Anthony Trask » ministry philosophies

Ramblings on Ministry and Codependence

Anthony — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 18:24:35 +0000

Over the years I have interacted with many people who were drawn into church because they lacked healthy relationships in the outside world. Once they feel the love of the Body of Christ, they jump in head first. They get involved in almost everything as soon as they are able to. They make sure they are at every event and every service. And they tend to gravitate either to the pastor’s family, or what appears to be the healthiest family within the church, to get even more affirmation and affection that they highly lacked before discovering the church. When these people are baptized, which is usually right away, when asked to give a testimony, usually will talk about how great the church is and how much they love the pastor, and not much about Jesus at all.

Now don’t get me wrong, it is the church’s job to show an intense love to the outside world and welcome in the hurting and broken with open arms. It’s also great for people to get highly involved in the life of a church. And, believe me, I know that Jesus can take someone from death to life and utterly change them from the inside out in an instant.

But, often times, people like this, are actually developing a codependence upon the church and/or its pastors. They have major spiritual, emotional, and sometimes even physical or financial issues, and the church steps in, rightly so, to help. But if they become consumed with how the church can help them, or has helped them, they can miss the very thing that the church is trying to portray: the grace, love, and hope of Christ.

My wife and I recently hung out with a person like this. For years, it appeared that his life was together. He even started to gravitate towards giving the majority of his life to ministry. He was very involved in his local church and extremely close to the pastor, the pastor’s family, and other ministry staff. But because so much of his focus went to the church and its leaders, and not to growing in a deep foundational relationship with Christ; after several years, he began to feel burnt-out. His burn-out somewhat surprised the people at his church and they didn’t know quite how to react. He had become such a fixture at his church, that once he started gradually pulling away to take a breather from his burn-out, the church suffered for it- because they hadn’t trained up someone else to fill-in (and to their defense may have not had anyone to fill-in)- and actually became a little frustrated with him. They had relied on him for so long, and now he wasn’t as available.

Because he had built his foundation on the church and its leaders, instead of Christ, when the church become frustrated with him, he was devastated. Someone else had let him down, again. Someone else proved not to be perfect, again. The nice little family that he had gravitated to, turned out not to be as nice as he made them out to be, just like every other family he had ever encountered.

And instead of seeing this for what it really was, people disappointing people (which happens all the time, with all people), he saw it as God who had disappointed him. And he pulled himself out of church, Christian relationships, and any resemblance of following Christ all together. He has since actually reorganized his schedule so he has no opportunity to ever go back to church and deal with things like this again.

Now obviously the fault is his own. He’s the one who allowed himself to become so codependent on the church and its people. He’s the one who missed out on the reality that the church’s people are to point others to Christ and lead them to dependence in Him alone.

But part of the fault lies with the church. They, for whatever reason, allowed him to develop a codependence in them. I don’t believe that it was intentional on their part, at all. But a church and its leaders must always point people to Jesus, push people to Jesus, teach people about Jesus, and train and mature them into developing a dependence and identity in Jesus-alone.

I grew up seeing this happen all the time- Needy people gravitating to, and sucking dry a pastor’s time, energy, and focus so that the church cannot grow or be as healthy as Christ intends it to be. And the second a pastor who has allowed this to happen, says “no” to such a person’s request for constant support; they’re usually off to find someone else to leach off of for a while, church or not.

So as a young pastor, I am trying to learn from what I have witnessed, from the study of Scripture, and the leading o the Holy Spirit.

I am setting a precedence:

That I am not always available for people, and that there are other leaders and lay leaders who are just as capable to help as I am.
That people need first and foremost to feed themselves the Word of God, and be in constant communication with Him through prayer.
That they need to surround themselves in Christian community and accountability.
That they need to serve their community, the world, and their church.
That they need to spend a substantial amount of time outside of the church, and in the world, so that they can be the light in the world that Christ has called them to be.
That they need to seek and pray for the power of the Spirit to work in their lives so that they can draw from His strength and depend on Him, instead of on others.
That people will always let them down, but that Jesus cannot and will not.
That people are flawed, even in the church, but that Jesus is not.
And that Jesus is the ultimate source for your needs, life, and desires through His life, burial, and resurrection, and the Power of His Holy Spirit which He has supplied for us.

