Quiet GIANTS
More Masters of Innovation

We asked this humble group of Christian leaders to answer five questions:

1. What sets you apart as a follower of Christ? 
2. What drives you to do what you do? 
3. What do you hope to see from your efforts in five years? Ten years? 
4. Who isn’t being reached for Christ, and how can they be? 
5. Which people/ministries do you find innovative?

Visit the Innovative Christian Leaders eBook on our Web site, www.churchsolutionsmag.com, to see the full text of their answers. Here’s a sampling to begin inspiring the innovator in you.

Brad Abare is the director of communications for the Foursquare denomination, founder of Los Angeles’ Center for Church Communication, and cheerleader for Personality, the cause marketing agency he founded in 1998. In 2004, Abare started www.ChurchMarketingSucks.com, a blog to frustrate, educate and motivate the Church to communicate – with uncompromising clarity – the truth of Jesus Christ. 

1. For a man who usually doesn’t lack words, I am gracefully seeking to “pass” on this question.
2. I want the Church to matter. We have the greatest story ever told, but not enough people are listening. That remarkable story is lost, thanks in part to poor research, little or no planning, bad clip art, cheesy photos and ignorable ads. If we can’t communicate, how can we fulfill the Great Commission? Matthew 5:13-16, Matthew 10:5-10 and Luke 14:23 are the three passages that guide my thinking when it comes to our approach to communication, both individually and collectively. If I could be so bold as to summarize these passages, I would say we are to be salty, be authentic, think local and keep it simple so that the house will be full.
3. More churches communicating more clearly. This isn’t about developing the latest and greatest methods — although that isn’t a bad thing — this is about communicating the message. I hope to see more focus on substance than style. More focus on people than projects. More changed hearts than changed Web sites.
4. The least and the lost. The “least of these” need a sandwich before they need salvation. I’m all for “winning people to Jesus,” but a cup of cold water and a loaf of bread can go a long way to showing people Jesus and telling people about Jesus. Reaching these people can be as easy as opening up your home and allowing for interruptions.
5. Church Marketing Sucks also did a series on innovation you can read at www.churchmarketingsucks.com/archives/2007/03/end_of_the_seri.html.  

Creator of the Complaint Free World plan, Will Bowen used a simple purple bracelet to challenge the Christ Church Unity members of Kansas City, Mo., not to complain for 21 days. The idea has since spread throughout the world.

1. I don’t consider myself “apart” from any other follower of Christ. In our world today, God has no hands but ours, and it’s up to us as individuals and equals to touch and love, support and transform people.
2. My personal mission is to heal people’s relationships with God. There are a lot of people longing for that connection in our world who would benefit from a close personal connection with God.
3. So far, we’ve received requests for more than 6 million purple “Complaint Free” bracelets from over 80 countries. The average person complains 20 times each day. Multiply that times 6 million complaints and that’s 120 million fewer complaints being expressed in our world each day. In five years, this more sanguine attitude will mean greater cooperation between people around the world and more harmony, love and peace. In 10 years, this will have reached a critical mass and our world will be transformed to be a more positive and loving place.
4. Millions of people are not realizing the divine in their lives. And, to quote Ben Franklin, “The best sermon is a good example.” Transformation of our world must begin with ourselves as examples for others to follow.
5. I admire any minister who is living in integrity and doing one of the toughest – and yet most important – jobs on earth.

Trevor Bron has a unique perspective on church and ministry. He has served on a traditional church staff, planted a postmodern young-adult church and works for TAG Consulting Services. His client list includes several nonprofit organizations such as Scum of the Earth Church.

