Your Brand is Probably Not What You Think It Is

by: Kem Meyer

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Brand is the buzzword for businesses and organizations all over the world. It spurs countless meetings and brainstorms, millions of dollars in research and hundreds of pages in manuals. It has shifted messaging and advertising campaigns. It has prompted new logos, flashy design, catchy taglines. And, after all of that, people still don’t know how brands are made.

A reality check might help. Jeff Bezos to the rescue: “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.”

Of course, you may have a clear idea of what you want people to think about your church or organization—you’ve got it all documented in your brand manual with definitions of brand values, essence, promise and guidelines. Great start. But, that’s not what makes a brand dream come true. Your vision may be well documented and poorly demonstrated.

Is the brand you’re promoting what your audience actually experiences? The answer is found in the space between what you profess and what you practice. (Age old “perception vs reality.”)

Ready for a reality check? Review your game films.

Think through all the places people interact with your church – map out an individual experience from the website to the event. Keep in mind, everything communicates – each email, Facebook post, online review (and response), announcement slide, service handout, interaction with staff or volunteer, trip to the bathroom, sign, check-in lines, payment process, traffic flow, etc. Make a list of all of these “touch points.” Then, one at a time, compare what you “say you are” to “how you behave” in each transition and each interaction.

A brand is a living entity – and it is enriched or undermined cumulatively over time, the product of a thousand small gestures.
– Michael Eisner, Former Walt Disney CEO

Did you catch that? The cumulative sum of every touch point defines your brand reality. (Shocking, I know. It’s not what we say, it’s what we do.)

So, it’s true what they say. You should sweat the small stuff. And, here are seven ways to get started.

1. Run empathy practice drills. When your communication engine feeds on calendar event promotions and transactional efficiency alone, the body doesn’t get what it needs to stay healthy. When the body is malnourished, it starts to feed on itself. A peak performing communication engine, on the other hand, grows healthy by feeding on empathy; planning logistics around the human factor in every step of every interaction.

• What is he leaving behind – an ailing parent, a stack of unpaid bills?
• What did she have to do in order to get here today – pack a diaper bag but still forgot diapers, argue with a spouse who is turning away from God?
• What is he facing when he leaves – an empty house, a demanding boss, a draining job?
• What stress is she carrying – fractured relationship with her kids, shared custody, abuse?

(Are you starting to see why redesigning a logo isn’t making the splash you think it is?)

2. People watch. Set up listening posts and take note of interactions, tendencies and requests. Are people taking bulletins and reading them? Do most people arrive late and are missing the announcements? What questions are people asking at guest services? Train your staff and core volunteers on the first line of defense to ask questions. Create a safe conversation where guests/attenders can be heard, and truth shared – no offenses taken. Stress the importance of wanting to know how you can get better.

3. Check data vitals. When is the last time you evaluated your website analytics (versus just tracking counts)? For example, look beyond how many people are coming to your site and check out:

• how they’re coming to you (direct URL, search or link from somewhere else)? That will give you insight around whether or not people are finding you via referral, your promotions or other.
• how they’re viewing your site (on mobile devices or desktop). This will give you insight around how they’re using your content; at home or on the go. Is your site mobile-friendly?
• how long are they staying? This will give you insight on how helpful and user-friendly your content is.
• what are they clicking on? This will give you insight on what content is most relevant for them.
• what are they searching for? This will give you insight on what might be missing, what might be buried in navigation, what jargon is misleading.

I’m sure you’re starting to get the idea by now. And, if you’re ready to dive into what to do with this new insight, I’ve dug up two articles to get you out of the gate.

1. Important Google Analytics Metrics
2. Best Google Analytic Reports

4. Start social listening. You can dive pretty deep into this one – but don’t get lost in the data. Start with the basics and then ramp up. At the very least, set up a Google Alert. Be alerted to any mention of your church name and top leaders but also Christian, church and perhaps your particular denomination. Look into top trends on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. What are people looking up? What are people talking about? How are they talking about your church or sermon topics? If there isn’t any online chatter about you… what might that mean?

There are countless ways to approach this, but I suggest starting simple. I like how Van Baird makes it easy with his 60/20/20 Rule and how Shift Communications breaks down which metrics to pay more attention to and which ones to ignore.

5. Make comment cards accessible. Set up a box with cards and pens for easy access and in a safe place to anonymously fill out (not the center of the room). Add gathering these cards and recording the feedback part of a staff member or volunteer’s weekly routine. Make the same feedback mechanism available online and on Facebook. In other words, make it easy for people to share about their experience. Then, set up a monthly cycle where you review them as a team and commit to take action (not only with the person who shared the feedback, but also with future protocol).

6. Add mystery shoppers to your bench. Gain insight from regular attenders and guests through a “mystery shopper” exercise. Compile a list of questions and areas for “shoppers” to observe and provide feedback.

7. Ask better survey questions. Surveys can be a helpful tool in revealing what people really think about your church – IF you ask the right questions. I’ve seen this mishandled more times than I can count. Your feedback is only as good as the questions you ask. So, be sure to target your questions to uncover targeted information you can’t find any other way.

