We just got our February issue of the Willow Creek Association's Defining Moments.  Defining Moments is a monthly audio journal where Bill Hybels and Nancy Beach interview church leaders.  A few months ago they invited Dave Ferguson, Eric Bramlett and Jon Ferguson to discuss the book and the concept of The Big Idea.

This was a really cool experience for us.  First, it's just cool to talk with Bill and Nancy.  Secondly, it is almost un-imaginable that they are actually interviewing us!?!  Thirdly, it was very weird to think that they both sat down and read The Big Idea.  And lastly, Hybels gave The Big Idea a huge endorsement!?!

If you don't subscribe to Defining Moments, we highly recommend it. If you want to get a copy of the Defining Moments on The Big Idea, click HERE.

On Tuesday, June 26th from 10:00 AM to 11 AM (CST) Dave Ferguson, Eric Bramlett, and Jon Ferguson will conduct a webinar hosted by Greg Ligon and Leadership Network.  A few days ago we did a test-run of the technology behind the webinar concept.  It really is a great low-cost interactive way to provide access to content, people, and ideas without having to leave the comfort of your very own laptop.  The topic for this webinar is based on our recently released book, The Big Idea.  So open up your laptop, get a cup of coffee, and join us.  Best of all, it's free!!  Click here to register.

I recently did an interview with Preaching Today.  They wanted to discuss our book, The Big Idea and how we use it to guide the teaching of Community Christian Church.  The complete interview will be on their website and since we did the interview in-studio they may decide to use it for their monthly Preaching Today CD.  That probably depends whether they thought it was good stuff or not!?  Either way, here are some of the Q & A that took place in the Preaching Today interview:

QUESTION: So that we are all on the same page in our conversation, would please take a moment to explain your concept of "The Big Idea".

ANSWER:  This morning I got an e-mail from the New York Times with the latest news.  That single e-mail contained more information than the average person in 17th century England would have access to in a life-time.  On February 1st we published The Big Idea; that was one of 1000 books that came to print that day.  We are in the middle of an era of information overload!  Once, more information was a good thing - but now we are being bombarded with more information than we can ever process.  And we are doing the same thing in the church - we are bombarding people with more information than they can process.  From the moment people pull into the parking lot till they finally drive home they get hit with a multitude of little ideas: a different little idea in the program, singing, announcements, teaching, etc.  Why is that a big deal?  Because our teaching is to instruct, motivate and lead people to accomplish the mission that Jesus left for us (Acts 1:8).  And if people can not process and begin to really live out what we are teaching we are all wasting our time.  We believe the solution is not more, but less.  We teach one BIG IDEA every week to our adults, students and children in our larger group worship services (at all locations) and in our small groups.  Why?  Because we want them to not just know it, but live it out.  Our goal is transformation, not information!

QUESTION:  What role does the sermon play  in the BIG IDEA process?  Chief?  "Just one of the crowd"?

ANSWER:  Our goal is not to write great sermons OR to produce great worship services.  Our goal is to transform people into followers of Jesus.  We believe teaching is key to that transformation!   At CCC teaching leads the BIG IDEA process; but it is one of among many arts that make up a variety of experiences that point people toward a BIG IDEA for following Jesus!

QUESTION:  CCC has adopted a team approach to sermon preparation.  Tell us a bit about this process.

ANSWER:  Most teaching teams that I know function like a baseball team's pitching staff.  You have a 4-5 man rotation and everyone knows who is the ace.  Each person takes their turn on the mound and it is up to them all alone to deliver the message.  At CCC our teaching team is more like a basketball team.  All 5 players are on the floor and important to the success of the team. While a play is designed for one player to take the shot all the players will touch the basketball and run the play.  Everyone has a role to play and in order to score and win the game we need each person on the team.  We have multiple teachers from CCC and our NewThing Network that all contribute to the content and the writing of the message.  This process allows us to get a better message in less time and finish a complete manuscript several weeks in advance of teaching.  While everyone does not deliver every message, we all contribute to make it a winner.

QUESTION:  How could someone in a smaller church without a multiple staff adopt this method for sermon planning and preparation?

ANSWER:  Here are 4 steps to implementing the BIG IDEA teaching process:

1. Find 2-3 other pastors to be on your team.  These are probably pastors that you like and look forward to hanging out with when you have the opportunity.
2. Have a meeting to plan your BIG IDEAS in advance.  All you need is a calendar and agreement on what series and themes/topics you will do each week.
3. Agree on a process where you will "procrastinate early".  Determine how far in advance (1 week, 2 weeks or longer) you want to have your sermon/message finished.
4. Pick a time every week that you will meet.  The meeting can be face to face or by phone.  At this meeting you will agree on a sermon outline and then divide up sections to different members of the team to write it.

