Organizational Strategy Part 3

Having a strategy is so important and making sure your whole church or organization is in alignment with it is of even greater importance.

Once you have set the guiding factors in place it is time to lay out the details, which is why I thought it would be prudent to finish up with one more post on Organizational Strategy.

Make sure you check out Part 1 and Part 2.

A strategy is in essence a logical plan getting you from one place to another. As the leader of your church or department God has given you the huge responsibility of partnering with Him in His vision. Creating a strategic plan is part of your faithfulness in working with Him.

Having a strategy:

• Provides Structure and Focus
  
• Saves Time and Money
  
• Brings A Team Together

Once you have established your vision, mission, and values it is time to move into more of the planning part. This is the part where each department can have more flexibility. Understanding that your departments now have the guiding factors in place, it is time to create some objectives.

Major Objectives
Set some major objectives you need to complete in order to accomplish the mission. These objectives are key. Breakdown each area of your mission and list three or four objectives that need to be met. Give them a title and a description.

Goals
I could write a lot of goals but much has already been written. Under each objective list out goals that need to be accomplished for each objective to be met. Think specific. List out no more than five goals for each objective.

Tasks
Finally, create specific tasks to meet the goals. This is where you must get detailed. Create as many tasks as needed. Put dates and dollar amounts as well. These will be vital as you are setting out to plan your year and budget.

Wrap Up
Of course I'm in Texas..and you know how us Texans eat those extra large steaks down here? One bite at a time.

That is what planning is all about. As you put some effort into thinking this process out you can see that there is a flow from one level to the next.

When you have accomplished all your tasks you should have reached your goals. With the goals accomplished you will have met your objectives. This in turn means you are moving step by step closer to fulfilling the vision He has called you to. And now as all the departments are in alignment you have created the necessary unity needed to achieve more than was ever possible.

Organizational Strategy Part 2

In our last post we began talking about Organizational Strategy. I know that is a whole lot to talk about when it comes to church and organizations. Specifically, we are discussing having a vision, mission and values that unify the whole organization.

One thing that is important to any organization is having ministry alignment. Ministry alignment creates momentum, focus and unity. Unity creates a powerful driving force within an organization.

Often time churches think that unity is everyone agreeing with each other. They rarely picture unity on an organizational level and then fail to grasp why they don't get any results.

I thought it would be great to define each of them and show you how they work for us here at Life Church.

Vision
Vision is simply a picture of the future for your organization. If or when you have completed what you feel your organization is setting out to do, what would it look like.

This vision is a picture for everyone. It is the driving picture of the destination we are going to.

Our vision at Life Church is: To DOMINATE the Coastal Bend area with the life of Christ.

That could mean and lead to a variety of things but for us it is a snap shot of where we are going.

I would encourage you to pray and seek the vision God wants for your organization. It should really be a burning inside of you. The vision should be so clear that you can close your eyes and picture it.

Now right that down. If it takes a whole page...do it.

Once that is complete...create a one sentence vision rallying statement. Distribute it to your leaders with the vision statement that you created.

Mission
Mission is the how...for me I picture it as the road map. It encompasses the larger steps that get the organization to the vision.

For us here it is our 3 G's:

• Create environments where we GATHER weekly to connect people to the life of Chris
• Initiate weekly Life Groups where we can GROW together in accountability
• Impact the world as we GIVE of our time utilizing our unique talents, passions, and resources

These three steps work for all our departments. They also specifically define our the process of being a disciples. You can take those three into our children's ministry and they work. Youth ministry...they work.

Our goal is to keep it simple and streamlined so that we will have the maximum amount unity and results. Our mission is actually a picture of what a disciple is within our organization.

Values
Values are the way we do things. One way of thinking about values is that it is kind of like the car you drive. They spell out what really matters. It is our ethos our DNA values.

No matter which department it is there has to be a congruency of organizational values.

Click [here] to see a list of our values. For a visual...I put them in an acrostic. You can do them however you feel is necessary. The important thing is that your team must know what is important as an organization.

Huge point I'm making in all of this is that for an organization to have unity, all of its departments must be going in the same direction. Having vision, mission, and values that simplify what you are doing can create the momentum, focus and unity to get the results you desire.

Organizational Strategy Part 1

When it comes to developing the strategy for your organization it is important to begin with three things: Vision, Mission, Values.

Some people lump vision/mission together and say they are the same. You can do that if you want. Others change vision and call it purpose, you can do that if you want as well. No matter what you do it is important that you have a clear cut picture of the future or your organization and have a strategy of how to get there.