1. My calling is the only thing that sets me apart, but this is true for everyone. We may share the same ministry with others, but what God has designed us to do is as unique as our thumbprint.
2. I have a passion for the Church. There may be other churches like Scum of the Earth, filled with young adults who look more like they belong at a skate park than church. But no other place I know of is bold enough to call themselves Scum. It has brought them notoriety and criticism. They embrace it, attracting kids who have had a hard life – who would never connect with anyone telling them, “Just pray harder and it will all work out.”
3. The church has a great role to play in the eradication of disease, hunger and poverty. It also has a role to play in tutoring at-risk kids, providing for single moms and protecting our environment.
4. Most churches today are entirely void of anyone between the ages of 18–28, important years spiritually. In college, young adults will be exposed to the entire spectrum of beliefs to pick and choose from, and the church is often nowhere to be found. Recognizing this problem, we opened in 1993 to 60 college students. Over the following eight years, that group became 3,000.
5. Scum Lead Pastor Mike Sares is one of the most innovative people I know. Close to twice the age of the average Scum attendee, Mike is a larger-than-life Greek man whose presence provides much-needed stability.

Wayne Cordeiro, Ph.D., is senior pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship O’ahu, a Foursquare church in Honolulu. Opened in 1995, New Hope is one of the fastest-growing churches in the United States.

1. I love being a pioneer. In fact, if I am not pioneering something new or sharpening the edge of something we are doing, I can get bored. There is so much for us to do, and we cannot allow ourselves to become “settlers.”
2. The largest driving force within me is a love for lost people. I don’t determine the size of our church by how many are “inside,” but rather, by how many are yet “outside” the church.
3. In five years, my prayer is that I will have birthed hundreds of young, vibrant leaders who are wholesome thinkers and who have a deep love for Christ and the lost. In 10 years, I will see them carry the torch into the next generation. This torch will be kept aflame by their daily disciplines of sitting at Christ’s feet in a daily devotion that keeps them current with what the Holy Spirit is saying and doing.
4. There are yet several sectors in our state that aren’t being reached well. One is the … 100,000 tourists who visit per month. Another is the military. We also are reaching the children and families of incarcerated parents. [Editor’s note: New Hope has launched ministries in all these areas – see the eBook on our Web site for more details from Pastor Wayne.] 
5. We have an innovative Web team... We stream our services live and many college-aged students and military overseas go to “church” online. We have Web chat counselors available to answer questions and lead people to Christ. We also have a very innovative arts program. In our school of the dance (Hearts in Motion), we have 720 enrolled. We love redeeming the arts for Christ. We also have a very innovative media department. We have a television program called “Connecting Point” that is shown weekly. We also broadcast our services twice a week. Our short films have garnered 12 Telly Awards for excellence in film and media.

Andrew Fish is a self-described “digital renaissance man,” working with Global Media Outreach, a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ International. His current priorities include developing Internet discipleship tools and social-networking evangelism methods. Fish left a career in media production for full-time ministry six years ago.

1. I identify with Paul in Ephesians 3:7-9. With this in mind, I’d say that I’m simply a guy who’s seeking to understand the gift Christ’s given me and say “yes” when asked to use it.
2. The more the Gospel transforms my own life, the more I want to see others transformed as well. That’s why I’m passionate about people finding and experiencing true life, both now and in eternity, through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
3. Five years from now, I hope that we’ll have found our stride with Internet-enabled ministry. In 10 years, or less, I hope we’ll be running full-speed to use the opportunities of the digital era for fulfilling the Great Commission. The task before us includes not only direct evangelism, but also training and equipping Christ-followers to obey all of Christ’s teachings — which is exactly what Christ commanded us to do.
4. Roughly one-third of the world can be reached with technology-driven ministry. Even considering that the number of those online could grow to half the world’s population in the next few years, we’re still a long way from reaching every person. Our task is to reach the connected, then equip them to go reach the unconnected.
5. Beyond the ministry realm, companies like Google, Apple and others have made continuous innovation a practical business model. I think they are good examples of how we need to make ongoing innovation a part of our ministry model.

Brooks Gibbs has dedicated his life’s work to communicating messages that lift the spirit of the broken, lost and hurting. He has a special connection with troubled youth, helping them cope with relevant issues and social pressures.

