#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

I know I talked about this last week, but when I got back in to town I had a church direct mail piece in my mailbox (which I get happy about). but them I looked at it and the joy dissipated.  What was wrong with the mailing? Plenty, but I'll highlight 5 things:  1. It wasn't in English (even though I speak Spanish fluently, English is still my first language) 2. There were 5 dates on this postcard (it was letting me know the title of every week of the series and the date they would be taught). Instead, give … Read More

Here's a question that I received recently:  "Bob, I've tried the tithe challenge and people check off their box that they were taking the tithe challenge, but after 3 weeks the majority had dropped off. What's the problem?" Good News: This is a common problem. Bad News: This is a common problem. The churches that I have worked with one on one that experience this drop off usually experience it because their follow up system for those taking the tithe challenge isn't … well… good.  I have long said this and will say it again, the key to the tithe challenge … Read More

One of the most common questions I get in coaching is about getting out of a financial slump or increasing giving in general.   Call me a minimalist, but as far as I can tell you really only increase giving 2 ways:  1. The current givers give more 2. Inspire new giving  I believe both are effective strategies and you should have a system in place to help current givers reach a place of generous giving and for non-givers to begin giving consistently.   At Calvary, we have used the Tithe Challenge as the tool that does both. Normally the … Read More

Another reason churches see limited results in their direct mail is because they aren't mailing enough. I have long said that if you're only going to mail once, don't mail at all. It takes more than one mailing for people to notice you.  That's why you know when you're mailing enough when people start calling and complaining. It sounds funny, but think about what someone has to do to call your church and complain about your direct mail piece: they have to receive it, read it, get annoyed by it, and then find your phone number and call.   There's stuff … Read More

One of the reasons churches get poor results in their direct mail is because they don't track their results. Here's the truth: if you aren't tracking your results, you have no idea if your direct mail is working or not.  Butts in the seats is not the only way to see if your direct mail is working. While I would agree that someone attending your church is the end result we want, there are other factors involved.  1. Someone could get your direct mail and go to a confusing website and not attend 2. Someone could get your direct mail and … Read More