Last year at this time, I wrote about a new gospel-centered, theologically-driven curriculum I am helping develop here at LifeWay. I'm new to curriculum development, so our process has been a learning experience for me to say the least.

One of the first steps in the direction of developing this curriculum was to bring on Trevin Wax as content editor. Then we brought together an Advisory Council to speak into the project, leaders like D.A. Carson, Matt Chandler, James MacDonald, J.D. Greear, Eric Mason, Juan Sanchez, Collin Hansen, Kimberly Thornbury, Joe Thorn, Danny Akin, and Jay Noh. We met with members of the council in Dallas and Chicago earlier this year and received helpful feedback and great insight into this curriculum.

I like to use Saturday and Sunday to update on future events. Here is one next month.

In October, I'll be speaking at LifeWay's Kids Ministry Conference here in Nashville. I'll be joined by The Duggars (yes, ALL of them), Jon Acuff, Michael Kelley, Pete Wilson, Angie Smith, Tim Elmore, musical guest Michael O'Brien, and worship leader Dave Hunt.

This conference is designed to inspire and equip those who lead in children's ministry. The focus is "Dream Big," and here are a few dream big opportunities you can expect at this conference:

• Hear the Duggars (a family that really dreams big) and learn from their journey of faith.
• Tour 3 churches with incredible kids ministry facilities here in Nashville.
• Worship our big God with hundreds of other leaders.
• Take home big ideas from dozens of practical workshops.

Come and learn with us, and I pray that your ministry will be deeply strengthened, and even transformed. Come and worship with us and I pray you won't be the same. Let's Dream Big together for the glory of Jesus and the good of our children. Our team from Grace Church will be there and I hope you will be as well!

A new study from LifeWay Research reports that nearly three-quarters (71 percent) of pastors report 2011 offerings at or in excess of their budget requirements. That includes 25 percent with offerings exceeding budget requirements and 46 percent with offerings approximately at budget level.

The report, which can be found online here, describes the relationship between the local church and the economy. It says:

When asked how the current economy is impacting their churches, a majority of pastors (67 percent) report negative impact. That includes 58 percent who say the economy is affecting their church "somewhat negatively" and 9 percent who say it is affecting their church "very negatively."

The findings are similar to what pastors said in January 2011 but more negative than their opinions in March 2010, when only 62 percent said the economy was affecting their congregations negatively.

"Just as there are some positive signs in the U.S. economy, we are seeing more churches with some growth in offerings for 2011," said Scott McConnell, director of LifeWay Research. "However, average gains are small and not all churches will benefit depending on their local economy and the overall health of their church."

To learn more about LifeWay Research's findings read the news release at  www.LifeWay.com/News.

I wonder... does any of this surprise you? 

For example, 71% are at or above their budget (though I imagine many of those churches adjusted their budget down in the past couple of years). What about yours?

Two thirds say the economy has negatively impacted their church-- is that true in your church?

If you haven't yet subscribed to the Lifeway Research Update Newsletter, you need to do so here. Each month's newsletter includes a summary of news and research linked to full length articles. Below is the most recent update from Lifeway Research.

This month the "Update" covers the New Church Planter Candidate Assessment tool, Americans' Experience with the King James Version of the Bible, Pastors' Views on the Environment, and more. You can subscribe through this link, and start receiving these monthly updates via email. If you haven't subscribed yet, you can read all of the articles here.

If you haven't yet subscribed to the Lifeway Research Update Newsletter, you need to do so here. It's a summary of news and research all linked up for to read entirely. Below is the most recent update from Lifeway Research.

LifeWay Research Update October 2010

Pastor Approval of the President's Job Performance
Protestant pastors disapprove of Obama, pulpit endorsements article
A survey of 1,000 Protestant pastors asks their approval of the President's job performance and whether pastors should endorse candidates from pulpits.
Protestant pastors approval of the president and views on endorsements PowerPoint

Research on "Millennials"
American Millennials concerned but not fanatical about the environment Article
The fourth release in the series on "Millennials" obtains their views on the environment.
American Millennials concerned but not fanatical about the environment PowerPoint
American Millennials concerned but not fanatical about the environment pdf

My Questions - Asking Custom Questions
This new service from LifeWay Research can help you get reliable answers to the questions you are asking.
My Questions give you an opportunity to purchase one or more key questions on an omnibus survey of a specific target audience.
We will work with you on the best way to word your questions, field the survey, provide a report that shows the percentage of respondents providing each response and any significant differences by demographic groups.
Upcoming representative surveys:
- January 2011 telephone survey of 1,000 Protestant pastors 
- 2011 online survey of 1,000 American adults
These surveys still have room for more questions.  Email research@lifeway.comtoday for pricing and information on reserving space.

