The Point

I talk about money every day, seriously.

I get paid to talk about money.

But when it comes to asking for money for my own need, I get nervous and proud and light headed all at once.

There is something about realizing that you have a goal that is beyond your own ability to meet that is frightening, humbling, and energizing!

That’s where I am today.

 I shared last week that the total costs for our adoption will tally nearly $30,000. A major portion of which is due in less than a month!

As I stared at the number for a while, I realized a couple things- that’s more than I can do alone…AND if I’m going to ask for help I might as well DO MORE.

I have decided that it’s not enough to simply adopt a child and get them out of an orphanage in Africa, we also need to change Africa. So today I want to introduce you to A Glimmer of Hope. Their work on the ground in Ethiopia is helping the country make great strides towards sustainable income, lower infant mortality, and higher standards of living.

So, in addition to asking you for money to help rescue an orphan, I’m also asking you to help build a better Ethiopia.

If every Twitter and Facebook friend gives $2 a month for the next 6 months…

Together we can raise all the funds for adoption and enough to drill two wells in rural Ethiopia!

Some of you can give a lot more, if we raise more than the goal, all additional funds will go to build additional wells.

To give via credit card you can click the box to the right of the page, if you’d rather send a check, shoot me an email and I’ll give you our mailing address.

Let’s do this…it’s time!

Water: A Global Crisis from A Glimmer of Hope on Vimeo.

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“Organizational decline is more about what you do to yourself than what happens to you.” –Jim Collins

There was a time when I’m not sure I believed that quote. Spending most of the last year working with struggling non-profits has confirmed its truth.

With the crisis consulting I’m involved in today, most calls come to me when a church is about to lose their property or some other dire event is occurring.

What I find after spending some time with these ministries is that these situations don’t come out of nowhere.

Where we find ourselves today is the result of many small steps we’ve taken in this direction!

Sometimes the way out of this mess isn’t to continue bravely forward, but to make the decision now to change directions.

So, how do we get out of the pit?

1. Acknowledge the situation–I see far too many situations made worse by denial to admit that what got us here won’t get us out, or worse that there is nothing wrong with where we are (it’s not what we’ve done but what’s been done to us mentality)

2. Seek counsel– Every organization has talent they are not utilizing, both internally and in your network of contacts, there are people who can help, seek them out and then hear them out.

3. Communicate clearly and fully- In the situation of a church in a financial emergency, almost all of them initially want to hold this information within a very small circle of leadership, when ultimately the solution to the problem lies in the vast majority of people who may help if given the full story.

An important thing to remember is that you can get out of today’s mess, one small step at a time…

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Last week we talked about some things that help ensure a visitor makes it to the front door, today let’s talk about some things to do once you get them there.

Friendly greeter/greeting- Seems like a given, but I’ve been to some that made me feel like I was intruding on their private gathering. They don’t need to be over the top, but a smile and a handshake go a long way to making someone feel welcome.  This is in addition to the parking area greeters that offer a smile, wave, and point me to the visitor parking area.

Literature/information- I’m NOT a fan of the bulletin hand out at the door, but that’s just a personal preference, I don’t yet have any proof that it’s helpful or hindering so I’ll leave that to you. What I KNOW works is a central point of distribution for information for visitors as well as breakout material for more info on small groups, special events, etc. The best I’ve seen have a sort of welcome desk hub that is manned by friendly and knowledgeable volunteers that can do more than hand out the right brochure but can actually talk to the information requested. 

Kids drop-off- This one is HUGE! There are few things worse than coming into a church with my two young kids and staring around blankly looking for some direction, someone showing us where to go, a sign, anything! The check in process itself can take many forms, I prefer an electronic check in, to me it seems more secure, and when I’m dropping my kids off with people I’ve never met, security is IMPORTANT.  On the positive side, Kids ministry done well makes everything else secondary, I GUARANTEE if the kids want to come back you’ll see the family again!