1. I grew up in a dysfunctional family shattered by divorce and addiction. I find that the people I reach are typically from a similar home environment.
2. I love to communicate timeless truth in culturally relevant ways. I believe that our methods of reaching the lost should change as culture changes. If I fail to unpack scripture in a memorable way that relates, I have failed as a communicator.
3. I have a divine call on my life to preach hope to the hopeless. It is a deep inner conviction that drives me to do what I do. Another thing that drives me is challenging engagements. I really enjoy impossible situations; it makes me feel alive inside. Lord-willing, I hope that my platform will increase to reach people with the hope of God’s Word through speaking engagements, conferences and media.
4. Evangelism has often been oversimplified, glorifying Christ’s suffering and ending there. We, as preachers, need to not only preach this message, but go deeper into the resurrected life of Christ. We all know we are sinners in need of a savior. However, that is only half of the Gospel. We must talk about living the “Christ life” every day, being led by the Spirit at home and in the workplace. Much of America is not being reached because our sermons are often weak. Let’s preach more about self-denial, servant-hood, self-sacrifice for others in need around us. Let’s not just talk about repentance and forgiveness, but let’s dive into the richness of the heavenly blessings that we receive through Christ. Let’s study the exchanged life in Christ and seek to allow Him to live through us! This is what I would like to see more in our churches.
5. love Joyce Meyer, J. John and Erwin McManus. They all have excellent communication styles.

Craig Gross is the founder and pastor of XXXchurch.tv, a nonprofit organization that seeks to address people’s struggles with pornography. He also oversees Fireproof Ministries and is the author of several books.

1. I am passionate about my relationship with Christ and always looking for new ways to live this thing out. Besides that, I am no different than most. Christ has done a work in my life and because of those things, I want to share it with others.
2. I don’t even know what to say. I am not one to doubt many things. I am the first to say “yes” most days and ask questions later. I continue to be amazed by God. I am everyday in awe of why I get to be part of the things I do. If you knew me well enough, you would agree I am not the best guy for the job, especially this one.
3. The world divides. Jesus unites. The church is known for “being right,” and everyone else, wrong. Not the case – Jesus says, “I have come for the sick, for the healthy do not need a doctor.” I would like to see people’s perception of the church, Christians, and Jesus changed for the better.
4. Many. I have watched as many have discovered his values and vision for a reunited world, God to man; I’ve seen thousands more deny him. The problem is Jesus’ vision and values have been hijacked, tweaked, relabeled and distorted over the last 2,000 years. Those within the church became the very thing they hated. Recently, I was driving in Florida. A car in front of me pulled out. Its bumper was plastered with stickers. On the right bumper it said, “Follow me to my Baptist church!” On the other side of the bumper it said, ‘“Nuke Iran.” Again, hijacked.
5. The Love Alliance, Heart Support, Invisible Children, Jedidiah, Life Church, Mars Hill Grand Rapids.

1. I recognize that seeking the Kingdom of God means engaging those in the world whom Jesus himself engaged — poor and oppressed people, as well as those who were in power. My heart must be burdened with the things that burden God’s heart.
2. God’s grace in Jesus Christ moves us to help our neighbors, whether they live in the next house, the next state or the next continent. Many of these neighbors are going without basic needs, such as food, shelter and healthcare. One way that the Church can address these injustices is through advocacy.
3. I hope to see more Christians, particularly more Evangelicals, engaged in advocacy for better public policies as a testimony to Jesus’ vision for God’s Kingdom, where the hungry are fed, the lame can walk, and all people are treated with dignity. The Church has historically been very strong in charitable giving and acts of mercy, but we have been slower to take on the pursuit of justice.
4. There are many people who have been going to church all their lives but who haven’t really heard the Gospel or understood all of its implications. We have not fully understood that the Gospel does not simply mean that I am forgiven of my sins and can go to heaven, but it also means that I now have a new way of being human on this earth. We need to live lives of transformation if there is going to be anything distinct about us to attract others.
5. I like to look to Christian women and men who have gone before me, who were innovative for their time and whose lives continue to speak an innovative message to us today. [Find out who Annie mentions in the free eBook on our Web site.]

