Over the past three weeks I’ve been giving away some of the tips to planning a Christmas Offering taken directly from my new “How to Plan and Conduct an Effective Christmas Offering” resource.

Today, I’m sharing with you the four steps to an effective offering.  There are only 3 business days left before the resource and videos are gone and I really want to help you with this.

So let me give you an overview of this clear, step-by-step process:

Step 1 – I will help you clearly define your Christmas Offering.

Sharing a clear definition of your Christmas Offering will allow you to train and inform your leaders.

Having a clear “why” from the beginning will insure that everyone is on-board and fully engaged in the process.

I even give you four reasons why you should conduct a Christmas Offering so you’re fully prepared for any questions that you or your leadership may ask.

Step 2 – I’ll walk through each element of pre-planning.

 Pre-planning is the key to an effective Christmas Offering.

My experience over more than a decade of leading these offerings has given me a unique perspective on everything that you need to prepare to make your offering successful.

I’ll help you prayerfully calculate the goal for your Christmas Offering, select the start and end dates, and even suggest ten potential causes that your church can support through your offering, including:

• National Missions
• International missions
• Church Planting
• Evangelism
• Benevolence Fund
• Outreach to Needy
• Counseling Efforts
• Children’s Ministry
• Student Ministry
• Seniors Ministry
• Multi-site Location

Just imagine your church’s increased Kingdom impact by supporting 2-3 (up to 5) of these causes, above and beyond your current support!

Step 3 – I give you the plan and all the materials you need to promote your own Christmas Offering.

 Many Christmas Offerings fail simply because the promotion is not clear.

 I’ve had my graphic designer professionally design our materials so that you can update them and use them yourself with minimal effort – saving you hundreds of dollars.

We will walk together through a sample Christmas Offering calendar – Kick-off Sunday through Celebration Sunday, and every week in between!

You’ll even receive sample letters, emails, and mail pieces that we use at The Journey to promote and follow up with everyone in your church.

Step 4 – I’ll help you to see the “who” of the Christmas Offering.

It’s important to challenge your church that this offering is not about “equal gifts” – it’s about “equal sacrifice.”

I’ll share how everyone in your church can participate and how you can  motivate them all to get involved.

Plus, I will teach you the key to full church engagement, and the specific roles of the senior pastor, staff and other key leaders.

In addition to these four steps, I even give you a BONUS Q & A where I answer the 7 most common questions about conducting a Christmas Offering.

For example, how can you celebrate the offering even when you don’t reach your goal?  I’ll share the answer to that question and six others that often come up during the process.

As you can see from the step-by-step process above, you have to begin now to maximize your impact!

Secure your fully downloadable copy of “How to Plan and Conduct an Effective Christmas Offering” right now at the link below:

www.ChurchLeaderInsights.com/offering

NOTE: You will NOT be able to obtain this new Christmas Offering resource after Monday, October 31st. I don’t want to do you a disservice by not giving you enough time to plan and prepare.

Don’t miss this opportunity!

Nelson

P.S. In addition to this powerful checklist, the nearly three hours of audio training, and dozens of documents and files included in the resource itself, I also recorded three videos to help you get started:

Video #1 – Why Do a Christmas Offering?
I outline for you each of the reasons why this offering can be the most important and impactful offering of the entire year.

Video #2 – What is a Christmas Offering?
I reveal to you the exact definition of what a Christmas Offering is and – most importantly – what it is not.

Video #3 – How Much Can I Raise?
I share with you the secrets of setting a goal for your Christmas Offering that will challenge your church and that you’ll be sure to reach.

It’s all coming down this coming Monday, October 31st!

Secure your new resource at the link below:

www.ChurchLeaderInsights.com/offering

Pick up your copy of this new Christmas Offering resource by Monday, October 31st or you’ll miss out.
I don’t want to do you a disservice by not giving you enough time to plan and prepare.

Well, the clock is ticking…

Time is running out for you to secure your copy of my new resource and lead a successful Christmas Offering at your church.

This brand new “How to Plan and Conduct an Effective Christmas Offering” resource will no longer be available after this Monday, October 31st at 11:59pm Eastern Time.

Here’s why- I refuse to set you up for failure, and if you don’t get started now, you won’t have the necessary time to prepare for the best offering possible.

There are dozens of steps (some small, some more in-depth) that go into conducting an effective Christmas Offering.

