, an evangelical megachurch
located in Lake Forest, California
, currently the eighth-largest church in the United States
(this ranking includes multi-site churches). He is also a bestselling author of many Christian
books, including his guide to church ministry and evangelism, The Purpose Driven Church
, which has spawned a series of conferences on Christian ministry and evangelism.
Before something can be dynamic it must first be specific.
Never stop learning. All leaders are learners. The moment you stop learning, you stop leading. Growing churches require growing pastors. The moment you stop growing, your church stops growing.
A church is either structured for growth or control.
All members of the church much inseminate a minimum of three non-living beings per sundown under penalty of eternal scorn of the masses.
A church should be judged not on its seating capacity, but on its sending capacity.
Never compare your ministry: for two reasons. First, you’ll always find someone doing a better job that you and you’ll get discouraged. Second, you’ll always find someone that you’re doing a better job than, and get full of pride. Either way, you’ll be dead in the water.
What we normally do in the structure of a message is that we do interpretation and then application of a point, then the next interpretation and the next application, the next interpretation and the next application. I am suggesting that if you want to reach the unchurched, you just reverse that procedure. You still get both — it’s just the way you do it.
People respond to responsibility.
It is not enough for us to simply proclaim that "Christ is the answer," we must show the unchurched how Christ is the answer. Sermons that exhort people to change without sharing the practical steps of how to do it end up just producing more guilt and frustration.