By TheChurch.Digital:

Barna recently released data that suggests the opportunity to pray with someone at your church is a highly attractive offer not only to Christians, but also to people of other faiths and even of no faith. Asked if they would consider joining your church for online prayer, 68% of all Christians responded positively (including those who only attend church infrequently). 32% of people of another faith also responded positively, and a shocking 24% of people with no faith at all.

57% of all U.S. adults are at least somewhat open to online prayer during a church gathering

?This means that your church’s Sunday livestream may not be the essential draw for your unchurched friends and neighbors. Perhaps a signpost on your social media that announces that your prayer room is open for personal, private, face-to-face prayer is what will bring them.?

Does Facebook Prayer Count?

Now, what does that mean? When an unchurched person — or a faithful churchgoer, for that matter — is open to prayer while attending a service on Facebook, how does that happen? Are Facebook prayers real enough, deep enough?

Yes, I know the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, translates our inchoate words and thoughts and feelings, so that our groanings are communicated as prayers.

Facebook prayers? They must count as well. God gets the Internet.

I have to confess, though — sometimes typing prayers in a chat pane with a prayer partner sort of feels “less” somehow. Oh, sometimes it’s wonderful. But I get distracted by a few things that lessen the experience.

Typos.  I know! I shouldn’t care! But, when the other person types “churnch” instead of “church,” my eye and my brain just take me off track. And, even worse, when I misspell something, I get overly concerned that the other person’s eye and brain are likewise off track. I find I never behave this way during spoken prayer. Please tell me I am not alone in this weakness.
Tone of voice. “I just need to know that God loves me.” Which word in that typed sentence is the emphasis? Is this an affirmation? Is this a statement of doubt? Is this person loved by others, and just wonders if God loves her? Or, she knows that God loves others, but does he love me? Or, is it the know part — that she thinks God loves her, but she needs to know it. Oh, if only she had said this simple sentence out loud, her tone of voice would tell me.
Body language. When I am praying with someone in person, I can tell a lot from their posture and facial aspect. Are they deeply troubled? Worried? Inert? Stoic? Nervous? Lonely? Distracted? Physically run down? But, online, I either make an assumption as if I know, or I do my best to pretend it doesn’t matter. Sometimes, I ask, but almost invariably my chat partner on the other end says — “Dude, I just need to know God loves me. I don’t need a counseling session.  Let’s pray, not talk.”
“Caroline is typing.” In an everyday texting conversation, it is so useful to see a notification that my text partner is typing something. It helps make the conversation flow. With text-based praying, it’s a mixed blessing. I see “Caroline is typing” so I pause from typing my prayer. Then, she stops, but I don’t see any text from her.  Should I resume my typed prayer? After I have entered and sent my portion of prayer, how do I know if she’s received and read it? Did she see what I wrote? Did it help? Are we done?
Anonymity. On Facebook, it’s common to see a post from a church host: “If you’d like prayer, let me know.”  Ummm…. Does that mean I have to respond to you here in the chat, in front of everyone?  I really don’t want to raise my hand in front of everyone to say “Yes, I need prayer” or “I’d like to pray”. I can only imagine later on hearing from others — “oh, I saw you asked for prayer. What was that about?” I’d just like it to be a bit more private than that.
Delays. Sometimes, there’s a link in the Facebook chat — “Want prayer? Click here.” Invariably, it brings me to a form on the church’s website, which I fill in, and then wait for an email response back. That’s a little too 20th century for me. It’s still prayer. It’s just a little slow.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s prayer! And, text-based prayer is a huge blessing, especially compared to the alternative, which is no prayer at all. It’s just that all my visual and aural faculties are absent from the environment. So, in a meaningful way, yes, it is a “less than” experience. Greater than zero, less than normal.

