Do you have a Good Guest Experience?

by: VRcurator

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Why settle for good?

Why not give your First Time Guests an exceptional welcome!

Here’s something that will help: Two days of training and preparation at Auxano’s Guest Experience Boot Camp in Cincinnati, OH, on August 7-8.

Introducing Auxano’s Guest Experience Boot Camp:

First Time Guests coming to your church will decide to come back or not in the first 11 minutes. And that timer doesn’t start in worship… it starts as they make multiple decisions approaching your campus, pulling into the parking lot, and entering your building.

What will your First Time Guests experience in their first 11 minutes?

Based on over 500 onsite Guest Perspective evaluations with churches of every size and tribe, Auxano’s Guest Experience Boot Camp exemplifies our biblical mandate to have a love for strangers – and create a culture of hospitality!

This 2-Day Boot Camp will include:

• Immersive and interactive training with up to five team members
• Guided learning around core leadership principles from Auxano’s Guest Experience Workbook
• Development of a phased Guest Experience implementation plan integrated into your church context
• Reproducible take-home training tools for your entire Guest Experience team
• Collaborative learning with other dynamic churches
• A 60-minute, one-on-one virtual coaching session one one month after the Boot Camp to check in on your work toward implementing your plan
• Two virtual follow-up sessions with Boot Camp participants two and three months after the Boot Camp
• Lunches and breaks throughout the Boot Camp

The Guest Experience Boot Camp will be held at Vineyard Cincinnati, in Springdale, OH, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, August 7-8.

Register for the Guest Experience Boot Camp

The $1,995 investment includes registration for up to five members of your church team. Transportation to the host church, local lodging, and evening meals will be the responsibility of each church.

Your Boot Camp Navigators:

Bob Adams is passionate about helping church leaders understand the importance of Guest Experiences in their church. For over 37 years he has served the church in various capacities, working with hundreds of churches in developing Guest Experience ministries. He serves as Auxano’s Guest Experience specialist.

Bryan Rose pairs a degree in Architecture with a servant’s heart for ministry through the local church – the result of which is a powerful passion for creating Compelling Environments to help churches reach and connect with their community. As Lead Navigator for Auxano, Bryan has a strong bias toward merging strategy and creativity to create break-thru clarity for every church team.

Join us at the Guest Experience Boot Camp for a collaborative learning environment that will help you design a Guest Experience centered on your vision and built around a culture of hospitality.

Register for the Auxano Guest Experience Boot Camp here.

Tags: Auxano Boot Camp, Bob Adams, Boot Camp, Bryan Rose, Guest Experience Boot Camp, Guest Experience Training

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Lead Others Better by Leading Yourself Well

by: VRcurator

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How does developing someone else actually develop your leadership?

It has been said that the people close to us determine our level of success. Moses learned this lesson in the wilderness and so implemented a plan to put competent, godly leaders next to him. David had his mighty men. Paul had Barnabas, John Mark, Timothy, Titus, and Phoebe.

When ministers decide to be leaders, they cross a very important line. They no longer judge themselves solely by what they can do themselves; the truest measure of the impact of a leader is found in what those around them accomplish. In God’s economy, our personal development happens most as we are developing those He has called around us.

Lead others better by leading yourself well.

THE QUICK SUMMARY – The 4 Dimensions of Extraordinary Leadership, by Jenni Catron

You have the capacity to become an extraordinary leader—if you are willing to embrace a deeper definition of leadership and take action to apply it.

In The 4 Dimensions of Extraordinary Leadership, Jenni Catron, executive church leader and author of Clout, reveals the secrets to standout leadership found in the Great Commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

Weaving a winsome narrative filled with inspiring real-life stories, hard-won wisdom, and practical applications, Catron unpacks four essential aspects of growing more influential: your heart for relational leadership, your soul for spiritual leadership, your mind for managerial leadership, and your strength for visionary leadership.

Leadership isn’t easy, but it is possible to move from ordinary to extraordinary. Jenni Catron shows the way. 

A SIMPLE SOLUTION

Look at almost any definition of a leader, and it will include something about others: influencing them, directing their work, guiding their development. And while this is true, leaders must remember that the first priority of a leader is to lead yourself.

Leaders like to lead. And when we say we like to lead, we usually mean we like to lead others, right? But if you can’t lead yourself well, you will be ill equipped to lead others.

Part of the responsibility of leadership is understanding your influence on others. Leadership is only as strong as the leader. And that responsibility, if you’re grasping the weight of it, is the reason why your leadership journey must begin with leading yourself well.

Self-leadership is a willingness to make yourself uncomfortable in order to lead yourself and others to bigger dreams and greater goals. It requires the humility of introspection. Many leaders skip over self-leadership because the discomfort of facing their own limitations is frightening enough to discourage them before they’ve even begun.

