In the year 2007, the number of people living in the cities of the world-finally and irreversibly-exceeded the number of people living in rural areas. The earth's population is now more urban than rural, and Christian leaders are trying to figure out what this means for the church. Pastors and kingdom-minded leaders know they need to engage the surrounding community with the gospel but are unsure about how to do so. Ministering in diverse and populous areas brings a unique set of challenges and promises. Evangelistic strategies that work in rural areas seem to bounce off of people in the cities, forcing church leaders to reevaluate church effectiveness. They see that the arena for significant impact is the surrounding community. The wide-open potential for spiritual and social change on this larger scale requires that leaders leverage the multivalent domains of their communities to solve problems the entire city cares about. Eric Swanson and Sam Williams have been working together with missional leaders from cities around the world trying to discover examples and principles of city transformation. They try, investigate, and share effective and proven ways for ministry leaders to mobilize for spiritual impact and partner with other community organizations for societal good. This book is a call to action for spiritual and societal transformation. The authors begin casting their vision for God's work in cities with an overview of the importance of cities in the twenty-first century. They address the process of community transformation along with examples of where and how cities have been changed for the good throughout history. They challenge readers to a vibrant kingdom-orientation in their ministries and use the concepts of "whole church, whole gospel, and whole city" to explain this large vision. They encourage people of good faith to work together with people of goodwill for the common benefit of cities around the world. To Transform a City is a timely, compelling book that helps readers explore the reality of cities, the potential of their own communities, and the broad strategies churches and Christian leaders need for kingdom impact.

"These who have turned the world upside down have come here too." (Acts 17:6) When Paul and Silas came to Thessalonica, they changed the community. How? By collaborating with God to bring his kingdom on earth. Will you collaborate on God's kingdom work in your community? If you're ready to see God move in all areas-business, education, media, arts, healthcare, spiritual growth, and more-this is the book for you. Leadership expert Reggie McNeal offers eight signature practices for leaders who want to partner with God and others for kingdom growth. Readers will gain practical advice to help people experience life as God intends.

The third book in the trilogy that explores the popular missional movement

From Reggie McNeal, the bestselling author of "The Present Future" and "Missional Renaissance, " comes the third book in the series that helps to define and illuminate the popular missional movement. This newest book in the trilogy examines a natural outgrowth of the move toward a missional orientation: the deconstruction of congregations into very small Christian communities. For all those thousands of churches and leaders who have followed Reggie McNeal's bold lead, this book details the rise of a new life form in churches.Discusses how to move a church from an internal to an external ministry focusReggie McNeal is a recognized leader in the missional movementOutlines an alternative to the program church model that is focused on the projects and passions of the congregants

This book draws on McNeal's twenty years of leadership roles in local congregations and his work over the last decade with thousands of clergy and church leaders.

Praise for Practicing Greatness

"Practicing Greatness is a hard-hitting leadership book, not just a collection of inspirational thoughts."
--from the Foreword by Ken Blanchard, author of The One-Minute Manager and Lead Like Jesus: Lessons from the Greatest Leadership Role Model of All Time

"The depth and breadth of wisdom in this book is just short of unbelievable. Good leaders aspiring to be great leaders will do well to read this book and allow it to probe and shape their lives."
--Bill Easum, Easum, Bandy & Associates

"I have always been challenged by Reggie McNeal's 'right on' insights. And this book is packed with 'right on' insights for any leader wanting to move from good to great."
--Robert Lewis, pastor and men's fraternity founder, Fellowship Bible Church, Little Rock, Arkansas; coauthor of Culture Shift: Transforming Your Church from the Inside Out

"Someone once taught me a powerful lesson: 'If you are without discipline, you are without power.' In this revitalizing work, Reggie has tapped into a power source for all leaders??--disciplines. Grab hold of this book and begin a newly charged life today!"
--Wayne Cordeiro, New Hope Christian Fellowship O'ahu, Honolulu, Hawaii; coauthor of Culture Shift: Transforming Your Church from the Inside Out

"We owe Greatness to God. Reggie McNeal challenges us to this standard and gives us some practical 'how-tos' in this clear and compelling new book. I recommend this book for all who aspire to a meaningful Halftime and Life II."
--Bob Buford, author of Halftime and Finishing Well; founder and chairman, Leadership Network

