What Is Project 13
After traveling for 4 years to curate the best practices of these Remarkable Churches all over the world, we created a user-friendly way for churches who want to be more effective in their impact of the next generation to learn and implement these best-practices for church growth. We call this process PROJECT 13.
HELPING THE PASTOR’S DILEMMA
Many Pastors have known for decades that impacting youth is imperative, but have experienced ongoing frustration knowing:
- They have spent significant money over the years but not seed dramatic impact on the youth of their community for Christ.
- Parents in their church are scared of the culture overpowering their kids.
- Youth program leveled off or declining.
- Youth who have grown up in their church losing their faith after college
Now there is actually HOPE for church leaders to see dramatic and sustainable impact on the young
generation! Welcome to PROJECT 13!
Background
By the incredible grace of God, we were able to host more than 3 million youth in life-changing conferences all across North America over the span of 30 years. We had the joy of witnessing the Holy Spirit draw hundreds of thousands of kids to follow Christ and we’re still hearing about the fruit in the lives of those who were changed. Presently, we have curated a proven process where the local church can now have the same kind of fruit and ongoing impact for the young generation! Introducing PROJECT 13!
The most common question Ron Luce was asked by pastors and parents almost every weekend at the mass events, after witnessing 1000’s each week come to Christ, was “How can we do this back in our church and our city on a regular basis?” Back then, he had nothing to offer them. NOW HE DOES! PROJECT 13!
The graph above reveals an alarming trend. After 3 decades of working to rescue the young generation, along with hundreds of other national youth organizations and thousands of churches trying their best, the Church keeps losing more of each generation to the Gospel. This chart depicts the trend for the past 4 generations (demonstrating less and less young people who call themselves Christians) and extrapolates what will happen for the next 2 generations if the trend is not significantly disrupted.
Honestly, the model of youth ministry in the Church for the past 40-50 years, after haphazard adoption of various new techniques, developed as a collection of ineffective practices and has produced the declining trend in which we are now entrenched. There is no possible way to have more impact on the young generation with the model we have been using. It would be like trying to drive across the country in this old, rusted car, simply putting new mirrors and tires on it. Making a few improvements will not get you there.
Project 13, is the new model; a fresh, data-based approach to leveraging every dollar and hour used for youth ministry to have maximum impact! This document is an overview of this new model which is intentionally fashioned rather than accidentally formed. It is well proven to be used right now in cultures and nations all over the world as churches adopt the best practices to their DNA and the culture of their town.
Now there is a proven framework to disrupt this trend, as you will see.
TRANSFORMATIONAL PROCESS
At its core, PROJECT 13 is a Transformational Process of reaching and discipling the young generation, containing 4 best practices that any church can implement no matter their history of youth ministry. If you have a great program, you will see it become explosive with even greater impact. If you have never had a youth program, you will find the tools to begin a healthy and productive Next Gen initiative. We have found that Senior Pastors benefit the most from Project 13 because it has profound implications on the future growth and strength of their church. Their church begins to grow in every way possible as they seek to build a Remarkable Church into the future and raise up students NOW to be wildly effective disciple-makers for the rest of their lives!
We have taken the best practices from these Remarkable churches and simplified their processes for churches to begin the journey of impacting the young generation and disrupting the horrible trends of the last 4 decades!
At first glance, any one of these Remarkable Churches can look just like a great big cool church crammed with lots of young people. When observing a little further, they all contain 4 key practices which are constantly being revised and improved upon. It turns out that reaching and discipling the young generation is not rocket-science. It is simple but profound as the diagram depicts.
“I AM SO RELIEVED!”
These are the words expressed by Pastor Jamaal Bernard in New York City once he learned of the vision and tools I am about to share with you!
EQUIPPING THE CHURCH
Church leaders must confront questions that have been presenting themselves for quite some time and
wrestle with them until we discover solutions that work. Some of these looming questions that have
direct impact on this trend include:
Finally, there is some good news on how to answer these conundrums! During on’s research for his doctoral dissertation, he discovered and got to know a number of churches on 6 continents that have answered these questions and so much more. THEY ARE REVERSING THE TREND BY BUILDING AN ECOSYSTEM IN THEIR CHURCH THAT BOTH ENGAGES THEIR ADULTS IN THE NEXT GENERATION WHILE CAUSING THE YOUNG GENERATION TO THRIVE IN THEIR FAITH.