Cafe/Other- I love a well located and quality cafe at church. Of course I’m also an early thirties on and off church attendee,  so if your target is the lifelong church-goer, this is probably not an area of much interest. But if you are attracting the same people you’ve always attracted, maybe it’s time to change things up. This catch all is mainly centered on the look, feel, overall experience of your environments outside of the worship spaces. It should be relevant to the crowd you are trying to attract…

Going to a new church is uncomfortable enough without having to go through additional awkwardness because of the smell, poor signage, or other hurdles we unintentionally put between people and God.

Next time we visit this subject of visitors we’ll look at what happens in the seats and then things  you can do to encourage return visits and involvement.

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I originally wrote this last summer, as I was trying to figure out what to write today this is what came to mind…

I don’t remember where I saw this video first, but…It’s AMAZING!
Watch the whole video, you won’t get it if you don’t!

A few things we can learn from this video…
1. One man can start a movement.
2. A movement need not be started by the most skilled.
3. When you look around and nobody else is joining your dance, just keep dancing.
4. When the one guy who joins your movement slowly fades away, keep going.
5. Before you know it, the people joining your movement won’t even know you started it.
6. When your movement takes a life of it’s own, just let go… There will be no stopping it.
7. The very people who are staring at you like your nuts, as you “movement” alone, will be the same people dancing the hardest in the end.

It’s time to start your movement, or if you already have and it doesn’t seem like anyone has joined the dance…keep dancing!

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I get this question with some regularity.

The detailed answer is… it depends.

Most churches reach out to me initially because they were referred to me by a Pastor friend of theirs who has done work with me. The initial purpose almost always has to do with the church looking for a loan.

Purchase, Construction, Refinance.

Where we end up is often a very different place. In order for me to help a church with what they THINK they need, I must understand what their ultimate goals are, not in the we need a 2500 seat worship center sense, but in the true mission and vision sense.

So while we start with “Jeremy, can you help me finance this project?”

We usually end up with “Our church is better positioned to minister to this community”

So for those of you still scratching your head, over the coming weeks I’ll be going through some of the things I look at when talking with a church and trying to help them be more effective at ministry. Here’s the preview of topics–

Marketing/Advertising-What are you doing to get them on campus

Sunday mornings/Worship experiences

Signage, Parking Lot, Greeters

Visitor Follow-up/Assimilation

Children’s Ministry

Offerings

Outreach/Community events

Revenue Optimization

Expense Control

Social Media–this post is already out there!

As always, most of the best posts come from ideas I get sitting in meetings with ministries or from readers who ask questions here, the more interactive the better, let’s learn from each other!

Back to what I do…really…

I help ministries ask questions they haven’t…to find answers they haven’t… to reach people that need it!

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I drive. A lot.

Sometimes I sit in silence, ok, I do that a lot.

So when Thomas Nelson offered me a free copy of the Audio New Testament on CD in exchange for writing a review I thought that seemed like a good idea.

This is an audio version of the New King James Version, not my favorite, done by a host of celebrities including Jim Caviezel as Jesus and a slew of other familiar Hollywood voices. It comes in a zippered case that makes it easy to bring into the car and each disc is around an hour of audio. The dramatization is enough to break things up and make it interesting without being too over the top. If I could change one thing it would be the translation, maybe ESV? Or how about The Message!

In summary, this is a great resource that I will continue to use often on my long drives in spite of it possibly leading me to start picturing Mary Magdalene looking a lot like Marisa Tomei. I’d recommend this to anyone who wants to spend  a little more time with a bible and finds themselves in a car!

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There is a lot of information floating around on how to increase your church income via traditional and non-traditional means, all created by people with more knowledge and experience than me. What I want to do is offer a little different approach to one particular segment of this conversation.

How to interact with and engage your high capacity donors.

After talking with a number of ministry leaders and high capacity donors, I’ve come to some insights worth sharing.

For our purposes, I’m going to define high capacity as anyone in your pews who has the ability to write you a check on a moments notice for a couple thousand dollars and/or can give over $25,000 annually to your ministry. Some churches are full of these people, others may have just a handful, but the reality is that momentum and change often rests with a leaders ability to engage this group. If you happen to have a professional athlete or heiress in your church, that’s great and these principles still work.

