Category Archives: Systems

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How to Handle the First 50 Days of Discipleship

Darrell Stetler II talks about how to build holy habits into the lives of new Christians by creating tools like the NewStart Discipleship journal. For more info, or to download a free evaluation copy of the journal, visit www.newstartdiscipleship.com
The First 50 Days of Discipleship for New Christians short seminar

I was recently asked to share at Outreach and Bus Convention about how to create tools to help new Christians get established in their faith, and form discipleship routines.

I shared a session about how even small church pastors can do a better job discipling new converts in those crucial first 50 days.

Here’s the video:

If you’d like to download a handout and use this for training in your local church to create vision for making disciples, you’re welcome to do that. CLICK HERE to download the handout instantly.

In a recent Barna Survey:

Only 1% Of Pastors say that churches these days are doing “very well” with discipling new believers.

Only 8% Of Pastors say that their church is doing “very well” with discipling new believers.

Wow. Clearly, almost everyone recognizes that we’ve got work to do to level up our game for new believers!

3 Questions You Must Ask About Your Discipleship

#1: What am I trying to produce?

Baby Christians who know the disciples names? Or new Christians who have holy habits that will continue to transform them?

Discipleship is the process of becoming who Jesus would be if he was you.

Dallas Willard

So here’s what I decided I want to produce in my new believers here in my local small church. I want to go from information to transformation by producing:

  • Actions & habits in their lives.
  • Emotions.
  • Prayer & Bible as a conversation with God.
  • Self feeders

#2: Is the entrance & pathway absolutely crystal clear?

#1 rule of marketing: A confused mind always says NO. Unclear direction stops people from moving forward.

#3: Can it be multiplied?

You’ve got to set your discipleship plan free from the need for a Bible or communications degree.

Multiplication is going to require 2 things:

Clarity & Simplicity

WHAT IF YOU COULD BUILD A SYSTEM THAT WOULD SOLVE THOSE PROBLEMS?

#1: a system that was more about habits of transformation for new Christians than information?

#2: a system that was absolutely crystal clear to new believers for that critical first couple of months?

#3: a system that was EASY to give away & multiply so that anyone in your church could become a disciple-maker?

Creating a NewStart for new believers means discipling them on how to become self-feeders, how to develop holy habits that will continue to transform them.
Creating a NewStart for new believers in Jesus


5 Secrets to move from information to transformation:

Secret #1: Do your thinking in advance.

What habits do I want them to develop right up front? How am I going to create those habits in a way that is perfectly clear for new converts? How can I

Secret #2: Focus on mini habits, not factoids.

If you can establish habits for your new Christians that are tiny, but are anchors for future growth, you’ll be ahead instead of teaching them Bible fact content.

Secret #3: Start with Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

The NewStart Discipleship System, for instance, starts with a 50 day Bible reading plan that covers the highlights of the Bible, so they grasp the broad strategy of the story God is telling. (If you’d like a free evaluation copy of the NewStart Discipleship Journal emailed to you, just click here to get it instantly via email.)

Secret #4: Harness rhythms & tools that already exist.

You’re only going to get so far fighting the way people consume information in the modern age. Your plan should integrate with technology like smartphones or devices, to help new Christians find the tools they need to grow in discipleship.

Secret #5: Integrate connection with your plan. How are you going to remind & facilitate connection with your new Christians so they are matched with disciple-makers in your local congregation?

What next?

If you want a solid, turn-key system to help you create new disciples that are forming new habits that will grow their new life in Christ, you should consider subscribing to NewStart Discipleship Premium.

This valuable set of tools features the NewStart Discipleship Journal, The NewStart Discipleship website, and a series of bite-sized, tech-integrated spiritual growth tools for new Christians.

NewStart Discipleship premium subscription gives your small church unlimited access to www.newstartdiscipleship.com and unlimited printing license for the

Not only does NewStart Discipleship Premium include an unlimited printing license for the new believer journals and Bible reading plan, the set of tools also continues to grow. I’ll be sharing more in a few weeks, but coming soon, the NewStart Discipleship set of tools will add:

Defending Your Faith

This 10-session video class will equip new believers to understand the firm foundation on which their Christian faith rests. It features content developed for Shepherd’s Global Classroom by Dr. Mark Bird, and a downloadable workbook.

