Andy Rowell | Church Leadership Conversations

Best Podcasts for Church Leaders

Here are the best podcasts for church leaders that I have found. 

The ITunes links will only work if you have the free ITunes software installed on your computer.  See below for more directions.  I have also put the MP3 location for each link in case you don't want to bother with ITunes. 

Catalyst Podcast (ITunes): MP3 location.  The Catalyst Conference was this past weekend.  It is this cool conference for pastors under 40.  See my preview of it here.  There are good interviews with Rob Bell, Erwin McManus, Andy Stanley, Eugene Peterson, and Donald Miller.

Defining Moments Podcast (ITunes): MP3 location. These are samples of the Willow Creek Association Defining Moments audio CD's.  They are good 10 minute interviews but really leave you wanting more.  And that is the point.  They want your church to become part of the WCA and then the pastor will get the full CD's.   

Emergent Podcast (ITunes): MP3 location.  The Emergent Village is the main organization of the Emerging Church movement.  These podcasts are usually just plain good theological discussion.  You will enjoy them even if you aren't "emerging."  The first seven are with Yale theologian Miroslav Volf. 

Mars Hill Bible Church (ITunes): MP3 location.  Rob Bell, of the NOOMA DVDs, Velvet Elvis author and author of spring 2007 book Sex God, has more people download his sermons than anyone. 

Mosaic (ITunes): MP3 location. Erwin McManus, author of The Barbarian Way, and numerous other books, and pastor of Mosaic in LA. 

MPPC Sermon-Cast (ITunes): MP3 location.  John Ortberg, pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, and author of The Life You've Always Wanted and other books, is an outstanding teacher. 

North Point Ministries: Life Rules (ITunes): MP3 location.  This is a series on relating with one another.  This is with Andy Stanley, pastor of the #3 influential church in the nation according thechurchreport.com and author of the new book Communicating for a Change: Seven Keys to Irresistible Communication. North Point only podcasts their most recent sermon series. 

Practically Speaking (ITunes): MP3 location.  This is a series for church leaders based on the Seven Practices of Effective Ministry by Andy Stanley and friends. 

Covenant Worldwide of Covenant Theological Seminary has thirteen classes that are podcast.  They actually have many more for free at their website here. Below are the ITunes links. 

1. Old Testament History with V. Phillips Long (now at Regent College).
2. Biblical Theology with Gerard Van Groningen.
3. Life & Teachings of Jesus with Daniel Doriani.
4. Life & Letters of Paul with Hans Bayer. 
5. Ancient & Medieval Church History with David Calhoun.
6. Reformation & Modern Church History with David Calhoun. 
7. Calvin's Institutes with David Calhoun.   
8. Christian Ethics with David Jones. 
9. Apologetics & Outreach with Jerram Barrs.
10. Youth Ministry with Mark Davis. 
11. God and His Word with Michael Williams. 
12. Humanity, Christ and Redemption with Robert Peterson. 
13. Spirit, Church & Last Things with Robert Peterson.

See also my post about the best audio on the internet which is my most popular post. 

Other ITunes podcast links:

The below ITune links either aren't as strong as the ones above or are not directly related to church leadership.  But I thought I would place them anyway for your to see what is available and what I'm listening to.  The links below will only work if you have ITunes installed on your computer.  If you don't, I'm sure these MP3's are available but you will probably have to google them.  I don't want to take the time to find them right now. 

NYT Op-Ed Podcast (New York Times and other NYT is good.)
NPR (Anything at NPR.org or podcast is good. National Public Radio)
Moyers on America (PBS)
Nature (Science journal)
Science Talk: The podcast of Scientific American (Science journal)
Relevant Podcast (Relevant Magazine for Christians in 20's)
Jesus Asked (Book by Conrad Gempf; Zondervan, 2003. Read by the author in 15 minute segments.  "In the Gospels, when people asked Jesus a question, he often replied with one of his own. This book looks at the questions Jesus asked and how they can enrich our understanding and faith.")
PeterKreeft.com (Christian Catholic philosopher)
wiredparish.com (interview with Rob Bell is pretty good)
Willow Creek podcasts (not much there right now except a few random sermons)
Leadership Network  See my posts about listening to these video venue audio segments here.
Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
Gordon-Conwell Chapel
Donald Miller a few posts from a while ago
BusinessWeek - Climbing the Ladder
Christian Audio podcast - Devotional Classics
Duke Chapel Podcast including Richard Hays and Walter Brueggemann
USA Today's Pop Candy - on pop culture

Here are some basic instructions to get you started using ITunes for podcasts.