Facebook Church Livestream + Altar Face-to-Face Prayer

Let’s take another look at that link on Facebook that points to a prayer page. What if clicking that link didn’t bring the prayer-seeker to a form, but instead brought them to a virtual prayer chapel? This is how some churches have begun to use Altar Live.

They set up an Altar Live event as a Lobby, complete with tables and chairs.

Each table has a person already sitting there, and has “Prayer with Veronica” as a label. When a visitor arrives there directly from Facebook, they simply look around and see who they would like to pray with, choosing someone who feels like a good match based on gender, age or other demographic characteristics.

Prayer tables in Altar Live for private, face-to-face prayer time

My son (in Maine) and me (in Boston) in Altar Live at a prayer table

Church Metrics: People in Prayer, not People in Pews

The churches who have pursued this model talk about deepening a culture of prayer within their community.

As pastoral staff develop new metrics beyond attendance, the prayer life of the congregation is a natural target for measurement. In a recent podcast on Rich Birch’s unSeminary, Pastor Darell Roland of Rock Bridge Church is quite direct on this matter:

Rock Bridge no longer focuses on Sunday, but rather on the Monday through Thursday that lead into the Sunday. Instead of the executive team dashboard focusing on numbers like attendance, they focus on hours spent in prayer, number of people in prayer groups, and new people recruited and engaged in ministry and outreach. Look at engagement and participation in those areas. Attendance will be a by-product of those things.

Is your church looking to deepen a culture of prayer?  What mechanisms are you finding for corporate prayer and intercessory prayer?

Source: Does Facebook Prayer Count?

The post Does Facebook Prayer Count? appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Stan Rodda: When it comes to prayer, everyone starts somewhere. You might be reading this and have been following Jesus for many years. Your prayer life might be strong and transformative. If so, that’s awesome. I’m excited for you. But new believers don’t start near the finish line. They start where everyone starts…at the beginning.

Let’s imagine you’re new to disciple making and have just started walking with a new believer. You want to model for them your own prayer life and quiet time with Jesus. You want them to see it in action so that they can grow. But starting where you are might be a challenge. Five minutes of prayer might be a real stretch for them, while you’re used to an hour or more of quiet time daily.

Here’s a simple tool that you can share with them and help them grow spiritually. It’s a great tool to add in to the prayer parts of PLUMPO (a framework for your quiet time). And to make it simple to remember, the acronym spells the word pray. So let’s walk through P.R.A.Y.

Praise

There may not be a better place to start a prayer than by praising God for who He is. Train a young disciple to focus their earliest thoughts on God’s goodness. Avoid going straight into prayer asking God for things and to show up like a magic genie. Maybe read a Psalm about God’s greatness as part of your prayer of praise. As you develop new skills in prayer, you’ll be more fluid with this. But no matter what, start prayer by focusing on God and giving Him the praise and glory due His Name!

Repent

Repentance isn’t a one-time thing that we do when we are saved. It’s an ongoing discipline in the life of the disciple. Train your young disciples to spend time in repentance. Maybe they recently read something in Scripture that they are realizing they need to work on. Maybe they have believed God didn’t care about them for a long time. Repentance is laying that before God, bringing that lie into the light and then asking God to replace that lie with truth. Then in repentance we begin to live in a new truth that God does care.

Train and walk with them as they discover things in themselves that need repentance.

Ask

This is your opportunity to bring things to the feet of God. Maybe it’s a sick family member and you are asking for healing. Maybe you have a broken relationship and you are asking God to restore it. Or maybe you are asking God to reveal Himself to you and lead you in wisdom and discernment. Whatever it might be, this is our opportunity in prayer to bring our requests with confidence to the throne room of God.

Yield

I like the word surrender here also. PRAS just doesn’t have the same ring to it however as PRAY. So I use “yield.” Regardless, it means the same. Now that I am aware of who God is, have given Him praise, have repented and laid things at His feet, now I’m moving forward in surrender and obedience. It is usually my will to do my will, but in prayer and in surrender to Jesus, I am yielding my will to the will of God. His desires and paths for me are far more important. I will surrender whatever it takes to walk in unity with Him.