Ron curated their best-practices and put them into a Masterclass for Pastors and their teams who are eager to understand a fresh approach called PROJECT 13. This is a platform and a process and refined a PROCESS of IMPLEMENTION described in.
There is finally HOPE for pastors and churches who are interested in making dramatic impact in the young generation! We have taken the best practices from these Remarkable churches and simplified their processes for churches to begin the journey of impacting the young generation and disrupting the horrible trend for the last 4 decades!
At first glance, these Remarkable Churches can look just like a big cool church with lots of young people. When looking deeper, they all contain 4 key practices that they constantly seek to improve upon. It turns out that reaching and discipling the young generation is not rocket-science. It is simple but profound as the diagram depicts.
"I AM SO RELIEVED!"
These are the words expressed by a pastor of one of the largest African American churches in America once he heard the vision and tools I am about to share with you!
The goal for PROJECT 13 is to help churches build and implement proven systems to reach and disciple those most likely to come to Christ! (which of course are young people).
The 4 Best-Practices
The goal of PROJECT 13 is to train churches and help them to implement a Transformational Process using these 4 Best Practices.
1. Training young leaders
The first best-practice of the Remarkable Church is training and deploying young people into leadership. These churches take it very seriously! The idea is that Jesus wants to use everyone, and so they begin to train youth to get involved in ministry opportunities and leading small groups. There’s no better way to grow up spiritually than to have the responsibility of leading others. To assist churches, we have developed PATHWAY TO LEADERSHIP, Trimester 1 (12 weeks long) to train their older youth in how to disciple 13-year-olds once they’ve come to Christ. We have tools to help churches know how to spot the kids who have been raised in their church and demonstrate godly character. They then enlist them in this 12-week program of growth as a Young Leader. This program prepares them to become small group leaders equipped to disciple the 13-year-olds who are about to come to know Jesus.
We have developed a framework to help churches identify and train young leader candidates to become full blown disciple-makers! Included in PROJECT 13 is a very clear facilitator’s guide to teach the Young Leaders exactly how to facilitate spiritual formation in their small groups, as well as a very thorough manual for those training the Young Leaders to ensure they continue to experience exceptional growth for themselves as they are training others.
2. Epic Events for 13 year olds (those most likely to come to Follow Jesus)
As I’ve mentioned, we were able to host hundreds of mass events for young people called Acquire the Fire over 30 years. We are now teaching churches to host events for themselves, so that once the Young Leaders are ready, they can begin to disciple the new Followers of Christ! It is so exciting to watch the planning teams of these Early Adopter churches choose a date, a title for their event, a theme and then begin the very simple marketing plan we have helped them assemble. As you can see from the chart below, the statistic is overwhelming that it is FAR MORE LIKELY for someone to come to know Christ if they are reached by age 13. Hence the name, PROJECT 13! After decades of successful Epic Events, we are now training churches with the very tools that helped us impact millions of youth so they can do it through the local church body in their own regions.
THE GLOBAL STUDY BY THE INTERNATIONAL BIBLE SOCITY INDICATING THAT 83% OF ALL CHRISTIANS MAKE THIER COMMITMENT TO JESUS CHRIST BETWEEN THE AGES OF 4 AND 14.
3. Implementing DEEP DIVE DISCIPLE-MAKING
THE GLOBAL STUDY BY THE INTERNATIONAL BIBLE SOCITY INDICATING THAT 83% OF ALL CHRISTIANS MAKE THIER COMMITMENT TO JESUS CHRIST BETWEEN THE AGES OF 4 AND 14.
One of the most profound dimensions of these Remarkable Churches is how well thought through their tools are to ignite ongoing growth in Christ in new followers.
They take seriously the fact that young people are known to be radical, and that hunger for Christ is matched with deep growth tools and practices.
Their approach is to set clear goals of what they want 21-year-olds to look like after growing up in their church, and then reverse engineer the growth process from 13 to 21 years old. IT IS TRULY REMARKABLE! Almost all these churches we researched use a trimester system (12 weeks) and use small groups to help the new followers process and apply to their lives the biblical principles to build a transformational process!
These churches are not ashamed to challenge young people to go deep in Christ. That means, memorizing lots of scripture, reading through the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs the first year in faith, having quiet times every day and discussing what they learned each week in a small group format.
We have now made this same process available for churches that want to implement PROJECT 13, and we are presently developing (the first 2 years are completed) 7 years of trimesters of growth tools to keep them growing aggressively until they arrive at adulthood.
