Category Archives: Personal Productivity

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Texting Is Better Than Phone or Email for Churches

I remember when I first sent a text message on my flip phone. Things have changed a lot since then. People are more connected to their phones than ever.  In those days, I rarely texted, and almost always called.

Lots of people under 30 don’t really check voicemail at all.  I rarely listen to a voicemail.  I have Google voice transcribe them and sent to me — as texts!

Sure, there are some things you shouldn’t do with a text. Ask for a date. Break up. Deal with conflict. Have a deep conversation. But if you’re just needing to quickly communicate in an extremely connected culture, texting sure does help.

There are lots of ways to use texting in your church communications.  Texting is a great way to:

  • Send quick encouragement to someone.
  • Remind people of events & appointments
  • Do a quick check on a fact
  • Get information such as a phone number without breaking workflow
  • Request an “at your convenience” reply on a question
  • Send information such as links and phone numbers so the recipient has a record of them
  • Drive quick traffic to a link, such as event registration or church video

 

Here are 5 reasons why I think texting is better than email or phone for church communications:

1. More people respond your message.

Not everyone is into texting.  But if you’re working with younger people, in my experience, you are more likely to get an answer from a text than a voicemail or email.

There are exceptions to this.  Boomers & office professionals still use email quite a bit.  But even that is changing, as communication becomes more informal, even in the workplace.

2. People see it more quickly.

I like to use email for longer-form things, but when you need to communicate something quickly (a cancellation, a schedule change, an urgent message) texting is almost always faster.

Lots of people have their phones set NOT to notify them when an email comes in, but very few people have their phones set that way for texts.

3. Texting is more personal than email.

Now, texting is probably less personal than a phone call, but the texting space isn’t as crowded as the email space… and while several dozen companies have your email, it’s mostly people (persons) that text you.  That’s why I’d argue it’s more personal.

4. Texting is more focused than email.

Often, emails can communicate too much and have too many possible responses, which tends to immobilize people, and lead to no response.  Texting is so short, that you can usually only take 1 action in response to a text, so people are more likely to actually act on it.

 

So how do we harness texting to do this kind of communcation in our churches?

 

Here are my favorite tools for churches to use for texting folks:

1. MightyText

Now, how to do it more quickly… that’s the problem. And my favorite solution is MightyText.  MightyText lets me text from my phone using my computer, which is far faster.

Here’s what it allows me to do:

  • See who’s texting without breaking my workflow. Texts pop up down in the corner, letting me decide if it’s important enough to stop for.
  • See who’s calling without breaking my workflow. Again, notifications pop up in the corner.
  • Reply without picking up my phone. A quick click and I’m replying.
  • Text multiple people at the speed of my computer, not my phone. I type way faster on a keyboard.
  • Easily Schedule texts to send in the future.

MightyText is quite valuable — and free to use. I used it for months with the free app. But on this one, it’s worth going to the paid version for the features that are included. The ability to create Contact Lists is particularly valuable. It lets me text groups of people with a single click.

I have admin assistant add mobile numbers to a list like “Trunk or Treat” and I can text 25 of those folks at a time from my own phone, and start a conversation, like “Thanks for attending our Trunk or Treat! This is Pastor Darrell, & this is my personal cell phone. Did you feel like your kids enjoyed it?”  (I like ending that kind of a text with a question, because they’re more likely to respond!)

One caution: If you use MightyText on a church computer, and someone else uses that computer, they can read your texts.  Obviously, this could cause issues with sensitive information.  So, be cautious here if you have sensitive info — log out, etc.

But obviously, you can’t use your personal phone for all church annoucements, which is why I like:

2. Textedly.com

Textedly is a great texting service that allows people to sign up to receive texts through keywords.  Such as this slide, which we use in our offering-time slideshow:

I’ve used Textedly in these ways:

  • Send out church cancellations or schedule changes
  • Quick Sunday reminders about church dinners
  • Saturday encouragement to “bring a friend”
  • Church-wide fasting and prayer campaign – Scripture verses

If you’d like to sign up and give them a try, you can CLICK HERE, and you will get a bonus 5,000 messages when you sign up for a plan. 

So what do you think?  Is texting better?  How do you use it?

 

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5 Ways Small Church Pastors Can Beat Forgetfulness

You know that feeling in the pit of your stomach when your phone rings, you see the name on caller ID and you groan — because you realize you forgot something?  I hate that feeling.  I hate letting people down, when I’ve agreed to do something.
  • It’s embarrassing.
  • It’s stressful.
  • It costs you relationships, respect and trust, especially as a pastor.

