Hero Maker
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36. www.arcchurches.com/about/history.
37. The church website is www.elim.org.sv. For a list of other global megachurches, see www.leadnet.org/world.
38. This account, reviewed by Mario Vega, is drawn from a variety of sources: Pastor Mario’s presentation at Exponential East 2015, a personal interview by Warren Bird, and personal interviews by Joel Comiskey, a worldwide expert in the cell movement, who received the church’s blessing to research a book that describes the church’s development, Passion and Persistence: How the Elim Church’s Cell Groups Penetrated an Entire City for Jesus.
39. Adapted from https://news.utexas.edu/2014/05/16/mcraven-urges-graduates-to-find-courage-to-change-the-world.
40. If you’re curious about the growth of Christianity beyond North America, Warren Bird maintains Leadership Network’s list of global megachurches at www.leadnet.org/world. It’s believed to be the only active, sortable compilation of almost one thousand very large churches in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, South America, and Central America.
41. For more on his remarkable story, see Brian Sanders, The Underground Church: A Living Example of the Church in Its Most Potent Form, Exponential Series (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2018). Many of the quotes in the following narrative are adapted from the book.
42. This story and many others in this chapter are adapted from Dave Ferguson, Keeping Score: How to Know If Your Church Is Winning (Exponential Resources, 2014).
43. For the full report, a free download, please see Warren Bird, “Heartbeat of Rising Influence Churches” (Leadership Network), http://leadnet.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/RESEARCH-2011-DEC-PastorsWhoAreShapingtheFuture-Bird-Taylor.pdf.
44. Reggie McNeal, Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church, Leadership Network Series (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2009).
45. “Hate and Targeted Violence against Christians in India” (Evangelical Fellowship of India, Alliance Defending Freedom India), http://files.ctctcdn.com/523942c3501/271ca9a9-f085–4006-a08b-051ed9cd51c8.pdf.
46. Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra, “Compassion: Why We’re Leaving India, but Still Have Hope,” Christianity Today (March 1, 2017), www.christianitytoday.com/news/2017/march/compassion-international-leaving-india-child-sponsorship.html.
47. Wilson, Dream Big, 15. Free download at www.exponential.org.
48. For a free download of Leadership Network’s reports on church planters and campus pastors, see leadnet.org/portable.
49. Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (Boston: Back Bay Books, 2002), 192.
50. Quoted in ibid., 84.
51. This “blank it, blank it, blank it” format was inspired by a podcast from Andy Stanley called “Creating a Culture of Continual Improvement.”
52. The GPS model was adapted from the VHS model of leadership community. For more on VHS meetings, see Carl George, Prepare Your Church for the Future, ed. Warren Bird (Grand Rapids: Revell, 1991), especially 135–45. See also Carl George with Warren Bird, Nine Keys to Effective Small-Group Leadership: How Lay Leaders Can Establish Healthy Cells, Classes, and Teams (Taylors, SC: CDLM, 1997).
