April 6, 2026
DiscipleShift 2026 is a two-day hands-on training experience designed to help pastors and church leaders make disciples of Jesus through authentic relationships. The event focuses on intentional leadership, relational disciple-making, small-group environments, alignment around a common mission, and building a disciple-making culture within the church.
April 6, 2026
DiscipleShift 2026 is a two-day hands-on training experience designed to help pastors and church leaders make disciples of Jesus through authentic relationships. The event focuses on intentional leadership, relational disciple-making, small-group environments, alignment around a common mission, and building a disciple-making culture within the church.
After 25 Years, Church Ministry Is Soaring By Rick Chromey Nestled in the heart of southwestern Idaho is a church that’s spent a quarter century serving Treasure Valley communities, from Meridian to Emmett and Boise to Caldwell. The aptly named Eagle Christian Church has spread its wings in recent years, expanding in 2019 to three campuses in Surprise Valley (east Boise), central valley (Eagle), and west valley (Nampa/Caldwell). The church also built a new administration building last year to better accommodate staff offices and leadership meetings. Founded in 1995 in Dr. Steve Crane’s living room, Eagle Christian Church started small
May 20, 2019
What statistics really count in the church? Baptisms? Attendance? Or something much more vital? By Jim Putman I have been in many meetings over the years with so-called âbig dogsâ in the American Christian world . . . and I have left these gatherings feeling very dissatisfied. These meetings often sound spiritual and may even come from good hearts, but they often leave me feeling like something big was missed. The purpose of meeting usually is good: How do we win people to Jesus? Most everyone acknowledges our culture is falling apart, that many Americans are leaving the faith and
March 14, 2018
By Mel McGowan Real Life Ministries in Post Falls, Idaho, strives to meet people where they are and then walk a mile or even a lifetime alongside them. This church does not attempt to impress its community but, rather, exposes its own raw, real character to draw in “messy, ordinary people.” My company learned this firsthand when we presented a storyboard to them that included a photo of nice, new work boots, and the church leaders’ immediate pushback was that the boots wouldn’t be theirs. That’s because the shoes they walk in would be a pair of boots borrowed
June 14, 2015
By Jim Putman Our facilities were jammed. Our leaders were overextended. Our growth was stymied. We had three choices: Build larger. Create multisites. Or plant new churches. This is why we chose the third option. Eight years ago the church I lead, Real Life Ministries, was averaging 8,500 people in five weekend services. We were far past the 80 percent rule in our main services (i.e., our auditorium was beyond 80 percent full; we wouldn”t grow any larger in those services). And the times of the other services were not convenient enough to be attractive to newcomers. Our staff and
June 5, 2012
By Darrel Rowland Jim Putman readily agrees that a lengthy ministry is no guarantee of spiritual success. “Just because you”re in a place a long time doesn”t mean it”s going to be effective. You”re going to have to be the right kind of leader in a long-term ministry.” But that right kind of leader can be more effective over the long haul, he says. “I think the largest churches in the United States are led by people who”ve been there for a period of time and figured out how to make an impact, and how to grow people spiritually and
July 14, 2011
By Jennifer Taylor The Solomon Foundation, a new church extension fund for the Christian churches and churches of Christ, launched several months ago with headquarters in Englewood, CO. Doug Crozier, formerly president of Church Development Fund (Irvine, CA), serves as chief executive officer of the new organization. Crossroads Christian Church (Grand Prairie, TX) and Christ”s Church of the Valley (Peoria, AZ) worked with Crozier and his team to fund the development and launch of the foundation. Leaders from Mount Pleasant Christian Church (Greenwood, IN), Real Life Ministries (Post Falls, ID), The Crossing (Quincy, IL), and Churchill Meadows Christian Church (Toronto,
December 2, 2010
By David Limiero When Bryan and Missy Meyers participated in a Stadia church planting assessment in the fall of 2009, they had a clear goal in mind””plant a church in northern Nevada in the fall of 2011. It seemed like the perfect plan. Bryan was serving as associate pastor at Hope Community Church in Reno, Nevada. Missy was the church”s preschool director. The church”s senior pastor, Bill Sherman, was solidly behind both the strategy and the timing. And Hope had just planted her first daughter church in nearby Fernley. Bryan and Missy”s church plant would be the next step in
September 28, 2010
Mark A. Taylor Congratulations to Southeast Christian Church, Louisville, Kentucky, the fifth largest church and the 27th fastest growing church in America. Southeast was one of 17 congregations in the fellowship of Christian churches included in the two lists, published by Outreach magazine in September. The lists were based on self-reported February and March attendance weekend attendance averages in a research project involving more than 8,000 churches, according to Outreach. LifeWay Research conducted the study. Ten of the 100 largest churches in America are among the Christian churches, including two in the top 10. (The numbers here and in the
April 11, 2010
By Kent Fillinger Real Life Ministries is currently the sixth-largest Christian church/church of Christ in the country. Started by Jim Putman with only four families in 1998 in Post Falls, Idaho, Real Life has grown to an average worship attendance of 8,500. Real Life first appeared on CHRISTIAN STANDARD”s megachurch list in 2001 with an average attendance of 1,497. Real Life has remained focused on “making disciples in relational environments” and resisted chasing fads or shooting for “the big show” like some other churches. “The church should not be a gathering place, but a launching pad,” said Putman, who believes the
April 11, 2010
By Kent Fillinger The 2000s were a turbulent decade. We went from Y2K to 9/11 to H1N1. We had a housing boom followed by an economic bust. As we came to experience the world in high-definition, the sights were often scary and unpleasant””wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hurricane Katrina, the Boxing Day Tsunami, AIDS, and global poverty. “Hanging chads” made one president”s election controversial, and then the first African-American president won by a clear majority. We went from watching Friends to drinking Starbucks to opening coffee cafés in our churches. We went from church in one location to one church in
April 7, 2010
By Mark A. Taylor Early in the first of his megachurch articles, Kent Fillinger gives perspective for churches of every size. The churches in this year”s list grew by an average of 4.7 percent, he reports, and points out that a church of 150 would need to add only seven to grow by the same percentage. Later, in his encouraging article about the explosion of baptisms in these churches, he calculates their 2009 baptism ratio (i.e., the number of baptisms per 100 attendees) at 7.6. To meet this standard a church of 150 would need to baptize 11 or 12 people annually.
