The Big Idea: Focus the Message—Multiply the Impact

by Dave Ferguson, Eric Bramlett, Jon Ferguson

Community Christian Church embraced the Big Idea and everything changed. They decided to avoid the common mistake of bombarding people with so many “little ideas” that they suffered overload. They also recognized that leaders often don’t insist that the truth be lived out to accomplish Jesus’ mission. Why? Because people’s heads are swimming with too many little ideas, far more than they can ever apply.The Big Idea can help you creatively present one laser-focused theme each week to be discussed in families and small groups. The Big Idea shows how to engage in a process of creative collaboration that brings people together and maximizes missional impact. The Big Idea can energize a church staff and bring alignment and focus to many diverse church ministries. This book shows how the Big Idea has helped Community Christian Church better accomplish the Jesus mission and reach thousands of people in nine locations and launch a church planting network with partner churches across the country.This book is part of the Leadership Network Innovation Series.

Genres: Church, Leadership, Faith, Communication

208 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2007

Reviews

[Trevor Dailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not necessarily feasible for a smaller church, but the book was well written and made sense.

[Isaiah Jesch · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good results from a weak system

I liked the initial concepts, or perhaps the result of the planning strategy, but the post-modern methods/rationale of their system need deep revamping to be useful.

[Chad Short · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is written for large churches with multiple staff, particularly staff whose roles are devoted to areas of expertise such as communications and video production. Ferguson assumes a large church context as he writes, as he should since that is his own ministry context. The ideas in the book are good, but simply not workable for smaller churches with limited staff and resources. For that reason I gave it three stars. The pastor of a larger church may well find it a five star resource.

[Jon Haarstad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book I picked up because the title was a phrase that has often come up in conversations related to the emerging vision of my church. In all, the book offers some great insider information to a certain way of generating the week-to-week sermon & lesson materials that not only creates a wonderful teaching environment for the congregants/attenders - but in the end also creates an empowering environment for those that are part of the pastoral team.

Once the writer created the WHY throughout the first half of the book - I was really intrigued by the methodology and found myself frequently saying "ah-ha".

Great book for any size of church. It's primarily designed for those in leadership - whether pastoral or on a creative/arts team.

[Bobby Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! What I learned :: too many ideas introduced throughout the week (Sunday morning, kids environments, small groups, etc) water down the impact of the timeless truths. Focus energy on communicating one clear idea at a time. Teach less for more! Encouraged us to change the format of small group material selection. We are encouraging our small group leaders to use discussion questions related to Sunday's message instead of introducing a new topic/study.

[Ryan Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good, it definitely gave a vivid picture of where creative planning could go on a grand scale. In most settings it could be implemented on a smaller scale and still pay huge dividends. The authors present a great vision for getting all the segments of a church on the same page and building a cohesive strategy.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great and challenging thoughts throughout. You are challenged with practical how to do this, what does it look like stuff all throughout. The ideas are simple, but profound, and as you think about it, just as BIG as the title suggests. Great for church leaders serious about being effective communicators and organizations.

[Nick Woodall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good book for pastors and other church leaders; however, he should have made more use of charts and visual aids rather than trying to drag out the verbage. Concept is awesome, especially for church leaders needing to get a handle on the myriad of details that come their way each week. In essence, a book about a pastor who has recently discovered how to work in teams and plan ahead.

[Vanessa Wikle]

Just started reading this book, only through the first chapter but I love it already. It puts so many things into perspective, and explains what "The Big Idea" is very well. Explains the direction of ONE*! A must read to appreciate the vision!

[Juan Carlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the simplest biblical tools I came to know, and at the same time one of the best creative method to build alignment in a church or church network. Well put and explained with a practical twist at every page. Love it and use it

[Daniel McNaughton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a helpful and practice book for learning how to preach with a team. I am still trying to impliment it but it was excellent.

[Guy Mofley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic concepts. Helps me re-think what i am saying and is it a part of the big idea.

[Alex Mclean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just remember, this is VERY prescriptive... use the ideas that drive the "Big Idea"; the steps and or results may look nothing like what this church does...

[Cary Sawatsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

A worth-while read. Lots of valuable nuggets of information among the overall strategy of having a "Big Idea" church.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

READ JAN 2012

Excellent resource for anyone seeking to develop integrated ministry, especially involving multi-site locations.

[Justin Farley · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://justinfarley.blogspot.com/2012...