• What topics do you need help with?
• What hurdles do you find when you come for the first time?
• What hurdles do you find on the website?
• What was the most helpful experience you’ve had here?
• What was a discouraging experience?
• Are you in a group? Why or why not? [benchmark]
• Do you come every weekend? Why or why not? [benchmark]

The questions identified as benchmarks should be asked 1-4x per year. Look for trends. Are people growing? What are the consistent hurdles that your team need to address?

Good intentions don’t work as a “get out of reality free” card

You don’t know what you don’t know. And you can only serve people better if you find out the truth. I know listening can be a humbling and frustrating experience. But, it’s crucial. If you don’t address your blind side, it can cost you the game. But, when you look at the whole playing field, you can make good decisions with good information.

Have fun, and enjoy the discovery.

> Read more from Kem.

Tags: Brand, Brand Awareness, Branding, Kem Meyer, church branding

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10 Reasons You’ve Hit Your Ceiling

by: Rick Warren

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Every church goes through plateaus—times when your church simply doesn’t grow. It’s natural and normal, and they’re part of our story at Saddleback.

Our plateaus have looked different at times, but they’ve been there. In fact, a decade ago we were in the midst of one such five-year plateau. But then God did what only he can do. Today we’re going through a renewed period of growth.

In nearly 50 years of ministry, I’ve talked with thousands of pastors going through their own periods of plateau. I’ve studied the issue extensively. Here’s what I’ve learned.

1. Plateaus are natural.

Don’t get freaked out by them. Plateaus are just a state of little or no change. Everything stops growing at some point. It happens all of the time in nature. It shouldn’t surprise us when it happens in our churches. It will happen in our churches. You can count on it.

2. God created every organism to have a maximum limit on its growth.

Even redwood trees, which grow to 400 feet tall and live for 2,000 years, have a growth cap. Your church does, too. You can’t use it as an excuse, though. You don’t know what the limit for your church is.

I know a church of 150 in a town of 1,500. They’ve reached 10 percent of their community. Think about it. This church is actually doing a better job of reaching its community than many larger churches.

3. The younger and smaller you are, the faster your growth rate.

You can see this characteristic in human growth, too. We typically grow the fastest when we’re children. By our late teens, we’re done growing. When I started Saddleback, we had one member—my wife, Kay. By the end of the first year, we had around 150 people most weekends. That means we grew by 15,000 percent that first year! But a bigger church can’t do that. The bigger you are, the slower you grow.

4. The average church grows for 15 years, plateaus, and then eventually dies.

Not every church does this. Some churches have a longer growth span. Others have a shorter one. But on average, a church will stop growing at 15 years old—unless renewal comes. This is just an average, of course. It doesn’t mean every church will plateau at 15 years and then eventually die. And with renewal, a church will grow.

5. Plateaus can happen anytime.

You can plateau in year one of a church or year 40. You’ll typically plateau multiple times in your church’s history. I’ve studied thousands of churches and trained hundreds of thousands of pastors, and I’ve seen a few typical points in which churches stop growing.

Churches often plateau at 75 and 150 people. But the hardest to overcome is usually 300. If you can get past 300 people, you’ll likely have solved many of your most difficult problems. The larger your church gets, the easier it will get to break plateaus because you will have developed the skills needed through earlier growth and plateau cycles.

6. Some plateaus are uncontrollable.

You may be the greatest leader since Abraham Lincoln and still go through a plateau. You simply can’t control all of the factors that cause your church to stop growing. For instance, if you’re in a typical small town and a large factory closes and the members move away, that’s not your fault. You’re not a failure. It’s just a fact of life.

7. Plateaus can happen in one purpose while you’re growing in the other purposes.

If you’ve been reading Ministry Toolbox for a while, you know the five purposes of the church: worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism. You can certainly grow in one of those areas as you’re plateauing in another. You could be bringing people in the front door but sending them out the back door. To be healthy, you need to do all of the purposes.

8. The longer a church is plateaued, the more energy it takes to get it growing again.

It’s a matter of momentum. It’s clearly easier to keep an active object moving than to get a static object to move. If your church hasn’t grown for the past six months, or a year, you’ll have challenges as you try to restart growth. If it has been five years, you’ll have a bigger challenge. If your church has been plateaued for 20 years, you’ll have a real problem. It’s not impossible though. With God’s help, you can break through it. But it’ll be more difficult.

9. Some plateaus are actually seasons.

Every church goes through seasons in its life. Everything grows during springtime. You start harvesting in the fall. Then winter comes along. It’s cold. It’s dark. The days are shorter.

Your ministry may be in the winter right now. Hang on. Springtime’s coming. It may be just a season.

10. A plateau doesn’t have to be a dead end! It can be a gateway to the next level.

Growing churches have figured out how to break through the inevitable growth barriers that come along. You can break them, too. Often, once you break through, you’ll experience a new season of growth.

