Mains’ approach to service planning was deemed twenty years ahead of its time and initiated the integration of the arts and media into worship, established an approach to service planning built around one scriptural concept so the entire worship service communicated one meaningful idea, invited lay people into sermon and service brainstorming/ analyzation/ feedback, and insisted that every sermon include practical handles to help the everyday believer integrate Christian concept into everyday living.

In 1977 Mains temporarily joined his uncle, John D. Jess, the founder of the well-loved national radio broadcast, The Chapel of the Air. Soon after Jess’ retirement, Mains found himself director and typically began to wrestle with the use of religious media in ways that would stimulate measurable spiritual growth on the part of the listener. It was not enough just to ask for donations.

Due to his years in the pastorate, he reformatted the broadcast to serve as an adjunct ministry to the local church rather than a para-church competitor; and trained a team of on-air voices to share broadcasting with him. This team including his wife, Karen Mains, a best-selling, prize-winning communicator, and they began to develop growth tools that would co-ordinate with on-air programming.

Again, the experts warned, “That can’t be done.” So Mains was thrilled when the first annual Spiritual Adventure he designed had 7,000 participants. In time the 50-Day Spiritual Adventures benefited hundreds of thousands of yearly participants and became a full-scale, all-church growth event involving thousands of churches. Regularly informed by radio station managers that The Chapel of the Air was the only broadcast placing the local church before its own ministry and was considered an ally by them they attempted to strengthen their ties to pastors and congregations.

With an undergraduate degree in history from Wheaton College, Mains was awarded an honorary doctorate of divinity in 1988 for his contribution to church renewal from Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, New York. Mains great analytical skill is in reducing theological complexities to their simplest common meaning and then creating pragmatic understandable applications for the everyday believer. The popular discipline,

The God Hunt, used again by hundreds of thousands of Christians, is an example of the delightful pragmatism applied to workable concepts.

Mains’ life study in the classic characteristics of revival resulted in an understanding of this phenomenon that emphasizes the naturalness of the supernatural and was published in his book “A Sense of His Presence” (now re-titled “The Unseen Guest: How Sensing Christ’s Presence Can Change Your Church) and these principles were then interwoven into the Zondervan study Bible titled “The Bible for Personal Revival”.

Mains insists on welcoming spiritual paradox, feels comfortable with theological mystery, yet insists on practical, doable applications. This synergistic understanding is reason some have dubbed him, “a pragmatic mystic.” The Mains have also emphasized growth tools that include “the delight factor”. The discipline of going to church is made approachable, for instance, with the use of “The Sunday Search” game.

A consummate communicator, Mains has developed approaches for pragmatic spirituality on his daily radio broadcast, aired under his leadership for twenty years over 500 outlets daily, and on the national daily television show, “You Need to Know” which was awarded the National Religious Broadcaster’s annual commendation for best program of the year in 1995. He has authored or co-authored over a dozen books, has been the mastermind behind over twenty yearly 50-Day Spiritual Adventures, the seasonal Advent Celebration, and other all-church growth events.

At this time, Mains has resigned from broadcasting efforts, in order to establish Mainstay Ministries dedicated to wrestling with how to best serve the local church, both its leaders and its people, by creating growth tools, training seminars, and using the burgeoning technologies to help churches communicate Christianity in a “sight and sound” post-Christian culture. He is in the process of building Team Sundays, a ministry highlighting successful church approaches to building unforgettable life-changing Sundays. His pragmatism has developed an easily understood communication model, The Mainstay Model, which when implemented, profoundly alters life-changing results on the part of hearers.

Leveraging the experience of his own innovative pastorate, his wide-ranging breadth of background as a Christian communicator, and his passion for the local church and its need to experience the living Presence of Christ, Mains is always an advocate for the pastor and the local congregation. As one minister was overheard saying to him (and which many have said in different ways), “Thank you for putting your own personal agenda aside to work for the good of the local church.”

David Mains lives in West Chicago with his wife, Karen. The Mains have been married for 43 years and are the parents of 4 grown children, all who are involved in serving Christ. Deeply committed grandparents, they are delighted to be involved in the spiritual development of their 6 grandchildren. The Mains are now attending First Baptist Church of Wheaton, Illinois, the oldest African-American congregation in Du Page County.