If you’re a part of the Church Leader Insights (CLI) family, you probably have noticed that we don’t mind sending out an email or two.

And the vast majority of people who receive emails from me and CLI are encouraging and appreciative – even replying to share stories of how God is working in their churches.

But every once in a while… someone will call in or send a “less than polite” email to inform me that they don’t enjoy our chosen method of letting you know what’s available to you.

Now, please note that we don’t send “spam” or unsolicited emails – everyone we email has requested resources/training from CLI.

But I’d like you to know why we send as many emails as we do – plus, there’s a powerful lesson here for your church….

So today, I’d like to give you five reasons WHY we send so many emails:

1) We are passionate about equipping the local church for greater health and growth.

Jesus Christ and his church are the hope of the world – I believe that with all my heart.

For whatever reason, God has chosen to use the coaching, training materials, and events that we offer to help thousands of churches across the U.S. and beyond over the last several years (it’s very humbling).

We send emails sharing these proven principles, and offering resources and training opportunities because we want to equip you and your church to reach more people and make more disciples for Christ.

2) The more emails we send, the more people we can help.

Life is busy.  We all feel from time to time that there’s too much on our plate to handle (or even keep up).

So the truth is that most of us can’t (or won’t) carve out the time to go searching for the help we need to expand our leadership ability and upgrade our churches.

We send emails because we hear from pastors all the time who received “just the right resource” at “exactly when they needed it.”

3) We send regular (and often repeated) emails because you may need something today that you didn’t need yesterday.

When you got an email from me last week about Assimilation you weren’t thinking about it – in fact, you hadn’t seen a newcomer in weeks.

But this Sunday you had more first time guests than you’ve had all year, so getting those new people connected (through your Assimilation System) is suddenly a high priority.

We communicate the same message at different times because you are different now than you were last week… and who knows what you’ll be thinking about next week?

4) Email allows us to be good stewards of the resources that God provides.

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed or not, but sending an email is pretty affordable these days.

We live in a powerful time in human history – a time that the early church couldn’t have even remotely imagined.  We can hop a plane and land virtually anywhere in the world in a matter of hours.

And even more amazing, we can fire up a computer and communicate in real-time with people around the world at little (or no) cost.

We send email because it allows us to communicate effectively and still afford to keep providing effective and impactful resources, tools and coaching.

5) We believe in what we have to offer (and the fact that it will help you lead your church).

I mentioned it already, but we have had the privilege of helping thousands of churches become healthier and reach more people over the last few years.

As we hear story after story from pastors and churches who have experienced God-honoring results, one of the best ways to honor God’s blessing is to continue trying to equip more.

In fact, we’d be doing people a disservice if we ever decided to stop telling you about the proven, practical training that’s available to you through CLI.

Now, here’s the question – how often do you email the people in your church?

At The Journey, we often send two emails a week to the people in our database.

Why?  Well, for very similar reasons I mentioned above:

1) We believe in the power of Jesus working through the local church to change lives (and He continues to prove that’s true)

2) The more emails we send, the more people we can help (by letting them know what’s going on and available at the church)

3) The people of our church are ready for different steps at different times (so we promote Baptism, membership classes, groups, etc. at multiple times)

4) Email is the most affordable medium available to us to keep our people updated

5) We believe in what God’s doing at The Journey (and the people He’s entrusted to us deserve to know)

I’m always amazed at how few churches take advantage of the powerful opportunity afforded to us by regular, consistent email communication.

So, here’s your assignment for the week:

Evaluate your church’s current communication schedule and decide whether you need to be sending more email!

“Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.”
– William Faulkner, Author

Reading is a great passion of mine, and one of the best parts about reading as much as I do is that I get to share the best of the best with people like you.

Just recently I got an email from Kurtis Burton, Senior Pastor of The Turning Point in the Nashville area and a two-time participant in my Senior Pastor Tele-Coaching Network, asking for a book recommendation that would help him and his staff continue to improve their speaking skills.

