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Go BIG: Lead Your Church to Explosive Growth
Bill Easum and Bil Cornelius are two strikingly different, yet surprisingly similar pastors. One undertook to revitalize a moribund mainline church; the other, to plant a new nondenominational congregation. Coming from different generations, their ministries took place under dissimilar circumstances. Yet both have experienced substantial, even explosive, growth in congregational mission and membership. Along the way they learned some important lessons, such as the centrality of strong pastoral leadership, the need for an unhesitant pursuit of excellence in all areas of the church's ministry, and the requirement that you picture an audacious vision for your church and live into that vision.
Regardless of the current size of your church, you will find here inspiring, ready-to-implement ideas to help your church go BIG.
Regardless of the current size of your church, you will find here inspiring, ready-to-implement ideas to help your church go BIG.
- GenresChurchLeadership
129 pages, Paperback
First published April 30, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 23, 2012
Great book for church leadership. It inspires your faith in a Big God, and gives practical advice on how to grow a ministry.
August 8, 2024
Mixed Bag of Practical and Not-So-Practical Church Growth Methods
This book is a mixed bag of ideas to help struggling pastors grow their church with an emphasis on what has come to be called "Church Growth Methods" i.e. marketplace strategies applied to evangelism to increase attendance, visitor counts, and retention of members. The authors are Bill Easum, who has a traditional Protestant denomination background and leads a parachurch ministry aimed at helping struggling churches, and Bil Cornelius, Mega-Church pastor and Founder of Bay Area Fellowship in Corpus Christi, TX, (which now goes by the more hip name, "Church Unlimited" which suggests Bil Cornelius' on-going commitment to the Mega-Church/Emergent Church model whose methods he extols in this book).
This is not a heavy read, just tips and ideas for helping pastors and church staff grow a congregation. One of my favorite components of the book is the first portion, about the importance of strong pastoral leadership in taking a church to the next level. I could not agree more and I know that churches run by committees are not Biblical. The emphsis on accountability for pastoral headship is the key. I also like the last part of the book on dealing with difficult people. Both of these portions of the book were profound and said things that need to be said. In between these portions are ideas--lots of ideas--to bring in people, to get people to give and support a church's vision, plus advice on staffing and other aspects. Some of the ideas are very helpful, others are practical but not suitable to all churches--depends on where they are at now--and some ideas are pure carnal post-modern, emergent church thinking. An example of the latter would be the over-emphasis on the role of worship leaders. Bil C. suggests that the most important staff hire is a full-time paid worship leader hired from outside the congregation. Not wise, as Bil C.'s church had a horrific scandal a few years back when their "full-time" worship leader, one of those hip, tattooed, top-knotted musical mercenaries that prowl the church world, was arrested for an act of public obscenity. The Church world loves its professionals. But the best employees are found in a church's own pews not on Monster.com. It is always best to hire those who have a testimony of faithfulness, a willingness to serve and support the Church vision, and who are proven, spirit-filled converts. Not mercenaries. But I digress. It's just that some of the advice in this book is good, and some is really, really not that great... even if it does seem to yield the fruit of large numbers in the Mega-Church world that loves Church Growth Methods--especially the most carnal of them.
That all being said, I would recommend this book to sincere and serious Church Pastors and Ministry Leaders who may need a fresh idea or a different perspective on growing their church. But always ask yourself what the goal is. Do you want Spiritual Revival? Or just a big crowd on Sundays? They are not the same thing, even if the proponents of Church Growth Methods say they are--and then point to all of their success stories as proof. Well, is it quality or quantity that matters? Would the Book of Acts Apostles look down on the methods or not? I do know one thing, small is not necessarily spiritual either. God wants His church to grow!
As a Church leader, I found some great and relevant ideas in here that I had not considered before. Truth is we in the church NEED to have a bigger vision and greater faith to finish the work of the Great Commission. But not every pragmatic growth idea is the best fit for God's Church. Chew on the meat and spit out the bones with this one.
