The Big Idea: Focus the Message - Multiply the Impact »

Dave Ferguson is a spiritual entrepreneur and the lead pastor of Community Christian Church, an innovative multi-site missional church with eleven locations in Chicago. Dave is the movement leader for NewThing, an international network of reproducing churches. He is also the coauthor of The Big Idea. Check out the latest from Dave on his blog (www.daveferguson.org) or follow his everyday adventures on twitter @daveferguson.

Jon Ferguson is the cofounding pastor of Community Christian Church - a multi-site church in the Chicago Metro Area. He serves as teaching pastor and leads the Strategic Team of staff champions for adult, student, children's, and creative arts ministries across all CCC locations. Jon is the cofounder and movement architect of NewThing, whose mission is 'to be a catalyst for a movement of reproducing churches.' He also serves on the boards of the Exponential Network and Stadia East and is an adjunct professor at Wheaton College Graduate School in the Evangelism and Leadership Department. Jon previously coauthored The Big Idea with Dave.

Eric Bramlett is the Creative Arts Director for Community Christian Church in Naperville, IL, and has been since 1996. Eric's background is in the professional theatre, with degrees in acting and directing. CCC represents Eric's first ministry experience, and he hopes to be at CCC for a long, long time. He is responsible for overseeing all large-group experiences from intensive artistic vision through production, and anything else he can think of overseeing. Eric has continued to be involved in the Chicago Theatre scene, most notably as an Artistic Associate for Porchlight Music Theatre Chicago, a theatre company he has been involved with since its inception in 1995. Eric loves his wife Kristi and their three kids, Sadie, Dillon and Anna.

Nothing is more dangerous than a single compelling idea that is lived out and nothing is more harmless than lots of little ideas never applied. By creatively communicating one Big Idea every week your church will transform people into genuine Christ followers who live out the mission of Jesus. Less is more!

Preaching magazine

'One of the Best Preaching Books of 2007! The Big Idea offers an abundance of ideas on planning and developing a 'big idea' model in the local church. This book is packed with solid and helpful ideas, and the 'big idea' of the book is one that churches should carefully consider trying in their own setting.' -- Preaching magazine

Acknowledgments     7
Introduction: Idea Overload!     9
Little Ideas or the Big Idea?
No More Christians!     15
Communities of Transformation, Not Information     31
Creating Missional Velocity     47
What's the Big Idea?
The Genius of the "And"     63
Changing Churches One Big Idea at a Time     83
Create Your Own Big Idea
Creating Your One-Year Big Idea Plan     95
Implementing Your Big Idea Plan     107
The Two Most Important Players in the Big Idea     115
The Big Idea Creative Team Meeting     131
The Big Idea Teaching Team Meeting     145
The Implicit Big Idea     165
A Really Big Idea
Creating and Reproducing Big Idea Networks     185
Appendix     195
Notes     197