by unSeminary: Thanks for listening in to this week’s unSeminary podcast! Today we are joined by Jim Sheppard, CEO of Generis. Generis is in the business of helping churches and ministry organizations with giving development. They’ve been around for a little over 30 years and are most known for their giving campaigns as well as coaching churches in developing an ongoing culture of generosity.

Jim is with us today to talk about what he’s seeing as he speaks with a broad spectrum of churches across the country, and how churches can plan well financially for an unknown future.

Be intentional about the offering. // Around March 15, 2020 the coronavirus shutdown caused nearly all churches across the country to suddenly shift to remote services, leaving many unprepared as to how to handle the offering. As a result that first weekend was terrible financially for many churches. They didn’t pay enough attention to the giving moment during their online-only services, instead assuming that people would just “get it”. Suddenly giving dropped by 80% for some churches and they realized that if this trend continued while they couldn’t physically meet, they’d be broke in a matter of weeks. During moments like these, it’s important for churches to be specific when talking about the offering, and don’t assume that people who don’t give electronically will suddenly start doing so. Make a plan ahead of time so people have options and understand what they are.Increase your online giving. // Since the initial lockdown, many churches have seen a surge in giving. Not only has their giving returned to normal, it may be even better than where it was last year at this time. The churches that have made online giving easy have faired the best in this season. There are many robust options for third party online giving that are currently available to nonprofits. Make it a point to encourage more people at your church to give digitally to avoid the types of interruptions that can come during this type of season.Get an accurate picture of your giving. // Jim’s concern for churches right now is that people might be getting a little too comfortable with the giving rhythms that they’re seeing. When the government liquidity gets pulled out of the market, what new dynamics will we need to pay attention to? Some of your core donors may have stepped up in this season and given what they’ve committed to earlier than planned, but it may not change the overall picture at the end of the year. Take the one time surge of giving out of your numbers so you can discern how well giving is really going at your church.Build your reserves. // Take this season to be building your reserves. If your giving seems to be going well and your expenses are down while you’re not regathering, then take that money and put it aside as much as you can. You should have a minimum of three months worth of reserves. Think in terms of what thirteen weeks of reserves looks like for you. Setting aside reserves will help your church not to panic when you encounter times like the current one. Furthermore, make sure that you have a policy for spending reserves in addition to accumulating reserves. You don’t want to strip all of your cash out, but if you need some extra, it’s there for you.Increase revenue. // If your church isn’t in a place where you have extra to put aside for reserves, it’s time for the pastor to begin to cast vision around why this is important in order for the church to continue its mission. Cast vision to your higher capacity givers and your faithful core givers in particular because this message, while not glamorous, will really resonate with them.Plan for the worst. // Be prepared with an action plan before you might ever see a dip in giving. Determine what specific numbers will kick things into action and model out what this will look like through the end of the year. How will you cover your expenses? How will you continue to flourish and thrive? Plan now for a worst case scenario so that you aren’t behaving in a reactive way if it ever happens. Having a plan A, B and C enables you to be proactive no matter what scenario you encounter.

To learn more about Generis and how they can help your church, visit their website at generis.com or ” target=”_blank”>email Jim. You can also download their ebook Beyond: Forward Focus, Planning the Critical Next Seasons for Your Ministry.

Thank You for Tuning In!

There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they’re extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally!

Lastly, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live!

Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Portable Church Industries

Doing Church in a Rented Facility can be a Challenge.

Questions about Multisiting or Portability?Click here to connect with our Multisite Specialist for a free evaluation.

Source: Navigating Your Church’s Next Financial Phase with Jim Sheppard

The post Navigating Your Church’s Next Financial Phase with Jim Sheppard appeared first on Passion for Planting.

Source: Multisite Churches After COVID-19

The post Multisite Churches After COVID-19 appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Patrick Bradley: The US government has approved a stimulus package to help small businesses and nonprofits across the country. And it’s OK to use the Payroll Protection Program for church plants.