Here are the two books I shared with Kurtis (and I recommend you pick them up as well):

Everyone Communicates, Few Connect by John Maxwell

You’ve Got to Be Believed to be Heard by Bert Decker

It’s great to have Kurtis back in another round of coaching – my new Sr Pastor Tele-Coaching Network begins on Thursday, February 24 and I’ve still got room for a few more.

Would you (like Kurtis) like to get applicable, proven books to read, resources to learn from, and hands-on coaching from me every month for the next year?

If so, click the link below to read more and Apply Now (the new Online Application takes less than 10 minutes):

www.ChurchLeaderInsights.com/telecoaching

After my bestselling book Fusion came out and thousands of churches have been helped with  The Assimilation Seminar and Intensive over the last few years, in some circles I’ve become known as a bit of an “assimilation guru.”

Now, I don’t know about the “guru” thing, but I do love the Assimilation process!

I love knowing that the church I pastor is prepared and optimized to be a good steward of the new people God chooses to send our way.

I love seeing a first time guest (or a first time guest family) come through the doors on a Sunday morning and knowing that we’ve got a proven, step-by-step plan to help them grow.

And while I’ve never met a pastor who said they didn’t want to help new people get connected to their church and grow spiritually, I have known many who weren’t willing to put in the effort to make it happen.

One of the essential elements of a well-functioning Assimilation System is using a Connection Card.

This is a card that is placed in every bulletin every Sunday, that provides a way for you to collect information from new people and encourage everyone to take next steps in their spiritual life.  You can find more info about what a Connection Card is in previous posts (click here to download a sample).

What you say matters

I’ve found that how you present the connection card each week is equally important – it doesn’t matter how good your Connection Card looks if no one is filling it out and handing it in!

So over the years at The Journey, we’ve developed a script – a proven way of introducing the card each week during the service that’s been honed, tweaked, tested, and refined (and still is) to maximize its effectiveness.

Just be very clear: The welcome/hosting time on Sunday morning is not the time for you to get up there and “wing it” or ramble through without thinking about what you’re asking people to do.

In fact, if you do nothing more than implement a well-prepared, consistent script, you can see a tremendous increase in the number of cards completed each week (and subsequently, the number of people you can follow up with).

Here’s what one of my Coaching Network Participants shared with me recently:

Hi Nelson -

Just thought I’d let you know that we went from a less than 10% Connection Card completion rate to now regularly averaging 52% completion rate.

We’re shooting for a goal of 85%, but we feel our current rate isn’t that horrible compared to where we were.

Fritz Below
Lead Pastor
Calvary Ridge Church
North Ridgeville, Ohio

If you value the people God sends your way (and I know you do), I encourage you to thoroughly think through how your church collects information from the people who attend, and put in place a system that you can measure, evaluate, and improve each and every week!

P.S. To get a copy of the actual hosting script we use at The Journey, plus more than 6 hours of audio training on Assimilation, plus more than 50 documents and files, check out The Assimilation Intensive.

In the most recent issue of the Outreach Top 100 Fastest Growing Churches, I noticed that three of my Senior Pastor Coaching Alumni made the list:

• EastLake Community Church
  Bothell, Washington
  Ryan Meeks, Senior Pastor
• Northstar Church
  Panama City, Florida
  Marty Martin, Senior Pastor
• Harvest Church
  Byron, Georgia
  Jim Cowart, Senior Pastor

First, let me say – Congratulations to each of these churches and their pastors!

Second – I encourage you to go to school on these churches…

- Visit their websites (I’ve linked to them above) and see what they’re all about
- Listen to their message podcasts and hear how they communicate
- Do a little research to see what they’re doing right and how you may be able to do the same at your church

Better yet – find a reason to visit them (and bring a notebook when you do).  We can all learn by seeing where God is at work and making careful observations.

Rarely do I visit another church where I don’t pick up something that we can do differently (aka: better) at The Journey, but you have to keep looking.

Third – Don’t say “it can’t happen to me” – there’s no limit to what God can do through you and your church if you’ll cooperate with Him to make it happen!

P.S. What do all these churches have in common?  All three of the churches above are led by pastors who have graduated from my Coaching Network.

