Willow Creek Community Church is planning yet another addition — albeit its first in nearly a decade — to bring its Hoffman Estates-based Care Center onto its main campus in South Barrington. The Care Center provides emergency food and clothing assistance as well as health and legal advice, employment services and English as a Second Language classes. The new Care Center will grow the building’s current 295,000-square-foot footprint by 12.5 percent, and will be constructed in a consistent style of brickwork. The Care Center has been attracting not only more clients during the economic downturn,...

In a rare move, the 20,000-member Saddleback Church in Orange County is canceling all of its worship services during the second weekend in December in order to help facilitate a huge neighborhood volunteer opportunity.  Rick Warren is Saddleback attenders to take at least a half day on Saturday or Sunday (Dec. 10, 11) to go “serve in the community and love your neighbor as yourself.” In its 31-year history, the megachurch has canceled weekend services less than a handful of times, according to Warren. Church officials are hoping to mobilize Saddleback’s base of 5,000 Bible study groups,...

If your church is at all interested in getting outside your building and looking for new ideas to reach people far from God, then take a look at these 29 top Externally Focused ideas from 2011.  After looking at a ton of different ideas, the Externally Focused Network narrowed it down to the best 29 ideas that exemplify what it means to be an externally focused church. You can check it out here… … then let me know what you think. What’s the BEST idea? Is there any that you think you’ll try in YOUR...

Imagine having an outreach so big that 12,000 people show up and children are knocked over or trampled. That’s what evidently happened last year when Next Level Church did their Easter Egg Drop.  That has prompted this years drop to be held at a ‘secret location’.  See this news article for more: NEWINGTON — A “secret location” is among several changes to the Next Level Church’s Easter Egg Drop, now in its second year. Last year’s event drew an estimated 12,000 people to the Rochester Fairgrounds where a helicopter dropped 60,000 plastic eggs...

My friend Greg Atkinson recently wrote an article highlighting 8 reasons people aren’t coming back to your church.  Here are the reasons.  Go read his thoughts, then come back and let’s discuss… The Front Door Before a guest ever steps foot on your church’s physical campus, he or she has probably already checked out your church website. What every church should have clearly visible on their homepage is a section or button for first-time guests. What Stinks? It’s important that no church ever underestimates the sense of smell. While sight is the strongest sense for...