Your Journey Blog

Five "Quick Hits" for Friday

I am trying to increase my blogging from one day a week to two...so here is my first shot.

Friday "Quick Hits"

1) $49.00 a year website ...For those trying to set up a quick website you can set up a typepad.com blog with five web pages with info about your new church or ministry.  For $89.00 a year you can set up three individual blogs 1) General New Church Stuff  2) Intercession Team Site 3) Funding Team Site.

2) Seth Godin on Business Card Mistakes ...Good Stuff!

3) Video Invites ...Jon Cawston of Rockcreek Church in the Plainfield/Naperville area.  He has used the 6 monthly service approach popularized in Nelson Searcy's "Launch" book.  The have done 5 monthly services ranging from 90 to 150 (not bad since in March they had no one on the team at that time.) They launch September 16th!  He has done email invites ranging from fun to serious for every service. I can't wait to see what he does for the Grand Opening Sunday!

4) Evangelism Posts ...My goal this year is to raise the evangelistic temperature of our regional church planting movement...we went from getting 70 hits a week to 700 hits a week since addressing this topic.  Here is the first post so that you can start from the beginning.  It is cool to see how this is firing up hearts all over the place.

5) We made it into the Amazon.com world a couple of weeks ago. Check it out  They ship in 2-4 weeks but we can beat that! :)  We published another new book that just came out last week...NextSteps for Leading a Missional Church  This is the companion to FirstSteps for Planting Missional Church.

Have a great weekend!

Spiritual Conversations - My Paradigm Shift

Over the last twenty-five years I have seen a paradigm shift in evangelism.  Here are a few of my observations:

1. Event to Process - I think the confusion between the event of conversion and the process of evangelism was generated by the majority of evangelism training being centered around leading someone in a prayer of repentance...while little was offered on identifying the steps a person takes in moving towards or away from Christ.  In the mid-80's I discovered Dr. James F. Engel and his Engel's scale.pdf  , along with Willow Creek's Seven Step Outreach Strategy. The combination of these ideas helped me make the shift from event focused evangelism to more of a process oriented approach.

2. Combative to Attractive - Most of the evangelism training I experienced in school and in seminars was apologetically driven. Don't get me wrong, it is biblical to be prepared. Peter wrote, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." (I Peter 3:15)  Yet all too often I missed the two key concepts around this phrase 1) Lordship - “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord."  Making sure that my life aligns with Christ through personal purity, through confession of all known sin and being filled with the Holy Spirit turns controversial information into transformational truth.  2) Rapport - "But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” (I Peter 3:15-16)  Rapport is that emotional bond or friendly relationship between people based on mutual respect, trust and care.  Lordship and rapport are the keys to save us from being combative and more attractive in spiritual conversations.  One of my students in a church planting course I was teaching agreed with my premise in this point but commented that there are times when you just need to confront people with the truth.  At that point I so wanted to pull a Dr. Phil and say, "Tell me, how's that working for ya?" But that would have been combative!  So, instead I asked him to study Jesus' interactions with people. The only times he was combative was with the religious elite who distracted people from the truth of God. (Matthew 23; Luke 19:45-46)  Here is a question to ponder: When was Jesus ever combative with anyone but the Pharisees?

3. Monolog to Dialog - There has been a profound shift moving from giving a memorized sales pitch to a meaningful two-way conversation.  In my early days of ministry I was driven by decision theology (we had to report something to our supporters.)  Then one fateful night I was hearing a report from a chaplain in a prison ministry who said, "I have seen thousands of men make decisions for Jesus in my ministry" to which a wise older women asked, "But what about discipling these men?" His response was, "That's the Lord's business, I just have to trust him with that."  I opened my Bible and read the great commission... Jesus said "go make disciples" not "go make decisions!"  Monologs are like decision based theology, they are neat and tidy.  Dialogs are like disciple making, they are messy and unpredictable.   Learning to see God at work in the messes is challenging and exciting.  Monologs take a little practice and can come across as impersonal.  Dialogs take faith, patience and love.