“As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is a lazy man to the one who sends him.”  (Proverbs 10:26)

How to help deal with forgetfulness for forgetful small church pastors.
If you are like me, your “forgetter” works overtime.  I can remember random facts and poems I memorized when I was 9, but I can’t remember what I told someone a week ago.  And that creates a lot of day-to-day stress.  It will either keep you mentally torn trying to keep everything straight, or kicking yourself that you didn’t!  And the more projects and roles you’re juggling, the harder it is to get it all right and on time.

I imagine this is pretty easy for people who are obsessive compulsive naturally organized, and never seem to forget anything. But I’m not naturally organized.  I’ve had to design systems to work around my weaknesses.

Here’s what I’m learning:

 1. Write it down.

You should keep a to-do list.  Writing is a neurokinetic activity that aids in memory.  David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” book has become a gold standard for time management (or as he would prefer to say, “action management.”)  The benefits here are many:
  • Less stress.
  • More producivity.
  • Less forgetfulness.
The shortest pencil is better than the longest memory. – Unknown
That’s true, but you have to write it down in a place where you know you’ll check, and on something you won’t lose.
Personally, I don’t write it down in a Moleskin or legal pad, because I lose the pad.  🙂  But because I use a phone belt clip, I almost never lose my phone… so I write everything down there in Todoist, my current favorite to-do list app.  Other places where I capture things include:

 

2. Create a system.

Ever forget details of a complicated activity?  You need a system.  The simplest system is really just a checklist, and any materials that go along with it.

Atul Gawande wrote “The Checklist Manifesto,” claiming that “The volume and complexity of what we know has exceeded our individual ability to deliver its benefits correctly, safely, or reliably. Knowledge has both saved us and burdened us.”

He’s right.

If you’re older, and it feels like life is more complicated now, that’s probably because… it is!

A lot of people (particularly forgetful ones!) balk at the idea of having a checklist for simple things.  “I’ve got it all in my head,” one guy told me.  To which I replied, “Yes, which is why there’s no room for anything else up there!”  If you think this checklist thing is baloney, consider this:
  • in 2001, a 5-point checklist virtually eradicated central line infections in the ICU at Johns Hopkins Hospital, preventing an estimated 43 infections & eight deaths over 27 months
  • The same system at hospitals in Michigan decreased infections by 66% in 3 months, and over the next 18 months, saved 1,500 lives.
One of my favorite blogs, Art of Manliness, did a very lengthy post about the power of checklists, which you should read if you have any doubt that they are important.

3. Automate whatever you can.

I’ll bet you have some things in your life that you forget to do on a regular basis.  Little, nagging, recurring tasks that will slip by unnoticed — until they are costing you dollars & time & embarrassment.  I’ll also bet that there are ways to get some of them done automatically, if you’ll invest the time to automate them.
I’ll do another post on automating things in your life later, but for now, my favorite automating tools are:
> A good smart phone
> Banking tools
> Auto bill pay
I hate filling my short-term memory with things I could just “set and forget.”  Do it.  Automate enough good behaviors, and they will pay you back eventually.

4. Set reminders.

OK, let’s imagine you have something, an object that MUST go to work with you tomorrow.  It is imperative.  Let’s imagine you will lose your job, or someone will die if you do not remember that object, but it’s too valuable to keep in your car.
Where do you put it?
Most people I’ve asked this question have said some version of, “By the front door.”  That’s right.  So you have to find ways to put things “by the front door” in your life… in a place where you know you will HAVE to encounter it again.
But really, some things you can’t put by the front door, and you can’t realistically cover your front door with Post-It notes…  So you have to have some way to make sure you “trip over” that thing again.  Ideally, this would look like a list or notebook that you check reliably, so you can stop keeping it in your over-taxed short-term memory.
For me, the place I’m most likely to trip over things is on my smart phone.  So I put things “by the front door” using my Google Calendar, my alarms, location-based reminders, etc.

5. Harness the power of accountability.

You’re more likely to accomplish something if you tell someone you are going to do it, if you really make a commitment out of that.  In fact, some studies on goals indicate that you are 95% more likely to get it done if you’ve become personally accountable to someone for that action or goal.

Use this to your advantage.  Tell someone, or maybe multiple people, what you intend to do.  Verbalize it, text it to them…

And then, (my personal favorite thing) make that a trigger.  Tell them, pull out your trusty phone or calendar, and let it be your cue to write it down.  

 

Really, it all comes down to this: Just don’t refuse to deal with it.

