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Growing Your Ministry Through Procedures
2007-02-03 06:56:00
 Part of an ongoing series on growing your ministry from AgileMinistry .com: Every Ministry Has Procedures Every ministry, no matter how simple, has procedures. Media ministries have procedures for sound checks, selecting equipment, setup and teardown for satellite/multi-site configurations, and recording/archiving. Ushering and greeting ministries have procedures for parking lot assistance, giving hand outs, ensuring children get to their classroom, and guiding late comers to the right seats without disrupting service. Even the prayer room has procedures and guidelines on how to deal with alter calls. The Problem is the Consistent Application of Procedures Not every ministry, however, knows how to explain these procedures. Some, just throw newly recruited volunteers into the wild. Other ministries are new and just jump in, start doing, and keep doing without any thought to the others within the team. The unfortunate side effect of this is low volunteer retention, constantly changing...
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Growing Your Ministry Through Strategy
2007-02-03 06:52:00
This article is a part of an ongoing series from AgileMinistry .com: I?ve recently been playing a web-based game called DiceWars, which is loosely based on the Risk board game. To win DiceWars, you must take ownership of all the territories on the game map by massing troops (dice) and attacking your neighbors. The strategy that has worked most often for me in this game is to maximize my troops in a small set of territories on the edge of the map, then work outward slowly. As I started applying this strategy, I realized that it had a lot in common with ministry strategy. Strategy #1: Establish a Single Focus As we all know, there is always more to do than we have time and resources. Determine what your single focus for your ministry is by asking the following question: If this ministry could only do one thing, what is it and can I confirm God?s calling? After you answer this question, you know where to place all of your effort. Remove much of the cruft of your ministry - things that y...
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Growing Your Ministry Through Training
2007-02-03 06:45:00
Another great entry from AgileMinistry .com: Do you remember when you first started volunteering? How did you learn to do your job? Or, was it a sink-or-swim situation? To continue to grow your ministry, you need to recruit new volunteers. But, what happens when you interview these volunteers and they are eager to get started? You will need a definition of your ministry?s purpose and documentation of procedures. Even if your ministry is simple - greet people at the front door - you cannot go forward without documenting your procedures. Why? Because defining and documenting isn?t about the level of complexity within a ministry, but rather it is about the experience of the ministry. That experience helps make your newly-recruited volunteer comfortable, which in turn helps them stay and potentially even recruit others to join. Too often, we as ministry leaders and workers get too close to our work. We know how we do what we do, and even why we do it. The new recruit doesn?t, and if they...
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View From The Sidelines
2007-02-03 06:39:00
Many of us in ministry leadership can forget what it was like before we started giving our time to the church. This can lead to a gap between those that are serving and those that are not that is often never bridged. Consider some of the things that may be going through the mind of a potential volunteer within your church: “I don’t know if I am a good enough or have any useful skills to serve” “How can I make a difference by giving only a few hours a week?” “I keep hearing about spritual gifts, but I don’t know what mine are or if I even have any” “A friend told me that the last time he volunteered, they always assumed he’d say yes to any request. He eventually got burned out and quit serving. I don’t want that to happen to me” “The last time I served, they were so disorganized. I’m not doing that again!” Some or all of these things sound familiar? Here is what you can do about it: The first...
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View From A Volunteer
2007-02-03 06:37:00
Here are some thoughts on what goes through the mind of a new volunteer that just started giving their time at your church: “I don’t know anyone on the team - I feel like an outsider. They probably wouldn’t even notice if I stopped showing up.” “The first sign that you want to take more of my time than I can give, I’m leaving” “I wonder how my leader thinks I’m doing?” “How does what I do impact the success of the church?” “This is great! I would have signed up to volunteer sooner, if someone would have just asked me” Often, the focus as a leader is on recruiting volunteers, not the ongoing process of keeping them. Here is how you can create an environment of healthy volunteers that will remain with you: Make them feel part of the team - encourage the team to have lunch or coffee with them and pray with one another. Don’t tell inside jokes or ignore them Keep your promises of the amount of t...