Basically, you download ITunes here.  It is free.  I would recommend doing it.  You might as well learn what people are talking about and it is free and convenient to have ITunes download your MP3's for you. 

Basically, ITunes like Internet Explorer doesn't work unless you are connected to the internet. When you open ITunes and see the ITunes store, go to the right side of the page under "Quick Links" and click "Power Search."   On the next screen, click "Podcasts" which is on the right side of the page.  Under Title, put "Mars Hill Bible Church" and then click "Search."  You will have found the podcast for Rob Bell's church.  Click on Mars Hill Bible Church.  Then you can see the main page for the podcast.  At the bottom, all of the episodes are available.  If they are not in the right order, click on "Release Date" to have them organized from most recent to least recent.  You can either "Subscribe" at the top so that you get each new sermon as it is posted on the net each week or you can just click "Get episode" and download the past sermons that you want. 

You can click on "Podcasts" under Library on the left side of your screen.  This will show you all the podcasts which you have downloaded and subscribe to.  Right in front of the title of the podcast you have downloaded is a little triangle pointing right or down.  If it is pointing down, you can see all the details of what episodes you have downloaded.  If it is pointing right, the details are hidden.  When you click on the name of the podcast, it is highlighted and a little arrow appears to the right of the title.  You can click on this arrow to go to the ITunes home page for that podcast.  You right click on the icon of the podcast on its ITunes home page to get its ITunes link (url). 

If you want to get back to searching for more podcasts, just click on the left side of your screen where it says "ITunes store."  In the ITunes store, you can always click back to the ITunes front page by clicking the little house at the top of your screen. 

The podcasts you download are audio computer files called MP3's.  Podcasts are generally free.  You can also download audio books or songs but you have to pay for them. 

Unlike the Apple song files, you can play the podcast MP3's on any computer and MP3 player. You can also burn them on CD's and play them on some CD and DVD players. 

For convenience, you might want to be able to access your ITunes MP3's without ITunes.  Here is the default location where podcasts are downloaded to your computer:

C:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Podcasts

If you want to make a shortcut, go to My Documents, My Music, ITunes, ITunes Music, Podcasts.  Then right click and click Create Shortcut.  Cut that Shortcut folder and paste it on your desktop. 

You can grab the MP3's there if you want to transfer them to your MP3 player or a CD.  I

You can double click the photo on this post to get a bigger photo of what my ITunes looks like. 

Andy Stanley Says There is No Such Thing as Distinctively Spiritual Leadership

Here are my comments on the article: Is Ministry Leadership Different? Andy Stanley and Jim Collins in an unexpected point-counterpoint by Eric Reed at Leadership Journal's Out of Ur blog:

Andy Stanley, pastor of the third most influential church in the nation with more than 18,000 in attendance, is right in urging pastors to practice competent leadership regardless of its source. He says: “I grew up in a culture where everything was overly spiritualized . . . A principle is a principle, and God created all the principles.” He is right in saying that too often churches have permitted abuse, waste, and ineptitude in the name of forgiveness, family, and niceness. He is also right in declaring it makes sense to learn from others. We should be reexamining Scripture for wisdom as well as sifting through leadership and business management books for wise insight. (See my list of recommended business management books that are helpful for pastors here).

But Christian leaders are different from other leaders because of their Christian character (as Andy tacitly indicates in his words about the importance of prayer, counsel, and integrity when he speaks to church leaders). If leaders are not formed by Scripture, prayer and counsel [Eugene Peterson calls these the three angles in his book Working the Angles)], their vision and leadership will ultimately be shallow and self-serving. So I think Andy overstates the case when he says “There’s nothing distinctly spiritual [about the kind of leadership I do].” There is such a thing as spiritual (pleasing-to-the-Holy-Spirit) leadership that is often different from secular business leadership. Spiritual formation will actually change the way we do leadership. Some practices which would violate Scripture cannot be used even to meet seemingly good goals. In other words, Scripture restrains the use of some means. The ends do not always justify the means.

