It was a close vote, but Wayne is the clear winner in the “Andy Stanley Look-alike Contest.” Congratulations! It was a hard fought battle.
I’m sure you’ll see the uncanny resemblance in the pictures below:
Both Andy and Wayne are handsome men. Wayne, shoot me your mailing address, and I’ll put a copy of The Principle of the Path in the mail for you.
To everyone that submitted a photo and voted, thanks for playing.
Seacoast Church is a multi-site church based out of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Geoff Surratt is the ministries pastor for Seacoast, and he’s written quite a bit on multi-site strategy. His first book, The Multi-site Church Revolution, is a foundational resource that every church leader should read before launching their own multi-site campuses. Here’s my interview with Geoff about his current learnings.
TONY: First of all, catch us up to speed on what’s happening at Seacoast.
GEOFF: Life is fun at Seacoast. We are now in 13 locations across three states with about 10,000 people attending each weekend. This year we have been realigning our focus on making a positive impact in our neighborhoods through community transformation projects and we have been concentrating on helping leaders within Seacoast to take their next step in development. We are very excited about what’s next as we harness 21st century tools to spread the ageless Gospel. (Pretty pithy, huh?)
TONY: Tell us about your newest book on multi-site.
GEOFF: Greg Ligon, Warren Bird and I have teamed up to write a companion volume to our first book (The Multi-site Church Revolution) which will come out at the beginning of October. In A Multi-site Church Roadtrip, we travel to 15 different sites to experience the latest innovations in multi-site ministry. During the roadtrip we stop by Seacoast to look at the variety pack approach to multiple campuses. We drop in on Lifechurch.tv to get the latest on technology. We cruise on down the bayou for a stop in with Dino Rizzo and the gang at Healing Place Church to see how multi-site, Dream Centers and social justice all come together. I think this book will be a great resource for churches considering becoming multi-site as well as multi-site churches who are considering new opportunities for expanded influence.
TONY: What are some new trends you’ve noticed since your first multi-site book was published?
GEOFF: One of the biggest trends I’ve noticed is that multi-site is no longer a novelty. When we wrote the first book it was difficult to find multi-site models in many parts of the country; now it’s difficult to find a city without a multi-site church. Another trend is the explosion of internet campuses. With the rise of free or almost-free services like USTREAM and LiveStream any church with a website and a webcam can have a live online presence. A trend that is just emerging is the idea of an international campus; several churches are trying to figure out how a congregation in South America, Asia or Africa can be campus of a church in America.
TONY: Is there anything in the first book that you disagree with now?
GEOFF: While some of the examples in the first book have changed as churches change over time, I still think the principles are very solid. The Multi-site Church Revolution actually makes a great primer for churches launching their first or second campus and thinking through questions such as structure, budgeting and location. I have talked to several churches who have taken their whole staff through the book as a primer to where the church is going next.
TONY: Name a church doing multi-site that we should be studying that may not be on our radar at this point. What’s their unique story?
GEOFF: One of the most unique multi-site churches in the country is Brand New Church (yep, that’s their name) based in Harrison, Arkansas. Pastor Shannon O’Dell has a vision for rural America, so they are bypassing the big cities to go into small communities in the Midwest. Brand New Church currently has four campuses in Arkansas and several house churches spread across Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma as well as an internet campus. All of the campuses are linked up live by satellite and Brand New Church can broadcast from anywhere using their mobile uplink mounted on the back of a bright red Hummer. On a recent Sunday Pastor O’Dell gave a live tour of one of the smaller campuses using his Flip HD camera and beaming the signal via the Hummer parked out front.
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For other great resources on multi-site strategy, you may also want to check out the Leadership Network. They have several free resources specifically to help churches learn more about launching new campuses.
A question popped up on Twitter earlier today about an audio version of Killing Cockroaches. Made me curious to know how you consume books. With that in mind, here’s a quick poll. I’d love your feedback on your reading/listening habits.
Thanks for participating. Come on back to check out the results.
Earlier this week, I noticed an unfortunate picture of Andy Stanley on the Amazon page for his new book, The Principle of the Path. I invited folks to submit pictures of themselves imitating Andy’s facial expression. The finalists are included in the collage below:
In the comments, vote for your favorite “Andy Look-alike.” The person with the most votes will win a copy of The Principle of the Path.
Vote early and vote often.
I just realized that my recent blog post of Andy Stanley’s newest book may actually be detrimental to his image. I just visited the Amazon link to The Principle of the Path again, and I noticed this interesting picture of Andy:
I’m pretty sure this is the first time Andy has attempted this particular facial gesture. I’ve not seen him use it before. I’m not at all sure what emotional response the facial expression is supposed to provoke; however, as an amateur image consultant, I’d have to say this is not exactly a becoming look for Andy.
