BillLaMorey.com

The Challenge of Managing Expectations as a Church Planter (Video)

Meet SharpChurches.com

Rebecca and I are regularly asked questions pertaining to church accounting (her) and church planting (me). We have willingly and cheerfully helped whenever and however we can.

We had originally planned to have Rebecca return to work soon because living in CT (where we planted a church) isn't cheap! Instead of having her work for someone else we have decided (under the counsel of close friends) to establish a small business dedicated to kingdom-expansion in which we will create resources (some free and others fairly-priced) and offer coaching/consulting to help other churches in essential areas in which we have some experience.

Our aim is to help churches sharpen their skills so they can be even more effective at the great work God has called them to. Our name and mission were inspired by this verse: “If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed but skill will bring success.” (Ecclesiastes 10:10, NIV)

Many in the church world are either strong ministerially or administratively; as a team we believe we offer skill and strength in both. We have rolled out some resources, and many more are in development. If you are interested in what we're doing, check out SharpChurches.com.

(If you are part of Calvary Fellowship and reading this, you should know that I am committed to you as ever and my role as a pastor always takes precedence over this or any other pursuits.)

Our Staff Needs to Change for Our Church to Grow

A couple days ago in my post,"Easter: A Vision of what our church could be" I talked about how our Easter experience could be our regular Sunday experience if we as a church body would commit to doing the things we did in the lead-up to Easter regularly.

So I challenged our staff and asked them what WE needed to do for that to happen. We discussed it and came up with a list of things we need to keep doing, start doing and/or get better at if we want our church to be healthy (which is the source of growth). So if my post title freaked you out, relax. Nobody is getting fired! We are simply committed to change  in the following areas (in no particular order) so that we can be most effectively used by God at Calvary Fellowship:

1. Change our thinking -Once you do something repeatedly over time it is easy to get in a rut. We need to challenge our current processes and our thinking that got us where we are, but might limit us from getting where we need to be.
2. Develop a deeper culture of serving -We already have many great men and women serving at Calvary without whom we could not function. Just imagine if  everyone (or ALMOST everyone) was on board!
3. Challenge commitment -It is easy for apathy to creep into a church, and it is DEADLY! Paul and other NT church leaders regularly challenged people in the churches to commitment to Christ and other members of the church. We must do the same as church leaders.
4. Cast vision consistently -People must know where we're going, what we're doing, why we're doing it, how we're doing it, and who we're doing it for. Otherwise, everybody loses focus and we all experience mission drift (Consistence is the key).
5. Leadership development -The staff cannot do all of the leading alone; we must train others and equip them to lead. We need to develop men and women to take on keys roles and responsibilities in the church or we're dead in the water!
6. Personal-development -We all need to get better at our core competencies/responsibilities by reading the right books, networking with the right people and pushing ourselves to become more effective.
7. Delegation -If we don't release some of our responsibilities to the people God is raising up we will be ineffective at the things we are called to do and frustrate those who should be doing we need to release to them.
8. Intentional outreach -We don't have a church building so we need to keep our name out in the community through service, personal invitation, press and promotion so that when God touches someone's heart in our community to pursue Him, they know where to go.
9. Improving assimilation -We have to continue making it easier for new people at church to take next steps, grow in their faith, and get connected to our church body.

There are always more things that can be done, but these are the things we know that our staff needs to work on, change or improve if we want to see our church healthy and ready to handle any growth that God may choose to bless us with.

Easter: A vision of what our church could be

I know that many in our church are excited about our Easter service yesterday and the tremendous turnout. So am I. We should be! I am also truly grateful for everyone who came together and did their part to make our Easter service such a success.

However, we also have to face reality - not all the people that joined us yesterday will be back next week (though some will). However, while we need to face reality we also need to be optimistic about the future. Let me summarize my thoughts this way:

Easter was not a picture of what our church is now, it is a picture of what it could be soon.

The great turnout, the excitement, the energy during the singing, the sense of God at work...all of it! In fact yesterday's experience could be our regular weekly experience by the end of this year. For yesterday to be our regular experience, we simply need to keep doing the things we did in the lead-up to Easter regularly (by the way, these are basic elements of the Christian faith, not radical things!):

1. We need to pray regularly -We had so many people come out for intercessory prayer, praying for guests, the services, the staff, etc. Let's not stop!
2. We need to attend regularly -Part of the reason Easter is so packed is that in addition to all the guests, all the regulars come at one time. If our regular attenders simply committed to making church attendance a priority & a regular habit, we would experience 50% growth immediately.
3. We need to invite regularly -We mobilized and boldly asked our friends and family to come to church on Easter -well done! The reality is we don't need to and shouldn't wait for Easter to do this. Don't badger people, but there is nothing wrong with gentle reminders at opportune moments.
4. We need to serve regularly -In the lead-up to Easter, we had people coming in throughout the week, tons of extra people serving on Sunday morning -it was awesome to see all the willing hands hard at work! We can create excellent experiences EVERY week if we have enough people willing and ready to serve one another regularly.
5. We need to give regularly -We purchased some extra stage gear, signage, lighting and other things that improved the overall Sunday experience going forward as we prepared for Easter because many really stepped up and gave. Let's keep fueling God's mission and steadily improving what we do.
6. We need to trust regularly -We trusted God for big things on Easter. We asked Him to work and we acted in faith like He would come through on Easter -and He did. We need to maintain this kind of faith and expectation that God wants to work all the time; He doesn't just come out on Easter! :)

By all means let's take some time to celebrate what happened yesterday, but let's also determine to keep moving forward together. We could settle for Easter once a year...but wouldn't it be fun to experience what we experienced yesterday EVERY Sunday (except perhaps the egg hunt)?!?

