Thank you to all of those that have made the Dying to Restart book one of the most downloaded resources this year at exponential.org. With over 4,000 downloads since it’s release, the book is obviously meeting a need for churches struggling to survive.
Over the last few months, we have heard from dozens of churches that have read the book and have started a conversation about restarting. Our overall goal for this project is to impact local churches so that more lives could be changed by the Gospel. Our prayer is that the conversations lead to action and the action leads to lives changed. If you need help moving the conversation forward, please reach out to us for help. Contact Tom Planck at tom@healthygrowingchurches.com to start the conversation.
Available at Amazon.com
In June of this year, we released a print version of the book that can be found here on Amazon. The book is designed as a resource to give to church boards and pastors considering a restart. We replaced Exponential.org’s “B5” language with words that we hope appeals to a broader audience to eliminate hurdles for others. We are hearing from leaders that the book is serving an audience that the online download may struggle to reach.
New Podcast in October
This October, the Lewis Center for Church Leadership will feature a two-part article on the book and a podcast that I (Dan) recorded for the center. The center has roots in the Methodist church but has a very wide audience of 20,000 leaders. Their website has lots of other great resources as well.
Future Books Planned
Greg continues to do work for Discipleship.org and has been involved in research using the DM5 instrument with Bobby Harrington called “Becoming a Disciple Maker.” Greg is also publishing an eBook dealing with Spiritual gifts and writing another book on assessments with Exponential.
Reaching our Spanish Community
I am working this Fall to launch a missionary effort to the Spanish community surrounding our church in DC. We plan to commission a Latino family to live and work among our neighbors for two years. We hope that we can develop a creative expression of the church that best meets the needs of our Spanish-speaking neighbors in Washington, DC as our restart story continues to evolve.
Restart Cohort
Finally, we want to make you aware of an upcoming opportunity. All throughout the book, we encourage leaders not to walk the restart path alone. It is a very unique and risky path, so we have designed an opportunity to help churches and leaders. This Fall, we are launching a “Restart Cohort” that will include twelve months of learning and coaching. Each cohort will consist of 5-10 leaders and have two phases. The first phase is designed to help you determine your readiness to restart. The second phase is designed to coach you through the nuts and bolts of restarting. Get more information about the cohort at this link.
As always, please reach out if there is any way we can help your church, district assembly or denomination.