Have you ever tried sharing your faith in Jesus with a friend or co-worker and had them respond something like this: After doing independent research, I'm mostly leaning towards the fact that God is nonexistent. The bible is constantly contradicting itself on many issues. Honestly looking at it from an unemotional and completely logical perspective, the God in the bible is a terrible entity and not someone I want to worship any longer. He allows suffering and disease and murders … [Read more...]
When Not to Build
I just finished reading a book today called When Not to Build: An Architect's Unconventional Wisdom for the Growing Church by Ray Bowman & Eddy Hall. Here are the three main principles the entire book is based on: The Principle of Focus. A church should build only when it can do so without shifting its focus from ministering to people to building a building. The Principle of Use. A church needs more space only when it is fully using the space it already has. The Principle of … [Read more...]
Compensation Handbook for Church Staff
Richard Hammar's book Compensation Handbook for Church Staff is a super helpful resource I use to help me determine salary ranges for my staff at New Day. Here's how it works...First, the book evaluates a variety of factors such as: Position (i.e. executive pastor, worship pastor, associate pastor, kids pastor, etc.) Church income Worship attendance Longevity (how long the staff member has been in your employ) Education (i.e. bachelors degree, masters degree, doctorate or none of the … [Read more...]
Spiritual Gift Assessment – Part 2
Craig Groeschel (of LifeChurch.tv) wrote a great book called Chazown, which helps people discover what God has created them to do. A website was developed based off the book and on their site there's an awesome (and free) spiritual gifts assessment tool. This inventory contains 66 questions and take 10-20 minutes to complete. Once when speaking on spiritual gifts we directed New Day attendees to visit this site to learn more about their spiritual gifts and how they might use them to honor God … [Read more...]
Spiritual Gift Assessment – Part 1
North Point Ministries offers a free spiritual gift assessment you can view by clicking here. This inventory contains 125 questions and will take 20-45 minutes to complete. Once when speaking on spiritual gifts we directed New Day attendees to visit this site to learn more about their spiritual gifts and how they might use them to honor God through serving in our church. If you order spiritual gift assessments and then multiple that cost by a bunch of people in your church it can quickly … [Read more...]
How I Use Saddleback Resources
Saddlebackresources.com is an excellent website that I have greatly benefitted from in numerous ways since starting New Day. There are many times I've downloaded an individual message or an entire series from the "sermons" section of their site. Here's how this has helped me: By listening to a master communicator (Rick Warren) I learn how to better communicate myself. If he's done a series on a certain subject - let's say Financial Fitness - I like to see what topics Rick chose to cover … [Read more...]
How I Use Open.LifeChurch.tv
Open.LifeChurch.tv is an awesome free resource that I've tapped into many times over the past six years. Here's some of the main ways I've used it: I've downloaded video messages to show my church (it's Jesus' church but you know what I mean). For example, I was doing a series on Jonah and Craig Groeschel (the lead pastor of LifeChurch.tv) had also done one on Jonah. So I preached three weeks and then showed Craig preaching via video for the other week of that series. I picked the one he did … [Read more...]
How we use YouVersion
YouVersion is a free and easy way to read your Bible online or on your smartphone in a number of different translations. Here's a couple reasons why I like using and promoting YouVersion to others: The Bible is often viewed as an ancient book, out of touch with the times. Allowing people to access it digitally, in my opinion, helps correct that misconception. I love being able to say on Sunday "If you have your Bibles or YouVersion on your smartphone, please turn with me to..." It's cool … [Read more...]
Church Metrics
Church Metrics is undoubtedly one of my favorite resources. It's a free tool, compliments of LifeChurch.tv that helps you easily track your church's key metrics such as salvations, baptisms, first time guests, attendance, giving, etc. You can track anything you like and then easily create helpful reports or charts. Here's an example of one report I receive each week. I set it up so each Tuesday I get a snap shot of the last six weeks (click the picture to enlarge). Here's an example of … [Read more...]