This book is a mixed bag of ideas to help struggling pastors grow their church with an emphasis on what has come to be called "Church Growth Methods" i.e. marketplace strategies applied to evangelism to increase attendance, visitor counts, and retention of members. The authors are Bill Easum, who has a traditional Protestant denomination background and leads a parachurch ministry aimed at helping struggling churches, and Bil Cornelius, Mega-Church pastor and Founder of Bay Area Fellowship in Corpus Christi, TX, (which now goes by the more hip name, "Church Unlimited" which suggests Bil Cornelius' on-going commitment to the Mega-Church/Emergent Church model whose methods he extols in this book).
This is not a heavy read, just tips and ideas for helping pastors and church staff grow a congregation. One of my favorite components of the book is the first portion, about the importance of strong pastoral leadership in taking a church to the next level. I could not agree more and I know that churches run by committees are not Biblical. The emphsis on accountability for pastoral headship is the key. I also like the last part of the book on dealing with difficult people. Both of these portions of the book were profound and said things that need to be said. In between these portions are ideas--lots of ideas--to bring in people, to get people to give and support a church's vision, plus advice on staffing and other aspects. Some of the ideas are very helpful, others are practical but not suitable to all churches--depends on where they are at now--and some ideas are pure carnal post-modern, emergent church thinking. An example of the latter would be the over-emphasis on the role of worship leaders. Bil C. suggests that the most important staff hire is a full-time paid worship leader hired from outside the congregation. Not wise, as Bil C.'s church had a horrific scandal a few years back when their "full-time" worship leader, one of those hip, tattooed, top-knotted musical mercenaries that prowl the church world, was arrested for an act of public obscenity. The Church world loves its professionals. But the best employees are found in a church's own pews not on Monster.com. It is always best to hire those who have a testimony of faithfulness, a willingness to serve and support the Church vision, and who are proven, spirit-filled converts. Not mercenaries. But I digress. It's just that some of the advice in this book is good, and some is really, really not that great... even if it does seem to yield the fruit of large numbers in the Mega-Church world that loves Church Growth Methods--especially the most carnal of them.
That all being said, I would recommend this book to sincere and serious Church Pastors and Ministry Leaders who may need a fresh idea or a different perspective on growing their church. But always ask yourself what the goal is. Do you want Spiritual Revival? Or just a big crowd on Sundays? They are not the same thing, even if the proponents of Church Growth Methods say they are--and then point to all of their success stories as proof. Well, is it quality or quantity that matters? Would the Book of Acts Apostles look down on the methods or not? I do know one thing, small is not necessarily spiritual either. God wants His church to grow!
As a Church leader, I found some great and relevant ideas in here that I had not considered before. Truth is we in the church NEED to have a bigger vision and greater faith to finish the work of the Great Commission. But not every pragmatic growth idea is the best fit for God's Church. Chew on the meat and spit out the bones with this one.
November 30, 2023
great info
May 29, 2012
2012 finds our staff reading this book slowly and reviewing the hard hitting content every tuesday. Well crafted and wise. If you want to know how we view Church leadership at C3 this is a perfect read. -pastor adam
June 6, 2013
A great book to help a pastor dream. Although I did not care for his recommendation to preach other people's sermons (credited) while you lay a growing foundation, there were spots that were helpful! Part of growing a strong church is having a shepherd who is fed so he can feed the sheep!
October 16, 2017
Radical thinking
These guys do so much with so little material. They will blow your mind, and what they say may go against everything you feel is right, but at the same time it will make so much sense.
These guys do so much with so little material. They will blow your mind, and what they say may go against everything you feel is right, but at the same time it will make so much sense.
July 6, 2017
What is all of this "going big "all Unto? I felt the author held a very different church growth philosophy than I personally do.
January 3, 2014
Enjoyed it and found it inspiring. Not really meant for depth of theology, but was super practical.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews