Josh Hunt's blog

"Follow my example" I read this verse this morning: "Join with others in following my example." Phil 3:17a (NIV) As I read this verse, I thought about the power of example. Nothing much happens till someone sets an example. If I were to say to you, "I know how you could. . . Loose 40 pounds Get out of debt in six months Double your church in one year How would you respond? Here is how I would respond: show me! Show me an example of someone who has done it. Show me and example of someone who has done it, then let's talk. I want to see an example. Your people want to see and example. If you would start a doubling group movement in your church, set an example. I remember the first time I heard Andy Stanley say (paraphrased), "I am in a group that is doubling; I want you to be in a group that is doubling." I thought, "How fresh! What an idea! That is great!" I have not caught Andy Stanley ...

It is amazing what happens when you listen to people. Everyone should be slow to speak and quick to listen. Somebody smart wrote that! For the last several months I have been listening to the people who attend my conferences. I have been using a very simple evaluation form -- one with two questions: What did you like? What could I improve? People always said kind things. I think that has more to do with them being kind than anything I did. I was not surprised at all by two of the suggestions. I was shocked by the third. I didn't actually track it, but it was probably the most common suggestion for change. First, here are the two I was not surprised by. Slow down. I work on that, but unsuccessfully. You just get me talking about doubling groups and I get all fired up. Provide a fill-in-the-blanks note-taking piece. I actually used to do this. Occasionally hosts would drop the ball and not make copies. I always did better when that was the case. I just speak better w...

I have just contemplated ten years of conferencing. A milestone like this has me in a reflecting mood. Here are a few observations. Thanks for reading. It really, really, really is possible to double Doubling a group every two years or less requires 40% growth, or, it means the average group going from 10 to 14 in a year. I have never ever heard a teacher say, "I just don't think that is realistic." I like to ask this question, "If I offered you a million dollars could you get it done?" Of course we could. How long would it take you? About ten minutes for me! After logging 1.6 million miles on American Airlines alone, I have a report. I have heard hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of stories of teachers who said, "I doubled my group." "We grew our group from ten to twenty." I heard two stories this weekend. One guy told me, "We started a group of young couples and the church l...

Imagine that Billy Graham were you pastor. Imagine he was 30 years old. How do you think he would go at it? I think we would all agree he'd do a great job. How do you think he would approach being pastor? (Hint: keep reading and he tells us.) He would preach great sermons For starters, we all know he'd preach great sermons. Probably lots of evangelistic sermons, although, if he were a pastor, he'd probably preach a lot of other sermons as well. His sermons would be great for at least three reasons: Billy Graham has God-given talent and a clear anointing that only comes from God. There are some things only God can do. Only God can give us talent and spiritual gifts. Only God can give anointing--what the the old preachers called unction. We might say, some preachers just got it. Few people throughout church history have demonstrated any more God-anointed giftedness than Billy Graham I think Billy Graham would work hard at each s...

For previous articles, see www.joshhunt.com/mail259.htm www.joshhunt.com/mail260.htm www.joshhunt.com/mail261.htm I work full time promoting church growth in a world where church growth is a multi-million dollar industry and the church is not growing. I can't help but contrast this world with the world of the early church where, best I can tell, there was no church growth industry. They didn't have any church growth seminars or church growth books or church growth consultants, and the church was growing and growing rapidly. Not just one church. Not just a few churches. Overall, there was a movement of church growth that was rapidly advancing. (As it is in much of the world today.) I believe the reason this is true is that the central message of the church as we preach it is different from the central message that the early church preached. It is not that the things we are saying are not true; it is just not what occup...

Review: I work full time promoting church growth in a world where church growth is a multi-million dollar industry and the church is not growing. But, I can't help but contrast this world with the world of the early church where, best I can tell, there was no church growth industry. They didn't have any church growth seminars or church growth books or church growth consultants, and the church was growing and growing rapidly. I believe the reason this is true is that the central message of the church as we preach it is different from the central message that the early church preached. It is not that the things we are saying are not true; it is just not what occupied the constant agenda of Christ and his early followers. We talk about, "How to go to heaven when you die." They talked about the kingdom of God. What is the kingdom of God? It is everywhere where God is acknowledged as king. It is the range of God's effecti...

I work full time promoting church growth in a world where church growth is a multi-million dollar industry and the church is not growing. Millions are spend every year on books, CDs, conferences, DVDs, web pages, research and consulting and the church is not growing. I can't help but contrast this world with the world of the early church where, best I can tell, there was no church growth industry. They didn't have any church growth seminars or church growth books or church growth consultants, and the church was growing and growing rapidly. Not just one church. Not just a few churches. Overall, there was a movement of church growth that was rapidly advancing. (As it is in much of the world today.) I believe the reason this is true is that the central message of the church as we preach it is different from the central message that the early church preached. It is not that the things we are saying is not true; it is just not what occupi...

I work full time promoting church growth in a world where church growth is a multi-million dollar industry and the church is not growing. Millions are spend every year on books, CDs, conferences, DVDs, web pages, research and consulting and the church is not growing. I don't want to be too hard on those of us in the church growth industry/ministry. (I often feel I wear two hats: business man and minister.) The church might be doing even worse without us. But, I can't help but contrast this world with the world of the early church where, best I can tell, there was no church growth industry. They didn't have any church growth seminars or church growth books or church growth consultants, and the church was growing and growing rapidly. Not just one church. Not just a few churches. Overall, there was a movement of church growth that was rapidly advancing. (As it is in much of the world, outside of the USA, today.) Not only did t...