When the team doesn’t know, doesn’t understand, or doesn’t agree with the vision of your organization there will be distraction. Why? Because they are not motivated by the same vision you have. And when someone is testing their own actions against a different set of filters, they make different decisions.

Examples:

If someone is thinking more about fixing someone’s idea of theology than helping hurting people, then they will choose debate rather than use their energy to help them.

If someone cares more about what we eat or drink than helping people without clean water to drink, then that’s where they will spend their energy.

If we debate about what we should wear while children around us are naked, then we will buy new cloths instead of trying to cloth the poor.

When we lead an organization, our vision needs to be more than a statement written on our website. It needs to be what we do, where we go, and what we based our decisions on.

At MapleGrove, we say “We Value unity in our vision & purpose and agree to set aside our differences in order to serve people.”  This means we agree not to debate things that distract us from our purpose.  We don’t spend time debating about how we (or others) do things.

This doesn’t mean we always agree on everything, we all have our opinions and experiences, and those are going to influence our decisions, but we agree to get over it and get on with our work. We try not to let our differences distract us.

So what’s the bid deal?  Is a website so important for a church?

Richard Reising, president of Artistry Marketing in Dallas, Texas, and author of the book Church Marketing 101, thinks it is. “Currently, 80 to 85 percent of people are finding their church based on websites,” he says. “Websites are replacing the yellow pages as a key mode of church advertising.”

Yet so few churches take this seriously.  What do you think?

I thought it was a joke when I first heard it. On April 10 the top 8 contestants on American Idol sing “Shout To The Lord”. I have to say this is the best I have ever heard it done.

If you’re not sure how to use this in your church, I suggest reading “Pop Goes The Church” before you make any critical comments.

I took this photo of my son eagerly waiting for the gates to open at Tiger Stadium in Detroit this weekend. We wanted to get there early to watch batting practice. We found out that the gates don’t open until two hours before the game time (this was taken about three).

Yea, we were like the first people there. We couldn’t wait! We were conspiring about how we might sneak in through the employee entrance, or find an open door somewhere.

The last several weeks I’ve been starting to see something similar at MapleGrove. It’s been getting more crowded, and since (unlike the Tigers) we don’t have reserve seating, there have been people getting there earlier and earlier and saving seats for the service.

When you go someplace and the parking lot is full and it’s crowded and it’s hard to get a good seat that says something about what’s happening there. When church is executed excellently people notice and the word spreads.

What can we do to make our church services more of an event people can’t wait for?

We’re the hope of the world, and unlike the Tigers Sunday, we do win (I know, I’ve read the ending).

One of my new favorite restaurants is Red Robin. Not because of their Royal Red Robin Burger(R)…

“This is the aristocrat of all burgers because we crown it with a fresh fried egg. In addition, topped with three strips of hickory-smoked bacon, American cheese, crisp lettuce, tomatoes and mayo.”

… but because of their attitude about service.

Yes, Red Robin, you do “WOW” me. My 16 year old son thinks it’s because of the “World-Famous Bottomless(TM)” Steak Fries. Yea, they are great, but it’s more about the fact that you can’t run out before they are bringing you more.  The drinks are always full too.  And the general attitude they have towards “WOWing” you.

The graphic is from the front of their comment card.  Yes, their goal is to “WOW” you.  Why? Because they want you to come back for more.  They want you to tell your friends.  They know what this means for business.

When I talk to church leaders, I often get resistance when I use the term “WOW” associated with a church.  Sorry guys, but it’s not just a show.  It’s about wanting people to want to come back.  It’s about wanting people to tell their friends.  It’s not about the show.  It’s about making a real difference in people’s lives.

What do you do at your church that people can say “WOW” about?

The funny thing was that neither of our two staff pastors, or their families, were there this week due to overlapping vacation schedules.

I can only imagine what the turnout will be in two weeks on FoodDay.

Mark gave a message I called “How I Got Here.” It talked about where Mark came from, and where’s he’s headed in his life; the hopes the fears, some of his views on “religion” and why he’s here. People really liked it from what I could tell. It answered questions, and raised others, got people cheering (several times) and thinking.

You can listen here if you want to hear more.

I first met Todd almost two years ago, before I was at MapleGrove. I guess he’s been searching for something just like I had been and we both found the same place, for a lot of the same reasons.

Gary has been telling people he’s scared to have Todd and I working together - we both have some of the same passions - doing creative things to help people get closer to God - excellently. I don’t think he’s really scared, but you never know what can happen when people with the same mission and passions get together.

Keep you posted.

This, my second year at Change Without Compromise, I really expected most of what I was going to hear would be review. Boy was I wrong. Brad Powell was able to drive home the need for change in the church without compromising the message in a new and engaging way that was totally different than last year.

Here are some of what I felt were his key overall points;

• You have to create your service for the people who aren’t there yet, without neglecting the people who are.
• The church isn’t the temple, the people are.
• Always create new and fresh opportunities for momentum -
  • do things different
  • do things memorable
  • do things fresh & creative or people will think God is boring and irrelevant.
• Accept short-term losses, for long term gains. (Lose the right people)

About Leaders:

• You have to have the right leaders
• Invest in leaders and building teams
  • get rid of wrong leaders
  • help your leaders understand the issues (what church is supposed to look like)
  • develope new positive leaders
• Build teams of positive influencers
• Expose the need for change

Jesus never did the same miracle the same way twice. Why do we “always” do it the same way?

The church must be:

holy - set apart

• nothing to do with culture
• everything to do with character

missional - sent into

• everything to do with culture

And I hear the 2009 conference will be HUGH!

The video below (click on the video to play) is our Christmas Wish to you and a little of what we have been busy with during this wonderful season of celebration of the birth of Christ. It begins with some comedy by Timothy (now 6), continues with clips from “A Christmas Carol” performed by the Lapeer Community Theater including - Jonathan, Garret, Alexis and Dianne, and ends with a fun version of a favorite Christmas song being performed by the worship team at our church. We hope that you enjoy it!

Here’s how we did it:

We allocated a fixed amount of money to go toward the project, in our case it was $300 - enough to reduce the price of 1500 gallons of gasoline.

We picked a date and time but didn’t release this to anyone until we had to. We told media the date only a few days before the event, but not the location. Only a few team members knew the location of the event before that day. We did not want all our own members showing up for the discount, and we did not want people hearing about it on the news, as the local traffic would draw enough attention and cause enough of a line-up.

Once we started we had plenty of traffic. Many people in line were calling their friends on their cell phones.

We approached several gas stations before finding one that would host the event under our terms. This ended up being a small locally owned station that was not worried about what “the corporate office” would think of it.

We started at 12 noon, and ended at 3:00p (which was also when 1500 gallons of gas limit was reached).

Each person was offered free coffee, donuts, and was personally talked to by at least one of our staff members. We wanted to tell people that we were just there to offer a free, no strings attached gift from MapleGrove Church, and we handed them a standard business card with our contact information, website and a map of the church’s location on it.

This project took a lot of volunteers -

- at the gas pumps to offer “full service” to pump gas, take payment, wash windows, etc.

- down the street both directions with large signs to attract attention.

- offering free coffee and donuts (both also donated) for people in line.

- helping direct traffic in the lot and at the entrances.

- talking to people while in line.

Read the article that was in our local newspaper.

Watch this video we created.