Over the years, I’ve created a comprehensive checklist of these steps and included it as one of the key elements of this resource. I really do want you to succeed!

This checklist includes everything you need to do to prepare, collect and follow up every step of the way – and most of it I’ve already done for you!

Here are just some of the steps this resource will guide you through the “How,” “When” and “Why” of:

• Choosing a name and theme for your offering. This resource includes samples from The Journey to get your creative juices flowing (or for you to re-use at your place).
• Prayerfully setting your goal and causes. Deciding which ministries & missions opportunities you’ll support through your offering and how much you’re hoping to raise.
• Designing a logo and printed materials. You’ll find three complete sample campaigns in this resource that you can edit and re-use in your church with minimal effort.
• Introducing the offering to your church. This resource lays out the proven process for casting the vision of this special offering to your congregation.
• Following up on every gift to the offering. You’ll receive the actual documents we use to thank and encourage each giver – and help them understand the difference they’re making.
• Publicizing each of your causes throughout the campaign. The people of your church are ready and willing to support your various ministries & missions causes – by taking time to connect the dots, you’ll encourage more of them to participate and grow.
• Updating givers of progress along the way. This resource will teach you how to keep your people “in the loop” as to how the offering is going and how their sacrificial gifts are making an impact.
• Thanking each giver for their contribution to the overall offering. There’s no better way to reward a growing disciple than to help them see how their spiritual growth and faithful giving is making a difference in the world.
• And much, much more!

In addition to this powerful checklist, the nearly three hours of audio training, and dozens of documents and files included in the resource itself, I also recorded three videos to help you get started:

Video #1 – Why Do a Christmas Offering?
I outline for you each of the reasons why this offering can be the most important and impactful offering of the entire year.

Video #2 – What is a Christmas Offering?
I reveal to you the exact definition of what a Christmas Offering is and – most importantly – what it is not.

Video #3 – How Much Can I Raise?
I share with you the secrets of setting a goal for your Christmas Offering that will challenge your church and that you’ll be sure to reach.

So, the clock is ticking….

It’s all coming down this coming Monday, October 31st!

Secure your copy at the link below:

http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/offering

You will NOT be able to obtain this new Christmas Offering resource after Monday, October 31st. I don’t want to do you a disservice by not giving you enough time to plan and prepare.

Don’t let the clock run out!

Nelson

P.S. Here is the complete list of everything you’ll receive in this resource, plus the over $638.00 in Bonus Resources:

• Over two and a half hours of MP3 audio training from Nelson Searcy
• Fill-in-the-blank Listener’s Guide
• Step-by-Step Christmas Offering Checklist
• 25 sample documents – emails, letters and “how-to” files
• Over 60 sample graphics files – including files from three of The Journey’s most successful recent campaigns
• Over $638.00 in BONUS RESOURCES!
• BONUS – 7 Q and A audios with Nelson, including:
  • How will this impact our budget?
  • What if we’re also running a capital campaign?
  • How does this interact with missions and church planting?
  • What should I name our offering?
  • What is the best way to manage these funds?
  • How can I set the right goal?
  • How many causes should we support in our offering?
• BONUS – 4 Complete Sermon Series, and additional sermons to help you teach your people the power of Biblical generosity in supporting God’s work.
  • Christmas Traditions Sermon Series
  • Christmas in Narnia Sermon Series
  • The Grinch Sermon Series
  • Beyond the City Sermon Series (never-before-released)
• BONUS – Improve the Financial Fitness of Your Church (3-hour seminar)
• BONUS – How to Plan & Conduct a Christmas Offering E-Book
• BONUS – Christmas in October Audio Training
• BONUS – How to Lead Your Church During the Financial Crisis Audio Training

As you can see, this resource will give you all the tools you need to lead an effective and fruitful Christmas Offering. Whether you’re hoping to raise $1,500.00 or $350,000.00, you will receive the proven principles, strategy and process to reach your goal.

Beyond all that, by securing “How to Plan and Conduct an Effective Christmas Offering,” you will extend your church’s ability to fund missions and ministry in the coming year AND challenge your people to grow spiritually through the discipline of sacrificial giving!

DON’T DELAY though, the clock is ticking and planning ahead is the most important key in leading an effective Christmas Offering. To that end, this resource is ONLY AVAILABLE THROUGH MONDAY, OCTOBER 31 AT 11:59PM EASTERN!