PRAY is a simple tool to help you get started in your own daily quiet time. If you are new to faith and you are reading this, I highly encourage you to give this tool a try as a framework for your prayers. Leave me a comment and let me know how it goes. If you’re someone who has followed Jesus for a long time, I encourage you to take this tool and share with a new believer or a disciple you are leading.

Let’s take Kingdom territory!

Source: A Simple Tool to Get Started in Prayer

The post A Simple Tool to Get Started in Prayer appeared first on Passion for Planting.

Source: Prayer During a Pandemic – Part One

The post Prayer During a Pandemic – Part One appeared first on Passion for Planting.

Source: Growing Spiritually Through Three Years of Self-Quarantine

The post Growing Spiritually Through Three Years of Self-Quarantine appeared first on Passion for Planting.

Source: How to Have the Anointing of God on Your Life

The post How to Have the Anointing of God on Your Life appeared first on Passion for Planting.

Carey Nieuwhof: So this isn’t an easy post to write, nor a glib one.

I’m not even sure what I’m about to write is accurate.

But once again last week, we heard of yet another mega-church pastor who isn’t in leadership anymore, this one fired by his church because of character issues.

I’m not naming names or linking to any post. If you’re plugged into church world, you probably know who I’m talking about, and if not, it’s not that hard to think of a bunch of others over the years.

Sadly, even if you read this months or years after this is published, chances are there will be yet another large church pastor who went down in flames.

The hardest part is there are just no winners. At least not in the short term. God is a God of redemption and he writes better stories than we do, but the pain of deliberate sin is something we’re best to avoid.

If there are direct victims (affairs, abuse, fraud), and sadly, often there are, their lives are devastated and their faith too often shattered or snapped. The people who were part of any movement or congregation associated with said fallen leader are crushed. The families of leaders are devastated, sometimes beyond repair.

And in the midst of it all, the unchurched gain one more reason to run in the opposite direction.

For those of us still in church leadership… think about that and let it sink in.

Bloggers and commentators who pile on to grab headlines or express outrage further destroy any hope left. I don’t want this to be that kind of a post.

And remember, for every mega-church pastor who has exited, there are probably 10 or maybe 100 smaller church pastors whose congregation and families are just as devastated. Only their stories never make the headlines.

Please hear me. I write this with a heavy heart and after a lot of reflection, introspection and prayerful consideration.

I’m far from perfect. There’s been no affair (by the grace of God) or fraud or anything worth headlines. But just talk to my family or my team. They see me on good days and bad days, and I write about the struggles of leadership as openly and candidly as I know how, as any of you who read this blog regularly or have read my latest book will realize.

So I’m not casting stones.

But I am writing so that all of us who lead anything (big or small) can look inside and notice the warning signs before it’s too late. Before yet another church loses its leader. Before yet another countless thousand people wince and say, “I told you so” or “Yeah…figures” and the collective eye roll/anger wave gets unleashed once again and more people walk away from Jesus.

Because, believe it or not, I think failure is in all of us. And yes, I think the seeds of failure are in me too. None of us are exempt.

But if you know what to look for…if you know where the danger lies, maybe, just maybe, you can finish well. Because not only are the seeds of failure in all of us, so are the seeds of finishing well.

So what’s the difference?

That’s why I’m writing this post.

Nobody who starts out in ministry sets out to fail. But all the time, people who never thought they’d fail, fail.

Every time another story breaks about a pastor who resigns, my phone lights up with texts from friends asking, “How do we make sure this doesn’t happen to us?”

A few years ago I wrote a post about the exit of two megachurch pastors…I think the observations are still true:

Most pastors aren’t fake. The struggle is real.

It’s hard to lead anything.

God uses broken people.

Even if all of that is true, still, why all the failure?

