#6 – Our resources have always reflected our priorities Since we started, we’ve said that 3 areas would always have top priority:  Teaching, worship, & children’s ministry.  Five years later, those are the areas that we give most to in our budget & personnel resources.  Each of these areas has a full-time staff member, and these are the areas that we seek to lead new volunteers to serving in.  The reason: it’s the place where the greatest impact can be made.  A new couple walking into our church won’t stay if the teaching & worship are amazing but the children’s … Read More

#6 – I didn’t realize the importance of Sunday morning When we started Calvary Fellowship I never realized the importance of Sunday morning.  I thought that it was important, but I didn’t have the view of it that I do now.  Sunday morning is where you steer the ship.  It’s where the whole church gets together to hear from God and invite their friends to do the same.  It’s the only time you have the entire church’s undivided attention.  Other things are important (small groups, couples’, special events) but nothing is as important as Sunday morning.  Sunday isn’t just another … Read More

#5 – We’ve tried to do everything with excellence I wish I could say that we have succeeded 100% in this, but we’ve come pretty close.  When we start Calvary Fellowship, we said that if we couldn’t do something with excellence, we wouldn’t do it at all.  For us, the idea of crooked bulletins, out of tune singers, and half baked messages was a no-no from day one.  We’ve always said that "Good enough" is not part of our vocabulary.  So we tried to do things that looked like we were a church 5 times the size we were.  Too … Read More

#5 – I didn’t take enough time off I took 2 days off in the first 6 months of our church plant: Christmas day and New Year’s day.  The only reason I did was because everything was closed.  While I had outide employment until the 7th month of our church, every moment I wasn’t "bringing home the bacon" was spent doing church related things.  I kept that pace for about 3 years until I hit a wall.  I wasn’t sure if I could continue in ministry because I was so tired and fried.  At that moment I realized a change … Read More

#4 – I was afraid to teach on stewardship Nobody likes to talk about money. Mostlybecause we don’t want to get lumped into the whole "TV Preacher begging for money"camp. But what it took me a while to realize is that I was robbing people of theopportunity and joy of giving to God. So I decided to start being intentional aboutteaching on stewardship. We hosted Crown seminars, Crown small groups, andstewardship messages at appropriate times. Do you know what I found? People thankedme for teaching on the subject of money. This is a mistake I never want to repeat.God promises … Read More

#4 – We made training a priority One of the things we have done well is make training a priority on our staff.  I buy books for our staff to read and even give office time to read them. We discuss what we are reading and talk about the ideas they give us. I do a training session with our staff every month discussingdifferent areas of ministry. We also go to conferences that we feel will help us be more effective.  Before I went into ministry, I had a boss that was serious about traning.  We asked him about it … Read More

#3 – I tried to be someone else When we started Calvary Fellowship, I started listening and reading to everything I could on the subject of church. What happened is that I started trying things, not because it fit with our strategy and vision, but because it worked for so-and-so. The result as you could imagine was hit or miss at best.  I’m glad I finally woke up to the fact that God wants to do something unique with me and our church that might have elements of what others have done, but it’s the complete package that’s unique. When … Read More

#3 – Unchurched people love us This has not always been the case with us.  The first year of our church, I don’t remember 1 unchurched person that came to faith at Calvary.  Some people made recommitments, but none that I know of were first time commitments to Jesus.  I thank God that has changed.  Our last baptism saw 30 people go public with their faithand most of those were people who started following Jesus at our church!  The change took place when we decided to confront reality and then got intentional about reaching unchurched people.  I´m glad we made … Read More