Session Description:
Over 30 years ago a college professor with a thick French accent cast a vision for Acts 2 community that was so compelling it captured the imagination of a young student named Bill Hybels. The practical result of that realized vision is Willow Creek Community Church. After three decades of refinement and trial by fire, Dr. B.'s understanding of biblical community is more clear and compelling than ever. Getting and proclaiming a clear understanding of these principles are one of the keys to sustaining a vibrant small groups ministry. In this breakout, you'll hear from a true original voice.

Category: Point Leadership Issues and Trends
Venue: Hyatt Regency Woodfield

Session Resources
Download the handout for this breakout. This file requires Acrobat Reader. You can download it here.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
Community 101 by Gilbert Bilezikian

Comments
We’d love to hear what you think! To comment on this session, click here.

Dr. Gilbert Bilezikian Dr. Bilezikian’s professional life began in his native city of Paris, where he taught seven years at the European Bible Institute while serving, for part of that time, as minister of Christian education at the American Church in Paris. He came to the United States in 1961 to serve for five years as pastor of the Loudonville Community Church in Albany, N.Y. He then joined the Wheaton College faculty, where he taught for 20 years until his retirement. Dr. Bilezikian interrupted his tenure at Wheaton to assume the presidency of Haigazian College in Beirut, Lebanon and to teach briefly at Trinity College in Deerfield, Ill. He received a B.A. from the University of Paris, an M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a Th.D. from Boston University. He also pursued a post-doctoral program at the Sorbonne in Paris. In addition to numerous articles, Dr. Bilezikian is the author of The Liberated Gospel (1977), Beyond Sex Roles (1985), Christianity 101 (1993), and Community 101 (1997), all of which have gone into multiple printings and been translated into several languages. Dr. Bilezikian is a founding leader of Willow Creek Community Church. As a professional theologian and a church growth expert, Dr. Bilezikian is frequently called to lead seminars and workshops in this country and abroad, and he is a popular lecturer at colleges and seminaries across the country. He is a speaker for the Staley Distinguished Scholar Lectures. Dr. Bilezikian and his wife, Maria, have four adult children.

Session Description:
Ever feel stuck? No matter how much you wish and try and pray and regret and resolve, you can't break certain habits. Old wounds keep reopening. Old fears keep resurfacing. It's especially frustrating when you're a ministry leader trying to help others find the life that seems elusive even to you. In this breakout, author and pastor Mark Buchanan shares a treasure from Scripture that the vast majority of us overlook, a treasure that has been hidden in plain sight, that can help us find more - more purpose, more passion, more life, more of what God intended for us.

Category: Personal Growth and Soul Care
Venue: Chicago Marriott Northwest

Session Resources
Download the handout for this breakout. This file requires Acrobat Reader. You can download it here.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
Hidden in Plain Sight by Mark Buchanan
Your God Is Too Safe by Mark Buchanan
The Life You’ve Always Wanted by John Ortberg
A Peculiar People by Rodney Clapp
The Jesus Way by Eugene Peterson
The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard

Comments
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Mark Buchanan Mark is an author and pastor living on Vancouver Island with his wife, Cheryl, and their three children, Adam, Sarah, and Nicola. Mark graduated from the University of British Columbia's Creative Writing Department and he holds a Master's degree from Regent College in Interdisciplinary Studies. He is the author of Your God Is Too Safe; Things Unseen; The Holy Wild; The Rest of God; Hidden in Plain Sight, and has published numerous articles in magazines and periodicals. Mark and his family love to bike and walk together and Mark also fishes, scuba dives, gardens, and reads widely.

Also available in PL2-35

Session Description:
There are several issues facing churches that utilize groups for connection, support, service, and spiritual formation. The role and function of groups in the church is linked to these emerging trends and developments. Each will be addressed and critiqued as we explore the implications each has for sustaining group life in the church. In this breakout, we'll explore moving from Group Format to Group Process; from Training Leaders to Training Groups; from Group As Study Center to Group As Learning Community; from a Place to Belong to a People to Become; from Formal Gatherings to Organic Environments; from Coaching Structures to Coaching Conversations.

Category: Point Leadership Issues and Trends
Venue: Hyatt Regency Woodfield

Session Resources
Download the handout for this breakout. This file requires Acrobat Reader. You can download it here.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
ReGroup: Training Groups to be Groups DVD by Henry Cloud, Bill Donahue, & John Townsend
Leading Life-Changing Small Groups by Bill Donahue & Team
Coaching Life-Changing Small Group Leaders by Bill Donahue & Greg Bowman
Seven Deadly Sins of Small Group Ministry by Bill Donahue & Russ Robinson
Walking the Small Group Tightrope by Bill Donahue & Russ Robinson
Building a Church of Small Groups by Bill Donahue & Russ Robinson

Comments
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Bill Donahue Bill's passion for helping churches develop leaders through small groups led him to Willow Creek in 1992. Bill is currently the executive director of group life and adult ministries for the Willow Creek Association. Prior to that, he served on the staff of Willow Creek Community Church for six years, helping launch and develop the church-wide small group ministry. He was also leader of the couples ministry, director of the Willow Creek Institute, and headed the leadership training department. Bill has a Ph.D. in adult education from the University of North Texas, a master's degree in biblical studies from Dallas Seminary, and a bachelor's degree in psychology from Princeton University. Bill and his wife, Gail, have two children, Ryan and Kinsley.