Have you seen the daily webinars about this? It’s been a fast moving target since the government wrote it, approved it and enacted it in about a week. Everybody’s scrambling to interpret and understand how it works and what to do.

Part of the larger CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security), loans are offered to small businesses, nonprofit and churches to help prevent layoffs and pay cuts. And the loans may be forgiven up to 100%. Others have done a better job of explaining the ins and outs of the Payroll Protection Program for church plants (see below), so I won’t duplicate that here.

It feels a bit like the California Gold Rush. The government has funded $350B, but that’s not nearly enough to provide relief for all the businesses, nonprofits and churches that will be applying. So it’s going to be a first come, first served situation.

After much watching and reading, here are my…

Tips & Tactics

Finish your research yesterday

This all happened so fast, but many fellow believers have already put together some great resources. Here are resources that helped me:

Vanderbloemen’s various Live events and free resourcesECFA CARES Impact on ChurchesUS Chamber of Commerce Emergency Loans Guide & Checklist

Talk to your bank on Thursday, April 2

They are scrambling to be ready same as everybody else. And you want to deal with a banker that’s up to speed and ready to go when the program opens on Friday, April 3.

The program is backed by the US Small Business Administration (SBA), but administered by banks and other lenders.

Make an appointment to come back with your application Friday morning.

Have your paperwork ready on Thursday, April 2

Download and complete the Paycheck Protection Program Application Form and get it filled out. They only just made it available Tuesday evening, March 31.

Dig up all of your payroll expenses back to February 2019. To help compile everything, here is a free spreadsheet from my friend Sean Havera at Unite Community Church. He built this for the Payroll Protection Program for church plants and offers it as-is and on condition that you consult with your accountant and/or lender on all final calculations.

Download free PPP calculation spreadsheet

You’ll be averaging your payroll from last year. Common opinion is that if you haven’t been running payroll that long, you can average the months that you did have payroll expenses. That’s great for the newest church planters!

Apply at your bank Friday Morning, April 3

Seriously, you want to be at the front of the line.

If you’ve decided to apply, I hope these tips & tactics help with applying for the Payroll Protection Program for church plants.

The post Payroll Protection Program for Church Plants – Tips & Tactics appeared first on Church Planting Tactics.

Source: Payroll Protection Program for Church Plants – Tips & Tactics

The post Payroll Protection Program for Church Plants – Tips & Tactics appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by unSeminary: As a church leader, are you wondering how you’re going to make this year’s budget?

Have you looked at your donations and felt concerned they’re running behind?

It seems like every time I talk to church leaders the topic of increasing revenue comes up. It’s understandable because oftentimes funding is the only thing standing between our vision and its execution. Donations can definitely enable more ministry opportunities; however, I’d like to challenge you to stop thinking about ways to increase revenue if you don’t already have a robust system in place to thank your current donors.

It’s our opportunity and our responsibility as a church to thank the people who have chosen to invest in our ministry. Those who give to your church are actively choosing to give to your ministry. Whatever your philosophy on giving, the reality is that the donors who fund your ministry also encounter a number of other giving opportunities on a regular basis. The fact that they’ve opted to support your ministry is pretty amazing. Rather than outlining another way to increase revenue, we need talk about how to show our appreciation for those who already give.

You see, people often repeat what gets rewarded. We all know this from what happens when we motivate our team members, whether they be staff or volunteers. However, the same is true for our donors. If people feel acknowledged and appreciated, they are more likely to give to your ministry in the future.

Now, I’m not talking about putting little brass plates on every object at your church saying, “Generously donated by Mr. Han Solo and Ms. Leia Organa.” An elegant process built around thanking people who give to you church can both acknowledge and show appreciation to them at the same time.

First-time Donors

While Scripture is clear that Christians have a responsibility to give back and help push the ministry forward, many of those who attend our churches on a regular basis don’t contribute financially. The internal life change going on within a person who chooses to give up a portion of their income and invest it in your ministry is nothing short of profound. And so, we want to go out of our way to make a big deal about people who have chosen to give for the very first time.

