Here's the latest edition of Ed's Creative Leader Newsletter. Want it to come directly to your inbox next month? Sign up here for free.
With several more weeks of summer before us, I'm sure you'll agree that this season brings excitement, pleasures and challenges of its own. One of my favorite things about summertime is the chance to break from routine, and this year has been no exception. Our family has enjoyed incredible moments of togetherness, and then some well-timed activities on our own. I've once again had the opportunity to learn from pastors and churches at home and abroad—our recent trip to Hillsong was an especially mind-blowing experience! As we travel, I'm always on the lookout for new perspectives and my questions are never far behind. Many of you share my passion for learning and lob quite a few questions our way. For a fun summer change of pace, I'm going to grab a few of those questions and share some ideas and insights we've learned along the way:
What are some basic things we can do to build up our team/staff to a certain level to be able to take breaks?
That's a relevant question for summertime! If you want to be in ministry for the long haul, I strongly believe that church leaders must make it a priority to pull away and take regular breaks. Jesus set this example for us in his ministry, and if he needed time away, don't we also? This seemed natural to me; because when I was growing up I watched my dad take regular time off from his pastoral duties. Since our early years at Fellowship Church, we set the expectation that I would not speak each and every weekend. Creative team planning is the perfect training ground to develop other talented speakers on your staff. When the opportunity to present a weekend message arises, they will be equipped with a solid foundation. Also, we make it a priority for our ministry team to take a quarterly weekend off. You don't need to have a large paid staff to make this possible. Bring volunteers in at every level of your church, and soon you'll have the necessary margin to enjoy some time off.
What was the most difficult numerical plateau to overcome in the life of Fellowship?
Let me start by saying that we've never had specific numbers in mind when it comes to the growth of our church. God has blown us away with what He's done at Fellowship Church—any preconceived notions we possessed never could have matched his awesome plan! As I've talked to pastors of other large churches, we're finding that the 15,000-17,000 mark is somewhat of a glass ceiling. When you reach those numbers, ongoing challenges like traffic and crowd congestion move to new heights. That's the point when you need to make critical decisions about satellites, building a bigger worship center and expanding other areas like children's ministries, parking and more. There's not one right answer for every church, and we're excited that God has led us, at this point in time, to expand through our other campuses. We're finding that multiple locations allow us to reach diverse groups with the same great end result—a vibrant, healthy local church passionately committed to the Great Commission.
How did you overcome or transition with the rapid growth in regards to the people's demand that the Senior Pastor give care for everyone?
We've set the expectation from the beginning of Fellowship Church that I will not be directly involved in every area of ministry the church offers. That's a recipe for burnout! We communicate this fact very clearly and consistently, all the way from the stage to incoming calls at our front desk. Sharing the load of ministry is biblical—the leaders of the early church recognized this need ages ago (Acts 6:1-4). For instance, I don't visit people in the hospital—that's not my gift. I tell people that if I visit them in the hospital it's not a good sign, because it probably means they're on their death bed! Once people are attended to by our gifted team of staff and volunteers, it's clear that these individuals have been called to our care ministries for a reason.
How do you incorporate altar calls in services?
I think the key here is to rely on God's guidance for the specific needs of your church. At Fellowship, we've found that variety is the most effective approach. If people know that there's going to be an altar call in every service, it's easier to put off that crucial decision until next weekend. But when we present those opportunities at strategic moments, there's more of an impetus to seize the moment and step across the line. And that might be in the form of coming down to the front, or it might be a silent moment in the service where "every head is bowed and every eye is closed." Of course, we always have staff available at our kiosk for those who want to make that decision on any given weekend. And for those who are looking for a more low-key approach, they are able to check off a box in our weekend bulletin to indicate that they are praying to establish a relationship with Christ. Our staff follows up with a phone call, as well as a letter and a helpful sermon recording.
How do you deal with the inspect/expect issue with volunteers? They work all week and have limited time.
This question refers to one of my favorite phrases: "People don't do what you expect, they do what you inspect." As church leaders, we have the responsibility to be good stewards of this amazing entity known as the local church. And one way we can do that is to make sure that the things we think are happening, really are getting done. Since we started Fellowship Church with just one staff member (me!), volunteers have assumed high-level responsibilities from day one. And since that time, we've used regular reporting to monitor the various ministries throughout the church. For example, the volunteer leaders in our children's ministry are responsible for keeping in touch with the volunteers on their team. We specify how often they should be in contact and which types of communication (phone calls, notes, emails, etc.) are acceptable for the different interactions. The leaders send in a report detailing these contacts each week. If they fail to meet the requirements, we provide them with instruction and encouragement. However, if it becomes apparent that the volunteer cannot keep up with the demands of a position, we redirect them to another opportunity better suited to their situation. By setting clearly defined expectations ahead of time, it removes confusion about what's important in those roles and gives us an accurate gauge of ministry activity.
If you're looking for more in-depth information on these topics, be sure to check out our selection of Leadership Uncensored discussions. Thanks for joining with us in this one-of-a-kind journey of leading in the local church! I hope that you're finding some time to refresh and renew yourself this summer. Fall is just around the corner, and as more families flow through the doors of our churches, I can't wait to see what God will do!
