5 Christians: What Type are You?
April 16, 2009 by Steve
Filed under Breaking News, Church, Culture and Faith, Faith at Work, Leader Zone, Methods & Strategies, Missional, The Cultural Conversation
With the changing church landscape in America, Christianity Today (CT) conducted attitudinal and behavioral research of U.S. Christians. More than 1,000 self-identified Christians 18 years of age and older were surveyed on their religious beliefs and practices. The results reveal a number of significant differences. In fact, portraits of five distinct segments emerged from the [...]
Are you part of an Expeditionary Force?
April 20, 2008 by Steve
Filed under Breaking News, Church, Culture and Faith, DifferenceMakers, Faith at Work, Methods & Strategies, Missional, The City, The Cultural Conversation, Urban Church
The Missional Challenge has an excellent article about the local church becoming a Expeditionary Force in the city — take a read….. Dr. Ray Bakke describes the church as an expeditionary force in The Urban Christian (1987). He views Christians as ministers to their worlds of relationships. For example, a banker who is a Christian [...]
Crosby Update and Work Days
March 31, 2008 by Steve
Filed under Adaptive Reuse, Breaking News, Church Construction, Inside Park, Missional, The City, The Cultural Conversation
Finally — after many delays, we are GOING TO PULL AUDIO-VIDEO wire this Saturday (woo Hoo!) as we gear up each weekend in April to get all of our audio/video stuf installed. It is starting to get real exciting! Crosby Work Days Crosby Work Days are back in full swing as we are counting down [...]
Easter Creativity – God is at Work!
March 31, 2008 by Steve
Filed under Church, Culture and Faith, DifferenceMakers, Entrepreneuring, Methods & Strategies, Missional, Powerful Passages, Sunday Services, The Arts in the City, The City, The Cultural Conversation
It’s now a week after Easter and I am checking out the blogs and news to see how God used people this Easter weekend and what drew people in to hear the Word of God on Easter. Wow! There is lots of creativity out there and that affirms that God is working His plan with [...]
In Memory of Abby-Jill — We Will Miss You
March 13, 2008 by Steve
Filed under Chicago, Culture and Faith, DifferenceMakers, Family, Inside Park, Missional, Urban Church
This week, Park Community Church suffered a great loss, when one of its former staff, Abby-Jill Brauhn , lost her fight with cancer and went to be with the Lord on Tuesday morning, surrounded by her family in Wisconsin. Abby-Jill was a Godly woman who loved the Lord and loved people. She made a huge [...]
Barna — A New Perspective on Unchurched
March 6, 2008 by Steve
Filed under Breaking News, Church, Internet Resources, Methods & Strategies, Missional, The Cultural Conversation, Urban Church
According to a new study released by The Barna Group, popular measures such as the percentage of people who are “unchurched” – based on attendance at a conventional church service – are out of date. Various new forms of faith community and experience, such as house churches, marketplace ministries and cyberchurches, must be figured into [...]
Christians in the Culture
March 6, 2008 by Steve
Filed under Church, Culture and Faith, DifferenceMakers, Methods & Strategies, Missional, Provision Theater, The Arts in the City, The City, The Cultural Conversation, Weblog
For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in how the culture ebbs and flows and who drives the culture. I’ve also seen a more determined generation who wants to drive faith and values into the culture. A good friend of mine, Dave Carlson of Bucktown Pictures, has continually told me that [...]
Free Webcast: Multi-Site Church Strategies and Ideas with Mark Driscoll et al.
March 4, 2008 by Steve
Filed under Chicago, Church, Culture and Faith, Methods & Strategies, Missional, The City
For those of you churches looking into the multi-site model (Park Community Church already has two locations and we are praying/strategizing on four more) join Leadership Network’s Greg Ligon and special guests John Bishop (pastor of Living Hope Church), Dave Browning (pastor of Christ the King Church) and Mark Driscoll (Mars Hill Church) as they [...]