I’ve got a brand new Senior Pastor Tele-Coaching Network beginning on Thursday, February 24, and there’s still time to apply if you hurry – here’s the link to read more and Apply Now (takes less than 10 minutes):

www.ChurchLeaderInsights.com/telecoaching

And who knows? We could be reading your name on next year’s fastest growing churches list!

“We must take change by the hand or rest assuredly, change will take us by the throat.”
– Winston Churchill, Former British prime minister

Tuesday, January 25th 2:00pm – 3:00pm Eastern 1:00pm – 3:00pm Central 12:00pm – 1:00pm Mountain 11:00am – 12:00pm Pacific Space is Limited Register Now!

Can you join me next Tuesday for a Free Webinar about keeping more of the new people that God sends to your church?

As you may know, Assimilation is one of my most passionate topics to teach about…

Here’s why:

This Sunday (just a few days from now), God will prompt hundreds of thousands of people in the US and millions around the world, to visit a church for the first time. The Sunday after that, He will do it again.

God is consistently blessing His Church with regular guests… the question is: what are we doing with them?

With this free online training, I want to help you do all you can to accept and honor His blessing and to keep people from slipping through the cracks at your church!

Join me on Tuesday for this FREE, one-hour webinar where you will learn:

• The #1 reason you’re unable to follow up with first-time guests and what you can do about it next Sunday!
• How you can WOW first-time guests into coming back a second-time.
• The mistake every church makes and how you can avoid it.
• Plus Much More!

Limited Space Available
Click Here to Register Now for FREE!

As the seasons change, we all have a tendency to move on without pausing for a moment to celebrate what God has been up to.

Back in October, I led a series of webinars and gave away my free e-book about Planning and Conducting a Christmas Offering, and I’ve gotten lots of  great stories of how God has blessed many churches – but I haven’t shared any of those stories here on the blog this year.

Then just recently, I received an email from Bob Weber – Senior Pastor of Camden (AL) Baptist Church and a member of my Tele-Coaching Network – telling me about his church’s experience with the Christmas Offering.

With his permission, I wanted to share his email with you today:

Hi Nelson,

Just wanted to let you know that we had our One Day Christmas Offering yesterday at Camden Baptist Church.  Our Goal was $12,000.00 to be dedicated to Global Missions.

After implementing principles in the WORSHIP PLANNING, STEWARDSHIP Systems as well as those in the Christmas Offering Webinar, here is yesterday’s Recap:

$19,773.10 one Day Global Mission Offering!!!!  We received the offering and made the report on the spot, believing in faith that we had reached our goal….and we reached, and busted through our goal…talk about rejoicing, celebrating, worshipping!  By the way…our regular offering was at the 10K mark and an additional 3K was received for our Renovation Debt that has now been reduced to just $20,000.00 (down from $170,000.00 since January of 2010).

As a side note, we needed a new Sound System here, and in October, received $15K to make that happen.   The Lord is doing something here in a depressed economy that is beyond amazing.

I am geeked up today and so thankful to the Lord and to you for the transformation that has happened in me, my leadership and His church as a result of the coaching.  So glad that I jumped in on the next round!

God is doing something in this county seat town and I wanted to let you know.

Blessed,

Bob Weber
Camden Baptist Church
Camden, Alabama

That’s amazing Bob – Go God!  I’m praying for even bigger and better things in Camden this year.

What about you?  What are you doing to intentionally transform your leadership?

Do you have a plan to stretch yourself and grow your church over the next year?

Growing churches are led by growing leaders!

My brand new Senior Pastor Tele-Coaching Network begins in about one month – on Thursday, February 24 – and I want to invite you to apply.

This network is filling up fast, but there’s still room for you if you’re a good fit.

Read more and Apply Now here:

http://www.ChurchLeaderInsights.com/telecoaching

(Apply in less than 10 minutes using the NEW Online Application)

When it comes to staffing your church for maximum impact, one of the keys to getting the right person for the position is to promote the opening properly.