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Growing Your Ministry Through Volunteers
2007-02-03 06:30:00
AgileMinistry .com has a great collection of articles written all about how to grow your ministry area.  One that stood out was this one about volunteers: It is hard to manage volunteers, and often is the case that the staff will discount the help of volunteers. Rather, they will take the route of doing it themself, even if it takes time away from their family or another calling. I have 3 diagrams to illustrate some principles for growing your ministry through volunteers. The first, below, shows the gap between the skilled leaders and staff and the volunteer base within the church: As you can see, the diagram shows a few moderately skilled volunteers that may show up from time-to-time. I refer to these skilled volunteers as ?heros?, as the staff and lay leaders often start to get ?hero worship? when they depend on these ?servant powerhouses?. While this is a great blessing, it isn?t the norm, as most volunteers fall into the lower category where they have little skills and effective...
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Pirates of the Superior - Week Three Notes
2007-01-31 17:30:00
Pirates of the Superior Anchored James Giroux [Dylan?s Couch] Today I want to start by asking you a question. Take a minute and turn to the people around you and answer this question: What?s the greatest moment of your life? All right, I hate to cut these conversations off, but if you could focus back up here.  Here?s how I would answer the question if someone came up to me and said, ?James, what?s the greatest moment of your life?? I?d say, ?Moments are kind of like the bricks of life.? Every year, every day, every time you take a breath you are living in a moment. And each of these moments, if you start stringing a few of them together, they start to build on each other.  And you do some things, and you add to that layer. And you ask yourself, ?Self, what do I do now?? And you do some stuff, and then you add some more bricks.  Because, all of us are living brick by brick, moment by moment, and we are building our lives with these moments. Does that make sense? Just like there are ...
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Pirates of the Superior - Week Two Message Notes
2007-01-31 17:25:00
Pirates of the Superior Overboard - Adapted from Willow Creek Curriculum “Shipwrecked” James Giroux Has anyone here every done anything extremely dangerous or crazy?  Have you ever been in the middle of doing something and said to yourself, ?this is probably going to end in disaster.??  When I was in grade 11 I went to visit a friend of mine from camp.  He lived about an hour away from my house which was so cool because my parents weren?t going to be there.  He and I were going to spend like 4 days together.  Coincidentally, his name was also Jamie which automatically makes him part of a group of highly distinguished and amazingly good looking and muscular individuals.  Anyway, it was an awesome experience.  He basically spent the first day or so showing me all around the little town he lived in.  We walked from his house, to the downtown area, across a really cool looking bridge, we went to a park, I met his friend Charles, and it was pretty sweet.  And then Jamie took ...
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Free Curriculum & Resources
2007-01-30 23:58:00
7 Checkpoints is a spiritual formation program developed by Dash Student Leadership Inc.  It’s a great collection of curriculum and ideas for strategically deciding the direction and scope of junior high and senior high ministries.  If your church is outside the United States then DASH will provide you with all their 7 Checkpoints curriculum for free. var sb_rated_title = 'Free Curriculum & Resources '; var sb_url_to_rate = 'http://www.strategicjuniorhigh.com/messa ge-series/free-curriculum-resources/'; try { var sb_rated_creation = new Date(Date.parse('Thu, 05 Jul 2007 02:34:28 -0400')); } catch (e) {}
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Leadership Gift Giving
2007-01-26 05:20:00
Christmas is over but for those in leadership in ministry, gift giving is something that goes on all year round.  When it comes to giving gifts though, for leaders it’s often a head scratching experience.  Oprah Winfrey once said, “It doesn’t matter what the thing is; what matters is how much of yourself goes into the giving, so that when the gift is gone, the spirit of you lingers.” This is especially true for leaders. When you give of yourself you build character and credibility both for you and your organization. Below are ways you can give that won’t put a dent in your budget. 1. Acknowledge people everyday. Wayne Sellers, greets everyone with a handshake each morning. That few minutes he spends encouraging his staff is much more beneficial than one more cup of coffee or answering the emails waiting in his inbox. Too many people to make that work? Divide up by departments and appoint someone to be the morning greeter for each group. 2. Recognize imp...
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Ten Tips For Meetings
2007-01-26 05:12:00
Here’s a list of ten things that you can do to help your meetings be more effective and time conscious.  These ten tips are courtesy of metrolity.com through churchrelevance.com 1) Avoid meetings. Test the importance of a meeting by asking, “What happens without it?” If your answer is, “Nothing,” then don’t call the meeting. 2) Prepare goals. These are the results you want to obtain by the end of the meeting. Write out your goals before the meetings. They should be so clear, complete, and specific that someone else could use them to lead your meeting. Also, make sure they can be achieved with available people, resources, and time. Specific goals help everyone make efficient toward relevant results. 3) Challenge each goal. Ask, “Is there another way to achieve this?” For example, if you want to distribute information, you may find it more efficient to phone, FAX, mail, e-mail, or visit. Realize that a meeting is a team activity. Save ta...
