Practical Church

We all know what it's like to spend hours preparing a sermon only to see people disengaged and not paying attention while we are preaching it. In this episode, we share 7 things you can do to keep people better engaged during your sermon.

Welcome to welcome to episode 210 of Practical Church Planting.

Here are the 7 tips we discuss:

• Start with a story
• Practice out loud beforehand
• One point per slide
• Preach as if there are non-believers in the room
• 35 minutes or less
• Include others in the sermon writing process
• Include at least 2-3 stories or illustrations

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get practical tips delivered right to you. For free resources to help you plant a church that thrives, check out practicalplanting.com.

Have questions or want encouragement from other church planters? Join the Practical Church Planting Facebook group.

We all know the frustration of planning, preparing, and working towards our various church events only to have a much lower turnout than expected. The good news is that there are practical things you can do to keep your church calendar in front of your people. In this episode, we share with you eight of those things.

Welcome to welcome to episode 209 of Practical Church Planting.

Here are the eight things we discuss in this episode:

• Weekly newsletter
• Addevent.com
• Bathroom graphic
• Next steps
• Personal social media
• Pre/post slides
• Text in church
• Website homepage

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get practical tips delivered right to you. For free resources to help you plant a church that thrives, check out practicalplanting.com.

Have questions or want encouragement from other church planters? Join the Practical Church Planting Facebook group.

While creating a great livestream experience can require money and expertise, there are a few free things you can do to increase your quality. In this episode, we share with you seven free tips for doing just that.

Welcome to welcome to episode 208 of Practical Church Planting.

Here are the seven things we discuss in this episode:

• Mark where you singers/preacher will stand
• Don't show the whole stage
• Place your camera at eye love with the people on stage
• Limit how many places you stream to
• Avoid showing seats/people
• Don't show the auditorium pre-service

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get practical tips delivered right to you. For free resources to help you plant a church that thrives, check out practicalplanting.com.

Have questions or want encouragement from other church planters? Join the Practical Church Planting Facebook group.

As we end 2020, we are making predictions on what Church in 2021 will be like. From what type of churches will grow in 2021 to what will look different.

Welcome to welcome to episode 207 of Practical Church Planting.

Here are the seven 2021 church predictions we share in this episode:

• Many churches will almost get back to pre-COVID numbers, but most of the new numbers will be from new people and not from people returning
• Churches will see more engagement in their small groups than their Sunday gatherings
• Churches that invest in their livestream will see the most physical growth
• You will not see many new families with young children visit your church until the fall of 2021
• Churches that lack an outward community focus will continue to see a decline in giving
• House churches will become more popular than they are now
• Smaller churches will see a higher percentage of growth than larger churches

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get practical tips delivered right to you. For free resources to help you plant a church that thrives, check out practicalplanting.com.

Have questions or want encouragement from other church planters? Join the Practical Church Planting Facebook group.

What are the most helpful metrics your church should be tracking? Not everything you can track is helpful, but some things churches don't track often are. In this episode, we share with you seven helpful metrics your church should track.

Welcome to welcome to episode 206 of Practical Church Planting.

Here are the seven metrics we discuss in this episode:

• Attendance
• Giving (regular & outside givers)
• Number of donors
• Website views
• Assets
• Social media follows
• Connect Cards

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get practical tips delivered right to you. For free resources to help you plant a church that thrives, check out practicalplanting.com.

Have questions or want encouragement from other church planters? Join the Practical Church Planting Facebook group.

How do you display worship lyrics or sermon points? Are the screen displays you use helpful or distracting? In this episode, we share eight practical things you can do today to improve your screen display(s) at your church.

Welcome to welcome to episode 205 of Practical Church Planting.

Here are the eight things we discuss in this episode:

• Go faster with your worship lyrics
• Limit the overlapping and fading of words
• Only show one sermon point per slide
• Limit how much text is on the screen at one time
• Add backgrounds to your worship slides
• Limit backgrounds on your sermon slides
• Print sermon notes out for your screens volunteer and talk through them before service
• Use big fonts

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get practical tips delivered right to you. For free resources to help you plant a church that thrives, check out practicalplanting.com.

Have questions or want encouragement from other church planters? Join the Practical Church Planting Facebook group.

The #1 question that all church planters ask is how to gather a team to start a church. We all know we should meet people build relationships, but what can you do that in an effective way? In this episode, we share 6 practical things to do to help gather people pre-launch.

Welcome to welcome to episode 204 of Practical Church Planting.

Here are the six tips we discuss in this episode:

• Have a launch plan to share with people
• Don't try gathering people more than 9 months out
• Schedule fun events
• Have an active social media presence
• Talk about your mission (statement) often
• Talk about your financial needs and ask people to give

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get practical tips delivered right to you. For free resources to help you plant a church that thrives, check out practicalplanting.com.

Have questions or want encouragement from other church planters? Join the Practical Church Planting Facebook group.

How can you best walk your people through pain and tragedy? What are things that are helpful and unhelpful? In this episode, we share practical things to help people who are suffering, and it isn't always what you think.

Welcome to welcome to episode 203 of Practical Church Planting.

Here at the tips we discuss in this episode:

• Don't tell them you understand or relativize their pain
• Tell them you are thinking about them or are praying from them
• Don't ask if there is anything you can do, specifically ask to do something
• Schedule time to be together and only talk about their pain if they want to

How do you know when or if your church is ready to plant a church? Is it just something that will happen eventually, or are there signs that your church is ready? The good news is that there are indicators that show if your church is ready, and we discuss seven of them in this episode.

Welcome to welcome to episode 202 of Practical Church Planting.

Here are seven signs your church is ready to plant that we discuss in this episode:

• Your financial situation is solvent
• Your church isn't struggling to gather your people
• You can financially support your church plant
• You're not worried if your church is going to survive
• You're not working 60 hour weeks
• Your people can get behind planting a church
• You have someone to plant a church

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get practical tips delivered right to you. For free resources to help you plant a church that thrives, check out practicalplanting.com.

Have questions or want encouragement from other church planters? Join the Practical Church Planting Facebook group.

Figuring out a good livestream setup can be confusing, especially if you don't have much experience in this area. In this episode, we walk through what our livestreaming setup looks like at New City and breakdown the equipment that we use.

Welcome to welcome to episode 201 of Practical Church Planting.

Below is the equipment we use and discussed in this episode. Click here to see a video of our setup.

• Our main camera for the sermon: Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4k
• Our camera for worship: Panasonic HC-VX981K
• Our switcher for switching between cameras/screens: Blackmagic ATEM Mini Switcher
• Our streaming software: Open Broadcast Software
• What we use to get our stream on Facebook and Youtube at the same time: Castr

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get practical tips delivered right to you. For free resources to help you plant a church thrives, check out practicalplanting.com.

Have questions or want encouragement from other church planters? Join the Practical Church Planting Facebook group.