Covenant News

Covenanter's Research Part of National Campaign

ORLANDO, FL (August 12, 2005) - Statistical information gathered by Dave Olson, the director of church planting for the Evangelical Covenant Church, is being used as part of a nationwide, multi-denominational church planting campaign headed by the president of Walt Disney World.

Al Weiss, the Disney president, also serves as chairman of the board of Vision USA. A recent online edition of the Christian Examiner quotes Weiss as saying, "God's vision is to reach the world with the gospel through church planting."

Olson's national study suggests that only 18 percent of Americans attend church on any given weekend as opposed to the often stated 40 or 50 percent. "If the American Church is going to keep up with population growth, it needs to plant twice as many churches as it is doing now," Olson says.

The American Church Research Project has a database of more than 200,000 churches, tracking attendance each year for the last 10 years. Data and other information is available at the project's website at Research Project. "State of the Church" PowerPoint presentations are available for the 50 states and the 81 largest metropolitan areas. All presentations available on the website are free to Covenant pastors, churches and members. Requests for presentations and other information can be sent to Olson via email at DaveTOlson@aol.com.

Vision USA initially raised $5.7 million over a six-month period to plant 20 churches around Orlando, Florida. That goal has since expanded to raising $300 million to plant churches across the country.

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