Don’t make “that’s just who I am” a reason to live the rest of your life letting people down and breaking promises.

As I said, I’m naturally forgetful of things like appointments and commitments.  It has required significant work for me to do better.  I’m a long ways from perfect here (ask my wife and my church family!), but with desire and work, and a plan, I’ve improved.

As a pastor of a smaller church, if you want to grow, you’ll need to show your ability to grow past these kinds of things in your life in order for you to be trustworthy with larger things.

When you improve in these kind of character traits, it ultimately speaks well of you and of the One you serve.

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MentorMe #1: Chris Cravens Interview

I recently sat down with Chris Cravens.  Chris served as a pastor of the Bible Methodist Church in Findlay, OH for years, and now serves as Conference President of the Heartland Regional Conference of the Bible Methodists.

Chris shared a lot of wisdom in this interview.  I hope it’s a blessing to you!

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Why Willpower is Hard to Find

5 Minute Mentoring

If you’re like me, you’ve struggled to MAKE yourself do things.  Even things you know will help your situation… they’re still hard.  But don’t despair! 

Increasing your willpower can help avoid pastoral burnout

To that end, here’s a life-altering thing I’m learning right now about my own willpower, captured in this week’s 5-Minute Mentoring Video.

One of my biggest regrets about the early years of my pastoral ministry is that I didn’t invest in a regular, paid coaching program for pastors.  While no one can ever say what “would have happened” I feel pretty confident that I’d be further up the road, my church would be better off, and I’d have skipped over some of the mistakes I’ve made.

If you’re a smaller church pastor, you know that not all coaching is created equal.  Some of it is more fitted for large churches with multiple staff, large budgets… churches that have approximately the same population in their bathroom as your sanctuary!

If you’d like to hear more about it, check out my Small Church Pastor Coaching Membership.  Here’s what’s included:

1. Video Coaching Class

One Unit per month is added, and members have access to the ENTIRE ARCHIVE of past topics.  Current and upcoming topics include:

  • Creating An Outreach Culture
  • Recruiting and Leading Volunteers
  • Small Church Financial Leadership
  • How to Follow Up on Guests
  • Personal Spiritual Growth
  • Lower Your Sunday Stress – Preaching Habits
  • Personal Systems
  • Marriage & Ministry
  • Morning Routines
  • Intentional Leadership

Each Unit includes a 30-60 minute video training, handouts, resources, and links to sermons you can preach on these topics in your own church.

2. Private video messaging group for Q&A!

I use the app Marco Polo for Q&A, and respond as quickly as possible to your further questions on any topic in the archive.

3. Done-For-You Resources

RESOURCES INCLUDE:
* Complete Sermon Resource file – the best from 15 years of messages

* Graphic Design Templates:

  • Outreach Invitation Card
  • Guest Connection Card
  • Church Brochure
  • Plus tips on where to get them printed dirt cheap!

2 ebooks (including early release)

  • 7 Steps to a Killer Guest Follow-Up System
  • Top 9 Tech Tools I’m Using to Get More Done

40 Day Church Prayer and Fasting Campaign

  • Video Messages
  • daily texts
  • Sign up sheets
  • Social Media graphics

* Administrative File (Worship Program Swipe File, Sign-up Sheets)

* ALL 5 Minute Mentoring Videos before they are publicly posted.

(20 topics and counting! Personal time management, leading change, Lowering Sunday Stress, Sharing the Gospel, and many more!)

The Cost

I’m one of those guys who quickly scans what’s included, and goes to the bottom for the cost. 🙂

This $30/mo membership is packed with valuable information that is specifically tailored to the needs of small church pastors. Small Church pastors are incredibly important, but often do not receive the respect they deserve… and too often, they don’t respect themselves enough to invest in their leadership growth!

Invest in your ministry today, and get complete access to the library of small church coaching videos as well as an archive of sermons, documents, administrative helps, hours of recorded videos, and a helpful video messaging private group where you can ask further questions. Find your supportive community for small church pastors today!

My Coaching membership for small church pastors are available here: darrellstetler2.com/pastorcoaching

My Guarantee:

If you don’t think it’s worth it, cancel in the first 14 days, and you’ll get your money back.  Zero risk, No Hassle.

 

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7 Good Reasons Pastors Should Say NO

5 Minute Mentoring

Peter Drucker once said something about like this, “A prerequisite for a career in ministry should be a 6 week intensive course in saying ‘NO.’ Yet no such course exists.”

