“From pastors to social justice advocates to musicians and artists, the evangelical landscape brims with young leaders striving not for the limelight, but to cast a light…”

“New Voices, New Directions” introduces 30 emerging influencers who are reshaping leadership itself. Outreach Magazine partnered with Catalyst Director Brad Lomenick to assemble this list ::

Tyler Merrick Project7.com
Eugene Cho OneDaysWages.org
Chris & Phileena Heuertz WordMadeFlesh.org
Sedgwick Davis TheElders.org
Katie Davis amazima.org
Jonathan Merritt JonathanMerritt.com
Charles Jenkins CharlesJenkins.com ^
Isaac Hunter SummitConnect.org
Tommy Kyllonen CrossoverChurch.org
Ryan Meeks EastlakeCC.com
Bryan Loritts FellowshipMemphis.org
Herbert Cooper PeoplesChurch.tv
Esther Fleece @EstherFleece
Jenni Catron JenniCatron.tv
Jo Saxton 3DMinistries.com
Bethany Hoang IJMInstitute.org
Hannah Song LiNKGlobal.org
Ralph Castillo Ralphye.blogspot.com ^
Charles Lee CharlesTLee.com
Jeff Shinabarger PlywoodPeople.com
Jonathan Olinger DiscovertheJourney.org
Esther Havens EstherHavens.com
Jon Tyson TrinityGraceChurch.com; CityCollective.org
Darren Whitehead WillowCreek.org
Zach Williams ZachWilliams.com
Amena Brown AmenaBrown.com
Jeremy Cowart Help-Portrait.com
Jenny White ArtHouseAmerica.com/dallas
Jaeson Ma JaesonMa.com
Tim Willard EndVeneer.com @endveneer

(The article is not available online; you can order a copy of the printed magazine for $6.95.)

• Jeanette Yep – Pastor of Global and Regional Outreach at Grace Chapel; has contributed significantly to Intervarsity’s multi-ethnicity as staff-worker; co-author of Following Jesus Without Dishonoring Your Parents and editor of More Than Serving Tea: Asian American Women on Expectations, Relationships, Leadership and Faith
• Donna Dong – National Director for Multiethnic/Multicultural Ministry for Inter-Varsity Canada; has served over 30 years with Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship in Canada and the U.S.A.
• Young Lee Hertig – teaches in the Global Studies and Sociology Department at Azusa Pacific University; Southern California Regional Director of the Institute for the Study of Asian American Christianity; on coordination team for Asian American Women on Leadership (AAWOL)
• Melanie Mar Chow – Specialized Campus Minister of Asian American Christian Fellowship
• Nancy Sugikawa – Associate Pastor of Serving Ministries at Lighthouse Christian Church; contributor to Growing Healthy Asian American Churches; board member of Catalyst Leadership Center
• Nikki Toyama-Szeto – Program Director of Urbana 2009 conference; speaker for 2010 Lausanne events; co-author of More Than Serving Tea: Asian American Women on Expectations, Relationships, Leadership and Faith [preview via Google Books]
• Kathy Khang – regional director of multi-ethnic ministries for InterVarsity; active blogger at morethanservingtea.wordpress.com; co-author of More Than Serving Tea: Asian American Women on Expectations, Relationships, Leadership and Faith
• Margaret Yu – national director of leadership development, Epic Movement (Campus Crusade for Christ’s Asian American Ministries); cf. video interview about How to develop Asian American women leaders
• Sandy Moy Liu – Youth and Children’s Ministry at Chinese Bible Church of Greater Boston
• Grace May – Pastor of English Ministry at Oversea Chinese Mission (New York City)
• Sharon Koh – Associate Pastor at Evergreen Baptist Church of Los Angeles
• Hyepin Im – Founder and President of Korean Churches for Community Development [bio]
• Laura Mariko Cheifetz – Director of Leading Generations Initiative at The Fund for Theological Education; past Director of the AADVENT Project at McCormick Theological Seminary
• Helen Lee – Assistant Professor of Sociology at Cal State Fullerton, and author of The Missional Mom for Moody; co-editor of Growing Healthy Asian American Churches; co-founder of the Best Christian Workplaces Institute
• Sharon Kim – author of “A Faith of Our Own: Second Generation Spirituality in Korean American Churches” (Rutgers University Press)
• Asifa Dean, Christie Heller De Leon, Tracey Gee — co-authors of More Than Serving Tea: Asian American Women on Expectations, Relationships, Leadership and Faith
• Susan Cho Van Riesen – co-author of Following Jesus Without Dishonoring Your Parents
• Sandy Schaupp – staff development specialist with InterVarsity in the greater Los Angeles Division
• Kathy Tuan-MacLean – Area Director, Boston Graduate/Faculty Ministries of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship; blogs at PlumbingDemons.blogspot.com
• And there are many more women leaders beyond the context of a local church or parachurch ministry, including: Jane Hyun (author of Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling: Career Strategies for Asians) and Larissa Lam (singer, songwriter, TV host), Ella DeCastro Baron (author of Itchy Brown Girl Seeks Employment), to name a few.

