Craig Groeschel, founding and senior pastor of LifeChurch.tv, takes you on a nine-session video journey to discover the powerful presence from God that he calls IT at work in many churches. Each video session is approximately ten-minutes long and focuses on the many facets of 'what is IT and where did IT come from.' Craig will explore the necessary contributions to IT such as vision, divine focus, unmistakable camaraderie, innovative minds, willingness to fall short, hearts focused outward and kingdom-mindedness. He concludes the video experience with a session on 'do you have IT and how to keep IT once you have IT.' This video is designed for leadership groups and church groups and includes discussion questions on the DVD at the end of each session.

Sessions include:

1. What is IT?
2. Vision
3. Divine Focus
4. Unmistakable Camaraderie
5. Innovative Minds
6. Willingness to Fail
7. Outward Hearts
8. Kingdom Mindedness
9. Getting It Back

10 minutes/session

Highly regarded pastor Floyd Flake, his wife co-pastor author Elaine Flake, and church chief financial officer Edwin Reed offer a design based on key needs in the black church, and their experience at one of the nation's most respected and largest black churches, Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral in New York. This unique, detailed, and thorough resource for black churches of any denomination covers virtually all aspects of church management from the theoretical and theological to the practical "nuts and bolts"of church administration.
Appendices includes: Sample Mission Statement, Sample Constitution and Bylaws, Strategic Plan Checklist, Excerpts from the Greater Allen Emplyee Manual, Sample Event Budget, Sample Church Budget, Recommended Resources.

Based on Leonard Sweet's best-selling book, AquaChurch : Essential Leadership Arts for Piloting Your Church in Today's Fluid Culture, this training kit will let you explore the leadership arts that are essential in navigating today's ever-changing culture and discover ways to transform your church into a relevant and vital ministry force in your community. (12 Session: each session is about 45 to 60 minutes. Video showing per each session is about 5 minutes.)

This video consists of two parts:
Part 1 (20min). Day 41: What's Next: This is a training video by Pastor Lance Witt, director of the 40 Days of Purpose program to the leaders of the churches that completed "40 Days of Purpose" campaign. Day 41 is defined as the twelve-month period after a 40 Days of Purpose campagin, during which a church harnesses its momentum from the campaign and takes the next step toward becoming a purpose driven church.
Part 2 (80min). Building a Purpose-Driven Church: Establishing a Foundation for Growth: This is a seminar led by Pastor Rick Warren.

Spotlighting the innovative "one church, multiple locations" model, the authors provide real-life examples of multi-site churches, highlight successful approaches, identify common problems, and discuss effective ways to serve a variety of target communities. This book shows what healthy multi-site churches look like and what motivates congregations to make the change. Discover how your church can cast a vision for change; ensure a successful DNA transfer (vision and core values) to its new site; develop new leaders; fund new sites; adapt to structure and staffing change; and use technology to support your worship services. This book also offers appendixes with practical leadership resources and self-diagnostic tools.

Loren Mead, founder and past president of the Alban Institute, presents the core concepts from The Once and Future Church, his groundbreaking work, along with highlights from his important follow-up volumes Transforming Congregations for the Future and Five Challenges for the Once and Future Church, for the first time on video. Board members, strategic planning teams, congregational self-study groups, and adult classes can begin working with Mead's foundational material to develop a common understanding of the church past and present, the culture in which the church ministers today, and the shape of the new mission frontier. How did we get where we are today? What will it take for congregations to be transformed, so they can remain viable well into the 21st century? If God is calling the church to reshape itself, how do we begin? Three 25-minute sessions.

According to episcopal initiative to congregational vitality and faithful discipleship, this video will help local congregations seek God's vision through earnest listening to the Word of God in scripture. Five congrgations are shown on this video. This tool may help other churches in finding and celebrating their own gifts as disciples of Christ. Pastoral letter from The United Methodist Council of Bishops included.

Like many mainline denominations, The United Methodist Church is ailing. Declining membership, worship and Sunday school attendance, outreach and giving - all troubling signs. In an age of megachurches, ""Ten Steps to ..."" congregational self-help programs point to models that might not be in the church's best interest. Following the suggestions of this new conventional wisdom may reverse the trends and attract thousands to highly entertaining services (bolstered by a strong budget and marketing plan) led a charismatic pastor, but is that the true picture of a vital church? Could it be that our measure of success is wrong? Could it be we're diluting the real mission of the church? "Bigger says nothing about faithful, and active says nothing about effective. The value of our ministry is judged by the impact it makes on people's lives" says author Dan Dick. Dick's extensive research identifies four church types: decaying, dystrophic, retrogressive and vital. With candor he describes each, including examples of communities within the types. While reading about these types may be painful, the intent is to provide tools to move toward vitality. Help your church become transformed into a community that works - hard - together to engage in courageous ministries of witness!

***Resource includes leader and discussion guide for a 6 week "congregational conversation", written and provided by Julie Dix, Grand Rapids Metro Director***

Is our congregation in a size transition? What are the signs? Can our congregation cross the size barrier we are facing? Do we, in fact, have a vocation to make room for more people? Alban senior consultant Alice Mann helps congregations to recognize six possible size transitions: three resulting from growth and three resulting from contraction. The video explains what it will take to navigate the change from one size to another, why congregations choose to make the sacrifices needed to grow, and how to develop a plan for growth.
Four sessions are:
Session 1 (20min): What size are we?; Are we facing a size transition?
Session 2 (17min): What happens between sizes?; Why are we stuck?
Session 3 (13min): Should we be growing?; Why make the sacrifice?
Session 4 (17min): What will it take to make the change?
Special-Issues Sessions (30min)
Do we have space limitations?; Should we add a new worship service?; Should we add staff?