Corey Widmer introduces East End Fellowship, a church plant in Richmond, Virginia. Corey discusses this great work in greater detail in an interview called Church Planting in Reverse.

Pete Wilson interviews Michael Hyatt about his new book, Platform: Get Noticed in a Busy World. This book is about how to get your brand–your message, book, product, music, or whatever–noticed by the masses. Michael speaks from experience as an accomplished CEO, blogger, writer, and entrepreneur.

If you purchase this book by May 25th you will also receive tons of free stuff, including instructional videos and free books.  Check it out for yourself!

What implications will this fact have for the future of the church? Here are some very general ideas:

1. Get rid of biases. Sadly, the church is one of the most segregated places in America. Many followers of Jesus have had the reputation of being judgmental of others who did not look like them or act like them—perhaps deservedly so. We need to get over our ethnocentric pride. The apostle Paul said, “There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

2. Be bi-lingual everything. If we want to make disciples of as many people as possible, we must address the language barrier. This means hiring ministers who have the ability to speak Spanish, developing Spanish teaching materials, and using Spanish in promotional materials. Instead of offering a “Spanish church”, we need to think hard about offering bi-lingual services and being unified as one body.

3. Advance strategically. If churches want to reach the largest number of people we need to reflect the changing face of our communities. One church plant intentionally moved into a racially diverse community so it could better reach a diversity of people. An aging church began noticing that its neighborhood was becoming more racially diverse and considered moving into a community that reflected the majority of its members. However, they soon realized that their location was a blessing and began sharing the Gospel with their neighbors.

What other ministry implications do you see for the changing face of America?

The idea of a “Person of Peace” is based on Luke 10:5, where Jesus instructed his disciples, “Whenever you enter someone’s home, first say, ‘May God’s peace be on this house.’” As this video describes, connecting with Persons of Peace can be incorporated as a rhythm in our daily lives.

For further discussion on how Jesus interacted with Persons of Peace, see Mike Breen’s article “Understanding Jesus and Persons of Peace.”

Where are Persons of Peace in your life?
How can you more intentionally bless them?

Michael Frost talks about the importance of listening. He says if we listen to the people around us they will teach us how to evangelize. Good point. I also discussed this in a previous post: Top 10 Evangelism Mistakes, Number 3–Not Listening.

Who do you need to listen to?