By Greg Curtis: Let’s face it. 2020 has taken a huge bite out of our volunteer apple.

As churches cautiously regather, many volunteers have chosen not to return because…

The spike in COVID makes them afraid to regather

They are in a high risk demographic

They are moving away due to the economic impact of 2020

They have gotten used to church online

They have changed churches during the shutdown

They felt the need for a break and now is their chance

Their reasons may vary, but the reality is that only 30% to 60% of church volunteers nationally are returning to serve at this point.

Because attendance averages are down as well, not quite as many volunteers are required to serve as before. But even before the pandemic, my church established a way of letting an overlooked group of people taste what it means to serve God and others. In fact, for years now we have earmarked volunteer positions in every ministry for this group of people. These are individuals who would not be allowed to serve in many churches.

Curious as to who they are? Meet Katie by clicking on the video before reading on. She represents someone from this group who recently begin serving at my church. I dare you to keep a lump from raising in your throat as you watch.

I love Katie’s story as she represents a group of people largely overlooked by churches: those who don’t know what they believe yet.

Many churches do not let people who are unsure about God or who have not made a commitment to following Jesus yet. I even know many large churches where you cannot serve unless you are a full fledged member.

I think this is a mistake for 2 reasons:

Jesus didn’t make disciples that way. In fact, his followers were serving alongside him for about a year and a half before one of them finally figured out who he was! (Matthew 16:13-20)/

Many people figure out who Jesus is by getting their hands dirty first. Seeing God move through them toward others (like Katie did) is what draws them to the discovery of who Jesus is for them.

As a result, I think serving is not for the discipled. It’s how you make a disciple.

Here are 3 things you can do over the next month or two to tap into this group for the sake of not just your church’s ministry, but for their own spiritual journeys.

Determine what qualifications are necessary for people who do not believe yet to serve at your church.

Our qualifications for them are these: they are regular attenders, they can show up on time, and they play well with others. If you have those 3 things going on, come serve with us. You can come up with your own. I just encourage you to define them.

Have each ministry leader at your church make a list of volunteer positions that could be filled by a “pre-christian”.

We call these “green level positions” I think around 20% of all your serving opportunities should be in this category. Here are the 3 levels of volunteers

Green means “go”: “Are you new to this, still exploring your faith but want to give back in some way?” These opportunities include things like data entry, tech team, playing a musical instrument, nursery, craft lab, facility maintenance, local compassion, greeting, and more.

Yellow means “caution”: “Do you consider yourself a new follower of Jesus or one who has not served through a local church before?” Let’s have you move into opportunities like being a next steps discussion leader, being a live chat moderator at our services, video editing, social media, info counter, virtually any team member.

Red means “stop”: “Have you been following Jesus for awhile now and want to expand his influence in a new way through your life? We would like to have some time get to know you and train you so you can consider roles like being a small group leader (in homes or online), Next Step Host, or a team leader of any kind.. Stoping allows time for these people to hav their readiness assessed so they and others do not have a negative experience serving or being served.

Communicate these opportunities where new people at your church gather.

I suggest communicating your entry/”green” level positions in these ways:

On your website. Make a webpage where people can not only see these opportunities, but sign up for them.

Through your team leaders. If they know which positions are “green” and know people that are still processing their faith in their relationship circle, empower them to invite them to serve on their team.

At your One Program for guests. We have a connection environment called Next Steps where new people to church can identify what they have to offer and match it to our entry level opportunities to serve. Watching this happen is one of the most meaningful things I get to witness in my role.

At physical Next Steps and at Next Steps Online, guests are given links to forms so a volunteer champ can set up an orientation, interviews, and training so they can be onboarded.

If this kind of approach to volunteering intrigues you, get my online course. Watch session 5 on volunteer placement processes and how to automate them for every department in your church through a volunteer champ system. You won’t regret acting on that concept.

In the mean time, try leading your team through the discussion below and land the plane on making disciples by creating volunteers out of people like Katie-people who are not sure what they believe yet.

Once they see God use them, the game could change forever.

1. What qualifications for serving do you think Jesus has for new people exploring faith at your church? List them.

2. What kind of volunteer roles are appropriate, even advantageous for people still exploring faith to serve in?

3. How will you make these easily available to this group of potential volunteers so they can jump in easily?

4. When will you have this new recruitment emphasis in place?

If you would like more resources like this delivered to your inbox 2or 3 times a month, let me know here:

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Source: A way to add new volunteers to your teams this year that you are probably overlooking.

The post A way to add new volunteers to your teams this year that you are probably overlooking. appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By Greg Curtis: Hint: it wasn’t outreach.

Watch my 23 minute video interview with Robby Smith who pastors Redemption Church, a small church that has tripled in size in less than 3 years (including growth in during the quarantine).

I love this guy, his leaders and his church. They are the real deal, caring deeply for people and modeling what Sherpa Leaders look like.

Their 10 year journey as a small church of 120 in attendance was fairly typical for U.S. churches. What happened in year 11 was not.

Robby attributes the growth not to outreach, but to establishing a clear assimilation pathway for the guests at his church. Hear the incredible story of what happened, especially if you pastor a church under 200.

Just click on the video below.

Want access to the same resource I brought to Robby’s church in 2018 to shatter the 200 barrier? Go to “Experience a Base Camp” or take the Climbing the Assimilayas Video Course with your team to begin learning how to create a church-wide assimilation strategy of your own.

If you do, it will one of the most significant and meaningful things you will do as a church.

Want instant access to interviews, resources and tools like these? Subscribe using the form below:

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Source: How did this small church more than triple in size in less than 3 years?

The post How did this small church more than triple in size in less than 3 years? appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By: Greg Curtis

I recently had a person make a confession to me. They were at a weekly men’s prayer breakfast with 4 new men attending. During the prayer request time, he had asked everyone to pray against our current president and his policies as he believed all Christians should. After his lengthy diatribe on the matter, the 4 new people left early never to return.