Here are a few ways you could acknowledge and show appreciation to this amazing group of people:

Take the time to write a handwritten card. This would be a terrific opportunity for the pastor to say thanks and express that the church is honored the donor has chosen to give to its ministry.Send a letter of appreciation. It sounds simple, but it’s the best place to start. Have someone in leadership thank the donor, explain the vision of the church, and give the donor an opportunity to reach out with any questions about how their donations are being used.Give a thoughtful token of thanks. Many churches will give a small gift to help reinforce the idea that we don’t just want something from our donors—we actually want to give them something in return that can help them continue to manage their resources well. Books such as Randy Alcorn’s The Treasure Principle or Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover are practical and useful examples of this kind of gift.

Initial Recurring Donors

At some point, people will choose to go from giving occasionally to giving regularly. You might notice this in a monthly report that lists regular gifts that match the month before; it may show up when those who give online choose a recurring option rather than a one-time option. However, these regular contributors can sometimes feel neglected as our systems don’t have a way to acknowledge their donations every few months.

Take notice of the donors who choose to give on a regular basis, and let them know you notice their generosity and are so thankful that they’re choosing to give in this way. Some churches will not only send a note or a letter of appreciation when someone sets up recurring giving, but they’ll also have their system track various levels of gifts or the number of months that people give recurrently. For instance, at three months of giving a phone call from someone within the financial services department might be appropriate. After a full year, the pastor might send a handwritten note saying, “Thank you so much for giving monthly over this past year; it’s made a dramatic difference.” Whatever approach you use, establish the good practice of finding regular milestones to connect with recurring donors.

People Who Give to Special Appeals

Can we have a bit of an honest moment? I know that we occasionally find ourselves making a special appeal to those who give to our ministries. Maybe we have a special project we need to fund or we are running behind in a certain area. We build a small campaign where we reach out to our community and invite them to participate in a short-term opportunity that usually goes towards a specific need. Oftentimes, I’ve seen churches invest a lot of time, effort, energy, and even financial resources on the front end of these campaigns with little leftover for showing appreciation to funders afterwards.

I want to challenge you to spend as much time, effort, and energy on acknowledging donors who give to special campaigns as you do on the front end. If you have five or six dessert nights where you call people together to ask them to give to a special opportunity, you can certainly turn around and have a gratitude barbecue to thank those who contributed to your campaign.

Stock Donation Donors

There will be a segment of your community that may give various negotiable assets (including stocks and bonds) to your church. This is an important group of donors to acknowledge; these individuals are literally giving a piece of their future to the church. Unlike income that’s replenishable every month, when people choose to give you a stock today, they’re giving you future earning potential. People could choose to hold onto these assets as revenue-makers for their own personal futures, but they’re choosing to give it to your ministry instead.

This is an important, tactical area to thank, because a large percentage of all wealth is actually contained within equity like this rather than within income. Develop the habit of acknowledging and thanking people who choose to give equity to your church. This best practice can go a long way. I would suggest making a personal phone call (or adding some kind of personal touch) as these individuals are giving at a deeply generous level when they decide to give from their future potential earnings. We want to make sure that we match the emotional intensity of that gift in our appreciation.

Other Organizations

From time to time, other nonprofits or businesses in town will make donations to your church. These gifts are important because they represent a group of people within a business supporting the work of your church.

Sometimes gifts like this are a risk for the organization or business because there are many other opportunities for them to give to within the locality. Other nonprofits—like hospitals and food banks—do an incredible job of publicly acknowledging these gifts. With that in mind, take the time to reach out to the leadership of the organization and ask them how you can publicly speak about this gift. Let them decide the best way to make any form of public acknowledgement.

Core Donors

There are a group of donors who give a disproportionate percentage of your budget. This small group funds a sizable portion of what makes your ministry happen. These individuals need a regular connection with the leadership of your church to help them continue to invest in your ministry. It’s not a matter of giving this group special treatment; rather, it’s about encouraging them in the amazing gift they have. The Bible is pretty clear that some people have the gift of giving, and our job as leaders is to help everyone develop their spiritual gifts. If you don’t acknowledge or work with someone who has the gift of giving, it would be as if someone had the gift of teaching and you denied them opportunities to use and grow those gifts or failed to provide feedback on the difference their teaching is making.

