Today’s Buzz: George Foreman Grilled; Measuring More than Numbers; New Life After Haggard…

Orginally published on Sunday, July 22, 2007 at 4:21 PM
by Todd Rhoades

In today's buzz... why George Foreman rejected Islam; surprising 'next steps' toward Christ; How is New Life Church doing 'post-Haggard'?; Is you church website 'hot' or 'not'; and a listing of the top 20 church logos...

Why George Foreman Rejected Islam
Foreman says, “I thought about [Islam], but one day I tore [Ali’s] jacket off of him, being the mean guy that I am, and he cussed me out so bad. And I said, “Wow!  I’m like that already.” So, I left [Islam] alone.” Read more here.

Don’t Just Measure the Numbers...
John Deboer, an Information Analyst at Granger Community Church writes:  “We recently completed another weekend survey at GCC. We try and do a weekend survey about every 6 months or so to try and get a handle on the simple demographics of our congregation, their spiritual growth and other ministry related aspects. Being the numbers geek, I started thru the returns after the first service on Saturday. There I read stories behind the numbers that rocked my world.  We asked what I thought was a simple question –

If you can recall a specific next step you’ve taken toward Christ recently, what was it?

I was prepared for the expected answers – I started to pray more, read my Bible, etc. All great next steps. The ones I wasn’t ready for were –

I had a heart attack
I had a mastectomy
My husband left me
I lost my job
…and many others.

These were the stories of people who saw life threatening and tragic situations as positive steps toward Christ. People whose faith in Jesus overshadowed their situation. People who would rather say “thank you Jesus for bringing us closer” than “why me?”.

Don’t focus on just the numbers. The numbers aren’t the whole story. Measuring Innovation is sometimes about telling stories.  Read more entries from John’s blog here… HT to Mark.

New Life After Ted Haggard
It’s the largest church in Colorado Springs, but attendance is down and so is the cash balance at New Life.  It comes after the scandal involving former senior pastor Ted Haggard.  Just this week, the church released its financial statement for 2006.  “We’re holding steady between eight and 10 percent below last year’s financial performance,” said Rob Brendle, associate pastor at New Life.  The megachurch brought in 14.6 million dollars last year. Its closing balance at the end of the year was around 600 thousand dollars - 400 thousand less than last year.  Source.

Hot or Not Church Websites?
Shawn Wood provides us with this link to a ‘hot or not’ site for church websites.  So… is your church website ‘hot’ or ‘not’?

Top 20 Church Logos
Kent over at ChurchRelevance.com has put together his list of the top 20 church logos.  You can take a look here...

And Finally...

Have a great week!

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Hi... I'm Todd Rhoades. I'm a Christ-follower, husband, father and I love to connect leaders with other leaders. Hopefully you'll find something here at MMI you like and will return often. If you want, you can find out more about me or follow my every step on Twitter.

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