2013 Christianity Today Book Award winner Imagine the scenarios: a CEO successfully negotiates a corporate merger, avoiding hundreds of layoffs in the process an artist completes a mosaic for public display at a bank, showcasing neighborhood heroes a contractor creates a work-release program in cooperation with a local prison, growing the business and seeing countless former inmates turn their lives around a high-school principal graduates 20 percent more students than the previous year, and the school's average scores go up by a similar percentage Now imagine a parade in the streets for each event. That's the vision of Proverbs 11:10, in which the tsaddiqim--the people who see everything they have as gifts from God to be stewarded for his purposes--pursue their vocation with an eye to the greater good. Amy Sherman, director of the Center on Faith in Communities and scholar of vocational stewardship, uses the tsaddiqim as a springboard to explore how, through our faith-formed calling, we announce the kingdom of God to our everyday world. But cultural trends toward privatism and materialism threaten to dis-integrate our faith and our work. And the church, in ways large and small, has itself capitulated to those trends, while simultaneously elevating the "special calling" of professional ministry and neglecting the vocational formation of laypeople. In the process, we have, in ways large and small, subverted our kingdom mandate. God is on the move, and he calls each of us, from our various halls of power and privilege, to follow him. Here is your chance, keeping this kingdom calling in view, to steward your faith and work toward righteousness. In so doing, you will bless the world, and as you flourish, the world will celebrate.

Jesus had little patience with institutional religion that cared for its own needs while neglecting the plight of ordinary people. In one of his most famous parables, he sets up as a model of Christian behavior a man who, unlike some religious folks, actually gets down off his donkey and helps a person in dire need.
With energy and enthusiasm, Reggie McNeal calls believers to dismount, get down and dirty, and live a life that makes a difference. He shows readers how to recalibrate their spiritual efforts to move from church-centric service to greater community engagement in order to do their essential part in creating a world worth living in. McNeal also shows readers that helping others actually helps the one doing the service just as much as the one being served. In fact, serving is the very best way to learn about yourself and grow spiritually.
Anyone who longs to have the impact on the world that Jesus did will love this provocative and inspirational message.

Is it possible that the division between the clergy and the laity is unnecessary and, in fact, harmful to the church? In "Organic Leadership," Neil Cole fervently says yes and shows how this causes great harm to all. But rather than doing away with the clergy, Cole argues that the answer is to raise up organically grown leaders from ordinary Christians and make everyone "a priest."
Using examples from modern cinema, personal experience, and the Bible, Cole sets out to change our view of what a leader is and how one is formed. This fresh and revolutionary alternative will transform readers and equip them to challenge themselves and others to find the vision God has for them. Now available in trade paper.

The church's mission, argues Reggie McNeal, engages every aspect of life. The front lines of the collision between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness are homes, schools, offices, health clubs, civic organizations, and neighborhoods - wherever God's people find themselves. Equipping the church for this mission can no longer be the responsibility solely of professional clergy. A new team of leaders, drawn from the membership of each congregation, must arise to meet the challenges that ministry in the third millennium will present. Yet where and how will these leaders be trained?

For the answer to this question, McNeal looks to the first generation of leaders - the disciples gathered around Jesus in a unique learning community. Like that earliest group of Christian learners, our churches must become centers of continual and ongoing learning; they must see the training of a local lay leadership as the starting point for all their ministries.

Drawing on the New Testament picture of the learning community that gathered around Jesus as his explicit model, McNeal offers useful and practical guidance on how churches can recruit, train, and commission leaders from within their own ranks.

In this accompanying Participant's Guide to "The Present Future DVD Collection," best-selling author Reggie McNeal offers a hands-on workbook for church leaders to use throughout the DVD sessions and their own church development.

The Participant's Guide includes the following:

A brief introduction to the main issues the DVDs address, to help orient you to the questions and challenges it raises.

"Conversation Starters," questions designed to spark thinking and insight (as well as conversations with your fellow participants) as you ponder your responses to viewing the DVD sessions.

Questions that you may consider between sessions.

*"The Present Future DVD Collection: Six Tough Questions for the Church" by Reggie McNeal contains 1 copy of the Participant's Guide.