I’m sitting in the office today totally wiped out after 4 Easter services, baptisms, egg hunts, and a bunch of other activities that made this weekend the best Easter celebrations we’re ever experienced as a church. So I thought I would write out some “quick hits” or thoughts that I’m thinking as I reflect on this weekend. Long time readers of my blog will remember my old “Sunday Night Thoughts” where I’d reflect on the past weekend. OK, here we go… – First, I am grateful to God for the opportunity to serve. Who would have thought that a kid … Read More

This has been one of the hardest weeks of my life. I found out that my pastor, my mentor, my friend Bob Coy fell into sexual sin and disqualified himself from ministry. I have been a mess since Saturday. Before I share what I believe to be missing in the conversation about Bob’s fall, indulge me to share a little background… I started attending Calvary Chapel as a young Christian of only 3 weeks. It was a Wednesday night Bible study and I still remember the subject of the message (he was preaching out of Acts 18). Calvary Chapel is … Read More

I had a Pastor email this last week and asked, “If you were on a shoestring budget and Easter was 2 weeks away, how would you get the word out about your church?” I responded with one word. Facebook. I love Facebook ads. Why? Because it’s the cheapest way to drive traffic to your website and let people know about your services. Think about it. Facebook lets you… 1. Pick who your want to market to 2. Set a maximum budget 3. Constantly tweak and change your ads 4. Create different ads for different people at no extra cost And … Read More

Lots of churches are seeking to reach out to as many people are possible and invite them to Easter.  What many churches do is buy the names of every person in certain zip codes and “let ‘er rip”.  I don’t think this is the best approach. In fact, here’s what we have been doing for some time now and would recommend to other church leaders:   #1 – Be Specific by Buying lists  You can call companies that have lists for everything you could possibly imagine. This way, you can be specific in the people you want to reach.  In … Read More

Thomas Edison is quoted as saying, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” This is an important attitude in ministry because if we are afraid to experiment and fail, we will never be innovative and take our ministries to the places they need to go. Experimentation is part of how we learn what’s most effective in our context. For example, how do you know what are the best times to have Sunday services at your church? You have to experiment with different times and see what’s best. We have changed our service dozens of times over … Read More

Your budget is speaking. It’s telling you what you value most. If you buy many gadgets and pay your staff poorly, it’s saying, “I care more about toys more than people.” If you say you care about children’s ministry but never invest resources into constantly improving it, you’re saying, “Children don’t really matter to me or my church.” Looking at your budget will give you a good reference as to what’s most important to you. If you want to make Sunday a priority in your budget, look at three areas that must be given the appropriate resources to excel. They … Read More

Calvary Fellowship started as a home Bible study with five people. The most daunting task we had early on was figuring out how to let people know we existed.  I made the mistake early on of putting all our hopes in one method rather than using different means to communicate who we were as a church and, of course, the message of the Gospel. I see churches make this mistake all the time.  They either put eggs in the Easter basket (pun intended) thinking this Superbowl of Sunday services will attract enough new people to keep the church growing throughout … Read More

We are all influenced by the calendar.  We all eat turkey on Thanksgiving, candy on Halloween and Hershey’s kisses on Valentine’s Day.  The calendar affects all of us, so instead of fighting the calendar, why not cooperate with it?  I believe the calendar can be our greatest ally as we plan our preaching for each year.  Then again, what’s the alternative?  If you fight the calendar, I promise you will lose every time. So what how do I cooperate with the calendar and use it to my advantage?  Here are six dates that will help you plan your preaching throughout … Read More

One of the core values of our Evangelism Ninja coaching program is to mobilize your congregation. This means giving everyone in your church the tools needed to invite friends and family to church. With Easter approaching, I thought I’d share one of the tools we created for the kids in our Children’s Ministry to invite their friends and classmates to our Easter Services.   This looks just like the birthday cards that kids give to each other throughout the year. The inside of this card has all of the information for our Easter services. It talks about what parents and kids … Read More