Tag Archive - new

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4 Strategies to Start in 2015 that will Change your Church

It’s January and the gyms are packed. They’re making money hand over fist this month with everyone making New Years Resolutions to finally get in shape. And when I go to the gym in February it will be back to normal. People are notorious for making huge goals at the New Year and then not following through. That’s why I want to give you a couple of small changes you can realistically make this year that will change your church in 2015. You’ll be surprised by how small degrees of change that you make in your trajectory today can pay dividends in the future. So here are 4 small changes that can make a big deal in your church in 2015.

1. Start Hand Writing Notes

Every week set aside 30 minutes to write a couple of notes and send them in the mail. It can be a thank you to a generous giver or a volunteer. It can be encouraging words to a staff member. You can send a note to say thanks for visiting to a guest. Or send a simple “I prayed for you today,” to someone going through a difficult time. Nothing beats a handwritten note. It’s a simple personal touch that says you care and it makes you more authentic and accessible as a leader. Yes, this means using an actual pen to actually write something and put it in the mail. Not an email, not a text, not a direct message on social media but an actual letter.

2. Build an Integrated Ministry Calendar

Get your ministry staff or leaders together and spend the time to build one integrated calendar for the year. Include weekend teaching series, all church events, and segment ministry calendars like Children’s Ministry and Student Ministries. You’ll quickly discover where ministries are in competition with each other, fuel islands of strength, and you’ll be able to simplify your efforts and make sure everyone is moving in the same direction.

3. Evaluate, Evaluate, Evaluate

Take some time with your team to build a list of every ministry at your church (this might actually take a lot of time for some teams). Then ask 4 simple questions about them: 1) What’s Working? 2) What’s Wrong? 3) What’s Confusing? 4) What’s Missing? Then optimize what’s working, change what’s wrong, clarify what’s confusing, and add what’s missing.

4. Join a Leadership Coaching Network

The whole church gets better when the leader gets better. You can be inspired at a leadership conference and hear a lot of leadership theory; or you spend the time to be around other leaders who are in the trenches, engage in leadership exercises, read and discuss great leadership books and trends, and discover new systems and strategies that you can implement in your local church context. Here’s a link if you’re interested in taking this step.

Photo Credit: Great Beyond via Compfight cc


Posted in Leadership

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Top Posts of 2014 #2: “When to Add Another Worship Service at your Church”

Most churches I’ve been around want to grow, but many are confused about when to add another worship service, how to do it, and if they should attempt the move at all. This post was the #2 post this year on Helping Churches Make Vision Real and will help you if you’re trying to figure out when you’re going to add an additional worship service at your church this year.

Many churches are stuck in attendance simply because they haven’t maximized their current facilities and campus. Thinking about adding another worship service at your church? Here are five strategic concepts to consider before you do. Not sure if multiple worship services are right for your church? Check out this blog on Overcoming the Fear of Moving to Multiple Worship Services.

1. Begin with Two Worship Services…not One

Conventional wisdom would say to begin with one public service at the optimum time. Conventional wisdom would be wrong. Two services provide customizable options, and Americans love to customize their options. Two services also provide opportunities for people to attend a service and volunteer at a service. It’s easier to build volunteer teams for two services than one.

2. Make Everyone Pick a New Service Time

When you believe you’re ready to add an additional worship service don’t just add one, make everyone pick a new service time. Simply adding on another service and asking people to make room for outsiders by moving their service time is rarely successful. You may get the faithful few but not the masses. Instead try something like this: move from having two services at 9:30am & 11:00am to three services at 9:00am, 10:30am and noon.

3. Timing is Overrated

The best time to add a new service is when you need one. People will talk about the right time, or key times of the year to add a new service but the best time to add a new service is when you need one. A new service can bring an infusion of new people (remember people love options and more options can mean more people), and new is always catalytic in building momentum.

4. Optimum Seats at Optimum Times is Real

The most popular time for worship services in the U.S. is between 10:00am & 11:00am on Sunday mornings. This is the time guests are most likely to come to your church. Few churches are having success doing services before 9:00am and the earlier the service the more likely it will be an, “older church crowd.” Try two services on Saturday evenings between 4:30-6:30pm or Sunday evenings during the same window of time.

5. The 80% Rule Still Applies

When starting new worship services it’s important to manage your expectations. If your prime-time service is at 80% capacity then each service you add off the prime-time will most likely have a diminishing return. For example, the church I serve at has five weekend services, two on Saturday and three on Sunday. The most well attended service is 10:30am, followed by 4:30pm on Saturday, noon on Sunday, 9:00am on Sunday and then 6:00pm on Saturday.

What experience have you had with multiple worship services? What would you add to the list? Add to the conversation and leave a comment!

Photo Credit: maymoron via Compfight cc


Posted in Leadership

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The Freshmen Get Smaller Every Year

I took a trip down memory lane this weekend. I spent some time back east consulting with a great church in my hometown of Stafford, VA. It’s been 20 years since the last time I was in Stafford. And while I was there I took a minute to drive around a bit; and let me tell you a lot has changed in 20 years! I felt like I could get lost in my own hometown! I went by the house I grew up in and even past the High School I graduated from. First thing that came into my mind? “I remember my High School being a lot bigger than that.” And then another thought raced into my mind. It was a statement from a conversation that I had with Larry Osborne when he said to me, “The freshmen get smaller every year.” In other words every year there is a new freshman class. Every year as you get older they seem to get smaller, weirder, and more clueless. And somehow the older you get the more it seems you were never that small, that weird, or that clueless. But you and I know better, don’t we?

The best leaders I’ve ever been around know there’s great value in hanging out with the “freshmen.” In fact here are a couple of things I’ve seen some great seasoned leaders do over the years to invest in the next generation leaders.