In other words, you’re not looking for someone who is ready to “jump ship” at the first opportunity.  The person you want is going to be performing right now, making a difference in their current role (either in the marketplace or at another church).

So you need to be able to help them see why coming on your church’s staff is going to give them a chance to take the next step… to put it bluntly, you need to help them see “what’s in it for them.”

In my efforts to improve my own recruiting, I recently received an email that is a good example of how to write a successful recruiting ad.

It’s not from the church world, but there’s a lot we can learn from this email:

Affiliate Manager Wanted!

If you want to:

• Jump-start your Internet marketing career . . .
• Learn the online marketing business from the inside out . . .
• Get personally mentored by two well-known experts in the field . . .
• *Skyrocket your income to six figures faster than you ever dreamed possible . . .

This could be the lucky break you have been waiting for!

Dear Aspiring Internet Marketer,

Recently, two leading organizations have joined forces to become the leading Information Publishers in the field of business building and strategic entrepreneurship.

We are looking for an Affiliate Marketing Manager to join our team.

How would you like to be mentored by the entire team and work with us on the most exciting projects we have ever had?

It will be the opportunity of a lifetime. You will get to learn online marketing business from the ground up. Plus you will be working with some of the biggest and BEST affiliates to grow YOUR income.

Interested?

You might be the person we are on the lookout for if you are willing to:

• Work Your Butt Off: Full disclosure . . . you will be locating, recruiting, managing and cajoling affiliates until your fingers are sore, your voice is horse and your brain is numb – and then you’ll have to do it some more. It’s no walk in the park.
• Do Whatever It Takes: To persuade website owners, bloggers and email list owners to join our affiliate program and promote our products and services day in and day out.
• Live, breath and sleep our philosophy and mission.
• Live or Move to South Florida: This is an in-house position. Our office is by the beach and we are surrounded by some of the most successful information publishing and direct marketing companies in the world.

But that’s not all . . .

You need to possess the following characteristics:

• First class networker – Are you a world-class connector with tremendous people skills?
• Reliability – Are you dependable, resourceful and an experienced self-starter?
• Accountable – Do you follow through, meet deadlines and take ownership of your work?
• Positive mental attitude – Do you have lots of energy, common sense, manners and the willingness to go the extra mile?

And most importantly, we are looking for someone who is self motivated and can sell well. You will need to be able to sell the BENEFITS of being one of our affiliates in your sleep.

OK – still interested?

Good.

Here’s what you need to do to apply . . .

Send an email to: [email address]

You must send a cover letter detailing why you are a GREAT candidate. Remember this letter is your opportunity to shine. Please include your resume.

All resumes must be received by [deadline].

That’s it – pretty simple.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Good luck!

Notice how this ad clearly lays out:

1. What’s in it for the potential applicant
2. Why this is a great opportunity for them
3. An honest depiction of what the job entails
4. Who would be a good fit
5. How they should respond

How can you use these same principles to recruit the right candidates next time you’re hiring?

P.S. For nearly six hours of proven staffing truths (about recruiting, hiring, managing and “de-hiring”), check out The Staffing Workshop:

Can you spare an hour on Tuesday (January 18) from 2:00 – 3:00pm Eastern Time?

You’re invited to join me for the Top 3 Stewardship Mistakes Webinar.

The overwhelming majority of churches in America (and around the world) have been hit hard by this most recent economic downturn – how about yours?

Do you feel like your church’s finances are completely out of your control?

Don’t feel helpless any longer!

Join me on this one hour webinar (training over the phone and internet) and learn the Top 3 Stewardship Mistakes and how you can avoid them!

The ministry potential of a fully-resourced church is as big as its God-inspired vision. By making a few practical changes (discussed in this free webinar), you can better cooperate with God to expand your church’s impact!

In this 60-minute training you’ll learn:

• The one mistake most churches make with their follow up and how you can avoid it this Sunday.
• What you SHOULD and should NOT do with your offering envelope.
• Stewardship is discipleship – learn how the Pastor must lead the way!

Will you join me?

Space is Limited – Click Here to Register Now for FREE!