churchrelevance.com

According to U.N. food officials, the global financial meltdown has pushed the ranks of the world’s hungry to a record 1 billion people.

Now is a good time to build a well, give some food, or support a child.

Yesterday I gathered data from Alexa, Bloglines, Google, and Technorati and created a list of the world’s top 60 church blogs. 110 popular blogs were measured, and the highest ranked were published.

Some focus exclusively on ministry, while others are more like theology blogs. Regardless of how you label them, these are the world’s most popular church blogs written by many of today’s most influential church leaders, theologians, and Christ followers.

To see the list, visit: churchrelevance.com/resources/top-church-blogs

The list is far from perfect. The data sources are not perfect. And it is likely that I am unaware of other eligible church blogs. I will be periodically updating the list, so I hope it improves with time.

Please use the comments to tell me of any other church related blogs that you think could qualify for the list.

Ben from Mexico, Missouri!

To determine who won the 2 free tickets to the Desiring God Conference, I used the random integers generator. It chose #875.

Ben from Mexico, Missouri chose #865 which made him the winner!

Congrats, Ben! Simply reply to the email I sent you to accept your winnings.

:: UPDATE :: Comments are closed, and a winner has been chosen.

Want 2 free tickets to this year’s Desiring God Conference?

It takes place in Minneapolis, MN on February 2-4, 2009. This year, the Desiring God Conference features thoughts on evangelism from:

• Matt Chandler :: The Village Church (Highland Village, TX)
• Mark Dever :: Capitol Hill Baptist Church (Washington, DC)
• Michael Oh :: Christ Bible Seminary (Japan)
• John Piper :: Bethlehem Baptist Church (Minneapolis, MN)

HOW TO GET FREE TICKETS

Tony Morgan and Carlos Whittaker already gave away free tickets on their blogs. And I have 2 more free tickets to give away.

To win them, simply choose a number between 1 and 1,000 and post your number in the comment section. On Friday, I will announce a winner whose number is closest to the number determined by a random integers generator.  Guidelines are:

• Only guess a number if the free tickets will be used if you win them.
• You must include a valid email address in the comment section’s email field.
• If someone posts twice, I will only accept the first number he posts.
• If two people post the same number, the winner is the person who posted first.
• If two numbers are equidistant from the randomly generated number, the “overbid” will be thrown out.

Guess away!

This Christmas, faithHighway is giving away a free church website design valued at $3,500. Actually, any nonprofit organization can apply. All you need to do is:

1. Nominate
   Visit MediaOutreach.com to enter the description and contact information for your favorite nonprofit organization by December 11th.
2. Wait
   faithHighway will narrow down the nominations to 5 finalists.
3. Vote
   Vote at MediaOutreach.com for your favorite finalist between December 18th and December 24th.
4. Listen
   A winner will be announced by the New Year.

It is not every day that you can win a free church website design. Happy nominating! And happy voting!

Last summer, 1 million Christians from 1,800 churches united together for outreach and a month long sermon series called One Prayer.

Start planning for the next One Prayer that will take place June 7-28, 2009. I will be taking part, and I hope you can, too!

For more information, visit www.OnePrayer.com.

On Friday, September 5th, 2008, Harold Davis passed away at 52 years of age. He spent his life (27 years) doing innovative children’s ministry and training church leaders. His ministry touched hundreds of thousands of people.

To me, Harold was a close friend and a mentor. He taught me valuable ministry lessons. And he was an extraordinary communicator with creative object lessons. He will be missed. A few years ago, we were discussing life philosophies, and he shared this life motto:

I’m not going to wait until I’m retired to start having fun. I’m going to live life now and have fun.

And he did. He always spent extra effort, time, and money to make life fun, particularly for his family. He spent extra effort to make sure that each day counted in his ministry and his personal life.

It is a good reminder that life is fragile, and we must all purpose to make each day count - at home and in ministry. We must all purpose to be the best stewards we can be of our lives by learning to spend some extra effort in everything we do.

A memorial fund has been set up to help his family through this difficult time. A donation link is on the homepage of www.HaroldDavisMinistries.com.

You can also support his family by purchasing one of his many leadership resources or object lessons, including electronic fire Bibles, flash paper, dissolvo paper, no tear paper, slush powder, instant snow, vanishing CD, and change bags.

Cornerstone Community Church (Simi Valley, CA) has been maxing out their facility for the past seven years. Obviously, the solution is more property and a bigger building. But the leadership at Cornerstone Community Church did not feel peace about spending $50 million to $60 million (California is expensive) going the traditional route. They asked themselves:

Would God rather we spend the money in other ways?

What about helping the world’s poor and suffering? What about serving our local community? How can we create a Biblical community that ministers through their actions?

The answer to their questions was the Conerstone Tierra Rejada Building Project. It is a church building campaign that saves money and creates a place that prioritizes serving the people outside of their church rather than self-serving their own needs. The project includes:

• Cornerstone Community Church & Eternity Bible College Facilities
  >> Outdoor Sanctuary (3,000 person capacity)
  >> Gym/Multi-Purpose Building (1,000 person capacity)
  >> Chapel/Multi-Purpose Building (300 person capacity)
  >> Administration Building with Library
  >> Classroom Buildings
  >> Maintenance and Restroom Buildings
• Children’s Hunger Fund Facilities
  >> Administration Buildings and Learning Center
  >> Warehouse/Packing Buildings
• Athletic Fields
  >> 3.8 acres of shared-use athletic fields (will encourage local community use)
• Onsite Wastewater Treatment Facility
  >> Creates tertiary-treated recycled water for irrigation
• Onsite Parking Facilities
  >> 2,000 parking spaces
  >> Eco-friendly “grass-crete” pavement
• Open Space
  >> Approximately 58.8 acres of preserved open space
  >> Only 3% of total site developed

To better understand “Why?”

Watch this sermon (click here) by Senior Pastor Francis Chan. And watch the following videos:

Church Leadership Discusses a Need

What Can $20 Million Dollars Do?

I admire their stewardship. Obviously, their church model does not work for every church because God gives each of us a unique calling. However, I think it is an excellent example of how we all should evaluate our ministries within their own unique contexts and search for ways to maximize our stewardship.