Get a free copy of Exponential by @DaveFerguson @JonFerguson

Posted on June 7, 2010

Today we’re reviewing, discussing, and giving away a copy of Exponential: How You and Your Friends Can Start a Missional Church Movement by Dave Ferguson and Jon Ferguson (affiliate link).  Keep reading to learn how you can win a free copy.

In their new book Exponential: How You and Your Friends Can Start a Missional Church Movement, pastors (and brothers) Dave and Jon Ferguson provide insight and practical advice into how to lead a church movement.  Dave and Jon don’t just write theoretically.  They along with a handful of friends started Community Christian Church in Naperville, IL which has gone on to launch 11 other campus and a church planting network.

Exponential is all about reproducing.  It starts from the smallest unit – you, and provides advice on reproducing leaders, reproducing small groups, reproducing churches, and reproducing movements.

Favorite quotes:

  • Every movement starts with one person. (P 15)
  • You can do it. (P 17)
  • You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. –Acts 1:8
  • Insisting every small group begin with a leader and an apprentice leader was one of the most important choices we ever made. (P 24)
  • Leadership path: individual -> apprentice -> leader -> coach -> director -> campus pastor/church planter -> network leader (P 32)
  • The core competency of any movement is apprenticing. (P 44)
  • Leadership can only be developed through practice. –Ram Charan
  • When you dream big, it changes how you think, how you act, and it can even change those around you. (P 46)
  • God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. –Eph 3:20
  • Wherever the creative class gravitates, there will be the creating of culture. (P 73)
  • Our churches will need to become more comfortable with chaos and failure – if they want to be faithful to God. (P 116)
  • Developing coaches (leaders of leaders) may be the single most overlooked yet vital task in spreading a missional movement. (P 118)
  • The greatest gift a coach can bring to a leader is to be available when needed. (P 123)
  • God’s dream is not for the church to be led by a one-man weekly show but for it to be a team led by great coaches. (P 129)

Personal thoughts

In many ways, Exponential, is the polar opposite of the last book I read and reviewed, Jesus Manifesto.  While Jesus Manifesto calls Christians back to loving Jesus more than anything, criticizes Christian formulas, and warns of allowing causes (even the causes of evangelism and church planting) to become a god, Exponential calls Christians to put reproducing at the forefront of their minds and it’s chock full of formulas like:

  • 5 Reproducing Principles We’ve Learned
  • 4 relationships every leader needs
  • 5 keys to developing a church culture that attracts creatives
  • 6 coaching questions
  • 3 questions for discovering God things

I think there’s room in Christian conversation for both books.  God created a universe of systems – the solar system, the water cycle, the circulatory system, etc.  Systems are good as long as we don’t allow systems to become gods, and as long as we continue to be motivated by love for God and led by his Spirit.

There are billions of people in this world who are far from God.  There is only so much any one person can do to help people find their way back to God.  That’s why it’s critically important to multiply leaders, multiply teams, multiply churches, and multiply church networks.  Dave and Jon have proven they know how to do this.

No matter what Christian leadership role you find yourself in today, you’ll find insight and practical advice that will help you follow your God-given dream.  In particular, I recommend Exponential to small group coaches/directors, directors of music/arts, senior pastors, and people who find themselves currently on the sidelines with nothing but a dream.

My biggest takeaways from Exponential were.

  • If you want your ministry to multiply, you have to start with that as one of the stated goals.
  • Apprenticing others is one of the most important factors in multiplying, no matter what level of leadership you’re at.
  • Apprenticing requires pouring into a person one-on-one.

Discussion

  1. Do you want your ministry to multiply?  If so, is that one of the stated priorities?
  2. How important do you think apprenticing is for multiplying ministries?  Do you have an apprentice?  Are you being apprenticed?
  3. How important do you think meeting one-on-one is for personal and leadership development?

Get a Free Book

If you’d like a free copy of Exponential, all you have to do is

  1. Retweet this post or share it on Facebook, and
  2. Post a meaningful comment to this post that contributes to the conversation (include your Facebook or Twitter usename in your comment so I can connect your comment to your share/tweet).

One person will be randomly selected the afternoon of Tuesday 6/8 to receive a free copy.

