Thumbs up or down on the new look?

A fellow blogger linked this article from the Economist:

Growth in religious organisations is proving just as addictive as it is in corporate ones, and successful churches are reaching deep into business theory to feed their habit. They use strategic planning and strategic “visions” to make sure they know where they are headed.

These pastorpreneurs are committed not just to applying good management techniques to their own organisations but also to spreading them to others. This is, after all, the world of evangelism. Willow Creek has a consulting arm, the Willow Creek Association, that has more than 11,500 member churches. It puts on leadership events for more than 100,000 people a year (guest speakers have included Jim Collins, a business guru, and Bill Clinton) and earns almost $20m a year.

In following with my mantra of not judging something until I'm met it, visited it, or read it, I cannot say anything bad about Willow Creek. What I know about their system I disagree with, but even that is limited. Saddleback on the other hand...that's a different story.