When putting together an engagement strategy for interactions with your high capacity donors, there are many things that are good, but a few that are essential. You will also notice that while this piece is specifically dealing with high capacity donors, many of the same strategies are viable for any potential donor, but they become essential for reaching High capacity donors.

High Capacity Donors want to know that their gift is making a difference. These are people who are bombarded by requests for funds on an almost daily basis. Only three out of ten Americans give any amount to charity, and the average gift among those is around $4,800. So when you are interacting with the most generous and able of donors, you must realize what every other non-profit realizes, this is a small and highly sought after group.

So here are the questions you must answer from the donors perspective—

Is this the best use of my funds? Why should the donor write that check to your church instead of another one, or Compassion, or any number of other worthwhile high impact non-profits.

What happens as a result of this gift? A clear, compelling set of outcomes is essential to getting extreme financial buy-in. Nearly as important, you must also answer the question of what happens if the goal isn’t met, sometimes the pain of what would be missed is as great as the joy of what can be gained.

Also remember my three laws of fundraising—

Be Clear-These are often very busy people with lots of things going on and lots of request of their time and resources, the first step to engagement is a clear message. These people are comfortable talking about money and appreciate it when you are too.

Be Concise-High capacity donors appreciate direct, concise, communication.

Be Compelling-it’s one thing to lay out the dollars and sense reasons for why you need their funds, its an entirely different thing to show them the real life change that will or won’t happen based on their involvement.

By engaging your High Capacity Donors, your ministry will be more fully funded, and your givers more fully engaged and developing in one of the gifts that God has given them. The more you can engage them and also get them interacting with EACH OTHER, the better it will be for your ministry.

The days of expecting High Capacity Donors to keep writing checks out of obiligation are quickly fading. They want to be good stewards, and expect the same of organizations they fund.

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I was running, I use the term loosely,  on the treadmill yesterday when I realized the similarity of my weight loss to most churches.

Like many of you, I set out 2010 with a list of goals, among them was to get into and stay in better shape. I travel a lot and that makes it a challenge to keep some semblance of normal routine when it comes to diet and exercise. That said, I also visit with ministries on a daily basis and they often share a similar struggle with their finances.  Whenever they get one thing right something else seems to go wrong, giving drops or an unexpected expense pops up.

The buzz words in church finance world today have lots to do with giving, creating “sustainable funding strategies”, having a “culture of generosity” and increasing the “stewardship mindset” of your congregation. Those are all incredibly great. Every church should have a strategic and focused approach to increasing the generosity of their congregation, which in turn will allow them to reach more and do more. BUT, like my weight loss goals, exercise is only part of the equation. To be sure, intentional increasing of income through more sustained and consistent giving as well as alternate channels is integral to ministry success just as exercise is integral to a healthy lifestyle.

However, just as my miles on the treadmill only do so much if I keep eating donuts for breakfast and pizza for dinner, income is only half the battle for the church. Unless we also maintain a healthy diet of proper expense management and stewardship as a church, the increased giving and generosity will only mask what is still an unhealthy church, and sooner or later that weakness will be exposed.

So my challenge to you today is to continue to exercise, creating and maximizing income, generosity, and new outreach opportunities to expand the financial capacity of your church. But I also challenge you to eat a healthy diet of proper expenses, don’t binge on events, staff, facilities, keep a healthy balance and God and your people will see that good stewardship and honor it so that your ministry will Thrive and not just Survive.

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My wife hs been in a book club for most of our 7 year marriage. They meet once  month and talk, sometimes even about the monthly book pick.

I read alot. About 1 book a week on average. I’ve always been a little jealous of my wife’s book club.

Not because I’ve always wanted to read The Time Traveler’s Wife or The Lovely Bones, but I think that reading a book and then talking about it with others would lead to everyone getting more out of it than just breezing through them alone.

Of course, being that I’m a young man in a Social Media crazed world,  this book club will be a little different.

Participants are still invited to come over once a month to discuss in person, but the bulk of the interaction will be online via a GoogleWave. This will allow more real time discussion for those like me who have a point they’d love to write down and discuss ASAP and may have forgotten by the time of our next physical meeting.