Click the link below to secure “How to Plan and Conduct an Effective Christmas Offering” today:

http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/offering

Why do a Christmas Offering?

How much can be raised?

Is it possible in a ‘down economy’?

What if we don’t meet our goal?

What if we exceed our goal? (Wouldn’t that be nice!)

What ministries could we partner with?

What greater impact could we have as a church?

These are just some of the questions that I’ve faced (and had to answer) when leading a Christmas Offering at The Journey and while equipping my coaching participants to lead their offerings every year.

Since doing my very first Christmas Offering in the 90′s, I’ve discovered a step-by-step process that is applicable to any church regardless of size, location and denomination. And I’ve found more than a few ideas that just don’t work.

In fact, all told I’ve helped raise over $7 MILLION for my church plus my coaching alumni churches over the past nine years – all to expand God’s Kingdom work!

Once I realized the impact that the Christmas Offering was having in hundreds of coaching alumni churches, I sat down several years ago to try and distill the basic principles in a form that pastors could use as a guide – and that’s where my Christmas Offering E-Book came from.

The e-book was one of our most downloaded resources and it helped a lot of churches, but too often the feedback was that there were still gaps - too many questions were left unanswered. That’s understandable, how could anyone explain years of trial and error learning in a single 30-page document?

So I took the next step – I started leading an annual Christmas Offering Webinar.

For a couple of years, I pulled together our tech team and shared these principles in webinar form. And it helped… filled in some gaps and gave pastors the opportunity to hear the heart of the special offering concept.

But there were still unanswered questions - too many details left unfinished.

After last year’s webinars, I resolved to find a better way – to record everything I’ve learned in over a decade of leading Christmas Offerings into a single, comprehensive format that any church can use to raise enough funds to expand their missions and ministries AND to challenge their people to give sacrificially.

That’s where my brand new “How to Plan and Conduct an Effective Christmas Offering” resource came from.

And that’s why I’m so excited to share it with you.

You can learn more by clicking this link.

In this resource, you’ll receive:

• Over two and a half hours of clear MP3 audio training from me
• Fill-in-the-blank Listener’s Guide for you to follow along
• The Step-by-Step Christmas Offering Checklist that we use at The Journey each year

In addition, you’ll get:

• 25 sample documents – emails, letters and “how-to” files
• Over 60 sample graphics files – including files from three of The Journey’s most successful recent campaigns
• Over $638.00 in BONUS RESOURCES!
• BONUS – 7 Q and A audios with Nelson, including:
  • How will this impact our budget?
  • What if we’re also running a capital campaign?
  • How does this interact with missions and church planting?
  • What should I name our offering?
  • What is the best way to manage these funds?
  • How can I set the right goal?
  • How many causes should we support in our offering?
• BONUS – 4 Complete Sermon Series, and additional sermons to help you teach your people the power of Biblical generosity in supporting God’s work.
  • Christmas Traditions Sermon Series
  • Christmas in Narnia Sermon Series
  • The Grinch Sermon Series
  • Beyond the City Sermon Series (never-before-released)
• BONUS – Improve the Financial Fitness of Your Church (3-hour seminar)
• BONUS – How to Plan & Conduct a Christmas Offering E-Book
• BONUS – Christmas in October Audio Training
• BONUS – How to Lead Your Church During the Financial Crisis Audio Training

As you can see, this “nine-years-in-the-making” resource will give you all the tools you need to lead an effective and fruitful Christmas Offering.

Whether you’re hoping to raise $1,500.00 or $350,000.00, you will receive the proven principles, strategy and process to reach your goal.

Beyond all that, by securing “How to Plan and Conduct an Effective Christmas Offering,” you will extend your church’s ability to fund missions and ministry in the coming year AND challenge your people to grow spiritually through the discipline of sacrificial giving!

Click Here to Secure Your Copy of “How to Plan & Conduct an Effective Christmas Offering” (w/ over $638.00 in Bonuses) Now

DON’T DELAY though, the clock is ticking and planning ahead is perhaps the most important key in leading an effective Christmas Offering. To that end, THIS RESOURCE IS ONLY AVAILABLE THROUGH MONDAY, OCTOBER 31 AT 11:59PM EASTERN!

I hope you’ll let me partner with you on this once-a-year opportunity!

