Friday is for friends and today’s friend is Craig Groeschel from LifeChurch.tv He had two great posts this week that tackle the same subject from two different angles.  Here’s the posts:

10 Reasons to Invite People to Follow Christ Every Week At Church
from LifeChurch.tv : swerve by Craig Groeschel

1. Someone may be at church only once.
2. The Holy Spirit may have been working on them for months or years.
3. Even some churched people don’t understand the gospel.
4. Many trust in the church for salvation instead of trusting Christ.
5. Seeing others saved gives believers another reason to worship and motivation to witness.
6. New Christians can “light a church on fire.”
7. Angels in heaven get to party when one person meets Christ.
8. Hell is a real place.
9. You care deeply about people.
10. Families, workplaces, neighborhoods, cities, and generations could be different when one person meets Christ.

10 Reasons Not To Invite People to Follow Christ at Your Church
from LifeChurch.tv : swerve by Craig Groeschel

1. You are afraid of rejection.
2. You think everyone at church is already a believer.
3. You wouldn’t dream of offending someone.
4. You don’t really believe the gospel changes lives.
5. You are so busy preaching about “sex” or “how to have a better life” that you don’t have time to present Christ.
6. You would rather tell another joke than spend time explaining the gospel.
7. You don’t want to be criticized for being narrow minded.
8. You care more about everyone feeling welcome than about their eternity.
9. You are embarrassed to talk a lot about Jesus.
10. You don’t really really believe the gospel yourself.

For more from Craig, check out his blog by clicking here.  I also highly recommend his new book, find out more by clicking here.

Nelson

Here’s a great exercise… call your church office with a basic question like “what time are your services?” Or better yet, have a have friend do it. Then, sit back and see what happens.

Are you able to reach a live person? If so, is the greeting friendly? Do they know how to transfer a call? Does the person answering the phone know how to handle basic requests? Does the conversation start out on a friendly note but then seem rushed as the call is quickly transferred?

Does the answering machine or voice mail sound OK? Does it give you enough time to leave a message? If you leave a message, how long before someone returns the call?

I often do this exercise with my coaching networks. We take turns calling each others’ church offices and ask basic questions about service times, what to expect or even for a staff persons voice mail. Honestly, the results are usually horrifying!

Take a few minutes this week and have a conversation with your staff about phone standards. Make sure everyone is presenting the positive attitude you expect. I’ll be doing that with our staff, too.

Nelson

SYSTEM #6: THE STEWARDSHIP SYSTEM

Wednesday has rolled around again! Time for the weekly installation of our eight-part “Where There’s Slack There’s Lack” series. I’m particularly excited about the system we are looking at today. It’s a crucial system and one that’s surrounded by a lot of questions and misconceptions…

Have you ever had a hard time getting new believers to tithe? Have you ever wished you had more faithful givers? Of course you have. We all wrestle with the money issue. That’s where The Stewardship System comes in. This is the system that asks, “How do you develop extravagant givers at your church?”

Stewardship is a tough issue. That’s why most of us, as church leaders, tend to separate it from other spiritual disciplines, like praying, reading our Bibles and going to church. We are afraid to hold our attenders accountable in the personal area of money.

But, let’s face it – money is not only essential to Kingdom growth, it’s also an essential factor in the spiritual growth of our people. We will never develop strong disciples until we learn to develop strong givers.

How effective is the stewardship system you have in place? To get an idea of how things are going, ask yourself these questions:

• Are you modeling extravagant giving?
• How do you know when someone gives a gift for the first time? How do you respond?
• When was the last time you taught on the spiritual discipline of giving?
• Have you given your people a tithe challenge in the last year?

Most new givers – and even a lot of more seasoned givers – don’t understand the importance of bringing the full tithe. There is a path we have to lead them down, as they mature in their understanding of stewardship. That kind of growth doesn’t happen haphazardly. But as God blesses and works through the Stewardship System, we can build churches of faithful, and even extravagant, givers.

This week, spend some time with your Stewardship System. Think through your process for explaining the importance of giving. Think about how you follow up with those who give. Write out your own financial testimony.

If you will give this system some true attention, you can begin to recast the sticky issue of money as the important spiritual discipline it really is.

