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"Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed–that exhilarating finish in and with God–he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!"

Hebrews 12:2-3 (The Message)

As I unplug this weekend to go to the lake and just spend time with family, I’m reminded again of the importance of time and the need to invest it wisely. It’s tough to find the right balance. This weekend, however, we’ve opted out of the baseball and softball games with our kids and instead the entire family is heading to the lake.

One of my good friends in ministry, Lee McFarland, at Radiant Church in Surprise, Arizona must have realized I’m not the only person that finds balancing time to be a challenge. Lee is in the middle of a fun series called "So Much Temptation, So Little Time." This weekend, he’s tackling the topic of "The Balanced Life."

Radiant is one of the fastest growing churches in the country (#18 on the Outreach Magazine list). Lee walked away from a high-paying job at Microsoft to plant the church near Phoenix in 1997. Less than 8 years later, Radiant is pushing 5,000 in attendance and they’ve just moved into their new facility. With all that growth, Lee must have become an expert on what it takes to maintain a balanced life. That big motorcycle he rides probably has something to do with his secret to finding balance.

This weekend if I wasn’t heading to the lake and then to check out a service at Granger Community Church, I head to the desert and learn about the balanced life at Radiant Church. That makes them my "Cool Church of the Week"…even though it’ll be 110 degrees on Sunday at Radiant.

I like palm trees, but that may be too hot…

In case you missed it, Switchfoot released a new single earlier this week. The new song, Stars, will make your iPod and your ears very happy. Their new album is due out on September 13. Can’t wait.

Proverbs 14:8 indicates “The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways.” Furthermore, we’re assured in verse 21:5 that “the plans of the diligent lead to profit.” That wisdom certainly applies to my personal life but I’ve also experienced the benefit of a clear corporate vision at Granger. A clear vision:

• Sets expectations and fosters unity,
• Helps facilitate decision-making that impacts our future,
• Creates a framework for defining ministry priorities,
• Attracts talent (both volunteers and staff) and financial resources, and
• Defines success for our ministry.

Agreeing on a clear vision allows you to empower others to lead and carry out ministry. It’s also a lot easier to get everyone pulling in the same direction if there’s agreement on what you’re hoping to accomplish.

You can read more on the advantages of establishing vision and values for your church in my most recent article on Pastors.com, Does your team champion clear vision and values?

It’s "Fun Friday," and I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate the day than to encourage you to check out the "Don’t Be Stupid" videos (scroll to the bottom of the page) on WiredChurches.com. Corey created them to help get people thinking about the Innovative Church Conference coming up this fall at Granger Community Church. My favorite is the one with the singer. I laughed hard. And, just in case you’re wondering, they’re funnier the second and third time.

Recently Ben Boles from FusionLife.org asked us if we would collaborate and come up with a list of our Top 10 Innovative Churches in America. There are many inherent issues with this challenge. For one, innovation is subjective and really lies in the eyes of the beholder. Secondly, we cannot say that the list will be completely fair due to the fact that neither one of us has personally seen nor reviewed all 385,000 some odd churches.

With that in mind, here is the baseline for how the list was generated. We decided to define church innovation like this:

"Church innovation" is the introduction of new, fresh, and creative ideas and practices which are intended to be used for reaching people for Christ. The main driver for innovation is often the courage and energy to better the world through the local church. An essential element for church innovation is that its application generates results by helping people meet Jesus and become fully-devoted followers of Christ. Another measure of this is considering: Who is leading whom? In other words, what churches are becoming the benchmark for innovative ministry strategies and helping to resource other churches?

It’s unscientific. It’s just our opinion. But that’s what Ben wanted. So here is Terry and Tony’s Top 10 Innovative Churches:

10) Seacoast Church
9) Willow Creek Community Church
8) New Spring Community Church
7) National Community Church
6) Buckhead Church
5) Mosaic
4) Bay Area Fellowship
3) Journey Church
2) Daybreak
1) Life Church
00) Fellowship Church & Granger Community Church

(You didn’t think we would leave our churches off the list did you?)

Here are a few more details about our Top 10 churches:

Seacoast Church (seacoastchurch.org) – The church has nine locations throughout South Carolina. Led by Senior Pastor Greg Surratt, Seacoast Church started in 1988 in Mt. Pleasant, SC.

Willow Creek Community Church (willowcreek.org) – The main campus is located in South Barrington, IL with three additional locations in the Chicago metro area. Willow, which started in 1975, is led by Senior Pastor Bill Hybels.

New Spring Community Church (newspring.cc) - Located in Anderson, SC, Senior Pastor Perry Noble leads this innovative church. New Spring Community Church started in 1999.

