When First Gethsemane Church of Louisville, Ky., split in 1983, not only was the congregation separated, families were divided. So when Rev. T. Vaughn Walker became the pastor of the group that stayed, he inherited the trouble of 135 hurting people.
"We had folk who would not speak to each other," he recalled. Husbands and wives, families were caught in the painful break up. But eventually all that ended. The church held reconciliation services and not one, but two, large and growing churches resulted.
Walker spoke at the "Breakout Churches: Discover How to Make the Leap" conference in Louisville, Ky., Sept. 16, the second in a three-part Church Health Series sponsored by Church Central.
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"When people come to Louisville, they don't talk about First Gethsemane," Walker said. "We are a struggling church to the glory of God." First Gethsemane has more than 2,000 members today.
But Walker told the 150 conference attendees that the work is never over. "I don't think you breakout and you're out," Walker said. "I think you have to keep breaking out."
He outlined some of the specific changes at First Gethsemane. It was an explanation that exemplified what Rainer identified as a breakout church.
Breakout Churches study
Rainer's latest findings will be published in a new book, "Breakout Churches." He used six criteria for the study. First, churches surveyed had to have an evangelical focus  measured by at least 26 conversions a year. Some 96 percent of churches studied were eliminated with that one criterion.
In addition, the churches had to have experienced a decline or a plateau in growth, and then a breakout. Churches had to follow their breakout with growth for five years or more. They also had to have impact on the community, which Rainer admitted was a subjective determination.
Rainer further outlined six major issues for breakout churches:
1. Breakout churches had an awareness, a belief and a crisis over their failure.
2. Breakout churches put in place an effective team of leaders.
3. Breakout churches focused on their purpose, as outlined in Acts 2.
4. Breakout churches brought together the leader's passion, the gifts of the congregation and the needs of the community in their vision.
5. Breakout churches cultivated a culture of excellence.
6. Breakout churches accepted and implemented changes.
The information was practical for churches interested in moving to the next level in ministry. Don Spencer who attended as part of a group of about 30 people from the Kentucky Baptist Convention said what he heard at the conference was "good stuff," because it focused on practical issues rather than the "pie-in-the-sky" talk he has heard at other church conferences.
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Chris Brummett, foreground, is minister of discipleship and outreach at Calvary Baptist Church in Danville, Ky. Brummett said Bob Russell's advice for preachers to apply scripture to themselves during sermons was particulary helpful information he will take home with him from the "Breakout Churches" conference. |
"I'm hearing more realism," Spencer said, "the reality of the churches."
One final criterion steered Rainer's research in a different direction from a similar project undertaken a few years ago by Christian researcher George Barna  namely that breakout churches had to have the same pastor.
"We eliminated the criteria that one of the ways to become a breakout church is to change pastors," Rainer said. "Because I don't think that helps any of you," he told conference goers.
"When we began to look at the change that takes place in these churches that qualified to be breakout churches, the first thing that we saw happen in every one of these churches was changed leadership  not change of leaders, but changes in the hearts of leaders.
"And it was an incredible story as these leaders shared with us in total vulnerability, their struggles, their problems, their victories, their joys."
Rainer outlined the characteristics of breakout leaders:
1) fierce biblical faithfulness;
2) tenure (averaging 21.6 years compared to the 3.6 years national average);
3) confident humility;
4) acceptance of responsibility;
5) legacy minded;
6) outwardly focused vision;
7) persistence;
8) unconditional love of church members.
Love and excellence at Southeast Christian
Bob Russell, senior minister of Southeast Christian Church, one of the largest congregations in the U.S., spoke about the unconditional love of church members, saying that a caring congregation becomes a contagious atmosphere.
"I think one of our main assignments is to communicate and cultivate love in the church," Russell told the crowd of pastors and ministry leaders.
He also spoke about the culture of excellence identified not only in breakout churches, but at his own church as well. Russell said even from the mega-church's humble beginnings in the basement of a house nearly 40 years ago, the church placed a priority on quality. "I noticed immediately that what they did, they did very well," Russell said.
Today the church serves 24,000 members and continues to claim the motto: excellence without extravagance. Russell spoke to church leaders about the two reasons why churches should be committed to excellence: 1) to honor Christ and 2) to enhance evangelism.
Russell said that because 95 percent of evangelism is "invitational," church programming is critical. If most people tell others about Jesus by inviting them to church, he said, "That's why excellence is so important." That excellence includes facilities, programming and preaching.
Preaching
"I fear preaching has been denigrated so much in recent years that we've lost confidence in it," Russell said. "Don't lose confidence in the power of preaching. Something mystical, something supernatural happens when the Word of God is preached. I can't explain it. … I want to challenge you today to make preaching a priority."
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Southeast Christian Church Senior Minister Bob Russell, right, listens to a conference attendee during the Breakout Churches conference in Louisville, Ky., Sept. 16. |
Many church leaders accepted the excellence challenge they heard at the Breakout conference. Several, including Dr. Walker, said they want to increase their sermon preparation time as Russell suggested, to 20 hours a week.
"God is still working on changing me," Walker said. "I sit here under conviction that part of my challenge is enough preparation. I've had some Saturday night specials and some Sunday morning desperations."
Doug Schrock of New Hope Community Church in Bryan, Ohio said he plans to increase his preparation time from two to three hours a week at the end of the week, to closer to 20 hours.
Roger Andrews of Pine Hills Church in Fort Wayne, Ind., already spends 15-20 hours in preparation and he said he believes the growth of his church can be attributed in part to preaching.
"This summer we broke the 200 barrier and I think part of that is good biblical teaching," he said.
Schrock also said he resonated with the combination of statistics and stories he heard from Rainer and Russell.
"Being able to hear Bob Russell and Thom Rainer and their experiences together is good," he said.
Vision
Schrock and Andrews mentioned the vision Rainer outlined in his presentation about breakout churches. That was an idea they said they would take back to their own churches.
Rainer used a Venn diagram to illustrate the way three intersecting circles of leadership passion, congregational gifts and passions and community needs collide to create a church's vision.
Andrews said the community needs and the leader's interests had been a given in church vision but Rainer's addition of congregational input was new for him. "The message for me today is to bring the church into the vision," he said.
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Dr. T. Vaughn Walker describes how his church became a "Breakout Church." |
"It can't come all from us [church leadership]," Schrock added.
Neither can a vision stuck in the past be effective. Walker said that at First Gethsemane the church had stuck with a vision from 1950. "We were riding an old wave," he said. "I believe the most critical question for the church today is, ‘Are you willing to change?'"
Walker wears a small pin on his jacket lapel that reads, "Catch the wave." That has become the slogan for the breakout ministry at First Gethsemane.
"I'm being reminded every day," Walker said. "I want to catch what God is sending."
Take a look at the "Breakout" conference slideshow.
