Blue Ocean Churches
I am getting ready to speak tomorrow at the ChurchPlanters.com conference. Ben Arment will be there, Catalyst’s Innovation and Experience Director. I like the way Ben thinks and his recent post on Blue Ocean Churches, reminds me why. But before diving into his snippet let me remind you where the Blue Ocean idea comes from. Red ocean is where the sharks compete for the same prey. Blue ocean is non-competitive space. In fact, this business book is so compelling, that Vince Antonucci, said is was his primary reference to church planters before discovering Church Unique.
Here’s Ben’s entry:
Occasionally, I get e-mails from people who think Catalyst is part of North Point Community Church. They ask about ourvideo venues, our assimilation process, even how Andy is doing. “Fine,” I tell them. “He’s in a good mood today.”
What’s interesting is only three of us attend NP. A few go to 12Stone. And a fairly good number attend All Souls Church down in the city. I’ve never been, but I hear All Souls is the anti-programming church. Overhead projectors, white sheets of paper with announcements on them, stiff liturgy… A surprising choice for staffers at the most programming-rich organization in ministry.I guess it’s like working at an ice-cream parlor. You don’t go home after a long day of work, sit down in front of the TV… and eat ice cream.
Got me thinking about Blue Ocean churches. I really believe you can only have so many churches in one community that successfully reach families with 2.5 kids, SUVs and a golf club membership. If your church is #4 or #5 in this genre of church-making, you’re better off finding a new sociographic to reach or you’ll continue to struggle year after year after year… after year.Do the opposite. Drop the rock band and intelligent lighting. Forget the climbing wall for kids and the KidStuf knock-off. Go with the opposite attributes and set apart your church for a new kind of community.
It will be surprisingly refreshing for a large number of people.
Exponential Releases Free Leadership Tool
My friend and kingdom master-mind, Todd Wilson of the Exponential Network, has done leaders a favor by filtering and aggregating the best “nuggets of gold” from the blogs of top thinkers and leaders.
The name of the E-book which is the first of a multi-part project is Leadership Learning from Bloggers.
Contributions are from:
Ben Arment
Mark Batterson
Chris Elrod
Dave Ferguson
Mike Foster
Seth Godin
Craig Groeschel
Alan Hirsch
Scott Hodge
Michael Hyatt
Gary Lamb
Brad Lomenick
Shawn Lovejoy
Will Mancini
Tony Morgan
Perry Noble
Bob Roberts, Jr.
Ed Stetzer
Tim Stevens
Tullian Tchividjian
Jud Wilhite
Jared Wilson
Verve: A Church Unique Snapshot
- Stripping Church and Seeking Life (check out his website for further explanation of this tagline)
- In describing the kind of people they want to be:
- God stalkers
- Grace wholesalers
- Guerilla Lovers
Since I heard these words on Friday, I can’t get them out of mind. That’s making vision stick!
Risk-worthy Vision
I spoke last week at Leadership Network's, Innovation3 Conference. In the process of thinking more about the concept of risk, I enjoyed these quotes:
- "If things seem under control, you are just not going fast enough." – Mario Andretti
- "Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." – Helen Keller
- "The dangers of life are infinite, and among them is safety." – Goethe
- "It is not because things are difficult that we dare not venture, its because we dare not venture that things are difficult." – Seneca
- "He who risks and fails can be forgiven. He who never risks and never fails is a failure in his whole being." – Paul Tillich
- "People who don't take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year." – Peter Drucker
- “Risk taking is the process by which you decide whether you take the chance of losing something you value to gain something that you desire.” – Herbert Kindler
Leadership Network’s 25th Anniversary
On Wednesday night this week, Bob Buford’s legacy was celebrated as LN crossed the 25 year mark. Robert Lewis, shared that Bob has influenced the church in North America more in the last 25 years than anyone else. Here were a few of his bullets points. Leadership Network has…
- Legitimized the identity of the mega-church as it emerged
- Birthed an incredible number of relationships in a time of increased isolation
- Cross-pollinated ideas like no one else
- Provided opportunities for pastors to sit under the best leaders
- Made the national church smaller while making the local church more relevant and more missional
He included an eloquent and sincere reflection that “The bride of Christ is more beautiful because of Bob’s life.”