National Community Church (theaterchurch.com) – The church launched in 1996 and now meets in two locations in Washington, DC. National’s senior pastor is Mark Batterson.

Buckhead Church (buckheadchurch.org) - Located in Atlanta, GA, this is a satellite campus of North Point Community Church led by Senior Pastor Andy Stanley. Buckhead started in 2001.

Mosaic (mosaic.org) – Mosaic meets in five different locations throughout the Los Angeles, CA area including their location in downtown L.A. at Club Mayan. Erwin McManus is the lead pastor.

Bay Area Fellowship (bayareafellowship.com) - Located in Corpus Christi, TX, Senior Pastor Bill Cornelius leads this innovative church. Bay Area Fellowship started in 1997.

Journey Church (journeychurch.cc) – The church is led by Senior Pastor Clark Mitchell. Journey Church started in 2001, and it’s located in Norman, OK.

Daybreak (daybreak.tv) - Located in Hudsonville, MI, Senior Pastor Wes Dupin leads this innovative church. Daybreak started in 1989.

Life Church (lifechurch.tv) – The church currently has five locations in Oklahoma and soon will be opening two new sites in Phoenix, AZ. Craig Groeschel is the church’s senior pastor. Life Church started in 1996 in Oklahoma City, OK.

Granger Community Church (gccwired.com) – The church is located in Granger, IN near South Bend. Granger’s senior pastor is Mark Beeson. Mark started the church in 1986.

Fellowship Church (fellowshipchurch.com) - Located throughout the heart of the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex, Ed Young leads this innovative church and its four locations. Fellowship Church started in 1990 in Irving, TX.

Again, this was an unscientific list that was heavily influenced by our personal opinions. However, we can say that we did have a great time coming up with the list, and really look forward to the comments this will generate. So let’s hear your comments. Give us your lists. We’ll also let you tell us where you think our churches fit in the "true 12"…if you agree that they belong there. Have fun!

Terry & Tony

Since the theme of today is innovation with the release of the list of Top 10 Innovative Churches, I thought I’d preface the that post with a quick hit on creating a culture that fuels innovations. Here’s an excerpt from Simply Strategic Volunteers on that topic:

“A leader who is committed to unleashing the power of innovation also understands the proper balance between championing efficiency and pushing people into the uneasy chaos of change. It’s vital to value excellence and continuous incremental improvements for the systems and strategies that currently work. If you focus only on efficiency, however, you will always do what you’ve always done. If a ministry intends to remain culturally relevant through future generations, it must be willing to step into the mire of unformed ideas. Finding new strategies sometimes means challenging current strategies. It can be messy. It can be uneasy. But it’s in the chaotic world of change that the next big ideas can be found.”

I share that because the churches Terry and I will be highlighting later today have been down that road. They’ve taken the risks. They’ve experienced the chaos. And, on the other side of that journey, they’ve created new paradigms for how you and I approach ministry in the local church. Their innovations are helping all of us see a new vision for how the church can be more effective in today’s culture.

"I’m an optimist. I’ve always believed the future is going to be better than the past. And I also believe I have a role in that. The great thing about human beings, myself in particular, is that I can change. I can do better. If you can get up every day, stay optimistic, and believe the future is better than the past, those few things get you through a lot of tough times."

Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric as quoted in Fast Company (July 2005)

We’ve spent the last few days putting our brains together and finalizing the details. At the suggestion of Ben Boles at FusionLife.org, Terry Storch and I have set out to name our Top 10 Innovative Churches in the United States. It was a difficult but fun task. There are lots of cool churches in the country that are making a significant impact on God’s Kingdom. We think, however, that’s we’ve found the best of the best.

We have churches of all different sizes. We found churches in all parts of the country. And, we found ministries that are stretching our thinking and challenging our vision for the future of the local church.

Terry and I are excited to share our list, and we’ll be posting the results tomorrow at 10 am Central Time. So check back tomorrow to see the list and share your reactions. It should be a fun day!

Creating Passionate Users is one of my favorite blogs, and they’ve just posted a challenging thought regarding emotions versus logic. Here’s the key thought:

"People don’t choose rationally to listen to your message and then have a feeling about it. They choose to listen to your message because they have a feeling about it."

And that goes for men as well. Oh my. If that’s true, what does that mean for the church? What does that mean for our message?

Wake up folks. This one better grab your attention. The truth is people may never hear your message if you’re only playing to their intellect. This should cause you to pause and reevaluate how you teach, and it should reinforce the important role the arts have in helping people hear and then respond to your message. Oh my…