Eric Reed is right in pointing out that many young people are attracted to Andy Stanley but that he does not fit with the “emerging” leader profile which is also popular among young people. Reed writes:

“Stanley is becoming the model for the next generation of large church pastors [note Reed’s adjective large] . . . Because Andy connects well with younger leaders, who in general are bent more toward spiritual formation than church growth . . . I thought I’d hear something that backed up the pendulum swing we have heard prominent emerging leaders identify--that younger leaders don’t buy all the church growth stuff, that the models that built megachurches worked for boomers, but for Gen-X and younger? Fuggidaboudit.”

Many young suburban white young adults are attracted to Andy Stanley. He is what they want to be: attractive, making-a-difference, young, confident, and articulate with a gorgeous facility and a talented staff. But Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger describe in Emerging Churches a different set of young people who don’t want to copy management principles or accept megachurch assumptions. They want to emulate Jesus’ practices – wandering around talking to people, without a building, praying, telling stories, and helping people. Seeker churches like Stanley’s, on the other hand, want people to “meet Jesus” through getting them through whatever means to sit in the seats of their church.

My comments on the Gibbs and Bolger book Emerging Churches are here.

Most of the college students in my classes at Taylor University are attracted to both Andy Stanley and the Emerging church conversation. They are attracted to young charismatic leaders regardless of their ministry approach. Rob Bell and Erwin McManus are probably the two most popular among them since they have all the things Andy Stanley has (attractive, making-a-difference, young, confident, and articulate with a large facility and a talented staff) but also embrace some of aspects of the emerging churches: art, attitude, informality, stories, urban culture, and justice.

See my list of sermon audio links to listen to Stanley, Bell and McManus here.

For a scholarly presentation of how the apostle Paul dealt with secular ideas of leadership when they began to appear in Corinth, listen to New Testament scholar Bruce Winter's lecture "Secularization of First Century Christian Leadership - Inroads of Secular Models." Here is the synopsis.

Bruce Winter questions the word "leader" as the name we use when talking about church ministers. He says Paul intentionally does not use the Greek word for leader to describe the ministers in the early church. Winter also says Paul intentionally rejected the braggart, money-making, attractive orator image that was readily apparent in the culture at the time.

This must cause all of us to pause as we think of the kind of Christian leaders that are so often held up as "making a difference" in our culture. Most often they get famous as successful pastors because they are great speakers and attractive. Perhaps this is always the way to fame and there is no preventing it. But that does not mean we need to try to emulate the famous (as is so natural).

Jeffrey Fox lays out "the rules to rise to the top of any organization" in How to Become CEO. Here are a few out of the 75.

• Keep Physically Fit
• Dress for a Dance
• Be Visible
• Learn to Speak and Write in Plain English
• Say Things to Make People Feel Good
• Look Sharp and Be Sharp
• The Concept Doesn't Have to Be Perfect But the Execution of It Does

I am quite sure that Fox is right that if we applied these we could rise to the top of any organization including the church. The Corinthians would have sent Paul the book. "Work on your appearance, Paul. Don't do manual labor. Charge higher fees. Try to be a bit more polished."

We could work on those things or instead we could learn to pray the Psalms.

1 Sam 16:7. But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things human beings look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart" (TNIV).

May God give us wisdom to do our tasks well - gathering wisdom wherever we may find it - from secular and Christian mentors and books. But may God also form us as people after his own heart so that we do the right tasks in the right way.

John Perkins, Erwin McManus, and NPR Audio

Today again I listened to a lot of audio since I was watching baby Ryan all day. (While I bathe him, feed him, play with him, wash dishes, do laundry, etc. I use my laptop with wireless to high speed internet to listen to audio.) See my previous post to links to lots of good audio.

First, I listened to a number of stories on NPR that looked interesting. It is great that you can click on and listen to different stories of your choice. For example, I listened to stories about New Orleans emergency rooms (they are few and therefore busy), the relationship between the frequency of war and fledgling democracies (before democracies stablize they are susceptible to war), the importance of getting your picture taken with the president (in DC you impress people with candid shots of you and famous people - it is hard for me to see why people are not disgusted by this overt name-dropping), Mozart's birthday (a whiner genius remembered), Greenspan's era closing (how much should he get credit for economic growth), and an update on Solzhenitsyn. (He - a Christian - is still alive at 85 and is inexplicably a big proponent of Putin). This interview with Desmond Tutu also looks good.