We have developed a FRAMEWORK called Pathway to Freedom to help churches initiate this process. These books guide the new Followers of Christ into daily intimacy with Jesus.
As you can see, we have multiple levels of learning that engage the young disciple’s heart, mind and time with Jesus and their social relationships.
In addition, we have developed spiritual assessments for the youth to take every 4 weeks for churches to get a peek at the intangible elements of spiritual growth in their lives. It is so important to know if what you think is happening in the growth groups is actually happening. Usually, the only thing measured in growth programs is attendance, but now we can measure so much more! And what gets measured, gets done.
4. Building and Ecosystem for the Entire Church!
This step seals the future for the health of the church. These Remarkable Churches serve the parents of the youth by continually equipping them, and leveraging the wisdom of all the adults in their church by inviting them to train youth in their given skill-set to deploy them in the church.
For parents: these churches assist them with tools such as:
- Personality and/or psychological test for their youth, reviewed with them by psychologists to help them understand the wiring of their youth.
- Regular info on what the youth are being taught, with discussion starters for the parents to help the learning process at home.
- Giving parents tools to navigate the constantly changing youth culture so they are not surprised and know how to help their youth see through the culture and make wise decisions.
For the adults in the church, (who may not know how valuable their wisdom and mentorship is) they are invited to pass on their knowledge acquired over decades by training youth in their area of expertise. This could range from specific skills in their church structure (like operating a camera, or managing social media) so the youth are equipped to volunteer at the church. Or it could be life skills such as, ‘How to build a resume’ or ‘How to start a business.’
The goal here is to let the young generation know that they are valued because their church is investing in their future by developing and engaging them. In a very real way this is BUILDING THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE.
It’s not just a great plan for reaching the next generation, but also for building a healthy church, a Remarkable Church into the future!
Where does a church start?
If a church is ready to take the leap of impacting youth at a whole new level, we are ready to help!
We have developed a PROJECT 13 MASTERCLASS training for you and your team! It comes on a flash drive with 40 videos, a 100-page workbook called the PROJECT 13 PLAYBOOK, and a variety of other PDF books that give you exact instructions of how to plan and implement PROJECT 13 in your church!
The cost of developing Project 13 with all of the research, overseas travel to multiple nations and production of videos and tools to help churches far exceeds 100k. But we want to make this program accessible to thousands of churches and it is our mission in life to see you succeed in reaching your youth!
IMPORTANCE OF COACHING
Based on the best practices of churches all over the world who are Remarkable at reaching and discipling the next generation, PROJECT 13 has been developed to train and coach Pastors as they implement the planning and processes necessary to have a successful launch.
We have discovered that churches that are most successful in building the TRANSFORMATIONAL PROCESS of Project 13 have not tried to implement this program by themselves, but have been thoughtfully coached to implement the process with excellence. For that reason, we want to offer to give all of the training Masterclass tools, the Workbooks, the PDFs and templates, to EVERY CHURCH that signs up for the PROJECT 13 COACHING COLLECTIVE. We are so convinced that these principles will work for you as you tailor them to your own church culture that we want to make this offer available as you join with other pastors and their teams who are also passionate in reaching their youth and growing their church deeply.
There are a couple of coaching programs to choose from (see link or QR code) and you and your team will have the opportunity to ask questions, discuss how to customize for your church, and how to break through any barriers you may have in your implementation.
Others have invested to help us with the research and production of the PROJECT 13 tool set, so we can offer it FREE to you and your church when you choose a coaching program. Coaching is investing in yourself, and your team to level up on your impact to the next generation!
In addition, we have put together as a bonus this PDF book “How to Attract more MONEY than you need for Project 13” which will more than cover the coaching costs and any other expenses you might have as you begin to impact more and more youth in your region!
A 12 month intensive training FLASH DRIVE has been designed for the PROJECT 13 applicants that want a Legionary impact. It contains all they need to implement for the next 12 months including:
- 35 videos to train them to initiate and continued trining for next 12 months
- Excel spreadsheet template to help them in their 12 months of planning and to TRACK THEIR PROGRESS EACH MONTH
- Complete Masterclass and PDF workbook Playbook for their team to use
- Step by step instructions on how to begin the process including; appointing a PROJECT 13 Task-Force of 5 members to walk through 4 simple phases and complete the objectives for each phase. By the end of the 12 months a church will have:
- Recruited and trained their firs and secondt group of Young Leaders
- Hosted their first and second Epic Event for 13 year olds
- Launched New Followers into DEEP DIVE DISCIPLE-MAKING
- Commenced the engagement of the entire church body
The Project 13 Playbook describes for each church exactly what to implement month by month, with a series of check lists, benchmarks and measurement tools to help measure their progress! With the assessment and checklist we provide, you will be able to document every step you take, and you will see the effectiveness of reaching and discipling the young generation!
