Warren Bird
Warren Bird | |
|---|---|
| Add a Photo | |
| Born | 1956 Atlanta, Georgia |
| Nationality | American |
| Citizenship | United States Of America |
| Alma mater | Wheaton College |
| Occupation | Writer researcher |
Warren Bird (born 1956) is an American writer and researcher of megachurches. He has authored or co-authored 33 books on church leadership, including Emotionally Healthy Church and Prepare Your Church for the Future, which have both achieved the bestseller status of 100,000 or more units in print. He has also overseen more than 25 research reports on issues affecting large and growing churches. His research on megachurches is regularly cited in mainstream and religious media. He currently serves as Vice President of Research and Equipping for the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA).
Life and Ministry
Bird was born in Atlanta|Atlanta, Georgia, and lived there until his college years. His formal academic training comes from Wheaton College (Illinois)|Wheaton College (BA, MA), Alliance Theological Seminary (MDiv) and Fordham University (PhD). An ordained minister, he has served in several church roles including church planter and assistant pastor, including his longest tenure being for 10 years (1997-2006) on staff at Princeton Alliance Church. While pastoring, he also served as adjunct professor at Alliance Theological Seminary.[1]
He has been licensed for ministry under the Christian and Missionary Alliance|Christian & Missionary Alliance.[2]
Bird is married to his college sweetheart. He and his wife, Michelle, live in a suburb of New York City.[3]
Research and Writing
In his early years, Bird served on Carl George’s senior management team of the Pasadena-based Charles E. Fuller|Charles E. Fuller Institute of Evangelism and Church Growth where he visited, interviewed, researched, and profiled many of the largest, fastest-growing, or newest churches in North America.[4] In subsequent years, he did similar research and development for the Canada-based Leadership Centre Willow Creek Canada, and for the Asbury Theological Seminary-based Beeson Institute for Advanced Church Leadership (1996-2006). From 2006 to 2018 Bird served as Director of Research and Intellectual Capital Development at Leadership Network.[5]
In 2018 he became Vice President of Research and Equipping at the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability|Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) , the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit accrediting agency designed to enhance trust and certify integrity in Christ-centered churches and ministries. [10]
He has compiled and maintained a sortable list of US and Global megachurches published by Leadership Network since 2010.[11]
Articles
Bird has published more than 200 magazine articles on church leadership including two cover stories for Christianity Today [12] [13] and the cover story for Evangelicals (National Association of Evangelicals|the National Association of Evangelicals). [14] He has also contributed collaborative chapters or sections to 7 other books. He has served on advisory boards for several magazines and several other book projects. He has also written guest columns on megachurch issues such as “Not a Baby Boomer Phenomenon—Megachurches Draw Twice as Many People Under 45” in The Christian Post|Christian Post.[15]
Megachurch Research, US and Global
Bird’s research has focused mainly on Megachurch|megachurches (Protestant congregations with 2,000 or more weekly attenders). He has authored more than 25 published reports based on original research including a collection of reports on comparative trends in List of megachurches in the United States.[16] Specialty studies include Canadian megachurches,[17] internships/residencies in large churches,[18] multisite megachurches,[19] and salaries in megachurches.[20] He also co-authored a scholarly chapter on the global megachurch phenomenon.[21] He has contributed articles to Review of Religious Research and to the academic journal of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.
References
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