In the latest issue of Outreach Magazine, Rebecca Barnes reports the status of "Home Grown Churches," and the impact of this movement on the local church. One of the important questions in regards to house churches centers around the area of discipleship. Are more people staying committed to their faith through organic churches? Missiologist and North American Mission Board (namb.com) Research Team Director Ed Stetzer thinks the answer might be "yes." In his recent book, he references an annual House Church Conference in CO. According to Stetzer, the conference drew more than 400 people last year, and more than 100 network leaders attended its pre-conference. Stetzer also cites global house church trends-watcher Wolfgang Simpson's estimate of 5,000 house churches in North America, and Barna researcher Thom Black's estimate of 1 million people involved in house churches in North America. "We see an increase in models of church that reject certain organizational models, embracing what are often called 'incarnational' or 'house' models," says Stetzer. "They are responding to the fact that after decades of trying fresh ideas in innovative churches, North America is less churched, and those that are churched are less committed." Interesting insights, to say the least, what do you think?

Business 2.0 Magazine recently released their list of the "50 People Who Matter Now," revealing their take on the innovators, entrepreneurs, executives are setting today?s business agenda. You can check out the entire list at here. So, who is setting today's agenda for the Church? Give us your opinion on "Who Matters Now."

Tim Keller, the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian recently wrote an article for our friends at the Christian Vision Project that appeared in Christianity Today. He asserts that, ultimately, the relationship of Christians to culture is the singular current crisis point for the Church. In response to the magic bullet formulas sometimes used by the church to contextualize itself into its surroundings, he unpacks a new and different strategy to reach our cities. Find out what he says are the keys to living out this new kind of urban Christianity here.

Is he truly a "generous giver"? Warren Buffett will be giving close to 40 billion - yes, that was 40 BILLION - to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation over the next several years, making his commitment one of the largest in our country's philanthropic history. He will be leaving a small amount (a couple of billion) of his overall assets to his family, along with funneling several million to family related foundations. This unprecedented giving strategy is unsurpassed when you compare to other wealthy individuals and families in the history of our country. With average giving among Christians at around 3% of their annual income, Buffett's commitment certainly causes one to stop and re-think the term "generous."

We've all strived at some point to show that we were cool- hip, trendy, innovative, edgy, rad. Whether in 1st grade or on the first day of our first job out of college, the drive to show we were "in" seemed to be consistent. But now, as Fast Company magazine notes in their latest issue, companies are getting into the "cool" game. That's right, it seems the latest trend is for large companies to outsource "cool" to nimbler, closer-to-the ground outsiders who are on the cutting edge, paying large sums to these innovators for their insight on how to gain an edge in being the most popular and trendy kid in the class, so to speak. Outsourcing other core competencies, like Human Resources, IT, distribution, and even manufacturing has been a norm for many years, but outsourcing "cool," to help these companies keep up with customers rapidly changing tastes and demands, is a whole next level of core competencies! Seems to be a move that could prove risky for companies looking to keep their brand consistent with their values and vision. It's like asking someone other than your family what you should wear to work in the morning!