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Can someone be too educated? You know, so brilliant that they can no longer relate with “common” 
folk and therefore they lose their potential to impact others.
If anyone would be a candidate, you’d think it’d be Ed Stetzer. After all he has trained pastors and church planters on five continents, holds two masters degrees and two doctorates, and has written dozens of articles and books.
Funny thing is…Ed isn’t such a candidate. Rather he’s completely relatable and he’s spot on with his message and his medium. So much so that he’s been invited to such conferences like Catalyst and Equip (by the way check out his upcoming seminar in Columbus this summer).
Ed is well educated both in the academy and in life. He’s on the Lifeway Research Team, a Visiting Professor at Trinity, and the Author of Breaking the Missional Code, Comeback Churches, Planting Missional Churches, etc. Check out my 5 questions with Ed:
- How did you get from there to here? I started my first church at 21 years old in the inner-city of Buffalo, NY and fell in love with being on mission. I planted there and in Erie, PA and started reading all I could on ministry and mission. I planted for 10 years, then became a seminary professor, earned a Ph.D., and wrote my first book. Now, I basically do research, write, and speak to pastors and church leaders.
- Give us the Big Idea (3-4 sentences) behind Lost and Found. Lost and Found: The
Younger Unchurched and the Churches that Reach Them is a book that shows the younger unchurched people are open spiritually (even more so than their older unchurched counterparts), but are closed to church. However, instead of just telling you that, we looked at churches and ministries that were actually reaching the younger unchurched.
- Please identify one of your leadership weaknesses that’s been exposed while in ministry. I fail to take care of myself when I lead others.
- How have you closed that leadership gap? God has recently convicted me of that very thing and I have sought to lead myself into better spiritual, emotional, and physical health.
- Don’t worry about sounding arrogant or bold, but what are some God-sized dreams He’s placed in your heart? I would like to help evangelical churches across the Western world to take their biblically-driven theology and apply it as they live on mission in their contexts.
If you’ve read anything by Ed or heard him speak, give a quick impression or thought below. I’d love to hear your thoughts about this research guru, a.k.a. the “yoda” of church planting. Thanks for the interview Ed!
I’ve grown to appreciate Ed in his tweets and blogs as he seems to have his fingers on the pulse of the culture, especially the young who are tired of church as we know it. I’m anxious to read the book and see what he thinks about reaching out to them.
I appreciate Ed but grow weary of him and his kind who have given up on people middle aged and above. We were not raised with rock music and pastors in T shirts, uttering sermons, (sorry I meant “talks) that often approach profanity. We each serve an ageless God, so why try so hard to make Him only a God of youth?
@Bob… I am not sure that is an entirely fair assessment of Ed. He does research on young people, sure, but he has written quite a few books dealing with helping people of ALL ages get “on mission” with God. It has very little to do with semantics, worship styles, or traditions and very much to do with taking Biblical truth and learning how it applies in a Practical way inside Your community… whatever that community is.
I have known Ed since he was in college. I’m not sure if he ever sleeps, but I do know that he is passionate about serving God and sharing Him with the unchurched. He doesn’t care what the style is…traditional, contemporary, blended, small, large, multi-site, as long as the GOSPEL is presented as TRUTH. Ed is one of a kind, amazing intellectual guy who loves God and his family.
I know Ed, having run into him at various SBC meetings, and we’ve sat in a lounge with other guys there and kicked the dog around a little. And, he remembered my name last time I saw him.
He’s the real McCoy, and your observations about him not getting “out of touch” are right on.
And, Bob, I in no way feel Ed had “given up” on me and my kind. No way.
By sharing at a conference in Barcelona a little over a year ago I can tell you that the Lord is using Ed to help accomplish what he says in question #5 above. He is making a difference among workers in Western Europe and those with whom we serve, relate and share.
Thanks for giving this update. I’m glad Ed was an encouragement to you.