I’ve found that coordinating regular meals with the top 20 to 50 donors at your church is a best practice in this area. You don’t need to overdo this, but if every one of those donors had a meal with a core leader (if not the lead pastor of your church) on an annual basis, the relationship that develops through that interaction will help the church continue to thrive. The conversation around the meal isn’t all about finances or the fact that someone’s given. In fact, I think 95% of the time together is simply about getting to know them, understanding what’s happening in their world, finding out how you can pray for them, and understanding their business.

Then in the last 5% of your time together, let the donor know how thankful you are for their investment in the ministry and ask them if they any questions about the church and its areas of growth. This will give them an opportunity to ask questions that they may feel a little bit sheepish about asking in other forums. Again, you’re not giving these people special treatment or special influence over the church. You are acknowledging that their gifts are making a profound difference, and you want to make sure they have access to the information they need to continue to feel comfortable investing in the church.

A bonus tip for this group: After you’ve had lunch with one of these donors, why not ask to come and see their place of work? You’d be amazed what happens when church leaders ask to visit a donor’s workplace. They’re always coming to your place of work, and it’s a great blessing for them if you return the favor. A lot of people love to show off their work environments and introduce you to the various people they work with. It also gives you more insight into how they lead and what’s happening in their world.

Which type of donor do you need to thank today?

Taking time to thank donors is critically important for the future of your church. We want to acknowledge the amazing work that God’s doing in people’s hearts as they choose to invest in our ministries, and you want your people to know how thankful you are for their gifts.

Which area do you need to invest more time, effort, and energy into? How can you develop a more robust strategy to thank donors? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Download PDF Article

Source: 6 Types of Donors Your Church Should Regularly Thank

The post 6 Types of Donors Your Church Should Regularly Thank appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by NewChurches.com: When starting your fourth campus, your strategy may change, but your vision and values should stay the same.

In Episode 270 of the NewChurches Q&A Podcast, Daniel and Todd discuss things to consider when planting your fourth site. Here’s Howard with today’s question:

We are a three-site church and are considering a fourth campus. How do we keep the cost down and the focus on mission?

In this episode, you’ll discover:

The massive shift that happens when going from three campuses to four or five campuses.
How reducing the scope of ministry automatically reduces financial cost.

Shareable Quotes (#NewChurches):

“As you consider starting a fourth campus, take a good hard look at governance, decision rights, and communication.”–@ToddAdkins
“When starting a new campus, you want to focus on the leaders that are going with you, the lost in the community you are going, and making sure that you have everything you need to reach those people effectively.”–@ToddAdkins
“There’s a big difference between your vision, strategy, and values.”–@danielsangi
“When it comes to different sizes of campuses and starting the next campus, you want to make sure that your vision and values are consistent. But your strategy may differ depending on size.”–@danielsangi
“What are your values that are going to persists regardless of the strategy that you use to get to the vision that God’s called you to?”–@danielsangi

Additional Resources:

Check out our Moving Toward Multisite Course
Take a look at our Essential Campus Pastoring Course 
Listen to Episode 30: Daughter Churches, Governance, and Decisions
Read this post about Resisting Spiritual Colonialism & Ambulance Chasing

Help us Multiply the Mission:

Please subscribe
Leave a rating and review on iTunes
Ask a question by clicking Send Voicemail on the right hand side of NewChurches.com
If you’re on a phone or a tablet, then go to www.speakpipe.com/newchurches to download the app and record your message
When you’re recording, introduce yourself and your context in about 15 seconds and then record your question for 30 seconds

The post Episode 270: Dynamics of Starting a Fourth Site appeared first on NewChurches.com – Church Planting, Multisite, and Multiplication.