Can you relate as a pastor?  It’s tough to find the wisdom to know when to say YES and when to say NO.  Often we feel pressure to say yes when:

  • The person asking is a valued leader in the church.
  • The person asking is a new attender.
  • You said YES to something similar in the past.
  • You feel guilty about not “doing enough.”
  • You feel that spirituality is mainly related to activity.

Pastors struggle with all these things, pretty much weekly.

Here’s a quick 5 minute video that will help.  It’s entitled 7 Good Reasons Pastors Should Say NO.

If you’d like a TON more of this kind of content, you need to check this out:

I’ve decided to open up my Small Church Coaching Membership site to any pastor.

Here’s what’s included:

1. Video Coaching Class

One Unit per month is added, and members have access to the ENTIRE ARCHIVE of past topics.  Current and upcoming topics include:

  • Creating An Outreach Culture
  • Recruiting and Leading Volunteers
  • Small Church Financial Leadership
  • How to Follow Up on Guests
  • Personal Spiritual Growth
  • Lower Your Sunday Stress – Preaching Habits
  • Personal Systems
  • Marriage & Ministry
  • Morning Routines
  • Intentional Leadership

Each Unit includes a 30-60 minute video training, handouts, resources, and links to sermons you can preach on these topics in your own church.

2. Private video messaging group for Q&A!

I use the app Marco Polo for Q&A, and respond as quickly as possible to your further questions on any topic in the archive.

3. Done-For-You Resources

RESOURCES INCLUDE:
* Complete Sermon Resource file – the best from 15 years of messages

* Graphic Design Templates:

  • Outreach Invitation Card
  • Guest Connection Card
  • Church Brochure
  • Plus tips on where to get them printed dirt cheap!

2 ebooks (including early release)

  • 7 Steps to a Killer Guest Follow-Up System
  • Top 9 Tech Tools I’m Using to Get More Done

40 Day Church Prayer and Fasting Campaign

  • Video Messages
  • daily texts
  • Sign up sheets
  • Social Media graphics

* Administrative File (Worship Program Swipe File, Sign-up Sheets)

* ALL 5 Minute Mentoring Videos before they are publicly posted.

(20 topics and counting! Personal time management, leading change, Lowering Sunday Stress, Sharing the Gospel, and many more!)

The Cost

I’m one of those guys who quickly scans what’s included, and goes to the bottom for the cost. 🙂

This $30/mo membership is packed with valuable information that is specifically tailored to the needs of small church pastors. Small Church pastors are incredibly important, but often do not receive the respect they deserve… and too often, they don’t respect themselves enough to invest in their leadership growth!

Invest in your ministry today, and get complete access to the library of small church coaching videos as well as an archive of sermons, documents, administrative helps, hours of recorded videos, and a helpful video messaging private group where you can ask further questions. Find your supportive community for small church pastors today!

My Coaching membership for small church pastors are available here: darrellstetler2.com/pastorcoaching

My Guarantee:

If you don’t think it’s worth it, cancel in the first 14 days, and you’ll get your money back.  Zero risk, No Hassle.

If you’re interested, click here to be re-directed to a simple purchase form.

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Free Video Pastor Coaching Group

Just an idea I'm testing...

I’ve been silent for quite some time on this blog.  It’s been quite a journey over the last 9 months, a journey mostly covered in sheetrock dust.

My family, with all 7 kids, lived in a 3 bed, 1 full bath parsonage of about 1100 sq. ft. for the last 15 years.  (OK, we didn’t have 7 kids 15 years ago, but…)  Last fall, we bought a 4,300 sq ft home (6 bed, 3 full/2 half bath), and started a remodel process that took us about 6 months to complete.  I’ll tell the whole story sometime… it’s a story full of answered prayers, and God’s amazing faithfulness.  If you want pictures of our very own “fixer-upper,” I would point you toward this video tour I put on Facebook early in April of 2018.

But for now, I’m coming back to the blog.

I’m focusing in for a time on a new idea that I’m testing.  I love

  • pastors
  • local churches
  • coaching
  • providing resources that save time and energy

I want to do a better job sharing things that I’ve learned over the years.  So I’m here today to announce:

Limited Space Free Pastor Coaching Group

This temporary coaching program will:

  • be 1-3 months long (depending on how it goes)
  • be entirely on your own time
  • enable you to ask quick questions & receive 5 minute answers and feedback on issues you care about
  • Use the video messaging app Marco Polo
  • ONLY INVOLVE 15 PASTORS at once.  I’m afraid I can’t handle more than that.