It’s my prayer that the church I lead will create true followers and disciples of Jesus who will, in-turn, go out into the world and lead others to be disciples and followers as well. That the church I lead will never create a false expectation that the church and its leaders are the solution, but instead, that Jesus is the ultimate solution, and in Him is where we find our greatest identity, relationships, and dependence.

But There’s a Lot of Poor People

Anthony — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:42:14 +0000

A few days ago, one of my leaders and I went to meet with a community leader to share with him the vision of our church within our immediate region and our plans for Easter to see that vision begin to be realized.
The community leader responded with great enthusiasm; saying how desperately this region needed something like what we were planning to do, how there was nothing like this happening here, and how much he was grateful for our ministry efforts. But then came something strange as he said;” …yeah, but there’s a lot of poor people here.”
What the heck?! My friend and I looked at each other in confusion. It was as if this community leader was saying that everything we were planning was great except for the fact that there are so many poor people in our region. It was as if he was saying the poor people were unreachable, didn’t deserve to be reached, or would only cause us problems as we moved forward in spreading the Gospel in our community. Maybe he was suggesting that the poor people we would be reaching wouldn’t be able to financially support our ministry efforts. Either way, whatever he was implying was not positive.
I don’t want to assume too much about this man, or judge him without truly knowing his heart, but his statement personified the heart of the American church for so many decades; that the Gospel is for the white, middle-class, suburbanite, and if you get lucky, for the upper-class and the wealthy.
So many, if not most of, this nations mega-churches (which I desire to pastor one day) lay far outside of their city’s center, and on large pieces of property near the suburbs or tree-filled neighborhoods populated by the middle and upper-class.
Now obviously I know that in reality, it does take money to reach people. But I also know that the God who gives us mission and vision to reach the lost, will also give us the provision to be able to do it.
I recently spent several days in Orange County on the nicest church campus I have ever seen. The only thing it could be compared to was a small private university campus. As I walked amongst the waterfalls, playgrounds, multiple buildings, skate parks, ponds, parking structures, and palm tree lined walkways, I couldn’t help but think that it was a little unfair. I know it was a selfish thing to think. But I thought it. To plant/build a church in one of the nation’s wealthiest regions, in one of its wealthiest neighborhoods seemed too easy. And obviously I know that both the rich and the poor need to be reached. But reaching the rich seems like the easy way out- like being called to Maui for a mission’s trip. Salaries and building funds are a lot easier to raise amongst the rich, than they are the poor. Though, at my church, the majority of our giving comes from those on fixed incomes verses those who are upper and middle-class.
Almost every church growth book I read, every leadership podcast I listen to, every college course I take tells me that, as a pastor, I need to have a “target-audience”; that I need to pick a subculture, economic class, or ethnic group, and then go after them with the good news of Jesus. But it seems to me that if a pastor has to choose the perfect audience to reach, that their flesh will always lead them to the “beautiful upper-class” where problems do not exist on a level equal to those experienced by the poor. With a target in mind, it becomes easy to pick the most-comfortable-to-reach target.
And again, I’m just thinking-out-loud here, I do think that there are certain things that can be used to reach the upper class that will not be as effective in reaching the poor and vice versa, but isn’t Jesus big enough to break down the walls to reach multiple “targets” at once?
The problem with this community leader’s statements about the poor, the mega-church in the upper-class suburbs model, and the idea of a target audience, is, Jesus! Jesus ministered to and reached every single segment of society. His ways of grace, love, and hope spoke to every people group in His greater-culture. And if anything, He spent the majority of His time reaching out to the poor, the outcast, and those who the religious-elite considered to be unreachable, untouchable, and unworthy. And if there was a group that He was more harsh with, more than any other, it was the rich, those in power, and the religious.
Jesus did indeed have a target audience, though. It was anyone who was breathing, whose heart was beating. And that’s who I chose to be my target audience as well. And I’m thrilled to be doing it right in the middle of a culturally and economically diverse city, from the center of a lower-class neighborhood. And as I lead my church to minister to the poor, I believe that God will send in the upper-class and the rich to fund our efforts. That’s how God works.
So are there a lot of poor people? You’re dang right there are, and we are going to reach them!

