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Digital Boundaries in the Church and Why I’m on Facebook and Twitter

December 18, 2009 in Evangelism,missional with 5 Comments

In the last few weeks Facebook has instituted some new privacy settings. They give you more control over who gets to see your stuff. Here’s one post by the New York Times on how to change and edit some of those.

All this has made me think more about boundaries.

In the same article it mentions how many workplaces and schools have instituted protocols where you cannot become a “friend” of your student. And I think I can see why. Older adult. Younger student. Not usually the best recipe.

But what about in the church? What do you think? Should a church be different? What’s it like for you to be a facebook “friend” of your pastor?

I’m interested to hear your responses on that.

Here’s why I enjoy being connected on Facebook and Twitter to my congregation, though.

1. It adds a connection point
I think anything that reminds me of someone is a good thing. When I log on and see how one of my “friends” are doing, it makes me want to send them a quick note. Or if they don’t seem to be having a good day, I may give them a call. As they say, “out of sight, out of mind.” So this helps to avoid that.

2. It humanizes people
I think that transparency corresponds to trust. I want to be authentic in all areas of my life. Whether in front of a church or in my home. Back in the day pastors were actually admonished to not share too much of their life. To always be in a suit. Otherwise, the “image” of the pastor will be damaged. Personally, I don’t feel like that’s the case anymore. Especially with the younger generations. So when I share on Facebook or Twitter I think it helps to build a bridge of connection and understanding, and helps people to see that, though I am a pastor, I am a human being with red blood as well.

Of course we should always be careful about what we share in a somewhat public arena.

So what do you think? Should a church be different? What’s it like for you to be a facebook “friend” of your pastor? Does it help or hinder the relationship?

[image by bejealousofme]

When the Big Project Fails

October 27, 2009 in Evangelism,missional with 16 Comments

Something failed recently.

In the previous post I mentioned how the last month had been a really busy one for me because I was preparing and starting a new prophecy series in both of my churches. I did a ton of prep work. Everything that I knew to do I did.

Here are a few of the things I did to prepare and create some buzz.

1. Had info and banner on website
2. Ordered a series banner that we hung outside our church
3. Got some 5×7 series cards in the neighborhoods around the church
4. Gave the church members some business card-sized series invite cards
5. Started on a good date
6. Picked a good topic
7. Did some Google Adwords adverstising
8. Did some targeted Facebook ads that received over 500,000 impressions

Needless to say, this is the most I’ve prepared for any series I’ve ever done. I was expecting to break some attendance barriers and have a big beginning for our big fall series.

What happened?

Not much. We had about 5 guests turn out, which I’m extremely thankful for. But not only did we not break any attendance records on that date, but our attendance was a little less than average! Ouch.
So what do you do when the big project fails?

I have no idea. Perhaps some of you can help me with that.
But here’s what I am doing. I’m trying to be as faithful as I can with the people that are coming for this series. Trying to be as intentional about follow up, answering questions, and making sure that our church is a safe place where they can come and check out these claims.

I’m also trying to build into our culture that some kind of failure is ok. We like to experiment and some things stick to the wall. Other things bounce off or ooze slowly down the wall.

That’s what I do know.

But all that being said, it does still hurt when the big project fails.

So what about you? What have you learned from projects that you’ve failed in? Or maybe you have some consulting insight as to what happened in this project. Jump in.

[image by Juan Freire]

The Impact of Incentives in Your Organization or Society

July 26, 2009 in leadership,missional with 0 Comments

I recently had the opportunity to guest blog on ChurchCrunch.com on the topic of incentives and why people do the things they do. The ideas were based upon a few chapters in the book Freakonomics by Steven Levitt.
Here’s a quote from the beginning:

“I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of incentives recently. Steven Levitt, the renowned economist from the University of Chicago devotes a chapter to the topic in his book Freakonomics. The chapter is called “What do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?”

So here’s the gist of the issue: People will cheat if the incentive is big enough and the associated risk is small enough.

We’re all used to the idea of students cheating to do better on tests. After all, if you don’t pass some tests, you may not pass the class. Once, when I was in high school geometry, I entered some answers into my TI-89 calculator. I passed the test. Another time in AP English class I carefully…well, let’s move on.

What we’re not so used to hearing, though, is about teachers cheating.

I always looked up to teachers as castles of moral integrity and as civil missionaries. Those that seemingly don’t make a lot of money but still choose to work with hormonal/moody/hyper kids were surely saints on earth. But in the book Levitt details what happened when the state of California introduced $25,000 bonuses “for teachers who produced big test scores.” Many cheated.”


For the full post and to find out why this matters click here.

Understanding the Values of a Group

May 14, 2009 in leadership,missional with 2 Comments

So I think most of you know that I pastor two churches. One church is more modern, progressive, and younger while the other is more traditional, conservative, and older.