Jenni Catron, The 4 Dimensions of Extraordinary Leadership

A NEXT STEP

The centerpiece of Jenni Catron’s book is based on the fundamental biblical truth found in Mark 12:28-30, commonly known as the Great Commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your strength and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

Using this scripture as a foundation, Catron develops a multi-dimensional leadership model that requires leading from our whole selves – heart, soul, mind, and strength.

As noted in the quotations above, Catron feels that first learning to lead yourself is a critical foundation of influence. With this model in mind, set aside time to inventory yourself in each area

You will find the self-assessment described in the book in an online version here, but first, reflect on these questions developed from the book.

Heart – Relational Leadership

• How are you connecting with those you lead?
• Do you know their stories and what inspires them?

Soul – Spiritual Leadership

• What does spiritual formation look like for you?
• When do you most feel like you’re experiencing spiritual growth?

Mind – Managerial Leadership

• What systems do you have in place to instill disciplines that transform ideas into accomplishments?
• How do you demonstrate stewardship in making good, consistent decisions about how to best manage your resources?
• What principles do you follow in creating a culture of accountability for yourself?

Strength – Visionary Leadership

• How strong do you feel about the vision you’re working toward?
• Is there anything you need to do to help own it more?

Once you spend time taking this inventory, prioritize three actions to take in the next three months, with specific and measurable markers of success.

Taken from SUMS Remix 44-3, published July 2016

This is part of a weekly series posting content from one of the most innovative content sources in the church world: SUMS Remix Book Summaries for church leaders. SUMS Remix takes a practical problem in the church and looks at it with three solutions; and each solution is taken from a different book. As a church leader you get to scan relevant books based on practical tools and solutions to real ministry problems, not just by the cover of the book. Each post will have the edition number which shows the year and what number it is in the overall sequence. (SUMS provides 26 issues per year, delivered every other week to your inbox). 

> Subscribe to SUMS Remix <<

Tags: Jenni Catron, Lead others, Lead yourself, The 4 Dimensions of Extraordinary Leadership

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Money Matters: Wisely Budgeting for Growth

by: Eric Geiger

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Budgeting is a great time to develop a plan, with the right leaders, for spending. I prefer approaching budgeting with a growth mentality. If you do so, your budget will be bigger than it was the previous year. A growth budget is a step of faith, but wisdom will require you to have a plan for spending if the growth in giving isn’t realized.

Instead of displaying wisdom in spending, shrewdness in planning, and generosity in giving, church leaders often succumb to the spending values of this world. Sadly many churches are collective reflections of American spending habits-spending all we have and even money we haven’t yet received. Church leaders teach by their spending; therefore, we must display a better way to live by how we manage the resources God entrusts to us. Part of this, I believe, means spending less than you receive as a church.

But how do you reconcile this with a growth mentality? Budgeting in a growing church is very challenging because it’s difficult to predict what giving trends will be in the future. The current growth isn’t always consistent nor is it clear what the new “per-person” giving will be. Often those new to the faith don’t start giving immediately. The practice of simply multiplying the current growth rate by the current “per-person” giving is a good starting point, but it’s really more reflective of the past than predictive of the future. [To do this, a church simply estimates the number of new people and multiplies that number by the current “average per-person” giving]

The budgeting season is a good time to wrestle with the tension of growth and uncertainty, faith and wisdom. You can reconcile a growth mentality and shrewd planning by using the budgeting time to objectively and proactively plan spending so that you’re not making chaotic decisions later.

How could this look practically?

(1) Have a trigger plan for unleashing new budgeted resources. Mark the areas in your budget that will be “released” after the giving reaches a new consistent level. Once the weekly giving reaches that point, the trigger is pulled.

(2) Develop a plan for spending freezes. With a small team of wise people, plan what spending would be frozen at specific levels of giving. Examples: You may freeze new hires until a consistent level of giving is realized. Or if giving drops to a certain point, certain expenses are suspended.

Establish a flexible framework during budgeting so that clarity is gained before it’s needed. It’s much easier to have objective and level-headed discussions before the moment is urgent.

Connect with an Auxano Navigator to learn more about budgeting clarity.

> Read more from Eric.

Tags: Budgeting, Budgeting Clarity, Eric Geiger, Resourcing

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Six Ways to Beat the Summer Slump

by: Jonathan Howe

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Summer often means vacation time and travel for many church members. It also means lower attendance and participation numbers in many churches.

While you’ll likely experience some summer lull, you can help minimize this by utilizing one or more of these tips for engaging your church members this summer.