Pursuing Holiness – A 40 Day Journey

www.40daysofholiness.com is a site that teaches on God's holiness, and how he creates it in humans. Taught by Darrell Stetler II, this 40 day discipleship journey for growing Christians will take you deep into the heart of God, seeing the beauty of His holiness, and learning to long for it in your own life. We’ll give holiness definition and clarity, talk about what holiness is and what holiness isn’t, and teach you how to become holy, and grow in holiness. Holiness is not a Pentecostal concern, or one for the Holiness Movement, the Methodist CHurch or Wesleyan/Arminian followers of John Wesley. It isn’t just for holiness churches! It is for all serious Christians, all students of God's Word, regardless of denomination or background.

Pursuing Holiness is a 40 day campaign that teaches about God’s holiness, and how he re-creates it in humans. This 40 day discipleship journey for growing Christians will take you deep into the heart of God, seeing the beauty of His holiness, and learning to long for it in your own life.

We’ll give holiness definition and clarity, talk about the definition of holiness, and what holiness isn’t, and teach you how to become holy, and grow in holiness. 

Holiness is not a Pentecostal concern, or one for the Holiness Movement, the Methodist Church or Wesleyan/Arminian followers of John Wesley’s theology. It isn’t just for “holiness” churches! It is for all serious Christians, all students of God’s Word, regardless of denomination or background. 

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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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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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5 Minute Mentoring: Leading Change More Effectively

Leading change in a local church is a tough task.  Just about any pastor has one of these stories:

goldfish seeking a change
  • a needed change that crashed and burned after it was presented to a church board…
  • a “church boss” who couldn’t bear to see their pet program canned…
  • a brilliant plan plan shot down by failure to process it properly with key leaders…

An indisputable fact: Change COSTS.  Financially.  Spiritually.  Emotionally.  Chronologically.

So how can we help ourselves know which changes to take on, and help people process them?

Here’s a helpful chart shared with me by my “brother in the Gospel” Darrell Underwood (MS, USAF, Ret.), who pastors a church plant in Clovis, NM called Servant’s Heart Chapel.  From his years of work in Process Improvement for the Air Force.

#3 – PICK Chart: Leading Change More Effectively from Darrell Stetler II on Vimeo.

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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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A Pastor’s After-Easter Action Plan

The songs have been sung, the message has been preached, the celebration is over… and the pastor is tired.  I know.  You definitely need to take some time off this week.  But here’s a short list of actions you should take to make sure that your efforts leading up to Easter Sunday don’t go to waste.

A Place to Start for Small Church Pastors

1. Follow up on spiritual decisions.

If someone came to know Jesus, that’s of paramount importance.  Check in with them, confirm their decision, share your joy, communicate your availability, answer questions.

2. Take care of the administrative details.

This is the “unsexy” part of your week, I know.

  • Entering guest cards into the database…
  • writing follow-up letters…
  • communicating “thanks” to your team…

Those kinds of things may not feel like exciting things to do on an emotionally exhausted “morning after Easter,” but paying attention to these kinds of details is exactly what will put you in a good place for the future.  If you have recruited administrative help, this is a good time to make a list of tasks they need to take on.

3. Keep the conversation going with guests.

Use information you’ve captured with your guest card to communicate a couple times with guests from Sunday.

  • Send them a personal thank you note (we do ours hand-written, with a little gift card to a local restaurant inside).
  • If someone asked for info on a particular next step on your guest card, then that could be a next step they’re motivated to take.  Follow up on that.
  • Find a way to “wow” guests with your love.  After all, “By this shall all men know you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  John 13:35

4. Clearly communicate a general next step.

In today’s world, it’s doubtful that people are suddenly 100% committed to coming every Sunday from “now ‘til Jesus comes.”

Lifetime commitment to your church is probably a tough sell after one Sunday.  It’s like a store owner asking you to only shop at that store after your first visit.  Probably not gonna happen.  It’s better to communicate a specific next step people can take if they were attracted by what you offered on Easter.

Being a pastor who really is intentional about discipleship means you’ve got to communicate the next step on your discipleship pathway.

It’s probably best not to have 6 next steps.  Simplicity and clarity mean you need to decide about 1 next step you want new guests to take.  Is it:

  • Come to a membership class?
  • Show up at a relationship-building event?
  • Download our discipleship tool?
  • Come to your church dinner next week?
  • Volunteer at your outreach event to kids?
  • Attend the start of your new series next Sunday?

