Breakout Churches

by Thom Rainer, Zondervan, 2005.



This is a followup(?) to Good to Great by Jim Collins.



Good to Great has made a huge impact at my hospital and many other companies. He did extensive research in the business world. He found several companies that were tooling along just fine, average, turning a small profit for many years. Then, all of a sudden, they started making tons of money for many years in a row. Then, his reasearch team said, what happened differently from other similar companies? Great book for anyone interested in the pursuit of excellence.

Breakout Churches follows the same sort of model, but for churches. Rainer's research team identified several churches that were pretty blah for a long time. Then, all of a sudden, they burst forward in church attendance, conversions (from other faiths), community impact, etc. He follows the same ideas as articulated by Jim Collins. Very helpful for any church (PCA?) that has been stagnate for some time. Basically, Rainer (and Collins) says it comes down to a committment to excellence and "hardwiring" excellence into the community. The principles, though, help to make excellence happen. Not quite a "how-to" book, but bordering on it.

Thanks to my friend and pastor, Worth Carson for the recommendations and borrows. These are good reference books, but not quick page turners.