Session Description:
What's it like to move a large church from an affinity-based small group model to a neighborhood model? How do you overcome the challenges from recasting vision to redeploying staff? Why attempt it in the first place? Randy Frazee has wrestled with these issues and more. Learn from his experience and identify the major steps necessary to lead a similar process in your church.

Category: Inside Look
Venue: Hyatt Regency Woodfield

Session Resources
Download the handout for this breakout. This file requires Acrobat Reader. You can download it here.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
Making Room for Life by Randy Frazee
The Connecting Church by Randy Frazee
Christian Life Profile Assessment Tool by Randy Frazee
Renovation of the Heart: Interactive Student Edition by Dallas Willard & Randy Frazee

Comments
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Randy Frazee Randy joined the Willow Creek Community Church staff as a teaching pastor in 2005. In addition to teaching, Randy oversees Willow’s new neighborhood initiative and spiritual development. Prior to coming to Willow, Randy served as senior pastor at Pantego Bible Church in Fort Worth, Tex. for 15 years. He is the author of The Connecting Church, Making Room for Life, and Renovation of the Heart: Interactive Student Edition. An emerging leader and innovator in biblical community and spiritual formation, he has collaborated with George Gallup, Jr. on The Christian Life Profile, a spiritual assessment and development project. A graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, Randy lives in the Chicago area with his wife, Rozanne, and their four children.

also available in PL2-25, please register for only one.

Session Description:
Missions? Mission? Missional? All three words have been touted as the "key" to the future of the church. Are these just semantic distinctions with no difference, or is the move to be missional really a move to recapture the true purpose of the church? In this breakout, participants will be exposed to the key elements that make for truly great exponential movements in history. Alan Hirsch calls these elements "Missional DNA." Application of this approach to the local church brings us closer to the power dynamics of missional movements and therefore closer to genuine transformation of our world for Jesus. Drill down into what it will mean to apply this approach in the local setting.

Category: Point Leadership Issues and Trends
Venue: Hyatt Regency Woodfield

Session Resources
Download the handout for this breakout. This file requires Acrobat Reader. You can download it here.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
The Forgotten Ways
Missio
The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch
The Shaping of Things to Come by Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch
Exiles by Michael Frost

Comments
We’d love to hear what you think! To comment on this session, click here.

Alan Hirsch Alan is the director of Forge Australia. Known for his innovative approach to missions, Alan is a teacher and key mission strategist for churches across the western world. His book The Shaping of Things to Come is widely considered to be a seminal text on missions. Alan’s latest book, The Forgotten Ways, has quickly become a key reference for missional thinking, particularly as it relates to movements. His experience in leadership includes leading a local church movement among the marginalized as well as heading up the mission and revitalization work of his denomination. Alan is an adjunct professor at Fuller Seminary and lectures frequently throughout Australia, Europe, and the U.S. He is the co-founder of www.shapevine.com, a forum for engaging with world-transforming ideas. He blogs at www.theforgottenways.org.

also available in PL2-22, please register for only one.

Session Description:
Most of our change models harness what we have learned from the past into an up-to-the-minute way to navigate the next ministry sequence ahead. But what do we do when change is so quick that learning from yesterday is too slow? Is there a way to learn from the not-yet-emerging future? Transformational architect Ron Martoia makes the case that revolutionary change must be deep change ... or slow death will be the result. Learn how to handle change in a way that supports your ministry into the future.

Category: Point Leadership Issues and Trends
Venue: Hyatt Regency Woodfield

Session Resources
Download the handout for this breakout. This file requires Acrobat Reader. You can download it here.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
Turning to One Another by Meg Wheatley
World Café by Juanita Brown
Dialogue: The Art of Thinking Together by William Isaacs
On Dialogue by David Bohm
Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society by Peter M. Senge, et al.
The Sky Is Falling by Alan Roxburgh
The Missional Leader by Alan Roxburgh

Comments
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Ron Martoia Ron's passion is helping people and the organisms they serve to design, build, and experience revolutionary change. Over the last two years, Ron has spoken to over 25,000 leaders in conference settings. Through his speaking, consulting, writing, and acting as a "distant staff member" to a number of churches, he helps churches consider how they can shift their theological outlook, which, in turn, will shift and adjust their ministry trajectory and cultural interface. He is author of numerous periodical articles and the recent release Static, in which he examines the words Christians use to communicate to those outside the church. His Web site is www.velocityculture.com and he blogs at velocityvortx.wordpress.com.

also available in PL2-23, please register for only one.

Session Description:
What if one overarching idea connected all the ministries of your church? What if you pulled together all your efforts around a single idea... The Big Idea? Join pastor and author Jon Ferguson and small groups practitioner Eric Metcalf for three hours of vision and strategy around your church and The Big Idea. Let these experts show you how alignment around a crystal clear strategy can bring unprecedented focus to the ministries of your church.