Missing Link

Anthony — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 22:54:05 +0000

Our church has quite a few visitors in our services each week. One of the things that we pride ourselves in is creating our worship experiences with two people in mind, “Jesus and Christ and you”. In other words, we work hard to make our services accessible to anyone off of the street who has never had any experience with Christ or His Church. They’re the group of people that we want to reach more than any other.

So when picking songs, we’ll pick ones that are enjoyable to listen to, comparable to music someone might hear on the radio, and have messages that can easily be understood. This enables the Believer to enter into worship, and the visitor to understand Who we are worshiping, what we understand of Him, and how we go about worshiping Him.

When preaching a message, we make sure that it has the substance to be able to challenge, grow, and encourage the Believer, yet the basics of the Gospel message to draw an unbeliever to Christ.

Even when we address the crowds through announcements and ‘welcomes’, we do so as to connect with those we know and who know how we do things, yet with explanation and hospitality for those we do not.

All things done with the visitor in mind, yet unapologetic of our message, our worship, our beliefs, and especially our God.

With all of that being said, our hospitality team is very good. Our people are friendly. Our music is great. And, I must say, our messages are powerful and very engaging.

Most visitors will come up to me or someone on my team and tell us how much they enjoyed the service. Oftentimes it will be accompanied with tears and “thank you” after “thank you”. They’ll tell us that they’ve “found (their) home”, that God spoke to them while in our midst, or how much they felt God’s presence. They’ll indicate on their visitor’s card or to one of us that they want to become a member, that they want to join a small group, or that they want to join a particular ministry team- all on the first visit, even if they weren’t Christians before they stepped through the doors.

We’ll then follow up with an email or even cookies and a handwritten note left non intrusively on their door. All and all, the experience is great!

There’s, most of the time, a problem though. Lots, if not most of those visitors will drop off of the face of the earth, and we’ll never see them again?? Most of the time they’ll drop off the face of the earth after their first visit. But sometimes they’ll ask to be baptized, have their baby dedicated, get you to perform their wedding ceremony, or come to just one Small Group, and then drop off the face of the earth. All along the way telling you how great you and your church is and how much God has changed their life; then disappear. And often times if you drop them a card in the mail, call, email, text, or Facebook them to let you know that you’ve missed them and invite them to come back, they’ll either never respond, or respond as if you have inconvenienced them in the biggest way possible, think that you are judging them, and that’s usually the last contact you’ll have with them.

So my thinking out loud within this vulnerable blog posting is; “WHY?” Why say how much you love things, have a “service” performed for you, or just start to get involved, and then drop off the face of the earth.

There’s several possible problems.

One is a cultural problem. We live in a post-christian nation where people do not go to church and if they do it’s once or twice a year. So it’s possible that people really do love what going on at your church, yet they think it’s only an institution that’s there when you need it, or that you if you show up once or twice a year, that your part of the “team”.

Another possible problem is that we’ve done a poor job connecting with our visitors or are conducting worship experiences that are not relevant to their lives. But after much consideration and critical thinking, I do not believe this to be the case at my church- maybe I’m wrong though.

Another possible problem is a multifaceted one of a spiritual nature. Maybe these people simply are not really connecting in a relationship with Jesus? Maybe you have sown a seed, but like the parable of the sower, the devil immediately snatches it up before it has a chance to take root. This, if it is the problem, probably is taking place immediately after the person attends one of your services, or sometime within the week before the next worship experience?