With a passion for urban ministry, Tommy Kyllonen (a.k.a. hiphop recording artist Urban- D), pastors Crossover Church in Tampa, Fla. Additionally, in his roles as television host and author, he equips church leaders, parents and music fans to better understand and engage culture with the truth of Christ. 

1. I’ve broken from tradition and convention. My beliefs are orthodox, but my methods and the way I look may not be the norm... Why? I’m a missionary to a specific culture: hip-hop. The majority of people in the culture don’t have a real relationship with Christ.
2. It definitely starts with God’s Spirit giving me the motivation. The other major factor is seeing real fruit. Watching lives change and transform — that’s a great motivation factor!
3. Locally: Our church campus to relocate to a much larger spot where we can better meet the needs of thousands in our community. Globally: More churches similar to ours being planted and growing as we share mentorship and create resources for them. Our Fla.vor Fest conference at our campus and our Fla.vor Fest summit will train thousands through five annual events across the country.
4. Those influenced by hip-hop culture. That’s why we do what we do! In the past five years, we’ve grown from 40 to over 500 people. The majority of the people we reach didn’t go to church before — so it’s true church growth, not transfer growth!
5. People we love and build with are the Urban Youth Workers Institute (www.uywi.org); Phil Jackson (pastors a church in Chicago called “The House” — they do a hip-hop service twice a month); Efrem Smith (pastors a church in Minneapolis called “The Sanctuary,” and they do hip-hop Sundays once a month); and other non–hip-hop ministries.

Since 1998, Deborah Loyd has been a pastor at The Bridge Christian Church in Portland, Ore. She has a passion for the hurting and displaced, women, children and the poor. She is an artist, writer and conference speaker, and teaches ethics and inductive Bible study.

• I am able to bridge cultures without value judgments of their cultural values. I love people simply because they exist. The homeless are similar to the sojourners that are so often mentioned in the Old Testament. I have a passion to help single parents and their children. They are our modern-day widows and fatherless. Having been a single parent myself, I know how difficult this really is.
• When I was a young teen, I became addicted to hard drugs. I became a Christian at age 19, having lived more “life” by then than most people do in an entire lifespan. I specifically asked God to never let me forget what it felt like to be that broken and desperate. In many ways, I am still broken and desperate. It is from this weakness that I serve.
• Right now, we distribute groceries to the poor each week. We offer classes in life skills and creative skills regularly, as well as Bible study. We are looking to buy a building that could become a community center for the poor and homeless, offering a career center, job training, day care and some small businesses in-house.
• We have targeted what the city calls “the hard to reach.” We also see a culture of kids, raised by Christian parents, who will have nothing to do with the Church. Yet the kids want to have faith in something. How can these be reached? What if we just serve and let them ask the question? What if we trust the Holy Spirit to prompt not us, but them, to curiosity?
• In the ’90s, we visited Adrian and Pauline Hawkes and the Rainbow Church [in London]. Their community is much like our group in Portland. They used unorthodox techniques that we had never dreamed of, an incredible mix of submersion and blatant Holy Spirit.

Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, pastor, and networker among innovative Christian leaders, thinkers and activists. His public speaking covers a broad range of topics, from postmodern thought and evangelism to pastoral burnout and social justice.

