Sticky Church Friends

Thriving Churches International (TCI at http://www.thrivingchurches.com) has lots of friends in the church leadership world. One such group of friends are the people at NorthCoast Church in San Diego, led by Larry Osborne. Larry, Chris Brown, Chris Mavity, and Charlie Bradshaw are a class leadership team producing world class resources through their North Coast Training Network. We are praying for them to eventually be a Hub Church for TCI.

Here is a recent blog article about Larry’s latest book, Sticky Church. I think there are some challenging comments here…your thoughts?

Back to Basics-With Excellence!

I think we are in a “back to basics” season of life in our national economy, in families, and in church ministry. BUT, to mistake a “back to basics” season with a diminishing of the expectation of excellence would be a mistake.

For instance, families want to cut out some of the luxury and superficial stuff we’ve all gotten trapped into these past several years…but we’re still committed to the power of family and realtionship health. Cutting out what seems as “fluff” from previous years does NOT mean cutting out the heart of our passion.

Churches are recognizing, through the movement of God’s Spirit speaking to leaders and to initiatives like the Reveal Study from Willow Creek, that it is imperative that our people be grounded in His Word, hearing from Him in prayer, connected to others in relationships, and vitally engaged in serving Christ in the church, the community, and the world. This is all back to basics. BUT, to believe that back to basics means sacrificing excellent worship, excellent teaching,and excellent leadership would be a serious mistake.

I’m excited at what I see in the Body of Christ across America today. I think lots of movements are getting it more right today than yesterday/yesteryear. I’m a fan of the church (it is the bride of Christ!). Two places where I’m involved are www.cvcwired.com and www.thrivingchurches.com, and

The Context for All Mission

One of the exciting aspects of the birth of Thriving Churches International (TCI, http://www.thrivingchurches.com) is the ability to make new friends and network Kingdom resources for God’s glory.

One such friend is Eric Bryant and the good people at Mosaic Church in Los Angeles. Mosaic Church, the Mosaic movement, and the Origins project all stem from the leadership of Lead Cultural Architect, Erwin McManus and Eric Bryant as the Operational Leader.

Eric recently released a brief article by Erwin that I thought would be helpful to all of us who desire to lead Thriving Churches…because it drives us to model Jesus’ love with the world around us. Enjoy the article