The Church Will Thrive Resources

We are entering a new era in the American church when what has been effective is bearing less and less fruit. Navigating this new chapter in church history will require balancing the tension between what is necessary from the past and what is needed for future. I’ve spent the last several years thinking about and researching this challenge, and share my insights in my new eBook, The Church Will Thrive. You can get your free copy here.

As a part of writing the The Church Will Thrive I sat down with several friends to talk about how they are seeing success reaching a generation other churches have almost given hope on. The leaders I talked to range from young church planters to seasoned leaders, the one thing they all have in common is a passion to see the next generation come to faith and effectiveness in Christ. You can watch those unedited interviews below.

Shawn is the Lead Pastor of Red Rocks Church with several campuses around Denver, one campus in Belgium and multiple God Behind Bars sites. Every weekend Red Rocks reaches over 10,000 mostly Millennials in a culture where 90% of people have no church connection. I chatted with Shawn about how important collaboration is in their context.

Dave is the founding pastor of Ethos Church which meets in various music venues across downtown Nashville. Every weekend Ethos attracts several thousand attenders mostly under 30 years old. The mission of the church is to “Love God, Love People, and Start a Movement”. Dave lives this out in his own life and does an incredible job of inspiring Millennials to also live on mission. We talked about the practical side of making their vision a reality.

Ernest planted Front Range Christian Church a few years ago in Castle Rock, just outside of Denver. Front Range has become a magnet for families with young children even though they don’t have a permanent location for their weekend services. Ernest’s goal when he moved to Colorado with a team of about 30 people is that they would be more than just another church in a school, that they would be great neighbors. I talked with Ernest about how they are living out that value.

In 2010 former NFL player Derwin Gray planted Transformation Church with a vision to be “multi-ethnic, multi-generational and mission shaped.” Every weekend Pastor Derwin sees that vision lived out as thousands of people from many culture and generational backgrounds gather to take the next step on their faith journey. Derwin and I talked about how to intentionally impact multiple cultures and ages with the timeless Gospel.

People thought Andy was crazy when he moved with a small team of friends from Charleston, South Carolina to Silicon Valley to plant Echo Church (originally called Southbay Church). Several years later Echo is making a huge impact across three campuses, reaching mostly Millennials working in the tech world. I sat down with Andy to talk about what it takes to reach this segment of society when other churches are having so little success.

Flatirons Church with several locations across the Denver metropolitan area is the largest church in Colorado. Nearly 20,000 people attend a Flatirons campus every weekend in an area where almost no one goes to church. I caught up with Scott Nickell, who was at that time a teaching pastor at Flatirons (Scott is now at Southland Christian Church in Kentucky) a little while back to talk about the challenge of maintain Biblical truth while wading through the day to day mess of Millennial’s lives.

Ron is a serial church planter, and he has planted successful churches in several hard to reach communities across the country. Restoration Church, the church plant he currently leads, is just a few blocks from Denver University in one of the most unchurched areas of one of the most unchurched cities in the U.S. Ron’s “secret sauce” in reaching people no one else is reaching is intentional conversations with skeptics and non-believers. I sat down with him and asked how he helps people find faith through these conversations.