Warren Bird


Warren Bird is an American writer and researcher of megachurches. He has authored or co-authored 36 books on church leadership, including Emotionally Healthy Church and Prepare Your Church for the Future, which have both achieved the bestseller status of 100,000 or more units in print. He has also overseen more than 30 research reports on issues affecting large and growing churches. His research on megachurches is regularly cited in mainstream and religious media. He most recently served as Senior Vice President of Research for the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.

Life and Ministry

Bird was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and lived there until his college years. His formal academic training comes from Wheaton College, Alliance Theological Seminary and Fordham University. An ordained minister, he has served in several church roles including church planter and assistant pastor, including his longest tenure being for 10 years on staff at . While pastoring, he also served as long time adjunct professor at Alliance Theological Seminary.
He has been licensed for ministry under the Christian & Missionary Alliance.
Bird is married to his college sweetheart. He and his wife, Michelle, live in a suburb of New York City.

Research and Writing

In his early years, Bird served on Carl George’s senior management team of the Pasadena-based Charles E. Fuller Institute of Evangelism and Church Growth where he visited, interviewed, researched, and profiled many of the largest, fastest-growing, or newest churches in North America. In subsequent years, he did similar research and development for the Canada-based Leadership Centre Willow Creek Canada, and for the Asbury Theological Seminary-based Beeson Institute for Advanced Church Leadership. From 2006 to 2018 Bird served as Director of Research and Intellectual Capital Development at Leadership Network.
In 2018 he became Senior Vice President of Research at the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit accrediting agency designed to enhance trust and certify integrity in Christ-centered churches and ministries.
He has compiled and maintained a sortable list of US and Global megachurches published by Exponential since 2010.

Articles

Bird has published more than 200 magazine articles on church leadership including two cover stories for Christianity Today and the cover story for Evangelicals. He has written a “Leadership from the Global Church” column for each issue of magazine since 2014. He has also contributed collaborative chapters or sections to 8 other books. He has also written guest columns on megachurch issues such as “Not a Baby Boomer Phenomenon—Megachurches Draw Twice as Many People Under 45” in Christian Post. In 2022, he oversaw the nation's largest research to date on new churches, many of which were started by megachurches. In 2025 he co-directed the nation's largest-ever research of megachurches through the

Megachurch Research, US and Global

Bird's research has focused mainly on megachurches. He has authored more than 25 published reports based on original research including a collection of reports on comparative trends in US megachurches. This includes a 2021 co-authored study that was the nation’s largest-ever study of megachurches, “” Specialty studies include Canadian megachurches, internships/residencies in large churches, multisite megachurches, and salaries in megachurches. He also co-authored two scholarly chapters on the global megachurch phenomenon. He has contributed articles to Review of Religious Research and to the Journal for the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.

Books

Bird has authored or co-authored 35 books. Bird received the prestigious Gold Medallion Award, the top honor given by the international trade association for Christian publishers, for Emotionally Healthy Church .''Teams that Thrive was named Leadership Resource of the Year by Outreach magazine in 2019.
Translations of his books include Burmese, Chinese, Czech, French, German, Indonesian, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.
Books are listed in order of publication newest to oldest:
  • Becoming a Future-Ready Church: 8 Shifts to Encourage and Empower the Next Generation of Leaders, Daniel Yang, Adelle Banks, and Warren Bird, foreword by Ryan Burge
  • The Resilience Factor: A Step-by-Step Guide to Catalyze an Unbreakable Team, Ryan T. Hartwig, Léonce B. Crump Jr., and Warren Bird, foreword by Tod Bolsinger
  • Better Together: Making Church Mergers Work, expanded and updated edition, Jim Tomberlin and Warren Bird, foreword by Craig Groeschel
  • Next: Pastoral Succession that Works, expanded and updated edition. William Vanderbloemen and Warren Bird, foreword by John Ortberg
  • Liquid Church: 6 Powerful Currents to Saturate Your City for Christ, Tim Lucas and Warren Bird, foreword by Carey Nieuwhof
  • Hero Maker: Five Essential Practices for Leaders to Multiply Leaders, Dave Ferguson and Warren Bird, foreword by J.D. Greear
  • How To Break Growth Barriers: Revise Your Role, Release Your People and Capture Overlooked Opportunities For Your Church, Carl George and Warren Bird, foreword by Carey Nieuwhof
  • God Dreams: 12 Vision Templates for Finding and Focusing Your Church’s Future, Will Mancini and Warren Bird, foreword by Alan Hirsch
  • Teams that Thrive: Five Disciplines of Collaborative Church Leadership, Ryan Hartwig and Warren Bird, foreword by Dave Ferguson
  • Next: Pastoral Succession that Works, William Vanderbloemen and Warren Bird
  • Wisdom from Lyle E. Schaller: The Elder Statesman of Church Leadership, Lyle Schaller and Warren Bird
  • Better Together: Making Church Mergers Work. Jim Tomberlin and Warren Bird
  • The Other 80%: Turning Your Church’s Spectators into Active Disciples, Scott Thumma and Warren Bird
  • Viral Churches: Helping Church Planters Become Movement Makers, Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird
  • Unleashing the Word: Rediscovering the Public Reading of Scripture, Max McLean and Warren Bird
  • Innovative Transitions: How Change Can Take Your Church to the Next Level, Dale Galloway with Warren Bird
  • Missing in America: Making an Eternal Difference in the World Next Door, Tom Clegg and Warren Bird
  • Eleven Innovations in the Local Church: How Today’s Leaders Can Learn, Discern, and Move into the Future, Elmer Towns, Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird
  • Innovation 2007: Connecting Innovators to Multiply. Leadership Network.
  • The Multi-Site Church Revolution: Being One Church in Many Locations, Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon, and Warren Bird
  • Momentum for Life: Sustaining Personal Health, Integrity, and Strategic Focus as a Leader, Michael Slaughter with Warren Bird and Kim Miller
  • Culture Shift: Transforming Your Church from the Inside Out, Robert Lewis and Wayne Cordeiro with Warren Bird
  • The Emotionally Healthy Church: A Strategy for Discipleship That Actually Changes Lives, revised edition, by Pete Scazzero with Warren Bird
  • Starting a New Church: How to Plant a High-Impact Congregation, with accompanying DVD, by Dale Galloway with Warren Bird
  • UnLearning Church: Transforming Spiritual Leadership for the Emerging Church, by Michael Slaughter with Warren Bird
  • On-Purpose Leadership: Multiplying Your Ministry by Becoming a Leader of Leaders, by Dale Galloway with Warren Bird
  • Lost in America: How Your Church Can Impact the World Next Door by Tom Clegg and Warren Bird
  • Into the Future: Turning Today’s Church Trends into Tomorrow’s Opportunities, by Elmer Towns and Warren Bird
  • Real Followers: Beyond Virtual Christianity, Michael Slaughter with Warren Bird
  • Nine Keys to Effective Small-Group Leadership: How Lay Leaders Can Establish Healthy Cells, Classes and Teams, by Carl George with Warren Bird
  • The Comprehensive Guide to Cassette Ministry, Johnny Berguson with Warren Bird
  • The Coming Church Revolution, by Carl George with Warren Bird
  • How to Break Growth Barriers, by Carl George with Warren Bird
  • Prepare Your Church for the Future'', by Carl George, edited Warren Bird