Of course, you could buy a copy of Exponential now (affiliate link) and if you’re lucky enough to win, you can give that copy away. 🙂

18 thoughts on “Get a free copy of Exponential by @DaveFerguson @JonFerguson”

  1. Pingback: “Exponential” Blog tour this week « EngagingChurch

    1. Don, I think you would find some good insight and advice for your situation in Exponential. I’m curious… how much emphasis is there in your church on leaders apprenticing other leaders? And how much emphasis is put on leaders spending time one-on-one with the people they are apprenticing?

  3. Pingback: Tweets that mention Get a free copy of Exponential by @DaveFerguson @JonFerguson « Live Intentionally -- Topsy.com

  4. Our church is only five years old and we’ve grown really fast and the church leadership and staff often have to manage rather than lead. This book sounds like it would have some great tips and help us to take a step back and re-evaluate how we grow our leadership. Thanks for sharing your review.

  5. Love what the Ferguson bros are doing. I think you are absolutely correct when you say: “I think there’s room in Christian conversation for both books. God created a universe of systems – the solar system, the water cycle, the circulatory system, etc. Systems are good as long as we don’t allow systems to become gods, and as long as we continue to be motivated by love for God and led by his Spirit.”

    There has to be some kind of system, or some kind of organization to the Church. We just can’t let that become the Church or our Gods.

  6. I was recently looking at getting this book. Been buying a bunch of church planting books lately as I feel God is calling/forcing/making/blessing me to plant a church back in my hometown.

    Scares the crap out of me.. But, I know if it’s meant to be it will happen. As fate would have it we joined a church plant back in Nov. At the time I didn’t know it was a plant and didn’t know what that even meant really. Now I see it as God’s provision.. I am challenging our pastor to take me on as his apprentice and have him dump everything he knows into me so we can plant a sister church. This is a link to the facebook page I run for the church. http://www.thrivefacebook.info

    Love God. Embrace Beauty. Live Life To The Fullest.
    Scott

  7. Thanks so much for sharing your insights regarding these books. My husband & I are currently stepping out in faith to pursue a new ministry direction. This is his last week as associate pastor at our current church, where we have been for 8.5 years. We are taking a more missional approach & are seeking God as to what it will look like. Don’t know of any others in our area heading this direction & are just soaking up everything we can to learn. It’s an exciting journey we are on! My husband went to the Verge Conf. back in Feb., which radically altered our direction. We are dreaming big & are excited about what God is doing. Would love to learn from those who have done this before, regarding missional church movement, etc.
    http://www.twitter.com/CJMitchell98

    1. Hi CJ, so are you and your husband actively preparing to plant a church or not quite sure what direction God is leading you at this point? If you’re not familiar with the Exponential Network – http://www.exponentialnetwork.com – it’s a network of church networks and could be a good resource for you.

      1. Hi Paul,
        Thanks for the reply. The two options before us at this point are planting or going into an existing church with the vision of training people how to be on mission in their neighborhood/community. Not that we have a lead with a specific church, though. God has not revealed all the details just yet, but He is clearly leading us & has brought us a long way in the last 4 months… concerning our vision & focus. Thanks for the resources. I will check out the exponential network & the new thing one as well.

  8. Paul,

    First, thanks for the review of Exponential.

    Second, I noticed that a number of comments and probably even more of your readers come from people who are planting churches. Feel free to recommend NewThing (www.newthing.org) as a resource and network to church planters or those that desire to see their church reproduce. We would love to help.

    Thanks again!

    Dave

    1. Dave, thanks for stopping by to comment. And thanks again for sharing your wisdom with us through Exponential. As an elder and small group leader at my church, I found the chapters about multiplying small groups, artists, and leaders to be particularly relevant to where we are as a church. I’ll be passing along the book to our director of arts and director of small groups.

  11. Congrats CJ Mitchell! You’ve won the copy of Exponential. Woohoo! I hope the book us helpful to you and your husband in whatever endeavor the Lord leads you.

    Thanks to all who commented and tweeted.

    If you’d like to buy the book, you can pick it up here on Amazon – http://amzn.to/akyaoH

  12. Pingback: Exponential: Part 2 – Your Daily Strength

  13. Thanks for this well thought through insights on church planting and exponential growth. I am being commissioned to start a church from January 2017 and this is the kind of information that i have been looking for to equip myself.
    God bless

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