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:

  1. LifeChurch.tv, Edmond, OK, Craig Groeschel   
  2. Mars Hill Church, Seattle, WA, Mark Driscoll   
  3. Granger Community Church, Granger, IN, Mark Beeson   
  4. Flamingo Road Church, Cooper City, FL, Troy Gramling   
  5. Seacoast Church, Mount Pleasant, SC, Greg Surratt   
  6. Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, CA, Rick Warren   
  7. Mosaic Church, Los Angeles, CA, Erwin McManus   
  8. Fellowship Church, Grapevine, TX, Ed Young   
  9. North Point Community Church, Alpharetta, GA, Andy Stanley   
  10. Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, IL, Bill Hybels   
  11. National Community Church, Washington, DC, Mark Batterson   
  12. NewSpring Church, Anderson, SC, Perry Noble   
  13. Community Christian Church, Naperville, IL, Dave Ferguson   
  14. Elevation Church, Charlotte, SC, Steven Furtick   
  15. Healing Place Church, Baton Rouge, LA, Dino Rizzo   
  16. North Coast Church, Vista, CA, Larry Osborne   
  17. NorthWood Church, Keller, TX, Bob Roberts   
  18. NewSong Church, Irvine, CA, Dave Gibbons   
  19. New Hope Christian Fellowship, Honolulu, HI, Wayne Cordeiro   
  20. Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York, NY, Tim Keller   
  21. Crossover Church, Tampa, FL, Tommy Kyllonen    
  22. Perimeter Church, Duluth, GA, Randy Pope   
  23. Mars Hill, Grandville, MI, Rob Bell   
  24. The Orchard Church Community, Aurora, IL, Scott Hodge   
  25. The Sanctuary Covenant Church, Minneapolis, MN, Efrem Smith