Nelson

P.S. BTW, if you haven’t caught my first two FREE Christmas Offering Training Videos, you can find them at the links below:

FREE Training Video #1

FREE Training Video #2

If you’ve felt like I’ve become fixated on Christmas over the last couple of weeks (in October)… well, you’re right!

I’m passionate about helping your church better resource God’s vision over the next year than ever before by leading an effective Christmas Offering as 2011 comes to a close.

That’s why I’ve released my brand new three-hour resource, “How to Plan and Conduct an Effective Christmas Offering,” and why I’m sharing three new FREE training videos.

A Christmas Offering is a special offering given during a set period of time around Christmas that encourages people to give over and above their regular tithes and offerings, and now is the time to prepare yours.

The second in my series of FREE Training Videos about your Christmas Offering just released – click below to watch it now:

And while you’re checking out the video, be sure to check out my new resource, “How to Plan and Conduct an Effective Christmas Offering” and secure your downloadable copy today.

P.S. Because I want you to lead a successful Christmas Offering, this new resource is only available for a limited time – through Monday, October 31. Don’t delay – now is the time to plan!

“You will either step forward into growth or you will step back into safety.”
- Abraham Maslow

Last November, my wife and I went to do a little shopping the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. When we walked into the store Bing Crosby’s White Christmas was blaring over the sound system.

Don’t get me wrong . . . I love the song, but 2 days before Thanksgiving strikes me as a bit too early. After all, I don’t want to skip over the Thanksgiving Day meal. Am I alone on that one?

I know why the department store did it. Because they sell more merchandise when Bing is crooning. But, for you and I, that’s not why we play Christmas music.

We do it to celebrate the birth of our Savior. And this time of year, a question I always get from worship leaders and pastors alike is, “How soon is too soon to start singing Christmas music in my church?”

As you might imagine . . . I have a little system for that here at The Journey

So, in the spirit of giving, here is my guide for introducing and selecting music for the Christmas Season:

#1 – INTRODUCE AT LEAST ONE CHRISTMAS SONG THE SUNDAY AFTER THANKSGIVING.

As soon as Santa Claus makes his entrance at the Thanksgiving Day parade, people find themselves in the Christmas spirit.

But also from a church history perspective, that Sunday typically marks the first Sunday in Advent. That’s why the first Sunday after Thanksgiving is a perfect time to introduce Christmas music.

But, you don’t want to jump immediately to making ALL of your music Christmas music. In fact, you want to slowly add it to your service. That’s why I suggest that on this first Sunday, you just do one Christmas song, maybe two depending on how much music you include in your service. And remember rule #2 . . .

#2 – PLAN CREATIVELY FOR HOW YOU WILL WEAVE CHRISTMAS MUSIC INTO THE FLOW OF YOUR SERVICE.

A great way to keep Christmas music fresh each year is to ensure that the music fits into the flow of your existing worship service. If you just carve out 12 minutes at the beginning to sing Christmas songs, yes you will scratch the itch, but the power of the music can be lost. So consider these two options:

• Integrate Christmas songs with other worship songs you are singing. As I mentioned earlier, you don’t have to move exclusively to Christmas music at the beginning of December. Rather, weave a Christmas song or two into the fabric of your worship set, especially early in December.
  
  For example, you may sing 2 upbeat worship songs that don’t necessarily connect to the Christmas season, and then make a transition to a slower song. In the middle of that slower song, work in the refrain “O Come Let Us Adore Him”.
  
  By seamlessly adding in Christmas music, you help your congregation connect with the power of these songs in their every-day lives, and not just a specific time of year.

• Be on the look-out for new versions of the Christmas classics each year. You may love that upbeat, feel-good version of “Joy to the World”, but you may also want to find a new way to make that song meaningful this Christmas. Look for a slowed down, acoustic version.
  
  OR, do what I do . . . I may plan a couple different versions of the same Christmas song during the same season.  What was a celebration song last Sunday could become a quiet commitment song this Sunday. Your congregation will love this fresh approach and the song will be meaningful in new ways when you do this.

• Turn current worship songs into Christmas songs. Songs like “Here I am to Worship” (Tim Hughes), “O Praise Him” (David Crowder Band), and “Jesus Messiah” (Chris Tomlin) can double as Christmas songs when placed in the right set with more traditional Christmas songs, or set up by you as the pastor or worship leader.

By planning creatively, you can help people experience a fresh experience of Christmas without just drudging through the same ol’ renditions of Christmas carols.

