Let me hit the highlights of a few more people who’ve impacted my life.

Dr. Thom Rainer is the President of Lifeway Christian Resources. He is a great friend. God has used him to teach me to never settle. Dr. Rainer has this unquenchable desire to see churches become healthy and focus on real growth (reaching people). Sometimes I laugh thinking about the churches that will get awards from their denominations for “growth” – when really it’s just a bunch of “Christians,” who got ticked off at other churches, jumping around. That’s not Biblical growth – it’s not real growth. It’s just often people with their own baggage and issues taking it to new places. Through Dr. Rainer, got helped me focus on what real growth is – reaching people who don’t know Christ!

Another person who’s made a mark in my life is Erwin R. McManus. I don’t personally know Erwin. However, through reading his books and listening to some of his talks, God has used him in a huge way in my life to help develop what “community” really looks like. His book “Unstoppable Force” is the greatest book I’ve read regarding what the church needs to be. He’s willing to think outside the box and move the church to real intimacy with Christ and each other.

Finally, Dr. Claude Thomas is the Vice-President for Injoy Stewardship. He has been a tremendous friend to me. He successfully pastored numerous large churches. He my be the best church strategist of our day. He’s brilliant when it comes to thinking through stages and strategies. God also taught me, through him, to fight. Fighting for love is something you have to do daily, because there are those who don’t truly love and they’ve found a home in most churches. People in churches that are traditionally minded and focused on themselves rather than being like Christ, people who are more proud of their “heritage” than they are their Savior – people who think there’s only one way to preach, sing, pray, give, and dress to really be church – those places that are an inch deep in Christ and a mile wide in themselves – you have to relentlessly, passionately fight for love against these people who speak of love but don’t really live it. Dr. Thomas has been one of the greatest encourager’s in my life to keep fighting, because lives are worth it.

Tomorrow, I’ll wrap this up with a few more people who are not wasting their lives.

By the way, there’s a huge announcement coming – I can’t share the details yet, but this is major. More info will come soon.

C3 – invest and invite!

Tags: Claude Thomas, Erwin R. McManus, Injoy, Lifeway, outside the box, relevant church, Thom Rainer, traditional church, Unstoppable Force

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