I think that it is important to point out that a church or organization can only have one vision. Youth ministry, children's ministry, grand-ma sewing ministry...your vision is the vision of the church. When it comes to a church you don't get to choose your vision. God gives the vision for the whole house through the lead person whom He chooses. It is then the role of the youth ministry or any sub ministry to develop a strategy of how they are going to achieve the vision.

Ready for one more curve ball???? If you have thought through this whole process well, the vision, mission, and values should flow through the whole organization no matter what major department.

It is the goal of the leader when creating the vision/mission to keep it simple enough for every major department to follow. The only major difference then would be in goals and tasks of accomplishing the vision.

This is a hard point for some to swallow especially when, for example, as the youth pastor your head doesn't have a clear cut vision or even understand this process. I worked at one church where you wouldn't have known the vision of our church, because there wasn't one articulated nor written. I also worked in one where the lead pastor had the mission statement as the vision statement. For me it didn't paint the picture, it showed me the process, but there wasn't a clear articulated picture of the future. I knew what we were doing but not where we were going.

Senior Pastor/Lead Pastor/Business Leader, as the lead person for your organization it is important for you to get this one right. Tomorrow, in Part 2, I will define each of these three and give you some examples. And then in Part 3 we will wrap it up with some details for our plan.

How clear is the vision where you are at?

Creative Message Content

I'm not a big proponent of always "using others messages" in ministry, at least not in their entirety. But I do believe that you can use the creativity as well as creative content from many churches.

For great ideas or just to stir the pot of your creativity I would advise you spend time online looking at some of the top creative churches when it comes to Sunday morning material.

For a small church that does not have the staff or equipment the following churches offer their content free. One great idea is to use their graphics and even some of the video content while you design your own message.

Here is a list of five churches that are offering free online resources:

• LifeChurch.tv Open -- LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK)
• CrazyChurch.com -- Crossroads Community Church (Cincinnati, OH); Kensington Community Church (Detroit, MI); Crossroads Community Church (Atlanta, GA); Gateway Community Church (Austin, TX)
• NewSpring Ministries -- NewSpring Church (Anderson, SC)
• Seacoast All Access -- Seacoast Church (Mount Pleasant, SC)
• Vine Resources -- Southeast Christian Church (Louisville, KY)

If you know of any others please feel free to leave a comment with the link.

Sunday Morning Planning Part 4

If you have stumbled along my blog today I have been in a series of posts on Sunday Morning Planning.

Yesterday I posted about having a yearly calendar.

Today I am going to elaborate a little more.

Once I have my yearly calendar in place, I will then begin to focus in on each series that is coming up.

In the past when I was about 5 or 6 weeks out (I really want to take this to 9 or 10 weeks out) I would take that up coming series and break down what I feel God would want to say in it.

I like to communicate in a series giving only one point per message. Most of the time I have seen Pastors try to overload their message with so much good stuff that it only shuts down people's mind. Less is more and when you communicate on one point you can really dig in and make your point. Dave Ferguson really elaborates on this point in his book The BIG IDEA.

About 5 to 6 weeks our I would create a series synopsis with big ideas, graphics, video teasers, and other ideas for the series. You can look at one of my past series synopsis' here.

Again this whole process is bathed in prayer and worked on mostly and hopefully in teams. We are relying completely on the Holy Spirit to enlighten our way. Once the series synopsis is completed we will be able to laser focus in on each message with our team putting all our resources together.

In the next two days, I will finish out this planning series with the four weeks out from the date of speaking up to the day of speaking.

Sunday Morning Planning Part 3

Last week I started a small series here about Sunday Morning Planning. Today, I will start with planning a one year calendar.

I said there are basically two fields of thoughts. One, plan out all your details. Two, allow God to have control of the service.

The real reality is that most people really do meet somewhere in the middle. Some just stray closer to one side or the other from someones else's perspective. I honestly don't know anyone that does not do some planning. Even if it is 1 hour before start time. My only difference is I start sometimes a year or more out.

I thought I would go over how I have prepared and feel is a balanced approach for me as well as something you could use as a leader or pastor in your church or department.

I, personally, am a big proponent of planning. So much so that most people label me as someone that doesn't allow God to flow.

I have to admit that this is truly funny. Why??? Probably because I trust God through every point of my process. In fact, there is not a single element in planning that I am not trusting God and allowing Him to work through me.

My planning for each experience really starts in the previous year. Throughout the year I am constantly praying, mediating and looking for ideas for series that can be preached. When I get one I will write it down in one of my notebooks. I also have some times where I will sit for an hour or two and just brainstorm out some possible series.