For the first time, I also listened to Erwin McManus - pastor of Mosaic in Los Angeles and well-known author - on "Core Values of Mosaic". He is passionate and outspoken. He talked about the name of Mosaic which I had already heard: broken pieces put together by the Master Craftsman with light shining through to make beautiful art. He talked about the importance of people. Wanting non-Christians to know Mosaic for their love. He talked about the importance of existing to see people come to faith. He came to faith in college at Univ of North Carolina. He said he doesn't like Christians - meaning he is annoyed by irrelevant Christian traditions. He talked about not liking hymns because they do not speak to people today. He talked about the programs and structure of the church being driven by the talents of the available people; e.g. we have dancing because we have dancers in the church.

The only part I really didn't understand is that he talked at length about the church meeting in 7 different locations in the past year. He doesn't believe in spending lots of money on a building when things change so rapidly - I understand that. What I didn't understand was his many stories about people who haven't been able to find them because of their many moves! I didn't understand why this was something good! His solution was to improve the website so that people know where to find us. My organizational or maybe its my pastoral nature asks: couldn't you be a bit more organized so that people don't "lose you?" But I haven't walked in their moccasins so I really don't know why they have had to change meeting locations so often. There likely is a good reason.

He also made a bit of a blunder I think talking about how Germans don't have much artistic abilities. (This was simply a misspeak I think that he likely thought better of later on. It was in the context of explaining why hymns don't connect today). He went on to say that he deeply believes all people are creative. Even the Germans, right, Erwin? :-)

Great story at the end about the need to tell people stories of the goodness of the Christian faith as opposed to arguing with them about philosophy. Erwin is obviously a great evangelist with a wonderful heart for diversity. (See my other post about Buechner and story).

On my recent Christian ministries tour through Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, almost every urban ministry leader (Tony Campolo, Ron Sider, Aaron Messner, Ed Glover, Bruce Main, Saleem Ghubril and BJ Woodworth) seemed to name John Perkins as his greatest influence. The unanimity of their answers astounded and delighted the 24 Taylor Christian ministry students. Tonight I listened to a great sermon by him which included a summary of his philosophy of ministry from 10/30/2005 at Craig Barnes's church in Pittsburgh. It was great. He is 75 years old. I saw also in the ads of Christianity Today that Seattle Pacific University has a new John Perkins Center for Reconciliation, Leadership Training, and Community Development - good for them. Many people have been inspired by: (1) Perkins's challenge to relocate (actually move your family) into the neighborhood you want to reenergize, (2) engage in racial reconciliation, and (3) provide the poor with education. Perkins mentions all three of these things in the end of the sermon.

Favorite Audio Sermons and Lectures

This post was updated on August 30, 2006.

Below I have placed links to lots of free audio of good teachers and speakers on the internet.

See also my list of favorite podcasts for church leaders here. 

30GoodMinutes.org including Frederick Buechner, Richard Foster, Thomas Groome, Calvin Miller, Lewis Smedes, Jim Wallis, Walter Wangerin, Will Willimon, Philip Yancey

Allelon - NT Wright, Brian McLaren, Eugene Peterson, Dallas Willard

American Rhetoric including Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Bono

Andy Stanley - North Point Community Church

Andy Stanley - Practically Speaking - Seven Practices of Effective Ministry Series

BibleGateway.com Audio Bibles

Billy Graham and Franklin Graham - The Hour of Decision Past Broadcasts

Bob Russell - OnePlace.com - Broadcast Archives

Brenda Salter McNeil - Urban Youth Workers Institute - "Elevate" -  2004

Brenda Salter McNeil - New Community (Chicago) - "Racial Reconciliation" - 11/20/2005

Brian McLaren - Cedar Ridge Community Church including series on Emerging Church in Sept-Oct 2005.

Brian McLaren Q&A with Canadian Church Leaders "Resonate" in April 2006.

Brian McLaren - Grand Rapids Theological Seminary - What is Emerging?