Here are some new thoughts…and some things I look for inside me in the hopes of finishing well.

The seeds of failure are in all of us. So are the seeds of finishing well.Click To Tweet

1. It Just Got Bigger Than I Could Handle

Please hear this: leading something large is not inherently bad.

Although I hear the argument all the time, I personally don’t believe there is anything inherently bad about a large church or organization.

But there is something inherently difficult in it. And to some extent, the larger something is, the harder it is.

Please know, this doesn’t mean leading a small church or venture is easy. I have led small churches. I get it. Few things in leadership are easy.

But I’ve also led some larger ministries and organizations, and the larger it is, the greater the pressure and the more there’s at stake.

I remember when our church grew past 300; my mind was blown. Now it’s five times the size.

Or look at this blog or my podcast. Honestly, 100,000 readers or listeners was inconceivable six years ago. Then millions showed up.

Nothing gets you ready for that.

It’s way too easy for your platform to outgrow your character. And that’s where all the danger lies.

There isn’t anything inherently bad about leading a large church or organization. But there is something inherently difficult in it.Click To Tweet

Add to it one more fact: you and I are not naturally made to lead thousands or millions.

It doesn’t mean you can’t do it. It just means you’ll have to grow your character faster.  Much faster.

As I outlined in Didn’t See It Coming, that has come in the form of hundreds of hours of counseling for me, some dead honest conversations, and a lot of painful personal growth. And in my case, I’m so thankful that groundwork was laid before things became bigger.

It doesn’t mean I’m off the hook. It just means God beat some things out of me that had to go before the stakes were any higher. And he continues to do that. Daily.

It’s way too easy for your platform to outgrow your character.Click To Tweet

So what can help you when things get bigger than you thought, whether that’s two hundred or two million?

Try this.

First, your platform isn’t yours. It’s God’s. It’s not your church or your organization. It’s His.

You don’t have a ministry, but God does (and out of his grace he chooses to use you).

Your life isn’t your own.  Are you allowing God’s spirit to loosen your grip on your life?

The more I remind myself of these things, the healthier I am.

Second, it’s a platform, not a pedestal. There is a world of difference between a platform and a pedestal.

Pedestals are about ego and adulation.

Platforms are designed to be shared and used for the benefit of others.

On the days I remember that, I’m a better leader because I’m a better servant. On the days I forget it, the clock starts ticking.

There is a world of difference between a platform and a pedestal. Pedestals are about ego and adulation. Platforms are designed to be shared and used for the benefit of others.Click To Tweet

2. I Created a World Where Nobody Challenged Me

So…let’s be honest…nobody likes critics.

But the bigger your organization or church becomes, the easier it becomes to surround yourself with like-minded people who won’t challenge you.

Please hear the distinction. You need like-minded people. You have to run with people who get your mission, vision and strategy. Otherwise, your organization descends into internal chaos.

But what you really need is likeminded people who can challenge you.

You need people committed to the same vision, mission and strategy you are, but who will push your thinking and who will push you.

Sure…maybe you have an accountability partner. You can spin your accountability partner. You can say it’s better at home than it is. Maybe they should ask your wife how it’s really going.

What you really need is people who have influence with you and power over you who can speak into you. Like a board and an inner circle to whom you are transparent and to whom you are truly accountable.

I realize in the age of social media, those of us at a distance might think we have a responsibility to speak truth to power or to criticize someone from afar. But I promise you, most leaders just tune out an angry person or troll 1000 miles away from, and perhaps to some extent rightly so. You don’t know them. They don’t know you.

There are also critics inside your church who intend to harm you or the mission. Learn what you can from them, but move on. They will not help you or your church long term.

But what you and I need most is people in our lives who know us inside out, who love us and as a result of that love, tell us the truth about us.

But you’ll be tempted—so tempted—to tune those people out. Don’t.

Keep them close.