Source: Episode 270: Dynamics of Starting a Fourth Site

The post Episode 270: Dynamics of Starting a Fourth Site appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Patrick Bradley: Some church groups and denominations have set up an umbrella 501c3 exemption for their churches. There are pros and cons for your church plant if you choose this option.

501c3 is the official nonprofit, tax-exempt status of a charity that allows you to accept charitable donations, issue donation receipts, and not pay taxes as an organization.

There are 3 ways to get a 501c3 exemption for your church plant:

Rely on the automatic blanket exemption
Apply for your own Determination Letter
Use an umbrella 501c3 exemption

The Umbrella 501c3 Exemption

The idea of the umbrella 501c3 exemption is that a denomination or parent organization applies for a special group exemption for their churches. Individual congregations don’t have to apply to the IRS. The denomination keeps track of which churches are part of their fellowship and issues some kind of annual accounting to the IRS.

Each congregation stills incorporates individually, adopts their own bylaws and all that. But they get a copy of the denomination’s 501c3 Exemption Letter and something on denomination letterhead that says, “they’re one of us.”

Umbrella 501c3 Exemption Pros

For the church plant, this is a way faster. Like same-day faster: all you need is the paperwork (above) from the denomination and you’re good to go. Those applying to the IRS directly can expect to wait as much as 6 months to hear back.

And your denomination probably won’t charge you anything. The IRS charges $850 to review your 501c3 application when you apply individually.

Umbrella 501c3 Exemption Cons

The drawback for church plants is that it often creates confusion when you go to ask for charitable donations. Which can happen in 2 ways:

The business you’re courting doesn’t understand why the name on the Exemption Letter (the denomination) doesn’t match your church’s name
The application is online and they can’t find your church’s EIN in the IRS database (only your denomination’s EIN is listed there) – donors like Google and TechSoup don’t seem to make accommodations for this

Other Considerations

You will owe some kind of monthly or annual report to your denomination. They have to keep track of the churches under their umbrella or risk losing the group exemption. Reporting isn’t inherently good or bad – it provides communication, connection and accountability while creating administrative burden. But you should be creating some kind of reporting on your metrics anyway.

There may also be an expectation that you share resources back to the denomination. That can be a very Kingdom-minded thing to do; the collective shared resources of a group of churches can accomplish a lot of good.

One way for you to approach this if you’re part of a denomination or group like this is to join their umbrella 501c3 exemption from day one. Then at any later point you can apply directly for an individual exemption and your very own Determination Letter.

But time is money: The IRS applications aren’t getting any cheaper and every year you delay is a year you won’t qualify for some donations. Also, it’s easier to apply early in the life of your church – brand new churches get to submit proposed budgets, but established churches have to submit financial reports & history.

So pay your money, take your choice.

The post Should You Use Your Group’s Umbrella 501c3 Exemption? appeared first on Church Planting Tactics.

Source: Should You Use Your Group’s Umbrella 501c3 Exemption?

The post Should You Use Your Group’s Umbrella 501c3 Exemption? appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Patrick Bradley: When a business or individual donates something, send them a church donor acknowledgement letter for their tax records.

A local coffee shop has generously offered to provide coffee and muffins for your workers at a community service event. How exciting! All they want in return is a tax receipt so that they can write off the donation when they file their business return next year.

One of the first financial systems you set up for your church is keeping track of cash tithes & offerings so you can mail out giving statements to your supporters and members. You can include non-cash donations in those annual giving statements, but the receipt you give them right away is different when the donation isn’t monetary (cash/check/ACH/card).

The Church Donor Acknowledgement Letter

All other things being roughly equal, I see 2 main differences in a church donor acknowledgement letter:

No Dollar Amount

You describe the donation but do not valuate it. That actually makes your job a whole lot easier. It’s up to the donor to determine its value when they file their taxes. All you have to do is record what was given.