Catalyst Conference Podcast Interviews with Andy Stanley, Erwin McManus, Donald Miller, Tim Sanders, Eugene Peterson. Rob Bell, Mike Foster and Louie Giglio.

Cornel West at Whitman College

Covenant Theological Seminary's "Covenant Worldwide" - free seminary courses.

Craig Barnes and John Perkins - Shadyside Presbyterian Church Recent Sermons

Da Vinci Code - New Testament scholars Richard Hays and Bart Ehrman Debate - April 2006

Dallas Willard Audio

Darrell Johnson, Ken Shigematsu, Larry Crabb, John Stackhouse - Tenth Avenue Church

David Dark - The Message in the Matrix - 25 minute interview

Durham NT Seminar Audio Archives including NT Wright, James Dunn, Walter Moberly, Francis Watson, John Barclay

Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger Lecture on Emerging Churches at Fuller Seminary

Emergent Village Podcasts including LeRon Shults, Miroslav Volf, Stanley Hauerwas, and Scot McKnight.

Erwin McManus - Mosaic Podcast

European Leadership Forum - Resources for European evangelical leaders - Amy Orr-Ewing, Don Carson, Ravi Zacharias, Bruce Winter, Darrell Bock, Henri Blocher, and William Lane Craig.

Following Christ 2002-2003 - InterVarsity Plenary Session Speakers - Marva Dawn, Miroslav Volf, Dallas Willard

For Sale - Regent Bookstore Online MP3 CDs

For Sale - Willow Creek Conference Resources

For Sale - Youth Specialties 2005 National Youth Workers Convention - San Diego, California

For Sale Youth Specialties 2004 National Youth Workers Convention - San Diego, California

For Sale Youth Specialties Pastor's Conference 2003

Grand Rapids Theological Seminary Chapel: Rodney Clapp, Robert Webber, Brian McLaren, Scot McKnight, DA Carson

Gordon-Conwell's Dimensions of the Faith free online theological education program. Listen to full Church History, Systematic Theology, and Biblical Studies courses.

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship Audio

J.I. Packer - St. John's Shaughnessy Anglican Church

John Ortberg - Menlo Park Presbyterian Church - Menlo Park, CA - Sermons Online

John Piper - Audio Sermons

John Stott, Alister McGrath, Philip Yancey - All Souls Church, Langham Place

John Stott "A Call to Christian Maturity" Mariner's Church, Calif. Nov 2005

Larry Crabb - New Way Ministries

Leadership Network resources - mission statement: to identify, connect and help high-capacity Christian leaders multiply their impact.

Leith Anderson - Weekly Sermons

Marva Dawn interview. It is excellent.  From WBCL - a Christian radio station in Fort Wayne, IN.  March 24, 2006.  You can only listen to it online. 

Max Lucado - UpWords

N.T. Wright Page

New Perspective on Paul Opponents- Theopedia - DA Carson

Off-The-Map - Brian McLaren on Evangelism

Parker Palmer Lecture

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Audio including Ken Bailey

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Audio including Emerging Church Discussions with John Franke

Preaching Today Audio - They ususally have one free under "Media"

Princeton Theological Seminary Emerging Church Theological Education Caucus with Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, Kenda Dean, and Doug Pagitt

Princeton Theological Seminary Institute for Youth Ministry - Cloud of Witnesses: An Audio Journal on Youth, Church and Culture including Eugene Peterson and Darrell Guder

Regent College Radio

Resurgence Podcasts including Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller, John Piper, Chris Seay

Rob Bell - Mars Hill

Stuart and Jill Briscoe - Elmbrook Church, Brookfield, Wisconsin

Taylor University Chapel Archives 2005-2006 - Jay Kesler, Dan Allender

Tony Jones talks with Alan Hartung - March 2006

The Veritas Forum - Donald Miller, Alvin Plantinga, William Lane Craig

Tim Keller - Redeemer Presbyterian Church

Tim Keller - free archive

Tony Campolo's Messages

Wheaton College Chapel - now free!

Willow Creek's most recent mid-week "New Community" sermons

Basics of listening to MP3’s:

In the olden days, I would listen to tapes. Now I usually listen to MP3’s. If you are technologically fearful and don’t want to deal with the hassle of MP3’s, you can always pay for CD's and tapes. Almost all the sites above have places where you can order CD's or tapes. But if you want to listen to free stuff, this is the ticket!