“With God’s power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20–21, NCV)

Weekly Mind Dump 4.24.11 (special Easter edition)

• I woke up at 2:30 AM this morning and couldn't fall back asleep because I was so excited about what God might do at our Easter service this AM...He definitely didn't disappoint!
• We had 405 people in attendance today (which is about double our average).
• Worship was phenomenal! It was amazing to hear people raucosuly applauding after each song.
• I kicked off "The Heart of the 10 Commandments" series with a message entitled "And God Spoke;" click here to listen.
• I met lots of new people who really seemed to enjoy the experience.
• The Easter Egg Hunt was a blast! Definitely a new annual tradition for us.
• The Hartford Courant took the following photos of the egg hunt today.
• NBC did this news story on the egg hunt today (sorry for the shaky hands)
• I am so proud of our church staff and congregation! Everybody prayed and worked so hard to embrace the responsibility and seize the opportunity of this Easter outreach.
• I plan to share with our church that today was not a picture of what our chuch is yet, but a vision of what it could be soon.
• I'm wiped. Some TV (after a 40 day fast from it) and bed is in order!

Warning: If this news doesn’t move you, you might be dead.

This was written for Calvary Fellowship, but it mostly applies to any Christian in any church:

“And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.” ” (Matthew 28:7, NKJV)

Did you catch that? Jesus is alive! If you feel absolutely nothing when you read that, please stop and re-read it. The resurrection of Christ is not only the cornerstone of our faith, it was the biggest game-changer for humanity in all of history! Because of this event we can all be reconnected in relationship with God and be revolutionized by His resurrection power working in our lives. That’s kind of a big deal!

This message needs to move us and it needs to move us into action!

Who will you “go quickly and tell”? Notice the urgency with which the resurrection message is to be communicated.

We are going to have a great Easter service to honor our risen Lord. The worship set will be epic, we are starting an awesome new series (click here to see promo video) and of course we are featuring our first ever Easter Egg Hunt right after service. It’s going to be great! You should plan to be there and plan to invite your friends. If you’re not accustomed to that I know it can be challenging, so here are 5 easy ways you can invite people:

1. Hand them a printed invite card.
2. Put a doorhanger on the homes of everyone around your neighborhood.

[Both printed pieces are available at the church office or the church services)

1. Confirm your attendance to Easter on Facebook by clicking here and then click share to post to your profile AND send your friends an electronic invite.
2. E-mail this newspaper article about our service to your friends and tell them you would love for them to join you.
3. Pray, pray, pray! There are multiple times available for you to come in and pray for all our Easter guests (including the ones you are inviting). [Call for details.]

Shame on us if we are apathetic or negligent. We have a great opportunity and a responsibility to tell everyone that JESUS IS ALIVE this Easter. Let’s not miss it!

Blessings,

Bill

The Heart of the 10 Commandments promo video

Check out the promo video for our new series beginning Easter Sunday:

 

10 Commandments Trailer from Calvary Fellowship on Vimeo.

What series are you launching on Easter?

Here's what we're doing at Calvary (click here for a newspaper article with a description):

 

 

Weekly Mind Dump 4.10.11

• My friend Chris Goeppner  and I  did a church swap this morning; he taught at Calvary Fellowship and I taught at Riverbank Church (it was a lot of fun, they are a great church and Chris and crew are doing a great job there!)
• Chris taught a message called "Guidelines for Making Godly Decisions" (click here to listen) and I did a message called "Parts" (Acts 6:1-7)
• Though I had a great time, I missed being at Calvary (I really do love our church family!)
• I'm getting pumped for Easter! Our first mailer dropped on Thursday and the second one drops at the end of this week (We're trusting God for BIG things!)
• In addition to standard promotions, we have a secret weapon this year...prayer! (It's been awesome to see people coming in to the church office and praying for God to move powerfully this Easter)
• I cannot wait to start our new series, "The Heart of the 10 Commandments" on Easter
• I also can't wait ti co-teach Philemon next Sunday with my good friend Bob Franquiz down in Miami!
• On the personal front I finally feel my kids are ready for the responsibility of pets so we have officially welcomed Sea Monkeys into our home

Unpacking the Drive Conference Pt. 3 (What about Andy Stanley?)

So in part 1 and 2 of this series of posts I didn't even mention the driving force behind the Drive Conference; Andy Stanley. I didn't forget him! Today I'll conclude this series of posts with a key thought or quote I learned from each of his sessions.

1. Main Session #1 (Did it have a title?):

"Make it easy for people to access the gospel." (Acts 15)

2. "Communicating for a Change":

"We are the stewards of the message of eternal life for our generation. But we are not only stewards of the message of eternal life, we are also stewards of the message of a better life."

3. "Senior Pastor Q & A":

"Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone. Don't be fair (trying to treat everyone the same); be engaged. You cannot meet every person's need yourself, you must share the load with the rest of the church. But don't use that excuse to remove yourself from meeting some of them. OK to say to some, "I cannot help you, but our church can."

4. Defying Gravity":

"Don't allow anyone to steal from you the BIG thing you were called to do. Embrace holy discontent. Don't allow your current context to squeeze vision out of your life."

Wrap-up: There is so much more I learned from Andy and the rest of the Northpoint team. I wrote these posts because I knew doing so would force me to review, process, internalize, and make action points from my notes instead of just allowing all of these gems to be forgotten in notebook on a shelf.

If you found any of it helpful, I would encourage you to keep your eyes open here and pick up the conference sessions when they are available. Keep learning because as the Drive tagline says, "We're not there yet."