Financial Concerns
The NAE is the nation's largest evangelical organization, with about 43,000 member congregations from some 50 denominations and a total membership of 27 million -- including independent churches and some 250 para-church organizations.
But despite its large membership and retooled vision, recent financial reports have been less than encouraging. The NAE's total income dropped from $1.5 million in 1999 to $1.1 million in 2000, including a dip of $320,000 in contributions. Expenses for the year exceeded income, requiring staff layoffs.

"From the moment we stepped on board," says Mannoia, "I knew the NAE was in serious condition as it related to vision, so when I hired people I hired for vision. What I didn't know -- until probably six to eight months in -- was that it was in such a serious condition operationally. If I were to do something over again, I probably would have hired a little more toward the operational side to address some of those difficulties.

"But I have never been primarily an administrator," he adds. "I think what became evident was that the executive committee wanted me to move more and more into the operational and fund-raising side of the equation -- quite honestly, that's not where my calling is. That's not my gift mix."

Identity and the NCC
From the beginning, Mannoia set out to redefine the NAE, pushing for what he admits is a "risky, strategic shift," but one he sees as "absolutely essential to the health of the evangelical church in America."

"I think there has been a long pattern of defining ourselves and motivating our activities with the center point being the adversary," says Mannoia, describing the mindset he believes has defined the NAE since its founding in 1942 by conservative Protestants who sought to unite around a basic evangelical program and establish an alternative to the liberal Federal Council of Churches. (The FCC was the precursor to today's NCC -- a liberal consortium of 36 Protestant and Orthodox denominations that coordinates disaster relief, refugee aid and other social justice programs.)

In March 2000, when the NAE changed its bylaws, the move effectively displaced the NCC as "the adversary." "And if there is no visible adversary," Mannoia says, "that sets up a huge internal disjunction." Not surprisingly then, some longtime NAE members viewed the mere possibility of admitting NCC member denominations into the NAE as irreconcilable with NAE's motto, "cooperation without compromise."

Mannoia is quick to point out that the NAE has always received individual churches into membership while the bylaw change allows a denomination to hold dual membership -- something he says was acceptable "way back in the early days of the NAE." As of this summer, there were no denominations holding dual memberships, but the Reformed Church in America (RCA) -- an NCC denomination -- has fulfilled all NAE requirements and submitted its membership paperwork. "The RCA represents a strong denomination committed to an evangelical witness," says Mannoia. In his view, the decision to admit them will clearly demonstrate whether the NAE "embraces the new vision and direction we set in motion ... or abdicates its responsibility and retrenches back to an earlier position."

Meanwhile, the NAE reopened a study of the membership rule in response to a request from the Presbyterian Church in America, a member denomination who requested that the bylaw change be rescinded.

Mannoia believes that if people in more liberal denominations can truly find themselves comfortable and committed to the NAE's statement of faith, to its values and mission, they should be welcomed. "We're defining ourselves not based on who you might happen to be associated with out there, but rather on the fact that you're committed to what we stand for and who we are," he says. In fact, he sees a lot of similarity between the NAE bylaw change and what happened a few years ago when the Free Methodist Church began to redefine membership by eliminating restrictive rules.
A specific example of NAE's efforts to broaden its circle under Mannoia's leadership was the development of the "Christian Declaration on Marriage." At Mannoia's invitation, representatives from the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Southern Baptist Convention and the NCC joined with the NAE to draft and sign a statement that was released at a Washington, D.C., press conference in the fall of 2000. Three days later, Robert Edgar, the NCC's general secretary, withdrew his name from the document, Mannoia says, "because of pressure from the gay/lesbian/transsexual caucus at the NCC."

For some in the NAE, Edgar's withdrawing his name was viewed as further evidence that the NAE shouldn't join forces with the likes of the NCC. But Mannoia maintains, "We were (I was) unwilling to change statements in that document that said 'one man, one woman for life,' 'Lordship of Jesus Christ,' 'marriage is a reflection of the spiritual relationship between Christ and the church.' ... So from my perspective, it's a classic example of saying we can work together on issues without compromising our basic core commitments at the center.

"That's been my biggest concern," he admits, "that my resignation would undermine the new group of leaders who have found interest in a renewed vision in the NAE."

From Wheaton to LA
Moving NAE's headquarters to Los Angeles was one of Mannoia's earliest actions as president. "In my perspective, we had to leave Wheaton because it represented our Egypt -- that which at one time was a blessing but now had become our bondage. And in leaving Wheaton, we were sending a major signal about a new day, turning a corner, and starting with a new vision."