5. Do a review with your team.

I wrote about this in my post “The Easiest Way to Continually Improve Your Outreach.” Check that post out.  The best way to make sure all the lessons of this Easter get learned and captured is a quick review of:

  • What went right
  • What went wrong
  • What we can improve next time
  • Who’s responsible for it

6. Thank God & your team.

You didn’t do this Easter alone.  Even if it was a bit less than you hoped for, people labored to make it happen, and it wasn’t a waste in the eyes of Heaven.  So spend some time thanking God in faith for what he’s doing, and how he’s going to continue that work.

Then make a few phone calls or write a few thank you notes to people who made the weekend happen.

Here’s to small church pastors, who labor faithfully… thanks for what you do for God’s Kingdom!

I’m going to make a checklist for this post, and give it away.  What other steps should I include after Easter?  Tell me in the comments below.

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How to Not Waste Your Christmas Crowd

Every pastor knows that Easter and Christmas are two Sundays that are most likely to attract the unchurched and the de-churched to attend. You probably have given thought to your Christmas or Advent services already, since we’re just a few weeks away.

Between now and Christmas, you’ll probably

  • brainstorm ideas
  • decorate the Sanctuary
  • rehearse special music or programs
  • recruit prayer warriors
  • pray God does something great

But have you built systems to capture what God does?  Or will your guests who walk through your door that Sunday… walk back out until next Christmas?  What can you do to keep from wasting the big day?  Here are four ideas you need to think about in advance:

1. Capture their information.

As I’ve written before, one of the biggest regrets I have about some of my early outreach efforts, was that I didn’t know the power of harvesting information.  Without the ability to continue the conversation, those one-time guests… slip through your fingers.  One of the best ways to show concern and care is to get someone’s info and keep the conversation going.  When you get someone’s info, you’re practicing what Seth Godin calls Permission Marketing.  It’s the permission to continue the conversation, to build trust.  Whether it’s a pastoral visit, a text, a phone call, or a personal note, you’re working on the relationship.

And if you’re going to keep working on it, the core of a guest follow-up strategy is your connection card.

Connection Card front 2013 FINAL

If you want an editable copy of this, email me at darrell@newstartdiscipleship.com, and I’ll send you a Canva link. 🙂 

2. Give them something to come back for.

I know that God has to draw them to Jesus… but He may want to use your plan to do it!  So plan to give them every reason to come back!

  • Start a new series after the New Year.  Announce it on Christmas.
  • Have promotional materials available for that next series.
  • Schedule a church dinner for the launch week (If you’re a small church pastor.)
  • Do a 30-day Church Attendance Challenge.

This is going to take pre-planning.  Look over the graphic designs (paid and free) on CreationSwap.com.  Get someone to design a postcard or series graphic for you on Fiverr.  Get it printed up in advance with GotPrint.com or VistaPrint.com.

3. Follow up on them intentionally.

What kind of contact do you have with your 1st time guests through the week after they visit?  For many churches, the basic plan is, “Give them a generic pencil, and tell them we hope they come back soon.”

You’re going to need a more intentional, on-purpose plan.  

And what if they pray for salvation? You need a discipleship pathway that’s ready-to-go. 

In fact, I’d recommend checking out the free discipleship tools from NewStart Discipleship. If you’re not sure how to go about disciple-making, you can get some free discipleship training here, or you can download my 35 page free guide by dropping your email right here:

Download How to Build a Clear Discipleship Pathway FREE

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

    4. Have something ready for those who decide to follow Jesus.

    This is something I used to do badly. But not these days. I’ve gotten way more intentional about being ready for new Christians.

    Think about giving them:

    It doesn’t have to be perfect.  But you should have a plan!

    If you want to download my secret tool for giving to a brand-new believer, drop your email here and I’ll send it over for free: 

    Get my SECRET TOOL for brand new believers!

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

      Posted on

      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!”

      Posted on

      Always Learning: What I Learned About Church From Walmart

      In John Maxwell’s book How Successful People Think, the story is told of Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, when the store chain was just taking off.  Sam took a couple of his colleagues, regional store managers to visit some of the competition in Huntsville, AL.  Don Soderquist (later, CEO of Walmart) related the story:

      “We went into one [store], and I have to tell you that it was the worst store I’ve ever seen in my life. It was terrible. There were no customers. There was no help on the floor. The aisles were cluttered with merchandise, empty shelves, dirty, it was absolutely terrible. He [Walton] walked one way and I’d walk the other way and we’d kinda meet out on the sidewalk. He said “What’d you think, Don?”

      I said, “Sam, that is the absolutely worst store I’ve ever seen in my life. I mean, did you see the aisles?”

      He said, “Don, did you see the pantyhose rack?”