It is completely false that churches must sacrifice quality to get quantity, must artificially choose between evangelism and discipleship, or cannot have depth and growth at the same time. That’s nonsense! In fact, quality attracts quantity, and genuinely transformed people always cause many more to come to Christ! Few prove this fact better than the ministry of my dear friend Andy Stanley, who has grown North Point Community Church on purpose and with passion. No Christian leader can afford to miss this book. —Rick Warren, pastor, Saddleback Church; author, The Purpose Driven Life All of us admire what Andy has achieved at North Point, but few of us appreciate the price he had to pay along the way. Deep and Wide pulls back the curtain for all of us to see what is required behind the scenes to build a prevailing church. I was both challenged and inspired by the book. —Bill Hybels, founding and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church Couldn’t be prouder of my son, Andy. And I couldn’t be more excited about the content of this book. I wish a resource like this existed when I was starting out in the ministry. —Dr. Charles Stanley, founder of In Touch Ministries The most common question I get from pastors is, “How do I get the people in my church to be open to change?” From now on, my answer will be, “Read Deep and Wide by Andy Stanley. Thanks, Andy. Great book! —Craig Groeschel, pastor of LifeChurch.tv and author of It: How Churches and Leaders Get It and Keep It Andy Stanley is on the front lines of a major shift in how both Christians and non-Christians experience “church” in America. In Deep and Wide, Andy opens up his playbook for how North Point Community Church grew into one of the nation’s most effective churches, openly shares their victories and failures, and shows you how to take your own church deeper in the Word and wider in appeal. This is a peek behind the curtain that you do not want to miss! —Dave Ramsey, New York Times bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio show host No one has given me more practical handles for establishing a focused vision than Andy Stanley. Deep and Wide is a rich resource to help all of us stay intentional about the main thing—building a church that reaches people who are far from God. —Steven Furtick, lead pastor, Elevation Church Deep and Wide should come with a warning label. You will never view your local church the same way again! —Perry Noble, senior pastor of NewSpring Church Deep and Wide, out of its sheer honesty and candor, may well drive you to experience what I experienced: behind the scenes of churches we find the reality of sin, the difficulty of human relationships, and the sheer magnitude of God’s marvelous grace in using sinners like you and me to display the marvels of Jesus Christ to our world. —Scot McKnight, author of The King Jesus Gospel and The Jesus Creed Throughout these pages you get a sense that Andy has been writing this book most of his life. That’s because he has. This book invites you behind the scenes into Andy’s personal journey to build a team and church that take the Great Commission seriously. —Reggie Joiner, founder and CEO, Orange Liz and I center our week around attending Buckhead Church. The experience is energizing, carries beyond Sunday, and connects the profound with the practical, the inspiration with the action. Andy and his team have created something powerful that is worth studying and understanding. —Frank Blake, chairman and CEO, The Home Depot In Deep and Wide, Andy shows a transparency that is refreshing and a generosity of spirit that compels him to want to share everything he’s learned with everyone who wants to know. What you’ll find is not a clever or crafty plan, rather a falling into greatness born out of clarity of purpose and willingness to change. Trust me, there’s something to be learned by every leader, pastor, and church planter from the extraordinary and history-shaping journey Andy is on! —Louie Giglio, friend of Andy’s for a long, long time My family and I love North Point Community Church. Once you’ve read Deep and Wide, you’ll understand why. —Jeff Foxworthy, comedian and actor ZONDERVAN Deep and Wide Copyright © 2012, 2016 by Andy Stanley Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546 ePub Edition © December 2015: ISBN 978-0-310-52749-7 All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Any Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other — except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover design: Ron Huizinga Interior design: Matthew Van Zomeren 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 /DHV/ 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Deep and Wide is dedicated to the 708 charter members of North Point Community Church (see Appendix E for names). Who would have thought? Thank you! Andy CONTENTS Acknowledgments Introduction SECTION ONE: MY STORY Starting Up and Starting Over 1. Not All That Deep 2. Family Matters SECTION TWO: OUR STORY Walking Toward the Messes 3. Words Matter 4. Just As I Ain’t 5. Defying Gravity SECTION THREE: GOING DEEP Rethinking Spiritual Formation 6. My Big Discovery 7. Playing My Part 8. From Out of Nowhere SECTION FOUR: GOING WIDE Why They Love to Attend 9. Creating Irresistible Environments 10. Rules of Engagement 11. Double-Barrel Preaching SECTION FIVE: BECOMING DEEP AND WIDE Transitioning a Local Church 12. Coming to Blows with the Status Quo 13. Mission and Model 14. Led to Lead Conclusion: What If? APPENDICES Appendix A: North Point Survey Cards and Results Sample Appendix B: Starting Point Ministry Description Appendix C: Measurable Ministry Wins Appendix D: North Point’s Mission, Strategy, and Beliefs Appendix E: North Point Community Church Charter Members Appendix F: The North Point Covenant: An Introduction and Explanation Q & A with Andy Stanley Team Discussion Guide Notes ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Books are often credited to individual authors, but no book is the product of individual effort. This book is certainly no exception. Deep and Wide reflects the work, creativity, and generosity of thousands of men, women, and children who took a chance on a dream and made it come true. At the point of the spear is a group of dear friends who literally risked their careers to create the content of this book. I’ll be forever grateful to Julie Arnold, Rick Holliday, Reggie Joiner, Lane Jones, Bill Willits, and Kevin Ragsdale for leaving perfectly good jobs with predictable paychecks to embrace an idea that had no guaranteed outcome. On the production side, this project would have never gotten off the ground without the tireless efforts of my agent, Suzy Gray. Suzy, thank you for riding herd on the details. Thank you for reading, rereading, and then reading again. Your commitment to quality and clarity is reflected in the finished product. When I wanted to be done, you wanted it to be better. Thanks to you, it is. To John Raymond at Zondervan, thank you for the personal interest you expressed in this book early on. It was your passion for this content that convinced us that Zondervan was, in fact, our best opportunity for getting our message to church leaders around the world. Thank you for partnering with me. To my assistant of more than thirteen years, Diane Grant, thank you for handling all the stuff I don’t even know to thank you for because you decided I didn’t need to know! That’s what you do best. It’s no mystery as to why so many pastors send their assistants to sit at your feet to learn. You were instrumental in creating the margin necessary to the writing and development of this book. As you are about to discover, this book reflects a personal journey of sorts. A journey I would have never and could have never taken without the support, inspiration, and encouragement of my best friend for life, Sandra. There are no words. So I won’t even try. Thank you. I love you with all my heart.