In choosing Los Angeles, Mannoia took into account "issues of multiethnicity, urbanization, globalization -- where the church was entrepreneurial and aggressive in engaging culture." At the same time, he sought a place that would allow the NAE not only to be bicoastal but also to be in close proximity to "one of the two major influence centers of the nation and the world -- one being Washington where we already had an office, the other being Hollywood, which shapes the culture through entertainment."
The discord over the moving of NAE's headquarters will undoubtedly resonate with many Free Methodists who recall the transition of the denomination's headquarters from Winona Lake, IN, to Indianapolis in 1990. Says Mannoia, "The former director and staff members of the NAE had invested a lot of sweat and blood in that building in Wheaton [as did those involved in the FMC and the Winona Lake facility] -- and I understand that. If you multiply the dynamic between Winona Lake and Indianapolis many fold, you have the same dynamic related to the NAE -- where there are multiplicities of denominations, backgrounds and opinions out there among people with whom it's very difficult to communicate."

Extending the Hand of Fellowship
One of Mannoia's goals for the NAE was reaching out to independent pastors of very large churches. Over the past several decades, he says, denominations -- once the powerhouses -- have been giving ground to what evangelicals have historically called "megachurch centers." The leaders of these large churches now have the ability and the influence to set the pace for denominational and independent pastors across the country. "Denominational leaders create an environment in which a pastor can be successful," says Mannoia, "but it's the Rick Warrens who will give him his vision, his marching orders and inspire him." For this reason, Mannoia believes the NAE must reach out and begin to network with these leaders. "If we don't, what's going to begin happening -- and it already is to some degree -- is that a Rick Warren and a Bill Hybels are going to develop vastly different networks and they're not going to be talking to each other. A Bob Schuller and a Tommy Barnett are going to be in neighboring states and never know each other. ... It's a new form of denominationalism. And if we're not careful, these guys are going to start to develop their own competitive empires built on the same premise that the whole NAE and the evangelical movement have been built on -- where we can't succeed unless we're different and against an adversary."

"If we can begin to bring these people together and begin to help shape them and connect them -- there is an incredible synergistic power that God can use," says Mannoia. "I think the NAE should be the one to do that. And that's why in April of this year, I gathered 40 of the large-church pastors in America and began that conversation. You talk to any of the people who came out of that room ... there's not a one of them who didn't weep over what God was able to do -- and could do -- coming out of that place. And every time I talk to Schuller, some time in our conversation he just breaks down and weeps and says, 'Kevin, this vision! We've got to see this vision become reality!' Or Jakes. He writes me pretty regularly, 'How can we make this real?'

"Now I don't know that NAE is going to continue that. If they don't, somebody has to do it, and quite honestly, I'm keeping my eye very close on that, because if NAE abdicates that role, then I need to be ready to sense the nudge of God to reconvene that group."

It Comes Back to Identity
"My fear is that the old mindset of adversarial identity is going to retake the heart of the NAE and I become the enemy, the adversary -- for what I did to the NAE," says Mannoia. "And in the process, they will cut off a lot of these new leaders who were beginning to find enthusiasm. ... It's an identity issue. It's not about Kevin; it's about what is the NAE going to do in its core identity?

"There may be people out there who will criticize the fact that I connected with a T.D. Jakes and with a Bob Schuller," he adds. "I am willing to accept the criticism of those people because I know the integrity, the passion, the vision of the Schullers and the Jakes ... because I know what their heart is. I can unequivocally say that the people who write critical, adversarial, divisive kinds of things about people like Bob Schuller don't have a deep enough or well-formed enough understanding of the nature of the kingdom and the church in America. And I feel badly for them. These guys -- sure they take hits. Every leader takes hits. But there is such a heart for the church in these people!"

Looking Back
Considering all that has happened, Mannoia concedes it might have been better if he had moved a little more slowly and built a stronger team to help consolidate the changes he initiated in light of his vision for the NAE. Still, he says, "It was my opinion we had to get very quick life into a dead organization by applying those paddles like they do in the hospital -- we had to shock life into this patient to get it up and running. And so that's why we moved rather quickly."

Ultimately, he concludes, "I invested heavily in creating a climate for change in the NAE and am pleased at the significant changes which have occurred." Changes he's certain are necessary if the NAE is to step proactively into a new day.