Cultivate an atmosphere in which your team and those around you can tell you the truth. How you hurt them. What you’re not seeing. What you don’t realize is that they’ll be afraid to do that. You can fire them or dismiss them.

Just welcome their feedback, and encourage their critiques.

They may feel like your enemy in the moment, but I promise you they’re your best friends. They’re on the same mission as you, and they want you to win. And to help you win means they have to call your sin.

To help you win, your friends have to call your sin.Click To Tweet

The way to cultivate that is to thank those on-mission people every time they critique you. Welcome it. Tell them how much it helped you.

And if it hurts, get on your knees and talk to God about it. Ask what needs to stick and what you can discard, but for God’s sake (literally), listen.

And in the further need of transparency, a few things that have helped me.

First, give the people close to you your passwords.

My wife can look and at times does look at anything on my phone or devices. She has ALL my passwords and I let her see ANY of my conversations. DMs. The whole thing. Especially with the women I work with and talk to.

To make it even more interesting, because of the nature of my team, they have access to virtually everything in my life—all my inboxes, my passwords, my notes. So even if my wife’s not looking, they are. Everything. And that’s a wonderful thing.

Should you share that with everyone? Of course not.

But just because everybody doesn’t need to know everything, it doesn’t mean nobody does.

Give people access. And let the people who love you challenge you.

Just because everybody doesn’t need to know everything, it doesn’t mean nobody does. Click To Tweet

3. I Stayed Too Long

This isn’t a problem for everyone, but it is a problem for many of us.

I’ve been in the same church for 24 years. And you know what, we grow bored and accustomed to power. So I change it up. Regularly. That’s another story for another day.

And just over three years ago, I moved out of the Lead Pastor role and into a Founding and Teaching Pastor role at our church. Why? Because I sensed the season of me being the point leader at the church I founded was ending.

I wanted to jump before I was pushed. I wanted to leave while I was still serving the church, not when the church was serving me. I wanted to go while I was still fresh, not when everything grew so stale that everyone knew it was time for me to go except me.

By all accounts, I left early. But looking back, I think the timing was perfect.

Don Miller did an incredible interview with author Stephen Mansfield who shared 10 signs a leader is heading toward a leadership crash.

Sign #1? The leader stayed too long.

I get why leaders stay too long: it’s all you know how to do, and financially, you can’t afford to leave. But that’s such a mistake.

First of all, you’re supposed to serve the church. It’s not supposed to serve you. Secondly, I get that you’re not ready for retirement. But that’s not a tenure or honour issue: it’s a financial issue. Boards should get far better at handling financial issues as financial issues, not tenure issues. (I wrote more on why pastors stay too long and the succession crisis facing the church here.)

When I jumped out of the Lead Pastor role, I took a pay cut. It was a huge trust issue.

But I promise you, trusting God is never a bad thing. So trust God.

Leaders, you’re supposed to serve the church. It’s not supposed to serve you.Click To Tweet

4. Somewhere Along The Way, I Lost My Soul

You got into this for the right reasons. I know you did. Everybody does.

But somewhere along the way, it’s too easy to lose your soul.

How exactly does that happen? Well, it’s a subtle art.

Most leaders who sell their souls aren’t 100% on the right track one day and the next day wake up in someone else’s bed. It just doesn’t usually work that way.

Selling your soul starts with compromise.

You look at a little porn. Once. Okay, twice. Okay, a little more, and soon it’s a habit…

You flirted with her once…then again. Then you were emotionally entangled.. And then…

You started justifying your impulsiveness. If they only knew the pressure I’m under, they’d be this way too, you told yourself. And you repeated that to yourself the next day, and the next…

You swore a bit because just because you think cussing a little doesn’t mean you’re not a Christian.  But now, you internal dialogue is just so foul…

You had the one drink…then the other, then every Friday, then most days…

You blew your stack at the meeting the other day, but man they were being dumb, and you’re the leader, and you can get away with it, and…

And before you know it, a thousand little compromises left you compromised.

