America’s Most Innovative Churches

December 23, 2006 in Churches with 13 Comments

Outreach_1
OK, it seems like everyone has already has started blogging about the list of America’s Most Innovative Churches. This was a fun project. I’m glad I had the opportunity to partner with Outreach Magazine and the 12 panelists that participated. In case you’ve missed it…

  • You’ll find the list of the panel members that helped me with the project on Outreach’s website along with excerpts from the magazine articles.
  • Outreach also is providing a list of the Top 25 churches including the names of the senior pastors and the web addresses for each of the ministries.
  • You’ll have to pick up a copy of the magazine to read the full article that includes an interview that I did with Ed Young Jr., Efrem Smith, Dawn Nicole Baldwin, Geoff Surratt, Mark Driscoll and Tim Sanders.
  • The magazine also includes a story with quotes from a few of the panelists that addresses "the size factor" when it comes to innovation in the local church.

After you review the list, I’ll be interested in hearing your feedback. Who are you surprised is on the list? Who should have been included (by the way the panel nominated 73 different churches)?

In the coming weeks, I’ll also share with you some unpublished quotes from the full panel. There are some revealing insights from the interviews I was privileged to have with these folks.

Finally, I’m already looking forward to developing next year’s list. And, I’m thinking about inviting one of my blog readers to participate. I’ll share more about that in the future.

I love being in this dialogue with you about the future of the church.

13 Responses to “America’s Most Innovative Churches”

  1. Daryl Strickland December 23, 2006 at 4:07 pm #

    Some churches that I would not have been suprised to see on the list are:

    NewSpring – Perry Noble
    New Life (Arkansas) – Rick Bezet
    Celebration (Jacksonville) – Stoval Weems
    Mosaic (Charlotte -New) – Naeem Fazel

    Bonus Church (my home church)
    Lifepoint (Wilmington) – Jeff Kapusta

  2. Church Communications Pro December 23, 2006 at 4:57 pm #

    Tony, solid list, definitely. I thought perhaps National Community Church might have been higher on it … just because Mark Batterson’s one of the big voices in the whole church marketing/innovation conversation going on.

    To me, he’s helping all of us put the marketing/innovation dialogue into a form that transfers. In other words, reading and listening to him helps me “make the case” in my own context.

    Well done, bro!

  3. Gary December 23, 2006 at 6:06 pm #

    As always, I love this type of stuff. However as I look at the list, I can’t but wonder if it would have been better to call it the innovative pastors list. I have been to a lot of those churches and while I think they have innovative leaders, I am not sure how innovative their churches are compared to others.

    Surprised not to see Buckhead Church on there, Palm Valley Church (when you are running 2,000 in a high school gym, trust me you are innovative), and of course New Spring.

    Oh yeah, surprised also not to see a church called Ridge Stone Church in Canton, Ga. on there. I have heard great things from them. :)

  4. tony morgan December 23, 2006 at 7:18 pm #

    Gary, actually Buckhead was factored into the North Point ranking. It just wasn’t listed that way. In fact, several people on the panel specifically mentioned Buckhead.

    tony

  5. Scott December 23, 2006 at 8:45 pm #

    I agree with Gary. I have heard Rick McKinley from Imago Dei talk about how their services are suprisingly traditional. However I am sure that more than just asthetics were looked at in the “judging” process. Solid list though. Thanks Tony.

  6. Crystal Renaud December 27, 2006 at 12:28 am #

    Westside is pretty great… :)

  7. Brenton Balvin December 27, 2006 at 12:29 pm #

    Tony, my wife and I attend Church of the Open Door. I was really surprised that they made the Innovative list. Doesn’t seem like they are doing much that is ‘innovative.’ Can you offer any feedback on that?

  8. tony morgan December 27, 2006 at 1:31 pm #

    Brenton, apparently some of the panel members thought they were doing some innovative stuff. I can’t specifically answer your question, though, because all I did was compile the “votes” of the twelve panelists.

    tony

  9. Church Marketing Sucks January 10, 2007 at 2:39 pm #

    Post-Holiday Linkfest

    My post-holiday recovery never quite happened, thanks to the fact that my family is trying to sell our house. So I’ve got a pile of links I haven’t had time to blog about. But lucky for you I’ll take the lazy route and throw ‘em all up here in one big …

  10. Church Marketing Sucks January 19, 2007 at 11:59 am #

    The Most Innovative Churches

    Part 1 in a series on Innovative Churches Outreach magazine recently released a list of America’s most innovative churches. Outreach magazine and Simply Strategic guy Tony Morgan came up with the list, with the help of a panel of experts. But what do e…

  11. Church Marketing Sucks January 22, 2007 at 10:53 am #

    Innovative Churches: Definition & Is It Biblical?

    Part 2 in a series on Innovative Churches. Be sure to contribute to the Most Innovative Churches list. As a part of Outreach’s Most Innovative Churches list, I answered a questionnaire for Tony Morgan about what it really means to be innovative. Here’s…

  12. APOSTLE PAUL JOHNSON ASAMOAH May 12, 2007 at 1:59 pm #

    Only on networking of Churches in the world help preaching/teaching/supporting in any ways winning souls in to the kingdom of God!

  13. Church Marketing Sucks October 9, 2007 at 9:00 pm #

    The Most Innovative Churches

    Part 1 in a series on Innovative Churches Outreach magazine recently released a list of America’s most innovative churches. Outreach magazine and Simply Strategic guy Tony Morgan came up with the list, with the help of a panel of experts. But what do e…