{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"Church Answers","provider_url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com","title":"An Insight I Gained from Thom Rainer almost 30 Years Ago | Church Answers","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"kvnwT8Y75M\"><a href=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/an-insight-i-gained-from-thom-rainer-almost-30-years-ago\/\">An Insight I Gained from Thom Rainer almost 30 Years Ago<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/an-insight-i-gained-from-thom-rainer-almost-30-years-ago\/embed\/#?secret=kvnwT8Y75M\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;An Insight I Gained from Thom Rainer almost 30 Years Ago&#8221; &#8212; Church Answers\" data-secret=\"kvnwT8Y75M\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\/* <![CDATA[ *\/\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n\/* ]]> *\/\n<\/script>\n","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Growth.png","thumbnail_width":1200,"thumbnail_height":628,"description":"I was a PhD student at Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and Thom Rainer was the dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism, and Church Growth. When Thom invited me to join a research project for a book that he was writing, I jumped at the chance. That 1995 research project looked at 576 growing Southern Baptist churches to determine what made them evangelistic. Part of my responsibility was to tabulate the results of a survey we sent to these churches. Believe it or not, I tabulated the results by recording answers on graph paper in those days. The work was tedious at times, but the book resulting from the study, Effective Evangelistic Churches, quickly caught the attention of pastors and other church leaders. What most intrigued me about that study was the focus: we studied only churches that were seeing growth through reaching non-believers."}