Apparently my January/February issue of Outreach magazine will be
waiting for me when I get back from vacation. That issue features this
year’s list of America’s Most Innovative Churches. I had fun partnering
with Outreach to pull together this year’s list. Though Outreach hasn’t
published the list on their website yet, it’s already available on various other sites.
My introductory article
explaining the process we used including an online survey and compiling the rankings of this year’s panel is available online. That article also includes a list of the panel members that helped select
the 25 churches and an excerpt from the Outreach Convention panel that
I participated on with Ed Stetzer, Michael Lindsay, Jonathan Falwell, Dave Gibbons and Kem Meyer.
Here’s the list of America’s Most Innovative Churches of 2008:
- LifeChurch.tv, Edmond, OK, Craig Groeschel
- Mars Hill Church, Seattle, WA, Mark Driscoll
- Granger Community Church, Granger, IN, Mark Beeson
- Flamingo Road Church, Cooper City, FL, Troy Gramling
- Seacoast Church, Mount Pleasant, SC, Greg Surratt
- Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, CA, Rick Warren
- Mosaic Church, Los Angeles, CA, Erwin McManus
- Fellowship Church, Grapevine, TX, Ed Young
- North Point Community Church, Alpharetta, GA, Andy Stanley
- Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, IL, Bill Hybels
- National Community Church, Washington, DC, Mark Batterson
- NewSpring Church, Anderson, SC, Perry Noble
- Community Christian Church, Naperville, IL, Dave Ferguson
- Elevation Church, Charlotte, SC, Steven Furtick
- Healing Place Church, Baton Rouge, LA, Dino Rizzo
- North Coast Church, Vista, CA, Larry Osborne
- NorthWood Church, Keller, TX, Bob Roberts
- NewSong Church, Irvine, CA, Dave Gibbons
- New Hope Christian Fellowship, Honolulu, HI, Wayne Cordeiro
- Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York, NY, Tim Keller
- Crossover Church, Tampa, FL, Tommy Kyllonen
- Perimeter Church, Duluth, GA, Randy Pope
- Mars Hill, Grandville, MI, Rob Bell
- The Orchard Church Community, Aurora, IL, Scott Hodge
- The Sanctuary Covenant Church, Minneapolis, MN, Efrem Smith
Great Work! Thanks for the props to LifeChurch.tv; I could not work for a better group of gifted leaders. Craig is amazing, humble and his heart is in the right place.
Good list. As probably everyone who comes by or sees this I have a different opinion on some, but that is just cause I have had an inside look. But overall spot on.
Thanks for doing this!
Tony…this was fun to be a part of. Thanks for pulling me in. Also, your Christmas card was hysterical.
Great list of deserving choices! Thanks for taking the time to be on the panel and help make this list possible as encouragement to us.
It’s awesome to see Sanctuary on the list.
I’ve seen some people doing amazing things to be apart of God’s transformational work on the north side of minneapolis here.
thanks much…
Shout out to Minneapolis (Sanctuary Cov. Church)!!! There are only 4 ethnic (multi-cultural churches represented) (1). Mosaic (2). Crossover (3). New Hope (4). Sanctuary – There has to be more Innovative ethnic churches out there…Great list!!!…just a little (white) mono-cultural. Who picked the top 25?
here here…way disappointed in under 40 church leaders who are continuing mono-racial, homogeneous churches…i was one of those who always thought once my generation gets into leadership, diversity will take off and the segregated Sunday morning would go away….but it’s not happening
any of my other white / anglo brothers and sisters concerned about that? it’s like numeric growth trumps all else…and for some, if you question that, you get thrown into a ” you are jealous” camp…can we at least try to stop the insanity of segregated churches…
of course, we all wish diversity would happen…”our church is open to everyone”, etc… as a majority culture, are we actually willing to change our services and give away power to minority leaders for the sake of diversity?
Here are some African American churches that preach the gospel and reach people for Jesus in very innovated ways.
Fellowship Bible Church http://www.fbconline.org
The Potters House http://www.thepottershouse.org
Allen Cathedral http://www.allencathedral.org
Abyssinian Church http://www.abyssinian.org
Windsor Village http://www.kingdombuilder.com
Cool. Thanks for your research and work on this. 10 of the 25 are featured in my upcoming book: “Church 2.0″. God is moving in this country!
Woo-Hoo!! Flamingo made it! We are so excited. This is something our team will celebrate all week. We’ll clap about it at staff tomorrow, we’ll blog about it, we’ll use it to spur us on. Thank you for acknowledging our relentless sweat to put innovation into every weekend! GRATEFUL! Heather
Where are the African-American Churches?
Just to comment on Jeremy Sheller’s comment, Newsong is a multi-ethnic church. I have been going to Newsong for six years now. Not sure on the other churches being multi-ethnic besides Mosaic, but just thought I would clarify.
Hey. Don’t wait for your generation to be in charge.
Do it NOW! Find the people/mix and bring them.
Remember that diversity does not equal non-white.
Being diverse has to be (in most communities) a deliberate effort — a lot of work, but VERY MUCH worth the journey.