MP3’s are computer files. So you can listen to them on any computer and on most new CD players and DVD players and of course portable MP3 players. Your computer will likely play them in Windows Media Player, or on the basic Real Player (which is free to download here) or in ITunes (which you can download for free here). Basically, you just click on the sites above and you click on the sermon you want to listen to and it will pop up and begin playing. Make sure you have your volume up on your computer (Control Panel . . . Sounds and Audio Devices . . . )

Some of the audio are only available when you are connected to the internet. Usually they play in Real Player only or some other player. But most are MP3's that you can download and listen to later. If you want to save a copy to your computer to listen to later, you can often right click the link and click "Save Target as . . ." and save the MP3 to a folder of your choice on your computer. For example, you can do this with the Veritas files. (These are big files (20-50 MB) so you don't want to do this with Dial Up.)

Once you have it on your computer, you can burn it to a CD and play it in your CD player or DVD player or MP3 player. Or just listen to it from your computer like I do. I hook my laptop up to my stereo by having a cord that goes from my laptop headphone jack into my stereo.

See my description here of my listening habits.

Influential Books by Contemporary Mostly-American Pastors Describing How They Do Ministry.

I have given you denomination, website, and attendance if I could find the data.

Anderson, Leith. Dying for Change. Bethany House Publishers, 1998.

________________. Leadership That Works: Hope and Direction for Church and Parachurch Leaders in Today's Complex World. Bethany House Publishers, 2002.

http://www.wooddale.org/ Wooddale Church; non-denominational but is associated with Baptist General Conference; Minnesota; 4000 attendance; six daughter churches.

Bell, Rob. Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005.

http://www.mhbcmi.org/findex.html Mars Hill Bible Church. Non-denominational; Michigan. 10,000 attendance. Emergent.

Bisagno, John R. Letters to Timothy: A Handbook for Pastors. Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001.

http://www.houstonsfirst.org/ Houston’s First Baptist Church. Retired in 2000. 8,000 attendance.

Cladis, George. Leading the Team-Based Church: How Pastors and Church Staffs Can Grow Together into a Powerful Fellowship of Leaders. Jossey-Bass, 1999.

Former pastor at http://www.westminster-okc.org/index2.html and http://www.norotonchurch.org/ Medium sized PCUSA churches.

Cole, Neil. Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens. Jossey-Bass, 2005.

http://www.cmaresources.org/ Church Multiplication Associates. Founder of Awakening Chapels – house churches targeting younger people in urban settings.

Cymbala, Jim with Stephen Sorenson. The Church God Blesses. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002.

Brooklyn. Brooklyn Tabernacle. 10,000 attendance. http://www.brooklyntabernacle.org/ Non-denom.

Driscoll, Mark. The Radical Reformission : Reaching Out without Selling Out. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004.

________________. Confessions of a Reformission Rev: Hard Lessons From an Emerging Missional Church. Zondervan, 2006.

Mars Hill Church, Seattle. http://www.marshillchurch.org/ Acts 29 church planting network. http://www.acts29network.org/ Emergent. Non-denominational roots with PCA theology.

Frazee, Randy. The Connecting Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001.

Now a teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church. Was Senior Pastor at Pantego Bible Church in Fort Worth, Texas from 1990-2005. http://www.pantego.org/index.cfm Non-denom. Megachurch.

Hansen, David. The Art of Pastoring: Ministry Without All the Answers. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1994.

http://www.kenwoodbaptist.com/index.html Kenwood Baptist Church. American Baptist. Cincinnati, OH. Attendance 500.

Hull, Bill. The Disciple Making Pastor. Grand Rapids: Fleming H. Revell, 1988.

Was pastor in Evangelical Free Churches. Now works with http://www.tnetwork.com/index.htm 

Hybels, Bill. Courageous Leadership. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002.

http://www.willowcreek.org/ Founding Pastor; South Barrington, IL. 17,500 attendance.

Kimball, Dan. The Emerging Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003.

http://www.vintagefaith.com/ and blog: http://dankimball.typepad.com/ and Vintage Faith Church http://www.vintagechurch.org/ 400-500 attendance. Non-denom. Emergent.