We saw this at Saddleback. I mentioned earlier that we hit a plateau between 2005 and 2010, so we made some structural changes. I learned some new skills, and we started growing again. And we’ve grown steadily over the last eight years—sometimes as much as 10 percent a year.

I’m confident your church can grow again, too. I believe God will finish what he started in your church. It’s what he does. Just remind yourself of Philippians 1:6: “I am sure that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it on until it is finished on the Day of Christ Jesus” (GNT).

> Read more from Rick here.

Tags: Plateau, Rick Warren, Vision, church plateau

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Better Communicator Series #2: Using Improvisation

by: VRcurator

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Let’s face it – many times, our presentations even bore ourselves! Whether leading a meeting, presenting information to a committee, or worst of all, the weekly sermon, how often do you get the sinking feeling you audience is sinking right before your eyes – figuratively, if not literally?

Communication to individuals, to teams, and to large groups is one of the core foundations of the leader’s skill set. And yet, most leaders feel inadequate at times, feeling they are just not connecting.

On top of that, our media-saturated society has an attention span that is growing smaller and smaller, making it difficult to connect, much less persuade, our audience.

Intuitively, as a leader, you know that connecting in person can yield powerful outcomes. Many times it isn’t until you speak to people in person – with one or one hundred or one thousand – that you can establish a visceral connection that motivates them to adopt your idea.

THE QUICK SUMMARY –  “Getting to Yes, And” by Bob Kulhan

Amidst the deluge of advice for businesspeople, there lies an overlooked tool, a key to thriving in today’s fast-paced, unpredictable environment: improvisation. In Getting to “Yes And” veteran improv performer, university professor, CEO, and consultant Bob Kulhan unpacks a form of mental agility with powers far beyond the entertainment value of comedy troupes.

Drawing on principles from cognitive and social psychology, behavioral economics, and communication, Kulhan teaches readers to think on their feet and approach the most typical business challenges with fresh eyes and openness. He shows how improv techniques such as the “Yes, and” approach, divergent and convergent thinking, and focusing on being present can translate into more productive meetings, swifter decisions, stronger collaboration, positive conflict resolution, mindfulness, and more. Moving from the individual to the organizational level, Kulhan compiles time-tested teaching methods and training exercises into an instrumental guide that readers can readily implement as a party of one or a company of thousands.

A SIMPLE SOLUTION – Improvising – react, adapt, and communicate

Improvisation should not just be the purview of the comedian onstage. Improvisation, at its most basic level, is about ad-libbing or responding to someone else. When done well, it provides lots of laughter and entertainment. But it can go much further than that.

For many leaders, success requires the ability to create something out of nothing, which in many ways, is what it means to improvise. Think about it; as a leader, haven’t you faced some, if not all, of the following:

• Create partnerships with others
• Develop better processes for your organization
• New ideas for your organization to implement
• Branding or marketing campaigns
• Responses to questions from your team
• Sermon series
• Written content to support your organization

The list goes on and on, and the common thread: you are creating something out of nothing.

Just like improvisation.

Improvisation, when stripped down to its basic building blocks, is about reacting, adapting, and communicating.

Improvisation is not so much a creation of something out of nothing as much as it is the creation of something out of everything – everything one has been taught, everything one has experienced, everything one knows.

Improvisers observe all and try to take advantage of everything around them: every word, every movement, every sound; every facial expression body gesture, moment, and data point. Improvisers will pull from all information at their disposal and will not dismiss anything that might possibly be useful.

A great improviser can look at the tiny details and the big picture simultaneously. Improvisers observe everything for its worth and assess every situation as accurately and honestly as humanly possible.

Bob Kulhan, “Getting to Yes, And”

A NEXT STEP

If a person knows just one thing about the techniques of improv, it’s probably two words: “Yes, and…” This phrase describes the cornerstone philosophy of improvisation.

Each word in the phrase – whether actually spoken or silently implied – represents a key part of the team dynamic and mind-set that must be established between performers. “Yes” represents the unconditional acceptance of an idea that has been presented and established by another performer or group of performers. “And” means that you take that expressed idea and build directly on it.

One of the most powerful components of “Yes, and” is to be aware of not just of what you communicate and how you mean to communicate it, but also of the effect that specific communication has on other people.

Author Bob Kulhan uses the following exercise to lay the groundwork for implementing the “Yes, and” framework into your communication. Use it to begin your journey to “Yes, and.”

Have a three-five minute conversation with a colleague, starting every sentence with “Yes, but…” Focus internally by objectively looking at the language you use after “but,” and focus externally on how the person across from you reacts throughout the course of the entire conversation.

What did you notice?

Now, have a three-five minute conversation with someone, starting every conversation with “Yes, and…” Keep focused internally on your language after “and” and externally on how the person across from you reacts during the entire conversation.

What did you notice?

When you recognize the difference, you will be able to recognize what you are doing in real time so that you can make the choice to continue that behavior or change it to get the desired effect on the people you are influencing.

Excerpt taken from SUMS Remix 107-2, released December 2018.