Trevin Wax is, according to Technorati, one of the top 5 religion bloggers in the world (yesterday he was #2). His "Kingdom People" blog has become a must read for thoughtful Christians. His articles in Christianity Today and elsewhere have been widely read and well received. My personal favorite is his analysis of the John Piper and N.T. Wright debate.

Trevin's years of mission work in Romania forced him to work through some hard questions. He said in an interview with Crossway Publishers:

During the five years I lived as a missionary/student in Romania, I was confronted with many questions: How has my culture cluttered my view of the gospel? How have I succumbed to the prevailing worldviews of my Western Americanized society? Can the gospel be properly proclaimed without a community of faith living according to the story it tells? Looking at the United States from the outside-in, I began spotting places where the mindset of the Christian community mirrored the surrounding culture. [via Crossway's blog]

The answers to those questions have fueled his writing and ministry.

His book, Holy Subversion: Allegiance to Christ in an Age of Rivals, is a well-received and helpful book that calls the church to chose Christ over the cultural idols we so often become gripped by. His second book, Counterfeit Gospels: Rediscovering the Good News in a World of False Hopes, is set to be published by Moody in April 2011.

Well, I am happy to share with you all that Trevin is about to undertake a new assignment-- editor.

Trevin will be relocating here and joining our team at LifeWay to help us develop a new curriculum line.

Curriculum lines are an opportunity for significant ministry. It is the medium that explains a biblical passage to thousands upon thousands of people. For example, one of our dated curriculum lines (there are multiple lines for adults) has a million users every Sunday. It is amazing that a small team of people can be used in such a broad manner to influence others for the gospel of the kingdom.

LifeWay will be starting a new line that is called, at the moment, "Telios." That may or may not be the final name, but it is our working name for a new curriculum that will be theologically-robust, mission-driven, and built around the narrative of the Scriptures. We will be pulling together an advisory team to help us consider how best to do that-- expect more on that soon. We'll also be asking for input on this curriculum from our readers here and at Trevin's blog.

I will be serving as General Editor of the curriculum line but the hard work will be done by Trevin as the editor. We are excited to have him on the team.

Feel free to congratulate him and ask questions in the comment stream.

A new study coming out of Lifeway Research shows that "Protestant pastors in America are working long hours, sometimes at the expense of relationships with church members, prospects, family and even the Lord." The uber-fast folks at The Christian Post has already reported on the story.

You can read the whole article here in Facts & Trends, our flagship publication at LifeWay. Speaking of Facts & Trends, I will be joining the team there as a contributing editor starting in the next issue. Each issue will include a column from Thom Rainer and me, in addition to new research.

Here are some of the numbers. See the article for the full story. Feel free to download and use the graphics in your blogs and publications to help people understand what pastoral work and leadership often looks like. My hope is that it will help more pastors (and churches) achieve better balance.

The data points to some interesting work patterns. 65 percent of pastors surveyed work 50 or more hours a week, with 8 percent saying they work 70 or more hours. "Meetings and electronic correspondence consume large amounts of time for many ministers, while counseling, visitation, family time, prayer and personal devotions suffer in too many cases."

From the article:

I hope to see you on the web today at 2p.m. CDT for a live event.

Over 1000 people have signed up-- and you need to register to participate.

I need your help in finding anyone and everyone you know who is actively working to reach first generation immigrants in the U.S. and Canada. Please email them a link to this online survey, www.LifeWay.com/immigrantsurvey and ask them to tell us about the work they are doing. I'm looking for EVERYBODY working with immigrants: it can be someone working at the national level with a denomination, missionaries, church planters, or it can be a lay believer in a church who coordinates a small local ministry.

We have been working on this for several months and have connected with quite a few leaders, but we are discovering new groups everyday-- but, I would like to ask for some help to make sure we get the word out to as many churches, networks, and leaders among immigrants as possible.

The survey is at www.LifeWay.com/immigrantsurvey and is in English and 19 other languages. Individual surveys are confidential, so you can feel comfortable sharing this information with groups concerned about security issues. The North American Mission Board is sponsoring this project and they have offered to share the results and insights from this study with partnering leaders and organizations across the U.S. and Canada. Our hope is that the results will assist everyone in more effectively sharing the gospel and planting churches among the immigrant groups in our communities.