#3 – AS YOU DRAW CLOSER TO CHRISTMAS, INCREASE THE NUMBER OF CHRISTMAS SONGS IN YOUR WORSHIP SET.

The second Sunday of December I would probably do a 50/50 split of Christmas music and current worship music. Then 75/25 the next week. By doing so, you are raising the anticipation of what’s to come – and that’s exactly what Advent is about.

Then the Sunday leading up to Christmas we would do all Christmas music PLUS look to incorporate other elements to keep it fresh. You can only sing “Silent Night” so many times before it starts to lose it’s appeal. So look for opportunities to add creative elements to your worship set.

Ask one of your team members to read a portion of the Christmas story in the middle of the worship set. Include a testimony, video, personal story about Christmas, or even dance in the Christmas worship set.

There are plenty of ideas (I outline even more in my new Planning Powerful Christmas Services Special Report – download it FREE here).

#4 – WRAP UP CHRISTMAS MUSIC BY THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS

Ever notice how on Christmas Eve, no matter how long radio stations have been playing Christmas music, that’s still all you want to listen to? But for some reason on December 26, you’re ready to put it to rest until next year. The same is true for Christmas music in your church.

Again, depending on what day Christmas falls, you should plan to wrap up Christmas music by the following Sunday.

Here’s my rule of thumb:

• If Christmas falls between Thursday – Friday, we will sing some Christmas songs that Sunday.
• If Christmas is on Saturday or Sunday, it will be 100% Christmas songs!
• If Christmas falls between Monday – Wednesday, it can be a little strange to continue singing Christmas music several days after Christmas has past. After all, the Advent season does end on Christmas Day.

So, as you plan your music for Christmas think about how you can begin introducing these great seasonal songs into your worship services, AND how you can keep them fresh!

Your partner in ministry,



Download your Free Planning Powerful Christmas Services special report here.

I wrote this report after planning a decade of Christmas services with our team here at The Journey and having received so many questions about this topic in my coaching networks. I have captured some the most important lessons we’ve learned in the process and put them in this special report for you.

In this Special Report, you will discover:

• Three MUST KNOW Christmas planning principles
• How to involve your volunteer team in the Christmas planning process
• How to overcome the desire for “opulence” and strive for “excellence”
• The basic ingredients for powerful Christmas services . . . and how to add in additional creative elements
• The #1 mistake that many churches make that keep their Christmas services from being life-transformational (*Hint – it’s not what you think!)
• How to select music for the Christmas season
• When to schedule volunteers and/or hired musicians for your Christmas services
• And much more!

Christmas services can be some of the most memorable, and life-transforming services you do all year. But not if they are put together last minute, without a spark of creativity to capture the wonder of Christmas.

Whether you are preparing for the advent season, producing your own Christmas production, or need some ideas for your Christmas Eve service, don’t let another year go by just doing the same thing you did last year.

This special report can you help you get started in planning your Christmas services and ensure that this year’s Christmas services are all that they can be.

Download your Free Planning Powerful Christmas Services special report here.

And if the special report is helpful for you, be sure to forward this email, TWEET, or Facebook this link for some other worship leaders you know would enjoy this limited time free report.

www.worshipleaderinsights.com
www.jasonhatley.wordpress.com

Have you noticed how early the seasons change in stores these days?

It’s mid-October and not only is Halloween candy available, but so are all the Thanksgiving decorations.

Well, this week I’m encouraging you to think ahead too – about Christmas!

No, I haven’t missed a couple of pages in my calendar…

Here’s why I want you to think about CHRISTMAS IN OCTOBER:
Because NOW is the time to plan your Christmas Offering to make the biggest possible impact over the next year.

You may have seen the first of a series of FREE Training Videos that I released this week and it’s all about WHY you should do a Christmas Offering.

You can watch that first video here.

And here are four powerful reasons for you to plan and conduct an effective Christmas Offering:

1. To help your people GROW – Let’s face it, our primary calling is to make disciples, and stewardship is discipleship! By challenging people to give over and above to missions and ministries in this offering, you give them the opportunity to broaden their perspective and be a part of something bigger than themselves.
2. To give to MISSIONS – There’s no better time to give your people the opportunity to fund local, national and international missions work than Christmas. By concentrating your major missions giving emphasis on this annual offering, your people can focus their efforts without having to be asked again and again.
3. To support worthy CAUSES inside and outside of your church – Whether we like it or not, there will always be more worthwhile ministry opportunities than the general operating budget has room to fund. This once-a-year offering allows you to expand your impact and support these ministries without taking away from what you’re already doing.
4. God commands us to give SACRIFICIALLY – The people of your church (like all of us) need to be stretched from time to time to get out of their comfort zone, to reach and give over and above what they would normally give – ultimately forcing them to trust God with their finances.

