Carl Royster has posted a defense of the the decision to exclude "hybrid" churches on the 21st Century Christian blog. (http://www.21stcc.com/blog/blog.cfm)

Repeating the theme that it's not theological, he offers the following analogy:

"Permit me this illustration: Imagine that you were told to go down to the river to count all the boats that were floating. You see boats in the river, bobbing up and down. You also see boats that are in racks on the shoreline. You also see some boats that are pulled partially on the bank of the river – bow on land and stern in the water. Which boats would you include in your “floating” number? The question does not ask you to determine which ones are boats, but only which ones are floating. None of the boats seen would be disqualified from being boats, but only those floating would be included in this particular count."

While he is clear to say that “none of the boats seen would be disqualified from being boats,” it seems that his analogy indicates the same qualitative distinction the directory did: it still leaves room for a distinction between “boats that are serving their intended purpose” and boats that are not.