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You may have heard me talk a lot about Clemson on my blog and my Twitter feed. What you may not know is that we also have Anderson University just down the road from us. In recent weeks, I’ve been in conversation with Michael Duduit, the new dean of Anderson’s newly created Graduate School of Christian Ministry. He’s been keeping me updated on their Master of Ministry degree program that will launch next August.

Here’s what intrigues me about the new program. It’s going to take about half the time to complete compared to a typical M.Div. program. In addition to providing a foundation in biblical and theological studies, there will be a heavy emphasis on the practical leadership challenges that all of us face in ministry. Michael is lining up leaders who are in the trenches serving in churches to teach and facilitate learning environments. Additionally, the University is committed to flexible alternatives so that future ministry leaders can engage in the program in a variety of ways including an Internet option possibly as soon as 2010.

Why am I so interested in the program? I’m excited about the possibility of those future ministry leaders who decide to attend Anderson University and pursue this degree could also potentially land at NewSpring. We will have many volunteer leadership opportunities as our ministry grows. Additionally, we’re obviously looking for quality candidates to apply for our paid internship program. Sharp, gifted leaders will have the chance to pursue their education, serve at NewSpring and potentially make a little money (okay…very little money) on the side. You can’t beat that!

So, here’s how you can help. Michael asked me to ask you for input. If you have a second, leave a comment or email me with responses to any or all of these questions:

1. How would you design the coursework to best prepare students for ministry?
2. If you could hand-select your future “professors,” who would want to learn from?
3. If you are interested in the program, would you prefer being a resident here in Anderson, attending a regional campus or attending online?
4. What other feedback do you have?

Thanks for your input. Stay tuned for more details in the coming months. And, more importantly, if you know of prospective students for this new program, send them to the AU website and tell them to keep this opportunity on their radar.

This past weekend we unveiled the new video technology solution at the NewSpring Greenville campus. There have been a number of questions since that news from folks wanting more specifics. With that in mind, I sat down with the Jayson and Stephen from Eastgate Productions to talk about the solution we are using to deliver video content. Here’s the interview in two parts.

Scott at Collide Magazine is beginning a feature on the magazine’s website where he’ll be interviewing other bloggers. I’m the guinea pig. Check out the interview where I respond to questions on blogging, my new book, my ministry role and the future of NewSpring Church.

While you’re there, you may also want to check out the story on my friends over at Elevation Church. In recent weeks, over 900 people have accepted Christ and over 1,000 people have been baptized. The church is less than three years old. What an amazing story!

Let me take a second to introduce you to the newest site sponsor, the sticks conference. The conference is being hosted by New Hope Community Church, a multi-site church with three locations in Ohio. A few days ago, I caught up with New Hope’s Senior Pastor Charles Hill to learn more about the story of the church and this new conference.

TONY: Tell us a little bit about the New Hope story.

CHARLES: I graduated from this town of 2,800 and was called back not out of my own understanding, but because of the NEED that was here. And as if by accident we opened the doors to a church that would attempt to bring Christ to our culture and 239 people were here on day one. Five and a half years later, we average around 1,000 to 1,200 people in three campuses.

The best numbers are the thousands of lives that have been changed as the result of the “New Hope” that only Christ can bring. We have campuses in Loudonville, Ohio, Wooster, Ohio and China. We are launching another campus in two weeks in Ashland, Ohio. We also are launching a campus at a boys prison in the next eight weeks.

We felt that just because we were in a small town that it didn’t deserve second best. We are happy to be a voice for the small towns in America. We have a great group of people, an amazing staff, and my family is amazing. Sounds like Mayberry, because it kind of is.

TONY: Has anyone told you that you can’t build a big church in a small town?

CHARLES: Yes. Our conference and parent church were very leary that “this type” of ministry would work in a small town. As a matter of fact, it might have been too much for their town of 50,000–so there was some Holy Spirit intervention that needed to happen.

TONY: If you could point to one thing, why are you experiencing ministry impact in your community?

CHARLES: To not sound so “spiritual” …we are led by the Spirit and the Spirit speaks loudly to us and to others. We look at what God is asking us to do, but we also look as Blackaby says, “Where He is moving and jump in!” We’re learning from others (like NewSpring) and not ever making excuses of talent, time or treasure. If God asks us to move, we just get ‘er done! No excuses. No second best.

We try to keep things simple (by accident, but now more by design) as well as implementing innovative moves done always with excellence. We like to say this: We have Planned, Preprepared, Practiced and Prayed…now we Place it in YOUR hands.

TONY: If you haven’t heard, there are lots of conferences for church leaders. Why is yours unique?

CHARLES: We seek to truly have a conversation and a networking event for those in small- to medium-sized towns. We have a couple of nationally-known speakers who are innovative, and whose principles cross demographics. And besides that, Tim Stevens (one of the speakers) is in a medium-sized demographic himself. The rest of us are in small town America and these guys are having HUGE impact in a small town.

I am looking forward to learning more from THEM and the people who attend than they pick up from us! We capped it at 400 seats to keep the intimacy, networking and conversation high. Seats will NOT last long! We have people from Florida to Canada and the east coast to Oklahoma already who are passionate about small towns!