Either way, it’s a problem.

We do have people stick around. We are seeing lives changed, people saved, baptized, and empowered by the Holy Spirit. We are seeing God restore to some the joy of their salvation. We are seeing people growing in their relationship with Jesus, their understanding of God’s Word, and their community interaction with others. And our church is growing, quickly by some standards.

But I want to be the most effective as we can be with each person who walks through our doors. I want to experience Christ in a powerful way and be drawn back each week to continue to grow and to join our mission of connecting others to Him. And I want people to be so on fire for God and so in love with His Church that they couldn’t imagine not being a consistent part of what He is doing through the Church.

I know I’m not alone. I know every pastor goes through this, but when you are still small and doing new and exciting things, it can be disappointing to see people not connecting at the level they could be.

The Good, The Bad, and Everyone Else

Anthony — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 06:48:17 +0000

I’ve been around Christianity and ministry all of my life. To say the least, I have observed many things about people and how they respond to the grace of Christ. And without trying to be trivial and simply categorize people, I have taken notice of three types of people who respond in apparent positive ways towards the Gospel; the “Good”, the “Bad”, and “Everyone Else.”
The “Good” are those who will accept and or follow Jesus when things are going well in their life. They respond to the goodness of God with their lives. Often they do so by receiving Him (or appearing to receive Him) as Savior and Lord, showing up at church, serving in ministry, connecting in Christian relationships, and financial giving. Often times the “Good” are serving God for the benefits. They think that if they continue to serve Him well, that everything in their life will go well, and for that they will serve Him more. The only problem with the “Goods” is that things eventually go bad. Anyone who reads the Bible knows that those who were the most faithful in serving God, often times had to make the most difficult sacrifices and went through the hardest times. When times get difficult for the “Good”, they typically hit the ground running in the opposite direction of God because they built their relationship with Him on the false foundation that when they serve Him nothing bad will happen. When confronted with reality, they become angry with Him and often times give up all together, or at least until the next wave of goodness comes their way.
The “Bad” are those who will accept and or follow Jesus when things are going bad in their life. They are the exact opposite of the “Goods”. They reach out to God only in times of trouble. They think that if they can do things right with God that He will get them out of trouble. So they respond by receiving Him (or appearing to receive Him) as Savior and Lord, showing up at church, serving in ministry, connecting in Christian relationships, and financial giving. The only problem with the “Bads” is that when people have encountered Jesus, many great things start to happen in their lives. And with the absence of the “bad” in the “Bad’s” lives, they often respond by thinking that they no longer need God. And instead of acknowledging Him as the source of every good and perfect gift and serving Him for being so, they often forget about Him and go back to their old pattern of life that caused the “bad” to begin with. These people often strive on crisis and conflict, so “bad” circumstances will come there way again and again. They usually seek out God again for relief, and when they find it, fall away once again. “Bads” are probably the most common type of person I see.
And then, thank God, there is “Everyone Else”! Everyone else is the good soil that Jesus talks about in His parable of the sower. They are those in whom the Gospel takes deep root and bears much harvest. “Everyone Else” are those who serve God in the good times and in the bad. They rejoice when things are going good and serve God for it, and they mourn when things aren’t going good, but continue to praise God because even though their circumstances may not be good, God is. They serve God, His Church, and the world regardless of their circumstances, and praise Him, not for their benefit, but so that He may be rightly glorified. “Everyone Else’s” are unfortunately more rare than the “Goods” and the “Bads”, but they are the ones who have been totally transformed by a Holy God and the ones He will use to reach the “Goods”, the “Bads”, and the unreached.

Random Thoughts on Those Who Focus On and Believe in the Bizarre

Anthony — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 17:09:26 +0000

The garbage that people believe never ceases to amaze me. Extreme superstition, spiritism, angel worship, humanism, and self-idolatry has crept into the Church in huge ways and tends to prey on the uneducated, the poor, and the naive. Out of the fear of offending and losing large numbers in their churches, pastors can tend to turn a blind eye to such heresy. But confronting heresy and departures from the centeredness of Christ is what leaders have been put in place to do.

