Young leaders measure success differently.
“We are looking for 50 church planters who we can help to plant 50 new churches in and around the city of Atlanta.”
These are the aspirations of 36-year-old James Griffin, lead pastor of CrossPoint City Church, who—along with Jason Gerdes of Revolution Church—are providing leadership for a network of new churches north of Atlanta in one of the nation’s fast-growing regions. Gerdes, also in his 30s, adds, “We are excited about what God is doing in our local churches, but our vision extends far beyond our leadership to equip other leaders.”
James Griffin and Jason Gerdes are “hero makers”—their vision goes beyond creating a crowd to multiplying a movement.
I see their motivation coming directly from Jesus. He is the sole hero of our faith, dying so that each of us could be reconciled to God.
But he did not stop there.
He didn’t need any help, yet he spent the majority of his earthly ministry not ministering himself, but training others how to minister—and ultimately instructing them to go and make other disciple-makers (Matt. 28:19-20). Indeed, the longest book in the New Testament—the book of Acts—is a history of how church planters were trained, sent, and multiplied across the known world.
This vision for multiplying new churches by equipping and sending others is typical of the new breed of emerging young leaders. Leadership Network will be releasing some groundbreaking research (see leadnet.org/portable) in January 2018 by Dr. Warren Bird that shows a seismic shift in the vision and practices of young church leaders like James and Jason that is distinct from the previous generations.
As a Leadership Network board member they gave me permission ...
from
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