Please forward this link and blog post to as many people as you know who are connected to this type of work! And, feel free to post this on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

I am excited to see my friends from the BGCO working hard to serve their churches. In a tumultuous time in my denomination, Anthony Jordon has led the BGCO to serve their congregations well. At a time when some are saying we don't need a change, Anthony has been urging his churches to become more missional. I appreciate his friendship over the last several years and, more importantly, his steady leadership.

Well, my friend Bob Mayfield is part of the team there and he asked me to come out and do a training event that will be used for 10,000 leaders this August. Now, this training is not for pastors, but for leaders of small communities-- small group leaders and Sunday School teachers. And, training 10,000 leaders is a pretty great opportunity to encourage some folks, so I was glad to do it... and the videos will be coming out soon.

Let me add that I think this kind of approach will be big part of the future. Last year, I did a similar thing with the Assemblies of God. We shot the video at a television station in Chicago and then then used it in meetings across their region. It takes such training to people and not just to pastors. You can see those videos here.

They have planned a "One Day" training for leaders of small groups and classes to help them live on mission. Below is a preview video and you can find more information about the "One Day" initiative here.

This summer LifeWay will partner with NEXT to host a coaching network at LifeWay Headquarters in Nashville starting July 21. This is a small group of lead pastors meeting one day each month with an experienced pastor/coach.

We believe it is critical to the health of the church that pastors enlarge their thinking, network with other church leaders and establish some intentional learning relationships. We'll present specific tools to help pastors gain leadership perspective, expand the church's missional efforts while still addressing the details of weekend services, staffing, conflict & growth. I'll join a session or two as will others from our team.

As pastors, there's a tendency to get buried in the day-to-day problems of the church, even to the point of missing the mission of the church. Gaining proper perspective is foundational to leading well. Jesus modeled the way on the importance of pulling back in order to gain perspective. In Mark 1:29-39, we find Jesus ministering to hurting, sick, needy people all day and well into the night. At some point in the wee hours of the night, Jesus said, "I'm done," and He left. The text says that He went to a solitary place to pray and recharge. He needed perspective in order to lead more effectively.

If you are challenged in a particular area, or you've decided that 'business as usual' won't cut it this year, then come be a part of this group. In addition to Nashville, we'll start a network at Church of the Highlands in Birmingham July 13. Check it out at nextcoachingnetworks.com.

A recent study by LifeWay Research in partnership with the Cornerstone Knowledge Network showed a correlation between ministry expansion and church growth. Seven types of expansion were included in the survey:

• Building new or additional ministry space at the same site where your church is located.
• Building a new facility at a new site.
• Adding an additional worship service or venue on site.
• Adding an additional worship service or venue off site.
• Beginning to offer streaming video of worship services or teaching on the Internet.
• Directly participating in helping start a new church or churches.
• Merging with another church.

Mark Kelly summarizes the findings:

Of these seven types of ministry expansion, the pastors surveyed indicated that adding an additional worship service or venue on site is most closely related to higher growth in attendance, followed by building new or additional ministry space at the same site where the church is located. Churches that expanded in those two ways experienced significantly higher levels of growth in average worship attendance over a five-year period, according to the pastors surveyed.

It's an interesting study worth looking at. Read the study first at Lifeway Research and at The Christian Post.

This study actually includes both opinion questions and the reporting of facts by pastors.

The fact questions included asking pastors if their church had made any of the 7 changes in the last 5 years. We also asked their current average worship attendance and their attendance 5 years ago. The recollection of the church's attendance 5 years ago could be off slightly for some. After all, this was a phone survey, but it should be close in most cases. Overall, we do consider the number of growing churches reported in this study to be a little higher than when annually reported data is available for comparison.

We ran statistical tests on these facts as reported and the first point in the story is related to these tests. The title we released the information with was stated in the negative, "Ministry expansion doesn't automatically lead to attendance growth." The fact is that causality is not something that we can test at all. However, since it is safe for us to rule out causality if there is not even a statistical relationship we felt comfortable stating this as we did in our release.

The opinion questions show that more than two-thirds of Protestant pastors agree (strongly or somewhat) that 5 of the ministry changes we tested "lead to additional growth." Pastors whose churches have actual made that type of change are more likely to agree, and this was true of all 7 we tested.

We wanted to see what the rest of the pastors believe.