So what kind of issues will I be talking about?  Well, it depends on what questions you ask, but I’m happy to share ideas on:

  • leadership issues
  • administrative tools and techniques
  • outreach
  • work/life balance
  • pastoral emotional health
  • pastoral care
  • preaching
  • habits and systems

 

So, if you want to try it out, here’s how you join up:

  1. Click this link.
  2. Install the MarcoPolo app on your mobile phone.
  3. You might have to come back here and click that link on #1 again… not sure.
  4. Watch the welcome video, then think of a question you’d like some coaching on.

 

I’ll be watching to see how this comes together, and I’ll cut it off after 15 guys join.  I’ll check out your video questions, think it over, and then record a response.

I have no idea how this will work.  🙂 But hey, that’s the joy of trying stuff… just to find out what happens.

Looking forward to chatting with you!

 

 

 

 

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10 Ways to Be More Creative

Do you think it’s possible to become more creative?  Is creativity natural, or developed?  Is it a limited commodity, and you’re just stuck with however much of it you have?  Is it even possible for a small-church pastor to be creative with limited budgets, no staff, and few options?

I think you CAN become more creative.

What is Creativity?

Here’s my definition of creativity: The skill or ability to view problems and possibilities in new ways, and find solutions that are novel and courageous.

10 Ways You Can Develop your creativity

So how do we develop the skill of creativity?  Here are a few suggestions:

1. Read broadly.

Take some time and check out authors that break boxes, think fresh thoughts, and have an “upside down” way of viewing things.  This will mean reading people who disagree with you politically, who synthesize differently than you are used to.

Try some of these:

2. Strategically break your routine.

Seeing the same things the same ways will eventually result in stifled creativity, because it doesn’t give you new experiences and info to process and synthesize.

  • Eat somewhere new.
  • Take a new road to work.
  • Learn a new skill.
  • Read a book about something different or weird
  • Do a new kind of recreation (If you’re an inside guy, go out. Or vice versa!)
  • Talk with someone outside your normal circle – ask them questions

Identify what is unique and different about these experiences.  You may not like them – you might even decide not to do it again.

3. Think childish.

Kids see ways to solve problems creatively because they haven’t been discouraged yet by how many WRONG answers there are. What if you recaptured that mindset, by deciding to ignore the voice that says there’s only one right answer?

  • Shut down the inner voice that says “that’s stupid.”
  • Deliberately suspend your disbelief.
  • Force yourself to come up with 10 different ways to do something, even if 4 of them are completely ludicrous.

The person who rolls their eyes at an over-the-top suggestion may be RIGHT, but they are not creative.  So don’t be that guy.

This is valuable when you need to do things like come up with creative trunk or treat ideas, or find creative solutions to problems with your discipleship process.

4. Involve others.

Some people are “Yes, and…” people.  Some are “yes, but…” people.  You know who I’m talking about.  When you want to get creative, it is important who you choose to be around you.  The right people will help you break through a creative block.

“It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but that you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it.” ~ Sherlock Holmes (Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir A. Conan Doyle)

5. Be ready to capture ideas.

Brainstorming is a huge part of the art of creativity.  But you have to have a way to capture those creative ideas.

Don’t let a flash of insight slip by!  Write them down in Evernote, or put them in your Todoist list.  Sketch it on a napkin.  Take pictures with your smartphone.

Side note: I get some of my best ideas from OTHER people. Specifically, I once got an idea that became an incredible discipleship tool at my church. It’s a Bible reading plan for new Christians, and you can download it for free right here: 

The Best Bible reading plan for new Christians

    I HATE spam. I’ll never share your email! Unsubscribe at any time.

    I recently created a post about discipleship sermon illustrations… most of which I had saved in Evernote over the course of about 7 years. I have a way to capture ideas… and after doing it for years, I’ve got lots of sermon illustrations, and I can brainstorm more with ChatGPT.

    6. Plan ahead.

    Many creative people like to hate on this one, but trust me… it’s valuable. Don’t wait until the last minute.  Creativity is useless if you don’t have time to execute the idea!

    Time pressure only creates the base layer of creativity.  Going to the next level of great creative ideas requires margin. So start early.

    7. Get enough sleep.

    There is abundant research saying that if you don’t sleep, your life will suffer.  You’ll make less effective decisions, your productivity will drop, and your creativity will suffer.  So make yourself go to sleep.  Check out Michael Hyatt’s post on evening routines for help.

    8. Ask “What if…?” and “Why not?”

    The more you ask these two questions, the more you unleash your creativity.  Even if the answer is “obvious,” go ahead and ask the question.  What you gain from the question is more than the answer – it is perspective.

