How can we make parents feel more comfortable when dropping off their kids?

Welcome to welcome to episode 104 of Practical Church Planting. 

Parents (especially new parents or families visiting your church for the first time) are extra cautious about dropping off their kids to your church's kid's ministry. This means we need to do everything we can to make parents feel good about dropping off their kids so that they can actually enjoy the service. Here are 6 ways to make parents feel safer that we discuss in this episode:

• Safety serve team members
• Restrict access to the kid's ministry
• Room safety and security
• Have a visible evacuation plan
• Tags for kids and parents
• Shirts or badges for those that are serving

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Summers don't have to be a dead period in the life of your church.

Welcome to welcome to episode 103 of Practical Church Planting. 

Summers can lead to less engagement (and people) for many churches. But does it have to be that way? We don’t think so. While people may travel more in the summer, it doesn’t mean churches have to suffer. Here are five ways churches can create engagement over the summer:

• Have a live Q&A Sunday
• Don't cancel groups all summer
• Try some church-wide events
• Put as much energy, effort, and prayer into your summer Sunday's as you do the rest of the year
• Don't make a big deal about the drop in attendance

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Here are some books to help take your ministry to the next level.

Welcome to welcome to episode 102 of Practical Church Planting.

Check out these non-ministry specific books (except #4) to help improve your ministry:

• Atomic Habits by James Clear
• Free to Focus by Michael Hyatt
• Do You Talk Funny by David Nihill
• Sticky Series by Larry Osborne
• Ted Talks by Chris Anderson
• Talk Like Ted by Carmine Gallo
• Crushing It by Gary Vaynerchuck
• Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath

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Did you know that you can watch the Practical Church Planting podcast? Connect with us on our Facebook page or our YouTube Channel.

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

Here's what you should think about when starting a student ministry.

Welcome to welcome to episode 101 of Practical Church Planting.

When starting a student ministry (middle and high school) there are a lot of things to consider? Do you wait until you have enough students, or do you start one in the hopes that it attracts students? What should the beginning phases look like? In this episode we discuss these four things:

• Go big at the start
• Embrace the small community
• Start slow and manageable
• Don't underestimate student's spiritual understanding

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The story of New City Church.

Welcome to welcome to episode 100 of Practical Church Planting.

Interested in Dylan's story of church planting? In this special episode, we share how New City came to be, and what Dylan has learned on the journey.

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

Want a connect card people will actually fill out?

Welcome to welcome to episode 99 of Practical Church Planting.

Most churches have a connect card for new guests to fill out, but there is a difference between having a good connect card and a bad one. In this episode, we share six characteristics of an effective connect card and how to get more guests to fill them out. Here is what we share:

• Have one
• Keep it minimal
• Make it visually appealing
• Is it easy to write on?
• Talk about it every week
• Give a gift people actually want

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

How can we welcome first time guests in a way that isn't awkward or forced?

Welcome to welcome to episode 98 of Practical Church Planting. 

How can we welcome first time guests in a way that isn't intrusive and also isn't too stand-offish? The balance can be tricky, but in this episode we share these 7 tips:

• Volunteers in the parking lot
• Acknowledge they are present from stage
• Connect card
• Give a tour
• Do not ask if it is their first time
• Signage
• In the preaching

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Did you know that you can watch the Practical Church Planting podcast? Connect with us on our Facebook page or our YouTube Channel.

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

Church lobbies can sometimes feel awkward. They don't have to be.

Welcome to welcome to episode 97 of Practical Church Planting. 

Church lobbies can sometimes feel awkward. They can feel cold, unwelcoming, and even lonely. But they don't have to. Today we share these 5 tips on how to make them feel less awkward:

• Make it smaller
• Create spaces where people can naturally congregate
• Music, please
• Don't open your auditorium doors too early
• Have a lobby greeter

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Why do people join church planting launch teams?

Welcome to welcome to episode 96 of Practical Church Planting.

When it comes to building a launch team it can be easy to think of all the reasons why people won't join you on the journey of planting a church. However, there a quite a few reasons why they will. Here are 7 we discuss in this episode:

• Community
• People want to make a difference
• Their relationship with the planter
• Feeling like they are actually making a difference
• Being part of something from the beginning
• They have their own agenda
• They were asked

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Some tips on telling better stories.

Welcome to welcome to episode 95 of Practical Church Planting.

Good communicators not only use stories but know how to tell good ones. Stories help people connect better with the communicator and makes the content more applicable. In this episode, we share these 10 tips for telling better stories:

• Personal stories are always best
• The more removed you are from the story, the less effective it is
• Story stories are second best
• Don't be the hero of the story
• Keep it short
• Use stories soon after main points
• Tell them every week
• Practice them out loud
• Never look at your notes when telling a story
• No one cares how much you know until you tell a story

Connect and never miss an episode.

Did you know that you can watch the Practical Church Planting podcast? Connect with us on our Facebook page or our YouTube Channel.

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