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CHURCH LEADER INSIGHTS - July 2008

By Nelson Searcy, Roy Mansfield and Scott Whitaker
Courtesy of Church Leader Insights

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Church Leader Insights:
Church Health, Church Growth and Church Planting

::EVANGELISM / CHURCH GROWTH::

EVANGELISM THAT FLOWS
If I as pastor don't say to others in the church, "Hey, there's something missing here," evangelism is probably not going to happen. I may need to say to the elder board, "I'm not seeing many conversions of late. Let's list the names of people we're rubbing shoulders with, and each time we meet, we'll pray for them."  When the church is preparing the budget, I have had to say on occasion, "There's not much money in this budget for evangelism <Read More>

** For more on developing an evangelism culture in your church, see “The Evangelism Seminar ” by Nelson Searcy by CLICKING HERE

OPEN UP YOUR CHURCH TO HELP NEWCOMERS CONNECT AND CONTRIBUTE
“Most long-established churches resemble a large closed circle. Most of the resources are allocated to meeting the needs of the members already within that circle. If that congregation is to grow, it probably will have to change the nature of that closed circle. One 97-year-old congregation in Ohio that had been on a plateau with an average attendance of 145 at worship for the past 12 years doubled in size in five years. This followed the arrival of a second staff member who was asked to expand the entry points.” <Read More>

::NEW AUDIO TRAINING::

PODCAST: MONEY MATTERS IN CHURCH
In this month's podcast Nelson interviews Steve Stroope, co-author of "Money Matters in Church: A Practical Guide for Leaders." In this helpful discussion they talk about practical church financial principles that range from the right (and wrong) ways to ask your congregation to give, to how to lead a successful capital campaign. <Listen Here>

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Listen Now

REMOVING THE WRONG PEOPLE
“The right person in the wrong spot becomes the wrong person unless I do something about it...If God has shown you that a team member is not the right fit, you’re cheating the person by not removing him...If you’re about to remove a person, they should already have a pretty good sense that things aren’t working out. If they don’t, you probably haven’t been fair in your communication to them.” <Read More>

::CHURCH PLANTING::

WHO ARE YOU FOCUSED ON LEADING?
"Until you get your focus OFF of the people who are disgruntled, unhappy, unsupportive, and resistant to the direction God has called you to go, and ONTO those who are excited, supportive and on board, you will NEVER gain momentum and see a new culture created in your church." <Read More>

::ATTENTION CHURCH PLANTERS::

ATTENTION CHURCH PLANTERS: Are you a church planter? If so, we'd like to send you $68 worth of Church Leader Insights resources and training materials at no cost. (Including Launching Large, Funding Your Church Planting, The Call to Start a New Church and Starting Small Groups from Scratch (NEW OFFER) by Nelson Searcy)
For more, see: Free Church Planting Resources

:: LEADERSHIP::

THE PANACEA FOR PUTTING THINGS OFF
Delaying is addictive. Even if your intention is to put it off “just this one time”. The act of putting it off sets a chain of reactions that will make it easier to delay this task again. In fact, it becomes more likely that the task will be postponed again. <Read More>

::RECOMMENDED BOOKS::

WORDS THAT WORK
By Frank Luntz
“This is one of the best books I’ve read on communication in several years. While it focuses on political and corporate communication, the lessons for pastors and church leaders are easy to extract. I recommend that you read and study this book. Here are four of the rules he offers for good communication: Rule #1: Simplicity - Use Small Words (Avoid words that might force someone to reach for the dictionary…because most Americans won’t).  Rule #2: Brevity - Use Short Sentences.  Rule #3: Credibility Is As Important As Philosophy.  Rule #4: Consistency Matters’”– Nelson Searcy




ACTIVATE: AN ENTIRELY NEW APPROACH TO SMALL GROUPS
By Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas
“I know, I know, its self serving to have my book as one of this months pics!  But don’t take my word for it, here’s an unsolicitied review from Travis Johnson, Pastor of Life Pointe Church in Homestead, FL:

‘We’ve been working Nelson’s system for small groups at Life Pointe for one year now. We started last fall. The highest we’ve gotten our small group registrations to is 92% of our Sunday attendance. The best we had done prior to his small group system was just under 60%. Nelson has the mind and possibly, the heart of an engineer which makes him a great, direct talking coach to a lot of pastors. Here are my Top 10 takeaways from his book:

  1. Think larger, not smaller. Larger groups minimize the weirdo factor, mean less work for the facilitator, and anticipates that not everyone who signs up will show up.
  2. The Four Spaces of Spiritual Growth are: a) public space, b) social space, c) personal space, and d) intimate space. Small Groups are not geared to creating intimate space but, rather social space .
  3. Be simple in your approach to groups and ministry. If you give people too many options, their involvement will be so spread out that you won ’t have their full participation or momentum in any one area."

    To read the rest of the review, click here – Nelson Searcy

 



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