1. Create a weekly prayer emphasis. Summer is a busy time for most student ministries and children’s ministries. You likely have camps, mission trips, and Vacation Bible School going throughout the summer. Highlight these events with a weekly prayer emphasis spotlight in the service and in your church newsletter.
2. Report on the results of your summer activities. After your church has prayed for an event, be sure to celebrate how God answered those prayers. These reports can help carry ministry momentum through the summer into the fall when you kick things off again.
3. Consider hosting special events each month and emphasize inviting others. Maybe you have a potluck at church or an ice cream social at a local park. Outside, summer-themed events can easily be used to invite friends and neighbors to church-related events.
4. Participate in summer community events. Nearly every town in America does something for July 4 (or July 1 for our Canadian readers). It’s great that some churches have the resources to host a community celebration, but 99% can’t. If you’re in the 99%, make an attempt to be involved in the local community gathering this summer.
5. Try something new. Use the summer as a test kitchen for something you’d like to implement on an ongoing basis. Maybe it’s a a more casual dress code or style change. Maybe it’s some new songs or stage setup. By telling your congregation that it’s only for the summer, you’ll have more acceptance of something new. I wouldn’t necessarily use the summer to change something core to the identity of the church. Start with fringe ideas and work toward bigger change down the road.
6. Focus on social media. Because the summer is typically busier, use social media to keep the congregation updated. Next week, I’ll focus more on this item, but brainstorm a few creative uses for Instagram, Facebook Live, Twitter, and blogs for your church to try out.

Summer doesn’t have to be a dry spell in a church. In many instances, it’s the busiest part of the year. Use that to your advantage and keep the momentum going.

What else would you add to this list?

Tags: Jonathan Howe, summer slump

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2 Ingredients for Leadership Success

by: Dan Reiland

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Have you experienced a teacher or professor who was brilliant in their subject, but didn’t seem to care about you as their student?

Have you encountered a doctor or nurse who seemed to be a genuinely caring person, but only average in their skills?

This is a common experience and can be true in anyone from a plumber to a therapist.

But when you find someone who is both competent and cares, that is an extremely valuable person.

The same is true for leaders.

When a leader is highly competent and clearly demonstrates that he or she sincerely cares, that is always a winning combination.

I’ve met pastors who are brilliant Bible teachers, but somewhat distant from the people. I’ve also met warm and loving pastors who are only average in their communication skills.

Here’s an intriguing question. Which do you think is more important? Competence or Caring?

The quick answer might be, “It depends.”  Perhaps you’d say: “I want the pilot of my next flight to be competent; I don’t care if he’s aloof and distant. I don’t need him to hold my hand, I need him to land the plane.” Fair enough.

But there are far more situations where I think you will say caring matters. For example, I want my dentist to be really good, and I want him to care. I don’t want some guy with a drill in his hand with zero compassion!

You don’t want the teacher of your 1^st grader to be brilliant in early childhood education, and yet be cold or even harsh toward your child.

As a leader, I don’t think we have to settle for either/or, and I know the people who follow you don’t have to settle.

Candidly, people have choices. They will search until they find a leader, doctor, teacher, coach, boss etc., who is both caring and competent.

Two Truths to Help You Move Forward:

1) Caring isn’t automatic.

Not everyone cares. We agree on that.

You can’t learn to care. It’s not a skill.

Here’s some good encouragement. If you take personal inventory in a very honest moment and determine that you are not naturally a caring person, you can ask God to help you care. Or perhaps you do care, but struggle to express it well.

If you ask God to give you a heart that cares and the ability to demonstrate that you care, He will. I believe the only criteria is that you use that heart level care for the good of others and the advancement of His Kingdom.

It also takes personal capacity to care. You need to have the margin in your life to express that you care. For example, if you have a serious health issue, or a struggling marriage, or have just experienced a significant loss, or intense personal financial pressure, it’s difficult to show others that care when your life is, (understandably or otherwise), centered on you.

Further, caring isn’t independent from competence. As a church leader, if you don’t really care, it’s difficult to possess the needed empathy that allows you to be motivated to pay the price to get better.

2) Competence always comes with a price.

I love the principle that Malcom Gladwell writes about in his book, Outliers. He calls it, “The Rule of 10,000 hours.” He lists and tells amazing stories about people who have reached an extraordinary level of excellence, and all have invested at least 10,000 hours of practice in their arena of expertise.

The following process will help you increase your competence so you will become better at what you do.

Honest assessment
Gaining a solid and accurate self-awareness is where this process begins. Knowing what you are good at, and what you are not, is essential. Accurate assessment includes the honest opinion of leaders beyond you in their level of experience and capability.

The willingness to work hard
No one gets really good at what they do without hard work and burning a little of the “midnight oil.” Without passionate and consistent effort, even the most naturally gifted leaders will remain average.

Great coaching
Very few leaders can teach and coach themselves. You don’t need a coach or mentor to meet with you every week or even every month. You are fortunate if you have a great mentor or coach who meets with you two or three times a year. You need all that time between meetings to practice!

Practice, practice, practice
Playing the guitar is different from practicing. When I play the guitar, I’m doing what I know. When I practice the guitar, I’m working on something that I can’t do till I can. Perhaps it’s a really tough chord that I just cannot play. So, I work on it until I can.

The same is true in leadership. If you practice something in leadership, that means you are working on a skill that you don’t have, until you do. And then you keep working on it until you master it.