The person confessing this to me felt badly and apologized to the leader of the prayer breakfast who told him, “No need to apologize. You were right.”

As a person who cares deeply about guests to our church, this story makes me wonder what business are we in as Jesus’ called out ones, especially in a year like this one.

To say this is a challenging year to be a spiritual leader would be an understatement. After quarantining for months, protests breakout that have polarized the culture we serve so severely that it has politicized whether your church even reopens or remain closed.

Enter guests checking out your church. Rather they are doing it online or in person if your church is regathering physically, new people to your church are:

Wondering where the church stands on some of the important issues facing their communities today (reopening or not, protesting or not, voting red or blue, etc.).

Looking for a place where God can be found and sense can be made of this season of life.

Hoping to find a place where people love and respect each other regardless of where they stand on any of the above.

It may be that we have to stop preaching the gospel in order to make room for our opinions and preferences politically. When that happens, many new people seeking God role their eyes, and look for the door while church members say “Amen!”.

How can we stay focused on the right thing when forces are pulling us to one extreme or the other, especially when so much is at stake? I find Jesus’ example here very powerful and instructive.

Two ways to handle political division like Jesus did.

Use stories when addressing division

We may not be quick to realize it, but when a conservative religious leader asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10: 29 f/f) that leader was asking a politically charged question. He was hoping to label Jesus as a liberal if he answered with the name of a gentile, or a conservative if he said only Jews. If he said only Jews, the religious leader could attack him based on his actions.

Jesus did what I wished more of us did right now. He answered by telling a story.

He told a story where a person who was considered half Jew/half gentile was the hero. We know it today as the parable of the Good Samaritan, but in Jesus’ day it was a highly charged response.

Today it could have been called the Parable of the Protestor or the Parable of the Police Officer, depending on which one you fell the the most negative about.

No matter what you would call the parable, I find that following Jesus’ example of story telling deescalates a conversation and makes people think outside their boxes.

That’s why a few weeks ago when people asked me if I believe that “Black Lives Matter” or if I believe that “All Lives Matter”, I answered with a story. I have been to Rome and stood in the colosseum where many early Christ followers lost their lives for their commitment to Jesus. I would love to imagine someone running from the stands into that arena and shouting, “Hey! We have got to stop this because the lives of Christians matter!” Can you imagine though if someone then ran into the arena to correct that person by saying, “No! All lives matter!”

Or, can you imagine being in Nazi Germany where officers were piling Jewish people onto a train and a courageous person runs into the crowd to shout, “Stop! The lives of Jewish people matter to God and they should matter to us!” only to be corrected by a well meaning German saying, “I’m sorry, that is incorrect: All lives matter to God!”

Obviously all lives matter to God and obviously there comes a time where a group that is vulnerable needs to be pointed out and protected more specifically when they are at risk.

A story can expand a persons view. an argument causes them to dig in their heels a little deeper. I want to be a story teller.

I hear you though. “But Greg, do you know the platform of the organization called ‘Black Lives Matter’”? Yes I do. And personally, I do not support their platform. Many parts of it have nothing to do with black lives.

But do you know what I also refuse to support? The highjacking of truth. While I do not support the organization called “Black Lives Matter”, I refuse to let them or any other group redefine a truth that is self evident to all: the lives of black people matter.

If a strange cult that believed Jesus was an alien coming to abduct those who do not follow him and torture them on his spaceship adopted the hashtag “#Jesus saves”, I would not cease to believe it because they chose to use it.

We need to be careful when we allow others to redefine biblical truth, lest we be seen as the one in gross error when we oppose them.

Offer the 3rd option

Another thing Jesus did when he found himself in a polarized environment where people wanted to play “gotcha!” politics with him, was to not get trapped into either/or thinking.

Jesus represents the God of the 3rd option.

I would love to do a Bible study someday on how God offered a third option to people who only saw two extremes. For now, just let me draw attention to 2 magnificent examples to inspire you as you serve guests (and members) from your church coming from the far right and left of the current political spectrum.

The first is when religious leaders wanted to label Jesus as either a liberal “one world order guy” or a conservative rebel securing one’s rights against the oppressive Roman government. They did it by asking a simple, but dangerous question: “Is it right to pay the Imperial Tax to Caesar or not?” (see Matt 22:15-22).

Jesus could have answered yes or no. Yes meant he was a liberal Jew who saw benefits to canceling their cultural distinctive and becoming part of the larger global empire. Saying no would make him a conservative Jew, demanding the freedom to be autonomous and free from the controls and requirements of the prevailing occupying government

We could also yes or no to people’s questions on all matter political. But Jesus didn’t. He simply held up a coin and asked whose image was on it. Then he said to give Caesar what is Caesar’s and to give to God what is God’s.

Dang.

A second example among many was when a woman was thrown in front of him after being caught in the act of adultery (John 8). The conservatives wanted the death penalty. The liberals wanted to feel that she had done nothing wrong and should be free to go in the grace of God.

Jesus then said that she was guilty and that the person who is without sin should throw the first stone.

Do you here the pin dropping?

Everybody left and after Jesus asked the woman where her accusers went, he said that he would not accuse her either but to go and sin no more.

Bam. 100% truth. 100% grace. No polarization on either side.

I want to join Jesus in the same. I want to offer a 3rd option to all this nonsense and division so I can do the harder job that Jesus did-that of a Peace Maker.

Notice I didn’t say Peace Keeper. Jesus kept little peace. Controversy surrounded him continually. He took on the more difficult task of making peace where there was none: between Jews and Samaritans, poor and rich, God and mankind. Bloody work to say the least but that is who we follow.

What if we offered people a third option, instead of just being on the left or on the right?

I don’t think the 3rd option is somewhere in between right and left, red and blue. Jesus is not the purple candidate. He is not moderate. He is not half way between the two. He is completely other than.