This is part of a weekly series posting excerpts from one of the most innovative content sources in the church world: SUMS Remix book excerpts for church leaders.

SUMS Remix takes a practical problem in the church and looks at it with three solutions; each solution is taken from a different book. Additionally, a practical action step is included with each solution.

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 Remix provides 26 issues per year, delivered every other week to your inbox). 

>> Subscribe to SUMS Remix <<

>> Purchase prior issues of SUMS Remix<<

Tags: Bob Kulhan, Communication skills, Getting to Yes And, Improv, Improvisation

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Reach More People by Using this Tool that Everyone Has

by: Brandon Cox

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59% of millennials who grew up in church have dropped out.

Why? That’s a huge can of worms. There are plenty of theories – some based on data and others based on mere opinion.

I believe at least one reason why we’ve failed to reach this younger generation of people has to do with the way we communicate about who we are and what we believe.

We generally tend to promote the church either through mass-marketing methods, like direct mail or print advertising, or we don’t promote the church at all and just assume people should know we exist and feel some moral obligation to find us on the weekend.

In the last decade, our culture has experienced a massive shift, thanks in part to technological advances. It’s not all bad. In fact, if we understand it, it’s actually quite good.

When the internet first went online, businesses and news organizations – and eventually a lot of churches – adopted it as a mass communication tool. But things changed with the creation of various social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Social media forced businesses and news organizations to focus more on personalization.

The church is starting to catch on and adopt social media platforms as a means of connecting with people and spreading a message of hope. We’re a bit behind, of course, but we’re starting to catch up.

As the church begins to utilize social technologies, the youngest generation may already be moving on from social networks to much more personal means’ of communicating, especially texting.

Text-messaging, as an outreach and communication tool, is HUGE!

I believe rather strongly that we should stop asking people to turn their cell phones OFF during worship services and instead, ask them to turn them ON and use them…

• For accessing Bible apps
• To interact with the service
• To snap and share photos and videos
• To check-in and share about their church

According to Text In Church,

• 23 billion texts are sent each day
• 90% of texts are read within 3 minutes
• 45% of texts receive a reply

The question is, how can the church tap into text messaging as a means of reaching more people and making more disciples?

While we’re still learning in this arena, here are some thoughts and practices that may be worth implementing and experimenting with. Some of these, my church is already doing, and some of them, we’re just talking about.

1. Helping people plan their first visit.

Our church website utilizes a service from Church Hero called Plan Your Visit.

It allows people, from any page of our website, to click a button and let us know they’re coming. We then, in turn, send them a text with information about the service time they chose, and then we send them a reminder text.

Our First Impressions Director prepares one of our first-time guest gift bags especially for them with their name on it.

2. Allowing people to text-to-give.

We manage all of our online giving with Planning Center Online. There are tons of competitors on the market and each has their advantages, but Planning Center’s Online Giving app integrates seamlessly with our people tracking, volunteer scheduling, kids’ check-in apps, etc.

One of the features we use is the text-to-give feature. Donors can send a dollar amount to a five-digit phone number via text and they’ll be guided through the process of making sure it gets to us. Once they’ve given by text once, it’s set up forever and is simple and easy to do.

This is especially helpful for one-time short campaigns and special causes. If we’re supporting a local nonprofit one weekend, we can ask people to designate $5 or $10 or more for that particular ministry by simply sending a text.

3. Being interactive during the message.

Our church doesn’t have a physical office. Therefore we don’t need a landline phone system. We just use a free Google Voice number instead. During the service, we can ask people to take an immediate action by sending us a text message via our Google number.

During a message, this might include texting us with follow-up questions. When making announcements, it might mean that people can register for an event or sign up to volunteer via text message.

4. Communicating with subgroups and ministry teams.

We use Facebook groups excessively within our church. Every volunteer team and almost every small group has a Facebook group. The problem is, not everyone is on Facebook and not everyone who is on Facebook pays attention to it. This is especially true of a bunch of men in our church.

So we use group texts to communicate about special Bible studies, volunteer opportunities, and events as well as weather cancellations and other important notices.

For this purpose, we use Text In Church, created by my friend, Tyler Smith.

Text In Church lets us create groups and use keywords to manage those groups. People can opt in, and opt out, and manage their messages.

5. Creating text message sequences (automatically-sending messages).

When someone uses our Plan Your Visit button, we can add their number into Text In Church and send them a series of text messages designed to introduce them to our church. The same is true when someone visits for the first time – they can send a text to a number with a keyword and we can follow up automatically.

We can also create discipleship-oriented message sequences. If we do a 40-day spiritual growth campaign or a 6-week message series on a particular topic and want to include daily reminders to pray or daily devotional messages, we can create all of that within Text In Church.

Obviously, we need to respect the privacy of everyone and avoid spamming people with unwanted or uninvited messages. But when we have permission, text messaging can become one of the most personal and individual ways to follow up with people and reach more of our community.

> Read more from Brandon here.