This is an incomplete list, for starters — please add a comment with other women leaders who should be listed. While typing out the title for this blog post, I fumbled around with the word order, i.e. “women Asian American church leaders,” “Christian Asian American women leaders,” “Asian American women ministry leaders,” or “Asian American women church leaders” … I wanted to name this grouping of women leaders who were involved in vocational Christian ministry related to an Asian American context.

How can we better address the current situation of the American church leadership tier being disproportionately represented by one demographic, when the actual demographic make-up of church attendance (or locality) is far more diverse — ethnically, gender, socio-economic, etc ? How much of the Lausanne Global Conversation will percolate and change the American church?

Yes, it’s all quite complicated, with dynamics involving organizational viability, market forces & economics, regional and local distinctives, racialized history, philosophy of ministry, church growth theories, theological convictions, denominational heritage. To sweep it under the rug of the spiritual being transcendent and the inequalities of our social reality being insignificant seems quite a gnostic notion.

To remain silent about this in the public arena of the blogosphere doesn’t seem to help anything. This may well be one of those things where annual reports of measurable results may be a bit short-sighted for much-needed longer-term endeavors. The issue is not going away. When will the church engage?

You don’t have to be Asian American to attend. I’d go just to hear James Choung. When James gave a similar talk during a workshop at Urbana 09, it was standing room only and overflowing; must have had over 500 people there! I had to shoot this video sitting on the floor myself.]

THE GATHERING of Asian American church and parachurch leaders will meet again!

Save this date: Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2010
We will meet at 10:00 am at Evergreen Baptist Church-L.A. (1255 San Gabriel Blvd., Rosemead, 91770)

We will hear from James Choung, the new director of Asian American Ministries of IVCF. He will speak about his new book, TRUE STORY: A Christianity Worth Believing In.

We will be treated to a free lunch @ noon!

Again, the purpose of The Gathering is to encourage you, to re-connect with Kingdom laborers, and to make new connections. Louis Lee will also be with us to share about a new AALC in April or May, 2012.

I need your confirmation that you are coming in order to have an accurate meal count. Please email me back! If you are interested in going to this event, please e-mail Tom Steers directly at tomsteers@yahoo.com

Also, these events are always open to any key leader that you want to invite. There are 100′s of key leaders that we are not in email connection with. So, we rely heavily on you to invite others! Please do!

Just let me know attendees for our meal count!

With you for HIS eternal victories!

Tom

TED’s Not Dead, But It Is Aging: The annual conference tries to reach out to a new generation, awkwardly

TED was born in 1984 as an underground dinner party for information designer Richard Saul Wurman and friends from the worlds of technology, entertainment, and design. This year, 1,500 people paid $6,000 each to attend the modern version of TED, held in the Long Beach (Calif.) Performing Arts Center from Feb. 9-13. Five hundred more paid $3,750 to watch a simulcast… Twenty-six years in, TED is showing signs of age. One of the most conspicuous is the makeup of attendees, diverse only in that TED appears to attract a white man from every street in Silicon Valley. … conferences… have struggled with similar issues, like: how to get more inclusive without sacrificing intimacy. How to keep loyalists happy while attracting a younger crowd closer to the headwaters of innovation. And how to get that younger crowd to pay six grand.