People can become obsessed about strange apparent spiritual manifestations like gold dust falling from the sky; faith-induced prosperity; and bizarre explanations for naturally occurring phenomena without ever thinking about Jesus- unless they’re using His Name as some magical incantation to get their desired effect.

But after decades of crazy-amazing ministry, the Apostle Paul “resolved to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified”. If the Church today kept it’s focus on Christ alone; everything else in life would fall into place! Anything and everything else that God wants to happen to you WILL happen if your focus is on the proper object of worship: Jesus Christ.

We are to focus on Him and His Word. And where His Word does not speak; we have no need to over speculate or obsess over non-Biblical concepts and phenomenon.

I like to use the ‘Jesus Test’ with most people I meet who claim Christianity. I’ll listen to them speak, and take notice of where their train of thought tends to go when speaking of “Christian things”. If that train of thought tends to travel towards the non-essential or the bizarre or extreme things of the faith way more than the foundational essentials; there’s probably a problem. Listen and see how often the Name of Jesus comes up and concepts like the holiness of God, the sin of man, grace, love, repentance, and hope. People who tend to gravitate towards the fringe issues will rarely talk of these essential things. Often times there faith is in the unexplainable supernatural, new age spirituality, and humanism; not in the Jesus Christ.

Recognize such behavior immediately, always turn the conversation back to Jesus, share the Gospel (even if the person claims to be a Christian), and invite them to put their trust in Christ alone (if you feel as though it is not). If they rebuke you or refuse to listen; be nice to that person, but cut close ties with them because they will always want to bring up their pet issue rather than focusing on Christ. And if you’re in leadership, recognize those who are taken captive by such philosophies and activities, and do not put them in any type of leadership role- who cares if their feelings are hurt! Don’t do it! They’ll take all sorts of people with them down their bizarre rabbit trails if allowed.

Thoughts on Empowering Leaders

Anthony — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 04:22:01 +0000

One thing I need to work on more and more as a leader is to take notice of, then empower potential leaders. I am no one-man-show. As John the Baptist said,” I must decrease, so that He may increase.” (John 3:30 paraphrased) Whatever I can do as a leader to advance God’s Kingdom must be done. If that means allowing other leaders to shine where I do not, or to give them an opportunity even in areas that I accelerate in, so be it. Even though it’s tempting, I’m not ultimately interested in building an earthly kingdom where I become some sort of celebrity. I want to take part in building an eternal Kingdom where Jesus becomes THE celebrity.

So I currently am seeking out and recruiting talent (especially of those who are younger than me) so that I might be a catalyst of empowerment and encouragement for them to do the things that they’re gifted and talented at in order to advance God’s Kingdom.

My father and my brother-in-law saw potential in me and allowed me the opportunity to develop it and for that I am forever grateful. Now, I too , must learn from them and duplicate what they invested in me with those younger than me or who have not yet had their potential recognized and fostered.

This, to be honest, is not something I’m personally passionate about as a leader. I am most passionate about evangelism. But it is something that I see a need for and am excited to pursue it as a passion so that I will become more and more passionate about it.

In doing so though, I need to make sure that I don’t give people opportunity to do things that they’re just not good at. I need to be honest and steer them away from things they’re not inclined to do, and push them toasted things they are- even if feelings are hurt from time to time. I also need to find avenues for those to explore their talents and potential, then increase their skill in them, in order to prepare them for quality public usage of those gifts.

Allowing someone too much “stage time” with a gift that is not very good could give them a false security that they have no need to improve, and could push away those they are ‘ministering’ to.

Today I had the privilege to meet with two young leaders that I am so excited to work with and foster growth within. I will be intentional in making sure they are empowered to do the things they are passionate about and advance the Kingdom where they shine the best.

