I had the opportunity to spend the day with Dr. Lyle Schaller. Lyle has been a leading church planner and consultant to both congregations and denominational officials for at least four decades. Twenty of us gathered at Trinity Lutheran Church, Lisle, for a day of sitting at a master’s feet.
When you search for “Lyle Schaller” on Amazon.com it produces 412 results! Probably the two books I appreciated the most are …
Although while browsing Amazon I ordered Small Congregation, Big Potential: Ministry in the Small Membership Church … so stay tuned!
Lyle is 86 years old and describes himself as a member of the “6% club.” That is, only 6% of his birth year is alive and by December of 2009, the 6% club becomes the 5% club. Since his birthday was earlier in April we celebrated with a cake and a chorus of Happy Birthday.
Trinity’s pastor, Mark Schulz, also posted on today’s experience with Lyle. Check it out on Mark’s blog.
It was an amazing day - wasn't it, Jack! I think your comment on my blog was right on track. He does have the ability to synthesize so much apparently unrelated information. Once when he was answering a question I was thinking, "He totally missed the point of the question..." only to realize that I was missing his amazing analogy.
Posted by: Mark Schulz | Thursday, April 30, 2009 at 11:57 PM