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Defining Your Culture
2007-01-26 04:50:00
If someone you were trying to invite to your programs asked your current students to describe the culture of your ministry, what would they say? Would they call it adventurous? Laid-back? Demanding? Fun? What words would they use? Organizational culture is a buzzword in the business world, but not so much in the ministry world. It is defined as the working climate of an organization, and encompasses the rituals, common language, and stories people tell about the business or in this case, ministry. The rituals include the ways new people are welcomed into the fold, how you prepare for events, and all the things that make your ministry unique. The common language refers to the in-words you and your staff use in your programs. Stories keep your past accomplishments and challenges on the minds of your students. Why is it important to talk about your organizational culture? First, it helps you know whether everyone is rowing in the same direction. Second, it can reveal why problems exist...
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Dylan?s Couch
2007-01-24 02:30:00
YouTube is featuring a 13 year old guy whose got his own little video show. It’s pretty awesome. Here’s my favorite episode so far. Although, they’re all good. Dylan’s Couch Episode 4 - iPod var sb_rated_title = 'Dylan’s Couch'; var sb_url_to_rate = 'http://www.strategicjuniorhigh.com/gener al/dylans-couch/'; try { var sb_rated_creation = new Date(Date.parse('Sun, 01 Jul 2007 02:51:44 -0400')); } catch (e) {}
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The Three Year Plan
2007-01-20 07:00:00
This week I had the opportunity to meet with some other youth pastor’s from around our denomination’s district and it was a great experience. It did occur to me though that there are still pastor’s out there who fly by the seat of their pants planning their programming on a week by week basis. So I thought I’d give some time to the importance of doing some strategic planning when it comes to ministry. The first thing to remember is that strategic planning can change. Nothing is ever set in stone and things can be changed as the group or ministry changes. That being said a strategic plan works best when it’s actually followed through on. So what do I mean by a strategic plan. Well, when we talk about strategic planning in the context of ministry it’s asking ourselves as leaders, “where do we want our students to be one year, two years and three years down the road. What do we want them to know, how do we want them to think and what val...
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Do Small Groups Work?
2007-01-17 23:14:00
This post is all about this question, do small groups work? Before I attempt to answer that question though I think it’s important that I define what I mean by ‘work’. Like anything with ministry it’s a really good idea to have a clearly defined purpose for why you have small groups and what you hope to accomplish with them. For many people small groups have become a way of making big church seem smaller, for others though small groups are meant as an opportunity for people to grow in their faith and knowledge of the Bible. It’s been really interesting hearing what’s come out of Willow Creek in the last little while, they threw everything into small groups, they wanted small groups to be their opportunity for spiritual growth and connection in the church. Every program did them and it was their huge push for a few years, at the tail end of that time, as they have begun to evaluate the effectiveness of their small groups they have found that sm...
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Worship Instincts
2007-01-17 23:06:00
Gordon MacDonald identified 7 worship ?instincts? that people can have as they encounter God. These instincts are a simple way to identify how each person can connect with God the easiest. As you program for junior high students try and find ways to incorporate all seven of these ?instincts? into your services. Most people will identify with two or three of these in particular and a great way to encourage students to grow is to encourage them to explore other instincts. 1. Majesty: The Aesthetic Instinct. The aesthetic instinct seeks to be overwhelmed by the majesty of God. This person is happiest when the worship environment includes beauty, order, tradition, and artistic integrity. 2. Joy: The Experiential Instinct. The experientialist wants to ?feel? the presence of God and respond with a full range of emotions, including clapping, singing, prayer, weeping, laughing, and more. 3. Achievement: The Activist Instinct. The activist sees everything through the lens of service. The wo...
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Understanding The Emergent Church
2007-01-17 22:47:00
Ed Stetzer wrote an article recently where he broke down the emergent church into three categories. Although most people would balk at labels in general, I think that Ed has correctly defined some of the edges in the emergent conversation. His perspective is as a conservative baptist evangelical and that colour comes through in the article but it’s still a good read for those looking to understand what’s going on. ************* Understand ing the Emerging Church Ed Stetzer Baptist Press News Service It?s been interesting to watch the emerging church conversation over the last few months. Important issues are being discussed. Unfortunately, like many conversations, good things are lumped together with bad and important conversations are lost in more heat than light. My own observation as one who speaks at some events classified as ?emerging? is that there are three broad categories of what is often called ?the emerging church.? Oddly enough, I think I can fairly say that...
