In 1994 at the urging of my wife I decided to place my leadership skills toward the development of an institution that would attempt to use radical methods to reach those far from God, a church. 18 years later having succeeded in building a “church for the unchurched” I find that my passions have grown in an exponential way.
We’ve reach 1000’s through Shoal Creek but there are hundreds of thousands left and this model as effective as it is will not do the job. In my city alone you would need 1000 more like it to begin to make a dent in those far from God. How many of those will come to a “church” is in question but the number is shrinking each year! That realization was a leadership moment!
That moment led to a search which went through video venues, multi-site, house/simple church, church mergers, internet church, missional communities and a host of other possible strategies to reach every person in my small mid-western city (Kansas City).
There were many moments on this journey and each moment led me to embrace a brand new way of thinking and leading. It wasn’t that we needed a more effective church model. Henry Ford was fond of saying that if he listened to his customers he would have built a faster horse, a more effective model! Instead he used different means to accomplish the same end.
I haven’t lost my love for God’s mission in this world “seeking and saving the lost” but I have had a series of “moments” that have radically altered my thinking in how to go about God’s mission. Despite what you might read, I haven’t lost my love for the “Church” either, although I have emerged from a rigorous examination of the truth source, the Bible, and a ruthlessly honest look at the enculturation of my ecclesiology to discover a very different way of understanding the “Church.”
Seth Godinize it
Confront the brutal facts
- The church not growing
- The church undiscipled
- Shoal Creek 6 to 1000 market share?