October 7, 2009
By Brad Dupray Matt King”s road to accepting the grace of Christ was a long and rocky one, but today God is using Matt in a powerful way as senior pastor of Valley Real Life, a Christian church serving the Spokane Valley in Eastern Washington. Before entering vocational ministry, Matt was a sales manager for a machine tool company in Spokane, traveling extensively across North America carrying out multimillion dollar transactions. In his personal life, Matt and his wife, Nona, experienced the sorrow of infertility and miscarriage, and then were joyously surprised with the birth of Ethan just five months
June 17, 2009
By Brad Dupray Bob Harrington has had a front-row seat in the “simple church” arena””as described and advocated in the book Simple Church (Broadman & Holman Publishers). The church where he ministers (Harpeth Community Church, Franklin, Tennessee) has embraced the simple church concept. As director of Church Planting Networks with Stadia East and lead trainer with Church Coaching Solution”s church planter bootcamp, he has trained many church leaders in implementing simple church strategies. And as a student, Bob studied under Thom S. Rainer, coauthor of Simple Church with Eric Geiger. Bob completed his DMin at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in
April 19, 2009
 By Kent E. Fillinger and Ben Simms  Fastest-Growing Churches in 2008:  “¢ The Crossing, Quincy, IL, 27% “¢ Crosspointe, Cary, NC, 22% “¢ Compass Christian, Colleyville, TX, 22% “¢ Central Christian, Mesa, AZ, 22% Fastest-Growing since 2003: “¢ Parkview Christian Church, Orland Park, IL, 183%  “¢ Real Life Ministries, Post Falls, ID, 172% “¢ Crossroads Christian Church, Grand Prairie, TX, 101% Fastest-Growing since 1997:  “¢ Christ”s Church of the Valley, Peoria, AZ, 477% “¢ Northside Christian Church, New Albany, IN, 371% “¢ Central Christian Church, Henderson, NV, 307% What  is “AVERAGE”? The 54 megachurches” average size: 4,116  The
July 4, 2008
By Brad Dupray Jim Putman planted Real Life Ministries in Post Falls, Idaho, nine years ago with a vision of a church whose relationships would exhibit the same passion as those of New Testament Christians. Real Life has grown to weekend attendance of 8,500, with 7,600 people involved in small groups each week””all in a town of 17,000 and a county of 120,000. Jim was a three-time All-American wrestler in college and he holds degrees from Boise State University and Boise Bible College. He and his wife, Lori, have been married 20 years and are the proud parents of three
April 13, 2008
By Kent Fillinger Somewhere in America, a worship gathering in one of the megachurches and emerging megachurches can currently be found on every day of the week except Thursday. Worship services are no longer reserved for Sunday, although every church listed still offers at least one Sunday worship experience. In an attempt to see “the Lord add to their number daily those who are being saved,” the megachurches and emerging megachurches have explored offering services on alternative and multiple days of the week, and by using a variety of worship styles and venues to reach the lost in their communities.
October 28, 2007
By Bob Russell About These Articles This article and its companion, “How Should We Celebrate?,” are excerpted from Bob Russell“s closing sermon at the North American Christian Convention in Kansas City, July 6. Bob reviewed the biblical examples of celebrating what God has done, and then he highlighted some of what God is doing among us today. Â Â This is a time when those of us in the Restoration Movement should really be celebrating God”s victories. In the early 1800s our forefathers sensed a lack of vitality in the church and prayed for revival. They desired not just a
July 29, 2007
By Bob Harrington This spring I led a group of 16 lead pastors from megachurches through a two-day “Group Coaching Seminar.” Roughly half the participants were senior leaders of churches with more than 3,000 in weekend attendance (the largest one being more than 12,000). The other half were senior leaders (usually younger) of churches averaging about 1,000. It was a profound experience, an emotional and intense two days. I”m sure I learned more than anyone else in the room. This article is my attempt to pass on my top 10 insights so that other leaders can learn with me. I
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