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Pirates of the Superior - Week One Message Notes
2007-01-10 19:37:00
Pirates of the Superior - All Aboard (Based on the Shipwrecked series from Willow Creek) James Giroux Has anyone here ever felt pressured to make a quick decision? Have you ever felt like doing something and you didn?t care whether you would get in trouble or not? Have you ever made a decision and then changed your mind only to have your friends or other people get mad at you? How do you sort that out? How do you make choices that will work well for you and for other people? Some of you have heard these stories before but when I was in grade 6 and 7 I made a lot of stupid choices. In grade 6 I was really mean to a girl in my grade and ended up getting an in-school suspension. In grade 7 I got really mad at a teacher and started swearing at her and I got suspended for 6 days. Now you might be thinking, woah, that?s pretty intense, but it wouldn?t surprise me if some of you have made some similar decisions in your lives. They may not have been as intense or dramatic as mine were and t...
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Inspiration
2007-01-10 03:04:00
Anyone who has ever had to design anything has had to struggle with creativity, what do I do? One of the things that I do to try and help myself out is I’ve created an inspiration folder that I keep graphics, ads and magazine article layouts in. When I’m stuck for an idea I’ll go to that folder or browse the internet to see if there’s anything out there that I like and I’ll usually start from there to make a graphic. If you’re looking for a good place to start I would recommend www.deviantart.com. It’s a great place for inspiration but I’ll warn you now, it’s an art site and there is some artistic nudity (photographs, drawings, paintings, sculptures, etc.) that shows up now and again. James Giroux. var sb_rated_title = 'Inspiration '; var sb_url_to_rate = 'http://www.strategicjuniorhigh.com/multi media/inspiration/'; try { var sb_rated_creation = new Date(Date.parse('Mon, 25 Jun 2007 02:34:06 -0400')); ...
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Graphic Design
2007-01-10 02:57:00
Graphic design is one of those things everyone wishes was taught a little more readily at Bible College. Lucky for me, I took a design program at college before I entered ministry so I had some skills going into it. There are a couple thoughts I had about graphic design that I thought I’d throw out there for all of you pastor’s stuck doing graphics work. Keep it simple. If you’ve seen anything out there in terms of ads, magazine articles and even web graphics, you’ll know that they are usually very simple. When it comes to fonts, avoid the really cursive fonts, the comic sans, and anything that looks ‘youthy’. They won’t work. The best fonts are fonts that are easy to read, simple and clean, a good example is Arial. There is so much that you can do with an Arial font and make your graphics look good. (using all capitals and varying the sizes of words, etc.) When it comes to backgrounds, especially for print graphics try and use back...
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Why so much branding talk?
2007-01-07 22:36:00
Well, as you’ve probably noticed, a lot of stuff that I’ve been adding here has been about branding. It wouldn’t be that hard to figure out that I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about it. It’s what I went to school for but for me it’s a great way to look at ministry. BuildingBrands.com defines a brand as “a collection of perceptions in the mind of the consumer” and I think that’s true. How do people perceive your ministry, how do people perceive you as the leader? Keeping in mind that perception isn’t always positive and there are definitely some externals (political leaders, fallen religious leaders, etc.) that can catalyze people’s views on Christianity, what are you doing to set the tone of how people view you and your ministry? It’s way more than fancy logos and good looking brochures. Having a good understanding of what you want people’s perceptions to be can really help you focus your...
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22 Immutable Laws of Branding (courtesy Al Reis)
2007-01-06 02:51:00
1. Expansion The power of a brand is inversely proportional to its scope 2. Contraction A brand becomes stronger when you narrow its focus 3. Publicity The birth of a brand is achieved with publicity, not advertising 4. Advertising Once born, a brand needs advertising to stay healthy 5.The Word A brand should strive to own a word in the mind of the consumer 6.Credentials The crucial ingredient in the success of any brand is its claim to authenticity 7. Quality Quality is important, but brands are not built on quality alone 8. The Category A leading brand should promote the cateogry, not the brand 9. The Name In the long run a brand is nothing more than a name. 10. Extensions The easiest way to destroy a brand is to put its name on everything 11. Fellowship In order to build the category, a brand should welcome other brands 12. The Generic One of the fastest routes to failure is giving a brand a generic name 13. The Company Brands are brands. Companies are companies. Ther...