    9. Use metaphor and simile often.

    If creativity really is the synthesis of ideas, metaphor is a great laboratory.  To practice this, think these kinds of thoughts:

    • “How is this problem LIKE other problems?”
    • “If this situation was a ___ (car, storm, war, family, factory, etc), what would each piece be called?”

    This forces your brain into a synthesis mode of completely different sets of ideas, which is the essence of creativity.

    10. Laugh at yourself.

    Creativity = Ridiculous.
    Ridiculous = funny.
    Funny = people laugh at it.
    People laughing at you = bad.
    THEREFORE, Creativity = bad.

    If that’s your logic, you’ll never grow your creative skill.

    So if you decide that you’re OK with being a little ridiculous, and can develop the ability to laugh at yourself, you’ll be further down the road toward being truly creative.

    In the comments below, share this: Which of these ideas surprised you?  Why?

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    How Living In the Urgent Can Kill Your Creativity

    Hey pastors! As one of you for the last 21 years, I know all about pastoral stress… and how it can damage your ministry and your creativity.

    frustration with how to disciple new believers

    If you haven’t read Stephen Covey’s excellent book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” you’re missing out.  Out of the many helpful things in the book, here’s one I have found most useful:  Covey’s distinction between URGENT things and IMPORTANT things.

    • Urgent things shout at you – flashing lights, ringing phones.
    • Important things will not – maintenance, relationships, planning.
    • Urgent and Important things must be done or things will fall apart immediately.
    • Important, not Urgent things must be done or things will fall apart eventually.
    • Urgent and Important things are like filling up with gas when you’re on empty.
    • Important things are like changing the oil after 3,000 miles.

    He draws a matrix like this:

    Quadrant 2 graphic

    As you can see, Quadrant 1 is Urgent & Important.  Quadrant 2 is Important, but not Urgent.

    Now, think about your life in terms of this diagram.

    I think of Sunday as a Quadrant 1 day.   If you don’t lead worship, don’t preach… if you fail to do whatever your core activities are, there will be an immediate negative effect.  Some activities eventually change quadrants.  For instance, sermon prep is a Quadrant 2 activity on Tuesday, but Saturday night… it’s moved up.

    Here’s why it’s better to do activities while they’re still in Quadrant 2:

    1. Living in Quadrant 1 is exhausting.

    Living your whole life in Quadrant 1 means you’ll be like Mario, leaping from crisis to crisis, barely escaping destruction at each turn, always inches from disaster.

    It means not being able to sleep because of the stress of upcoming deadlines.

    That’s exhausting.  Better to live in Quadrant 2, where you do important things before they move into Quadrant 1.

    2. Relaxed thinking is better than crisis thinking.

    You do better quality thinking when you’re relaxed.  Research is clear: You make better quality decisions when your stress is lower.

    In his ground-breaking book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Malcolm Gladwell tells of a study where college students were brought to a snack table, and offered a choice between healthy snacks (fruit, etc) and unhealthy snacks (cookies, cupcakes).  Half of the students were given a phone number to memorize and repeat back after the snack.  Those students were much more likely to choose the unhealthy snack.  Why?  They defaulted, under even that mild stress, to choosing what was immediately rewarding, instead of what was smarter.

    3. Creativity flows better when you are not in urgent mode.

    Ever think that your creativity goes up right before the deadline?  It doesn’t.  Your desperation does.  You may produce, but it’s not your creativity that gets your sermon finished!  It’s shame, and the potential embarrassment of having nothing to say.

    It’s not more creative, it’s just… finished.

    Instead, take time and focus early in the week to get in a creative flow.  (I’ll be writing more on this soon.)  You may not think of yourself as a particularly creative person, but I bet that you’re more creative when you aren’t “under the gun.”

    4. Creativity is useless when you have no time left to execute.

    In Quadrant 2, when you think of a really creative way to present a sermon, you can do it.  You can find that prop, create that Powerpoint, locate that great historical story, find that song that complements, think of that person whose testimony should be shared.

    But in Quadrant 1, even if you think of it, you often don’t have enough time to do anything about it. I’ve been there too many times, finishing up a sermon on Sunday morning, when I realized – “You know what would be GREAT?!… ah, never mind, I don’t have time to do that this morning!”

    Don’t do it.  Commit to living in the Important, not Urgent.

    One final thought:

    “What if I’m already overwhelmed?  How do I get into Quadrant 2 when Quadrant 1 is already so full?”