In September (and this may become part of our process at Journey Church) I will pray and detail out the next years preaching calendar. This is just a rough calendar that includes which series we will do each month. I personal like to do a series per month as I typically don't like to go over 5 weeks as you seem to lose momentum.

Again this is a totally faith process. It takes a whole lot of faith to sit down and believe God for what He wants you to speak in November of next year.

This is something I have been doing for about 7 or 8 years and really helps me target in my study time throughout the year as I go into each series.

Of course there is always room for flexibility and change and you need to be open to that but it is great to have a target to shoot at.

The great thing about leadership is being able to look and think ahead. It is being in communion with God for what He does want you to speak.

Tomorrow, I will continue to share the next step of this process.

Working On Our Systems

Couple of things I got done today. Typed up a first time guest letter and created our assimilation strategy.

A couple of systems we are focusing on creating for our first year are:

1. Sunday Morning Experience
2. Evangelism & Outreach
   
3. Assimilation
4. Internet
5. Baptisms
6. Business Structure - Records, Accounting, & Legal Structure
   
7. Leadership Development
8. Small Groups
9. Family Ministries
   

Saving Time With A Synopsis

It takes a little bit of work and time on the front end but writing a synopsis for a series one month out really helps to solidify the direction of each message. It also saves much more time on the message creation as you know the direction you are going.

I began this method on the current series we are doing in our Elevate meetings. This post is the synopsis for that series called LOST - "surviving the mystery of the unknown".

In a following post, I will be posting the synopsis for HERO - "Ordinary People...Extraordinary Power". This series is going to be one of my most unique presentations on the power of the Holy Spirit as well as being an all around fun series to communicate. Check out the HERO series graphic for the series.

Plan Your Day

In Brian Tracy's weekly Time Management Success Email Newsletter he had a great article today on Planning Every Day In Advance

Here are some of the points from the article:

Your ability to plan well, in advance of beginning, is a measure of your overall competence. The better the plan you have, the easier it is for you to overcome procrastination, to get started , and then to keep going.

Make A List
Always work from a list. When something new comes up, add it to the list before you do it. You can increase your productivity and output by 25% or more from the first day that you begin working consistently from a list.

Plan the Night Before
Make out your list the night before, at the end of the workday. Move everything that you have not yet accomplished onto your list for the coming day and then add everything that you have to do the next day. When you make out your list the evening or the night before, your subconscious mind works on your list all night long during sleep. Often you will wake up with great ideas and insights that you can use to get your job done faster and better than you had initially thought.

When you plan each day in advance, you find it much easier to get going and to keep going. The work goes faster and smoother than ever before. You feel more powerful and competent. You eventually become unstoppable.

I'm "Die"-eting

So when it comes to setting goals some are harder than others. Some take work. Some are take strict discipline. Some take total lifestyle changes.

Which brings me to the title of this post. All this week I began changing what, how often, and how much I eat. I keep telling my wife that I am "die"-eating. I really don't believe diets work but lifestyle changes do.

About 12 years ago I was a competitive bodybuilder and ate around 9,000 calories a day in the off-season. That wasn't a typo, I said "9,000 calories".

At that time I had peaked my weight out at 275 lbs. before I was about to begin the process of cutting down to around 220. Then something radical happened in my life and I totally changed my lifestyle and gave bodybuilding up for something better.

Here came the problem.

I kept eating the same. Well not exactly the same but I love the experience of a meal. I love the smell and the tastes. I love to put a hot bread stick from the Olive Garden in my mouth and just take in the buttery seasoning... SLAP! ... Sorry, lost it for a minute.

I said all that to say my weight is at about 265 as I started this week and I am in the process of losing what I feel will be 45 lbs.

You know what it will all be worth it. I will feel better, look better, and "my" body will be a lot healthier. I will miss those bread sticks though.

But like any goal should be, it will be worth it.

Departmental Planning

This week we are meeting with our leadership team to develop our next three months in detail. If you are a staff pastor or department head, I suggest two things you can do with your team.

1. Meet with them once a month to pour into their lives. Cast vision, feed them mentally and even feed them physically. Teach them principles of teamwork and leadership that they can use in their lives and departments. Also tell stories...stories develop trust which is the foundation of leadership. Tell testimonies, how they got in ministry, praise reports, etc... And oh yeah, above all have fun. Ministry is about the journey. It is taking a journey with a group of people and having fun.

2. Meet quarterly to plan in detail the next three months. This will bring cohesiveness to everyone's schedule. Plan out your meeting teaching schedules, Sunday School, small groups, and events. This will put everyone on your team on the same page. There was nothing like running a play when I was in high school only to find your quarterback or running back going the opposite way they should be going. Those plays are usually busts.