TONY: When folks visit Loudonville, Ohio, what is a “must see?”

CHARLES: We are the canoe capital of the world so they say, but the weather in Novemeber is a bit frightful. So the State Park and Amish country are just two must sees in this amazing piece of God’s country.

The sticks conference will be held in Loudonville, Ohio on November 11-12. Register before September 30 to get the best rates.

We celebrated communion together in our services today at NewSpring. Here are some quotes from Perry’s message.

• “God created us to live in freedom.”
• “God gave Satan one shot to create something. Satan created the cat.”
• “If we just follow the Word of God, life will be much better. I promise.”
• “If you’re in your garden and a snake starts talking to you, don’t have a conversation with the snake.”
• “We can’t cover our own mess.”
• “I believe some people go to church to hide from God.”
• “When it comes to our sin, the mess-ups in our life, somebody has to pay.”
• “What God says is what God does.”
• “Jesus paid for our sin. Somebody had to pay. Jesus made that payment.”

We finally got all the right equipment in place including the Metro E data connection between our NewSpring Anderson and Greenville campuses. For the first time at our 11:15 service in Greenville they’re getting:

• Video streaming over a data connection
• an HD center lock-down shot
• SD side-screen shots, and
• it’s all LIVE!

Just so you know, we took a bit of a risk to pull this off. In fact, we had some experts tell us it couldn’t be done. We’re aware of others that are streaming live (but not with two video signals). We’re also aware of others that are using two video shots (but it isn’t live).

We’re trusting, though, that this new technology solution will help us present the Gospel in Greenville and beyond in ways that weren’t previously possible. If you know of a church (or any other organization for that matter) that’s implementing a similar solution, please let me know. We’d love to compare notes and figure out ways to improve our implementation.

It’s all a learning process, and I’m sure we’ll still need to make some tweaks going forward. I’d just like to publicly thank the team, though, for all you’ve done to pull this off. This is a huge win!

Earlier this morning, I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Sherry Moorhead. Not only is she a good friend, she’s the Director of Volunteers at the NewSpring Anderson campus. Here’s what she had to share about volunteer ministry and more.

Ten years ago this Sunday my life changed. Emily snapped a picture back then to capture the moment. On September 14, 1998 I started my full-time ministry role at Granger Community Church. Up to that point, I had prepared for a completely different career. God was obviously preparing me for a different journey.

A lot has changed in the last ten years. I have two more little girls, one that looks exactly like Kayla did in this picture. I don’t own any wingtip shoes or pleated pants. I don’t have as much hair, and I’ve gained about 30 more pounds. We have a new home and a new church family.

Here’s what hasn’t changed…

• I’m still humbled that God called me to do what I get to do.
• I’m still convinced we live in a world that desperately needs the forgiveness, hope and love that only comes through Jesus.
• I’m still figuring out what it is to be a fully-devoted follower of Christ.
• I’m still discovering how to help others be all that God designed them to be.
• I’m still passionate about the potential for the local church and its impact in people’s lives.
• I’m still waiting to see what God does next.

I can’t believe what’s happened in the last 10 years. I’ve watched literally thousands of people commit to following Jesus. I’ve watched people experience physical, relational and spiritual healing in ways that could only be classified as miracles. And, in the process, I’ve had the opportunity to share that experience with people I love. What an honor. I didn’t deserve it.

What will the next 10 years bring? Based on past experience, I’m fairly certain it’s nothing like I have imagined. As much as I try to out-plan God, he always seems to remind me that his plans are greater. I’m still a work in progress. He must become greater. I must become less. Why doesn’t that get easier? You’d think I’d learn.

I hate traditions, but I’m a pretty sentimental guy. Thanks for putting up with this sappy post about where I’ve been and where I’m heading.

In case you haven’t figured it out, God’s not done with me yet. Please be patient.

Haven’t had a chance to read all the stories, but I thought you might be interested in the articles from USA Today on megachurches. It looks like because Lakewood has gone from 47,000 to 43,000 that they think the megachurch movement has “stalled” even though the number of megachurches continues to grow along with the attendance at those churches.

I love how reporters spin data. They’re better then politicians.

The short: Are you are a curious, quick, meticulous front-end developer with database experience who can take .PSD/.AI files, wireframes or Sharpie sketches and make them work online?

The long: You’ve got 2-3 years of experience doing hand-coded, cross-browser-compatible, well-commented XHTML/CSS, PHP, XML, RSS, W3C, JS (jQuery) and Flash-integration. Specific to our DNA, you’ll need an architectural familiarity with ExpressionEngine/CodeIgniter, Wordpress and Magneto, accurate timeline estimates and the ability to multi-task projects while laughing/rocking out in an open team environment.

Small, nondescript trophies will be awarded for working knowledge of user-experience design, version control (SVN or GIT), mobile web, interaction design, various social web app APIs and information architecture.

Send in examples and live links to your work to web@newspring.cc, explaining what code you created or modified and some extensive CSS files that will make us smile. This is a full-time role, with the potential for an initial on-site contract while we figure out how well we mesh.