Category: Point Leadership Issues and Trends
Venue: Hyatt Regency Woodfield

Session Resources
The handout for this session is unavailable.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
The Big Idea: Focus the Message, Multiply the Impact by Dave Ferguson, Eric Bramlett, & Jon Ferguson

Comments
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Eric Metcalf Eric Metcalf is the small groups champion for Community Christian Church (CCC). He provides leadership for the small group directors at each of its eight locations in the Chicago area. He has overseen the launch of three locations, and through his leadership almost 2,000 people are connected in a small group. In addition Eric is the Naperville campus small groups director, where he oversees 100+ small groups (men's, women's, neighborhood, young adult, singles, and support and recovery). In his capacity as small group champion, Eric provides small group coaching and resources to churches who are part of the NewThing Network, a mission of CCC with a vision to be a catalyst for a movement of reproducing churches. Eric works with each affiliate church's small groups director by helping influence the areas of philosophy, personnel, and programming. If you're looking for a phenomenal small group resource, check out his blog at www.cccsmallgroups.com. Eric has been married for nine years to his beautiful wife, Erin. They have two children, Joey and Lydia, with another on the way!

Jon Ferguson Jon Ferguson is a Co-Founder of Community Christian Church in Naperville, IL. Jon plays a key role in identifying and developing small group leaders, coaches and staff personnel. He also serves as a Teaching Pastor, leads and directs all Community Ministries (small groups-children through adults). Jon is the Co-founder and Executive Director of NewThing Network, a catalyst for a movement of reproducing churches and serves on the board of the Church Planting Network, Institute for Community and Stadia East. He resides in Naperville with his beautiful wife, Lisa and two children, Graham and Chloe.

Session Description:
The house church movement is enjoying a worldwide surge in popularity. From church plants in living rooms and bars to missional communities operating within megachurches, house churches are thriving from Melbourne to Minneapolis. Does this movement pose a threat, or an opportunity, to established ministries? In this breakout, house church specialist Thorsten Moritz and practitioner and author Scot Boren celebrate and debate the various flavors of the house church model. Bring your ideas, experience, questions, and concerns to the forum.

Category: Point Leadership Issues and Trends
Venue: Hyatt Regency Woodfield

Session Resources
Download the handout for this breakout. This file requires Acrobat Reader. You can download it here.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
House Church Central
House Church Network
153 House Churches MSN Group
Great Commission House Churches
“House Church Involvement Is Growing”
Community 101 by Gilbert Bilezikian
The Shaping of Things to Come by Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch
Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens by Neil Cole
Paul's Idea of Community by Robert Banks
Houses that Shaped the World by Wolfgang Simson
The Starfish and the Spider by Ori Brafman & Rod Beckstrom
The Church Comes Home by Robert & Julia Banks

Comments
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Thorsten Moritz Originally from Germany, Thorsten Moritz and his wife and children have lived in various countries and now call Twin Cities, Minn. home. As a New Testament scholar and professor at Bethel Seminary, his passions include ways for Jesus followers to be God’s "project humanity" in the world. Thorsten’s students experience him not least as a die-hard advocate of what he calls "primal churches."

Scott Boren Scott Boren is the community pastor at Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minn., where he oversees the development of small groups that operate as house churches, networked under the umbrella of the larger church. As the author of The Relational Way and How Do We Get There from Here, he serves as a consultant for small groups and works the Allelon Missional Network as coach for missional leadership. In his spare time, he enjoys reading books from his overly large library, hanging out at coffee houses, playing with his preschool sons, and sharing life with his wife, Shawna.

Session Description:
Small groups at North Point have been critical to its mission since its beginning twelve years ago. Groups are not an appendage; they are how North Point does ministry. During this breakout, you'll explore some of the distinctive hows and whys of the North Point groups model, including: how they made the group connection process effective and easy; why they chose a closed groups model; how they develop and train group leaders; and why they rethought and redesigned their strategy for coaching leaders.

Category: Inside Look
Venue: Hyatt Regency Woodfield

Session Resources
The handout for this session is unavailable.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
www.northpoint.org

Comments
We’d love to hear what you think! To comment on this session, click here.

Stephen Redden Stephen Redden is the director of community group operations for North Point Ministries, which provides strategic direction for all three of the North Point campuses in and around Atlanta, Ga.: North Point Community Church, Buckhead Church, and Browns Bridge Community Church. Stephen is a graduate of Mississippi State University and Dallas Theological Seminary. His personal passion is to learn what it means to follow Jesus in the context of community and to help others do the same. Stephen lives in Alpharetta, Ga. with his wife, Kate, and two sons, Ethan and Andrew.

Bill Willits Bill Willits is the executive director of ministries for North Point Ministries, the parent organization of North Point Community Church, Buckhead Church, and Browns Bridge Community Church. Bill is also the co-author of Creating Community with Andy Stanley. One of the founding staff members of North Point, Bill is a graduate of Florida State University and Dallas Theological Seminary. Bill's passion for community life has helped create a system where 10,000 adults enjoy the benefits of group life. His most important small group consists of his wife, Terry, and their daughter, Bailey.

also available in PL2-34, please register for only one.