For a conference junkie like me, I do wonder out loud… (just a tad ironic that I’m returning from a conference, and #sxsw, the conference of conferences is happening right now in Austin) how can people get access? Are these events a good use of money? Words like “stewardship” are seeping into our venacular. Will people travel to gather for a different kind of event when there isn’t that formulaic production of keynotes and workshops? [update] cf. a set of Purpose-Driven regional events for small group leaders that describes itself as “a radical new approach to conferences”; a whole book about this concept= Conferences and Conventions: A Global Industry (Events Management), by Tony Rogers, has a chapter titled “The economics of conferences and conventions“

18 March 2010: Azusa Pacific University (Azusa)
Topics: Future of the Global Church; Race, Power, and Evangelism
Panelists: Brenda Salter McNeil, Brad Lomenick, Nikki Toyama-Szeto, Wes Stafford, Joni Eareckson Tada

30 March 2010: Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena)
Topics: Culture Making — The Role of Christians in the World
Panelists: Jim Belcher, Doug Birdsall, Margaret Feinberg, Michael S. Horton, Richard Mouw, Kara Eckmann Powell, Rich Van Pelt

14 April 2010: Generate at Crossroads Church (Corona)
Topics: Christians and Their Impact on Culture, The Future of the Global Church
Panelists: Charles Lee (moderator), Tony Wood, Jeff Shinabarger, Margaret Feinberg, Rich Van Pelt

14 April 2010: NewSong Community Church (Irvine)

10 June 2010: Saddleback Community Church (Lake Forest)

The second way to get engaged in these global issues is thru GlobalLink. Each GlobaLink site will have some live-streaming video of Cape Town events and additional conference materials. No locations have been announced yet, far as I can tell.

[update] Also see Charles Lee’s 12 Cities 12 Conversations (A New World Church Conversation) which points to a whole website & blog www.12cities12conversations.com

This April 5-6, the Ideation Conference launches in Long Beach, California. Charles Lee is pulling together an amazing roster of people, who’ll serve up great content and valuable coaching for non-profit organizations. Rather than pay upwards of $10,000 a day for coaching, you can bring your non-profit staff for 2 days at $249 per person! (NGO/NPO rate) Watch my interview with Charles about the Ideation Conference experience. Your team will get valuable feedback and coaching plus team-building for your non-profit efforts for social good! I think the afternoon white board sessions will help non-profits tackle their biggest challenges and find solutions through coaching and collaboration. // [update 2/18 I’ll be one of the white board session facilitators! cf. my experience //

And, for people who are in the world of church planting, the Association of Related Churches (ARC) is hosting their annual All Access conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on April 27-29. Yes there’s the standard fare of plenary sessions with the likes of Hillsong United, Dino Rizzo, Craig Groeschel, John Maxwell, Chris Hodges, Stovall Weems, Tommy Barnett. What’ll be even better is the variety of App Sessions provide in-depth discussion of leadership, church life, and social justice — with the likes of Matthew Barnett, Greg Surratt, Bobby Gruenewald, Billy Hornsby. Since ARC is all about relationships–creating them and nurturing them–their All Access conference is going to be all about relationships too.

Remember, conferences can be life changing — choose the one that’ll get you access to the people who’ll help you along the journey of life.

djchuang >> Good question. (And, in case you can’t tell, this question came in via a text message.)

The latest research on church attendance can be found in The American Church in Crisis by David T. Olson, with research based on data from 200,000+ churches. And, the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, has analysis based on interviews with 35,000+ American adults.

Here’s some other statistics I found (so far):

Excerpted from this Christian Century 2008 article, Church-closing rate only one percent:

A new study finds that only 1 percent of U.S. religious congregations go out of existence each year, “which is among the lowest mortality rates ever observed for any type of organization,” according to an article to be published in the June issue of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.

Dave Olson’s research shows that in the 1990s about 3,200 churches closed each year–or 1.1 percent of U.S. Christian congregations. And, Olson added, “In the 2000s, it has been 3,700 a year.” [cf. graph]

American church statistics have reported [via Goodmanson]:

• In America, 3500 – 4000 churches close their doors each year
• Half of all churches last year did not add one new member through conversion growth
• Churches lose an estimated 2,765,000 people each year to nominalism and secularism

The 3,500-4,000 U.S. churches annual closure count is also cited by Ed Stetzer in “Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age.”