Of course, if your church continues to grow, you never really master anything in leadership because as your church continues to increase in size, your skill needs to advance with it.

So how about you? What do you need to focus on more right now?

Competence or Caring?

How about each individual on your team?

Connect with an Auxano Navigator to learn more about developing leadership.

> Read more from Dan.

Tags: Dan Reiland, Leadership Development

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8 Tips on Engaging an Expert for Free Advice

by: Will Mancini

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After walking out of a crowded breakout session at the recent Exponential Conference, a guy handed me a folded-up note. The kind of note you get from your best buddy in middle school, crinkled and hand written. He wanted free advice.

Here is what the note said:

Will, I can’t (currently) afford your time, and I know your time is not only valuable but I’m sure very limited. I am not very good at what you are great at. I need to be better for the sake of the kingdom. If you can help me think about my Vision Frame and future dreams, I’d love to connect. No pressure– If you can’t right now, please don’t. Thanks for what you do.

The purpose of this post is not just to respond to my conference attender (his name is Scott) but to equip you with how to get free advice from experts and time with great mentors.

Why did Scott’s note trigger this post? I stand on the shoulders of  many superb leaders who were always willing to take the time for me. But the more I grew in leadership the more inaccessible the best experts became. And yet, I still found ways to get free advice and time with great mentors. 

There are times when I pay for coaching and consulting. I think every effective leader should. However, I have received amazing benefits by working hard to find excellent teachers and rare mentoring moments. Depending on your experience level and resource base, the next best step for you is probably some cost-free advice or a significant mentoring engagement.

TIP #1: Don’t waste your breath stating the obvious; like talking about time and money.

If you ever want to spend a moment with a great leader or a well-known expert, don’t tell them that you value their time. You just wasted their time by making the statement. Show them that you value your time, by the first thing that comes out of your mouth. (More on this to come.)

Don’t tell them that you don’t have money. The person you want to learn from is not thinking about the money. Making the statement, “I can’t afford you” is lazy at best and an insult at worst, albeit unintended. Scott, who wrote the note above, could have spent time with me and learned from me, if he was prepared to learn from me. Money has nothing to do with it.

Keep in mind that most people you might want to learn from didn’t become experts by worrying about the money. They became experts because they are passionate, focused and experienced at what they do. They is always a path to access if you really want.

TIP #2: Know what you want from them before you approach

You are not ready to learn from an expert if you haven’t done a little homework. Do you know  what you are looking for? Do you know where you are stuck? Have you located your issue in the would-be mentor’s body of expertise? Imagine the difference between the next two appeals: “Thanks for your writing.  I have a question about vision…” Or, “I really appreciated chapter 14 in your latest book, and I have a question about the napkin-sketch version of our disciple-making strategy.” You won’t get free advice if you don’t know what kind of advice you need.

TIP #3: Be prepared with precise questions

This tip is the most important in this list. In fact you should probably list several versions of the same question to hone down exactly the best way to ask it. An expert by nature is most motivated to help you where nuances are important to performance. Avoid big, giant questions that are too general and imprecise. These questions expose either: 1)  Your lack of pre-work or 2) Your passing interest in the topic that you aren’t really going to follow-up. Look at the questions below to prompt how to begin asking a quick question that could deliver big value:

• Would you invest a moment’s attention to tell me what you like best about this.
• Your second point today had to do with this.  Here is our current approach on this. What do you see as our greatest limitation?
• I have spent hours with a our team and have boiled down our best options to this and this. What question would you ask to help our team decide which one is best?
• If we were to make this decision, what do you fear we have failed to consider?

TIP #4: Use their “love language”

Make your presence interesting and engaging for the expert by showing that you know something about them. Penn State. Mountain Biking. The names and interests of my wife and kids. Kite Boarding. Favorite travel spots. Fishing for smallmouth using topwater lures on a river. If these things are salt and peppered into a conversation with me, I am going to lean into the conversation and laugh with you.

If the person you want to learn from has just spoken at a conference or has written a book, there will be plenty of things you can pick-up and use. Experts are people too. Make the connection!

TIP #5: Have next steps ready depending on their response

The most important free advice may require a little extra time or effort from the teacher. The key question is, how do you get access? It’s important to think through what next steps might be involved. For example, maybe you are asking permission for  15-minute phone call or a lunch appointment.  Maybe you need them to review something you have created. How do you get a next step of commitment from them? First follow tips 1-4. Then follow tips 6-8. But as you do think very carefully about the scope of your follow-up request. Have 2-3 options or different “sized” requests ready based on the feel and vibe of the conversation. If the expert feels engaged make the bigger ask. If they feel distant, ask for the smallest next step possible.