Nelson

P.S. – If you haven’t already, make sure you download the free Church Systems Report, to learn more about the eight church systems and how they work together for the healthy growth of your church.

P.P.S – To dig deeper into this issue of developing extravagant givers, check out The Stewardship Seminar.

I recently had the opportunity to teach a special week long graduate class for Dr. Bob Whitesel.   If you aren’t familiar with Bob, here’s what I consider his three best books to date:

Dr. Bob is one of the best church growth thinkers of our generation.

I had a blast spending four days with some really sharp students but I had even more fun picking Bob’s brain.

Nelson

P.S. We actually recorded all four days of my lectures.  I spent a day on Assimialtion, a day on Growth Barriers, a day on Small Groups and a day on Church Systems – all at graduate level discussion.   Church Leader Insights is currently not planning on packaging these lectures as a resource but if you would like to have them for your library, I can make them available for cost-recovery…email me at ns1 (at) journeymetro.com for more info.

Here’s what’s happening with Church Leader Insights and me this week that may be of interest to you.

Monday - I’m taking a day of vacation today and a few days early next week…a few last minute days off before the rush of the fall.  We have a great team at The Journey and sometimes I think they do better with me out of the way!

Tuesday – I’ll be making some final decisions on my new Tele-Coaching Network for Senior Pastors…last call for applications!  Click here to apply.

Wednesday – I’ll be in Tampa for my Senior Pastors Coaching Network…pray that Hurricane Fay stays away!

Thursday – An early travel day and then a full day in the office.  Tonight we have a meeting with key leaders in our church about Financial Peace University this fall.

Friday – An early day in the office to catch up from travels and then my New York Coaching Network will gather for meeting #4.  Tonight Kelley and I have tickets to a Toby Keith concert in Jersey…we are looking forward to Toby but are bigger fans of Montgomery Gentry, the middle act.

Saturday – Alexander is away with grandparents so Kelley and I are doing some rearranging in our apartment…time for the big boy to get his own room and furniture.

Watch your email for some cool stuff from Church Leader Insights too.

Hope you have a great week!

Nelson

P.S.  You might also want to check out my latest podcast, entitled “The 10% Principle.”  Download or listen online for free by clicking here.

One of the highlights of my trip to Phoenix last week was hanging with Greg Rohlinger.  I’ve known Greg since 2002 and every time we are together he stretches me and encourages me.  He’s the real deal.

I was also impressed that he sent 20 people to my Fusion seminar last Thursday but I was even more impressed that he attended himself.  Here’s a guy that pastors a church more than twice the size of Journey yet he was in the audience learning, interacting and taking notes (and forgiving me that I called him Gary…twice!  Some friend I am!).

Here’s his notes from the conference…click here.

Here’s a link to his fantastic church….Palm Valley Church.

And I highly recommend his blog to you….click here.

Have a great Sunday!  And follow Greg’s lead and learn from everyone you can.

Nelson

P.S. Greg recently lead his church to read thru the bible in one year, the spiritual growth was off the charts.  He chronciled it here at Route 66.

“To solve any problem, here are three questions to ask yourself:

First, what could I do?

Second, what could I read?

And third, who could I ask?“

— Jim Rohn: Motivational speaker, author

If you’ve heard me speak live, you know that I’m a fan of two very different Buffetts – Warren Buffett and Jimmy Buffett. (They are actually more alike than you think.) So, this recent post from Kevin Eikenberry caught my attention . . I think you’ll find it helpful:

“Tuesday night my family and I went to see Jimmy Buffett. I have enjoyed his music for many years, I’ve read his books, and I’ve been to a concert in the past as well.
Why do I blog all of this? Because, Jimmy is one of my heroes. As I reflected on the concert, I thought about what I have learned from Jimmy – and why he is a hero of mine.

Here are six things that I learned, or relearned from Jimmy this week.

The Power of Passion. Jimmy Buffett loves what he does. From the stage to the trip to points around the world that was chronicled on video during the show – he loves his work. When people love what they do, others are drawn to that passion – in this case 24,000 plus, a sellout for the 21st consecutive year in Indianapolis (are you kidding me, sellouts for 21 straight years?). What are you passionate about?

