America’s Most Innovative Churches of 2008

January 4, 2008 in Growing Strategies with 14 Comments

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

14 Responses to “America’s Most Innovative Churches of 2008”

  1. Scott Williams January 4, 2008 at 12:06 pm #

    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.

  2. Tony Steward January 4, 2008 at 12:28 pm #

    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!

  3. Kem Meyer January 4, 2008 at 12:56 pm #

    Tony…this was fun to be a part of. Thanks for pulling me in. Also, your Christmas card was hysterical.

  4. Daniel D January 4, 2008 at 12:58 pm #

    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.

  5. Jeremy Scheller January 4, 2008 at 1:39 pm #

    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…

  6. jamey johnson January 4, 2008 at 6:30 pm #

    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?

  7. jw January 4, 2008 at 8:28 pm #

    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?

  8. Sam January 4, 2008 at 10:41 pm #

    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

  9. Greg Atkinson January 5, 2008 at 1:53 am #

    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!

  10. HEATHER PALACIOS January 6, 2008 at 9:06 pm #

    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

  11. chris mcmillan January 11, 2008 at 10:41 pm #

    Where are the African-American Churches?

  12. Ashley January 21, 2008 at 8:54 pm #

    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.

  13. David March 2, 2008 at 2:51 pm #

    Hey. Don’t wait for your generation to be in charge.
    Do it NOW! Find the people/mix and bring them.

  14. Dan June 26, 2008 at 10:36 pm #

    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.