Yesterday I was thrilled to give up the “pulpit” I regularly speak from to allow my nephew the opportunity to be empowered in using the speaking and leadership gift God is developing in him. And I can’t wait to see where God takes him!

Wherever God leads those He has entrusted to my care, I will be happy to send them off blessed and empowered for ministry; not a jealous leader who hoards all of the good ministers to himself.

Uncontent

Anthony — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 06:41:02 +0000

The Apostle Paul, in Philippians 4:11, says;” I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” In context, Paul was speaking in terms of personal comfort and personal provisions. But are there things that we should not be content with? Absolutely!

Christ’s great commission to ‘go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all He commanded’ is non-negotiable for Christians. So if there’s anything to not be content with, it’s not whether or not you have your dream house, your fantasy car, your ideal job, or a good stock portfolio; it’s the fact that we are FAR from making disciples of all nations.

Today, I read a report mentioned by Mark Driscoll on Facebook on the most (and least) “religious” states in America. The report was not good from an eternal perspective. In fact, my heart literally sank as I read it. But from an evangelistic perspective, the opportunities to reach tens of millions with the Gospel is unparalleled.

My state, Oregon, is the 7th least “religious” state in America. Though I don’t care for the term “religious” and do not consider true Christianity a religion whatsoever, here are the four things the poll takes into account to determine a state’s religiousness:
Percent of people who say religion is very important in their lives; Percent of people who say they attend religious services at least once a week; Percent of people who say they pray at least once a day; and the Percent of people who say they believe in God with absolute certainty.

46% of Oregonians say religion is very important in their lives; 32% say they attend religious services at least once a week; 48% say they pray at least once a day; and the 63% say they believe in God with absolute certainty.

And as a pastor living in this state I will never be, and I will make sure my church will never be, content until all of those percentages are at 100%. And I will never exude contentment unless all of those 100% who say religion is very important embrace relationship with Jesus; until all of those 100% who attend religious services each week are attending Bible teaching, Christ centered, mission minded services each week; until all of those 100% who pray everyday are praying non-selfish prayers to the God of the Bible in Jesus’ Name; and until all of those 100% who believe in God with absolute certainty believe in the One and Only All Powerful God of the Bible who is coequally and coeternally existent as Father, Son, and Spirit. And even then, may I not be content until the entire world is at the same 100%’s.

This is why I live, this makes it hard to breathe sometimes, this keeps me up at night, this consumes me! If it wasn’t for this lack of contentment I, and all those who call upon the Name of the Lord for salvation, would be standing before God in a new heaven and a new earth. May I NEVER be content with the spiritual condition of this world. May I never be content in my walk with Christ. May I never be content with the way my church operates. But rather, may I have my heart broken and my steps directed by a world, that without Jesus Christ, is bound for an eternal hell.

The Perfect Visit.

Anthony — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:51:18 +0000

You drive into the parking lot with your family.

Someone in an orange vest waves “hello” and approaches you in your car to tell you where a parking spot is. It’s raining and he has an umbrella to give you?!

As all of you approach the building, you notice that there are several doors that you could enter into, but you’re not sure which one.

Thankfully a person is outside of the building waiting for you to tell you where to enter and even holds the door open for your family. He asks if he can have the umbrella and places it in a basket by the door.

After entering the door, you and your family begin walking down a hallway. All of the doors that you pass are clearly labeled so it’s no mystery what lies behind them.

At the end of the hallway you notice two greeters waiting for you to shake your hands, and genuinely and happily welcome you.

Someone else is in the hallway at the same time as your family, but a little further ahead of you. One of the greeters smiles and is ready to shake their hand. The greeter hands them a pamphlet, shakes their hand, talks to them for a moment, and then points to another room where the person begins to head.

Your family approaches the greeters while the person in front of you is closing up their interaction with one of the greeters. The other greeter walks to meet your family, has a big smile on her face and stretches out her hand to greet you and your husband. You both shake hands with her and she introduces herself, and then asks for your names. You and your husband give her your names and she repeats them in a sentence telling you how glad she is that you chose to visit.