    I’m glad you asked.  You can’t just stop doing Quadrant 1 activities.  Everything would fall apart, because they really ARE important!  There are only 2 places that you can find time to do Quadrant 2 activities at first: Quadrants 3 & 4.

    Here’s what that might look like:

    • Turn off the phone.
    • Block Netflix.
    • Shut off talk radio.
    • Turn off the TV.
    • Use Stayfocusd to keep off Facebook.
    • Get off Youtube.
    • Turn off your wireless access altogether for 3 hours.

    And do something Quadrant 2.  Like this:

    • Prepare for NEXT week’s message.
    • Prep for a series that’s a month away on your sermon calendar.
    • Invest in a key relationship.
    • Learn something new.
    • Make a discipleship plan PDF (or download mine!)
    • Do that item you’ve been putting off.
    • Check your calendar for tomorrow.
    • Schedule lunch with someone.
    • Pray.

    I think you’ll find that if you’ll do this for a week, Quadrant 1 will be slightly smaller, and Quadrant 2 will be slightly larger.

    Now, imagine 6 months from now, if you did that every day!

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    The Simplest Strategic Planning Process for Your Church

    Some fancy terms that get thrown around in the world seem complicated — but really are more simple than you might think at first.  One is “strategic planning.”  It can sound scary.  It leads to lots of questions:

    • What if I don’t have any strategy?
    • What if our plan doesn’t work?
    • How do we know what is best to do?
    • What if we don’t have a mission?
    • How detailed are we supposed to go?

    Entire books have been written on this subject.  And they’re great.  But I’m guessing most pastors on this list don’t feel that they have time to read an entire book on strategic planning… and don’t feel like you have the time to do a “deep dive” into a process even if you did.  One strategic planning resource says “… a good rule of thumb is to plan on spending 3-4 months developing a complete strategic plan.”

    That might be nice in their world, but mine is too full of pre-marital counseling, training greeter volunteers, and preaching 3X per week.

    But what if it doesn’t have to be scary for your first experience?  What if your first try could be rather simple, be accomplished in a few hours, and then you could learn and build on it the next time?

    That’s what this post is about.

    Strategic planning is basically 3 things:

    1. Recognizing and recommitting to your mission, vision and values.
    2. Creating a set of goals & actions you believe will help you fulfill the mission & vision.
    3. Creating measurements that will help you figure out whether you accomplished it.

    So here’s the simplest process I’ve ever seen, just to get you started for 2016.

    Step 1: Gather a few influencers, and lay out an agenda. (15 minutes)

    Get the right people in the room.  You want

    • people with influence
    • people with ideas
    • people whose influence you want to grow.
    • people who are “yes, and…” people, not “yes, but…” people.

    Step 2: Review your mission & vision. (15 minutes)

    For the purpose of this post, I’ll assume you have a mission and vision.

    Mission is why you exist.

    Vision is what you will become, or the impact you will make.

    Our mission: To help people Love God, Love Others, & Serve the World.

    Our vision: By the year 2020, we will:

    • Grow to a total attendance of 1,000 at all sites.
    • See 500 people filled with the Spirit.
    • See 500 people in community groups.
    • Plant 5 churches in US cities.
    • Help plant 5 churches in other countries.
    • Help equip and support 10 international pastors.

    Write your versions of mission and vision on a piece of posterboard, and post them visibly in the room where you’re meeting.  Ask them to rate their commitment to it, or if they think it should be changed.  Then pray over it and continue.

    Step 3: Do a SWOT analysis. (1 hour)

    SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats.

    Strengths & Weaknesses are internal (in your control)

    • – What do we do well?
    • – What do we not do well?

    Opportunities & Threats are external (not in your control).

    • – What could really boost us if we took advantage of it? What’s going on in our location we should be involved in? What needs exist around us that we could meet?
    • – What could really hit us if we don’t watch out? What has the potential to limit our growth? What’s going on in our location that’s not good for us?

    Don’t try to solve problems yet!  Just identify them and move on.  Just recognizing them will help you be clear as you go through the next few steps.

    Step 4: Split up your mission.  (5 minutes)

    In our example, it would be:

    • – Love God (worship & discipleship)
    • – Love Others (fellowship)
    • – Serve the World (ministry & outreach)

    Step 5: Brainstorm lists of ideas for each area. (1 hour)

    As fast as you can, list as many ideas as you can.  This is not the time to evaluate or judge, just write ideas.  Go until you have anywhere from 10-30 ideas for each area.

