Sorry for the title. My daughter is officially obsessed with Star Wars, so everything is becoming Star Wars related these days. Most Pastors dread the “Summer Slump”. Typically, this is when giving and attendance fluctuate the most in a given year. Yet here’s what I have learned over the last 10 years: 1. Summer is not as bad as people make it out to be 2. You don’t have to take as big of an attendance hit (I’ll talk about in depth later) 3. With planning, you can eliminate the giving slump (More on that later) 4. The key to … Read More
Sunday Stuff
– Great day at Calvary! – I taught Romans 3. I can’t believe I decided to teach the entire chapter in 1 shot. File that under: questionable decision. – I know I went long today. I’m sure I’ll hear about it tomorrow 🙂 – I sounded like a staunch Calvinist today as I talked about “No one seeks God”. Instead God is seeking us. If that bugs you, wait until I teach Romans 10 and talk about “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved”. I’ll be called a flaming Arminian. For the record, I’m neither. – … Read More
Friday Rewind
Here’s a quick review of the posts this week: Sunday – (Sunday Stuff) I talked about our service on Sunday and some thought on Senior Pastors preaching on Mother’s day Monday – (New Resource) We released a brand new resource called, “Ministering in the Hard Places”. Tuesday – (Who are you Listening to?) In this post, I talked about the 3 types of people we can listen to and what each bring to the table Wednesday – (Is it Wrong to Target Christians?) In this post guest blogger Bill LaMorey talked about one way to target people when you’re ministering … Read More
Q and A: What Makes one Area Harder than Another?
One of the questions that’s come up since the release of our newest resource, “Ministering in the Hard Places” is, “What constitutes a hard place?” I think it’s a great question. My friend Bill LaMorey who co-taught this resource with me says, “A hard place is any place that doesn’t have  a church and a Chick-Fil-A on every corner.” Seriously, there are areas (like Miami and New England) where the soil isn’t immediately ready for the Gospel. There’s a reason in some areas a church can launch with 300- 500 people and in other areas it’s more like 30-50. If … Read More
Is it Wrong to Target Christians?
This is a guest post by my good friend Bill LaMorey, Pastor of Calvary Fellowship in West Hartford, CT… When I left South Florida and returned to my home state of Connecticut to plant Calvary Fellowship in West Hartford, I had a solid conviction: “We’re going after lost people and we aren’t interested in reaching Christians.” My thinking has expanded on this point! Let me explain. The reason I didn’t want to go after Christians is we wanted to catch fish, not swap sheep. I felt there was no value added to God’s kingdom by stealing sheep from already churched … Read More
Who are you Listening to?
In the last 10 years of planting a church, I’ve learned that there are many voices that want to tell you what you should do in your church. But I’ve narrowed it down to 3 types of people: 1. Theorists – This is the researcher who writes a book on how to run your Small Groups ministry even though he’s never actually run one. 2. Practitioners – This is a guy who’s actually doing it, just in another part of the country (or world) 3. Local Practitioners – this is the guy who’s actually doing it, but he’s doing it … Read More
Brand New Resource: Ministering in the Hard Places
We’re releasing a brand new resource at church-strategies.com today called, “Ministering in the Hard Places”. My friend Bill Lamorey (Senior Pastor, Calvary Fellowship in Hartford, CT) and I co-teach this resource where we talk about the unique challenges of Pastoring in areas of the country (and world for that matter) that are more difficult. But this resource is about giving you the the tools to reach more people and build a healthier church no matter what area you’re in. When you’re doing ministry in a tough area you have to do things differently. This resource outlines 9 contrarian ideas that will … Read More
Sunday Stuff (Mother’s Day Edition)
– Amazing day at Calvary! All I can say is wow! – 2 packed services and tons of families taking Mother’s Day portraits. – I taught Romans 2. The message was entitled, “God is parenting us” – A lot of people said it was an emotional service. – I talked about my daughter being sick in January. It was hard to write and even harder to share. – It will be on the podcast if you want to hear it. – But I talked to so many people afterwards who were ministered to by it – It was a reminder … Read More
Welcome to the new Bobfranquiz.net!
Welcome to the new bobfranquiz.net! Here’s a couple of features that I think you’re going to enjoy: 1. There’s over $100 worth of free stuff you can get on the right hand side of the blog. —–> 2. There’s a free report on how to double your guests using Facebook on the right hand side of the blog. ——> 3. There’s a search feature at the bottom of the page that will search any post I’ve written over the last 6 years. 4. There’s a directory by category at the top of the page 5. There’s a new “About me” … Read More
Don’t Preach to Moms on Mother’s Day
Historically, churches usually break out their best Proverbs 31 message on Mother’s Day and moms leave feeling inadequate for the task of being a mom. Over the years I’ve taken a different approach. Instead of focusing on moms on Mother’s Day, I focus on talking about family. Why? Mother’s Day is the one day that mom can get even the most hardened unbeliever to come to church, simply because she says, “All I want for Mother’s Day is for my whole family to go to church together.” So to only preach to mom is a wasted opportunity to reach the … Read More