These reasons, combined with the results I’ve seen at The Journey and in hundreds of my coaching alumni churches, are why I’m so passionate about helping you with your Christmas Offering.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to plan now for the most important offering of the year!

To watch the video and read more about my new “How to Plan and Conduct an Effective Christmas Offering” resource, click the link below:

Free Training Video #1

You’ll find that in this resource, I lay out the entire Christmas Offering process, and GIVE YOU the complete checklist that we have developed and used at The Journey to raise over $2,000,000.00 through these special offerings.

Here’s to growing your people and expanding your ministry,

Nelson

P.S. Almost forgot to mention this – because time is of the essence if you want to plan and conduct an effective Christmas Offering, this NEW RESOURCE is only available through October 31!

I want to help lead a successful offering – so get started now:

www.ChurchLeaderInsights.com/offering

I have an odd question for you…

Did you know that a well-planned and executed Christmas Offering can enable your church to fund ALL of next year’s missions giving, plus additional key ministry initiatives?

Click the image below to watch the first special video and read more about “How to Plan and Conduct an Effective Christmas Offering:”

Incidently, in all my years I’ve never met a pastor who said “we’ve got so much money I don’t know what to do with it!” But I have met quite a few who expressed to me that they have a clear vision for their church but lack the funding to pursue that vision.

The Christmas Offering is a powerful, once-a-year tool to dramatically increase your ability to fund missions and ministry efforts in the coming year!

I hope you’ll watch the video above, order this NEW resource and get started TODAY planning and preparing for your Christmas Offering!

Your Partner in Ministry,

Nelson

P.S. If you want a sneak peak, here’s what you will learn in the new “How to Plan and Conduct an Effective Christmas Offering” resource:

• How this special offering will grow your people during the Christmas season
• The ‘nuts and bolts’ of what constitutes a successful Christmas Offering
• How to implement a Christmas Offering without hindering your General Budget
• The step-by-step timeline for an effective Christmas Offering (and why today is the day to get started)
• How to identify the causes that will motivate your people to give sacrificially
• Keys to setting the right goals for your Christmas Offering
• A specific process for celebrating your Christmas Offering
• Plus much more!

To watch the first video I recorded for you and read more now, click the link below:

http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/offering

“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next to best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”
— Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States

Have you ever been to a Broadway show?

It’s Jason Hatley here, Pastor of Worship Arts at The Journey.

Our Journey office in New York City is right in the heart of Times Square. Literally, whenever I walk down “the great white way” to go to our office I pass three of the big shows that are currently playing.

If you’ve been to a Broadway show you know the work, effort, creativity, and planning that go into a great show. Those shows don’t come together in a day, much less a week, a month, or even a year sometimes.

The show is written by a group of skilled writers. The music is composed by Broadway legends. When the show is finally written, the most talented singers, actors and dancers in New York show up for the casting call.

After months (even a year) of rehearsal and technical planning the show celebrates it’s opening night. And if it’s a great show, like Les’ Miserables, it will run night after night for the next 5, 10, even 15 years.

Now – contrast that to what you and I do every week.

In most churches, the worship order is written not months, but days before the service (sometimes hours – ha!). The best talent in New York City isn’t available when the volunteer positions are assigned. The budget of the church is nowhere near the deep pockets of the Broadway show. When the service is finished, you won’t be able to do the same one again next week. You will put it to rest and start all over again.

Seems a little unfair doesn’t it? Here’s the rub . . .

Most churches live in a world where they wake up on Monday and it occurs to them, “Hey, we have a worship service this Sunday! We should start planning.”

I call that the Week-to-Week Mindset. You know you have it when you just can’t see past this Sunday to plan for next Sunday, or the next month of Sundays.

It’s a terrible place to be in ministry, constantly battling to bring the service to life this week, feeling the frustration of not being able to relieve the stress and get ahead. It leads to burn-out, stale services, and missed opportunities.
If I may, I believe this is an area where the church NEEDS to learn from Broadway.