This, of course, raises several questions:
Speaking of emulating this facial expression, I have a free copy of The Principle of the Path that I’ll give to the person who best mimics Andy’s facial expression in this picture. Take a picture of yourself. Email it to me. Include your name and website (if you’d like me to share it). I’ll select the winner later this week.
In the mean time, I’m praying Andy still appreciates sarcasm.
People are often asking me, “How’s the book doing?” That’s a very relative question. As I mentioned last week, writing books isn’t really a money making proposition for me. But, if I can generate helpful resources to encourage and equip church leaders, it’s worth the effort.
That said, every now and again I get a little feedback to give me a clue of how well folks are receiving these resources. Today, as an example, I was chatting with my publisher about their desire to create an iPhone app for Killing Cockroaches. I learned that the book is “one of B&H’s top-five bestselling ebooks since its release in March.” That’s pretty cool.
If you’re interested, here are a few places you can download samples or purchase electronic versions of the book:
Just out of curiosity, what ebook reader, if any, are you using? How are you finding it compares with reading traditional books? Are you reading more or less?
Since I’ve been involved in several book projects, I’m frequently approached by aspiring writers who are interested in the process. I’m certainly not the expert on getting a book published, but I have learned some things over the last number of years that might be helpful for you.
With that in mind, here are a few thoughts for you to consider…
Don’t write a book. Begin by writing in your journal. Write blog posts. Get your article published in a magazine or on someone else’s website. If your idea and your writing aren’t strong enough to be published in a magazine or on a website, it’s not strong enough to be published in a book.
Don’t assume if you have a book, someone will publish it. People who get published rarely go looking for a publisher. Typically, the publishers go looking for the authors. Or, the authors have literary agents who handle those conversations. If a publisher isn’t approaching you about writing a book, that’s a pretty good sign that you probably don’t have a book to publish.
Don’t start out to write a book. Start out with something to say. For lots of people, the goal is to get a book published. That shouldn’t be your goal. Your goal should be to spread good stories or ideas. If you don’t have a good story or idea to spread, you need to start there.
Don’t write a book if you’re not a writer. At the end of the day, if you can’t write you can’t get published. And, just because you can get up in front of people and talk, doesn’t necessarily mean you can get behind a keyboard and write. There’s an art to writing. Some people have it. Most people don’t. (If you have a strong idea or a good story, you may need to find a writer to help you get it published.)
Don’t try to write a book if you’re not willing to get disciplined with your time. Manuscripts just don’t drop out of the sky. You have to outline. You have to draft. You have to rewrite. You have to edit. You have to promote. You have to sell. It takes time. If you’re unwilling to prioritize your time, you shouldn’t write a book.
Don’t plan on making money. Unless your name is Rick Warren or Joel Osteen, you’re not going to make money writing a book. At best, you may get a platform from writing a book. Of course, the challenge there is that you have to have a platform before a publisher will even consider your book.
I know. You’re skeptical. So, for those of you who write books or publish books, I’ll let you chime in and tell me where I’m wrong.
Until then, don’t write a book.
On my trip to Florida this week, I had the chance to read the newest book from Jim Collins. How the Mighty Fall is a quick read with some pretty insightful thoughts that have application not only for business leaders, but also for leaders in the church. Here are some of the key thoughts that grabbed my attention:
Is it just me, or is it pretty easy to see a correlation between these thoughts from Jim Collins and the decline of once-great churches and denominations? Without mentioning names, have you seen “the mighty fall” in your experiences? Were some of these factors part of the decline?
If you’re interested in reading more, you can pick up How the Mighty Fall using my Amazon link.
I have a friend who has become a Christ-follower in recent years. He’s a marketplace executive. If I mentioned his name, there’s a chance you’d be familiar with him. He’s also a writer.
Now, he’s working on a new book project. Rather than writing about leadership and marketing strategies, he’s going to be sharing his life change story. However, he’s hoping to share the stories of other people as well. Specifically, he’s looking for the stories of men in these categories that have committed their lives to Jesus after pursuing a previous career/lifestyle as:
My friend has already found stories for several of these categories, but he’s still looking for stories of life change from a fireman, doctor, athlete and prisoner. That’s where I need your help.
If you know of someone who you think might have a story to share (whether they’re well known or not), either leave a comment on this post or email me.
Don’t worry. I’ll let you know more details when the book is available. Thanks for your help.
On my flight down to Miami, I wrapped up the book Church Unique by Will Mancini. Will is a new friend of mine. We share a similar passion to help churches embrace their unique potential.
Among other things the book outlines a process for helping churches identify their unique mission, values, strategy and measures that contribute to a unique vision. Here are some of Will’s thoughts that grabbed my attention:
Will is a former pastor and the founder of Auxano, a consulting group that works with churches and ministries.
