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Catalyst One Day Session 4: Programming by Andy Stanley

Andy Stanley gave a talk in session 4 on “Creating a Culture Around and Through your Programming” that I know you’re going to find helpful. If you’re responsible for ministry environments (worship services, children’s ministry, small groups, student ministry, etc.) than this talk is pure gold for you!

  • If everyone doesn’t have the same picture of a win you end up with chaos and nobody ends up winning
  • Funny Andy Stanley moment: “If I could heal people at will to draw a crowd I would, but I can’t…so I have to hire a band”
  • Every single ministry program (worship service, student ministry, small groups, children’s ministry) is being evaluated, not formally, but by participants. Wouldn’t it make sense for you as a staff to go ahead and have a plan to be on the same page and evaluate it together?

3 Irreducible Minimums for an Irresistible Ministry Environment

1. An Appealing Setting

  • The physical environment
  • Settings create first impressions (What does it appear to be at first pass?)
  • An uncomfortable or distracting setting can derail ministry before it even begins
  • Every physical environment communicates something; there are no neutral physical environments
  • Design, décor, and attention to detail communicate what and who you value most
  • Design, décor, and attention to detail communicates whether or not your expecting guests
  • Periodically we all need fresh eyes on our ministry environments
  • Are your ministry settings appealing to your target audience?
  • Do the design, décor, and attention to detail in your environments reflect who is most important to you?
  • What’s starting to look tired?

2. An Engaging Presentation

  • Engaging presentations are essential to the success of our mission
    • Presenting the Gospel
    • Teaching them to “obey everything I’ve commanded you”
  • To engage is to secure one’s attention
  • Generally speaking it’s the presentation that makes information interesting
  • An audience’s attention span is determined by the quality of the presentation
  • Engaging presentations require engaging presenters
  • Always sacrifice the one for the many not the many for the one

3. Helpful Content

  • Helpful = useful
  • It’s not enough for it to be true. It has to be helpful
  • Helpful content is content that addresses helping people think and act differently
  • Information that doesn’t address a felt need is perceived as irrelevant
  • Is your content helpful?
  • Do you content creators know the goal of content is to help people think and act differently?
  • Is your content age and stage of life specific?

Want to grab more Catalyst Resources for yourself and your team? I’m giving away a brand new copy of “The Power of Momentum” a 4-part video teaching series from Andy and Craig. Just sign up here and I’ll let everyone know who the winner is next week!


Posted in Leadership

2 Responses to “Catalyst One Day Session 4: Programming by Andy Stanley”

  1. Jeremy February 2, 2013 at 12:17 am #

    Do you know what he meant by'”Always sacrifice the one for the many not the many for the one?”

  2. Paul Alexander February 2, 2013 at 1:19 pm #

    In the context of the talk he was saying don’t be afraid to hurt someone’s feelings by telling them the truth, better to hurt one person’s feelings instead of everyone at the ministry environment. For example if someone thinks they can sing but they can’t (we all know this person in church), don’t let them sing, even if it hurts their feelings. It’s better to hurt their feelings than let them be a distraction to the Gospel.

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