Consider how C.S. Lewis put it:

“I am going to venture on a guess as to how this section has affected any who have read it. My guess is that there are some Leftist people among them who are very angry that it has not gone further in that direction, and some people of an opposite sort who are angry because they think it has gone much too far. If so, that brings us right up against the real snag in all this drawing up of blueprints for a Christian society. Most of us are not really approaching the subject in order to find out what Christianity says: we are approaching it in the hope of finding support from Christianity for the views of our own party. We are looking for an ally where we are offered either a Master or—a Judge.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.

Where do we find our Master’s game plan during divisive times? I find it in answering the question posed in Andy Stanley’s book Irresistible:

What would love require of me?

Acting on the answer to that question would place us in the shoes of Jesus and make peace in a way that would be hard to oppose.

It would also be an irresistible environment for guests at our churches.*

*For more on this, see my facebook live video here.

Source: Two ways to handle political division like Jesus did (Facebook Live summary session 11).

The post Two ways to handle political division like Jesus did (Facebook Live summary session 11). appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By: Greg Curtis

When I was a kid, I never dreamed I would watch TV the way I do today.

In first through third grade, one of my all time favorite cartoons was “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”. It came on once a year. That’s not a typo. I’m talkin’ once a year. About the 2nd week of December. I thanked God for commercials so I could run to the bathroom and not miss a minute of it. We had to be home when it came on because, well, if we weren’t there when it aired, I would have to wait one year before I could possibly see it again. A whole year. No rewinding, no DVR. The grinch was live or he was nothing.

As an adult, I never dreamed I would experience church the way I do today.

I lead Next Steps Online during services so during the last 3 months of quarantining, I haven’t experienced church live. I haven’t even experienced it with my wife. I watch it on demand (like it was Netflix) the next day. No need to be there at a certain time. When i am ready, church is always there for me. I can even sign up for things using my phone during the announcements. If I was new to the idea of following, I could make a first time decision to do that by texting “Isaidyes” and receiving a congratulations back with a link to discover my next step.

Amazing. My church experience is more like watching Netflix now and less like watching the Grinch around Christmas time. Who’d a thunk?

This has made me realize 3 things that I shared on my 9th Facebook Live session.

1. Members don’t use your website like you think

We think they are using it to find the latest information on events at the church. What they are are really using it for is registering events they find out about during announcements or through emails. They also share links to pages that describe the latest event or message series with friends who they think will benefit from them. They share these links via text, email and on social media.

2. Guests don’t use your website like you think

Some people think guests are searching their website to find out what the church believes before they decide to come. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you can see a ranking of what pages are visited on your website, most of the time your statement of faith registers dead last. Few people care. One of the highest ranking, if it’s easy to find, is your service archive. Guest are wanting to experience portions of your service to see what it would be like to attend there before they actually do.

No longer does the average church seeker visit 5 churches over 5 weekends before making a decision. What they do instead is watch 5 services from 5 different churches over one or two nights to figure out the one or two they might actually visit with their family.

These leads to the following realization…

3. Your website is your new lobby, your new “front porch”

Your website is where people “check you out” and form their opinions of you before actually attending. Even in this online zoomified post-COVID world, a guest may not attend a live service until they have sampled it on demand.

In fact, once they have sampled and tasted something they like, they will binge watch an entire sermon series that spoke powerfully to them in your archive. I know this because guests have told me many times that they have done this.

Basically, they are watching church in the same way they are watching Netflix: watching trailers and then binge watching all the episodes that they connect with the most.

How can you connect with guests who are not even attending your live online services but watching on demand midweek?

Here’s an idea. Make a decision that your website is primarily for your guests since they use it more than your members do. Then, put what guests are looking for right on the homepage where they first land.

Here’s what they’re looking for:

A quick look at your Lead Pastor, so put a 2 minute video from him introducing himself, sharing something personal about himself, a quick statement of the church vision and an invitation to watch last weeks service online and click on the “get an answer” button if you’d like an answer to a question or get more info. Remember what they want to figure our about your pastor: Do I like him? Do I relate with him? Can I understand him?

A video of last week’s service, so put it write under the pastors intro video so they see it clearly and can get an idea what your service feels like, what you all really look like (“is there anybody here like me?”) and what the current message series is.

Answers to questions that matter to them. Put that “get an answer” button in a prominent place so that when they click it, they can type their question and choose whether they want to get their answer from a person via live chat, text or email. If you can get their contact info, you can design a drip campaign to invite them to a live service online or otherwise and make them feel like they know someone by name through personal texts or email replies.

Remember: she’s not your girlfriend till you got her phone number and they’re not your guest until you have their contact info. Getting their contact info allow you to begin building a relationship with them and if you use it wisely, you can get yourself a date!

It is not uncommon for us to get contact info from 10 guests watching on demand midweek. We even get around 5 people making decisions to follow Jesus during the week by text. Our follow up will invite them to Next Steps or Next Step Online at the right time.

2 ways to go deeper

Watch here for more I shared on this topic including what we learned about matching people to online volunteer positions.

Get ready to to receive 4 bonus sessions on assimilating people online, free keynote presentations and new checklists for each part of your assimilation strategy via my Climbing the Assimilayas Video Course for FREE if you already have it (it will all just appear soon when you log in to watch) or included when you purchase the course from now on. Click here for more info.

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Source: How to connect with guests who are watching your services on demand instead of live (Facebook Live summary session 9)

The post How to connect with guests who are watching your services on demand instead of live (Facebook Live summary session 9) appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Greg Curtis: The quarantine has made it easier than ever to access good teaching about Jesus and the life his death and resurrection makes possible. It has not made it easier however to connect with others to experience that life everyday.

Or has it?

Sherpas-leaders at your church are the ones who help guests reach the summit of a full connection with God and others. How much more are they needed when the guests are climbing the “cyberssimilayas?”