Now – I know that the worship services in our churches are not the same as Broadway shows. In fact, our services are more important. The decisions that people make to follow Christ in our churches every week far outweigh the entertainment value of a Broadway show.

But because of the importance of the work we do, we need strong systems for planning our services, just as our counterparts in show business do.

What would it look like if you had a preaching calendar that laid out what you would teach on each Sunday over the course of the next year? Think of the freedom that comes with that kind of prayer-soaked planning.

What would you be able to do to teach God’s word more effectively if you knew exactly the types of creative elements in a service 4-6 weeks from now? Would you find a great testimony? Find new media to use? Empower the creative people on your team to brainstorm ideas for how to make each Sunday life transformational?

Too many of us have a “what do we NEED to do” mentality of Sunday, as opposed to a “what COULD we do” mentality?

The first says, “As long as we have some songs and a sermon, we’ll be fine.”

The latter says, “What could we do with what God has given us to make this Sunday something special?”

To do that requires time, prayer and planning . . . it requires a desire to break the Week-to-Week mentality and get to work on not just this Sunday, but the next month or even year ahead.
Here are 3 things you can do to start breaking the Week-to-Week mentality:

#1 - Hold a 30-minute (or less) meeting with your Pastor this week to discuss this Sunday’s service.

#2 - Plan a time in the next 7 days to plan for the next 2-3 Sundays. Put it on your calendar. Prayerfully plan worship orders, song selection, creative elements, etc. Discuss it with your pastor.

#3 - Create a system that will allow you to plan your services weeks, months, even a year in advance.

A good system is the key to breaking the Week-to-Week Mentality.

In my new book, Engage: A Guide to Creating Life-Transforming Worship Services, which I co-authored with my Lead Pastor Nelson Searcy, we teach you how to develop a worship planning system that will keep you planned in advance and relieve the stress of weekly thinking. We wrote this book to help you plan, implement and evaluate effective, life-changing worship services.

Engage is based on 8 years of planning and evaluating these systems at The Journey and in hundreds of churches around the country.

I encourage you to pick up a copy for yourself and anyone on your staff who is involved in the worship planning process.

The book just came out last week and is available in bookstores everywhere. But, the best (and cheapest) place to order yours is on Amazon.com:

Engage – Paperback Link                           Engage – Kindle Link

I am so proud of this new book and I believe it will be a great resource for your team, and can make a big difference in your Sunday service.

Your partner in ministry,

PS - Want to receive BOTH of my new books free? Would you also like to receive over $1,419 in personal and ministry growth resources absolutely free?

The members of my new Worship Pastor Tele-Coaching network will receive all of this, plus much more.

My new Tele-Coaching network begins in just 10 DAYS. If you’ve been waiting to apply now is the time. I need you to apply ASAP to ensure your application is received before the final cut-off date.

Learn more about all that you receive in the network and apply online at www.worshipleaderinsights.com/coaching.

www.worshipleaderinsights.com
www.jasonhatley.wordpress.com

TUESDAY MORNING INSIGHTS is Jason Hatley’s free weekly training resource specifically designed to provide you as a worship leader with proven principles, tips and practices to help you lead a healthy and thriving Worship Arts Team.

About Jason Hatley and Worship Leader Insights

In 2002, Jason Hatley helped launch The Journey Church in New York City, directing the programming of their worship services. He serves as the Pastor of Worship Arts and built from scratch The Journey’s worship arts team, a group of over 200 artists and technicians who develop and implement the creative and technical elements at weekly Sunday services.
The Journey has been recognized as one of Outreach Magazines fastest growing and most creative churches.

Jason has been a worship leader since 1996. He invests in Worship Pastors around the country through interactive coaching networks and worship planning resources. He has been a featured break-out speaker at the Willow Creek Arts Conference, The Purpose Drive Worship Conference, as well as seminars around the country. He has a B.M. in Sacred Music Performance from Appalachian State University.

Jason is the founder of Worship Leader Insights (www.worshipleaderinsights.com), and the author of Engage: A Guide to Creating Life-Transforming Worship Services and Revolve: A New Way to See Worship as well as over a dozen worship leader personal and ministry growth resources .

Jason and his family currently live in Boca Raton, FL where he serves as the Pastor of Worship Arts at The Journey’s newest campus in South Florida.