You’ve gotten so ugly you don’t recognize yourself in the mirror.

The challenge is several fold.

The more I see leadership as a trust, the less likely I am to use it for personal gain or to indulge my flaws.

Second, the more sensitive I become to the impact of my actions and attitude on the people closest to me, the better I lead. The gravitational pull is to to make excuses to those closest to you or find people who tolerate your weaknesses. And that’s a mistake (see #2 above).

I need to become expert at noticing the little compromises.  I don’t have to confess them to my whole team, but I need to confess to someone.  Bringing them into the light when they’re small prevents them from growing into something sinister.

The challenge in leadership is to live in a way that people closest to you become the people most grateful for you. And people become truly grateful for you when your life is characterized by humility, confession and grace.

Live in a way that people closest to you become the people most grateful for you.Click To Tweet

5. I Invested Too little Time at Home

Often—not always, but often—when you talk to leaders who are no longer in leaders, you realize that there were some serious issues in their marriage that were either neglected or never resolved.

And that can create a vicious cycle where because things aren’t going well at home, you throw yourself even harder into your work because you feel you can win there, all of which makes home go even more poorly.

Here’s what I’ve come to believe: Ultimately, everything rides on how you lead at home. 

If you’re winning at work but losing at home, you’re losing.

The stakes are high.

If you’re winning at work but losing at home, you’re losing.Click To Tweet

The difficult issues you work through in your home life will make you a wiser, stronger leader organizationally. Like many couples, my wife Toni and I have worked through some difficult seasons and (thankfully), came through to a better place.

But in my thirties, I became so consumed with work because it was honestly just easier to win at church than it was to win at home.

Why do so many leaders fall for that trap? There are at least three reasons.

There’s a clearer scoreboard at work. You can accomplish things far easier at work than you can at home.

It’s easier to earn respect at work than it is at home because you hold a title, and for senior leaders, direct a team.

You can avoid the hard conversations at home by staying later and working longer.

All of these are terrible reasons of course, but that doesn’t keep leaders from falling for them. I’ve fallen for them in different seasons too.

The challenge with home, of course, is that no one is that impressed by your title, latest progress or corner office.

But lead poorly at home for more than a season and the consequences will play out in several ways throughout your life and leadership:

You may win in ministry but lose the heart and affection of your family. Most of us have met leaders whose family is still together but deeply resents the leader’s organization.

Your leadership in ministry might be permanently stunted as unresolved character issues leak from home into your organizational leadership. Your flaws tend to eventually impact everything you lead and touch.

You might lose it all – the collapse of your family might lead to the collapse of your ministry and leadership.

See what’s at stake?

But here’s the truth.  You can’t have a great ministry and bad marriage. A bad marriage will eventually undermine a great ministry.

So if you’re struggling at home, invest more there. It will be painful at first. It may involve expensive counselling and hours (days, months…) of wading through mud. Do it.

I look at the investment I’ve made over the last 15 years in counselling, coaching, retreats and more time on my knees, and I can’t believe how much it’s paid off. Naturally, I still have a long way to go. The ancients called this process sanctification, and it’s never done. But things can get better. They really can.

Lead well at home, and you will inevitably become a better leader in your ministry or organization.

It’s just too easy to lose at home. So don’t.

You can’t have a great ministry and bad marriage. A bad marriage will obliterate a great ministry. Click To Tweet

Addendum: Four Likely Reasons Billy Graham Finished Well

The news is not all bad. There are more than a few long-time leaders who appear to be leading and finishing very well.

Billy Graham was certainly one of them.

Most people in church leadership are aware of the Billy Graham rule: never meet alone with a member of the opposite sex. And while it has its critics and limits, it’s helped many people.

Thank you to Kadi Cole who alerted me to the origin of the Billy Graham rule in her fantastic  new book, Developing Female Leaders.

