Sticky Church

This page is intentionally left blank 0310285089_sticky.indd 1 7/15/08 1:26:52 PM The Leadership Network Innovation Series The Big Idea: Focus the Message, Multiply the Impact Dave Ferguson, Jon Ferguson, and Eric Bramlett Confessions of a Reformission Rev.: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church Mark Driscoll Leadership from the Inside Out: Examining the Inner Life of a Healthy Church Leader Kevin Harney The Multi-Site Church Revolution: Being One Church in Many Locations Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon, and Warren Bird Other titles forthcoming Other Books by Larry Osborne A Contrarian’s Guide to Knowing God: Spirituality for the Rest of Us Measuring Up (with Stuart Briscoe and Knute Larson) The Unity Factor: Developing a Healthy Leadership Team 0310285089_sticky.indd 2 7/15/08 1:26:52 PM 0310285089_sticky.indd 3 7/15/08 1:26:52 PM Sticky Church Adobe® Acrobat® eBook Reader® format Copyright © 2008 by Larry Osborne This title is also available as a Zondervan ebook. Visit www.zondervan.com/ebooks. Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530 ISBN-13: 978-0-310-30108-0 All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers printed in this book are offered as a resource to you. These are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of Zondervan, nor do we vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other — except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Interior design by Matthew Van Zomeren 0310280370_1001illus.indd 4 _1001illus.indd 4 0310280370_1001illus.indd 4 80370_1001illus.indd 0310280370_1001illus.indd 4 4 1illus.indd 4 0310285089_stickychurch_sc.indd 4 5/28/08 12:48:26 P 5/28/08 12:4 5/28/08 12:48:26 PM 11/3/08 1:18:56 PM To the congregation and staff of North Coast Church Your love for the Lord and willingness to do whatever he wants you to do are an inspiration to me 0310285089_sticky.indd 5 7/15/08 1:26:53 PM This page is intentionally left blank Contents Part 1 The Sticky Church Advantage . . . . . . . . . . 11 1. Sticky Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Why the front door is highly overrated • A parable lots of people know but not many understand • Why stickiness is so important • The purpose and format of this book 2. Who Are These Guys? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Why it might not matter if your church stinks at marketing • Small leaks, big messes, and church growth • Come and see evangelism • The 80 percent factor • Scalability and slow growth 3. How I Learned about the Importance and Power of Stickiness . . . . . 24 Killing the dream — and why it was one of the best things I ever did • Tools or sheep? • Pastors who don’t like Christians • Why marketing too early can actually keep people away 4. Why Stickier Churches Are Healthier Churches . .