1. The first thing that comes to mind is that I am probably a slower learner than most! I feel like I probably try God’s patience more than most, too. Hopefully, that makes me more grateful than some for God’s patience and grace.
2. When I first began following Christ, one of my mentors told me, “You should always go to the front of the wave of what God is doing in the world, and throw your efforts there.” Those words have stayed with me. I want to be part of God’s “green edge” – the new things that God is doing.
3. Christians from the affluent West and the global South are coming together to imagine faith in a postcolonial, postmodern, post-typographical world. Those conversations develop friendships that encourage new dreams and new experiments which, in turn, open up new possibilities. I hope that in five and 10 years, that conversation has spread to involve more and more people across denominational lines, around the world ... and that the conversation has encouraged lots of new action in God’s mission.
4. So much depends on what we mean by “reached for Christ.” For example, if we mean, “Who cannot listen to a radio broadcast about Christ?” – most of the people in the world can. If we mean, “Which people do not have a credible and loving Christian in their lives who can communicate the good news of Jesus Christ to them in their own language?” the list would be longer. And if the question means, “Who is not being touched by the love of Christ, embodied in followers of Christ?” that would be a long list, too. Of special concern to me are three groups. [Editor’s note: See which three groups Brian mentions, along with the rest of his answers in full, at www.churchsolutionsmag.com.]
5. I’m a big fan of the CCDA … the New Monasticism folk … groups like La Red del Camino and the Latino Leadership Circle, www.amahoro-africa.com … www.emergentvillage.com and www.sojo.net. 

• I have a hunch that I’m probably like many believers — I want to be an intentional and authentic follower of Jesus. Sometimes I bump into genuine discipleship and sometimes I don’t come anywhere close. I have faithful moments and fearful moments. All that to say, I’m not all that different from anyone else.
• I love the church. I agree with Bill Hybels that the local church is the hope of the world. Sometimes – I’ll be honest – the church makes me bug-eyed crazy. We all know that some of the meanest, shallowest, most culture-worshipping, neighbor-shunning people alive today are in church every time the doors are open! But it’s also true that some of the bravest, kindest, most generous, hopeful, visionary people alive today are also in church, and most importantly—the Spirit of God keeps breathing on these broken, flawed little communities, and in that breath is the power to change the world.
• I’d love for the churches I’ve served to know the thrill of being out on a limb with God. I’d love for these churches to know that, rather than settling for that mild, vanilla, blandly benevolent version of the Church that’s become so commonplace in North America, they actually gave the powers and principalities of this world something to break their teeth against.
• All kinds of people — poor people, rich people, down and out, up and in, gay, straight, successful, struggling, you name it. How to reach them for Christ? I’d say two things: 1) Love them. And not the “I’ll tolerate you because Jesus says I have to” kind of love. Unchurched people can smell that from a mile away. And 2) Point them toward Father, Son and Holy Spirit instead of toward our institutional structure.
• There are too many to name. I’m inspired by any individuals and churches who look at their context — at the people in that place — and then let God help them reach toward those people in ways that truly connect with them.

Brie Reed is a worship leader, songwriter, author, speaker and role model for young Christian women. She’s a founding member of the Christian Kids touring group, as well as a worship leader for a teenage girl’s conference sponsored by Women of Faith.

• I’m just like any other Christian who says “God, here I am… Use me!”
• God! All I want is to follow the path He has planned for me. My favorite Bible verse since I was a kid is Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and He will make your paths straight.” I love knowing God has a purpose and a plan for my life. I don’t have to try and figure everything out; I just need to trust Him. It’s better when He’s in control.
• Bottom line — people handing over their hearts and minds to Jesus. Everything else is just icing on the cake.
• Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who aren’t being reached for Christ. Naturally, we think first of the people in third-world countries and places that are heavily populated with other religions. But not many people realize Australia is one of those countries, too. Back in Australia where I grew up, just 4 percent of the population believes in God! I think, though, there’s a bigger problem worldwide. There’s a great number of people, both those who’ve heard the name of Christ and those who haven’t, that have a misrepresentation of Christ, or have been “burned” by “the Church.” These people need to be reintroduced to who He really is – and that can only be done if the rest of us set a good example. We need to focus first on living a Christ-like life and just keep loving them where they’re at.
• I’ve been working with a ministry called the Revolve Tour for the past few years. It’s an event for teen girls – a fun, fast-paced, action-packed time when thousands of teens pile into an arena to hear about how much God loves them. It’s amazing! There are so many other great ministries, too, like IHOP - International House of Prayer, Student Life, 7/22 and Toms Shoes.