In the more traditional church we have prayer meetings on wednesday night, like in many churches. Today something happened in that church that I thought was insightful.
We were discussing why there weren’t more people coming out to prayer meeting. Actually, it was more like they were discussing. They brought it up. And they began to tell me “pastor, you need to just announce it more, with a lot of energy. If you announce it more they will come.”
So I asked them, “out of all the programs in this church (friday night service, saturday night vespers service, wed. night prayer meeting), which should I emphasize the most?” I thought that was a fair question. Without hesitation one gentleman said, “All of them!”
I’m going to come back to that statement in a little bit.
By this point our prayer meeting had shifted to something else entirely, but I flowed with it. I thought, let’s go there and explore this baby as far as they want to go. So I asked them, “so what do you think of our current format for prayer meeting? (I don’t assume our prayer meeting method is great. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s pretty lame. But here’s what we do: we sing for about 15 min., we share testimonies and prayer requests, we go through a bible study together for about 20 min, and then we pray together. I didn’t make it up, it’s what they’ve always used.)
Coming back to the question that I asked them, “what do you think of our current format?” Essentially, they said they were dissatisfied with it. They mentioned how in another Bible study that they attend on Monday nights, all they do for the one hour is study the Bible. One of the ladies said, “we greet each other quickly…we sit down…and then we begin the study. We don’t want to waste too much time.” She was using that as an example of an effective and successful small group Bible study.
I know what you’re thinking. Surely I’m embellishing and exaggerating this story for effect. Ahh….how I wish I was. Those were her words.
Here’s why I think what they were saying was so interesting, though. For one, their response to getting more people to come to prayer meeting was merely to raise the volume. Announce it more. Get sweaty. Work it up, and the people will come. And i’m sure more people would come if I hollered a little bit at them and made them feel like bad Christians for not coming to prayer meeting. Here they are revealing their high value and sense for “duty.” The people should come because that’s what a Christian who loves God does. He goes to prayer meeting. But he also attends every single other meeting that the church offers.
I’m tired just thinking about attending all those things.
Secondly, I think they were revealing that they place a very high value in receiving information in a Bible study. I got that pretty loud and clear. It’s such a high value, in fact, that fellowship and getting to know each other is not really important. It’s just about studying.
So why am I pointing these things out? Because the values that someone has will determine how you are able to lead them. If you don’t understand what their values are, you won’t be able to lead them effectively.
If I simply tried to force upon them a certain model and way of doing things, and it goes against their ingrained values, they will shut me out. They may put up with it. But their hearts won’t be in it. But if I shape how I minister to them in a way that agrees with their values, they will listen.
Let me give you the flip side of this. In my other church which has many young adults, community and fellowship are a very high value. After church is done, people sometimes hang out for hours…not doing anything in particular, just hanging out. If I were to try to force upon them a small group Bible study where people couldn’t really share about themselves and how the Word interacted with them, they’d probably stone me. It’s a part of who they are.
I know this probably all sounds a little technical and perhaps abstract. But I think this is the bottom line. If I can remember what the final end-goal is: helping them become more like Jesus Christ and to be ready for His return, and I know where they are (as exhibited through their values), I can help to lead them in the right direction. I can still have the right end-goal, but if I don’t know where the starting point is, I won’t know the right way to take them on the journey.
Does that make sense at all? I know it’s probably just common sense, but I was reminded of its importance in a vivid way tonight.
What about you? Have you ever misunderstood a group of people and as a result messed up in something? How does understanding the values of the people you lead help you to lead them?

Why US Businesses (and Churches) Should Embrace Generation G

January 25, 2009 in missional with 4 Comments


Reinier Evers of Trendwatching.com just released a very insightful article on Generation G. What is Generation G about?

Here’s an excellent quote that sums it up:
“Generation G captures the growing importance of ‘generosity’ as a leading societal and business mindset. As consumers are disgusted with greed and its current dire consequences for the economy—and while that same upheaval has them longing more than ever for institutions that care—the need for more generosity beautifully coincides with the ongoing (and pre-recession) emergence of an online-fueled culture of individuals who share, give, engage, create and collaborate in large numbers.

In fact, for many, sharing a passion and receiving recognition have replaced ‘taking’ as the new status symbol. Businesses should follow this societal/behavioral shift, however much it may oppose their decades-old devotion to me, myself and I.”

People are rejecting and distancing themselves from companies and organization that exhibit greed, and are coming to companies that are “more willing and able to give, to share, to collaborate; to be more ‘generous’ in many ways.”

He points to the success of generous/collaborative companies like Wikipedia, YouTube, Flickr, and others to prove his point.

So what do we do with this information? Joseph Michelli, author of The Starbucks Experience, points to this culture of generosity (values-driven business model) in the company as a reason for the extreme loyalty of so many Starbucks customers. He gives examples of Starbucks having unannounced free coffee and ice-cream days and going (way) out of the way to surprise and delight customers.

What can a church do to connect to the high value of generosity? Nelson Searcy, pastor of the Journey Church has tried several things. First-time guests get a free book, as well as a gift that’s mailed to them a few days later. During a recent series on biblical finance, he gave away hundreds of free copies of The Total Money Makeover (a $15) book to those that attended.
They also give away lots of free resources and DVD’s, not to mention having a vision to connect with one million people through servant evangelism in the city of NY.

One would think that this kind of generosity will just make a company or church go broke, but those that have implemented systems of generosity have noticed the exact opposite. Instead of cultivating a mentality in the people of consumerism, they people are taught a valuable lesson on sacrificial giving and biblical generosity, which they learn and return on.

How are you modeling generosity? What has worked for you?

Do Christmas Programs Still Work?

December 29, 2008 in Evangelism,missional,news item with 2 Comments

The answer seems to be yes.

In the latest Time magazine article, the author explores the popularity of such programs saying, “Christmas Eve services — with their pageantry and familiar traditions — became just one part of the celebration, after the family dinner and before the opening of presents.
That schedule of Christmas events is now the default tradition for most Americans.”

Most church leaders have known for sometime that most people who call themselves “Christians” are CEO (Christmas and Easter Only) Christians. These are people who are not normal church-goers, but will attend on one or both of those dates. That’s why most church put most of their financial resources towards big programs on these two dates.

But what I thought was most interesting about this article, was the suggestion that what most people seem to expect in a Christmas service is that they will be able to sing some of the traditional Christmas songs, light some candles, and greet each other with “Merry Christmas.”

I think there’s a refreshing simplicity in that.

What kind of Christmas program does your church use? What do you expect and enjoy most in a Christmas program?

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