Here are some things we learned about connecting people during the quarantine that we never anticipated. I chatted about these for a half hour on facebook live last week (watch that here) and he is a brief summary of that chat.

Four lessons learned after the 3rd weekend of doing church exclusively online:

Decide on an online gift for guests that has value for them

Our guests leads online are staying between 25 and 40 per weekend. Though much lower than when we physically gathered, we are getting traction by offering a free 5 minute daily video from Gene Appel (our Senior Pastor) to start their day. It’s informal and from his home while he is under quarantine as well. It is important to make sure the video is offered to guests after they experience Gene and know him enough to want to hear from him more.

Determine your new way of recording attendance.

The number of devices logged-in during services has replaced the number of people on campus for our weekly attendance number.

The trouble is there are multiple people watching your service from one device, sometimes just one. Andy Stanley and others have data to support that your real worship attendance in this new world is the number of devices logged-in times 1.7.

Another discovery was that our average time a device was logged-on our website was 22 minutes but only 2 minutes through facebook (no clue why. If you have a clue, let us know in the comments at the bottom). So we subtract facebook attendance from the total altogether.

So our equation for weekend attendance now looks like this:

All Devices times 1.7 minus Facebook =total weekend attendance

Drop your most important ask in the sermon.

If the average attender is staying 22 minutes, odds are they are logging-in late and leaving early. That means that if you make your announcements before or at the the beginning or your service or at the end, they will not be heard.

So pick your most important “Ask” and have your Lead Pastor share it at the beginning or appropriate part of his message.

Develop an engagement pathway not an engagement pitstop for guests online.

When we went online, we fell back into the “engagement pitstop” plan most churches invite their guests into when they gather physically. Pitstops are places you stop to take care of an issue but that’s it. They are one-offs that lead no where else and it is easy to offer announcements that lead to dead ends, offering no clear next steps at the end.

An “engagement pathway” is where you take all your asks of guests that lead to pitstops and begin asking them one at a time in the order that respects the current trust level your guest has with your church.

Not sure what to ask of a guest when? During the Facebook Live, I used this illustration/exercise:

In a dating relationship, what order would you put these asks in?

Saying I love you

Meeting the parents

Spending a day together

Asking them out out a date

Asking for their phone number

Think about it. Mentally put a number next to each bullet point that would put these asks in a reasonable order given where the relationship is at.

You probably noticed that I simply placed these asks in reverse order of what a normal dating relationship would experience.

So if I flip them back in the correct order, you can more easily see the equivalent ask you would initiate in your online relationship with a guest:

Asking for their phone number=Asking for their email at your digital One Place to receive a welcome gift)

Asking them out for a date =Inviting them to your One Program for connecting guests

Spending a day together=Being with them online for all the sessions of your One Program

Meeting the parents=Discussing service with a ministry team leader or attending an online small group for the first time

Saying I love you=Committing themselves to Two Placements on a ministry team and on a small group for the long haul

This creates your engagement pathway, each stop ends with an ask to the next one. Can you also see why asking something too early in the relationship with a guest might result in disengagement?

Engagement, not your Content, will get a guest to return to your church online.

So I also suggested another online engagement idea that is getting traction at Canyon Ridge Church in Las Vegas. It involves inviting guests at the end of a service into 15 minute group chats at the end of the service. I would suggest they wrap around the 3 questions they are asking themselves during the quarantine:

How can I manage my money different during the quarantine?

How can I parent differently during the quarantine?

How can I help someone else in need during this quarantine?

Each chat group could be organized by an expert in your church or on your staff in each area. They could follow a similar format:

Financial Management during Quarantine:

Introduce yourself and set up of Financial Peace University Online

Show the promo video for FPU

Q & A

Share link for sign up. (plan to launch small groups out of the experience)

Parenting during the Quarantine:

Introduce yourself and set up of Online Groups for students

Show the promo video for your online groups for teens (see ours here)

Q & A

Share link for sign up.

How to Help Others during Quarantine

Introduce yourself and set up of Idea of local compassion

Show the promo video for your local compassion efforts (see ours here)

Q & A

Point out how to sign up.

I am very excited to share some things we learned about incorporating text into guest engagement online, the dos and donts of that, and how we ended up with more decisions to follow Jesus than I can ever remember when we met physically. Join me live at Facebook.com/gregcurtis63 8am PST Tuesday April 14.

To hear more about how to increase guest engagement online during this season, let me know here:

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Source: Creating an online engagement pathway, taking attendance online, and more (Facebook Live session 3 summary)

The post Creating an online engagement pathway, taking attendance online, and more (Facebook Live session 3 summary) appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By Greg Curtis: I loved spending 25 minutes on Facebook Live with many of you, sharing what we are learning right now about engaging guests online at my church. I promised a written summary of that discussion with linked resources so here it is!

The session was built on a new conviction for Sherpas leading guests toward the summit of a fuller connection with God and others online:

“Engagement, not content will win the day. We will rise and fall during this quarantine on our ability online to engage people in community, not our ability to lead them in worship or deliver a great sermon.”

Here’s why your church’s growth will hinge on guest engagement, not worship services during the quarantine:

There’s too much competition

If someone wants to get a great sermon, they can go online at any other church. In fact, they could google and find the exact message they need to hear by topic. Or, due to the scaleability of the internet, we could all attend Saddleback Church and hear Rick Warren this weekend.

Your teaching still has to be effective. But believe me, no matter how good your sermon is, it is not the primary reason people will stay with your church during the quarantine.

A friend of mine is on the Executive Team of the largest church in his denomination. He did not attend his own church online last Sunday. He attended a small church of 200 online in Central California. Why? Because they know him when he logs on and he can chat with them and pray. He was a part of that church back in the day and loves the connection.

Great services are plentiful on the internet. Great connections are not. Which leads to this reason why online engagement wins the day.