53. Brian Zehr is cofounder of Intentional Impact (www.intentionalimpact.com).
Scripture Index
Psalms
71:18
65
Habakkuk
2:14
150
Matthew
4:19
62, 68, 69, 78, 97, 115, 139, 157, 219, 226
5:13–16
160
6:10
158, 179
6:33
28, 68, 70, 78, 97, 115, 139, 157, 179, 226
9:37–38
230
10:7
158
13:10–12
228
13:33
28, 72
17:14–21
98
20:16
157
20:26
157
21:23–25
60
25:21
158
28:16–20
69
28:18–19
219, 226
28:18–20
97
28:19
68, 78, 97, 115, 139, 157
28:19–20
44, 138, 154
Mark
1:17
79
3:13–15
116–18
4:26–34
28, 72
4:30–32
159
6:6–13
202
6:30–44
98
6:30–46
202
11:27–29
60
Luke
4:43
158
5:6
79
8:1–3
20
9:1–6
20
10:1–2
20, 225
10:1–3
98
10:2
20
17:20–21
158
19:10
159
22:42
61
24:47
63
John
1:44–51
111
3
234
3:22
68, 69, 78, 97, 115, 135, 139, 157, 226
14:12
13, 27, 34, 35, 146, 219, 226
15:8
56
17
13, 222
18:36
157
20:21
97
Acts
1:1–8
154
1:6
47
1:7
47
1:8
47, 57, 68, 78, 79, 80, 97, 115, 139, 157, 194, 202, 226
1:15
225
2:1
225
2:42–47
167
4:1–22
93
4:4
225
5:14
225
5:28
212
6
192
6:1–7
192
6:7
225
13:2–4
148
16:1–3
130
17:6
116
18:3
261n31
20:31–35
261n31
1 Corinthians
1:27
157
4:12
261n31
12:1
27
16:10–11
130
2 Corinthians
12:9
86
Ephesians
3:20
150, 151
Philippians
2:6–8
189
1 Thessalonians
2:8
53
2:9
261n31
2 Thessalonians
3:7–8
261n31
1 Timothy
5:22
145
2 Timothy
2:2
70, 130, 135, 208, 217, 219, 240
Hebrews
11
157–58
11:39
158
Meet the Authors
Dave Ferguson is the lead pastor of Community Christian Church, a multisite missional community that is passionate about “helping people find their way back to God.” Community has grown from a few college friends to thousands and has been recognized as one of America’s most influential churches. Dave also provides visionary leadership for the international church-planting movement NewThing and is the president of the Exponential conference. He is an award-winning author of books that include The Big Idea, Exponential, On the Verge, Finding Your Way Back to God, and Starting Over. Dave and his am
azing wife, Sue, have three great kids—Amy, Joshua, and Caleb—and live in Naperville, Illinois. Feel free to email him with questions, ideas, feedback, or introductions at daveferguson@communitychristian.org. Website: www.daveferguson.org. Twitter: @daveferguson. Instagram: @fergusondave.
Warren Bird, PhD, after pastoring many years, is research director for Leadership Network (www.leadnet.org/warrenbird). He is widely recognized as among the nation’s leading researchers of megachurches, multisite churches, large-church compensation, and high-visibility pastoral succession. He also oversees the world’s only active, sortable list of global megachurches (www.leadnet.org/world). Warren has authored or coauthored twenty-nine other books, including How to Break Growth Barriers: Revise Your Role, Release Your People, and Capture Overlooked Opportunities for Your Church and Viral Churches: Helping Church Planters Become Movement Makers. Warren and his wife, Michelle, live just outside New York City and have two grown children. Website: www.warrenbird.com. Twitter: @warrenbird.
HeroMakerBook.com is the official book website, with a free discussion guide and other helps.
About the Exponential Series
The interest in church planting has grown significantly in recent years. The need for new churches has never been greater. At the same time, the number of models and approaches is expanding. To address the unique opportunities of churches in this landscape, Exponential Network, in partnership with Leadership Network and Zondervan, launched the Exponential Series in 2010.
Books in this series:
• Tell the reproducing church story.
• Celebrate the diversity of models and approaches God is using to reproduce healthy congregations.
• Highlight the innovative and pioneering practices of healthy reproducing churches.
• Equip, inspire, and challenge kingdom-minded leaders with the tools they need in their journey of becoming reproducing church leaders.
Exponential exists to attract, inspire, and equip kingdom-minded leaders to engage in a movement of high-impact, reproducing churches. We provide a national voice for this movement through the Exponential Conference, the Exponential Initiative, Exponential Venture, and the Exponential Series.
Leadership Network exists to accelerate the impact of 100X leaders. Believing that meaningful conversations and strategic connections can change the world, we seek to help leaders navigate the future by exploring new ideas and finding application for each unique context.
For more information about the Exponential Series, go to www.exponentialseries.com.