does the nacc have a future?

Apparently I offended someone with a recent post because I said the NACC was dying.

Maybe (probably) I offended more than one of you, and that’s okay. It’s never the goal of any post, but why would anyone read a blog they always agree with?

(A brief reminder: the opinions in this blog are solely mine, NOT necessarily those of Christian Standard or Standard Publishing.)


I worked on staff at the NACC for five conventions (1998-2002) with two managing directors and two executive directors. Since then I’ve served as a Continuation Committee and Executive Committee member and planned last year’s “conference within a conference” for women. I also write for CS, of course, plus manage our “denomination’s” online directory and news site at CCToday.com.

So, I kinda know this movement, and I really know the NACC. If I offended you with my statement, at least I’m informed enough to make it.


The plain truth is that attendance at, financial support for and interest in the NACC continue to drop off. I could spend this whole post exploring the various reasons why (less institutional loyalty throughout our culture, growth of specialized and niche events, an “uncool” reputation) but I’m more interested in thinking about whether it matters, and what can be done.

Most of my cooler, hipper friends will say it doesn’t matter. I’ve written about this before—because there are so many other events offering amazing resources and access to the preeminent Christian leaders of our time, they ask, why do we need another one?

It’s true; the broader evangelical world offers tons of events, podcasts, videos, books, networks and relationships to help our ministries. Why should we care about this network, about these relationships?


It matters because everyone needs a tribe. I read Andy Stanley and listen to Tim Keller and watch Rob Bell and follow Carlos Whittaker but none of those guys took me aside last month to hear my story and offer encouragement and mentoring. It was someone in “our” churches who has known and worked with me for years, someone who had a history with me.

On a broader scale, the same is true for all of us who affiliate, however loosely, with the Restoration Movement. Without long-term teamwork and relationship, organizations like Christian Missionary Fellowship, Orchard Group, Church Development Fund and our colleges—not to mention many of our individual churches—would be less effective (or non-existent), and the kingdom would be smaller for it.


So connections matter, and for some of us that connection is found in the independent Christian churches. Great. But that happens all year long, and would happen even if the NACC died tomorrow. We really don’t need a convention with big speakers and exhibit halls and Babyland to work together.

Because it’s really not about the event, it’s about the mission.

And that’s what needs to change. Getting together for the sake of getting together isn’t enough.


The convention’s current decline happened not because people don’t attend conferences, but because this conference no longer has a clearly-defined mission.

Is it for leaders or entire families? If leaders, vocational, volunteer or both? It’s “the connecting place” but to what end? Who’s connecting? Why is it valuable? How are the connections different from the other ways people are already working together?

It’s a hard truth and those are tough questions, but they offer hope: if the NACC can identify its unique mission, if it can connect us while celebrating our independence, if it can become indispensable in helping us plant churches and bring the Gospel to Nairobi and educate a new generation of leaders, it will thrive. If it doesn’t, it not only will die, it probably should.


Ben Cachiaras, Senior Pastor at Mountain Christian Church and president of the 2010 convention, gets this and has planned this year’s convention with a focus on going “BEYOND.” Francis Chan, Rick Warren, Gene Appel, Brian Jones, and many others will push us to move out of our comfort zones and think more deeply about evangelism, discipleship, racial and justice issues and our own calling. (You can read more, including a great interview with Ben, on the CS site.)

Say what you will about the NACC, this is as strong a lineup as any conference out there. But it’s just one year.

One of the convention’s systemic problems is the lack of continuity caused by annual changes in executive and board leadership. To reverse the convention’s decline, we need a multi-year leadership team committed to one easily-articulated mission, an overhaul of messaging methods and branding, and the money that (in theory) follows mission to pull it off.


“Keeping up with [Jesus] means leaving certain things behind,” Ben wrote about his 2010 theme. “And those who dare follow him quickly discover Jesus always takes you to new places.” Some people who love the movement need to leave behind their outdated cynicism about the NACC and give this year a chance. But the convention itself must leave behind old glory days to discover a new identity. If it does, the results could be beyond exciting.

on the movement

I hear two completely opposing views about the Restoration Movement—often in the same day. (For readers who have no idea what the RM is, it’s modeling church and faith after the example given in the New Testament, without many of the creeds/rules/man-made requirements of other denominations. Learn more here.)