Lewis, Robert with Rob Wilkins. The Church of Irresistible Influence. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001.

Lewis is former pastor of http://www.fbclr.org/ Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, AK. Non-denom. 2,000 attendance.

Lewis, Robert and Wayne Cordeiro with Warren Bird. Culture Shift: Transforming Your Church from the Inside Out. Jossey-Bass, 2005.

Cordeiro is Senior Pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship O'ahu, a Foursquare church in Honolulu, Hawaii. http://www.enewhope.org/index.php 9,000 attendance.

Mallory, Sue. The Equipping Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001.

Executive Director of Group Publishing’s Church Volunteer Central. http://shop.grouppublishing.com/cvc/index.asp Was director of lay ministries at Brentwood Presbyterian Church http://www.bpcusa.org/index.asp PCUSA, 1200 members. Los Angeles.

McLaren, Brian. The Church on the Other Side. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003.

Founding pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church http://www.crcc.org/ No longer Senior Pastor. Non-denom. Personal website: http://www.anewkindofchristian.com/ Maryland. Emergent.

McManus, Erwin Raphael. An Unstoppable Force: Daring to Become the Church God Had in Mind. Group, 2001.

Personal website: http://www.erwinmcmanus.com/ Mosaic church http://www.mosaic.org/ Southern Baptist. Megachurch. Los Angeles. Emergent.

Mittelberg, Mark and Bill Hybels. Building a Contagious Church: Revolutionizing the Way We View and Do Evangelism. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000.

See Hybels above. Mittelberg is Executive Director of Evangelism for the Willow Creek Association. http://www.willowcreek.com/

Pagitt, Doug. Church Re-Imagined: The Spiritual Formation of People in Communities of Faith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005.

Personal blog: http://pagitt.typepad.com/ Solomon’s Porch: http://www.solomonsporch.com/index.html Minneapolis.

Peterson, Eugene H. Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987.

________________. The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction. Eerdmans, 1993.

Founding pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland. PCUSA; 300 attendance. Left in 1992 to be professor at Regent College.

Rusaw, Rick and Eric Swanson. The Externally Focused Church. Group, 2004.

Rusaw is Senior Minister at LifeBridge Christian Church in Longmont, Colorado. 3,000 attendance. Non-denom. http://www.lbcc.org/templates/cla23bl/default.asp?id=22545
Swanson worked with Campus Crusade for Christ for twenty-five years before moving to the Leadership Network. http://www.leadnet.org/ 

Scazzero, Peter with Warren Bird. The Emotionally Healthy Church: A Strategy for Discipleship That Actually Changes Lives. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003.

Senior pastor at New Life Fellowship. http://www.newlifefellowship.org/ Queens, NY. Four other churches planted.

Stanley, Andy, Lane Jones and Reggie Joiner. The Seven Practices of Effective Ministry. Multnomah, 2004.

Stanley is pastor of http://www.northpoint.org/ North Point Community Church. 14,000 attendance. Georgia. Nondenom.

Stanley, Andy and Ed Young. Can We Do That? 24 Innovative Practices That Will Change the Way You Do Church. Howard, 2002.

Young is http://www.fellowshipchurch.com/fcweb/home.aspx 16,000 attendance; Grapevine, TX. Southern Baptist.

Stevens, Tim and Tony Morgan. Simply Strategic Stuff: Help for Leaders Drowning in the Details of Running a Church. Group, 2003.

Granger Community Church, Indiana. 4,300 attendance. http://www.gccwired.com/ United Methodist Church.

Taylor, Steve. The Out of Bounds Church? Learning to Create a Community of Faith in a Culture of Change. Zondervan, 2005.

Personal blog: http://www.emergentkiwi.org.nz/ Pastor of Opawa Baptist Church http://www.opawa.org.nz/ New Zealand. Medium-size.

Waltz, Mark L. First Impressions: Creating Wow Experiences In Your Church. Group, 2004.

See Granger Community Church under Stevens.

Warren, Rick. The Purpose Driven Church: Growth Without Compromising Your Message & Mission. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995.

http://www.saddleback.com/flash/default.htm 15,000 attendance; California. Southern Baptist.