Tags: Brandon Cox, Communication, Texting

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Generospitality Part Six – One Last Reminder About THIS WEEK’s Guest

by: Bryan Rose

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Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.  – Ephesians 5:1-2 CSB

First-time guests may not remember any of the points in your message or any of the words of your music, but they will remember every moment of your welcome.

A culture of joyful, or joy-full, generosity rests on a foundation of careful, or care-full, hospitality. A church that shows their love for strangers is a church that shares their love with each other, for the advancement of God’s Kingdom. Every step we take toward welcoming strangers with love moves us forward in sharing with the body in love. If the Early Church couldn’t separate loving each other from loving every other, then we shouldn’t try to either.

Consider what may be the most important metric for you to monitor: new givers. How many new people or families began to live in obedience through Biblical generosity this last year? For the most part, many of those first-time givers were also first-time guests. Your culture of welcome set the standard for their commitment to giving from the first time they visited your website. Smiling faces, manicured hedges, and helpful signage all speak to the love your church has for the stranger, those whose names we’ve not yet learned. Your church will demonstrate generosity in their hospitality before you ever communicate about giving in a membership class.

It remains then that Generospitality changes everything for you, your church body, and for your guests. Loving each other, and then loving every other, are actions that will change everything for someone this Sunday.

Stop and consider your guest one last time.

Right now the Holy Spirit is at work in someone’s life, stirring him or her to be your guest this Sunday. Some kind of crisis or challenge has moved them to make this the week they finally attend your worship service. The risk of going to your church to find God will finally be less than the risk of facing another week without Him. Your guest this Sunday will have seen your building or your website. They have likely heard someone else talk about your church. Chances are high that a friend or family member already attends and extended an invitation. They have probably prayerfully invited them for years. Of all the reasons why and how, one simple fact remains: they are coming.

This is their week to attend, and this is your week to love.

This Sunday will be the next opportunity to love each other in generosity. It will also be the next opportunity to love every other, through hospitality. It’s your chance to love by means that change the direction of someone’s life as well as the destination of their eternity. This Sunday, the Lord will add to your number those who are being saved.

Are you ready?

> Download the Seven Checkpoints of an Engaging Guest Experience Tool here.

> Read more from Bryan

Want to improve your church’s Guest Experience? Learn how at the Guest Experience Boot Camp coming to West Palm Beach, FL February 26-27!

Tags: Bryan Rose, Church Guest Experience, Generospitality, guests

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How to Make 2020 Your Year for Crystal Clear Personal Calling

by: Will Mancini

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For well over a decade I have been dreaming about a toolbox and training experience that would deliver something very special to any follower of Jesus. What is that something special? It’s the ability to really grasp the trajectory of one’s Ephesians 2:10 “good works”—what believers for centuries have called vocation or specific calling.

That dream has now come true. And the most important result of this dream-in-the-making is a new book cooked up just for you. But before I tell you about the Younique book, consider the story behind the recipe.

What happened under the radar in approximately 250 churches over five years is about to explode into the next 2,500 churches in 2020.

How does the Younique book fit in? The final step of my toolbox buildout is always the trade book. It’s the icing on the clarity cake. My license to publish is the demonstrated break-thru at every age and life stage from megachurch pastors to plumbers, from hopeful high school students to the fired-up retired. The book is entitled Younique: Designing the Life God Dreamed for You. Inside you will find a treasure chest of tools and 27 snack-able chapters. What’s the end game? It’s helping you master seven essential life design skills. Learn these and you just might find a kind of life that you didn’t know was possible.

What about you? How well can you name your special assignment from God? How free do you feel in your weekly “9-to-5”? When was the last time you set up and bowled over a simple, single goal over 90 days? Life is too short to live with only a general sense of who you are and where you are going.

Let me invite you to experience personal break-thru and make 2020 your year of crystal clarity.

Younique will be released January 7, 2020. Order your copy today!

I hope you will consider following the rollout of Younique’s expanded experiences and tools. Imagine for a moment what’s about to be available to you and your church:

• Seven online courses that will go live with the book. As you swim and splash through the book, these are the most important pools of learning for you to take a deep dive in.
• A Younique 90-day planner. This is the only integrated life design system in the world created just for followers of Jesus.
• A 20/20 Vision For Life sermon series for the year 2020. Why not leverage a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity developed by one of my favorite preachers in the world, Younique cofounder Dave Rhodes?
• A six-week small group experience called the Younique Primer. This gets Younique into the game of your groups and classes strategy. Videos are available online at Younique or through your RightNow Media subscription.

How in the world can you follow along? I’d love for you to follow me on Instagram (my favorite social platform) @will_be_clear.

Let’s together pursue crystal clarity this year. I hope we get to meet in 2020 at one of our Younique events!

Tags: Life Call, Personal Life Calling, Will Mancini, younique

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The Disciplemaking Worldview: What is a Disciple?

by: VRcurator

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Auxano Navigator David Putman is committed to catalyzing gospel-centered, disciple-making movements. He lives out his mission by helping others go further, faster, and longer than they ever imagined. David’s writings have been the primary foundation of this SUMS Remix.