QUESTION:  You plan your BIG IDEAS 1 year in advance.  Would you advocate that for all preachers? 

ANSWER:  Yes!  We waste soooo much time and mental energy just trying to decide what to teach.  This kind of planning saves you all that time.  This kind of planning also allows you to align an entire worship experience around one BIG IDEA.  The biggest barrier to this happening is the Lead Pastor/Senior Pastor's willingness to plan in advance.

QUESTION:  From your experience what are some of the benefits of the BIG IDEA for the teaching team?

ANSWER:  There are more than a dozen benefits, but let me give you four:

1. Better Theology:  God meant for us to live in community.  Like every other function of the church our teaching is better off working with others within their area of spiritual giftedness.
2. Better Content:   When you have multiple teacher involved and you plan well in advance you will never have a "off'" week.   
3. Better Illustrations:  More people involved in the process results in more stories!
4. Better Use of Time:  What is amazing about the BIG IDEA process is that you will get a better message in about half the time. 

Yesterday we had an all day Big Idea meeting that was the culmination of a process that resulted in getting all our Big Ideas planned for the next year!  Actually we have them planned even farther than that; we are planned through August, 2008.  Awesome! 

Thank you to the following people for all working together to make this happen:  Eric Bramlett and our arts team; Tim Sutherland and Jon Ferguson on our teaching team; Shawn Williams with Stuco; Tammy Melchien from Kids City and many of our NewThing affiliates!  It was a tremendously collaborative experience!

If you want to do this yourself (and everyone really should!) read chapter 6 in The Big Idea on Creating Your Own 1 Year Big Idea Plan.  That and chapter 7 will give you all the details.  If you want to check out the book before you buy it, click HERE and you can download a free chapter from The Big Idea.

For those of you that are interested here are some key things we did along the way this year:

• Several brainstorming meetings led by Tim Sutherland where we invited everyone from the Community Christian Church staff. (We also had a brainstorm on this blog that was very helpful! And for those of you who participated we will be sending you the list of suggested big ideas on this blog via e-mail in the next week or so)
• We had brainstorming meetings with some of our NewThing Network Affiliate churches.
• We found out what Big Ideas and dates were really important to Kids City at CCC.
• We found out what Big Ideas and dates were really important to Student Community at CCC.
• We found out what Big Ideas and dates were really important to our NewThing Affiliates.

Once we had all the brainstorming possibilities, the essential Big Ideas and key dates for the coming year we were ready to meet.  Here is what we did at the meeting today:

1. We began our meeting with a prayer (that God answered!). 
2. We reviewed the key dates we needed to keep in mind from each group represented.
3. We broke up into groups of four and listed Big Ideas and topics that we like best.
4. Each group presented (lobbied!) the Big Ideas that they liked best to the large group. They displayed these on giant post-it notes.
5. We gave each participant 9 stickers and told them they could express their preference by putting a sticker next to the Big Ideas they liked best. It wasn't a vote because we didn't go with all the Big Ideas that got the most votes.  It gave us an idea of which Big Ideas had the most potential.
6. For the remainder of the time we worked through putting Big Idea series and topics onto a year long calendar.

It is a pretty intense meeting...but soooo worth it!  I love the Big Idea process.

Had a conversation with Greg Ligon and some of my friends at Leadership Network yesterday to talk about Eric, Jon and I doing a webinar on the content of our new book - The Big Idea!  As I get all the details I will let you know.  But here is what I know so far:  first, it will be FREE; which is cool.  Secondly, we will present some of the core principles and benefits of using The Big Idea.  Thirdly, this will be available to a limited number (50-100) of "panelist" who will be able to ask us questions over the phone.  Beyond the "panelists" there will be an unlimited number of "attendees" who can listen in and ask questions via e-mail. Webinars are new technology that Leadership Network wants to experiment with and I told them that if they are looking to  try out "new things", we are the group!

Eric Bramlett here - last week I had a chance to get together and swap stories with Rory Noland, the former music director for Willow Creek and the author of the bedrock book "The Heart of the Artist" - one of those "you haven't read that?!? I can't believe you haven't read that yet - are you crazy to try to be an artist in the church and NOT have read that book?!" books. Seriously. If you haven't yet, order it right here, right now.

He and I had a great conversation about life and art, and I gave him a copy of The Big Idea, because, well, you know - schmoozing. It's a gift. Anyway, he sent this great email this morning, and gave me permission to share it. Here's what he said about the book:

Hey Eric,
I'm on the last chapter in your book. It’s excellent! When I told my wife about “the big idea,” she said, “It’s about time churches did that!” This could (and will) change the way churches do business. It’s truly revelationary and revolutionary. I have a couple churches with whom I consult that I’ll be strongly suggesting they read this book. In fact, I’m going to be recommending this book often. Great work, my friend!
rory

Thanks Rory!