DWELL: Driving Urban Church Planters
March 2, 2008 by Steve
Filed under Chicago, Church, Culture and Faith, DifferenceMakers, Methods & Strategies, Missional, The City, The Cultural Conversation, Urban Church
At Park Community Church, our vision is to be a Biblical community where the Gospel of Jesus Christ transforms lives, renews the city and impacts the world. Being a city center church, we are focused on reaching the city of Chicago and would like to reach 1% (29,000 people) of the city in the years [...]
Vision Sunday
January 9, 2008 by Steve
Filed under Chicago, Church, Inside Park, Methods & Strategies, Missional, Sunday Services
Wow –what a great vision for a city center church! On Sunday, Jackson Crum, lead pastor at our church, Park Community Church, gave an incredible message of what God has called us to and where Park is going as it marshalls its resources and people to effect change and renewal in the city of Chicago. [...]
A Reminder: New Year, Same King
December 31, 2007 by Steve
Filed under Church, DifferenceMakers, Inside Park, Missional, Sunday Services, The City, Urban Church
This Sunday, Park Community Church was honored to have Victor Rodriguez, Senior Pastor of La Villita Community Church here in Chicago give the last message of the year. Victor is a differencemaker in Chicago and leads a congregation in the “Little Village ” area of Chicago located around 26th street and Kedzie. Little Village is [...]
Christmas at Park!
November 30, 2007 by Steve
Filed under Chicago, Inside Park, Missional
Wow — can you believe its Christmas time and 2007 is drawing to a close? Seems like just yesterday we were going to the Old Town Art Fair……. It has been quite a year around here with so many folks coming stepping across the line of faith and more than 1,000 people now in small [...]
Check out our First YouTube Video: Baptism 2007
July 26, 2007 by Steve
Filed under Chicago, Church, DifferenceMakers, Inside Park, Missional, Sunday Services
Park is now officially a YouTube broadcaster! Check out the musical slideshow of the awesome baptisms of 71 people on the beaches of Lake Michigan in the shadow the the awesome Chicago skyline from Sunday, July 22nd.
Baptism Sunday — What a Day!
July 22, 2007 by Steve
Filed under Chicago, Inside Park, Missional
Each year, on the third Sunday in July, we gather at 7 am at North Avenue beach in Chicago to hold our annual baptism service. This year, there were 71 people who were baptized in Lake Michigan in front of their friends, family and the Park Community Church family. It is so cool to have [...]
Differencemakers: Golf to God
July 7, 2007 by Steve
Filed under DifferenceMakers, Methods & Strategies, Missional, Sunday Services, The Cultural Conversation
I love golf and am excited about a successful ministry founded by a professional golfer that is using golf to help others find Jesus on the fairways. This ministry is called “In His Grip” Golf Association, a ministry that teaches churches how to use golf as a way to share the Gospel. Founder Scott Lehman [...]
Survey: Marriage and Parenthood Drift Apart
June 30, 2007 by Steve
Filed under Breaking News, Missional, The City, The Cultural Conversation, Urban Church
NEW YORK (AP) – The Pew Research Center’s brand new survey on marriage and parenting found that Americans believe that births to unwed women are a big problem for society, and they take a mixed view at best of cohabitation without marriage. Yet these two nontraditional behaviors have become commonplace among younger adults, who have [...]
Being Missional: Do Church and Bars Mix?
May 30, 2007 by Steve
Filed under Methods & Strategies, Missional, Sunday Services, The City, The Cultural Conversation, Urban Church
What do you think about churches reaching out to those who won’t come to a church and having their worship services in bars and pubs? Read the following stories and let me know your thoughts. Hal and Mal’s in Jackson Mississippi is famous for a beer after work, but on Sunday nights at 6 — [...]
Missional Living as Leaders
May 12, 2007 by Steve
Filed under Church, Inside Park, Leader Zone, Methods & Strategies, Missional
Last night, we gathered 150 of our leaders and celebrated the incredible work that God is doing in and through Park Community Church. One of the highlights was the message given by our Lead Pastor, Jackson Crum, on the need for our leaders to live missionally in the city. Have a listen here.