The Value of Purpose. Jimmy has purposefully created a life that allows him to use his skills and strengths to the fullest – singing, songwriting, writing, marketing, and many other things. His purpose also allows him to create space for his interests outside of his work – surfing, fishing, and flying among them. If you want a picture of this purpose, read the words to one of my favorite of his songs – Schoolboy Heart. These are the words of person who knows who he is and why he is on planet earth. What is your purpose?

The Need for a Plan. He’s 61. He’s been touring for who-knows-how long. I’m sure he doesn’t need to tour, or do many of the other things he does. His tour gets shorter every year, and yet, at the end of the show, he told us, I’ll see you next year. And you could tell he meant it. What is your plan?

The Importance of Personalization. Jimmy knows his Customers, and talked to us like he knew it throughout the show. He mentioned a variety of things about the state, the crowd, the earthquake a few months ago and more. This wasn’t just, “if it’s Tuesday I must be in Indiana,” it was our show on our night. When we personalize and customize for our Clients they will notice. How do you personalize your work or your Clients and Customers?

The Perfection of Play. I had tshirts made several years ago that say, “Make Work Play”! Jimmy doesn’t need the shirt, he lives it. How (and how often) do you play at work?

The Sound of Paean – Paean is defined as a song of praise. Jimmy certainly can sing, this is obvious. What is less obvious is that he showers his praise on his Customers (in this case the audience). He is grateful. He is thankful. When we sing praises to and for those we serve, and approach our work and lives with a spirit of gratefulness, we will always be happier, healthier and more successful. How grateful are you?

Oh, and he is also VERY good at what he does. In part because of these other five points, but we can’t leave that one out either!

There are more lessons, these are just five. Hopefully one or more of these resonate for you, whether you like Jimmy’s music or not.”

Read the complete article by clicking here. Have a great Friday!

Nelson

Each month, in The Church Leader Insights Newsletter, I recommend two books that have been helpful to me personally or to our team at The Journey. One of this month’s recommendations is Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely. Here’s what I wrote in the newsletter:

“Our Executive Staff just completed reading this book. Last month, I took one idea from this book, applied it to our small groups sign-ups and we had 119 new people sign-up! This book will help you understand how people make (irrational) decisions and how you can influence them toward the best (Godly) result. Along the way you’ll find some great sermon material on temptation, commitment and habits. You’ll also find great info to make you a better communicator and evangelist.”

I hope you enjoy the book!

Nelson

P.S. For more recommendations like this, make sure you subscribe to my free Church Leader Insights newsletter (click here) and that you have info@churchleaderinsights.com in your address book.

SYSTEM #5: THE MINISTRY SYSTEM

Welcome to Part 5 of the weekly, Wednesday series, “Where There’s Slack There’s Lack!” If you’ve been tracking with me each week, I hope the effort you’ve been putting in is creating a new level of excellence in your church.

If you have you ever had a hard time mobilizing volunteers, then you are going to like today’s system – The Ministry System. We’ve also been known to call this system The Volunteer System. However you want to label it, it’s the system that asks, “How do you mobilize people for significant ministry?”

God created people to serve. It’s part of how they grow as disciples. You have to have a system in place that will help them get plugged in, or you will be hurting both yourself and your potential leaders.

At The Journey, our goal is to get 50% of our people involved in serving at least one hour each week. What’s your goal? Do you have one?

If you have multiple services on a Sunday, try asking volunteers to serve at one service and attend another. You can never have too many volunteers.

To take the pulse of your Ministry System, ask yourself these questions:

• How many passionate volunteers do we have?
• How many passionate volunteers would we like to have?
• What are we doing to make people want to serve?
• When was the last time I personally invested in our volunteers?

Encouraging people to serve will strengthen your church on every level. Ultimately, all of the eight systems will be run by volunteers, so you need as many dedicated servers as possible.

This week, spend some time thinking about what steps you need to take to create a volunteer system that makes people want to get involved… One that makes them want to do the things that you can’t hire people to do.

If you will give this system some true attention, I can guarantee you will begin to attract more volunteers.

Make this your mantra for the week: In my Ministry System, attention = attraction!

Nelson

P.S. – Don’t forget to download the free Church Systems Report to learn more about the eight church systems and how they work together for the health of your church.