As Kadi points out, the Billy Graham rule actually had four aspects. Billy and a few of his colleagues got together in 1948 in Modesto California in 1948 after seeing other evangelists become entangled in affairs, greed and running down local churches.

It consists of four rules:

Financial integrity…so that Billy Graham and his team would not raise money themselves at crusades.
Sexual integrity…so they wouldn’t fall victim to affairs or impropriety.
Respect for local churches…so they would build up local churches, rather than compete with them.
A commitment to accuracy in reporting…so they would not exaggerate how many people attended or how ‘successful’ their ministry was.

All four issues are still real issues. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

You can read Billy Graham’s own description of the Modesto Manifesto here.

Some Deeper Help

13 years ago, I burned out. By the grace of God, there are no affair, nothing that precluded me from moving forward in ministry except my loss of energy and passion.

By the grace of God, I recovered, and it’s become a passion of mine not only to thrive in life and leadership, but to help other leaders do the same.

Of course none of us have mastered this entirely and it’s an ongoing commitment, but I recently released two resources that I hope can help you.

The first is my latest book, Didn’t See It Coming, which outlines how issues like cynicism, compromise, pride, burnout and disconnection can take out leaders or stunt their potential. You can explore more or get a copy here.

The second resource is my High Impact Leader Course, where I show you how to avoid burnout, get more done at work and have more time to be fully present at home by getting time, energy and priorities working in your favour. It’s an on-line, on demand course that outlines the principles I’ve used over the last decade+ to get healthy. The course has helped thousands of leaders do the same.

You can learn more or enrol in the High Impact Leader here.

What Do You See?

I would love to hear in the comments some of the things you see in your own life that you need to watch.

Please don’t pile on leaders who are already down or take cheap shots at people or the church. I’ll delete those comments. This isn’t a place to make the problem worse.

I want this to be a place to help us all find solutions that create a better future.

So as you look inside, what seeds of failure and seeds to finish well do you see inside yourself?

Scroll down and leave a comment.

The post Some Thoughts On Why MegaChurch Pastors Keep Falling appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: Some Thoughts On Why MegaChurch Pastors Keep Falling

The post Some Thoughts On Why MegaChurch Pastors Keep Falling appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Tom Planck: Our calendars recently changed to the final month of 2018. If your fall ministry season has been anything like mine, you have likely been surprised by how quickly December arrived. You are now probably scrambling to get everything that needs to be accomplished checked off your task list before the ball drops in New York City. The pace of the next few weeks will make December a complete blur for us all.

Before the month gets away from us, let me present you with a challenge. How can you leverage the remaining days of December to prepare for the coming year? Before you begin reflecting too deeply on that question, let me also challenge you to consider a more focused approach. Do not think about this preparation work in terms of your church or your team. I want to challenge you to make it way more personal.

Maybe a better way to ask the question is: How can you leverage the remaining days of the year to prepare to lead yourself better next year? The importance and practice of self-leadership have caused the spill of a great deal of ink in the past few years and rightfully so. There is no greater responsibility for a leader than to lead themselves well. It is job number one.

How are you intentionally going to do that better in 2019? I have a suggestion that might help. Block out a couple of hours in the next week to process the list of questions below. Calendar the necessary events. Make the appropriate lists. Identify necessary resources and key people. Make a date with yourself right now and add it to your calendar.

How do you plan to engage the Bible?

There is a direct connection between our engagement in the Bible and both spiritual growth and effective self-leadership. What is your plan to ensure that engagement happens on a daily basis in 2019? I recommend picking a strategic reading plan on the YouVersion Bible app and sticking to it.

What will your daily prayer rhythm look like?

Every great move of God has always been preceded by a posture of prayer. If God is going to show up in your life and ministry next year in big ways, it demands you find your way to your knees and do so often. What will your prayer rhythm look like? How will you incorporate extended moments of prayer into your weekly and monthly calendar? Get those moments on the calendar now and commit to keeping each appointment with Jesus.