Session Description:
We talk about the importance of spiritual formation and teach others about it. Now you can enjoy an experience in spiritual formation guided by author and teacher James Bryan Smith. In this breakout, you'll gain firsthand knowledge of some of the practices that can enable spiritual formation in small groups. You'll be better able to model them for your teams and leaders, and you'll learn how to reestablish these often-neglected disciplines.

Category: Personal Growth and Soul Care
Venue: Chicago Marriott Northwest

Session Resources
The handout for this session is unavailable.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
There are no related resources available for this session.

Comments
We’d love to hear what you think! To comment on this session, click here.

James Bryan Smith With an abiding concern for the message of John Wesley, Jim’s specialty is spirituality with an emphasis in small groups. He is chair of the Religion and Humanities department at Friends University in Wichita, Kan. Jim has written A Spiritual Formation Workbook, Embracing the Love of God, and Rich Mullins: An Arrow Pointing To Heaven, and co-edited Devotional Classics. Jim and his wife, Meghan, live in Wichita.

Session Description:
In the past few years, dozens of "new monastic" communities have emerged all across North America. What is this "new monasticism?" What draws hundreds of people, most of them in their twenties, into relocating to urban neighborhoods to live lives of deep spiritual rhythm and radical hospitality? In this breakout, Mark Van Steenwyk will explore this new spin on ancient community. New monastic communities creatively address the shallowness of our consumer culture with emphases on hospitality, peace, simplicity, prayer, missional engagement, social justice, and intentional living. Drawing upon the experiences of a number of new monastic communities, the breakout will examine the different ways in which new monasticism connects with a generation that is tired of shallow and inauthentic Christianity, and how the broader church can learn from its example.

Category: Point Leadership Issues and Trends
Venue: Hyatt Regency Woodfield

Session Resources
Download the handout for this breakout. This file requires Acrobat Reader. You can download it here.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
Missio Dei
Missio Dei Breviary
Jesus Manifesto Blog
New Monasticism Project
The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne
Making Room by Christine Pohl
School(s) for Conversion: 12 Marks of a New Monasticism by Rutba House
Submerge by John Hayes
The New Friars by Scott Bessenecker
Widening the Welcome of Your Church by Fred Bernhard & Steve Clapp
Punk Monk by Andy Freeman & Pete Greig

Comments
We’d love to hear what you think! To comment on this session, click here.

Mark Van Steenwyk Mark Van Steenwyk is the founding member of Missio Dei — a neo-monastic community on the West Bank of Minneapolis. Missio Dei lives to embody Jesus’ presence on the West Bank (a diverse neighborhood of East African immigrants, punks, artists, homeless people, and students). Mark is on staff with InterVarsity to launch a ministry at the University of Minnesota's West Bank campus. Mark is an adjunct instructor with Bethel Seminary, where he teaches a course on applied ecclesiology. Mark also coordinates the Twin Cities Emergent cohort, and is a frequent speaker in the Twin Cities metro area. His current writing project, The Jesus Manifesto, explores the ways that the Church can embody the Gospel of Jesus Christ in America. He blogs at www.jesusmanifesto.com.

Session Description:
Whether you are building community from scratch, are needing a fresh start, or are just trying to make a few tweaks to your community strategy, this three-hour breakout will get you back to the basics. During this working breakout we will sift through the various models, strategies, philosophies, and jargon to get to the approach that is most authentic and right for your church. We'll consider the roles of intuition, dialogue, and discernment as well as the challenges of consensus building, change management, and reculturing.

Category: Point Leadership Issues and Trends
Venue: Hyatt Regency Woodfield

Session Resources
Download the handout for this breakout. This file requires Acrobat Reader. You can download it here.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
Exiles by Michael Frost
Organic Community by Joe Myers
The Search to Belong by Joe Myers
Eternal Echoes by John O’Donohue
Finding Our Way by Margaret Wheatley
Deep Change by Robert Quinn
Intuitive Leadership by Tim Keel
Dialogue: The Art of Thinking Together by William Isaacs

Comments
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Denise VanEck Denise is a nationally recognized speaker and trainer, specializing in team building and leadership development. She is a founding partner in Deep Shift Coaching and Consulting and recently served at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Mich. as pastor of community life. Denise has been published in Leadership Journal and is the author of Leadership 101. She has four children and three grandchildren.

Session Description:
Small groups at North Point have been critical to its mission since its beginning twelve years ago. Groups are not an appendage; they are how North Point does ministry. During this breakout, you'll explore some of the distinctive hows and whys of the North Point groups model, including: how they made the group connection process effective and easy; why they chose a closed groups model; how they develop and train group leaders; and why they rethought and redesigned their strategy for coaching leaders.

Category: Inside Look
Venue: Hyatt Regency Woodfield

Session Resources
The handout for this session is unavailable.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
www.northpoint.org

Comments
We’d love to hear what you think! To comment on this session, click here.