4. Short-term to Long-term - A short-term mentality works through this type of sequence: 1) Presentation 2) Decision 3) Assimilation.  A long-term mentality operates with this sequence in mind: 1) Belonging 2) Believing 3) Becoming.  On an individual and corporate level the church is learning to love and accept people where they are at on their journey along with providing opportunities and experiences to engage with Christians and explore the implications of Christ's teachings.  George Hunter III writes, "Effective communicators do not try to do all the communicating. They know that faith is 'more caught than taught', that a person's meaningful involvement can do its own communicating, and that involvement helps people discover the faith for themselves..."  This meaningful involvement takes time and persevering love.  There was a season in our church plant where several men came to faith through their engagement in our set-up team.  It was a place in our church where they could make an instant impact and rub shoulders with other men of faith.  Over time we saw them move towards Christ by attending retreats, men's events or small groups and eventually come to faith and move into a life of discipleship.  Actually, before we moved into our permanent building, the gentleman leading the team was someone who had walked in the door about four years earlier as a sincere seeker!

Next week I will share a couple key experiences that were foundational in my paradigm shift.

Tim Keller Online Resources - Reformissionary

Steve McCoy on his Reformissionary Blog has one of the most comprehensive online collection of free resources from Tim Keller a great church planter, theologian, missional thinker and practioner.  The church he planted and now leads - Redeemer Church was recognized as #1 - Multiplying Church in America.

Tim Keller Online Resources

Ideas for Practicing the 3 by 5 Rule

The 3 by 5 rule is simple:  A leader seeks to find 5 contacts a day or 35 a week until they get 3 meetings or sit downs to either share the gospel or the vision of the church.  A contact is securing a person's name and contact information (a business card, phone number or email.)  A sit down is a follow up appointment with one of the contacts you have generated.

The primary question generated by this rule is "How do you find 35 contacts a week?" There are three sources of contacts we will look at today. 1) Follow-up Contacts 2) Networking Contacts and 3) Cold Calling Contacts.  Here are a number of ideas around each of these sources:

Follow-up Contacts

Your Church Mailing List - If your church has any age to it, it should have a list of everyone who has come in contact with the church.  This list can be generated through your worship services, special events, children's events and small groups.  One thing every good church planter does is collect contact information.  Farming your list to look for opportunities to have a sit down with people is a good place to start.  there is some level of receptivity here already along with a connection to build on.  A number of years ago I coached a church planter to simply work the list of people he generated in a two year old church.  Over the following sixty days he saw thirty people come to Christ!  There are opportunities right in front of us that we never take.

Now a days I would use the church phone to make these calls because of the caller ID feature people have on their phones.  They will probably recognize the church name more easily than in individual's name.  Typically the best time to call is between 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.  In the early days of our church plant I made between 25-50 calls every Monday night, usually with a 50% pick up rate.  Within the call you'll want to offer them friendliness, spiritual assistance and an opportunity to meet them personally by setting up an appointment.

As our church list expanded I recruited and trained volunteers to call through the list every 3 to 6 months.

How many names do you have in your church data base?  When is the last time you made any personal contact with them?

Networking Contacts

Sponsoring Churches Mailing Lists  - Sit down with your sponsoring churches and their data base.  Look for anyone who visited their church from your area.  Communicate with those pastors that you are only looking for fringe people and not key leaders.  You will be amazed at how many contacts this can generate.

Local Chamber of Commerce or Local Club Member Lists - Make a courtesy contact, hear their story, learn their business and share your story of starting this new church.

Referrals - As a church planter, I never had a conversation without asking this question:  Do you know anyone in the greater Oconomowoc area that might be interested in our new church?  One memorable time I was speaking with a church planter in a community about fifty minutes away.  He said he had a couple visit his church from our area that Sunday (they were visiting a family in his church.)  I called them using that pastor's name and set up an appointment to tell them about our new church.  As I was visiting them, I discovered that the young man had grown up in a pastor's family.  He left the church after high school, married an unbeliever but was very receptive.  Over time, he came back to Christ, his wife came to Christ and was baptized at our first baptism service.

How active are you in getting referrals?