A few weeks ago during a conversation about some upcoming projects, a friend told me, “I still have a place in my heart for the Christian churches, but Steve and Chris always ask why I bother. They think the Restoration Movement is dying and wonder why we need to connect with each other when there are so many bigger networks for leaders.”

In some ways Steve and Chris (not their real names) are right—from Catalyst conferences to Christianity Today to church planting networks across the country, the Christian subculture offers tons of opportunities to connect outside denominational lines. To stay isolated within the independent Christian churches is to miss out on resources, experiences and insights.

But we also have contributions to make in those groups. The same day I had the previous conversation, I happened upon Scot McKnight’s blog post describing Bettendorf Christian Church and his experience there.

“I have to tell you I was motivated by the number of the young adults and high school students in the very front row—and they were paying attention—and they kept me on my toes,” he writes. “BCC illustrates the priesthood of all believers—there are so many folks involved in leadership and ministry one knows right away there is shared leadership.”

He goes on to compliment the church in other ways: “Speaking of priesthood of believers, we were impressed with BCC’s quiet missional life, including youth raking leaves, which we witnessed first hand, and their Second Saturday ministry of service to the community……. BCC is truly intergenerational. I met the former senior minister, retired ministers, senior citizens who were more than contented with an upbeat and contemporary worship style—along with lots of small kids and young parents and folks … all across the generational spectrum.”

McKnight ends the post with this: “One other thing: I’m convinced one of the most untapped sources of evangelical theology and ministry today is the Restoration Movement, sometimes called the Stone-Campbell Movement, and known to others as the Christian Church and the Churches of Christ. My experience confirms to me time and time again that these folks are quietly at work in the USA in gospel work.”

Bettendorf Christian impressed McKnight because of its leadership and focus on service, not because it happens to be an independent Christian church. But that doesn’t mean the church affiliation doesn’t matter, or that we shouldn’t stay connected in some way. Many of you originally found this blog through Christian Standard, the journal for these congregations. I, in turn, found the Bettendorf blog post while doing routine research for Christian Church Today, a website for our churches. Without some loose connections like these, you probably wouldn’t know about this church in Bettendorf, Iowa—if the information is helpful at all, you have our affiliation to thank.

We need a new name (neither Restoration Movement nor Stone-Campbell anything resonates with my generation) and a better annual gathering (if anything’s dying, it’s the NACC), but our churches and organizations are leading the way for others in the evangelical world—pioneering the multi-site movement (Community Christian Church), transforming the literal and physical landscape of church architecture (Visioneering Studios) and exploding into online ministry (Central Christian Church).

We may have some branding issues, but the product is sound. I’m glad to know Mr. McKnight gets it, even if Steve and Chris do not.

the graduates

I’ve been home a couple hours now, but I’m still smiling. Tonight I had the privilege of attending the end of year banquet for Christian Community Services Inc., an organization here in Nashville that helps underserved families become completely self-sufficient—that is, not relying on any form of assistance, government aid, or public housing. To accomplish this mission CCSI pairs mentors from Woodmont Hills Church of Christ and Schrader Lane Church of Christ with “mentees”—usually young single women, usually with a few kids—who commit to nine months of classes on budgeting, parenting, relationships, life skills, and finance. Tonight’s dinner honored this year’s 17 graduates.

I wrote about CCSI for a recent Christian Standard, and I encourage you to read the article to learn about the program’s other components: tutoring for the mentees’ children, relationship-building around shared weekly meals, individual development accounts that encourage and reward saving, and even ongoing support to help graduates become home buyers. It’s a program that could work in any city, and needs to receive more national attention for the immense good it’s doing in this one.

But I also encourage people to check out CCSI because of that curious word “underserved.” When I began researching the ministry and interviewing its staff, I appreciated the focus on personal responsibility and self-sufficiency, but didn’t understand how the families served by CCSI were under served in any way. To be frank, I thought what many of us, if we’re honest, sometimes think: they get our money for food stamps and welfare—sounds like they’re being served just fine.