According to David, disciple making at its core is about worldview transformation. A person’s worldview is the way they see and understand the world.  Our worldview is based on our core beliefs. These non-negotiable beliefs determine our behavior. In other words, what we believe determines our behavior.

As a disciple of Christ we might frame it this way, “What we believe about the gospel determines how we follow Jesus.”

David uses a simple tool he created called the “Gospel Lens” to illustrate this. This tool is based on three questions that he believes have a very unique and specific relationship to one another.

It is essential that we begin with the gospel, move to disciple, and finally to the church in the order we ask and answer these questions. In other words, the gospel informs our understanding of disciples, and our understanding of disciples informs our understanding of the church.

What is a Disciple?

THE QUICK SUMMARY – A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson

As a society, we are no less obsessed with the immediate than when Eugene Peterson first wrote this Christian classic. If anything, email and the Internet may have intensified our quest for the quick fix. But Peterson’s time-tested prescription for discipleship remains the same–a long obedience in the same direction.

Tucked away in the Hebrew Psalter, Peterson discovered “an old dog-eared songbook,” the Songs of Ascents that were sung by pilgrims on their way up to worship in Jerusalem. In these songs (Psalms 120-134) Peterson finds encouragement for modern pilgrims as we learn to grow in worship, service, joy, work, happiness, humility, community and blessing. This 20th anniversary edition of A Long Obedience in the Same Direction features these Psalms in Peterson’s widely acclaimed paraphrase, The Message. He also includes an epilogue in which he reflects on the themes of this book and his ministry during the twenty years since its original publication.

A SIMPLE SOLUTION

The announcement of good news is that God in Christ doesn’t only save us by grace, but He grows us by grace. We see this best in Jesus’ parable of the growing seed. He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain – first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come” (Mark 4:26-29, NIV). The seed in this parable is the gospel and soil is our hearts. When we receive the seed into the good soil of our heart something happens. We can’t explain it, but it does. Jesus says, “Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.” This is an amazing truth that changes everything; gospel in, gospel out.

Paul understood this when he said, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approved what God’s will is – his good, pleasing, and perfect will” (Romans 12:1-2, NIV). In this text Paul demonstrates that our devotion is based on our understanding of the gospel. We are to offer our bodies, but only as a result of being in full view of His mercy. We don’t present our bodies to get God’s mercy; we present our bodies because of God’s mercy. The order has been reversed. I don’t do in order to earn God’s favor, but I do because I have God’s favor. He goes on and addresses the idea of transformation. We are transformed by the renewal of our minds. Once again we see gospel in, gospel out.

When I come to understand that I am fully loved, then and only then can I offer love. When I come to understand God’s forgiveness of me, I become more forgiving and understanding of others. As I come to understand God’s provision for me, only then can I truly become more generous. As I come to apprehend the gospel there is a reformatting and aligning of my values that take place. I am transformed.

When you understand gospel in, gospel out it changes everything.

It is not difficult in our world today to get a person interested in the message of the gospel; it is terrifically difficult to sustain the interest.

Millions of people in our culture make decisions for Christ, but there is a dreadful attrition rate. Many claim to have been born again, but the evidence for mature Christian discipleship is slim. In our kind of culture anything, even news about God, can be sold if it is packaged freshly; but when it loses its novelty, it goes on the garbage heap. There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sing up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier generations of Christians called holiness.

For recognizing and resisting the stream of the world’s ways there are two biblical designations for people of faith that are extremely useful: disciple and pilgrim. Disciple (mathētēs) says we are people who spend our lives apprenticed to our master, Jesus Christ. We are in a growing-learning relationship, always. A disciple is a learner, but not in the academic setting of a schoolroom, rather at the work site of a craftsman. We do not acquire information about God but skills in faith.

Pilgrim (parepidēmos) tells us we are people who spend our lives going somewhere, going to God, and whose path for getting there is the way, Jesus Christ. We realize that “this world is not my home” and set out for “the Father’s house.”

Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

A NEXT STEP

Auxano founder and team leader Will Mancini has developed three snapshots of Jesus’ disciple-making ministry for your consideration.

Set aside time to review each of the following snapshots, including time to read and reflect on the Scripture and how the snapshot applies to your current disciple-making process.

In each of the three synoptic gospels we see a different scene in the life of Jesus just before He calls His twelve disciples. Each snapshot reveals a unique aspect of both the heart of Jesus and His earthly-eternal kingdom strategy.

Snapshot #1: The great opportunity meets a great shortage (Matthew 9:35-38)

Before Jesus calls the twelve from Matthew’s perspective, we see Jesus’ compassion for the crowds. As He looked over the masses He observes, “the harvest is plenty but the workers are few.” His last command before selecting His inner circle is to pray earnestly to the Lord of the Harvest to send out laborers. In the light of the urgent opportunity, Jesus begins investing deeply into the twelve.

