Now I will readily admit that it's not as exciting as the Return of the Jedi, but I  think you'll find this interesting.   Cinnabon's sales had dropped due to decreased foot traffic in malls because of the recession. So what did they do? Direct mail!*  They started doing direct mail and guess what? Sales went up!   This teaches us a couple of things:  #1 – Hard work pays off – I commend Cinnabon for not blaming the government or anyone else. Instead, they got creative, took a risk and their hard work paid off.  #2 – Direct mail … Read More

#4 – Stop Doing 5 things and turn them into Volunteer Positions I challenged our staff a while back with this objective. Find 5 things you're currently doing and turn them into volunteer positions. I was amazed how this created new positions for people to serve.  There were simple things our staff was doing that a volunteer could easily do. We were simply becoming the bottleneck for ministry to take place. There are people who would be willing to serve if it meant going to the store or picking up coffee.  Create new opportunities by allowing volunteers to do things … Read More

#3 – Start Asking People to Serve Early  One of the mistakes we make as church leaders is not allowing new people to serve. In fact, I used to think that people should wait 6 months before they started serving. What's a mistake that was!  Today we ask people to serve early. we talk about serving in our New Believers class. We encourage people who have attended 2-3 times to get involved. Why? Because people who commit to serve stick in a church. The chances of them falling through the cracks goes down considerably.  The big idea: don't wait to ask … Read More

#2 – Don't Make it a Life Sentence One of the things that gets more people involved is the knowledge that a person can change ministries without being looked down upon. In fact, at Calvary we encourage people to change ministry areas after a season of time.  I'd rather a person serving in our Children's Ministry change ministry areas rather than stop serving. Too many times, people want to change where they serve but feel they are letting someone down if they stop. So they stop serving and many times stop attending church.  From the very beginning we let people … Read More

This week I want to talk about some ideas to increase your volunteer base. If you're like every other church in America, you could always use more volunteers. I want to share some strategies for radically increasing your volunteer base.   #1 – Make it easy for people for people to serve – Every thinks they make it easy, but few do. At Calvary, if you want to start serving you simply check off the back of your connection card. That's it.  Then we call you and get you plugged in. Yes, there's an application to fill out, but it's … Read More

– Great day today!  – It felt great to be back. – I taught Esther 4:1-5:8 and talked about the power of influence.  – All of us are influencing people. The question is, how are we influencing people? – The band sounded great. After not hearing them for a couple of weeks, I can't get over how great they sound.  – Had the chance to talk to some new servants in the church. I love seeing people step up and start serving.  – About 40 people came to know Jesus in January at Calvary Fellowship! Love that.  – I'm going … Read More

I've been out of town the last 2 weeks and in the Sundays I've missed over 30 people have come to know Jesus! (That's not counting the recommitments by the way). I remember praying that God would send us 1 person who would pray to receive Christ in our services. It took us 18 months for the 1st person to come to know Jesus at Calvary Fellowship. Being part of the transformation of our church is part of why I'm so passionate about helping churches become magnetic in reaching people far from God.   That's why I'm really excited about sharing … Read More