Excerpted from The Condition of the Church in America, complied by Andy McAdams [via #mmi, 2005]:

• 1,400 pastors in America leave the ministry monthly.
• Only 15% of churches in the United States are growing and just 2.2% of those are growing by conversion growth.
• 10,000 churches in America disappeared in a five-year period.

“Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches.” [Source: “Death by Ministry" (slides + audio) by Darrin Patrick @ The Journey. It was re-published on Mark Driscoll's blog -- no longer available.]

One blog post attributed these findings to Shiloh Place Ministries (shilohplace.org), which drew its information from Focus on the Family, Ministries Today, Charisma Magazine, TNT Ministries, and other respected groups:

• 1,500 pastors leave the ministry permanently each month in America.
• 7,000 churches close each year in America.

[update] additional statistics & commentary about the challenges of pastoring noted by Ken Sande via desperatepastor

This book lays out a very clear mentoring process to reproduce leaders of a particular type. Regi Campbell is an entrepreneural leader and knows how to get results in the marketplace. The book unpacks his value for being strategic with time, finding what works, and adapting principles from Jesus’ process of disciple-making, in order to invest in next generation leaders who have high potential to impact the world. I can see how this book will be very useful to develop mentoring programs for churches, especially with book royalties going towards funding this purpose.

What the author means by mentoring may not be what some people mean by mentoring. This excerpt contrasts the typical commonly-held meaning of mentoring, and what Regi means by mentoring:

Traditionally, the mentoring relationship is almost always initiated by the mentoree. He has something he wants… a felt need… for guidance, wisdom, advice, or help. Most often these conversations get started around job stuff. The younger man needs advice or access to the older man’s network of contacts. Sometimes it’s a crisis at home… a breech with a wife or child; and the less experienced person wants to confide in someone who’s “been there, done that.” …

Now, is this a type of mentoring? Yes. Is it what Jesus did? No. Jesus initiated the mentoring relationship with His disciples… [p.120]

I don’t know how many people have described what Jesus did with his disciples as mentoring. I have heard of many people who describe what Jesus did as disciple-making or discipling. Certainly what Jesus did with his disciples has changed the world forever. If the goal is to change the world through intentional formative relationships, the terminology doesn’t matter.

One reviewer of Mentor Like Jesus noted the confusion of terms:

It’s no secret that the word “mentor” is a loaded term and can mean something wildly different for people. Some may think of a mentor as someone who meets with them weekly to speak about their professional lives, others may imagine someone on more of an on-call basis who gets together a few times a year. What are healthy expectations in a mentoring relationship?

And that’s what it is. Get clear expectations on both parties, the mentor and mentoree — do you want mentoring in the traditional sense or mentoring in the disciple-making sense?

This is a great book to get everyone on the same page for mentoring as disciple-making, to have a reproducible process that you can “add water and stir” and run with it to pour into leaders who change the world.

And one of the burning issues we often banter about is raising up minority leaders. People and organizations say they want to collaborate and have more diversity in their leadership, but it’s so hard to find qualified leaders to work with. Why is that?

We had a conversation about that in this wetoku-powered video. Watch it:

I have a feeling this is just the start of an on-going conversation. There are other issues, factors, challenges. On both sides of the aisle – those in the majority and those in the minority, racially and ethnically speaking. Chime in with a comment.

As an observer and advocate of ABC ministries since the 1970s and a former youth worker in a Chinese church, can anyone educate me as to WHY there are few(er) ABC’s committing themselves for full time Christian service these days? (a) Postmodern culture? (b) Options of going into Asian American/mainstream churches and ministries? (c) Others…? We have always had a shortage. Is the shortage growing?

John Ng (Youth Pastor at First Chinese Baptist Church, Los Angeles) wrote:

There are not enough from the Chinese churches going into seminary. We need to instill the vision and dream to help our youth and young adults to contemplate and pray about full-time service in church and the mission field.

… I personally feel one of the reasons is that even Christian parents have a hard time with their children entering into ministry positions. It’s not prestigious enough, they can’t gloat to their friends, their kids can do better, etc., so it’s not encouraged but discouraged. Tokunaga’s book Invitation to Lead, says some things similar to that.