Cold Calling Contacts

New Mover Lists - New Movers Evangelism: www.newmovers.org  Here's how the New Movers Program works:  1)  On a monthly basis they furnish names and addresses of new movers in your zip code(s) on peel and stick labels and a manuscript broken down by zip code.  2)  They guarantee 100% deliverability of the names you receive.  Once you get the newcomers list you will need to develop a "6 touch" strategy.  Here is an example:

• Week 1 - Welcome to the community letter.
• Week 2 - Send a usable gift that newcomers would appreciate.
• Week 3 - Make a phone call to see if they're interested in setting up an appointment to hear more about your new church.
• Week 4 - Write a personal, handwritten note thanking them for the phone conversation or their willingness to meet.
• Week 6-8 - Send an invitation to a special outreach event.
• Week 8 - Add them to your newsletter list.

Phone Book - I know of one church planter who was trying to generate his five contacts a day and out of frustration just grabbed the phone book and called people with a Dutch last name because he was Dutch!  Through that simple connection a conversation was started and he would see if they had a spiritual interest.  On one of these conversations he saw a woman come to Christ and she eventually became the church's treasurer.

Surveys - Door-to-door surveys on a Saturday work well along with college campus surveys.  These can generate a number of contacts. In planting my church I did over three hundred door to door opinion poll surveys and over one hundred church name surveys.  Not only did I gain great information for reaching our community but I also made strong connections with people. Some of those families are leaders in the church today. Here are a few examples:

• Opinion Poll - Download S_2_OPINIONPOLL.pdf
• Church Name Survey - Download S_4_CPNameSurvey.pdf
• College Campus Survey - Download getting_college_contacts.pdf

Would you stretch yourself to do cold calls in your community?

This is just a "quick hit" list of ways to gather more contacts.  Share your ideas with us this week.

Need to Watch --- Chilling Video

My daughter Kallie shared this powerful video with me.  What a illustration of redemptive power of God and the liberating love of Jesus, with a tough weekend ahead of me, I needed this image in my mind and my heart.  Thanks Kallie.   The end is the best.

Engaging in More Spiritual Conversations - Part 3

Here are some 'quick hits' on how to create thirst in your spiritual conversations:

Look for God’s work in the lives of people

In light of man’s natural bent away from God and the things of God (Ephesians 2:1-3) we can easily see the hand of God drawing in someone. Leonard Sweet writes, “Postmodern evangelism is recognizing that God is already at work in people’s lives before we arrive on the scene and that our role is helping people to see how God is present and active in their lives, calling them home.”  The Father is drawing people to himself (John 6:44). The Son is seeking the lost (Luke 19:10). The Holy Spirit is convicting the world (John 16:8).  All we need to do is figure out how to get into God’s redemptive flow and recognize his hand on the lives of those around us.

If someone expresses interest in Jesus, the Bible or church...these are good signs.  If people are taking steps forward such as attending events, worship services, small groups or if someone is open to a conversation with you on spiritual things...this is God at work.  We need to bring our complete focus and our dependence on God because he is working right in front of us.

In reality evangelism is more about "spotting" than creating.  It is more about "joining" than initiating.

Practice the “man of peace’ principle

Read a recent blog on this principle: The man of peace principle

Be willing to take a risk

Darryn Scheske, one of the best evangelists I know, writes, “In my experience, engaging in Spirit-led spiritual conversations with others always requires me to take a personal risk of some kind. You see, nearly every opportunity to have a spiritual conversation will produce some kind of anxiety in me. Usually I'm too tired. Or, I'm on my way somewhere else and I really don't have the time. Or, I might be intimidated by the person; their life circumstances or credentials. I might just be afraid of what they will think. If you're going to seek out spiritual conversations, they won't come when you're ready or available. They happen in the middle of your everyday life.” 

Learn to ask good questions

Being too directive can come across as intrusive and pushy. Trusting the Holy Spirit to plant and nurture the seeds that have been sown through good questions is vital to creating and sustaining spiritual conversations. Randy Newman in his book Questioning Evangelism writes, “By asking questions in our evangelism, our conversations can lead to conversions, rather than presentations that lead to preconceptions. An exchange of ideas might lead both participants to the truth of the gospel. For one participant, it will be the first arrival at that point; for the other participant, it will be a rediscovery and a new appreciation of the message of the Cross.”

