Book & Resource Recommendations
Church Planting
- Planting Missional Churches: Your Guide to Starting Churches That Multiply (2nd Ed.), by Ed Stetzer & Daniel Im
- 5Q: Reactivating the Original Intelligence and Capacity of the Body of Christ, by Alan Hirsch
- Hero Maker: Five Essential Practices for Leaders to Multiply Leaders, by Dave Ferguson & Warren Bird
- No Silver Bullets: Five Small Shifts that will Transform Your Ministry, by Daniel Im & Thom S. Rainer
Congregational Vitality & Ministry Models
- Transformational Church: Creating a New Scorecard for Congregations, Thom Rainer, Ed Stetzer
- Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church: Mandate, Mark Deymaz
Missional-Incarnational Ministry
- The Permanent Revolution: Apostolic Imagination and Practice for the 21st Century Church,
Alan Hirsch and Tim Catchim - Resources from Mike Breen & 3DM (www.weare3dm.com), such as Building a Discipling Culture and Multiplying Missional Leaders
- AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church, Hugh Halter & Matt Smay
- On the Verge: A Journey Into the Apostolic Future of the Church, Alan Hirsch and Dave Ferguson
Leadership
- Cracking Your Church’s Culture Code, Samuel Chand
- Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership, Ruth Haley Barton
- Journeys to Significance: Charting a Leadership Course from the Life of Paul, Neil Cole
- Influencer: The Power to Change Anything [notes: bit.ly/influencernotes]
- Blue Ocean Strategy, W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne [notes: bit.ly/blueoceannotes]
- Church Unique: How Missional Leaders Cast Vision, Capture Culture, and Create Movement, by Will Mancini & Max Lucado
- God Dreams: 12 Vision Templates for Finding and Focusing Your Church’s Future, by Will Mancini & Warren Bird
- Beyond the Local Church: How Apostolic Movements Can Change the World, by Sam Metcalf & Alan Hirsch
Coaching
- The COACH Model for Christian Leaders: Powerful Leadership Skills to Solve Problems, Reach Goals, and Develop Others, Keith E. Webb
- TransforMissional Coaching: Empowering Leaders in a Changing Ministry World, Steve Ogne
- Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High,
Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler [notes: bit.ly/crucialconversationsnotes]
Financial Stewardship
- Funding Your Ministry, Chris Morton
- Not Your Parents’ Offering Plate, J. Clif Christopher [notes: bit.ly/notyourparentsofferingplatenotes]
- The Total Money Makeover, Dave Ramsey (+ Financial Peace University, www.daveramsey.com/fpu)
Web Resources
Covenant and Conference Resources (available to anyone)
- CovChurch.org – denominational website
- East Coast Conference: www.jasoncondon.com/search/label/churchplanting
- Northwest Conference: www.northwestconference.org/church-planting/
and www.northwestconference.org/church-planting/resources-links - NewChurches.com – online hub for the mission of church multiplication.
NOTE: Check with your DCP before purchasing any resources as we may have free access (beta testing) - www.ChurchMetrics.com
- created by LifeChurch.tv, an Evangelical Covenant Church, free for any church
- easily collect, track, and visualize key missional metrics (some Conferences are starting to use this as part of monthly reporting)
Church Management Systems
(each have online tours and webinars before purchase)
- Planning Center, www.planning.center : “Software designed to help you find freedom to focus on what matters in your ministry”
- Breeze Church Management, www.breezechms.com : “The world’s easiest web-based church management software for small and mid-sized churches.”
- Church Community Builder, churchcommunitybuilder.com/church-plants : robust, web-based church management software, fairly powerful and feature-rich
Worship Presentation Software (each available for both Mac and PC)
- ProclaimOnline.com: slick, cloud-based, app integration, simple and elegant (from makers of Logos)
- ProPresenter.com: serious powerhouse, can start small and keep adding more advanced features
Note on PowerPoint & Keynote: sometimes all you got, but usually best to avoid “business presentation” software in a worship setting (especially PowerPoint) for a more user-friendly experience for your volunteers and higher quality experience for the congregation
Hosting & Sharing Online Content:
You’ll put a lot of effort into creating great content (messages, media, classes, etc.) Don’t use it once and “toss it!” Put Your Content Online. Provides everywhere/always access, gives content longer shelf-life. A “best practice” for better resourcing your people & leaders and blessing other churches & pastors.
- Docs/Files: drive.google.com, dropbox.com, slideshare.net, box.com, archive.org (good App a bonus)
- Posting Options: Facebook, Twitter, own blog, etc., with a short description or full write-up, with organized links to relevant resources and files (www.bit.ly good service for url shortening)
- Example: www.jasoncondon.com/2012/03/launch-teams-training-march-2012.html – a blog post with linked Facebook photos, embedded Slideshare for slides and handout, embedded Archive.org player for audio, embedded Flickr in sidebar (poke around blog/website for even more examples)