Stephen Redden Stephen Redden is the director of community group operations for North Point Ministries, which provides strategic direction for all three of the North Point campuses in and around Atlanta, Ga.: North Point Community Church, Buckhead Church, and Browns Bridge Community Church. Stephen is a graduate of Mississippi State University and Dallas Theological Seminary. His personal passion is to learn what it means to follow Jesus in the context of community and to help others do the same. Stephen lives in Alpharetta, Ga. with his wife, Kate, and two sons, Ethan and Andrew.

Bill Willits Bill Willits is the executive director of ministries for North Point Ministries, the parent organization of North Point Community Church, Buckhead Church, and Browns Bridge Community Church. Bill is also the co-author of Creating Community with Andy Stanley. One of the founding staff members of North Point, Bill is a graduate of Florida State University and Dallas Theological Seminary. Bill's passion for community life has helped create a system where 10,000 adults enjoy the benefits of group life. His most important small group consists of his wife, Terry, and their daughter, Bailey.

Session Description:
Nearly everybody wants it, but few know how to create it - a culture where everyone achieves deep and satisfying everyday relationships. Join author and speaker Will Miller to discuss the deeper implications of living in a culture where "refrigerator rights" seem to be just a dream. Wrestle with the thought processes and cultural hurdles you will need to understand and overcome to see a new level of connection and community realized in your own church.

Category: Point Leadership Issues and Trends
Venue: Chicago Marriott Northwest

Session Resources
The handout for this session is unavailable.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
Refrigerator Rights by Will Miller & Glenn Sparks

Comments
We’d love to hear what you think! To comment on this session, click here.

Will Miller Will Miller is a psychotherapist, ordained minister, and hospital and police chaplain. He has worked in community mental health centers and drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs and has served as a spokesman for the National Institute of Mental Health. Simultaneously, for 16 years, Will had a successful career as a stand-up comedian. He has headlined in clubs and theaters across the country, appearing with such stars as Aretha Franklin and Natalie Cole. He is one of the country's foremost media and popular culture analysts, having served as host of Nick at Nite's Why We Watch segment for five years. Currently, Dr. Miller is a therapist and campus minister at Purdue University, where he lectures on media effects. He has written three books, including the acclaimed Refrigerator Rights. Will holds a master's degree and a doctorate in urban education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a master's in clinical social work from Columbia University, and a master's in divinity from Union Theological Seminary.

Glenn Sparks Glenn Sparks is a professor in the Department of Communication at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. He came to Purdue in 1986 after a three-year appointment in what is now the School of Communication at Cleveland State University. He has contributed to more than 50 publications on media effects, including cognitive, emotional, and physiological responses to media. His most recent book project, in collaboration with Dr. Will Miller, is Refrigerator Rights: Creating Connections and Restoring Relationships. Glenn holds a bachelor's degree from Wheaton College, a master's degree from Northern Illinois University, and a Ph.D. from University of Wisconsin-Madison. Glenn and his wife, Cheri, have been married since 1975 and have three children.

Session Description:
What is the "organic church"? How do you grow faith where life happens? Author Neil Cole provides an honest and cutting-edge analysis of where church has been and where it needs to go to become healthy, fruitful, and fertile once again. In this breakout, Neil will also address some of the leadership challenges that we face if we are to see the church transition to a more organic and healthy expression.

Category: Point Leadership Issues and Trends
Venue: Hyatt Regency Woodfield

Session Resources
Download the handout for this breakout. This file requires Acrobat Reader. You can download it here.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
Church Multiplication Associates
The Forgotten Ways
Universal Disciple
Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens by Neil Cole
The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch
Search and Rescue: An Urgent Call to Make and Multiply Disciples by Neil Cole (April ’08)
Decoding the Church by Howard Snyder & Daniel Runyon
Paul’s Idea of Community by Robert Banks
Beyond Church Planting: Pathways for Emerging Churches by Robert Logan & Neil Cole
TruthQuest: The Search for Spiritual Understanding by Neil Cole

Comments
We’d love to hear what you think! To comment on this session, click here.

Neil Cole Neil Cole is an experienced church planter, author, and pastor. Aside from founding the Awakening Chapels, which are reaching young, postmodern people in urban settings, he is also a founder of Church Multiplication Associates (CMA) which has helped start hundreds of churches in 35 states and 30 nations in only 9 years. Currently Neil serves as CMA’s executive director. He is responsible for resourcing church leaders with ministry tools to reproduce healthy disciples, leaders, churches, and movements. His responsibilities also include recruiting, developing, assessing, and coaching church planters. Neil is also an international speaker and has authored Organic Church, Cultivating a Life For God, TruthQuest, and soon-to-be-released Search and Rescue (Baker Books, April ‘08), and co-authored Raising Leaders for the Harvest and Beyond Church Planting: Pathways for Emerging Churches with Dr. Robert Logan, and Organic Church Planters’ Greenhouse with Paul Kaak. He lives in Long Beach, Cali. with his wife, Dana, and their three children, Heather, Erin, and Zachary.

also available in PL2-25, please register for only one.

Session Description:
Missions? Mission? Missional? All three words have been touted as the "key" to the future of the church. Are these just semantic distinctions with no difference, or is the move to be missional really a move to recapture the true purpose of the church? In this breakout, participants will be exposed to the key elements that make for truly great exponential movements in history. Alan Hirsch calls these elements "Missional DNA." Application of this approach to the local church brings us closer to the power dynamics of missional movements and therefore closer to genuine transformation of our world for Jesus. Drill down into what it will mean to apply this approach in the local setting.