Here are a couple I have used:

• Do you believe people are on a spiritual journey?

• Do you have any type of spiritual heritage in your background?

• Have you read a good book on spirituality lately?

• Have you ever heard what the difference is between Christianity and religion?

• When you think about God what image comes into your mind?

Get into their stories

Get people talking about themselves, the more you get them talking, the more you can discover God’s hand in their lives.  Remember, it is not about you, it is about them and their lives, their journey and their eternity. Every church planter should read the classic relational text, “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie.  This timeless text is based on the biblical principle: “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31).  Relational prowess will increase as you connect sincerely and authentically with the world around you.

Get permission to go deeper

This is simply a loving and polite act to get someone’s permission to take the conversation to another level.  Get permission to explore a question or topic further...“Do you have time to explore the topic in more depth?”  Ask for their permission to tell the story around your spiritual journey...“My spiritual journey was an eye opening experience. Do you have a minute for me to give you the Cliff notes version? Ask for their OK in offering a suggested resource or the next step in the relationship...“Could I send you an article on the subject? It might be helpful in giving you another perspective.”

Guard your heart

The heart never lies! People smell a "fake" from a mile away. A genuine love for people and a servant’s spirit is attractive to people.  If my motives are questionable people will intuitively perceive it.  We all need to take heed to Peter’s words, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” (I Peter 3:15-17)

Next week we will answer the question around the 3 x 5 rule: How to find 35 contacts a week.

Engaging in More Spiritual Conservations - Part 2

Evangelism has moved in the last 20 years from being a monologue (one-sided conversation) to a dialog (two-way conversation.)  Last week I suggest two ways to increase your spiritual conversations:  1) Make it a priority by counting your conversations and practicing the 3 by 5 rule.  2) Pray for opportunities. A prayerful attitude is key to putting oneself into the redemptive flow of God’s mission.

Here are a two more ideas:

3) Get out and into your community

All to often we are so isolated from the world in which you live.  Look at your calendar and see what fills your week.  I encourage church planters to think about tithing their time to community service and interaction.  As a planter I put in 60 plus hours a week.  This meant about six hours a week out in the community like playing in a noon basketball league on Tuesdays and Thursdays or coaching my children’s baseball and football teams. My week could be filled with serving on various community committees within the school district or through the Chamber of Commerce.  It could also involve attending community events or joining professional groups like Toastmasters International.  I could easily fill up my six hours a week.   Opportunities abound when we get out into our communities. Jon Cawston, a church planter in Plainfield, IL., joined a local entrepreneurial networking group. After a couple of months of being in this group, he was wondering why he was there and was feeling out of place. Then a crisis took place within the group and he discovered that he instantly become "the chaplain" of the group which led to spiritual conversations. 

Can you imagine all the spiritual conversations that could take place if your staff and leaders were encouraged to tithe their time to community service and interaction?

4) Establish routines and cultivate relationships

Beyond the tithe of your time in your community I encourage leaders to establish routines and patterns so that you build relational presence with business owners and servers.  Think strategically about all your interactions and pray that you can be a redemptive influence within that social network.  A couple of tell tale signs of this is, “Do people know your name?” or “Do you know peoples names?” Reggie McNeal loves to ask his servers, “I am going to pray for my meal and I always pray for my server. Is there anything I can pray for you specifically?” I can see this really working as you cultivate relationships and move them from the mundane to the spiritual.

What places do you frequent in your community?

Jesus, Paul and James used the analogy of the farmer when it comes to spiritual leaders patiently sowing, working and cultivating the work of the gospel.  When it comes to engaging in spiritual conversations you need to have an attitude of a farmer, faithfully working and cultivating your community.  The first two suggestions deal with the leader’s attitude, the next two suggestions deal with putting leaders in a position for engagement. I learned a simple lesson over twenty-five years ago from an old missionary who said these words to me, “Gary you can’t serve God where you an not!”  That statement helped me move away from dreaming about future ministry to engaging myself in the daily personal ministry right in front of me every day.

Next week we will take look at creating spiritual thirst in our conversations.