TIP #6: Make a “next step ask” by appealing to an investment paradigm 

The more inaccessible the expert, the more thoughtful the appeal of the request must be. I like to use an investment paradigm. What does that mean? It means that I position myself to be the best investment of their time and energy. I let them know that I want to increase their impact and legacy. I want them to know that they are missing a great opportunity not to invest in me. Of course this could easily become arrogant. So don’t make it sound prideful. It is about how important they are, not me.  It’s about how busy they are not me. I want to simply differentiate why they should spend 15 minutes on the phone with me.

Show the expert quickly, precisely, and humbly why your request is worth their time, without talking about time. Don’t be afraid to list a 2-3 things that you have accomplished.

For example, one time I asked Carl George, if I could spend 3 hours with him over a long meal. I let him know that I lead a team of consultants in a non-profit church consulting group that works with over 300 churches a year. I told him I want to multiply his learnings for my generation. And he was glad to give me his time.

TIP #7: Never leave the initiative with them 

The saddest thing about Scott’s note to me, is that he wrote his cell phone down and asked me to call him. He thought he was respecting my time, but he wasn’t. He put a thing on my to do list that I will never get to. (Remember I am willing to spend time with him.) If he would have stopped me and said, “What’s the best way to ask a brief but intelligent question about church vision when you are not surrounded by people?” I would have given him my cell number and told him when to text me.

TIP #8: Model respectful persistence 

The single greatest mentor of my life was Howard Hendricks. I learned that his love language, like many accomplished experts,  is genuine initiative. Many students would flock to him after his inspiring teaching sessions. The after-crowd was big, but the real follow-up was thin. Why? Prof, as he was called, was not very dynamic and funny one-on-one. People got bored quickly with him in smaller settings, because they didn’t know how to learn from him.

Thousands are interested but very few are consistently persistent. If at first the expert does not respond,  try again. Differentiate yourself with great questions, engaging follow-up, and real initiative.

As you can see from this post, I love to learn. Here is my favorite post on learning: 6 Radical Steps to Learning What you Don’t Know

> Read more from Will.

Tags: Expert Advice, Will Mancini, free advice

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Money Matters: Cultivating Generosity Every Day

by: VRcurator

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Does asking for money and discussing financial needs not feel very spiritual at times?

Ministry income is a subject many church leaders struggle to think about from a spiritual perspective. We often see fundraising as a necessary but unpleasant secular activity to support spiritual action. Or we might even believe that the need to ask for financial support reflects a failure to plan well or trust God enough to provide for our needs. Unfortunately, we wait until a crisis to engage the spiritual potential in financial participation.

Generosity is cultivated, not discovered.

THE QUICK SUMMARY –  God and Money by John Cortines and Gregory Baumer

Two young Harvard MBAs on the fast track to wealth and success tell their story of God’s transforming power and how Scripture brought them to the startling conclusion that they should give the majority of their money away to those in need.

Packed with compelling case studies, research, and practical strategies, God and Money offers an honest look at what the Bible says about generous giving. No matter what your salary may be, God and Money shows you how you can reap the rewards of radical generosity in your own life.

John Cortines and Gregory Baumer met as Harvard MBA candidates in a men’s Bible study and stopped asking, “How much should I give?” and started asking, “How much do I need to keep?” With their top-notch education and rising careers, Cortines and Baumer were guaranteed comfort and security for the rest of their lives. However, when their plans for saving and spending collided with God’s purposes for extravagant generosity, they were each compelled to make a life-changing decision that challenges the values held by mainstream America and many Christian commentators. Cortines and Baumer show not only how to radically give, but also explain how to do so responsibly.

A SIMPLE SOLUTION

The model of a generous church comes in all shapes and sizes. We must patiently pursue God’s unique calling as our part in the kingdom. We need to cooperate with the people down the road and around the world to present the complete gospel to those who are not walking with Him. Your church has a generous future that is God’s perfect design.

To embrace your unique future requires hard choices. Generosity ministry is a mountain to climb, not a sprint to run.

The love of money causes us to become insecure, unsatisfied, and self-absorbed. It deceives us into embracing a false system for measuring our self-worth. Conversely, being generous with our wealth eliminates its power over us.

Once we decide to up the ante in our financial generosity, what are the nuts and bolts of doing so in the right way? As we reflected on stories and case studies, some common characteristics of giving well emerged. We believe that there are three key criteria we see as best practices for getting the giving game right.

• First, gifts must be Gospel-centered. If not, they lose their eternal value. We are indeed called to address material needs where we find them, but to do so in a strictly humanitarian sense, devoid of the Gospel, is to leave out the greatest cause for hope that we have to offer.
• Second, great gifts are aligned with the giver’s personal ministry calling. Why not give our money to the same place we give our time and talent, where we have strong relationships, to an area where God has called and enabled us to make a difference? When we take on a piece of God’s mission on the earth, it is only natural to apply every resource we have, including money, toward advancing that mission.
• And finally, giving is best done when it is done with maximum effectiveness. This is a self-evident statement, but it’s often hard to work out in practice. Watching giving veterans has shown that we should bring our whole suite of abilities and knowledge to the charitable giving process, ensuring before God that we maximize the Kingdom-utility of the dollars He allows to pass through our hands.