Snapshot #2: Building the infrastructure not the popularity (Mark 3:7-12)

Mark shows us a different angle of Jesus’ motive just before He appoints the twelve. In this passage He repeats the phrase “great crowd” showing for the first time the sheer volume of people who were responding to Jesus. Not only that, He shows the intensity of their pursuit by explaining how the people were “pressing around him” and how they needed to escape in a boat “lest they be crushed.” If that wasn’t enough, even the demons cried out that He was the Son of God. What was Jesus’ final act before appointing the twelve from Mark’s perspective? Jesus strictly ordered them NOT to make Him known.

Why in the world did Jesus come to earth if He wanted to lower the volume of His identity and mission? Why would He intentional minimize His platform? The answer is simple. He wasn’t building a stage and an audience; He was building a people movement. And the disciple-making infrastructure was being threatened by the quick popularity. Thus He focuses even more on the twelve.

Snapshot #3: The brevity of life on earth (Luke 6:6-11)

In Luke’s snapshot we see a simple healing scene. This is where Jesus heals the man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. It is also the first time we see the scribes Pharisees filled with fury to the point that they begin plotting what they are going to do with Jesus. This is the fountainhead of the death plot that would end Jesus’ physical opportunity on planet earth to be a disciple-maker. The next thing we see Him doing is praying to the Father all night and then calling the twelve.

What about you?

As you plan the coming year, how does Jesus’ disciple-making conviction, and especially these three catalysts, rescue you from a “program management” culture? Are you herding people through classes and events? Are you trying to make life-change happen through better preaching only? Or do you have a robust, disciple-making strategy built around life-on-life investment, like Jesus?

How will your leadership and your ministry reflect the same catalysts in Jesus’ life?

• Helping people see the amazing opportunity of lost souls and recruiting them to pray for more harvest workers.
• Building the core with significant time investment before gathering the crowd.
• Being deeply aware of the finite window to invest in others in light of the eternal kingdom economy.

Excerpt taken from SUMS Remix 108-2, released December 2018.

This is part of a weekly series posting excerpts from one of the most innovative content sources in the church world: SUMS Remix book excerpts for church leaders.

SUMS Remix takes a practical problem in the church and looks at it with three solutions; each solution is taken from a different book. Additionally, a practical action step is included with each solution.

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 Remix provides 26 issues per year, delivered every other week to your inbox). 

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Tags: A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, David Putman, Discipleship, Eugene Peterson

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How to Build a Culture of Gratitude

by: Mac Lake

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When shaping a team culture, gratitude may not be the first trait you think of, but it is a vital component for having a healthy team. The way you lead can either build up or break down your team’s sense of gratitude. Most leaders are good at showing appreciation to their team for the work they do, but if you want to increase a spirit of gratitude, it will take more than a simple acknowledgement of a job well done.

Here are three practical things you can do to create a culture of gratitude:

1. Thank them individually for their unique contribution. Over the next week, think about the unique contributions each one of your team members bring, then find an opportunity to share it with them. It may be a unique spirit they bring to the team because of their personality. It may be a certain talent they have that increases the overall effectiveness of the team. It may be a unique way they shape the team because of a consistently positive attitude they demonstrate. Discover something unique about each one and thank them for it. A well-crafted, sincere and specific thank you will be much more meaningful than a generic “great job.”
2. Have team members encourage one another. Sometime over the next couple of weeks, use a staff meeting to have everyone go around and say something they appreciate about each individual in the room. By expressing their gratitude publicly, they will feel the weight of that personally. Some may even hear for the first time something positive everyone thinks about them that they were not aware of.
3. Celebrate the wins. Your team has a mission statement, and you’re working hard toward a specific vision.  Sometimes leaders run so fast and so far ahead that we forget to stop and celebrate. Celebrating the wins and showing the team how their contributions have made a difference can go a long way in making them feel grateful to be a part of such a great team. Accomplishing results is a rewarding feeling, and taking a moment to stop and celebrate those accomplishments will foster a sense of gratitude in your team for the opportunity they have to serve the greater mission of your organization.

Creating a culture of gratitude will take some intentionality, but I promise that the payoff will be well worth the effort.

> Read more from Mac.

Tags: Gratitude, Leadership Culture, Leadership Development, Mac Lake

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Ten Ways Reading Will Benefit Your Life and Ministry in 2020

by: Bryan Rose

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Recently I had the chance to sit down with Auxano’s Digital Engagement Leader (and Guest Experience Navigator), Bob Adams, and talk about reading. We captured the conversation on the My Ministry Breakthrough podcast as a way to encourage other leaders in their reading. Many of us will create goals around reading in light of a New Year and, to some, a new decade of church ministry. In this episode, Bob outlines 10 Benefits of Regular Reading.

Inspired by Bob’s list, I have added some thoughts of my own and set up a personal reading goal for 2020 for each point made. Here are ten ways reading will benefit your life and ministry in 2020:

Benefit #1 – Reading builds a connection between your brain synapses. Unlike visual video media consumption, the thought required by reading forms new connections in your brain by stimulating thinking. Video media already creates the scene, moment, or location on-screen, as opposed to your mind assembling words into a picture. Read to promote brain health and growth.