Different Disclaimer

For tithes and offerings to a church, you should include the language:

No good or services were provided by our organization in consideration of this donation apart from intangible religious benefits.” (or similar)

You finally got that shoe store to donate 20 pairs of shoes to your church for your back-to-school community service project. They should absolutely get a receipt, but they probably didn’t give the shoes for “intangible religious benefit.” Your church donor acknowledgement letter can omit the last part of the disclaimer.

What to Include

According to the IRS, your church donor acknowledgement letter must include:

your church’s name
description (but not value) of the non-cash contribution
a statement that no goods or services were provided by your church

…and I would recommend adding:

a statement that your church is a 501c3 tax-exempt organization
your church’s federal EIN (some people will call this your ‘nonprofit number’)

When This Doesn’t Apply

You’ll need a 3rd version of a donation receipt if you’ve given the donor anything worth more than $10 at the time they made their cash or non-cash donation.

For instance, you do a fundraiser dinner and charge $50 a plate at the door. If the cost of the dinner is $15, you need to disclose that, and they’ll only get to write off $35 on their taxes. Or maybe you send each of your outside supporters a year-end photo book of the life of your church as a special thank-you. Keep it under $10 or it has to go on the giving statement.

There are still plenty of generous individuals and business owners out there willing to do good in the community through a church. There’s no reason you can’t send them a thank you letter that also serves as their tax receipt.

So use these guidelines to draft yours today or check out this free template from Passion for Planting to get you started.

The post How to Write a Church Donor Acknowledgement Letter appeared first on Church Planting Tactics.

Source: How to Write a Church Donor Acknowledgement Letter

The post How to Write a Church Donor Acknowledgement Letter appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By Patrick Bradley: What is the end game for a church plant Management Team? When does a Management Team win?

Understanding the Management Team win is important in recruiting team members and in keeping everyone shooting at the same target. You’ll have a Management Team for several years and even the best teams can experience mission drift.

A Management Team wins when they:

Work Themselves Out of a Job

It’s kind of like being a parent and seeing your teenagers off into the real world. The Management Team provides leadership until the new church can make it on its own in these three ways:

Self-Sustaining

If it’s going to be an autonomous congregation, the church should be able to support itself financially before too long. Many times other congregations represented on the Management Team have shared their resources to get the new church started. But no mother church wants a boomerang church living in their basement.

Self-Governing

The planter needs to raise up leadership from within over the course of a couple of years. Slowly the baton should be passed from the Management Team to the local Elders.

Reproducing

Eventually the mother church wants to have granddaughter churches. Studies continue to show a connection between church plants that get involved early in planting another church and their own health and sustainability.

Head Problems Off at the Pass

In the mean time, the Management Team wins when they have access to enough information to know what’s going on. Their leadership experience and wisdom will help you see opportunities and problems on the horizon and maneuver accordingly. Probably that information takes the form of ministry reports and/or church metrics. If you keep your Management Team in the dark, they’ll won’t be able to help with your real issues.

Your Management Team is an invaluable resource during the first years of your new church. Set them up to win and you’ll win, too!

The post When Does a Management Team Win? appeared first on Church Planting Tactics.

Source: When Does a Management Team Win?

The post When Does a Management Team Win? appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By Patrick Bradley: Autonomous church planters should come under the authority of a church plant Management Team. Here’s what a Management Team is:

The New Testament makes a strong case for congregations being overseen by a plurality of Elders. But when you’re starting a new church from scratch, you won’t have Elders (and typically shouldn’t – more on that below).

There are different models of planting churches, but from a leadership structure standpoint, planters in my circles are starting new, legally autonomous congregations. So all of the leadership systems and structures they experienced in past ministries must be recreated for the new church.

A Management Team will function as your temporary Eldership. I’ll explore those roles in my next post; we’ll stick with form for today.

It Should Be External

Those installed on your church plant Management Team should meet the Biblical qualifications of being Elders. Even if you have a candidate or two that meet that criteria on your initial Launch Team, you should still have an external Management Team.

