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Q and A: Boards

This question came up recently, and it's one that I get a lot from church planters, so I thought I'd post my answer here: 

"Do you use Roberts' Rules of Order in your board meetings?" 

Great question, and the answer is yes. We use Roberts' rules to run our board meetings. While this may seem corporate or stuffy to some, it's a very effective way to have a meeting and get through agenda items effectively.  

If you're unaware of what Roberts' Rules are, it's saying things like, "All in favor" and making motions and seconding those motions to pass agenda items.  

I've served on ten church boards over the last decade and those that have used Roberts' Rules functioned much better than those which did not.  

For more information on conducting board meeting, selecting board members and bylaws, check out our Laying the Foundation resource by clicking here. 

Q and A: Meetings

I've gotten this question in several different forms, but it's usually something like this: "How can I make my meetings more effective?" 

Most meetings are: 

1. Too long

2. Too dull

3. Too scattered

That being the case, my philosophy for effective meetings is to make meetings: 

1. Shorter (90 minutes at most)

2. More exciting (Make sure the content is relevant to everyone in the meeting)

3. More focused - you don't have to discuss every issue. If a discussion is going to derail the meeting, have a separate meeting to deal with that issue and only have the necessary parties there. 

I talk about meetings in greater detail in the Zero to Sixty Seminar which you can pick up by clicking here. 

Q and A: Commitment

This is a great question I got recently: "Bob, what does commitment mean at Calvary? It seems like my definition and my leaders have two different definitions. How do I change that?" 

Awesome question! I have found that there's only one way to change that mindset - you have to define what commitment means according to the Bible. I've found the best vehicle for that is instituting a membership class. 

When you have a solid membership system, you set the baseline of commitment for the church. If being committed to your church means believers should be attending, serving, giving and growing, then your membership class should outline that.  

If you don't establish a baseline of commitment, everyone will decide what they think commitment means.  Trust me, you don't want to be there :) 

If you want a resource that will help you establish a solid membership system in your church, pick up our resource, "The Complete Membership System" by clicking here.

Q and A: What do you do for New Believers?

Here's a question I got this week: "Hey Bob, I see that you guys reach a lot of unchurches people at Calvary. What do you do for them once they come to Christ?" 

Great question: We have an 8-step process/ system that we work through which takes new believers from the moment they let us know they've made the decision to follow Jesus to full assimilation into the church.  

But that all starts with the individual letting us know the decision they've made.  That's why we let them know if made that decision, to check that off on their connection card and we'll send them a copy of my book Start Here. It's the 4 most important next steps a new believer can make.  

If you want to know our complete 8-step process, check our our new believers follow up system by clicking here. (It includes the Start Here e-book plus every other document we use).  

Sunday Stuff...

- What a great day! 

- You wouldn't have known it was going to be great, because the A/C was out at the school and it was about 8,000 degrees in the auditorium. 

- Outside, it was only slightly cooler. The high today was 89!  We're having a warm Fall :)

- I taught from Proverbs 16 on "How to Know God's Will"

- I know I've said it before, but God is doing an amazing work in the lives of people through this Proverbs series.

- This week we rolled out a big announcement: on February 21st, 2010 we're starting our 2nd location in West Miramar! 

- Miramar is about 15-20 minutes away and has a population of just over 100,000 people.

- There's very little happening evangelistically in west Miramar. There's stuff happening north of Miramar and south of it, but nothing in the city itself.  That's changing in February! 

- We're really excited about this new venture! We have a great team in place to see this vision become reality. 

- God put this in my heart about 4 years ago and I'm thrilled that we've taken so many steps to see this happen.  

- We had a baptism after church. It was great to see people making the decision to obey Jesus and go public with their faith.  

- Got to talk to dozens of new people that I have never met, but Jesus is changing their lives! 

- Had a guy say to me today, "I wish I would have come to this church 30 years ago. I would have done life differently and raised my kids differently." I was really moved by this. I'm amazed at what God is doing here! 

- Sometimes we get so caught up in the overall numbers that we lose sight of the individual stories of life change that are happening all around us.

- It's Carey's birthday on Wednesday, so we're heading out for a few days. I can't wait to reconnect with my family. 

- I've got 5 new books in my Kindle. Looking forward to getting some good reading time.  

- Gotta go pack! 

Zero to Sixty Tele-seminar!

On Thursday, November 12th I'm leading a Zero to Sixty tele-seminar from 1PM-3PM.

This is a great opportunity to create a learning experience for your entire staff. Your registration covers anyone in your church that can listen in on your phone line. That's what's great about tele-seminars! 

