One of the things I have done in the two year plus history of Church of the Suncoast is preach like "they" are there. Here is what I mean. Even in the early days when I was only speaking to a crowd of 30, 40, 50 people I spoke like we had several "They's"
I always talked to first time guests (even if it was 2 or 3, or none!)
I always talked to skeptical seekers (even if they weren't)
I always talked to singles (even if it was one person)
I always talked to people far from God
The point is even when we might not have had, or might have had only, a few "theys" I spoke like we had tons. This does several things I have learned by default:
1) It makes "them" feel comfortable
2) It tells people who we expect to have
3) It tells people who they should bring
4) "They" eventually come if you speak to them
It goes back to the old Field of Dreams principle... If you speak it, "they" will come!
Tell me what you think. Leave a comment:
3-2-1
At Church of the Suncoast we are always trying to figure out how to lead volunteers. In the first two years of this church we have gone through several stages from "Hey we just need warm bodies" to forming teams to now trying to lead those teams to the next level. As we have also gone from basically me leading all volunteers to now I don't lead any I have also had to find ways to keep the staff accountable with how they are leading their volunteers. So, this past Monday we started something we learned at Drive this past year. It is called the 3-2-1.
I think my wife was the one that picked up on this from the greeting staff but here is how it works:
3 - Face to face sit downs a year with each volunteer you lead.
2 - Trainings with alternate dates each year.
1- Big celebration "Thank you" event a year.
This is a great system to me because it is easy for the staff and easy for me to hold them accountable on. I will keep you posted on how it goes this fall.
Share your volunteer tips or what you would like to see from a church staff. Leave a comment.
I think my wife was the one that picked up on this from the greeting staff but here is how it works:
3 - Face to face sit downs a year with each volunteer you lead.
2 - Trainings with alternate dates each year.
1- Big celebration "Thank you" event a year.
This is a great system to me because it is easy for the staff and easy for me to hold them accountable on. I will keep you posted on how it goes this fall.
Share your volunteer tips or what you would like to see from a church staff. Leave a comment.
Words Part 1 Podcast
This Sunday at Church of the Suncoast we started a new series called "Words". Here is the week one podcast:
LISTEN HERE
In this talk we gave out stickers that said "Beware of My Mouth" that we had printed at Kinko's for $60. They were able to turn them around in 3 days on a small run of 150 stickers.
LISTEN HERE
In this talk we gave out stickers that said "Beware of My Mouth" that we had printed at Kinko's for $60. They were able to turn them around in 3 days on a small run of 150 stickers.
A Great Day
A few weeks ago we had a terrible Sunday at Church of the Suncoast. Nothing went right. We had stuff go down technically and all kinds of stuff.
BUT, yesterday was a great day. Here are a few of the highlights:
BUT, yesterday was a great day. Here are a few of the highlights:
- The weekend started off with a bang Friday night at our back to school family fun night. We had a huge 20 ft tall water slide and life size Wii. It was a blast. Tons of kids!
- Even though we were down a few guys on set up we still got it all done with a few minutes to spare and everything worked just fine.
- We had 137 which was great. 41 kids!!!
- Andre and Troy filmed a video drama with Tom and Lauren and it was hysterical! Great job!!! I will post it later this week.
- The band did an awesome job during the opening set. God was totally in it. God goosebump moment.
- We wrapped up our "Bod for God" series with communion.
- We also had a retired nurse taking blood pressure for people after the service and tons of people stuck around for that. (We need to give people a reason to stick around more often).
- We also are collecting book bags for the kids at our school where we meet and one couple dropped a check for $500 to help pay for ones we don't collect to get to 100. Another couple offered to do the same!!!
- Had 7 or 8 first time guests.
Go God!!! I can't wait to see how the momentum over the summer translates this fall once school is back in the swing of things.
Listening to Yourself Preach
I just got done listening to myself preach from this past Sunday:
PODCAST - Click Here to Listen to Me too.
I think it is important to critique yourself as a communicator. If I am ever going to improve then I have to find ways to critique myself.
I know for some guys they immediately pull some people together after a service and watch the video. I would love to get to that point one day. But, right now I don't know if I could deal with it or if we could find a location or people willing to do it. There are still a core of us that do way too much on Sundays. I do too much. I think I would be a real grouch right now???
Other people I know ask one trusted person for three good things and one bad thing or thing to change right after they give a talk. That is not bad, but you don't get to actually critique yourself.
What I do is listen to our podcast from our website maybe once a series. I would like to make it once a week, but I am not there yet. I also, usually weekly, check out about 5-minutes of my talk from the video we shoot each week (when it works). This helps me see how I was positioned on the stage and my different mannerisms. A LOT of communicating is body language so that is important to look at I think.
I would love to hear what you do as a communicator. Leave a comment and keep the conversation going.
PODCAST - Click Here to Listen to Me too.
I think it is important to critique yourself as a communicator. If I am ever going to improve then I have to find ways to critique myself.
I know for some guys they immediately pull some people together after a service and watch the video. I would love to get to that point one day. But, right now I don't know if I could deal with it or if we could find a location or people willing to do it. There are still a core of us that do way too much on Sundays. I do too much. I think I would be a real grouch right now???
Other people I know ask one trusted person for three good things and one bad thing or thing to change right after they give a talk. That is not bad, but you don't get to actually critique yourself.
What I do is listen to our podcast from our website maybe once a series. I would like to make it once a week, but I am not there yet. I also, usually weekly, check out about 5-minutes of my talk from the video we shoot each week (when it works). This helps me see how I was positioned on the stage and my different mannerisms. A LOT of communicating is body language so that is important to look at I think.
I would love to hear what you do as a communicator. Leave a comment and keep the conversation going.
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