There’s an increased need for community

Families are quarantined, so are singles and seniors. The need to know that we are not alone but part of a community that knows us, cares about us and will be there for us is more important than ever. Online engagement is how people access that now.

To create community for guests online, follow the same “Four Ps” of a successful assimilation strategy that work when churches gather physically: Send guests to One Place to share their contact info for a digital welcome gift. Use that contact info to invite them to a digital expression of your One Program. Incorporate discussion and fun into the experience, designing the program to get guests into Two Process that lead them to Two Placements (an online small group and a digital team to help others locally until we regather physically).

Because name and email is the primary ask of online engagement, there is a 3rd crucial factor to keep in mind…

There’s a huge desire for consolidation

Right now your inbox is full with emails from your kids school, your bank, as well as everyone’s thoughts on living through the quarantine. Let’s not even talk about social media. If you’re a part of a church, you are probably hearing from the pastor via a daily video encouragement, the Communication Team via e-news, and emails from your ministry team leader about the latest digital application of your ministry. Information overload is a distinct sort of stress that people are under right now, so here is how we are addressing it as a church:

We are currently consolidating emails to guest by making our pastor’s daily “video of hope” our free gift. This is in lieu of emailing an Amazon gift card (which is what we did our first week online) followed by emails that invite them to our One Program. It saves money to do this too. We increased our new guest leads from 29 to 40 when we did this.

We are asking staff to list any emails going out to groups of 30 or more on a shared calendar spreadsheet. This is to insure they go out on different days and our paced well so people don’t get overwhelmed with too much communication or redundancy.

This desire for consolidation of information is not just for our guests. It goes for you and I as Sherpa leaders as well. There are so many emails just trying to get my attention focused on the latest thoughts on ministry during the COVID19 crisis that I have decided to only open ones that come from 3 friends/colleagues that I will recommend to you now:

Carey Nieuwhof’s blog (on leadership, assimilation and church online, Carey is Canadian, an author and is a pastor at Connexus Church in Ontario. Love it podcast too)

Danny Franks Connective Tissue (Danny’s laser focused on first impressions and guest services and is from Summit Church in NC)

Jason Young’s Saturday Rundown (A Saturday morning email on hospitality and leadership. Jason was on Andy Stanley’s Exec Team at North Point in GA).

If you are an Executive Pastor or on an Exec Team, than my friend Rich Birch at Unseminary is the one to be listening to. Check out his “COVID19 and the Path Forward Webinar” here.

That’s it for me. Everything else get’s deleted no matter how informative it looks. You need to come up with a quick decision making filter about your inbox during this time. I realize, I may not make the cut! That’s OK. Or you might pick only one or none of my recommendations. You know what resources energize you so open or delete with courage, confidence and wisdom.

The last 2 reminders I gave on the Facebook Live session on Tuesday were these:

With probably around 2 months of not having physical church ahead of you, this may offer the margin you needed to get a new assimilation strategy designed or upgraded. You just need someone to walk you and your team through the necessary steps in 6 online sessions and a checklist. I would love to be that guy and my video course is the ticket. Find out what you need to know to make that decision here.

You can watch the 25 minute video of last Tuesday’s live session on my Facebook page by friending me and watching it on my timeline. Share it with someone who needs it, and join me for the next Facebook live this coming Tuesday at 8am Pacific Standard Time and friend me first at facebook.com/Gregcurtis63.

This week I’ll be taking your questions and covering…

A formula for figuring out what your real attendance is online

What to ask of online guests and when

Ideas for creating an online engagement pathway not just a pitstop.

Much more.

See ya on the climb (even if it’s virtual),

Need this kind of stuff in your inbox once a week or so? I don’t post often so don’t worry. I wont bug you unless I have something new to say! Just let me know below.

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Source: Connecting Guests to your Church Online during the Quarantine (Facebook Live session 2 summary)

The post Connecting Guests to your Church Online during the Quarantine (Facebook Live session 2 summary) appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Greg Curtis: This is me and my daughter Carly making our ascent toward Castle Rock (in the background) above Big Bear Lake California. As we hiked, bouldered and climbed, I had 5 powerful things illustrated to me as a Connector in a local church. Scroll down this photo journal to see what I learned.

1. Adjust your expectations of people.

Arriving at a new destination on a hike or in life takes effort. This was an almost 3 mile round trip hike through beautiful forest and waterfalls, ascending and descending almost 900 feet in elevation. Not impossible by any means, but not a walk in the park either. I often say that connecting at your church and mine is not a coast….it’s a climb! Recalibrating our expectations for guests in terms of their readiness to connect and the challenges they face in becoming a real part of a spiritual family would do us well.

2. Pace the journey.

We have not trained for this in any way so at this altitude, we had to stop and rest to pace ourselves to actually reach our goal instead of turning back in exhaustion. New people at our church cannot connect to a new group of friends or a ministry role by just attending one event. Our assimilation events are not gondola rides to the top: they are a leg in the journey. Give them multiple opportunities to pace each part of the process of connecting for them so they will actually reach the summit at your church and not give up.

3. Crowds make the journey less enjoyable.

Recently, 200+ people arrived at the summit of Everest….at the same time! It made for an impossible situation up there, after a colossal effort by everyone to reach the top. Can you imagine planning for what happened in this photo? When Carly and I went on this hike, we encountered only 2 small groups of people and one dog in 3 hours of hiking. We were alone together most of the time, enjoying having nature to ourselves. Breaking down your connection classes into table groups instead of rows really makes the difference between a more connectable experience and a less enjoyable one.

4. Detours happen.

Plan for it. We decided to boulder up a waterfall instead of take the trail. It was a blast but I had to use my GPS, walk over a long fallen tree trunk to cross a stream and maneuver through unfamiliar territory to get back on the trail afterward. This photo reveals some almost stairway like stones that led out of a stream to get us around a rock fall. Sometimes our guests will have some life happen and not return your contacts to get them trained for a new role. Sometimes they won’t finish your on-boarding sessions and opt to finish at a later date. Plan for it and know what you will do to leverage that rather than just let them go into the sunset unconnected.