OVERALL ENDGAME: PROJECT 13 NETWORK OF CHURCHES
Based on the best practices of churches all over the world who are Remarkable at reaching and discipling the next generation, PROJECT 13 has been developed as an onboarding 12month intensive to train and coach Pastors as they implement the planning and processes necessary to have a successful launch.
Built into this 12-month intensive are metrics, benchmarks, and assessments (using google forms) for churches to regularly grade themselves on all initiatives and adjust accordingly as they endeavor to reach and disciple those most likely to come to Christ.
As a church enters into the second iteration of the 6-month process, they are requested to invite 10 other pastor friends to come and witness their EPIC EVENT and learn about how PROJECT 13 is thriving in their church.
Project 13 Collective
I want to invite you on a journey with me… A journey of those who want to dream outside the box. Those who are tired of losing generation after generation. Those who want to learn and innovate and slap the devil in the face after he has stolen so many of our young generation!
I am inviting those who are tired of letting social media and Netflix steal our kids’ minds and hearts. JOIN ME IN A REVOLUTION! I’m looking for those who are tired of letting the public school system shape the next generation.
All these forces are going full court press to shape our youth, so must we!
I am asking for you and your team to come together with leaders from all over the world, who have the same heart for impacting the next generation. You are not alone! You will meet with me and other like-minded churches, as we learn from each other and journey together month-by-month to reach more youth and turn them into DISCIPLE-MAKERS!
I am inviting those who are tired of letting social media and Netflix steal our kids’ minds and hearts. JOIN ME IN A REVOLUTION! I’m looking for those who are tired of letting the public school system shape the next generation.
WE CAN REACH THIS NEXT GENERATION!
Level 1: Champion Church
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- Receive entire Master Class and PDF workbooks for your whole team.
- 30 Training videos for you and your team for 12 months to help you implement step-by-step.
- Excel spreadsheet template to help with your planning and measure your progress.
- Monthly zoom calls with other PROJECT 13 participants and receiving coaching and encouragement from Ron Luce.
- Monthly updates with key learnings and breakthroughs from around the world from Remarkable churches. (Those who are successfully implementing these principles.)
- Discounts on all PATHWAY TO FREEDOM discipleship materials.
- Investment: $199 per month.
Level 2: Exponential Church
Includes Level 1 benefits.
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- Personalized planning assistance from Ron Luce as you formulate and customize PROJECT 13 best practices to your church.
- Monthly personal zoom calls with Ron, you, and your team as you implement PROJECT 13.
- Personal assistance from Ron via Zoom as you plan your first ever Epic Event for young people.
- Review branding, advertising, marketing, and strategies, as well as the event itself; leveraging Ron’s 30 years of live event experience and helping to make yours extraordinary!
- Investment $499 per month for 12 months.
Level 3: Master Church
Includes Levels 1 and 2 benefits.
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- Ron will come to be with your team in person to present the entire PROJECT 13 MASTERCLASS FOR HALF A DAY (with workbooks videos etc) and then spend the second half planning the next 12 months with your team. In addition he will come several times throughout the first year to help with the planning and implementation of PROJECT 13.
- Ron will set aside two Sundays throughout the first year to share on weekend services to help you compel the entire church to celebrate PROJECT 13.
- Ron will be involved in helping you to process all steps of planning and implementation with your team. He’ll coach you through all the nuances of your Epic Events and disciple-making and review all learnings along the way so that your team becomes a continuous improvement Master!
- Investment: e-mail Ron at ronluce100@gmail regarding your interest.
TOGETHER, WE CAN REACH THIS GENERATION!
Scan now for more information and to apply for the Project 13 Collective
Next steps
This is clearly a strategy decision. Pastors are the Generals in their region who see 10-20 years down the road as to what will make their church healthy and strong. General Patton did not let the Privates make the war plan for WW2. Project 13 is a way of taking all the money, sweat, and energy you are presently using in youth ministry and leveraging it in a strategic way to build a future that is truly Remarkable.