She then bends down to your kids’ level and introduces herself to them, and asks them what their names are. Your kids are a little apprehensive but she keeps some distance from them and a smile on her face. They feel comfortable and give her their name.

The greeter confirms with you and your husband that this is your first time here, then hands you and your husband a visitor’s packet that contains a booklet explaining who they are and a visitor’s card to fill out.

She smiles at you and mentions the visitor’s card in the packet and tells you that they would like to know how they may connect with you. She tells you that if you feel comfortable, to fill it out and either place it in the collection basket as it passes in front of you or to give it to her or one of her team mates wearing a name tag as you are leaving.

She then hands you 4 certificates, one for each member of your family, that entitle you to a complimentary drink or snack at their café.

She points to where the café is and lets your family know that you can get something from the café and sit at one of the nice tables or comfortable couches until the event starts. She lets you know that there is free coffee each week and other drinks and snacks available each week for a low price to cover their cost.

She then lets you know that they have a quality kid’s program and nursery available for your children where they will be safe and have access to you if they need you, and that you can check them in at a table nearby that she points out.

She nods her head towards you and your family and says, “Have a nice time! I hope to see you guys again. Let anyone know if you have any questions or concerns.”

You walk over to the café and are greeted by several people as you approach it.

You wait in line for the café and the man behind the counter tells you that he will be with you in just a moment. As you approach the counter of the café’ he introduces himself and tells you that he is glad that you are here, then asks if he can help you decide what to order. You ask him what your kids might like and he shoots out several ideas.

A young lady helping him behind the counter says hello as she is walking back and forth making a drink. You decide what you want and the man prepares everything for you in a timely manner, while talking to you the entire time.

He asks if you have some complimentary drink and snack certificates and you inform him that you do.

He takes them from you, collects the money for the rest of your purchase and tells you that he hopes to see you again and to have a great time while you are here.

You and your family find a place to sit and eat. People sitting around you smile and nod at you to welcome you, and a young lady who is walking around the room cleaning tables and straightening things up walks over to you and asks if it is your first time here. When you confirm to her that it is, she tells you that you will love what goes on around here and to let her know if you have any questions.

Several other people walk by your table and introduce themselves. As you get up from your table, the young lady who was cleaning up tables earlier tells you not to worry about taking care of your trash because she will pick it up for you.

You begin to walk over to the Kid’s Check-In Table and the woman behind the table stands to introduce herself to your family. She takes special interest in your kids and tells them that they will have a great time with the other kids in the Kid’s Programs.

She walks you through the check in process, places a sticker on the back of your child, and hands you a card indicating that you are the parents of your children so you can safely pick them up after the event.

She tells you that you can walk them to their classes before the event begins to drop them off, and that you will be notified if they have a problem or want you.

You take your children to their classes and their teachers welcome them with energy and lead them to interact with other children before their class begins.

You and your husband feel confident that your children are safe, wave goodbye to them, and make your way to the auditorium.

As you approach the doors one of the two ushers readily greets you, shakes your hand, and helps you find a place to sit. He points out to you where the bathrooms are if you need to use them during the event and tells you to enjoy yourself.

Music begins and the lights dim.

You have just had a great experience and you have only been here for 15 minutes. You can’t wait to see what the actual event is like that you came here to be a part of in the first place.

During the middle of the event, a basket is passed in front of you and you drop in the Connection Card you filled out while you were drinking coffee in the back.

As the event closes, many people around you shake your hand and introduce themselves.

The ushers who are at the exit of the auditorium, shake your hand, let you know that they are so happy you came, and tell you that they hope to see you again.

You pick up your kids by handing your card over to their teacher. She tells you that they did great and your kids have huge smiles on their face as they exit.

The young lady who picked up your trash earlier sees that you are leaving and hurries over to ask how your experience was and tells you to have a great week, and that she hopes to see you again next week.