2020 Goal: Read for at least 20 minutes every day.

Benefit #2 – Reading reduces stress by being a mental pressure relief valve. Reading, particularly fiction reading, takes your mind to a different place through challenging ideas or changing landscape. Reading slows your body but not your mind, in the way that Netflix watching will. Just a few minutes of reading can change your perspective and affect your emotions. Read to be a better version of yourself.

2020 Goal: Read at least one fiction or pleasurable book every quarter.

Benefit #3 – Reading increases knowledge at all levels. Reading forces you to confront new ideas and process them in light of personal experience or other reading. Reading builds your knowledge base around a particular subject allowing multiple perspectives from different authors. Even if you are only reading at an elementary level (Bob unpacks Mortimer Adler’sAdler’s levels of reading in the episode), knowledge development still takes place. Read to develop proficiency in an area or subject.

2020 Goal: Read one book on a subject or topic almost entirely unknown. 

Benefit #4 – Reading expands your vocabulary. Many books are written for a narrow scope of readers, or from a particular point of view. These books often contain a specific vernacular. Confronting and defining words you have never engaged before adds new ammunition to your conversational arsenal. New words create new worlds in your mind and your life. Read to sound and be smarter.

2020 Goal: Learn and incorporate 20 new words into everyday conversation in 2020.

Benefit #5 – Reading makes you a better writer. Everyone who communicates is, in some way, a writer. Pastors write out sermons. Managers write staff evaluations. Teachers write lesson plans. Every conversation in some way takes writing even if you never actually put words into print. Reading reinforces acceptable grammar and proficient sentence structure. Read to write better.

2020 Goal: Work on one communication piece (ebook, blog, sermon, or consulting plan) for at least one hour every week.

Benefit #6 – Reading supports the skills to be an analytical thinker. This benefit can be a challenge. Moving beyond face value in an author’s words to confront their opinion or point of view requires effort beyond consumption. You do not have to agree with every author, or every author’s position, to appreciate their book. Read to strengthen or challenge your convictions.

2020 Goal: Read one book I would ordinarily avoid because I disagree with the author or am dispassionate about the topic.

Benefit #7 – Reading builds focus. Engaging with an author creating a case or setting up a scene forces a level of commitment and concentration very different from our quick-cut video-driven culture. Books take time to understand and to process. This practice creates an ability to stay in a moment longer. Read to remain focused on the task at hand.

2020 Goal: Finish every book before starting the next one, even if I skim/seminary read it.

Benefit #8 – Reading makes you a better speaker. You don’t have to speak to large crowds to realize a benefit in your speaking from reading. Hallway conversations are impacted by reading as much as platform sermons. Regularly engaging other voices helps to grow your distinct voice, as well as bring content and perspective to just about every communication situation. Read to communicate on a higher level.

2020 Goal: Read, or re-read, one book on public speaking before my first engagement of 2020.

Benefit #9 – Reading stimulates your mind. Some authors are more mind-stretching to read than others. Nothing impacts your dreams like reading Len Sweet right before bedtime. Creativity and critical thinking walk hand-in-hand across the landscape of the reader’s mind. Taking the time to journal and challenge the author’s assumptions strengthens your resolve, or where needed, shapes a reformed view. Read to grow in thought leadership.

2020 Goal: Chronicle the reading of ten books using a journaling system/technique.

Benefit #10 – Reading doesn’t have to cost you anything. As Bob reiterated, most public library systems are not only a numerical storehouse of reading possibility, but they also have the newest titles on hand. Leveraging your local library allows you to read a few chapters of the latest titles before purchasing a copy you can mark up and annotate. It costs nothing but time to check out some library books, provided you return them on time. Read library books to save money or preview before purchasing.

2020 Goal: Make a library trip at least once a month as a family.

Here is a recap of the ten reading goals for 2020 above:

• Read for at least 20 minutes every day.
• Read at least one fiction or pleasurable book every quarter.
• Read one book on a subject or topic almost wholly unknown.
• Learn and incorporate 20 new words into everyday conversation in 2020.
• Work on one communication piece (ebook, blog, sermon, or consulting plan) for at least one hour every week.
• Read one book I would ordinarily avoid because I disagree with the author or am dispassionate about the topic.
• Finish every book before starting the next one, even if I skim/seminary read it.
• Read, or re-read, one book on public speaking before my first engagement of 2020.
• Chronicle the reading of ten books using a journaling system/technique.
• Make a library trip at least once a month as a family.

Will I accomplish every single one of these goals? That’s not at all likely. However, if I were to achieve only half, the way I work, rest, parent, and impact others will be marked by these reading goals. Check out the podcast episode for a masterclass on reading in this new year. 

What is one goal you have for reading in 2020?

> Read more from Bryan.

Tags: 2020 goals, Bryan Rose, Leadership, Reading, Reading is Leading

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