Author Archives: Barby Ward

Ten Reasons to attend Exponential 2011

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2011 National New Church Conference

10. It’s 80 degrees in Orlando.

9. 120 speakers

8. After Hours programming so you don’t have to suffer a night on International Drive.

7. 120 Workshops

6. Francis Chan will be there

5. 15 pre-conference Intensives

4. Eric Bramlett will have to introduce Francis Chan , again.

3. 3,500 church planting leaders will be there

2. ELI will be there in Welcome Center A.

1. If you tweet this link with the tag #elichurchplant or like our Facebook page you could win a discount code to register for the conference for only $89!

Make sure to like our page or use the #elichurchplant tag by this Sunday. Three lucky winners will be announced on Monday on our facebook page!


Walk, Don’t Wave

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by: Gary Foran

A basic element of missional living is building relationships in the neighborhood where you live. But this is not easily done. We are fighting the isolationism that is common in modern American neighborhoods. The classic example of this isolation is when neighbors drive home from work, hit the garage door opener, pull in, and then close the garage door behind them. They then spend their evenings indoors or in a back yard surrounded by privacy fences. As a result, most neighborhood relationships are extremely superficial. Transforming relationships will have to be more than a friendly smile and a wave when you happen to spot your neighbor on the other side of the street.

So how do we answer this challenge? For me an important answer is in my neighborhood mantra, “Walk, don’t wave.” When you see your neighbor, the normal neighborhood practice may be to smile and wave, but don’t do it! Instead make it your practice to walk over to talk for a few minutes. If they are out in the driveway or yard, or out walking the dog, just drop what you are doing and walk across the street. At first you may not know what to talk about –but go ahead and ask for advice on lawn care or get a referral for a plumber!

This simple practice can be the beginning point for deep and meaningful relationships, so walk, don’t wave.

Gary Foran leads Gateway’s network initiative in Round Rock, a suburb northwest of Austin, TX. He is also one of the trainers in ELI’s Cultivate training.

In cased you missed it check out  this clip from Creating a Culture of Authentic Relationships, part of ELI’s Cultivate Training. Gary Foran shares candidly about doing church at church versus living church in your own neighborhood:

Who Will Start

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By: Craig Whitney


Last week John Burke and I had the opportunity to travel through Scandinavia visiting Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallin and Oslo. In each city we met church planters who were seeing the church raised up out of the culture as people came to faith. Each of them is living out some essential qualities I spoke about in Stockhom:

• The Risk Taking Faith of Abraham – God asked Abraham to go to a land He would show him. We’ve met leaders who have left their country, their jobs, and their family to say yes to leading others to faith not knowing what the result would be.

• The Passion for People of Paul – Church attendance in some of these cities is less than 2%. Growth takes time. Many of the planters we’ve met have given 10 years to see a vibrant church formed. A passion for people who are not following Jesus is absolutely needed to stay motivated.

• The Gifts of Equipping in Ephesians 4 – In these settings, it takes a team and we’ve met some great ones. Even more exciting is seeing how church planters are reproducing themselves in younger leaders, resulting in not only growth but multiplication.

It’s been a privilege to meet and encourage them.

Events for Church Leaders

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John Burke will be traveling in Europe during March and April. If your in or around any of these cities, check out these events coming up on the following dates:

Stockholm 2020

Stockholm , Sweden – March 29-3

Stockholm 2020, is a new network with a vision to plant 50 new churches in the greater Stockholm area before the end of the year 2020.

They are hosting a ground breaking conference on church planting at New Life Church in Stockholm.  Both John Burke and Craig Whitney from ELI Church Planting will be speaking.

Details and registration information are available at www.stockholm202.net.

No Perfect People Allowed

Helsinki, Finland – April 1st
Tallin, Estonia – April 2nd

John will be leading one day workshops, sponsored by the WCA in both Helsinki and Finland based on his books, No Perfect People Allowed and Soul Revolution.

Helsinki – Details and registration information are available at http://www.willowcreek.fi/.

Tallin – Details and registration information are available at http://www.gls.ee.

Bjolsen Mission Church

Oslo, Norway – April 3-4
John will be speaking at Bjolsen church on Sunday evening. www.bjolsen.com

Gateway Experience

Join others to experience Gateway’s internet campus at http://www.kolben.no.  For more info contact Danny.Danson@live.com

Leading in an Imperfect World

John and Craig will be meeting with church leaders at www.bjolsen.com from 10:00 – 14:00 to talk about leading the church in an imperfect world.  Lunch is provided.  RSVP to halldis@willowcreek.no.

Building Life-Changing Churches 2-day Conference

London, England – April 5-6

Building Life-Changing Churches is a two day conference featuring John Burke and James Emery White talking about the trends, changes and challenges that face the future of the Church, and the vital role leadership will play.

Details and registration information are available at http://www.willowcreek.org.uk