But the most popular page on the site is the Locator. Type in a church and find its address and phone number—maybe even a staff listing if someone from the church has emailed me recently with the latest news. Or type in a city and find all the Christian churches in that area. It’s a handy tool that’s used a lot.

Last week I received an email via the site from a guy (we’ll call him Chris) who wanted to add his church. The church’s website indicated it was affiliated with, or was perhaps even a campus of, North Point in Atlanta. I wrote him back.

“Thanks for your email. Wanted to clarify that on CCT we list churches affiliating with the Restoration Movement. That’s not to be exclusive or denominational—although I realize it may sound that way—it’s just that the specific mission of the site is to serve this group of churches and be a directory for them.”

He wrote me back.

“I went to Restoration schools and worked for a Christian church and that church helped plant the new church. What defines a Christian church enough to make the listing? I am a Christian church guy, and I planted a church.”

They typically include the same things—a note from the senior pastor promoting the new sermon series, announcements of baby dedication day or a youth group fundraiser, small group sign-up info, a link to the church’s Facebook page, an ad for some program created by Dave Ramsey, a quote from some book written by Max Lucado.

Predictable. A bit boring. No wonder your readership isn’t growing!

So in the spirit of being a blessing, I offer a few ideas for new features guaranteed to spike your subscription numbers:

–Top Five Tithers, Year To Date

–People Who Haven’t Given One Red Cent

–Match The Elder To His Wife’s Embarrassing Nickname For Him

–Guess Who Confessed This Sin?

–Last Week’s Internet Searches, Sorted By Staff Member

–The Baptistry Pool: Bet On When The Next Person Will Be Baptized

–Congregants Recently Seen Buying Alcohol

–Bible Verses That Sound Dirty

–The Prayer Request You Only Thought You Knew

–Last Person To Give $5 Online Is Directing VBS

–Who Should the Youth Minister Be Dating?

–Guess The Weight Of The Pastor’s Wife (Chik-Fil-A Gift Certificate To The Winner!)

–Remaining Dollars In Thousands Owed by Senior Pastor for Bible College Student Loans (A Chart Updated Weekly Since 1989)

–”The Act of Marriage” Quote Of The Week

–What REALLY Happened At The Women’s Retreat

Any others spring to mind?

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.

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.

Ten of the posts I like best, for one reason or another:

Do we really want a country of McChurches?

The story is bigger than our short-term happiness.

Can Christians drink?

A Holiday Tip.

“Leadership” means dealing with reality—including conflict.

eHarmony: I’m not a fan.

If you must read “The Shack“……

On preaching politics from the pulpit….

Why I’d rather work for men.

An open letter to Tim Keller.

Ten of the posts that received the most feedback, on or off-line:

Apparently you can’t love trees and love God—or so say some readers.

How would Jesus vote?

Parents, please keep your crying kids out of worship services.

“Shout to the Lord” on American Idol…….oh, the drama.

The church’s response to homosexuality.

How I messed up the 2008 NACC.

So we saved ‘em. How do we disciple ‘em?

One attempt to start a small group.

All a-Twitter.

Is this it? I’m ready for more.

Ten people, places or things I still think you should check out:

Tokens Show

Andrew Peterson

Books by Henry Cloud

Christian Church Today

Design Intervention (both versions!)

What kind of church is this?

Ring the Bells: A Christmas Offering

Deadly Viper Character Assassins

Nichole Nordeman

Second Guessing God by Brian Jones

I found it quite funny, and also something any church could do—with the goal, of course, to encourage people to read the Bible for themselves.

So I’ve been able to spend time on YouTube and call it work, and I’ve found a lot of great stuff from churches big and small. Here’s the link to one of my favorites, since Blogger allows everyone on earth but me to post videos directly. What’s the opposite of hearting something? That would describe my feelings for Blogger.