The man who was speaking in front of everyone at the event is walking around the café’ seating area and takes notice of you as well. He shakes your hands, introduces himself, asks for your names, hands you his business card, and tells you to contact him if you have in questions or comments about the event you just took part in. He tells you to have a great week, and says that he hopes to see you again soon.

Your family walks to the doors you entered in through. The man who opened the door for you when you came is still there to bid you farewell. He says,” Looks like the rain stopped and you won’t be needing this” as he points to the umbrella. He says goodbye and opens the door for your family as you exit.

You head to your car. The man in the orange vest who you saw when you first pulled in is in the parking lot. He asks if you need any help getting out and you inform him that you do not. He smiles, waves goodbye, tells you to have a great week, and says,” Hope to see you again next week!”

Your family all looks at each other when they get in the car, and you say to your husband,” That was a great experience!” And he says back,” I can’t believe that was church!”

Two days later, as you are walking to your front door from work, you notice a Ziploc bag full of fresh baked cookies, a hand-written note from the pastor telling you that he enjoyed having you there this past Sunday, and his business card.

As you are enjoying the cookies with your husband and kids, and checking your email, you notice an email from the pastor as well telling you that he enjoyed having you and to possibly expect a short phone call from someone in his hospitality team calling to ask you if you have any questions about their church or Christianity.

The next day after work, a woman from the church calls, tells your husband that they don’t want to bother him, but that they simply wanted to call and tell him how happy they were to have your family in church on Sunday and to know if you guys had any questions about the church.

Your husband thanks the woman, says he doesn’t have any questions, and tells her that they can expect to her back on Sunday.

Church Marketing 101, Part 1

Anthony — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 23:33:26 +0000

I am currently reading a book called Church Marketing 101 for a business class I am taking in school. The book has challenged me immensely and i am praying how I can implement some of the things I am learning as a leader. Over the next week or so I will be posting some of my notes I am taking on the book for homework and what it was in each chapter that stood out to me the most, and how I will try to incorporate it into my ministry:

The thing I walk away with most from chapter one of Church Marketing 101 is a clear definition of what marketing within the church world actually is. Church marketing is being aware of people’s perceptions about your church and the Gospel your church ‘sells’; deciding what you want their perceptions to be, and then taking steps to change your church to match the perceptions you want people to have. These steps are not simply promoting ‘who you desire the church to be to the public’, but actually making the changes within the church, then promote ‘that’ church. This helps me tremendously with what I am doing now at Fellowship Church- taking a struggling church with little to no public recognition and making it a lighthouse for the Gospel.

If You’re Not Offending…

Anthony — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 23:36:16 +0000

Lately I’ve been giving some challenging messages to my church. Overall, people are receiving them well and doing something with them in their lives in return. We have, however, lost some people because of the challenges, changes, and expectations set within the church. I was talking to a friend of mine about this and how sometimes it can be very disheartening to a leader to know that even though you are doing the right things; you lose people along the way who are not on board with the direction you are going.

My friend pointed out something to me that really encouraged me and has caused me to reflect on her statement. She said that in my line of work (pastoring), that if I am not offending people, that I am not doing my job. And even though it’s hard to swallow; it’s true.

The Bible says that the message of the cross is offensive! Jesus offended people when he spoke the truth! The Apostles offended people when they spoke the truth. Ultimately, it cost all of them their lives- with the exception John. Jesus never at the end of His messages, said,” Did you like it?” The answer was usually no for many of the people. At times the entire crowd walked away while He was speaking. At times the crowds he was speaking to tried to throw Him off the cliff. Etc…

Sometimes, well most of the time, what we preach- if we are true to the Gospel- will be offensive but if it is preached in grace, love, hope, humility and power it will not return void. After all, it was the teachings of Jesus that utterly changed the world and that continue to do so today. The Kingdom will grow and people will find life-changing relationship in Christ. I’ll keep pushing forward and lives will be changed to the glory of God and the advancement of His Kingdom. And I can’t wait to see the harvest!