Welcome, everyone, to this week’s podcast. I’m happy to have you with us as we talk with Julie Liem from Eastside Church in Anaheim, California. As long as Julie had been at Eastside she always worked in a volunteer role, but a few years ago the position of Director of Volunteers was created and she was […]

Churches that make a difference in their community have figured out relationships and how to scale. Thirty years ago, the small group movement helped churches break through growth barriers. Large churches felt small when people met in homes and developed a deeper sense of community. In fact, small groups are now at the core of many church ministry models and it’s hard to imagine “doing church” without them. However, as important as small groups are, we need to find other ways to get people plugged into the community of our churches. Like Velcro, we need multiple points of relational connection to ensure people “stick.” Are you overlooking how you could use your church management system to help people connect to the community? Here are five ways to get you started:

* Acknowledge “Firsts” // Whenever people take any type of “first” action with your church, celebrate it and reward it. Often churches send first-time donors letters but why stop there? Maybe on Mondays you could call people who have just volunteered for the first time on the weekend. Is there some way you could reward them for stepping up to serve? How about having the children’s ministry team reach out to parents who checked in kids for the first time last week? Or following up on Thursday or Friday to ask guests if they have any questions before this coming weekend? Each of these “firsts” could be set up as a report in your church database and run before you reach out with the specific action. People will be touched that your team noticed and consequently be drawn closer into your community.

* Get Teams & Groups Communicating // Over time, church leaders who work hard to develop community realize they need to move people from interacting with staff to talking amongst themselves. Leaders need to see ourselves as a platform for communication rather than the conduit or switchboard. Church Community Builder has a set of tools that empowers churches to have their teams and groups communicate directly. Encouraging people to build community that doesn’t rely on staff input gives your church the ability to reach and care for more people. Even something as simple as an attendance-taking function that’s connected to a way to send emails to people who attended an event or were part of a team helps bring people together. Leverage your database to empower people to interact with one another.

* Don’t Visit Just One Person // The next time you or your team visits someone in your church, use your church database to find out who else from your church lives nearby. Or, if you meet someone from your church for a coffee in a certain community, look up who lives close by and invite them out for a coffee in the following hour. You’ll maximize your time plus you’ll introduce the people as they cross over between appointments! (Again, this reinforces that people interacting with one another is the goal of church leaders in developing community, instead of having the focus on you.)

* Take Notes & Save Them // Stop trying to remember everything about the people at your church … you simply can’t do it! Once your church gets beyond a few hundred people, there are too many personal details to stay on top of,

Churches that make a difference in their community have figured out relationships and how to scale. Thirty years ago, the small group movement helped churches break through growth barriers. Large churches felt small when people met in homes and developed a deeper sense of community. In fact, small groups are now at the core of […]

Hey, everyone, and welcome to this episode of the unSeminary podcast. We’re honored to have Jason Berry from 12Stone Church in Georgia.

12Stone currently has nine campuses and is one of the fastest growing churches in the country. Their goal is to be engaging and relevant in a way that encourages people to apply God’s teachings to their lives outside the church. 12Stone tries to create a place where people can be part of a family and not just a worship service. Jason hopes that 12Stone will be “the largest local church on the planet,” where the pastors really know the people there and relationships are key. The associate executive pastor, Jason works with the ministries in 12Stone.

As part of its growth, 12Stone recently launched 5 new portable campuses in one day and Jason played a key role on that project. He joins us today to talk about the things he learned along the way.

* Leaders hate conformity. // Different campuses of different sizes can’t all exist using the same methods, which is something that Jason and the rest of the 12Stone team learned early on. In an effort to free up the campus pastors to do what they were gifted and called to do, 12Stone made a decision to make things more centralized. “We knew we had to bring things more centralized,” Jason says. “And probably at the beginning I would say it this way: Our highest value in the centralization unknowingly was conformity, and leaders hate conformity.” 12Stone wants leaders who are entrepreneurial and driven in their work, but they didn’t realize they were creating rules and building “fences” that wouldn’t allow these leaders to do their best work.

* Shift to unity. // As they set up what felt like fences of conformity, the team at 12Stone could begin to see the passion drained from the leaders they had hired to help bring these new campuses to life. Something needed to change, and so 12Stone switched their focus to unity. “The goal is not that we stamp out the next license plate and call it a campus, but the goal would be that we’re ONE,” Jason explains. One team, chasing one goal. Unity is less of a fence and more of a guardrail. It supplies an edge that the leaders can go to and explains why they shouldn’t fall off. Within that guardrail they can lead with passion and innovate however they want to.