    In the previous example, if it’s “Serve the World,” you might have 20 ideas:

    • * start a food pantry
    • * advertise on Facebook or with Google
    • * do street preaching
    • * prayer station ministry
    • * do an evangelism class
    • * teach people to invite others
    • * create better church invitation materials
    • * plan big outreach days like Friend Day
    • * invite a high-powered evangelist
    • * plan more outreach-oriented sermons
    • * go door-to-door calling
    • * do a prayer walk in the neighborhood
    • * Improve the church sign
    • * kindness outreach at the local skate park
    • * We Care Ministry

    Step 6: Organize ideas into groups. (1 hour)

    Some of the ideas you brainstormed will naturally group together.  List them together in boxes on your whiteboard.  Usually, you will see 3-4 groups begin to emerge.  For instance, in the above list you might group them into:

    • Marketing (church sign, materials, Facebook, door-to-door)
    • Training (evangelism class, inviting training)
    • Good Works (We Care, kindness outreach, food pantry)
    • Events (Friend Day, outreach sermons, invite evangelist)

    You’ll want to phrase them as sentences, such as “Execute a church Marketing Plan” or “Provide quality training to our congregation.”  Any ideas that are by themselves and don’t fit into these groups, you can set aside for now.

    Step 7: Trim your ideas into a list of GOALS. (1 hour)

    Decide which ideas under each group are achievable & worth your time and money.

    These ideas you commit to will become your GOALS.

    Step 8: Under each GOAL, write out 5-10 ACTIONS you can take. (1 hour)

    These ACTION STEPS should be phrased as completely as possible, in SMART Language.  That stands for:

    • * Specific
    • * Measureable
    • * Action-oriented
    • * Realistic
    • * Time-based (deadline)

    “Improve church materials ASAP” will not cut it.  “Dan will submit design for a new church invitation materials by April 9th” is far better.

    Step 9: Ask influencers to team up and adopt one of the GOALS to champion.

    Teaming up builds in accountability & assures more gets done.  Adopting a goal builds in ownership and increases buy-in.

    Step 10: Print copies for everyone, ask them to highlight ACTIONS they’re responsible for.

    This is why step 8 is so important.  Action steps are necessary to make sure people know EXACTLY what needs to be done, and when it will be expected.

    Step 11: Schedule your next follow-up meeting in 30 days to measure where you stand, and see what’s next.

    For a bonus, text people at the 15 day mark and tell them you’re praying for them, and ask how it’s going.  If you use Mighty Text, you can schedule this text early, of course — from your computer.

    There you go.  Now, share this article with 3-4 people in your church and tell them, “I’d like you to be in the room when this happens!”

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    Can We Stop Talking About Technology Like It’s An Enemy?

    One of the questions I get asked frequently is about technology… about what tools I’m using, what new things I’m trying.  This week, I’m launching my first e-book: “The Top 9 Tech Tools and Apps I’m Using to Get More Done!”  In it, I share my favorite tools, and how I’m using each one.

    Before you download and read it, a few words on the role of technology in your life:

    Technology is not a savior or an enemy.  It’s a magnifier.

    It’s kind of popular to talk about tech as a savior (“This app is the greatest thing ever…”) or enemy (“it will make you ADHD and you’ll forget how to talk.”)  But the truth is that it’s neither.  The iPhone, the laptop… they didn’t cause your issues.  They are only “magnifiers.”  They simply magnify your strengths or weaknesses.

    If you were easily distracted, not disciplined, lustful & have little self-control:

    • …just wait until you meet Facebook & Youtube!  Your problem is about to be magnified.
    • …just wait until you meet the 12% of the internet that is porn.
    • …wait until you have a video game permanently implanted in your life.

    On the other hand, if you are growing in focus, discipline, spiritual desire and maturity:

    • …just wait until you have an audio & text version of the Bible permanently implanted in your life!
    • …just wait until you have tools that let you capture great ideas.
    • …just wait until you have tools that allow you to keep commitments, track time, and manage details.

    In other words:

    …wait until you see what happens when you meet the tools & apps I talk about in this e-book!

    • Evernote
    • MightyText
    • Todoist
    • SmartReceipts
    • If This, Then That
    • Google Drive
    • Google Calendar (& Business Calendar)
    • Morning Routine Alarm Clock
    • StayFocusd Chrome Extension

    And every one is free!  Or at least they all have a free level or option.

    So cut out the dramatic language about technology, and just go get busy magnifying what you do best.  If you like the ebook, share this post with someone who might find that it can take their productivity up a notch!

    Get the Free E-book!

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