Category: Point Leadership Issues and Trends
Venue: Hyatt Regency Woodfield

Session Resources
Download the handout for this breakout. This file requires Acrobat Reader. You can download it here.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
The Forgotten Ways
Missio
The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch
The Shaping of Things to Come by Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch
Exiles by Michael Frost

Comments
We’d love to hear what you think! To comment on this session, click here.

Alan Hirsch Alan is the director of Forge Australia. Known for his innovative approach to missions, Alan is a teacher and key mission strategist for churches across the western world. His book The Shaping of Things to Come is widely considered to be a seminal text on missions. Alan’s latest book, The Forgotten Ways, has quickly become a key reference for missional thinking, particularly as it relates to movements. His experience in leadership includes leading a local church movement among the marginalized as well as heading up the mission and revitalization work of his denomination. Alan is an adjunct professor at Fuller Seminary and lectures frequently throughout Australia, Europe, and the U.S. He is the co-founder of www.shapevine.com, a forum for engaging with world-transforming ideas. He blogs at www.theforgottenways.org.

Session Description:
In the right context, people can build relationships in an organic way, naturally connecting into community. But, Myers contends, community can't be forced, controlled, or easily created. How can churches develop environments where community will spontaneously emerge? How can key leaders create or shape those environments? Explore nine organizational tools for creating a healthy environment; then learn how to diagnose your current situation and implement patterns that will develop healthy community.

Category: Point Leadership Issues and Trends
Venue: Hyatt Regency Woodfield

Session Resources
Download the handout for this breakout. This file requires Acrobat Reader. You can download it here.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
Book review of Organic Community
“Remarks on the Social Organization of Space and Place”
Community 101 by Gilbert Bilezikian
The Connecting Church by Randy Frazee
Organic Community: Creating a Place Where People Naturally Connect by Joe Myers
The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small Groups by Joe Myers

Comments
We’d love to hear what you think! To comment on this session, click here.

Joe Myers Joe Myers is the author of Organic Community and The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small Groups. Joe owns a consulting firm, FrontPorch, which specializes in creating conversations that promote and develop community. He has helped congregations, architectural firms, community planners, and human resource departments. Joe is also the president of the board for BLOC Ministries, a non-profit movement that strengthens families through student communities and helps 20,000 students a year in the Cincinnati area. Joe lives in Cincinnati with his wife, Sara. They have a daughter, Jaclyn, and the three of them enjoy golf, bicycling, and Scrabble.

Session Description:
Whether you are building community from scratch, are needing a fresh start, or are just trying to make a few tweaks to your community strategy, this three-hour breakout will get you back to the basics. During this working breakout we will sift through the various models, strategies, philosophies, and jargon to get to the approach that is most authentic and right for your church. We'll consider the roles of intuition, dialogue, and discernment as well as the challenges of consensus building, change management, and reculturing.

Category: Point Leadership Issues and Trends
Venue: Hyatt Regency Woodfield

Session Resources
Download the handout for this breakout. This file requires Acrobat Reader. You can download it here.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
Exiles by Michael Frost
Organic Community by Joe Myers
The Search to Belong by Joe Myers
Eternal Echoes by John O’Donohue
Finding Our Way by Margaret Wheatley
Deep Change by Robert Quinn
Intuitive Leadership by Tim Keel
Dialogue: The Art of Thinking Together by William Isaacs

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Denise VanEck Denise is a nationally recognized speaker and trainer, specializing in team building and leadership development. She is a founding partner in Deep Shift Coaching and Consulting and recently served at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Mich. as pastor of community life. Denise has been published in Leadership Journal and is the author of Leadership 101. She has four children and three grandchildren.

Session Description:
It's not just about dog training and fly-fishing. Interest-based small groups can capture people who have never considered a small group experience. Ted Whaley explains how the New Life model continues to thrive and how healthy small groups can sustain your church body and provide a variety of connection opportunities for people at all points on their spiritual journey.

Category: Inside Look
Venue: Hyatt Regency Woodfield

Session Resources
Download the handout for this breakout. This file requires Acrobat Reader. You can download it here.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
New Life Groups
How People Grow by Henry Cloud & John Townsend
Making Small Groups Work by Henry Cloud & John Townsend
The Connecting Church by Randy Frazee
Courageous Leadership by Bill Hybels
Growing True Disciples by George Barna
Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell
No Perfect People Allowed by John Burke
Connecting by Larry Crabb
What’s So Great About America by Dinesh D’Souza
What’s Gone Wrong With the Harvest? by James Engle & Wilbert Norton
A Heart for Others by Andrew Jackson
Cure for the Common Life by Max Lucado
Leading from the Heart by Michael Mack
Developing the Leaders Around You by John Maxwell
The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader by John Maxwell
Where Do We Go From Here? by Ralph Neighbour
How to Lead Small Groups by Neal McBride
The Friendship Factor (Expanded ed.) by Alan Loy McGinnis
Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them by John Ortberg
Surprising Insights from the Unchurched by Thom Rainer
Vital Friends by Tom Rath
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero

