert (yes, that Stephen Colbert!) and his 2006 commencement address at little Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. Colbert, who Knox had just awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts, closed his address with a challenge about the power of saying, "Yes": "When I was starting out in Chicago, doing improvisational theatre with Second City, there was really only one rule ... When you improvise a scene with no script ... you have to accept what the other improviser initiates ... Well, you are about to start the greatest improvisation of all. With no script. No idea what's going to happen, often with people and places you have never seen before. And you are not in control. So say yes. And if you're lucky, you'll find people who will say yes back. Now will saying yes get you in trouble at times? Will saying yes lead you to doing some foolish things? Yes it will. But don't be afraid to be a fool. Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don't learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying yes begins things. Saying yes is how things grow. Saying yes leads to knowledge. Yes is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say yes."

You may or may not like Colbert’s politics, but either way if you want to lead your church toward mission, you’d better listen to his words of wisdom and lead with a "Yes!"  The one thing every leader possesses that every follower needs to engage in mission is permission. And permission always comes in the form of a "Yes." Leaders, if you want to see missional engagement in your churches and ultimately a movement, you must lead with a "Yes" to your people's creative ideas. If your followers can’t get permission from you, then they may never be engaged in the mission. The great temptation is to respond with questions of how. But questions of how need to wait. If we respond with “How could you do that?” we immediately begin to sow seeds of doubt by responding to the individual’s vision with a question about strategy. If we ask, “How much would that cost?” we are responding to their vision with a question of tactics. The questions about “how” will come later on, but the reflex of an innovative leader needs to be "Yes."

(This is an excerpt from my new book with Alan Hirsch, On The Verge: A Journey Into the Apostolic Future of the Church.)

For more on "Yes" check out the following:

• Want Innovation?  Lead With A "Yes!"
• Verge Conferece: Lead With A "Yes!"
• Nines Video Conference: "Yes!"

If a rediscovery of mission will bring new life to the church in the west; then consumerism may be it's death. The church, if it goes unchallenged will consume great Bible teaching; it will also consume community, serving experiences and even worship. But now an important question is emerging, "How do we keep churches from consuming mission?"  It is not a ridiculous question!  Who doesn't like to be a part of a cause greater than themselves?  Don't most people like to think they are making a difference?  Doesn't being on a mission appeal to an intrinsic felt-need that is in all of us?  I believe the answer is "yes" to all those questions.  And beware - after mission is consumed, if it stops feeling good, worthwhile and meeting needs, people will quit the mission! So back to our important question:  "How do we keep churches from making mission one more product they consume?"  Two suggestions:

1. Missionary As Identity - If we want the people in our churches to engage in mission we must make sure they understand that being a missionary is not something you consume, it is your identity.  We must help them do the kind of spiritual formation that understands we worship the Missio Dei, and this missionary God sent His son, and His son sent the Spirit, and the Spirit of God sends us.  If we can help the people in our churches see that we are missionaries, then mission will not simply be another program to consume, it will become their identity.
2. Missional Practices - To reinforce our identity as missionaries every church needs to teach and hold their people accountable for simple missional practices.  At COMMUNITY, we are teaching our people five simple missional practices that are based on Genesis 12 that "we are blessed to be a blessing."  These five missional practices are an acronym that make up the word B.L.E.S.S. (more to come on these practices soon).  These missional practices will not only reinforce our missionary identity but also create a missional culture within a church.  

I believe that the church in the west must rediscover it's mission; but at the same time we must be aware of mission becoming one more product for the church to consume!  What else do we need to do to keep our people from just consuming mission?  I would love to hear your thoughts!

I was talking with Alan Hirsch as we worked together on chapter six of our recent book, On The Verge. That chapter explains the necessary missional practices a church must adopt if they are going to mobiilze their people for mission. It was during that conversation Alan said, "80% of all people act their way into a new way of believing and behaving."  I asked him to repeat it.  He said, "Yeah, 80% of all people act their way into a new way of believing and behaving."  

Since that time I have thought about that single statement no less than a thousand times.  Over and over again I've mulled what he said and wondered how do I get my people to act their way into a new way of believing and behaving regarding the mission of Jesus?

 After pondering this statement I've come to two conclusions:

• First, I think Alan made up the 80% part. Did you know that 85% of all stats are made up on the spot? :)  
• Secondly, for a shift to happen that mobilizes all people for mission in a church there needs to be a culture so strong in that church that it insists you do mission long before you completely understand the mission or are sure you are even a part of the mission.  And the way that you establish a strong culture like that is through consistent simple missional practices that everyone believes and does.

I have some thougths that I wil share over the next week or so.  But here is my question for you?  What are some simple missional practices that would allow people to act their way into a new way of believing and behaving.  Please leave a comment.  I would love to discuss this with you.