* Loosen the reins gently. // Making massive changes within the church, even when the current process isn’t working, can be a big undertaking. Jason advises that it’s best to let new changes come a little at a time. Rather than releasing the hold on everything immediately, set up the guardrail in one area and let it exist there for a while to see how it’s working. If things are working out, spread the guardrail out farther or else figure out a method that would work better.

You can learn more about 12Stone at their website 12stone.com. You can also access free charts, leader teachings, and more at resources.12stone.com.

Thank You for Tuning In!

There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they’re extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally!

Lastly, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTu...

Hey, everyone, and welcome to this episode of the unSeminary podcast. We’re honored to have Jason Berry from 12Stone Church in Georgia. 12Stone currently has nine campuses and is one of the fastest growing churches in the country. Their goal is to be engaging and relevant in a way that encourages people to apply God’s teachings to their […]

Every weekend hundreds of churches meet in rented movie theaters. Whether they are multisite campuses, church plants or established churches, movie theaters continue to be a great choice for churches that need a place to meet. Recently, we talked with 12 leading movie theater churches and today we’re sharing what we learned for the benefit of other church leaders considering meeting in a movie theater.

We recommend that you connect with the team at Regal Theater Church because they have dedicated staff ready to help church leaders who are wondering about using one of the 400+ theaters they have available this weekend! They are the industry leaders in serving church leaders who rent theaters.

5 Reasons Thriving Churches Choose Movie Theaters

* Culturally Relevant // When a church chooses a location for its next campus or church plant, they often consider schools and movie theaters. Movie theaters are a great option because the people we’re attempting to reach have more positive feelings about them than they have for schools. Be honest: Would you rather revisit your middle school cafeteria or the place you saw your favorite movie? As a local church, you can leverage these positive feelings when people invite their friends to attend!

* “We wanted to create a unique worship experience that would be non-threatening to first-time church goers or those who have been hurt by the church in the past.” – Stephen Francis, Valley Christian Church

* Easy to Find // Church is a retail “business.” We need to be found easily in the communities that we serve. The organizations that own and run these theaters spend a lot of money to ensure that the city you are attempting to reach knows the theater exists. We get to ride on the coattails of that spending. Typically, movie theaters are the anchor of a larger development in the center of a community. When people describe where your church meets, the people they invite will know where it is … that isn’t typically the case with other potential locations.

* “We intentionally sold our permanent facilities on the outskirts of our city in 2014 so we could move into Wilmington. The Regal Mayfaire Stadium 16 is right in the middle of the largest shopping center in our city. The excellent location, seating, screen and staff made it an easy decision.” – Bryan McGee, ROCK Church

* Flexible Locations // The needs of a growing church often shift and develop over time. Renting from a movie theater gives you the opportunity to grow into what you need. There is usually an ocean of parking at these locations, which will accommodate your church for a long time. You could possibly start your adult service in a smaller auditorium and then shift to progressively larger rooms as you grow. Most churches don’t rent all the spaces and so you can add more rooms as your ministry develops over time.

* Economical // Renting movie theaters for your church is surprisingly inexpensive when compared to schools, hotels or other options. In fact, many church leaders who rent movie theaters feel like it’s the best-kept facility secret … they feel like they are getting away with something! Many theater companies see this as an augmentation of their revenue stream during a time when they can’t make money in their core business. They are pleased to have the extra revenue but aren’t looking to gouge anyone. Theaters also see it as a plus that your church will bring people to their locations.

* “It’s at the largest mall in our area. It’s where people normally go.

Every weekend hundreds of churches meet in rented movie theaters. Whether they are multisite campuses, church plants or established churches, movie theaters continue to be a great choice for churches that need a place to meet. Recently, we talked with 12 leading movie theater churches and today we’re sharing what we learned for the benefit of […]

Today we’re doing a special Monday edition of the unSeminary Podcast and we’re talking with Meagan Ranson from 2|42 Community Church in Michigan about how they are leveraging Pokémon GO game as a community service tool. We’re doing this episode today to bring you up to speed on what the game is and explain how you could use it to reach out to people coming to your church.