It is interesting to note that all pastors did not agree without hesitation. A look at the PowerPoint that is now up on the LifeWay Research website shows that more pastors somewhat agree than strongly agree in all cases. Also, keep in mind our questions did not ask whether the pastors believe this is the only thing that leads to growth. For example, I can understand why many pastors did not want to disagree that you get some visitors when you open a new building and that some stick around.

The statistical tests we ran that showed a real relationship between two of the changes and growth also prove that only a small portion of the attendance growth is explained by the items we tested. There indeed are other things that lead to growth and some of the spiritual things related to growth would never be able to be tested through research.

Jump into the comments below and share your thoughts and experiences. Has expansion of your church led to, or been a result of, growth.

I am very happy to see that many are finding encouragement and direction in the book, Lost and Found.

If we are going to take the Great Commission seriously we have to figure out how to best communicate the gospel to and connect with the younger generations - especially the unchurched. So, I was very impressed with the continued good work of my friends at Threads. They created this video that gives you a peek into the stats and perspective you'll find in the book. If the video interests you, you should order the book. ;-)

I am in Atlanta today talking about two research projects from LifeWay Research.

The first focuses on younger evangelicals and their views of social justice. I am presenting that data at the Flourish Conference. Thus part of that will deal with our recently released data on global warming which was all over the news a few weeks ago. There is much additional data which I will comment on here when it is published.

This afternoon, I am at the North American Mission Board presenting data on first generation immigrant groups and their receptivity to the gospel.

Below is a recent blog post I wrote on our global warming research. Below that is information about our soon-to-be-completed research on first generation immigrant groups.

Lifeway Research recently conducted a phone survey of over 1,000 randomly selected Protestant pastors concerning global warming. The question was not just whether or not global warming is happening, but if it is happening and is the result of anthropogenic greenhouse gases.

Participants were asked to indicate their level of agreement with the statement, "I believe global warming is real and man-made," and it turns out that Protestant pastors are split right down the middle. 47% agree (either strongly or somewhat), and 47% disagree (either strongly or somewhat). But the study is also interesting in that it shows that these views tend to settle in particular denominations, locations and ideologies.

Here's some of the breakdown...

75 percent of pastors in mainline denominations agree global warming is real and man-made, but only 32 percent of pastors in evangelical denominations agree. Pastors in rural areas are less convinced than large-city pastors. Forty-three percent of rural pastors and 55 percent of large-city pastors agree. Pastors in the Eastern and Western United States are more persuaded, 60 percent and 53 percent respectively, than pastors in the South (45 percent) and Midwest (40 percent).

When the pastors' personal beliefs are factored in, the differences grow even more pronounced. Among pastors who consider their political ideology liberal or very liberal, 93 percent agree that global warming is real and man-made, and 79 percent of self-perceived moderates agree. Among those who identify themselves as conservative or very conservative politically, however, agreement is only 37 percent and 16 percent respectively.

Go and read the entire article here, and the PowerPoint presentation of the data is available here.

Here is some information on the people groups research we will complete this summer (excerpted from an earlier blog post):

The latter project, focusing on first-generation immigrants, is some desperately needed research, and the first of its kind. The need for this study "stems from the fact that between 1970 and 2005, the foreign-born population in the United States doubled from about 5 percent to more than 12 percent. By 2050, half the U.S. population is expected to be of a different race than non-Hispanic white."

Why does this matter?

Well, the NAMB leadership explained it this way:

"Out of all the people groups in North America -- and there are 587 based on ethnicity and language -- we need to decide which groups to address first," said Van Kicklighter, senior church planting strategist for NAMB in Alpharetta, Ga. "Who are the most receptive? Which groups are most readily engaged in the Gospel or spiritual things?"

You see, research like this can help us better what people what people believe and how they behave. It can uncover presuppositions, prejudices and preferences, and therefore help us to see what we as the church can emphasize with ease, and what we will have to work at building a case for. I believe in research because it can aid us in developing strategies and determining emphases that allow us to preach and teach with precision. So, I'm grateful for what the North American Mission board is doing as they seek to plant biblically faithful, culturally relevant, counter-cultural churches for the glory of God.

So, a full day of research... but that's a good day if you are me. ;-)

Here is a picture of our team looking for your attendance numbers for the Outreach Magazine/LifeWay Research Special Report that will be published in Fall 2009. If you are a church currently running over 1000 on weekend worship, please fill out this form and fax it to our offices (FAX # is on the form). We would love to hear from you!

Yesterday, I spoke in Saint Louis, Missouri at the Acts 29 Regional Quarterly Gathering.