Also, I’ve known women who have graduated seminary and it’s tough finding a place to serve and work in a Chinese church, so in that respect, yes the options are much more limited. Obviously theological barriers and traditional Confuscian barriers.

I agree that parents, Christian or not, is a huge factor on whether their children will follow God’s calling, or if their children will fulfill certain career expectations for “practical” reasons. Now, I admit that I’m less interested in figuring out why, and much more interested in finding solutions. To find solutions, I’d like to see more experimenting, trial & error, research & development.

And one more thing. I’d add that developing the following would avert the apparent shortage — (1) raise the prestige and salary of pastors [if the church doesn't do it, who can?], (2) producing contextualized resources [and events], (3) starting new churches that reach the unchurched, (4) providing coaching for everyone to fulfill their God-given calling, not only those who might be pastors or missionaries.

What would ABC Pastor say? What do you think?

We have put together a conference entitled Advance09: Resurgence of the Local Church in Durham on June 4-6, 2009. Speakers for this event include John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Matt Chandler, Ed Stetzer, Bryan Chappell, Daniel Akin, JD Greear, Tyler Jones & Eric Mason.

Advance09 is a conference committed to the resurgence of the local church for the glory of God. Our aim is to equip attendees with the Gospel so that the local church might become all that Jesus calls it to be. At this conference, we hope to ensure that on our watch and in our time we honor Jesus and see the resurgence of the local church. Advance09 is open to anyone, pastors and lay-leaders, church members and regular-attenders. We invite you to join us in this Great Cause.

Tickets have just recently gone online (early bird pricing of $75/$100) here: www.ticketmaster.com/event/0E0042718ADB502D

( Nothing to disclose. First time I’ve noticed a church conference selling tickets online via ticketmaster.com ; the conference will be held at the Durham Performing Arts Center )

10+ other bloggers will be covering Innovation3 — see the list over at digital.leadnet.org + Rhett Smith is planning to be live-blogging using CoverItLive (!)

• on-site registration is open for last-minute attendees, so come on down to Bent Tree Bible Fellowship (Carrollton, Texas)
• Innovation3 announcements at twitter.com/innovation3, before and during
• Innovation3 photos via flickr photostream at http://tr.im/i3pix
• latest tweets about Innovation3 are using hashtag #i3

Last time I’m touching the laptop:

I’ll be interviewing Dave Gibbons tomorrow – that’s Wednesday, January 7th, at 1:00pm Pacific. Add a comment with a question I should ask him; I’ll do my best to squeeze it in. [update: the interview was recorded and can be viewed online]

To join the live webcast, go to www.innovation3gathering.com/live

Here’s the line-up:

* Jan 6 – Dino Rizzo
* Jan 7 – Dave Gibbons
* Jan 8 – Dave Ferguson
* Jan 12 – Reggie McNeal
* Jan 13 – Neil Cole
* Jan 14 – John Bishop
* Jan 15 – Pete Briscoe
* Jan 19 – (a surprise – to be announced)
* Jan 20 – Mark Driscoll
* Jan 21 – Greg Surratt
* Jan 22 – Darrin Patrick

All 11 of these church leaders will be at the Innovation3 Gathering in Dallas, January 27-28, 2009, along with nearly 100 innovative church leaders. See you online at the live webcast and in person at Innovation3!

By the way, come early on Tuesday January 27th, if you can. We’ll have a bloggers meetup / tweetup at lunch before Innovation3 kicks off. (Location to be tweeted.)

According to the calendar, we are now 49 days away from the Innovation³ Gathering on January 27-28, 2009 in Dallas!

Every day leading up to the Innovation³ Gathering, Leadership Network will count down 50 reasons for why you must attend, one reason for every day!

Reason #50: No stump speeches. Reason #49: not your father’s conference. Check the Innovation³ blog every day for count down of more reasons, or you can follow @innovation3 on twitter.

And, look at the website innovation3gathering.com for more details and you can easily register online. And, follow along with the count down.

[disclosure: I work at Leadership Network and that means I'll be at Innovation³ -- that can count as Reason #51, right? Todd Rhoades is Reason #52.]