We believe that the best giving manages to satisfy all three of these key criteria.

John Cortines and Gregory Baumer, God and Money

A NEXT STEP

Have you heard the saying “Your vision will always outpace your resources”? Can you relate? Do you find yourself in the position where you always need more money for more ministry? For the majority of churches the answer is a resounding YES! When it comes to money there always seems to be more month than money. Unfortunately, great opportunities come and go simply because we lack the resources to take advantage of them.

What if it doesn’t have to be this way! What if the issue isn’t a lack of available resources? What if the lack of resources is a leadership issue? For many of us I believe this is the case. Let’s be honest. Many of us lack the skill and competency to move from a deficit to an abundance of resources for kingdom impact. It isn’t that we are bad leaders. It just happens to be where we are at and the good news now is we can do something about it. Where do we start? Why not determine that the one big thing for this next year is going to be moving our financial needle from deficit to abundance.

Review the following five thoughts and best practices developed by the Resourcing Team at Auxano and begin a process of moving from deficit to abundance.

1. Start with Vision Clarity

There must always be a clear and compelling vision behind a cause you ask people to give toward.

General appeals for resources get a general response. Abundance begins when we give people a compelling reason to give within the local church. People want to be a part of something significant. They want to do more than turn on the lights. They want to solve a problem that creates a better world.

2. Budget on Last Year’s Income

It doesn’t stop with vision. If we are going to have an abundant harvest of resources to invest in the kingdom, we must look at how we operate. A common practice in setting the church budget is to take last year’s receipts and add a certain percentage to that number based on anticipated growth in attendance and giving. If last year’s income was $500,000 we may anticipate a 10% growth in giving, so we set our new budget at $550,000. This is not necessarily a best practice or even a good practice.

What if instead we budget on last year’s income or even went a step further and budgeted on less than last years budget? What if instead of budgeting on $550,000 or even $500,000 we budgeted on $450,000?

What if while we budgeted on $450,000, our giving grows to $550,000? Now we get to live in abundance. Instead of fighting for budget we have a surplus to invest in the kingdom, margin for the lean times, and/or a head start on the next big capital need.

3. Rethink Your Percentages

In addition to budgeting on last year’s numbers, we need to rethink how we spend our budgets. A consistent model for budget planning allocates 50% on staffing, 25% on facilities, and 25% on ministry and missions. Whenever our staffing cost goes up, it has to come from somewhere. If the cost of our facilities increases, then a church has to cutback on ministry, staffing, raise additional dollars, or they enter into a deficit.

Driving down your numbers can be another way of creating an abundance of financial resources. Some churches have found the best way to do this is by lowering their staffing cost. This doesn’t mean that they pay their staff less and reduce the level of their benefits. It simply means that they expect staff to equip volunteers to lead ministries.

These churches often operate with 35% to 40% of their budget going to staff. This is radically different for many churches who budgeted to grow by adding staff even when they can’t afford it. Churches often rationalize these actions by saying things like, “A good staff member always pays for himself or herself.” To be completely honest, it seldom works like that. The usual response is to cut something or someone deemed less strategic. It was the constant proverbial rearranging of the deck chairs on the Titanic.

4. Develop a Robust Leadership System

You can’t reduce your investment in staff without developing a robust leadership system. To do this we need volunteers that can lead. Paul put it this way, “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-13, NIV).

It’s common to find an abundance of volunteers, but a deficit when it comes to volunteers who are actually leading. Churches that are able to dial back on staffing have an intentional process in place to raise-up an abundant harvest of leaders who can serve in strategic places eliminating the need for paid staff in certain places.

5. Create a Generous Disciple Pathway

At the end of the day we will never experience abundance if we don’t develop generous disciples. Disciple making at its core is about worldview transformation. We need to disciple people to think about their resources differently. For abundance to take place, we need the mind of Christ. A generous disciple pathway will help disciples navigate toward this new mindset regardless of where they begin. Imagine an intentional pathway that helps occasional givers become regular givers, and regular givers to become tithers, and tithers to become extravagant givers.

If we did this alone it would have an incredible impact on our ability to impact the kingdom. At the same time let’s face the fact that creating generous disciples without the other practices may not lead to abundance. Abundance is the result of a discipline approach that includes all of the practices mentioned above.

Chances are your financial systems are perfectly designed to get the results you are currently getting. Making lasting changes aren’t a matter of doing business as usual. We often believe that change is the result of our wills. Unfortunately, we don’t know what we don’t know.

Lacking the skills or competency as a leader to create abundance isn’t a failure. Failing to reach out to those who can help you learn new skills or competencies can be. Don’t be a leader that says that you will figure it out and don’t. There’s too much at stake.

