Last week we released a brand new resource entitled, “Getting Unstuck: Secrets to Avoiding Growth Barriers and Becoming an Unstoppable Church“.  The response has been incredible!  This 5-CD resource is geared towards helping churches get unstuck and start growing again. Here’s the description for the resource: Getting Unstuck contains over 3 1/2 hours of teaching where I give you the tools you need to break through the barriers that are holding your back. Finally! A resource for breaking growth barriers that eliminate hype and get churches growing again! There’s nothing worse than feeling like your church stuck. It’s like getting caught … Read More

– Great day at Calvary! – We paused from our Nehemiah series to do Commitment Sunday for our capital campaign. – Our goal is to raise money for a down payment on a facility. – I’m blown away by the response of our church. – We don’t have the totals yet (and we aren’t announcing them until November 20th). – It was a great Sunday. – After the week I had, I needed the kind of Sunday we had – The band was great. We don’t normally close in song, but we did today. Loved it! – I didn’t love … Read More

I wish I could say that our growth as a church has always been “up and to the right”. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. We went nearly 2 years (2004-2005) where we were almost 100% flatlined. We made serious changes in our church and over the next year we doubled our church. One of the many things I learned was that there are signs that your church is stuck long before you realize it. I don’t mean the obvious stuff like: – Plateaued attendance – Flatlined giving If you dig below the surface, you’ll find 3 factors that go unnoticed … Read More

My hands down, absolute favorite all time Atari game is Pitfall. It was the coolest game ever. You swung on vines. You hopped on the heads of alligators. You jumped on rolling logs. The goal? Get through the jungle and capture all of the treasure before time runs out. When I started playing Pitfall my brother told me, “Whatever you do, don’t fall into the quicksand.” Sure enough, staying out of the quicksand was one of the toughest parts of the game. In similar fashion, I planted my church 11 years ago and staying out of the quicksand that gets churches stuck is one of the toughest things about … Read More

In 2004 our church was stuck. We had grown at a good rate for our first 3 years and then we hit “the wall”. We got stuck in our growth as a church and for the next 18 months, we grew by 10 people. Ten.individual.humans. Not to sound ungrateful, but we had a whole city to reach and growing by 10 people every 18 months wasn’t going to cut it. At first I believed the “I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing” myth. I learned that doesn’t work. Here’s a leadership lesson (which is a loosely based on an Albert … Read More

When I was a kid and would go “trick or treating”, I had this strategy for getting more candy than any of my friends. It’s so simple I’m almost embarrassed to say it. But I’ve learned that this same strategy has helped Calvary (the church I Pastor) increase its’ budget every year and disciple believers at the same time. Here it is: On Halloween, I went out earlier than all my friends. That’s it. My friends would wait until it was totally dark and them go out all together. Instead, my younger sister and I would go out early and … Read More

The economy is getting blamed for everything these days. I talk to church leaders and they’re terrified of the economy. Quaking.in.their.boots.scared. They remind me of the people in Tokyo when Godzilla would show up. Everyone would run frantically when the fire breathing monster would show up and start knocking over buildings. I don’t know if you remember the original Godzilla movie (Not the abomination that starred “Ferris Bueller”), but the only way the people defeated Godzilla was by taking him on head on. There’s a leadership principle here. Blaming the economy. Running from the economy. Or putting God directed plans on hold because of the economy … Read More

I know it’s weird, but I grew up watching vampire movies. Not the lame ones starring Tom Cruise and Antonio Banderas. The old, 70’s style ones where Dracula could have doubled for an Elvis impersonator. There’s one thing that I love about the 70’s vampires. One thing that made them so effective. In fact, this one skill could really help us church leaders in many ways. These vampires knew when to strike. They. had. impeccable. timing. There are rhythms to church life and those of us who understand those rhythms experience the blessing increased giving when we leverage the seasons … Read More

As leaders we all make mistakes. That’s the occupational hazard of being a leader. Mistakes. Happen. But there are some mistakes that happen needlessly that inflict all kinds of damage to our church and our potential to reach people. I call them the “Buzz” killing mistakes. Here they are:  Thinking that “Buzz” happens by accident. Not realizing the momentum that “buzz” brings Missing strategic moment that create buzz for your church There are lot more. But I think you’ll agree that these 3 are whoppers! This month in Outreach Ninja, we have best selling author Mark Hughes (author of Buzz … Read More

I remember planting Calvary 11 years ago and having difficulty reaching people. It seemed so hard to get someone to attend one of our services. Then. Something. Happened. In a word: buzz. There’s something powerful about buzz. Buzz is that intangible interest that gets people talking about something. I discovered that when Calvary got buzz, reaching people became (almost) effortless. People started inviting their friends and family at record rates. We started seeing people make first time decisions to follow Jesus in our services every week. Before buzz, outreach felt like pushing a truck up hill…exhausting. Afterwards, it was like … Read More