This also allows more people to participate, as my wife would be pretty peeved if thirty people showed up on a monday night!

Housekeeping—

If you need an invite to GoogleWave send me your email and I’ll get you one, if you already have an account and would like to be added to the wave send me that.

The focus will be on books that are seemingly relevant for a Christian Leader, that doesn’t mean you need to be a Christian or a Leader to be a part of the group but the books will be focused to growth for that group. If you want an idea of some of the books we’ll read, check out my amazon widget on the right hand sidebar.

We may occasionally get some Q&A time with the the author and I’ll even occasionally offer a free book or other fun stuff.

I look forward to sharing thoughts and ideas and learning from you this year, let the fun begin!

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Many of you reading this online, even on your Iphone, probably don’t need convincing that Social Media has a place in your ministry. For those of you not yet convinced, let me offer a couple real world examples of churches using the power of Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc., to reach people they may otherwise not reach.

As I travel around visiting with churches, some doing very well and others really struggling, I’m always looking to find key things that set apart a thriving ministry from one that is just surviving or even declining. One of the differentiators that I’m finding with some consistency is that healthy, growing churches seem to embrace technology. So,  I asked two friends who are also on the leading edge of this movement into Social Media for some of their thoughts on the role it has and can play in church.

Dan Ohlerking is the Online Campus Pastor at Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, LA. This multi-site mega church was founded by Dino Rizzo in 1994 as a Healing Place for a Hurting World and is looked at as one of the most innovative churches in the country. James Laws is Lead Pastor of Lifepoint Church in Cleveland, TN, and offers a unique perspective of a bi-vocational church planter who works days as a graphic designer and social media architect.

In the last 18-24 months, Social Media has gone from an afterthought to a key component of the evangelism and discipleship process at many vibrant and growing ministries. As Dan Ohlerking, recently told me, “Nearly everyone on our staff has a Twitter account now”. 

When asked about the importance of a social media strategy James said “Social media is really a natural extension of the church. Our whole purpose is to lead people to Christ and engage them in the community of His body for His service. Social media gives us this opportunity on a multifaceted level. Social media can be used to answer questions thrown into the abyss of the internet. It can be used to connect and inform your congregation. It can be used to drive a major charity or giving campaign. In fact, it has.”

Dan shared a story that illustrates the potential as an evangelism tool that a good Social Media presence can have-

“During our Live the Dream Women’s Conference, we were able to put nearly the entire conference live online. We included a Facebook Connect chat window alongside the video feed. One lady who had registered to be in the conference in Baton Rouge had to stay home one day due to one of her children being ill. She joined us online, and began chatting using the Facebook Connect chat. When she chatted in the online conference, the posts went (as FB Connect is designed to do) up on her wall. Well, a couple of her unsaved friends saw her comments and came to check out what she was participating in, and they spent their morning in the conference session online, enjoying the fellowship with those who had gathered and hearing the Truth being spoken in the conference. They have come several times now, and our prayer is that they’ll continue to come and experience Jesus and that they’ll soon surrender to his love and his grace.These two friends heard the Gospel as a direct result of social media connection.”

Still not convinced, if you are sitting on the sidelines thinking this is just a quick passing fad let me offer you a few statistics.  Twitter has 20 million users in the United States. In December, Facebook went over 100 million users, in the United States alone, or one in every three Americans! Even more impressive is the demographic breakdown, which shows that Facebook gets almost as much usage from grandmothers as teen girls.  Another exciting point in favor of Social Media is the huge international reach that these same sites have, over a quarter of a billion people connect via Facebook outside of the U.S. including Turkey, the third largest Facebook market with over 16 million registered users. No doubt, there will be new sites arrive and old sites decline, but it appears that Social Media as a whole is here to stay and has a very large and broad audience.

As James said “Use social media enough, in the right way, and over time you will find that you are known in places you didn’t even know you had any impact at all.” But it’s not just about being known, as Dan added, “ It isn’t about reaching the masses. It is about all the “ones” that make up those masses – individual lives that need Jesus” and Social Media can help your church reach farther and deeper than you ever could before.

You can also Follow Lifepoint and Healing Place on Twitter!

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