I quickly learned why the term is so appropriate. In the words of Dr. Jones, minister at Schrader Lane and co-founder of CCSI, “Disenfranchised people do not set out to be that way. And they are not destined to stay that way. But to change the generational patterns, we must show them a better way.”

CCSI provides these students with information you and I may take for granted—why to save money, how to create a budget, why to avoid check advance stores, how to set boundaries in relationships, how to discipline children. With this knowledge, and the love and support of their mentor and the CCSI staff, these women completely change their lives, paying off thousands of dollars in debt, saving for their homes, revolutionizing their family lives, and ending the cycle of unhealthy or unproductive choices.

These women are “underserved” because at some point they missed out on opportunities to learn basic skills and foundational information. CCSI offers a second chance.

So tonight I sat with my new friend Ukela, a graduate and new homeowner who is now a paralegal, actress, model and author, and we cheered for all 17 graduates and for our table mate Angel who signed the papers for her new house at 9:00 this morning. LaTonya gave a great testimony about the difference CCSI made in her life, one of the Tennessee Titans (who’s very cute and who should date Ukela) shared some encouraging words, and, since none of us had the winning orange dot on our program, we made sure Angel got the centerpiece of yellow flowers to take to her new home. And I’m still smiling.

success story

Humorist and cookbook author Peg Bracken once described the difference between a gourmet cook and her own humble efforts this way:

[The gourmet's] assignment had been dessert. So, at dessert time, she brought out big plastic bags of old-fashioned plump chocolate-marshmallow cookies.

“I adore these, don’t you?” she beamed, handing them around. And everyone did, thinking, moreover, How original, how posh! But if someone else had done this they’d have thought, Poor child, how naive!

The same principle applies in other areas—people already established as successes in a particular field can often do no wrong, while an unknown but equally-talented counterpart couldn’t pull off the same thing.

This struck me Monday as the buzz began building around Ben Arment’s announcement of his new STORY conference scheduled this October in Chicago. Until this week Arment served as the “Innovation and Experience Director” at Catalyst and is now going out on his own to create a production company for live events and film. STORY is his first project in this new role.

As soon as the news hit, so did the twittering:

@Church Relevance: Ben Arment is putting together another fresh ministry conference called STORY.

@mknisely: #STORY is going 2 do something significant 4 church communicators & open the possibilities 2 a new way of thinking.

@vjProctor: check out STORY by @BenArment – a first-of-its-kind experience -

@GBrenna: I’m pretty excited about this!!! (thanks @BenArment)

@mknisely: dude. #STORY is going to be off the hook. i cannot wait.
I’m not knocking the conference; in fact, Monday I emailed Christian Standard and offered it to cover it if they would pay my expenses and registration. (No response yet.)

But what I find amazing is that within minutes, hundreds of people around the world were not only talking about this new venture but singing its praises. It’s true Arment has a history of successes, and that influences us; J.J. Abrams was able to get the new Star Trek movie made in part because of his track record creating TV shows like LOST, Alias, and Fringe. We all build on past successes and Arment’s work speaks for itself.

So kudos to him. But I wonder what would happen if someone else, someone less well known and less affiliated with other hip initiatives, created the exact same conference. How much do we miss out on because it’s new or needs better branding? Is it that loser’s fault for not doing a better job grabbing our attention, or ours for being so hard to impress?

In the investment world, past performance does not guarantee future results. But in marketing and personal branding, past coolness predicts future acceptance. “Mrs. Tiffany can wear paste beads, and J. Paul Getty can wear out-at-the-elbow sweaters, too,” Bracken writes. “That’s the way the world wags, and no one has yet discovered what to do about it.”

in the enews—monday

I’ve mentioned I receive a ton of church newsletters, both online and through the mail, to help me find good stories for Buzz and the weekly Christian Standard enews. (Are you subscribing to the inexpensive print magazine, the free e-zine, or both? Why not? Click here.)

And I’ve mentioned that most of these newsletters share a lot of similar news; the room number for the 101 class and the date of the community service day may vary, but it’s a lot of the same. However, some interesting stuff has come my way lately, so this week we’ll do something different—each day I’ll feature an excerpt or link to a church with some news worth sharing.