Here’s what you can expect to learn:
- How to communicate vision in a way that causes people to respond
- How to hire the right people and fire the wrong people
- How to gauge the health of your church
- Staffing strategies that add staff and reduce expenses
- How to maximize momentum for greater growth
- How to develop a system for raising up leaders
- How to develop yourself as a leader
- How to manage staff more effectively
- And much more!

If you think 2010 is a year that you're going to add staff, launch a new ministry, or cast bold vision, this tele-seminar can really helpful to you.  

You can register for the tele-seminar here. I hope you'll decide to join me!

Thoughts on Evangelism from a Non-Evangelist Part 2

I believe the most important aspect of being a church that reaches a lot of unchurched people is creating a culture of evangelism. The only way I know to create a culture of evangelism is to preach the Gospel every week.  

We give people an opportunity to come to know Jesus in our services every week and not a week goes by when we see people give their lives to Jesus.  

You have to preach on evangelism, but people need to see the Gospel preached and see people respond. 

It builds people's faith when people are turning to Jesus every week they come to church. When they see other coming to Jesus every week in the services, they think, "If I invite my friend, family member, or neighbor, they may come to know Jesus here as well."  

Of course, this can't replace personal evangelism, but it compliments personal evangelism nicely.  

To know how we create an environment to reach lost people through our Sunday services, check out our resource, "How to Make every Sunday like Easter" by clicking here. 

Thoughts on Evangelism from a Non-Evangelist

I am amazed that God has allowed Calvary Fellowship to be much an evangelistic church that reaches primarily unchurched people.  

The reason I'm so amazed is because I'm not an evangelist.  I'm a Bible teacher. That's my sweet spot. Teaching through books of the Bible and feeding God's people.  

While that's my primary gifting, my passion is to see lost people found. Nothing give me greater joy than to see a lost person give their life to Jesus and start growing in their faith.  

This week I'm going to talk about how that happens in our context at Calvary.  I hope this series of posts will be encouraging to you and maybe help you if you're a non-evangelist seeking to reach lost people.  

To know how we create an environment to reach lost people, check out our resource, "How to Make every Sunday like Easter" by clicking here. 

Sunday Stuff... (Monday Edition)

- Yesterday was amazing! 

- I taught Proverbs 31 & talked about the ideal woman 

- Yes, I cried... in both services!

- I get very emotional when I talk about my wife & how good God has been to me. 

- I was amazed to see the majority of people in the congregation (both men and women) crying as well. 

- I believe God was glorified and we were challenged to follow Jesus more closely 

- I really believe this Proverbs series has been one of the most powerful series of teachings we've ever done. God is using every message to impact lives.  

- 479 people have given their lives to Jesus at Calvary in 2009.  That doesn't include the 600+ that have rededicated their lives to Jesus. God is using Calvary to reach lost people and I'm humbled that God would use us to reach so many lost people.  

- For those who want to know how we follow up on those 479 people, it's all here. 

- After church we had a big picnic with all of our volunteers to thank them for all they do 

- We gave out our annual "Servant of the year" award to a great guy who has been serving faithfully over the last 9 years at Calvary.  It was great to honor Pedro Delgado for his faithful service.  

- We rolled out our BIG NEWS to the volunteers and everyone was excited.  

- I can't wait to share it on Sunday with the entire congregation!  

- Busy week this week and vacation next week! 

- Really looking forward to this week's www.church-strategies.com newsletter. Talking about showing gratitude, an upcoming leadership event, and as always a great book recommendation! 

- The Yankees are going to the World Series. My response? Go Phillies! 

Quick Hits

- Today I turned 36. I've been pretty low key about it. I'm not really sure how I feel about being in my late 30's. 

- My daughter saw cards this morning and decided it was her birthday :)

- My staff were all in my office waiting for me when I got to the office to surprise me. I don't know how I'm going to get balloons that big home :) 

- I should have taken the day off, but instead I'm locked away in my office up to my eyeballs in stuff to do

- Can't wait for session 3 of my coaching network tomorrow! Talking about staffing. I hope 2 hours is enough time :) 

- By the way, when they say your body changes in your mid-30's... it's true. 

- Looking forward to my date with Carey on Friday night. 

- Can't wait for Sunday. Teaching on Proverbs 31. Don't know how I'm going to teach this message without crying. I couldn't even finish writing it without crying :)

- It looks like my prediction of the Phillies repeating is one step closer to happening. Yes, I'm a prophet :)

- I've gotten a bunch of DM's on Twitter and emails about how this resource has blessed leaders. Thanks for the encouragement guys!

- Vacation is 2 weeks away. I keep telling myself that. 

- Huge announcement for our volunteers on Sunday afternoon at our appreciation picnic. 

- Huge announcement for the whole church on Nov. 1st, which is going to be a great Sunday! 

- OK, I'm getting back to work!