1. Surround yourself with Young Talent

Not so they can admire how experienced and how incredible you are. You don’t need groupies. But so you can invest in them. Spend time with them, let them ask questions and simply talk about leadership. Let them see you lead up close and personal. And then debrief with them about what you did and why. Share with them your greatest leadership struggles, challenges, failures and successes.

2. How Young Can you go with your Next Hire?

When you are getting ready to make that next hire ask yourself, “How young can we go with this hire and not jeopardize the job that needs to get done?” It’s a simple question that will force you to think differently about bringing young talent onto the team. And frankly, it’s a question that I wish I started asking a long time ago.

3. Invite Young Talent to the Adult Table

Thanksgiving was just a couple of weeks ago. And if your house is similar to mine you had a kids table and an adult table. In leadership the same is often true. One of the most simple and overlooked opportunities to develop young talent is to periodically invite young talent to the adult table. Let them sit in Sr. Leadership meetings and see how the top leaders in your organization or church think, problem solve, interact with one another, make decisions and well, lead. This kind of access is an incredible gift to a young up an coming leader.

4. Remember to Tell Yourself the Truth

No matter how good you were as a young leader, you weren’t as good as you remember yourself being, you just weren’t. And neither was I. The further you and I get away from being a young leader the more we think, “I was never that small, I was never that weird, I was never that clueless.” Tell yourself the truth and instead of criticizing the freshmen why don’t you choose to hang out with them and invest in them?

Photo Credit: Russ Allison Loar via Compfight cc


Posted in Leadership, Staffing

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4 Principles of Highly Effective Churches

This past week the Unstuck Group met in Atlanta for our annual planning and team gathering. Not only is it an incredible team to be a part of but also it’s incredibly rewarding to help churches all around the world get unstuck, which ultimately results in the Kingdom of God taking ground and more people saying yes to follow Jesus!

There is genuine excitement on the team, a sense of unity of purpose and calling to help churches get unstuck, and frankly there’s momentum. But even with the positive momentum and sense of winning there were a few key principles that came up repeatedly in our time together. And as a local church guy at heart I was reminded of these four key principles that all highly effective local churches employ.

1. The Team Outperforms the Individual

It was exciting and humbling to be in the room with the whole Unstuck Group at the same time. It really is a high powered, highly talented, experience rich group. When you hire the Unstuck Group you’re not just hiring a single consultant, you’re bringing the experience of the whole team to the table. As we dreamed about the future and built plans to get us there it was incredible to watch the team make ideas stronger than any individual would alone.

2. Plan Your Work & Work Your Plan

An old Japanese Proverb states that, “Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.” Most churches are either busy daydreaming or stuck in a nightmare. Fortunately the art of planning and turning vision into focused action is a core strength of the Unstuck Group. It was fun to apply tools that we typically use to help churches get unstuck to our own future and action required to get there.

3. Guard the Gate

You become who you hire. Successful churches are borderline fanatical about who they allow to join the team. They know that people build culture and with each hire they either move closer to, or further away from the culture they’re trying to build.

4. Lean into the Fountain of Youth

Every great ministry started as an idea, but not every idea ends up being a great ministry. The key question is are you generating new ideas? Do you have a drawer full of “fountain of youth ideas” to implement when the time is right. If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got. And you’ll age out as a church. Great churches innovate, are idea rich, and discover new solutions to old problems.

Photo Credit: Stuck in Customs via Compfight cc


Posted in Leadership

5

When to Add Another Worship Service at Your Church

Many churches are stuck in attendance simply because they haven’t maximized their current facilities and campus. Thinking about adding another worship service at your church? Here are five strategic concepts to consider before you do. Not sure if multiple worship services are right for your church? Check out this blog on Overcoming the Fear of Moving to Multiple Worship Services.

1. Begin with Two Worship Services…not One

Conventional wisdom would say to begin with one public service at the optimum time. Conventional wisdom would be wrong. Two services provide customizable options, and Americans love to customize their options. Two services also provide opportunities for people to attend a service and volunteer at a service. It’s easier to build volunteer teams for two services than one.

2. Make Everyone Pick a New Service Time

When you believe you’re ready to add an additional worship service don’t just add one, make everyone pick a new service time. Simply adding on another service and asking people to make room for outsiders by moving their service time is rarely successful. You may get the faithful few but not the masses. Instead try something like this: move from having two services at 9:30am & 11:00am to three services at 9:00am, 10:30am and noon.

3. Timing is Overrated

The best time to add a new service is when you need one. People will talk about the right time, or key times of the year to add a new service but the best time to add a new service is when you need one. A new service can bring an infusion of new people (remember people love options and more options can mean more people), and new is always catalytic in building momentum.

4. Optimum Seats at Optimum Times is Real

The most popular time for worship services in the U.S. is between 10:00am & 11:00am on Sunday mornings. This is the time guests are most likely to come to your church. Few churches are having success doing services before 9:00am and the earlier the service the more likely it will be an, “older church crowd.” Try two services on Saturday evenings between 4:30-6:30pm or Sunday evenings during the same window of time.

5. The 80% Rule Still Applies

When starting new worship services it’s important to manage your expectations. If your prime-time service is at 80% capacity then each service you add off the prime-time will most likely have a diminishing return. For example, the church I serve at has five weekend services, two on Saturday and three on Sunday. The most well attended service is 10:30am, followed by 4:30pm on Saturday, noon on Sunday, 9:00am on Sunday and then 6:00pm on Saturday.

What experience have you had with multiple worship services? What would you add to the list? Add to the conversation and leave a comment!


Posted in Leadership
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