I have been excited to see how well my latest church system seminar – The Ministry Seminar - has been received and how many of you have jumped right into improving the way your churches mobilize volunteers.

One of the parts of this resource that is proving to be helpful is something known as “the ministry ladder,” or the path by which a first time volunteer becomes a regular, growing, Christ-like volunteer.

The idea of the ministry ladder is to think through and plan out the desired steps for volunteers to move forward and grow at your church and the requirements at each rung.

In implementing the ministry ladder at your church, ask yourself this question – at what point on the ladder does a person have to be:

1. A Christian to go to the next rung?
2. A church member to go to the next rung?
3. A tither to go to the next rung?

Rather than trying to compose a “one size fits all” ladder to be applied to the various ministries of your church, each ministry area is responsible to develop and maintain its own ladder.

In The Ministry Seminar I’m able to go further in depth on a couple of specific ministries at The Journey and what their ladders look like.

For each instance, don’t make it too tough to get on the ladder but make it harder to stay.  In other words, try to get as many people as possible serving but increase the required commitment level and accountability as they move up the ladder.

And finally, you don’t want to make it too hard to climb the ladder but you do need to make it clear and don’t compromise (for example, I will allow you to lead a group one semester without being a member but you MUST be a member in order to lead the second time).

P.S. For more on the ministry ladder and other proven principles to maximize your church’s volunteers, click here for The Ministry Seminar.

Here’s a recent question I answered from a church planter:

Q: Nelson, thanks so much for all you do. I came across some of your resources recently and have really learned a lot from them.

Our new church has just launched and I’m wanting to start implementing the systems, where do I start?

It’s a little overwhelming and any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

A: Thanks for your kind words and congratulations on launching a new church!

As far as systems go, the first thing I would recommend is for you to download my Free Church Systems 2.0 Report (PDF). Reading that should give you a good primer on church systems and a better “big picture” of how they all work together.

After that, I encourage you to start with your Assimilation System. In many ways it’s one of the easier systems to implement and it yields results quickly (in more people getting plugged in to your church). You’ll want to implement the full Assimilation process before moving on.

Next, move on to Evangelism (my next book Ignite can help with this). The Evangelism System is all about getting people from your community to attend your church for the first time. This flow of new people is essential to the health and growth of your church.

Following Evangelism, you can then move on to the Worship Planning System. This is about how your church plans, executes, evaluates and improves the weekly worship service.

So, basically, strengthen your guest experience, outreach and worship services first. Those three should be your priority for now.

Then, as you grow beyond about 110 average adults in attendance, you can implement Small Groups.

The most important thing for you right now is to get started. By breaking it down in this order you should be able to immediately move forward step by step without allowing yourself to be overwhelmed.

I hope that makes sense.

P.S. Ready to jump start your systems implementation?  Check out my Systems Seminar Package and save more than $325.00!

“High expectations are the key to everything.”
– Sam Walton, Wal-Mart Founder

If you have been waiting to sign-up your Worship Pastor for the final Worship Pastor Tele-Coaching Network of 2009, then now is the time. The new Worship Pastor Tele-Coaching network, lead by my Worship Pastor, Jason Hatley, begins next Friday, September 11.

Why have your Worship Pastor join this network?

Imagine for a moment, what if …

• Your worship team could double over the 10 months and so could your Worship Pastor’s level of effectiveness?
• Your Worship Pastor could develop personal leadership growth habits to help him/her lead the ministry and volunteer team at an optimum level?
• You could achieve greater clarity and a stronger working relationship with your Worship Pastor?
• Your Worship Pastor were able to work with you to plan your services months in advance, and create more impactful services than ever before, while reducing the stress of Sunday?
• Your Worship Pastor could reduce your stress by taking greater ownership and building a thriving worship ministry?

These are the results that over 75 pastors have seen in their worship pastors in the last three years as a direct result of Jason’s Tele-Coaching network. Listen to what Lead Pastor, Marty Martin has said…

“Our worship arts pastor participated in Jason’s coaching network and for the first time, we really ‘get’ each other. We work so well together because we both are on the same page. As a result we were able to plan out the entire year’s preaching calendar. Everything is much easier!”

Jason told me this morning that he only has a small handful of spots left in the network.

Download the application and return it today.

When we talk about advertising/promoting your church in my coaching networks I often mention that, while advertising can get very expensive quickly, news releases can be an effective and inexpensive way to get the word out (especially when the topic is compelling).

And when God is involved, the impact of such a release can be multiplied exponentially.

Case in point:
I got an email a few weeks ago from one of my Advanced Coaching Alumni, Dan Plourde. He’s the Lead Pastor of Calvary Jupiter Church in Florida.

The church had a truck stolen (full of equipment) and they had the wisdom to handle the situation in a way that honored God and presented their church in a good light to the community.

In fact, the local news picked up the story and ran it as the lead on the evening news:

Way to go God!

And great job to Dan and his team for staying focused on the big picture in the midst of a bad situation!

P.S. Are you loading in/out of a truck or trailer each week?  Check out The Portable Church Challenge.