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Being A Young Leader
2006-12-22 01:24:00
I first got into junior high ministry when I was 18 years old. I became responsible for a junior high ministry when I was 22 and continue to have oversight of that same ministry today. One of the interesting realities of being so young, single and in ministry is that you really do have to work hard to gain respect and credibility with the leadership team in place and the parents of the students who are coming. It’s been an interesting struggle, I first was given responsibility when the former guy left. It was unexpected and immediate and I was thrust into a leadership role that was pretty daunting. I had a volunteer leadership team of roughly 30 people and managing a group of people as diverse as this group is has been a huge challenge with lots of learning and that’s been an incredible priviledge. As you can imagine it’s a huge challenge to try and recruit people older than you and ask them to submit to your leadership, the younger you are the harder it is...
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Become A Contributor
2006-12-22 00:59:00
We are looking for people to get involved in Strategic Junior High. If you are interested in writing articles or sharing your opinion or resources on junior high ministry then contact us and let us know!! We are always looking for more contributors. var sb_rated_title = 'Become A Contributor'; var sb_url_to_rate = 'http://www.strategicjuniorhigh.com/site_ specific/become-a-contributor/'; try { var sb_rated_creation = new Date(Date.parse('Wed, 20 Jun 2007 02:34:15 -0400')); } catch (e) {}
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A Gaming Site
2006-11-29 05:41:00
http://www.ultimatecampresource.com There’s a website link for a site with a whole stack of different games available including all the instructions. var sb_rated_title = 'A Gaming Site '; var sb_url_to_rate = 'http://www.strategicjuniorhigh.com/games /a-gaming-site/'; try { var sb_rated_creation = new Date(Date.parse('Tue, 19 Jun 2007 02:36:39 -0400')); } catch (e) {}
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You Can?t Spell Brand Without The Letter ?C?
2006-11-27 06:28:00
The benefits of having a strong brand are tremendous. Strong brands charge premium pricing; they thrive during economic downturns; they attract great employees, partners and customers; and they can extend into new business areas with ease. In addition to being able to boast these enviable benefits, strong brands have something else in common. They all exhibit the ?three C?s? of branding. The three Cs are: clarity; consistency; and constancy. Does your brand pass the ?Three C Test? Clarity Strong brands are clear about what they are and what they are not. They understand their unique promise of value. And this promise of value sets them apart from their competitors. It differentiates them and allows them to attract and build loyalty among a desirable set of consumers. Volvo, for example, is clear about their commitment to safety and security. They are not about speedy sports cars, or about small economy cars, or about luxury cars. They build cars for families. Cars that are safe....
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A Short Introduction To Branding
2006-11-27 06:26:00
A Short Intro duction To Branding What is a brand? Brand is the proprietary visual, emotional, rational, and cultural image that you associate with a company or a product. When you think Volvo, you might think safety. When you think Nike, you might think of Michael Jordan or “Just Do It.” When you think IBM, you might think “Big Blue.” The fact that you remember the brand name and have positive associations with that brand makes your product selection easier and enhances the value and satisfaction you get from the product. While Brand X cola or even Pepsi-Cola may win blind taste tests over Coca Cola, the fact is that more people buy Coke than any other cola and, most importantly, they enjoy the experience of buying and drinking Coca Cola. The fond memories of childhood and refreshment that people have when they drink Coke is often more important than a little bit better cola taste. It is this emotional relationship with brands that make them so powerful. Wh...
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3 Golden Rules of Naming
2006-11-27 06:20:00
Every ministry goes through a period where they have to decide on a name.  In Junior High Ministry this can happen as frequently as every pastoral change.  These are some great tips to help you come up with a ministry name that can stand the test of time.  Remember that every time you change the name of a ministry you change the way people feel about that particular ministry.  In the corporate world name changes are about branding and it would be wise to think about that when naming a ministry or deciding to change a ministry name.  Just keep in mind how often Nike, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s have changed their names over the years. Don?t lean under someone else?s umbrella, you?ll still get wet. Don’t be a copycat. It is very bad to copy or borrow from an established identity. A look-alike, sound-alike name, resembling the personality of a powerful, established, legendary name will be fruitless in the long run. Stay clear of legendary names. Creativity is a spark of gen...
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