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Ted Whaley Ted has been directing the small group ministry at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo. since 1999 — pioneering the free market approach to small groups. The concept is simple — empowering people to develop purposeful relationships by leading groups around their interests, hobbies, strengths, needs, or stage of life. Under Ted’s direction, the small group ministry connects and disciples almost 70% of the 10,000 member congregation, and reaches thousands of people beyond the walls of New Life Church. Prior to joining the staff at New Life Church, Ted worked in the corporate world for McGraw-Hill for 13 years, in public education, and as the director of training for a franchise marketing firm. His priority in life is his wife of 23 years, Denise, and his three beautiful daughters.

Session Description:
Discipleship training has focused for decades on the training of the individual for personal obedience and personal responsibility, but very little (read: almost no) focus has been given on communal life as the goal of discipleship. What does a discipleship program look like that has as its goal not just individual training in holiness, Bible study, prayer, and witnessing but also identity-formation in community with others? In this breakout, author and teacher Scot McKnight helps you wrestle with the answer.

Category: Point Leadership Issues and Trends
Venue: Hyatt Regency Woodfield

Session Resources
The handout for this session is unavailable.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
A Community Called Atonement by Scot McKnight
The Jesus Creed by Scot McKnight
The Jesus Creed Companion Guide by Scot McKnight

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Scot McKnight Scot McKnight is a widely recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. He is the Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies at North Park University in Chicago, Illinois, where he is also the Department Chair and the Director of the College of Christian Life and Thought.

Session Description:
Leadership development is always a huge challenge. The risks of placing unprepared leaders into positions of spiritual responsibility are huge, yet the need for a warm body often overcomes our fear of potential failures. Quick and dirty training often produces leaders who can't really lead and who do more harm than good. In this breakout, Bill Willits and Jason Malec share some tips and techniques that have helped North Point Church develop leaders that actually lead well. In a setting specifically designed for point leaders, they'll give practical suggestions for creating an effective leadership development program.

Category: Point Leadership Issues and Trends
Venue: Hyatt Regency Woodfield

Session Resources
The handout for this session is unavailable.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
Creating Community by Bill Willits & Andy Stanley

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Bill Willits Bill Willits is the executive director of ministries for North Point Ministries, the parent organization of North Point Community Church, Buckhead Church, and Browns Bridge Community Church. Bill is also the co-author of Creating Community with Andy Stanley. One of the founding staff members of North Point, Bill is a graduate of Florida State University and Dallas Theological Seminary. Bill's passion for community life has helped create a system where 10,000 adults enjoy the benefits of group life. His most important small group consists of his wife, Terry, and their daughter, Bailey.

Jason Malec Jason Malec is director of Starting Point and Strategic Export for North Point Ministries. He is passionate about creating environments where people can explore faith and experience community. A graduate of the University of Virginia and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Jason is married to Meredith and has three kids, Cassie, Abbey, and Jayce.

also available in PL2-21, please register for only one.

Session Description:
Small group point leaders are passionate about helping others find Christ and community, yet it is often hard to move the vision toward reality. Explore five obstacles that all leaders face as they work to achieve their goals for group life, and identify the practical next steps you can take to move beyond them.

Category: Point Leadership Issues and Trends
Venue: Hyatt Regency Woodfield

Session Resources
Download the handout for this breakout. This file requires Acrobat Reader. You can download it here.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
Walking the Small Group Tightrope by Bill Donahue & Russ Robinson
Building a Church of Small Groups by Bill Donahue & Russ Robinson
Seven Deadly Sins of Small Group Ministry by Bill Donahue & Russ Robinson
Courageous Leadership by Bill Hybels

Comments
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Russ Robinson Russ has held a variety of ministry roles in the past several years. Russ served on staff at Willow Creek Community Church beginning in 1995, first as director of small groups, and then as executive director of ministries and small groups. Prior to his staff role, he also served as an elder for four years. From 2002–2004, he was senior pastor at Meadowbrook Church in North Haledon, N.J. Russ' formal training is as an attorney, and in 2006 he founded a new firm, Robinson Payne LLC, in Hoffman Estates, Ill. Russ holds a B.A. in history from Crown College in Minnesota and a J.D. from the University of North Dakota Law School. He has great passion for the church, small groups, and ministries, and is nationally known as a consultant, speaker, and writer. He is the author of Building a Church of Small Groups, The Seven Deadly Sins of Small Group Ministry, Walking the Parenting Tightrope, and Walking the Small Group Tightrope with Bill Donahue. Russ resides in Palatine, Ill. with his wife, Lynn, and sons Phil, Mark, and Tim.

also available in PL2-22, please register for only one.

Session Description:
Most of our change models harness what we have learned from the past into an up-to-the-minute way to navigate the next ministry sequence ahead. But what do we do when change is so quick that learning from yesterday is too slow? Is there a way to learn from the not-yet-emerging future? Transformational architect Ron Martoia makes the case that revolutionary change must be deep change ... or slow death will be the result. Learn how to handle change in a way that supports your ministry into the future.