Scan this QR code (or click this link) now to sign your church up for the FREE training Masterclass when you subscribe to the monthly ZOOM coaching cohort. Be a part of the next level of dramatic impact for you and the young people in your region and begin building your church into a Remarkable Church!
After filling out the Project 13 readiness application and a church is deemed a good candidate as an Early Adopter, the church will host Ron Luce as a speaker for Sunday morning. While there, Ron would also spend an extra day helping the team prepare for PROJECT 13 BY:
- Spending a half day with the church staff, presenting the overview of the Master Class as an executive education for the staff as they become proficient in global trends impacting the Church, and the best practices of the Exponential Churches studied around the world.
- Spending the second half of the day with the PROJECT 13 task force, laying out a very specific game plan or the next 6 months and each erson’s role month by month to launch with success.
- Or simply using the PROJECT 13 FLASH DRIVE for all the planning and training
A CHURCH WILL TAKE THE PROJECT 13 READINESS ASSESSMENT AND COULD BE ON THEIR WAY TO DISRUPTING THE NEGATIVE TREND AND REACHING A WHOLE NEW GENERATION FOR CHRIST!
As a potential donor/investor in PROJECT 13 you might want to know:
What does success look like?
We have great interest in coming alongside churches to help them implement PROJECT 13 in their church and community. This is the only way we will change the trajectory of young generation declining interest in the Gospel. Although there are a number of metrics we ask these church to start tracking, the BEST metric for this is the AVERAGE AGE in a church. We will be having PROJECT 13 churches measure their average age from 13 years old and up, every 6 months so we can all see that reaching they youth, will produce a trend of the church getting younger. We will then report back to you the progress they are making.
How will progress be measured?
We have provided an Excel spreadsheet template for each church to customize to help them plan and track their various measurements. Although most churches are not used to measuring much, we are training them to begin this process so they can actually measure the intangibles of spiritual growth in their youth, as well as the efficiency of their growth funnel to keep youth going from trimester 1 all the way to trimester 24! We will keep all our doner/investors up on how progress is being made for various churches! We have quarterly measurement reports we are requesting form each PROJECT 13 church so we can all know and refine our efforts together.
Opportunities to impact:
INTERNATIONAL A Monthly gift* for 12 months to Generation Next will to help us train and equip international leaders and translate materials to reach young people all over the world. We have already begun training/translation work in several countries including:
| Nigeria | Zambia | South Africa | Singapore |
| Malaysia | Indonesia | S. Korea | Laos |
| Mexico | El Salvador | England | Switzerland |
| Zimbabwe | Swaziland | Kenya | India |
Initial costs to launch in a nation including translation, travel, and initial materials is $21,000. You can select the country on your heart form the list above and make a one time gift, or spread it out over 12 months.
DEVELOPING MATERIALS
We already have hundreds of churches beginning the PROJECT 13 process, and they are eagerly awaiting these new trimesters on timely issues we are presently working to
complete. If you would like to invest in completing a trimester for 12 weeks of training the cost is $36,000 to complete each trimester.
SPREADING THE VISION
Once a church leader hears about the strategy and the tools to implement PROJECT 13 they are filled with hope that finally there is a proven strategy to dramatically impact the young generation. Now we just must get the word out by :
- Making relevant videos and creating awareness to those who are looking.
- Printed materials to send to churches
- Travel to events where leaders are gathered to present and build relationships.
- For a gift of $5,000.00 we can engage up 500 churches and potential initiate PROJECT 13 in 10 churches
EQUIPPING CHURCHES TO IMPACT YOUTH
If you would like to actually provide churches with a starter kit to launch PROJECT 13 this is your opportunity. Each church you sponsor will be given:
- Masterclass for the church staff and PROJECT 13 task force along with the PROEJCT 13 PLAYBOOK, which is an implementation guide for the next 12 months.
- Project 13 FLASH DRIVE with all the training they need to
- next year along with pdf and Excell spreadsheet template for them to personalize to help them plan and track their progress.
- Young leaders training tools for 10 young leaders in their church which includes 10 PATHWAY TO FREEDOM Trimester 1 and PATHWAY TO LEADERSHIP Trimester 1 for each o their leadership candidates
- This Church starter kit can be sponsored for 475.00 USD per church