What resources or training opportunity will you leverage to grow as a leader?

Leaders are learners. No truer words have been spoken. There is an almost endless list of resources and training opportunities for us today. We should be grateful for that, so compile a list of resources you plan to access next year. Get those training opportunities on the calendar. I would highly recommend you consider making the trip to Orlando in March for the 2019 Exponential Conference.

Have you scheduled your days off and vacation time?

God intended for life to have a very specific rhythm. Work six days and rest one. If our life does not have this rhythm, some terrible fruit will come to bear. Call up your calendar app right now and get your days of rest scheduled. Everything else you do next year should be planned around off days and vacation time.

Who will be in your life on a consistent basis who can speak both grace and truth into you?

Proverbs 13:20 makes a powerful statement:

“He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harms.”

The value of walking with the wise and having people in our lives that have the freedom to speak the truth into our lives cannot be overstated. There will likely be moments in 2019 when you’ll need fresh expressions of God’s grace. Make sure you have some folks lined up who can provide those expressions when needed.

You have a choice to make as you move into next year–one of peace and joy rather than busy-ness and despair. Each item listed above is a tool for you to use. In the next few posts, we’ll be sharing with you how to daily, hourly, and at times minute-by-minute take on 3 different, open-handed/hearted postures. Those postures include that of generosity, gratitude, and surrender. You may have heard Danielle Strickland speak on these before. They have been key in helping me and others I work with stay focused and maintain clarity in various situations. So stay tuned for those.

The post End Well. Start Better. appeared first on Healthy Growing Churches.

Source: End Well. Start Better.

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Source: Nine Systems Within a Church Planting System

The post Nine Systems Within a Church Planting System appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Patrick Bradley: Your church plant fundraising commitment card is an important tool in the fundraising process. But it’s actually pretty easy to use it wrong and shoot yourself in the foot.

I’ve seen planters use a church plant fundraising commitment card well. And I’ve seen some wonder why they’re getting such a low response. Here are 4 relatively easy things you can do to maximize your commitment card.

Don’t Lead with It

Don’t mail out a commitment card.

Wait; what?

That’s right. Fundraising is about relationships first, not transactions. Whenever possible, make the ask in person. If you start with the commitment card, it potentially sends all kinds of  negative messages:

I’m too afraid to ask you myself
I don’t believe in the vision enough to be bothered
I’m more interested in your money
There’s just too many of you to ask (you’re just a number)
etc.

…

The post 4 Tips to Maximize Your Church Plant Fundraising Commitment Card appeared first on Church Planting Tactics.

Source: 4 Tips to Maximize Your Church Plant Fundraising Commitment Card

The post 4 Tips to Maximize Your Church Plant Fundraising Commitment Card appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Patrick Bradley: Your Launch Sunday attendance will be inflated by grand opening well-wishers. That can be good and bad at the same time. Here are some ideas to maximize the good and minimize the bad.

Many churches experience a spike in attendance at their inaugural public worship gathering. Which can be exciting! But then the following Sunday, attendance goes down. Way down. It’s pretty typical to see attendance drop by a quarter to a third the very next week.

Some real-world math here: if there were 150 at Launch, it shouldn’t shock you that there’s only 100 the next week. Or if you have 350 on the first Sunday to have 235 the next.

What in the world is going on?

There are several factors that lead to an attendance spike at a church’s grand opening:

Well-wishers come to celebrate
A marketing push brings higher than usual numbers of new families from your community
All of your regulars come on a single, historic Sunday

The post 3 Ways to Help Your Grand Opening Well-Wishers Help You appeared first on Church Planting Tactics.

Source: 3 Ways to Help Your Grand Opening Well-Wishers Help You

The post 3 Ways to Help Your Grand Opening Well-Wishers Help You appeared first on Passion for Planting.