Taken from SUMS Remix 45-3, published July 2016

This is part of a weekly series posting content from one of the most innovative content sources in the church world: SUMS Remix Book Summaries for church leaders. SUMS Remix takes a practical problem in the church and looks at it with three solutions; and each solution is taken from a different book. As a church leader you get to scan relevant books based on practical tools and solutions to real ministry problems, not just by the cover of the book. Each post will have the edition number which shows the year and what number it is in the overall sequence. (SUMS provides 26 issues per year, delivered every other week to your inbox). 

> Subscribe to SUMS Remix <<

Tags: God and Money, Gregory Baumer, John Cortines, cultivating generosity

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The Danger of Seeking Stability

by: Thom Rainer

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Change or die.

That is reality for churches today.

Of course, I am not talking about Scripture, doctrine, or spiritual disciplines changing. Those things are constants, never to be compromised.

But much of what we do in our churches must change. And, unfortunately, many church members and leaders resist change. They seek stability and comfort over obedience and sacrifice.

Let’s look at five key reasons why stability is bad for a church.

1. A stable church is not a church on mission. The very nature of the Great Commission means our churches should be in constant change. A church member blasted a pastor for his efforts at leading the church to reach unbelievers in the community. She castigated him because “those people are messing up our church.” Sigh.
2. Comfort is the enemy of obedience. Review all the examples of obedient persons in the Bible. In every case, they had to get out of their comfort zones. Too many church members want stability because they don’t want to experience the discomfort of obedience.
3. Stable churches are not reaching their communities. The communities in which churches are located are changing. Many are changing rapidly. If a church seeks comfort, it is not willing to make the necessary changes to impact the community it was called to serve.
4. Stable churches do not create new groups. Show me a stable church, and I will show you a church that is not creating new groups or Sunday school classes. Show me a church not creating new groups, and I will show you a church that is inwardly focused. The members are spiritual navel gazers.
5. Members of stable churches want the focus to be on their preferences. They want church “the way it’s always been.” They are more concerned about getting their way with music style, room temperature, and precise starting time of worship services. In their latter years, they are able to sing, “I did it my way” rather than “I did it God’s way.”

There is nothing biblical about a stable church. In fact, the stability is really just an illusion. Those churches that seek stability will ironically change the most rapidly toward decline and death.

Talk with an Auxano Navigator to learn more about the dangers of stability.

> Read more from Thom.

Tags: Change, Stablity, Thom Rainer

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3 Signs Your Team is Getting Along But Not Going Anywhere

by: Eric Geiger

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Healthy teams are both aligned and attuned. Alignment refers to the commitment to the mission and identity of the organization. Attunement refers to the relational care and concern that the team exhibits for one another. Both are essential. In this post I wrote about warning signs your team is aligned but not attuned. Today I want to offer three warning signs your team is attuned but not aligned:

1. Fuzzy mission

Without alignment around mission, people begin to only exist for each other and not those the team is designed to serve. When a team is not aligned, the mission is unclear or buried on a document somewhere. When alignment is missing, a sense of mission is missing as well. The result is actions and activity disconnected from a sense of “this is why we exist.”

2. Low accountability

When a team has a compelling mission and a deep-seated conviction that “this mission must be accomplished,” accountability will likely be high. But because accountability can be uncomfortable, a team not aligned around an overarching agenda will fail to offer it. Conviction and mission foster expectations and accountability. When a team is not aligned, expectations are low. Low expectations always result in low accountability.

3. Results?

Attunement without alignment results in people who enjoy each other but don’t accomplish much. In fact, a team attuned to one another but not united around a grand mission will rarely evaluate their impact. Why would they? Though they may never say, “Results? That is not why we exist,” collectively they believe it.

If a fuzzy mission, low accountability, or failure to evaluate results plagues your team, engagement in and alignment around an overarching mission must be ramped up. And wise leaders know mission drift is inevitable unless it is constantly clarified and communicated.

> Read more from Eric.

If you would like to learn more about team alignment and attunement, start a conversation with our team. We’re glad to offer our input. Your vision is at stake, so let’s talk.

Tags: Alignment, Attunement, Eric Geiger, Execution

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7 Change-Killers in Every Church

by: Carey Nieuwhof

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Almost every leader I’ve ever met wants to change something.

If I asked you right now what you’d love to change in your church or organization, you’d probably be able to offer an answer within seconds.

Some of you want to change everything. If you don’t want to change anything, you’re probably not a leader.

The truth about change is that it’s more mysterious than it needs to be.

Many people aren’t sure how the dynamics of change work, and have seen so many leaders get skewered trying to lead change that they’re afraid to try.

Other leaders—unaware of the dynamics of change—storm change so aggressively that they look over their shoulder to discover than nobody’s following.

You can learn how to lead change well.

Leading change requires a skill set. And the good news is that skill set can be learned.

A question all of us face when leading change: What do I actually say when I’m leading change?