If you want to see "loose" quotes of what I said, you can see them using the Twitter hash tag, #a29midwest. Nowadays, most speakers leave a Twitter-trail that is, at times, accurate. ;-)

Below is a picture from of the meeting at a former (and now renovated) Catholic Church.

I presented around my recent co-authored book, Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and Churches that Reach Them. I promised to post the presentation I did and you can find it below.

As you will recall, the numbers are those who agree, somewhat or strongly, with the statement listed. I have only listed the agree percentages. You can download a pdf of the presentation I used here.

Also, if you are interested in more information, you can check out a podcast where Jason Hayes and I discuss the younger unchurched generations and the churches that reach them.

Thanks for coming to St. Louis!

Small churches and small towns often get overlooked at our big, fancy conferences. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy and benefit from most of the conferences, but many of the issues smaller churches face are often left unaddressed at these gatherings of big church leaders. This is why I'm happy to tell you about a couple of conferences coming up that are tailored to the needs and issues facing smaller churches - and I am looking forward to sharing at both.


This Friday I'll be speaking on "The Missional Small Church" at 8:00 pm at the Tennessee Small Church Leadership Conference in Hermitage, TN. The conference is sponsored by Lifeway, IMB, and NAMB.

Here's the conference schedule:

As a Christian, a researcher, a pastor, and a father I am very interested in the spiritual temperature of the younger generations. In surveys conducted by Lifeway Research we found that many have been getting it wrong concerning the younger unchurched.

In fact, 73 percent of unchurched twentysomethings consider themselves "spiritual" and would like to know more about "God or a higher supreme being." This is 11 percent higher than among unchurched individuals who are 30 years old and older. They are also significantly more likely to attend church or a small group than older, unchurched generations. This research is included in my newest book, Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches That Reach Them, co written by Richie Stanley and Jason Hayes. You can get some more numbers and thoughts from the authors of the book in this article at Lifeway.

Below you can check out a podcast where Jason Hayes and I discuss the younger generations and the churches that reach them. Give it a listen and share your thoughts in the comments.

LifeWay Research recently finished a survey that reveals the ministry priorities of pastoral leadership in churches of various sizes in the SBC. The study, "Critical Ministries and Their Leadership," surveyed 801 Southern Baptist pastors about what they believed were the most critical ministries in their churches, whether those ministries have effective leadership in place and how they relate to those ministry leaders. Mark Kelly unpacks some of the data in an article written for Lifeway news.

When pastors were asked to list up to five ministries in their order of importance, the largest group (24 percent) identified evangelism/outreach as the most important. The next six ministries identified as most important were Sunday school/Bible study/small groups (17 percent); worship/specific worship services (13 percent); preaching/proclamation/preaching (10 percent); children/youth (9 percent); discipleship/spiritual growth/mentoring/counseling (7 percent); and prayer/prayer ministry/prayer groups (5 percent).

When a list of the five ministries mentioned most often was compiled, however, children/youth moved to the top, identified as one of the five most important ministries by 85 percent of the respondents. The other four most-mentioned ministries were evangelism/outreach (68 percent); Sunday school/Bible study/small groups (53 percent); discipleship/spiritual growth/mentoring/counseling (37 percent); and worship/specific worship services (33 percent).

One of the interesting finds what that the size of a church determined which of the ministries described above were considered most important. Churches with fewer than 100 in worship attendance are much more likely to see evangelism as a critical ministry than churches with 250 or more in attendance (72 vs 60 percent). Churches with worship attendance between 100 and 249 are more likely to list children's or youth ministry as critical compared to smaller churches (90 vs 83 percent).

Larger churches (worship attendance of 250 or more) are more likely to include worship or worship services as a critical ministry (46 percent) compared to small (30 percent) or midsize churches (33 percent), McConnell noted. Smaller churches (worship attendance under 100) are significantly less likely to include missions or Sunday school/Bible study/small groups among their most important ministries.

The study (and Kelly's article) goes on to examine effective leadership. Read the article, it's all very interesting, and come back to discuss.

Churches of differing sizes have different ministry priorities. Is this good or bad, or is it just the natural and/or necessary prioritization that stems from the nature of a local church and it's size?

A couple of updates:

If you want to dialogue about the story on Anderson Cooper's CNN blog, click here.

LifeWay News has posted the story with downloadable graphs here.

In this morning's USAToday, you will find Cathy Lynn Grossman's article pointing out the growing numbers of people in need looking to the church for help as we continue through this economic crisis. She includes research that Lifeway Research recently completed. Cathy brings out a few important details and provides some helpful examples.