5. You need a guide to help you.

Unfortunately, I forgot my hiking boots and ended up in some tennis shoes that had little grip. When we arrived at Castle Rock, I could only get up part of the way safely leaving Carly to finish alone. She kept trying for 30 minutes or so but had trouble finding the best route alone. Out of nowhere came two guys who were like mountain goats hopping up the Rock. They offered to slow down to include her in their ascent. When she arrived at the top, it was glorious! Do you have table hosts, Greeters, and people in your office who will function as personalized guides to walk people through their connection journey? This is needed and the results will be awesome!

1. Which one of these 5 lessons is the most important one for your church right now? Which one is most important for your team? Which one is most important for you?

2. What is an expectation that you or your church have towards guests that is proving to be unrealistic?

3. What are some ways to pace the journey of connection? At what junctures do you find the biggest need for some space to process or a break to catch their breath?

4. Brainstorm some of the possible detours that guests take in their journey to connect at your church. After listing them, determine a planned response or way of leveraging that detour to help them continue their journey toward connecting in a small group or a ministry team.

5. How can you make your connection experience smaller and less crowded for those making the climb?

6. Where is the most strategic and helpful place you can place a Sherpa Guide to insure guest make a full connection at your church?

Source: 5 practical things I learned on a hike help me connect people better at church

The post 5 practical things I learned on a hike help me connect people better at church appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Greg Curtis: Kendra at one of her favorite places to be: Big Bear Lake California.

If you have three children like I do, you have had the concern for the emotional landscape of your child in the middle. My so-called “middle child” is Kendra. She is now 24.

Kendra was wedged in the birth order between two big personalities. Her older brother Chase is a 7 wing 6 and can absorb most of the attention in any room he walks into with his ridiculous sense of humor. Her little sister Carly (who I wrote about in the post about Fives at your church) was determined to not be left out of anything her siblings where experiencing, especially if it involved her mother.

The pleasant surprise? Kendra never clamored for the attention that her baby sister required or that Chase seemed to attract. She was content being in the background and loved helping create structure for the other two as they “did their thang”.

Kendra grew up helping organize our family nights, going to chef school, and as an adult planning menus and cooking wonderful meals in our home. She loves creating moments and organizing trips for friends whether traveling abroad or over coffee. As an Art Education Major, she leads workshops on calligraphy and watercolor at wineries and boutiques. She continually suggests fun activities that could be on the calendar “once a month” or “annually”. She is kind, funny, loves to serve others, and is slow to advocate for herself or to say anything bad about someone else.

Oh, and about every four months, she reorganizes the garage and rearranges her room.

Why? Because Kendra is a 9 and I could not be more grateful.

How a Type Nine sees their world

A Nine (known as The Peacemaker), see the world as a potentially chaotic place where conflict can easily erupt between otherwise good people.

That’s why Nines are known to…

Kendra and I (She’s the one hiding behind her cup of coffee) on top of a rock we climbed up at Bluff Lake Reserve. She brought the caffeine.

Wear a Cloak of invisibility. Harry Potter is not the only person who possess one. Nines come equipped with one and would prefer to wear it whenever there is conflict and wherever there is someone who enjoys taking the stage.

Take the other side. Nines are known as the “devil’s advocates”, largely due to their desire for people to live at peace with each other. If someone is angry with a particular person, they will instinctively find the upside of that person in an effort to smooth the tension. As you can imagine, that doesn’t always work.

Express their anger through stubbornness. You may remember from the chart on my post on Threes that Nines are surprisingly part of the Anger Triad of the enneagram. Where Eights will express their anger aggressively and Ones express it resentfully, Nines will express it passively through a stubbornness that is unparalleled in any other Type. While agreeing with your input to avoid conflict with you, they will inwardly dig in their heels and remain anchored in their position.

Be optimistic and trusting. In an effort to continually make peace, Nines see the silver lining in every cloud, the upside to every situation, and the best side of even the most negative person. They will explain away (or try to get your help in brainstorming) why and how a person could possibly do/say what they do. All this is an effort to understand them and potentially remove the barb of open conflict in the relationship.

Are out of touch with their emotions. Living outside of their emotions is what helps them keep a peaceful equilibrium both inside and outside themselves. As a result, Nines join Threes in being the last to know how they are doing emotionally. It doesn’t mean that they are flat or expressionless. They can be extremely excited, passionate, or indignant. Just not in ways that will risk dissolving peace between themselves and others.

Create order and contentment wherever they go. Nines have little to no tolerance for confusion or for a vacuum. They will fill the vacuum almost immediately by creating a plan, cleaning up a mess, or charting a new course. They enjoying meaningful routines and do not like changing their way of doing things. This makes them the Type most known for loving the outdoors-embracing the peace, order, consistency, beauty and focus it brings.

As a 9, Kendra not only loves the outdoors, she loves taking others there too. Look at the difference in reaction of the Peace Maker to the lovely bird, and the reaction of her sister Carly who is a 5 (The Investigator).

So how does all this make a Nine feel when they walk into your church this weekend?

How a Nine experiences your church

Nines see your church as an invitation. As people who are prone to the comfort of the back seat, they can be either touched by an invitation to sit in the front seat or intimidated. Nines are people who value their anonymity, but also hope for a comfortable and familiar connection when they experience a church. They inwardly hope to be included, but not in a way that risked upsetting anyones apple cart. They do not usually initiate their own inclusion but look for someone to invite them into community in a non public way.

Dos and Don’ts for for connecting a Type Nine

Do: Personally invite them.

Guests who are Nines have a positive reaction to most personal invitations. Whether through a note, a text or a voicemail, Nines are often touched by someone who reaches out to them individually.