Ultimately, your ideal local Elders will be people who came to faith as adults at your church plant. They will own your mission & DNA like no other. But it’s important not to install your local Eldership too soon in the church plant for two reasons:

You’re creating a new church culture; transfer Elders will come with another church’s DNA
Promoting new believers to positions of spiritual authority too quickly can be destructive to all parties

Where to Find Them

There are different ways of going about assembling an external Management Team:

If you have strong ties with a local mother/sending church, staff or Elders from that church could serve
If several churches have formed a network to birth your church, a rep from each church could serve
Your mentors and former ministry colleagues could serve

One thing to be sure of, though, is that the team you assemble is able to govern you. You need people who are willing to speak the hard truth to you and call you to account. Don’t assemble a toothless advisory board of yes-men.

Another thing you should strive for is diversity of age, wiring, background, race, etc. We were first called Christians in Antioch, where the leadership was diverse [Acts 13].

How Many Should Serve?

Your Bylaws will spell out how many should be on the team, but it should be no fewer than 3 (especially if it’s you and 2 others). You’re submitting to their collective authority, so you shouldn’t be able to out-vote them.

And especially for a church just getting started that has to move fast and make lots of decisions, I’d suggest not making the team too large. The 11-man squad pictured above would not be ideal.

Long Distance is OK

Though there may be some advantages to your church plant Management Team being local, today’s technology makes virtual meetings incredibly viable. So don’t let geography limit your pool of candidates.

How Often Should They Meet?

Again, this should be outlined in your Bylaws, but at the very beginning, your church plant Management Team will probably need to meet every month for an hour or two. This church plant thing is a moving target and there will be lots of decisions that need to be made quickly.

Up Next:

4 Reasons You Need a Church Plant Management Team
When Does a Management Team Win?

The post What is a Church Plant Management Team? appeared first on Church Planting Tactics.

Source: What is a Church Plant Management Team?

The post What is a Church Plant Management Team? appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Patrick Bradley: Church planters pay for their church plant equipment somewhere on this church plant equipment cost vs time diagram:

The bar continues to be set high for producing worship gatherings here in the US. Lights, sound and projection all come at a cost. To some extent, you get to choose between paying in time or money.

Paying in Money

There are great church equipment package vendors out there ready to help you put together a whole system for your mobile church. They will consult over the phone or come to your facility to understand your needs even better. You’ll get a turnkey solution that includes a trailer (or equivalent) filled with rolling cases that have all the equipment you need.

I’ve seen planters get a lite version and spend around $15,000 for a workable system. And I’ve heard tell that planters have spent north of $150,000 for all the bells & whistles.

The huge advantage is that your time investment can be as little as 10 to 15 work hours.

Paying in Time

Many a planter has determined to save money by piecemealing their system together. This comes in various flavors:

I used to be a worship leader; I know what I’m doing
I have a buddy in the AV industry
The sound guy at my last church is going to help

The soft costs of paying in time are:

Salary – what’s the difference in your salary cost between 10 work hours and 100 work hours?
Opportunity – what is it you’re not getting done because you are shopping for equipment instead?

You really can save money this way, but it may very well come at a terrible price.

Just Don’t Pay the Stupid Tax

What my incredibly unscientific church plant equipment cost vs time diagram attempts to illustrate is that there quickly comes a point at which you’ve paid just as much money doing it yourself as if you’d hired a vendor at the beginning. One of my planters lovingly referred to this as paying the stupid tax:

You get cheap equipment that breaks right away
Or you buy the wrong stuff and have to pay a restocking fee to send it back, or
Pay full retail for items because you run out of time to shop for better prices

But now you’ve spent the same amount of money and you’ve burnt 60, 80 or even 100 work hours to boot.

You can probably tell that I’m an advocate for hiring out for church plant equipment. At the end of the day, you can only spend what you’ve budgeted, so you gotta do what you gotta do. Find a vendor that’s willing to work with your constraints and you may save time and money!

The post Church Plant Equipment Cost vs Time Diagram appeared first on Church Planting Tactics.

Source: Church Plant Equipment Cost vs Time Diagram

The post Church Plant Equipment Cost vs Time Diagram appeared first on Passion for Planting.