Say the right thing…and change can happen easily.

Say the wrong thing…and plans can unravel in front of you.

7 Things NOT To Say When You’re Leading Change

Some language is simply more helpful in leading change than other language.

So…let’s take it from a reverse angle today. If you want to ruin the chance of change happening in your church, just say these 7 things.

1.” These Changes Are Great. I Can’t Understand Why You Don’t Like Them.” (Lack Of Empathy)

Leaders who navigate change successfully learn the skill of empathy.

Not everyone is going to cheer wildly when you introduce change. Be prepared for that.

If you want to turn an enemy into a friend, empathize with them. Try saying something like: I can understand you don’t like the changes…I would be upset if I were you too.

If you want to learn more about developing the skill of empathy, this post might help you.

2. “God Told Me This Is What We Should Do.” (Speaking For God)

Please, please, please don’t pull the God card when you’re navigating change.

I mean by all means invoke God’s name when you’re preaching about Jesus rising from the dead or other core essentials of the Christian faith.

But don’t tell your congregation that God told you to buy your next building or change the music or stop wearing a suit or change the carpet or build a new wing or whatever else you’re proposing.

Even if you believe God told you to do something, suggest it as a plan…or a wise course to follow…or the best options we see right now.

Rather than being less credible, you will become more believable and more trustworthy.

Too many leaders use God as a trump card for the plans they’ve designed.

I pray about the plans we make, seek wise counsel and honestly believe they are the best thing for our church. But these days I never pull the God card out.

Why? Because if the plan fails, it just makes people suspicious or cynical. I don’t want to bring God’s name into disrepute. If I stick to the Gospel, I won’t.

So what should you say?

How about this? Our team has looked at this and prayerfully considered the options. We believe this is the best move we can make at this time for these reasons….

Ironically, you won’t lose credibility. You’ll gain it.

3. “We’ve Got This All Figured Out. Trust Me.” (Know It All)

Don’t try to be the guy who ‘knows it all’. You don’t.

You haven’t got this all figured out—you have a strategy. That’s it.

So be honest. Why not say something like: No, we’re not 100% sure this is going to work. But what we were doing was not working. So we’re going to try this.

Better, isn’t it?

4. What Happened In The Past Is Completely Irrelevant…Focus On The Future. (Dismissing The Past)

I’ve been tempted to dismiss the past. Who hasn’t?

Some of that is the arrogance of the leader. History did not start with your arrival.

Brian White, who works at Disney, has a great philosophy about handling the heritage at Disney (after all, Disney has almost 100 years of history, and Frozen is a long way from Steamboat Willie.) Disney’s approach?

Honor the past without living in it.

Love that. Acknowledge that what happened in the past mattered and is important, and point the way to the future.

Maybe say something like: We’ve had some great moments and seasons in the past, and we want to ensure we have many more in the future. That’s what I’m hoping this change will accomplish.

5. “Everyone Needs To Get On Board Right Now.” (Impatience)

People will take differing amounts of time to get on board. Be okay with that.

You’ll have a handful of highly enthusiastic early adopters. Run with them.

Let others come on board over time.

Say something like: I realize this is going to stretch all of us, and I appreciate those of you who are willing to give this a chance even though you’re not sure. We so value that!

6. “I Know People Are Leaving…Who Cares?” (Indifference)

When you make changes, it’s almost guaranteed that some people will leave.

But don’t gloat or pretend it doesn’t matter.

Because leaving hurts you, you’ll be tempted to pretend you don’t feel it or to vilify your opponents.

People who disagree with you are not bad people. They just disagree with you.

Are there times when people should leave your church? Yes. In fact, here are 7 instances when you should invite people to leave your church.

But in the moment—when people are leaving—this is a moment for empathy. Express concern both for people who are concerned about people who are leaving and express regret.

But then say maybe say something like:

Yes, it is sad. But I think what need to remember is that they will have another church to go to. I’m excited about creating space for people who haven’t yet been to church…and I’m excited that you want to create space for them here too.

7. “This Plan Is Bullet-Proof.” (Hubris)

No matter how well thought-through your plan is, it’s not bullet proof.

It might fail. Really, it might.

So why not just be honest?

Instead, say something like: I agree. We don’t know for sure if this plan is going to work. But it’s helped a lot of other churches (or…if no one’s tried it that you know of, say ‘nobody’s really tried this before…’), and we believe it’s our next best step. So we’re going to try it. And after we’ve given it our best, we’ll make sure to evaluate it. Thanks for the freedom to try new things.

What Do You Think?

Those are some lessons from the trenches in leading change. If you are interested in more, you can read about the five essential strategies every leader needs when handling opposition to change here.

What have you said or heard people say when leading change that you think is a mistake?

Talk with an Auxano Navigator for help in steering your church through change.

> Read more from Carey.

Tags: Carey Nieuwhof, Change, Change in Your Church, Leading Change in Your Church, Leading your church through change

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