We start with Eastside Christian Church in California. Gene Appel moved from Willow Creek to become senior pastor at Eastside last year, and this week his “Gene to the Core” enews announced the hire of Jill Gille as Eastside’s new “Executive Director of Weekend Experiences.” Jill also hails from Willow, having spent ten years there as the Executive Production Manager.

“She will be overseeing and coordinating the efforts of the majority of our on-campus weekend ministries including children’s ministries, student ministries, guest services, worship arts, production, and communications,” Appel writes. “Her vision is to create a conducive environment for all people and all ages to experience the transforming power of God wherever they are at on their spiritual journey in an environment of excellence in worship, teaching, personal interaction, website and printed pieces.”

Wow—that is a MAJOR role, and probably a major change for Gille after working with, as Appel notes, a staff of 30 and several hundred volunteers at Willow. Actually, it’s probably an even bigger change for the current Eastside staff. Here’s to grace abounding among all.

Paul Williams’ column this week, also about Appel and his time at Willow Creek, is also quite interesting. You can read it here……although you’d already know that if you subscribed.

name brand

If you haven’t already, you’ll want to read the extra article about church branding in this week’s megachurch-themed Christian Standard, then vote in CS’s branding competition featuring 16 megachurch logos. (If the link to the contest doesn’t work, try, try again—they’re working on it.)

As I voted I found myself being drawn to certain logos but unable to articulate why. Most likely it’s because they followed the simple-but-not-easy strategy outlined in Fillinger’s article and suggested by countless other marketing professionals–figure out who you are and what you’re about, then allow those priorities to determine your message and its visual expression.

In other words, the public should receive not just a visual impression of your logo on their eyeballs, but an emotional impression full of connotations about your ministry and its values.

For instance, this logo from Aspen Grove Christian Church here in Nashville uses what my realtor would call “designer colors” to create a contemporary feel. The crown of thorns and prayer images display serious topics, but the line drawings give a sense of informality. The tree connects to the church’s name, and a combination of fonts ties it all together. This logo makes me want to find out more.

So does this one, for very different reasons. Verve, Vince Antonucci’s just-starting church in Las Vegas, lives up to its memorable name with this eye-catching logo. In addition to the full image shown here and on the church home page, I’m betting Verve will also use just the red V to brand itself in Vegas—clever.

Amor Ministries and Restore Community Church also use logos to begin telling their stories. You don’t have to know the meaning of “amor” or be familiar with the organization’s purpose to understand this is a ministry focused on love and providing shelter. Similarly, the progression of patchy to solid color in Restore’s name visually illustrates the church’s mission of, well, restoring people from brokenness to wholeness—and the arrow is a great touch.

Has your organization unified its message and medium effectively, or do you have some work to do? What are some logos (church or otherwise) that connect with you?

all wet

If you haven’t already, you’ll want to download Christian Standard‘s new compilation of articles on baptism. The 14-page resource offers perspectives on this important and sometimes controversial issue from seven authors including Paul Williams, Bruce Shields, and Jon Weatherly. Since these articles all come from current issues of Christian Standard, you can also access them online. But this download offers them as a really attractive, concise package for study and for sharing with others—and at $2.99, it’s a steal.

I love anything Brian Jones writes and his article “What Happened When I Preached on Baptism?” is one of my favorites in the pack. He shares the story of defending the doctrine of baptism at a “101″ class in his then-fledgling church plant, and how the ensuing pushback resulted in all 23 class attendees leaving the church that day. It’s usually churched people who attend these classes, he says, and it’s usually churched people who resist the idea of baptism as necessary for salvation. On the other hand, people learning about Jesus for the first time—the people Jones wants to reach—typically have few of the same concerns.

“In fact, I’ve found that the more we’ve taught on baptism, the more churched people have left, and the more non-Christians have come to Christ and brought their non-Christian friends,” he writes. “Preaching baptism spurs church growth with the right people, it doesn’t impede it.”

As a bonus, CS’s website also offers several photo galleries of these new believers being baptized in swimming pools, oceans, and rivers all over the country. Here are a few of my favorites.