Make these invitations count by being specific and strategic. Invite them to your one program for connecting guests and look for a way to seat them with someone they know to make things feel more familiar.

Don’t: Single them out.

Singling out a Nine in front of others is not an invitation. It’s intimidation. They do not like to be pointed out in front of a group.

This also impacts volunteer placement for Nines.

Kendra sings on our worship team and plays keys. Her biggest challenge can be visibly commanding the stage to lead others in worship when her comfort zone is focusing on the music she is creating. This is how Nines usually operate. Don’ts for volunteer placement include:

Asking them to lead. Peacemakers do not naturally like to take charge of other people as that means plenty of opportunities for conflict.

Asking them to spontaneously do something in front of other people. One of their joys in life comes from serving people through a job well done. For them, this comes through adequate and thoughtful preparation.

Leaving them alone to figure it out. Because clarity and order are part of how Peacemakers insure harmony, they can become paralyzed if you give them a mandate to figure out how they should do something in a new role for them. They want to please and do it well so give them a road map and they will be thrilled.

Onboarding them just before a major change. Wait till the new way of doing things has been determined or the new staff person in charge of the area is in place. It can be very frustrating to change averse Nines to figure out what serves people well only to have it dismantled or to start from scratch with somebody new. Though they may have good input ahead of time, bring them in to serve once the road has been cleared, not before.

So what then is the “Superpower” of a Nine on a volunteer team?

The super power of a Nine on a volunteer team is their ability to create order and harmony. They makes them fantastic team members and assistants. They are effective admins extending their peace through order and process. They are at home with behind the scenes roles but can serve up front with adequate preparation. They are great “welcomers and hospitality people (think customer service here) and love to make a great impression on new people and the people who have been around a long time. They know how to do it too! They are faithful and will serve in the same role for a long time if they a watered a little with appreciation and feel they are part of a consistent team and task.

My observation is that Nines are attracted to the teaching profession . You can see how having your own class of students following the processes and order you have created would appeal to a Nine. The atmosphere of harmony and fun they create is attractive to students of all ages and super important for kids.

Kendra making friends like only a 9 can.

Kendra went to culinary school and excelled, even won awards. Then she went to work at a restaurant. That atmosphere surrounding kitchens is high stress and sometimes contentious. She dropped out of culinary school and pursued worship leading next. Her experience in dealing with musicians, her desire to create order for them and her aversion to conflict made the worship part, not the leading part her sweet spot.

Now she is pursuing a teaching degree to become an Art and English teacher for high school. She has an online business called The Fleur Wreath that has been quite successful as she leads calligraphy and water color workshops at boutiques, wineries, and her studio. She works with all ages, written a short book on how to learn calligraphy, and creates a great environment for budding artists.

Kendra has found her sweet spot professionally and in ministry at our church. Helping a Nine find his or her’s in your church will be well worth the effort.

As I wrap up this enneagram series, look in my upcoming posts in August for this:

5 practical things I learned to connect guest from a hike I went on.

9 ways to minimize attendance drops at your assimilation program if it has multiple sessions.

A cool enneagram resource for your marriage based on you and your spouse’s numbers.

A preview of a new resource I am releasing in the Fall that will include an test to determine the enneagram number of our church, its connect-ability factor to certain types, and a checklist for eliminating your church’s vulnerabilities in connecting with any number.

See you on the climb!

Do you have unmet needs for admin type or organization help during events, programs, or at your office? Do serving in these areas offer a relational environment for Nines to connect with others and feel a sense of belonging?

Having you ever put a super talented Nine in a leadership position? How did it go? What did you learn? What did they learn?

In what ways could you create more personal invitations to serve that a Nine might respond well to at your church?

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Source: How a Type 9 on the Enneagram experiences your church and how to connect them

The post How a Type 9 on the Enneagram experiences your church and how to connect them appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Greg Curtis: Charles and is son Rainier.

As a Three, people who want to kick the tires once the truck is moving, can just be in my way.

Not Charles Stoicu.

Charles can walk into a room and rally people, silently lead people through others he is raising up to lead, assess an event or a process that needs to improve, and speak up in a meeting to point out the elephant in the room.

I have come to appreciate Charles, value his input, and love he and his family in a special way.

Charles came into my life when he was dating a valuable team member. Phylicia Norris was a dynamo on our Build Community Team and her thinking and hard work as lift a mark on us to this day. When she married Charles and had their son Rainier, she left our team to be a full time mom.

I have been mad at Charles ever since!

Charles likes to challenge us. Questions like “Why are we…”, “Why did we…”, and “How will we…” are often asked in a polite but direct and courageous way.

Why does Charles relentlessly ask the hard questions make the tough statements? Because Charles is an Eight.

How a Type Eight sees their world

An Eight sees the world as a wrong that needs to be righted, but not in the same way as a One. Ones are driven to improve situations and systems that are underperforming. Eights see people who are being affected or disenfranchised and are driven to remove what is causing that injustice and boldly replace it with something that will insure it doesn’t happen again.

Charles and his awesome wife, Phylicia.

That’s why an eight are known for these characteristics:

Eights are Challengers. They look around an organization, movement or endeavor and see what is keeping things from happening that would make the most difference for people. They will bring up opposing views, unspoken needs, sacred cows and hidden agendas faster than any other number on the enneagram.

Eights are Bomb droppers. In order for their cause to be served, Eights will often exaggerate a point when they make it, kind of like a cold bucket of water in the face to insure that proper attention is being given to something they see as important. It’s not that they are trying to be deceitful in any way. It is just part of their communication style. They will make statements in church staff meetings like:

“I think we did more harm than good yesterday”

“People won’t find Jesus in an environment where that is allowed to happen”

“There is a disconnect between what we want to accomplish and what we just did”

“I think we just took a big step backwards”

Eights have a soft inside. Many are surprised to find a very sensitive person inside the skin of an Eight. They can be unsure of their value and where they stand in a social circle or network and can feel very affected by that insecurity though you would never know it by their bold actions and courageous positions. Only those who have gained their deep trust will ever know about that softer and sensitive interior.

