Counsultants

Dr. Gary L. McIntosh has 32 years of experience in the field of church consultation, coaching of church leaders, and workshop presentations.  As President of the Church Growth Network, Gary has analyzed over 1,200 churches representing some 80+ denominations throughout the United States,  Canada, and Southeast Asia.  His articles have appeared in Global Church Growth, Strategies for Today’s Leaders, Net Results, The GrowthReport, Leadership, Church Growth America, Growing Churches, Enrichment, Outreach, REV!, and numerous denominational publications.

He is a past president of the Great Commission Research Network, a national society that networks professors, denominational leaders, and pastors interested in fulfilling the Great Commission. He also serves as vice president for the Society for Church Consulting. As a national seminar leader, Gary conducts approximately twenty workshops and seminars yearly on topics, such as, outreach, assimilation, planning, generational change, breaking growth barriers, revitalization of churches, organizing and staffing, and multi-ethnic ministry.

Dr.Gordon Penfold is an experienced pastor and church consultant. He has consulted extensively with churches in the United States and the former Soviet Union in the areas of conflict resolution, church turnaround, and general troubleshooting related to church growth. His first book, ReVision: The Key to Transforming Your Church (co-authored with Aubrey Malphurs), is quickly becoming a standard reference for church leaders seeking to turn around declining or static churches. He serves is president of Fresh Start Ministries, located in Colorado, and holds degrees from Colorado State University (B.S. and M.S.), Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.M.), and Talbot School of Theology (D.Min.).

A specialist in dealing with the problems of conflict, declining attendance, and designing turnaround strategies for local churches, he has trained pastors and mid-level judicatories on issues related to conflict resolution and church growth.

Gordon and Beth, his wife of forty years, have three grown children and one grandson. For information on scheduling Dr. Penfold, please contact the Church Growth Network office at 951-506-3086 or by email at cgnet@earthink.net.

Dr. Alan McMahan is eager to work with you and your ministry team.  As an experienced ministry leader himself, he has served as a pastor, missionary, seminary Vice-President and professor of church growth, leadership development, and intercultural studies.  With 25+ years of experience as researcher, lecturer, and consultant Dr. McMahan brings a wide range of perspectives and expertise to help plateaued and declining churches experience new vitality that results in healthy growth and missional outreach.  His specializations include:  outreach planning, conflict resolution, change management, organizational development, leadership effectiveness, intercultural ministries, urban mission, and community mapping.  He has worked with churches, mission agencies, schools, and other non-profit groups in North America, Asia as well as Eastern Europe.  Through his classes, lectures, and publications he is focused on raising up churches and leaders to engage the harvest.  His newest publication with Dr. Gary McIntosh, Being the Church in a Multi-ethnic Community, navigates the complex challenges of cross-cultural ministry in order to help churches seize the opportunities that are all around them.  He lives with his wife, Terri, in La Mirada, California, and has two grown sons.

Have you ever wondered what guest's think about your worship service?  Would you like to know how well your greeters, ushers, or parking attendants assist visitors? Do you wonder what visitors actually see and feel when they come to your church?  If so, then why not schedule a Mystery Guest to visit and evaluate your church?

A Mystery Guest will come to your church unannounced to visit all of your worship services.  He or she will evaluate the entire worship experience, for example, the atmosphere, guest welcome, signage, parking availability, visibility of campus, facility cleanliness, friendliness of the congregation, availability of restrooms, appropriateness of music, overall hospitality, and many other areas. 

Following the Mystery Guest's visit to your church, he or she will prepare a thorough report with observations and specific suggestions for potential improvement.  The report will be sent to the church approximately two weeks following the Mystery Guest's visit to your church.  For more impact, a Mystery Guest can be scheduled to visit your church once a quarter for an entire year. In this way, your church will be able to make gradual improvements and then have them evaluated again.