“Dog” show

I finally saw Slumdog Millionaire today; several critics (like this one and this one) are predicting big wins for the movie at tomorrow’s Academy Awards. From the great “acting” of the little boys (they aren’t actors, just poor Indian kids recruited for the roles) to the triumphant love story, it’s a wonderful movie. One review said, “The prospect of an uneducated orphan from the slums of Mumbai winning a pot of gold on a game show that hinges on worldly knowledge is, of course, the stuff of purest fairy tales.” Yes, it’s almost impossible to believe it could actually happen—then again, Slumdog‘s own cast finds it hard to believe the movie is now a front-runner for major prizes tomorrow night. It just might win Best Picture, and I hope it does.

But what struck me while watching the film was not the acting, the cinematography, or even the irresistible music—it was the poverty. As my dad said on the drive home, the filth and disease of those Indian slums are replicated in every major city throughout the 2/3 world. A billion people around the globe scavenge for food, drink dirty water and wash their clothes in it, and accept lives of crime and prostitution just to get by.

That’s not news—you’ve heard all the statistics. Like me, maybe you even sponsor a child or write a check at the end of the year to help out in a small way and assuage your guilt over everything you can’t or don’t do.  And like me, perhaps you watched this movie and wondered why you won the cosmic spin of the wheel and so many others didn’t.

I’m no smarter, more talented, or more worthy than the young women in Mumbai, Uganda, or Lima. I don’t deserve overpriced junk food anymore than they deserve to live off garbage.  Why was I placed among riches when so many others beg for pennies?  Why do I get an easy life when so many others suffer? Or as Paul Williams wrote (and took a beating for) in one of his Christian Standard columns, “Would someone please help me locate the Scripture that defines such inequity as acceptable?”

The only answer I ever come back to is Luke 12. “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded,” Jesus says, “and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”

I can’t fix global poverty by myself anymore than an Indian “slumdog” can win a zillion rupees—both are the illusion of feel-good movies. But my daily life seems like a fairy tale to much of the world, and the marching orders are clear. It’s time to get busy.

south bound

It’s probably not cool to mention that tomorrow I’m headed to Florida, because it is cool—no, it is gird-your-loins COLD—pretty much everywhere else today. But I am, and I’m super excited for a day at Disney, good seafood, and some warmer temps. I’ve had cold feet since October, and I don’t mean that metaphorically.

I’m just as excited to head to my fourth or fifth Christian Standard contributing editors meeting, which is the real reason for the trip. This meeting has become such a fixture in my Januaries that I honestly can’t remember whether this is year four or five. Either way, I hope it’s not the last. Many of the contributing editors have served on the team as long as I have, and catching up on each other’s personal journeys is as meaningful as the annual planning we do for CS.

We’ll be meeting Monday-Wednesday of next week, and as always we’d love your feedback about the magazine, the weekly online edition, the website, or all three. Leave a comment here or email me (buzz@standardpub.com). Meanwhile, I’m off to choose between pink and red toenail polish. I don’t care if it is only 65 in Florida this weekend—you better believe I’m wearing sandals.

book it

December always brings lists; Time magazine just released an entire issue devoted to the “top 10 everything of 2008″ and many other magazine and blog authors create their own best-of lists this time of year. These always sell well—with the incredible amount of information available to us, it’s helpful to sort out the events, people, movies, music or activities worth our time.

We also enjoy these lists because they provide new insights into our culture. (This year the top two Yahoo! Searches, ahead of any presidential candidate or news story, were Britney Spears and wrestling league WWE. No wonder the rest of the world hates us.)

If you haven’t already, you need to check out Christian Standard’s recent list of books that made a difference to our contributing editors this year. They include history, theology, business leadership and current events and I’ve added several to my own must-reads list for 2009. N.T. Wright’s books, of course, were already there, but some others—including Nancy Karpenske’s mention of God Talk: Cautions for Those Who Hear God’s Voice and Doug Priest’s recommendation of Saving God’s Green Earth—are books I will benefit from and wouldn’t have found on my own.

Check out the list here, and let me know what books influenced you this year. But if they involve Britney or professional wrestling, keep it to yourself.