Eights are Defenders of injustice. It could be easy to see an Eight as a bully. They are not. They defend the ones who are bullied or forgotten. They will take up the cause of an underdog like a super hero does a child sitting on a train track when someone can hear a distant whistle blowing.

Eights are not controlling, they just don’t like to be controlled. This is one of the most profound insights among many that Ian Morgan Cron writes about in his book The Road Back to You. Cron dispels the common notion that the motive of an eight is to always be in control of their environment. It is an Eights desire to not be controlled that is behind most of their actions and they will often take charge to avoid that. As a result, Eights would rather lead than follow any day.

All this makes a guest who is an Eight experience your church in an interesting way…

How Eights experience your church

Eights see your church and mine as a tire to be kicked. Again, not like a One who is inspecting the functionality of systems almost like a engineer would. Eights, what to see if you really mean what you say.

For instance, if you say you are a church for everybody and certain groups of people are being alienated by the unintended consequences of your efforts. you will get some questions and bold statements from an Eight in your assimilation environments. Likewise, if you are boldly addressing issues that have left people and results by the wayside, Eights will champion your cause and invite others into it.

As tire-kickers, they may see themselves or others they know as able to address those issues before they even have the clout to be invited into them. For most, these thoughts represent the conversations going on in their heads that await the right moment when they decide an issue is worth their energy.

Dos and Don’ts for for connecting a Type Eight

Do: Give them a safe place to kick the tires and process their faith.

Challengers challenge. It’s what they do. When they kick the tires on something (sometimes by dropping a “bomb statement”), consider yourself having been kissed by an Eight. They have given you a gift by sharing not only what they see, but their slight exaggeration has exposed an area of their passion and a place of improvement in your ministry.

Rarely will any other number on the Enneagram give you that same gift. So make a safe place for them to share what they see and train Table Hosts and leaders in your church to know how to handle statements that may cause offense, in a non-defensive way.

Don’t: Argue with them, especially in front of other guests.

Taking in their assessments may mean at some point correct wrong information. When that happens, don’t go toe to toe with them, especially in front of others. Especially in front of guests! They are wired to defend a cause and protect someone/something in need so if you are concerned that an incorrect position is energizing their conversations, meet one on one with them and use the Sandwich Technique (Compliment, Critique, Compliment) to honor their secret inner softness. Just don’t spend too long on the opening compliment: they smell a technique coming and to not appreciate mind games. It can potentially make them feel controlled or manipulated.

What is the “Superpower” of an Eight on a volunteer team?

They are advocates. They are the kind you want to take over a ministry for a group of people that have been neglected for some time. They will rally those people, make them believe in themselves as valuable, and will make sure that they are remembered, noticed and embraced by the church at large.

So if you have a segment of your church that needs a ministry “revived” to address their needs (think Young Adults, Seniors, a youth ministry after a difficult transition, etc.), then Eights are your go to at making that happen as they advocate for people, underdogs and causes really well.

However, since we are talking largely about guests and people new to your church, I would caution you about putting them in charge of something under these circumstances:

Before they are ready spiritually.

Before you are ready to have that area fully addressed and resourced.

Before you have won their trust and they have won yours.

Before you have assessed their emotional intelligence in dealing with others.

Charles and some of the young adults and Interns he serves.

Observe their emotional intelligence first because an Eight who hasn’t acquired the EQ to work with and develop other leaders can really upset the apple cart. Try them out in some rolls where you can see them interact with people and when you sense they have the spiritual chops and EQ for leading in your church culture, entrust something important to them and watch it develop into a force to be reckoned with.

I remember Charles volunteering as a greeter when he came to Eastside. Energized by a Seven wing, this Seminary educated and equipped young leader was blowing me away as he interacted with people of every stripe, age, and life stage as they walked through the entrance of our church. Kids looked forward to encountering him at the door. Seniors, loved being welcomed by him. Young families had meaningful conversations with him. But young adults were exceptionally engaged by him.

When the position of Director of Young Adults came open at our church, he was the logical choice and and that ministry has quintupled since he took it on. He is not just their pastor, he is the Advocate for young adults and Young Adult Ministry at my church.

More importantly from my point of view, Charles has been a catalyst for developing young leaders and connect young adults to meaningful areas of ministry. Young adults are table leaders at Next Steps, on the stage leading worship, serving coffee at our cafe, interning in our ministry. The most prolific thing is that from his Young Adult Ministry we call “Ethos” has even come the Campus Pastor of our new Redlands Campus-Matt Feldcamp who I spoke of in the Type One post in this Enneagram series.

It should be no surprise that Charles now leads our Intern Program at Eastside. It has become a well oiled machine for young adults that want to invest in ministry and have others invest in them (something Charles insures we do in a variety of ways).

I am grateful that God led Charles our way and that he is part of our extended family. Look for and out for the Eights who are coming to your church. You will be glad you did.

On a 1 to 5 scale, how well do you work with people who like to challenge you and the status quo? What have you learned about yourself or ministry that caused you to pick that number?

In what area could the leadership of your church benefit from someone kicking the tires right now? Name 3 suspected Eights, at least one that is newer to the church, to focus group with over coffee to help you identify issues surrounding an underperforming area of ministry.

How would you describe the onboarding journey of an Eight from being a first time guest at your church to becoming a key leader in your church’s ministry? What would it look like now? What should it look like in the future?

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Source: How a Type 8 on the Enneagram experiences your church and how to connect them

The post How a Type 8 on the Enneagram experiences your church and how to connect them appeared first on Passion for Planting.

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Source: Three Characteristics of Church Planting Systems

The post Three Characteristics of Church Planting Systems appeared first on Passion for Planting.