Category: Point Leadership Issues and Trends
Venue: Hyatt Regency Woodfield

Session Resources
Download the handout for this breakout. This file requires Acrobat Reader. You can download it here.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
Turning to One Another by Meg Wheatley
World Café by Juanita Brown
Dialogue: The Art of Thinking Together by William Isaacs
On Dialogue by David Bohm
Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society by Peter M. Senge, et al.
The Sky Is Falling by Alan Roxburgh
The Missional Leader by Alan Roxburgh

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Ron Martoia Ron's passion is helping people and the organisms they serve to design, build, and experience revolutionary change. Over the last two years, Ron has spoken to over 25,000 leaders in conference settings. Through his speaking, consulting, writing, and acting as a "distant staff member" to a number of churches, he helps churches consider how they can shift their theological outlook, which, in turn, will shift and adjust their ministry trajectory and cultural interface. He is author of numerous periodical articles and the recent release Static, in which he examines the words Christians use to communicate to those outside the church. His Web site is www.velocityculture.com and he blogs at velocityvortx.wordpress.com.

Session Description:
Over 30 years ago a college professor with a thick French accent cast a vision for Acts 2 community that was so compelling it captured the imagination of a young student named Bill Hybels. The practical result of that realized vision is Willow Creek Community Church. After three decades of refinement and trial by fire, Dr. B.'s understanding of biblical community is more clear and compelling than ever. Getting and proclaiming a clear understanding of these principles are one of the keys to sustaining a vibrant small groups ministry. In this breakout, you'll hear from a true original voice.

Category: Point Leadership Issues and Trends
Venue: Hyatt Regency Woodfield

Session Resources
Download the handout for this breakout. This file requires Acrobat Reader. You can download it here.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
Community 101 by Gilbert Bilezikian

Comments
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Dr. Gilbert Bilezikian Dr. Bilezikian’s professional life began in his native city of Paris, where he taught seven years at the European Bible Institute while serving, for part of that time, as minister of Christian education at the American Church in Paris. He came to the United States in 1961 to serve for five years as pastor of the Loudonville Community Church in Albany, N.Y. He then joined the Wheaton College faculty, where he taught for 20 years until his retirement. Dr. Bilezikian interrupted his tenure at Wheaton to assume the presidency of Haigazian College in Beirut, Lebanon and to teach briefly at Trinity College in Deerfield, Ill. He received a B.A. from the University of Paris, an M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a Th.D. from Boston University. He also pursued a post-doctoral program at the Sorbonne in Paris. In addition to numerous articles, Dr. Bilezikian is the author of The Liberated Gospel (1977), Beyond Sex Roles (1985), Christianity 101 (1993), and Community 101 (1997), all of which have gone into multiple printings and been translated into several languages. Dr. Bilezikian is a founding leader of Willow Creek Community Church. As a professional theologian and a church growth expert, Dr. Bilezikian is frequently called to lead seminars and workshops in this country and abroad, and he is a popular lecturer at colleges and seminaries across the country. He is a speaker for the Staley Distinguished Scholar Lectures. Dr. Bilezikian and his wife, Maria, have four adult children.

Session Description:
The house church movement is enjoying a worldwide surge in popularity. From church plants in living rooms and bars to missional communities operating within megachurches, house churches are thriving from Melbourne to Minneapolis. Does this movement pose a threat, or an opportunity, to established ministries? In this breakout, house church specialist Thorsten Moritz and practitioner and author Scot Boren celebrate and debate the various flavors of the house church model. Bring your ideas, experience, questions, and concerns to the forum.

Category: Point Leadership Issues and Trends
Venue: Hyatt Regency Woodfield

Session Resources
Download the handout for this breakout. This file requires Acrobat Reader. You can download it here.

Due to their interactive nature, Point Leader breakout sessions are not available for purchase.

Related Resources
House Church Central
House Church Network
153 House Churches MSN Group
Great Commission House Churches
“House Church Involvement Is Growing”
Community 101 by Gilbert Bilezikian
The Shaping of Things to Come by Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch
Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens by Neil Cole
Paul's Idea of Community by Robert Banks
Houses that Shaped the World by Wolfgang Simson
The Starfish and the Spider by Ori Brafman & Rod Beckstrom
The Church Comes Home by Robert & Julia Banks

Comments
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Thorsten Moritz Originally from Germany, Thorsten Moritz and his wife and children have lived in various countries and now call Twin Cities, Minn. home. As a New Testament scholar and professor at Bethel Seminary, his passions include ways for Jesus followers to be God’s "project humanity" in the world. Thorsten’s students experience him not least as a die-hard advocate of what he calls "primal churches."

Scott Boren Scott Boren is the community pastor at Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minn., where he oversees the development of small groups that operate as house churches, networked under the umbrella of the larger church. As the author of The Relational Way and How Do We Get There from Here, he serves as a consultant for small groups and works the Allelon Missional Network as coach for missional leadership. In his spare time, he enjoys reading books from his overly large library, hanging out at coffee houses, playing with his preschool sons, and sharing life with his wife, Shawna.