Pokémon Go is a free-to-play location-based augmented reality mobile game developed by Niantic and released in July 2016 for iOS and Android devices. It’s spread like wildfire and churches across the country are experiencing players coming to their locations in the real world. It represents a unique community serve and outreach opportunity for your church to leverage. Here are just a few stats about the game to give you a sense of how popular it is:

* Pokémon GO surpassed Candy Crush Saga’s rumored peak US smartphone audience of 20 million.

* Pokémon GO is up-to-date the biggest mobile game in US history (SurveyMonkey)

* Pokémon GO Android could surpass Google Maps itself as the largest user of Alphabet’s mapping data. (SimilarWeb)

* Pokémon GO attracted more users than Twitter (Gizmodo)

Need more statistics to convince you? Check out this article: 20 HIGH-VELOCITY POKÉMON GO STATS THAT WILL MAKE YOU PAY ATTENTION

In this episode you’ll learn more about:

* What Pokémon GO is and why people are so excited about it.

* How to leverage “Arenas” and “PokeStops” to reach your community.

* A strategy for using “Lures” to drive attendance at a community outreach event.

* Hear how 2|42 is serving the game players that are coming by their locations.

* See an example of church embracing a cultural trend to make a difference.

* Give you some ideas on how you could get started today with your Pokémon Go strategy!

* Hear how the church talked about the game on Facebook to invite people to participate!

FREE Pokémon GO GRAPHICS FOR YOUR CHURCH

* 2|42 Community Church // Signage

* Players Welcome! Door Sign [Download .PDF .AI]

* Here to Battle? Door Sign [Download .PDF .AI]

* Trainers Welcome! Door Sign [Download .PDF .AI]

* We’re Dropping a Lure! Door Sign [Download .PDF .PSD]

* Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church // Youth Event Banner

* Pokémon Power Hour Banner [Download .PDF .PSD]

*

Today we’re doing a special Monday edition of the unSeminary Podcast and we’re talking with Meagan Ranson from 2|42 Community Church in Michigan about how they are leveraging Pokémon GO game as a community service tool. We’re doing this episode today to bring you up to speed on what the game is and explain how you […]

Welcome, everyone, to the unSeminary podcast. Thank you for taking the time to join us today as we talk with Heather Larson of Willow Creek Community Church.

Willow Creek Community Church is located in Chicago, and it started 40 years ago at the Willow Creek Theater. Willow Creek now has 8 campuses total. Heather started on staff eighteen years ago as part of the college ministry. She has now been the executive pastor for three years. Willow Creek is currently in the middle of a multi-year succession plan focused on how they can develop the future of their church and hand the church off from the founding pastor into the next generation. Heather is here to talk about that today and what they’re learning along the way.

* No one person can be the ultimate replacement. // One thing everyone at Willow Creek is keeping in mind is that Bill Hybels started the church from a high school youth group ministry. Bill was the founder of the church and has been the backbone of it over the last forty years. “We know that no one person can replace Bill,” Heather says. “Bill grew this ministry from the ground up. He has more intricate knowledge of the history and how things happened.” Bill has the unique perspective of being able to spot problems before they arise because he’s been so involved in the inner workings of the church from the beginning and no one else will have that advantage. That has led Willow to talk about moving to more of a team approach in leading the church in the future and what that might look like.

* Leverage the gifts the original leader brings while raising up the new generation. // Part of the reason that transitioning to a new generation is a long process is that you try to address what can be handed off right now and what still remains with the original lead pastor. “I think one of the mistakes we made early on is that Bill had so much energy to figure out what he could hand off and how it would go, that in the very beginning of this process he gave away too much of his teaching and his voice,” Heather says. The new generation ended up asking him to come back and keep teaching and using his knowledge to lead them. At the same time, Willow has been very intentional about creating a culture that is values-driven rather than personality driven. Striking a balance between using the original leader’s gifts while raising up the next generation is key to a successful succession.

* Develop teams and leaders as the core of your work. // Though they’ve always been focused on it, Willow Creek has put a lot more heat into developing teams and leaders in recent years. And through that, Heather is confident that everyone involved in this season of the church will come out better leaders and better pastors because of how they’re being developed through this. “We all know that long run, what we want is we want Willow to be set up to win and we want each of us to be able to thrive in who God has made us to be,” Heather says. “Whether that’s at Willow or elsewhere.” Put egos aside and focus on finding God’s best for the church and for each other, and make it a point to do this all along, not only in the case of succession.

You can learn more about Willow Creek at their website www.willowcreek.org.

Thank You for Tuning In!

There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes,