[00:00:00] We're really good at routine. I don't mean that in a pejorative sense. We're really good at that
[00:00:05] We know how to do that. I
[00:00:08] Think where we get stuck is we don't do a great job of creating
[00:00:13] moments for people to have an
[00:00:18] emotional reaction or
[00:00:21] A more visceral experience to their faith
[00:00:26] Welcome to episode 355
[00:00:28] It's launch time in our churches and as we adjust to the new rhythm of back to school life
[00:00:33] Many pastors are asking what are the most important things we should be working on this time of year because there are so many
[00:00:40] Possibilities well today. We have four tips on how to faithfully approach this ball that's today on the Reclaimed Leader
[00:00:52] Welcome to the Reclaimed Leader podcast. I'm Jason Tucker
[00:00:55] And I'm Jesse Skiffington. We're two pastors in the trenches who are passionate about church health for greater gospel impact
[00:01:03] We share the ups and downs of ministry
[00:01:06] Strategies that work for us and some that didn't best practices and practical tools for church leadership
[00:01:11] The goal to help all of our churches flourish. Let's get started
[00:01:20] Well, it is a privilege to get to talk with you every week and will you do us a favor?
[00:01:25] Will you share this episode with a friend and leave us a review on your platform of choice?
[00:01:31] It helps us continue to help more and more pastors. That's what we are really passionate about so thank you so much
[00:01:37] Thanks for listening and thanks for sharing now Jesse. I got to ask you something
[00:01:41] Did you hear about so I I don't know how I was late on this story
[00:01:46] I think I had a busy couple of weeks, but the two astronaut NASA astronauts who were supposed to spend eight days in
[00:01:53] Space at the space station. They've been there 81 days. Yeah, it's nuts 81 day
[00:01:58] Like I know you prepare for any kind of eventuality and apparently they have plenty of food like they're fine
[00:02:03] They have work to do but
[00:02:06] How would you be feeling?
[00:02:09] If you found out the Boeing Starliner malfunctioned and guess who's coming to the rescue
[00:02:16] SpaceX Elon Musk NASA came in I'm excuse me
[00:02:20] Yeah
[00:02:21] Can you crazy and you help us can you imagine that? No
[00:02:25] I mean obviously these guys are prepared for all kinds of stuff to happen because that's the nature of their work
[00:02:30] But 81 days and it doesn't look like it'll be done until into the new year. I mean, it's crazy
[00:02:35] So talk about eight days gone sideways. I don't know their families are like really I know
[00:02:42] I hope you like those astronaut ice cream sandwiches or whatever that you get at the
[00:02:45] Get of the gift shops, but those SpaceX rockets are amazing and you know what they made me think about church and they made me think about September
[00:02:53] Here's why
[00:02:54] So those space at X rockets they launch
[00:02:58] They go to space. They do what they got to do
[00:03:01] They do all the work which by the way
[00:03:02] They say that all the work of launch is getting out of the atmosphere once you're out of the atmosphere
[00:03:06] You're good to go, but all of that energy is spent on the launch, but then these rockets
[00:03:12] Reenter the earth's atmosphere and they park themselves so that they can relaunch all over again
[00:03:19] I feel like isn't that church that is church
[00:03:21] Every single ministry season and so this is that time of year Jesse
[00:03:25] We get to talk about what we love talking about and that is launching in the new
[00:03:32] Ministry year program year. However, you want to frame it for us
[00:03:35] It's really revolves around when the kids go back to school the rhythms of our
[00:03:40] Community and of our people really change and so for us, it's always right after Labor Day weekend
[00:03:45] I know some of our southern brothers and sisters. They have already started school there like a month in already
[00:03:51] But we're talking about fall launch time and what should we be thinking about between now and the sprint to Christmas?
[00:03:57] I know I know it's crazy, but it is what it is
[00:04:00] So I would basically 2025 right now Jason
[00:04:03] So what you're telling me is plan my January sermon that's right kind of right
[00:04:10] So fall plans are you guys in the same spot has school started yet?
[00:04:15] Are you like right on the cusp? Where are you guys right now in the room?
[00:04:19] Are a state where most of our schools start the week after Labor Day or somewhere right around it
[00:04:24] So we're more similar to you guys and have family in the south
[00:04:27] They've been back to school a couple weeks already
[00:04:29] But yeah, we kind of tend to plan our fall launch around the school year
[00:04:33] Launch and I don't know if that same rhythm works in the southern states or not
[00:04:38] Or if you wait for football season and that's your clue to start. Maybe that's it
[00:04:42] Yeah
[00:04:43] It was just on a trip up to the northwest coast of my family
[00:04:45] And there was a guy with a Georgia hat and a guy with the University of Tennessee hat
[00:04:51] SEC football at the most northwestern most point in the continental United States
[00:04:56] And I was like it must be the fall it's football season. It's time to go
[00:05:00] So I imagine the southern states you do it around, you know kickoff Sunday or something like that
[00:05:04] Yeah, I love it. So fall plans what what do you guys at Marine view looking at right now kind of what's your
[00:05:10] Rhythm I know you just got back from vacation. So I know you probably got going through all your emails and everything
[00:05:15] But what's the rhythm of these next few weeks as you're trying to figure out?
[00:05:20] launch time
[00:05:21] Yeah for us. It's really thinking about how do we
[00:05:25] Meaningfully ramp up into the fall without
[00:05:29] Overscheduling our our families and our congregation that already have a lot of other
[00:05:33] On-ramp kinds of things going on for school and life and whatnot
[00:05:37] And so we try to think in terms of meaningful opportunities for people to connect especially for newer people to connect
[00:05:44] To pray for our students and teachers as they begin the new year and really work
[00:05:49] We're looking at our primary focus is helping people find connection in community groups
[00:05:54] In September so that kind is our focus. We launch things back
[00:05:58] We start to get our feet under us we communicate all that's happening throughout the fall
[00:06:02] With a focus on the next step being hey find a group. Let's go. Let's be in a circle not a row
[00:06:08] Yeah, I love that ours is very very similar what we're looking at right now
[00:06:13] We're getting that number one on our list. We're getting our small group lineup together
[00:06:16] Who's teaching what building space they need or the meeting off campus?
[00:06:21] What topic all that stuff is all because we launched right at the end of September early October our new round of groups
[00:06:27] So I'm sure you probably have a similar rhythm and then for us for any of our listeners who listened to last week's episode
[00:06:34] I'm like, I hate recording by myself man. It's a drag. It's such a drag
[00:06:38] But I was just talking about a
[00:06:43] Challenge that we have with you know, we had our we our session didn't make quorum
[00:06:47] And we weren't able to meet for the first time in 15 years as a pastor. I've never had that happen
[00:06:51] So we're talking through how to make sure our staff and session retreat coming up and by retreat
[00:06:58] It's just a Saturday morning. Yeah, you get on the same page with mission vision strategy
[00:07:02] That's coming up in a couple of weeks and then getting eyes on all the events
[00:07:06] We do between now and Christmas similar to you making sure that we are
[00:07:12] Pacing ourselves well that we are covering as much ground as possible regarding to
[00:07:18] Are we reaching older generations younger generations? Middle-aged generations?
[00:07:25] Are we giving them the same amount of kind of opportunities or on ramps into the life of the church?
[00:07:31] These are all things we're looking at right now
[00:07:33] Yeah, and I think we've talked a little bit about this in past episodes
[00:07:37] but even just getting the dates on the calendar thinking ahead and
[00:07:42] Asking people in your congregation to save the day or at least to be aware of the dates so that they good goes well
[00:07:48] They're actually planning ahead. There's credibility here. They're thinking about these events, but it also
[00:07:53] Helps us as a staff team kind of pace our own planning. We know that six weeks from now
[00:07:58] We have the trunk or treat event or it's probably more than that
[00:08:01] It's like eight nine weeks probably from now
[00:08:03] But we know that's coming and so we're communicating about it in a one-line kind of way
[00:08:07] And I know you guys typically do a bullet point
[00:08:10] Postcard I think of your key dates and we've done something. Yeah, just to kind of say to people look at all the great things that are coming up
[00:08:17] There's not a ton of details
[00:08:18] It's usually the date maybe the time and the title of the event
[00:08:21] But you know it just helps people get a sense of here's what's coming up
[00:08:25] We've been thinking ahead. We're excited about it and we can't wait for you to be a part of it with us
[00:08:30] That's good. I think I mean listen you and I we've done this now for a lot of rounds
[00:08:37] And we learned some things along the way of what to do and what not to do
[00:08:42] And so I thought it'd be good
[00:08:43] Maybe we just share some tips on how to ensure a successful launch whatever that looks like in your church
[00:08:50] Whatever it looks like as you're trying to figure out this time of year. It's such a good timing
[00:08:56] I know a lot of churches do a back to church Sunday. That's never really been our bag
[00:09:00] We kind of have our own thing our own way of doing it
[00:09:03] We have Tower Hill Day and we have pancakes and everything so nothing brings people together like pancakes
[00:09:07] That's right. Yeah, somebody said so I had the the honor of leading a session retreat in Huntsville, Alabama
[00:09:15] last week well actually it's two weekends ago now and
[00:09:19] We're talking about how it's amazing that every generation on the
[00:09:22] Multi-generations
[00:09:25] Interacting they will interact over pancakes and somebody on their elder team said the phrase the pancake effect
[00:09:31] And I said, wouldn't that be a good book title or something the pancake effect? So good. I love it
[00:09:36] But anyway, we're trying to figure out when is our thing gonna be
[00:09:41] What's our pathway? What are our stepping stones?
[00:09:44] So let's go through some things that I think are important to think about
[00:09:48] And we could maybe riff on that a little bit according to what we're used to doing and the first is this
[00:09:55] You have to figure out and I'm living this right now
[00:10:00] You have to make the calendar work for you and not against you
[00:10:05] In other words, you can't stack your life and your
[00:10:10] Everything you want to get done as a church
[00:10:13] So heavily
[00:10:15] That you're sacrificing what matters most in the process
[00:10:19] So just we we talked about these things before if you're new with us new to us. Here's just a quick review
[00:10:25] Get out of sheet of paper. This is a practice I learned from michael hyatt that I love
[00:10:30] Sheet of paper make a few columns starting from left to right
[00:10:34] What do I love?
[00:10:36] Next column what do I hate?
[00:10:39] And this is private. You don't have to share this with anybody. That's right
[00:10:43] What can I eliminate?
[00:10:47] What can I delegate?
[00:10:49] And what can I automate?
[00:10:52] Yeah, so love hate eliminate delegate automate and just make a list
[00:10:56] Of it could be with your job
[00:10:58] It could be just with the rhythm of your schedule and some things you can do nothing about like they just are
[00:11:03] And you might hate them and they take up a spot in your schedule. That's fine
[00:11:08] But the goal is to figure out I'll bet there are some things that don't need to be on your plate
[00:11:13] And I think as leaders we always need to be taking a look at the plate. What's on it?
[00:11:18] What can I hand off in a really healthy way?
[00:11:21] To spread the responsibility around and spread, you know, the opportunities other people have to lead as well
[00:11:27] Yeah
[00:11:29] I think that's that's really crucial and it's it's difficult as a leader because we're used to having a lot of
[00:11:35] Balls in the air and plates spinning and we're multitasking and all that kind of thing
[00:11:39] And so sometimes if we don't stop and think about what we could hand off or what we need to eliminate
[00:11:45] Or take off our plate or give away
[00:11:46] We'll just keep spinning all those plates for better or worse and some are going to start crashing sooner or later
[00:11:51] You know, probably I had an example of this just a couple weeks ago. We were reviewing our hr handbook
[00:11:57] And we needed
[00:11:59] To update our grievance policy not that anybody would ever complain about me
[00:12:03] But you know how what's the the chain of command if somebody has a complaint or a concern
[00:12:08] Or something that goes outside of the supervisor
[00:12:11] You know line and how do we do that?
[00:12:13] And so I was researching and doing things and one of our elders who was meeting with me about it
[00:12:18] And she said why are you doing this?
[00:12:20] I will go find a good grievance policy for us and then I'll bring it for you to look at
[00:12:24] You don't need to spend your time on this and it was just a reminder
[00:12:28] Oh, yes, somebody else could do that
[00:12:30] And probably she's going to do a way better job than I I would have just found the first thing
[00:12:34] I googled and be like, oh, that's probably good enough. So it's gonna be better. So
[00:12:38] We have to keep as leaders
[00:12:40] We have to keep coming back to this is so important because we will add things to our plate
[00:12:45] We like to to to be moving and have plenty of things to be working on
[00:12:49] But there are a lot of other a lot of things that we could
[00:12:53] Hand off and we should so that it frees up our space to really do the things that only we can do
[00:12:58] absolutely and then
[00:13:00] And by the way, this this step of what we're talking about is I love doing this
[00:13:04] I love doing it a couple times a year. It's usually now
[00:13:08] And january
[00:13:10] Are the two times a year that I pay attention to this, but I love it because it's changed my life
[00:13:14] I would not be able to do
[00:13:16] All the things in my life that I do if I had not been really intentional about going through this on a regular basis because
[00:13:23] um, I will chase shiny objects just like anybody else and that's not always the best thing for me or the people around me so
[00:13:31] um
[00:13:33] So then when you have
[00:13:34] A good idea of what's on your plate. I think a really healthy thing is to make sure that
[00:13:41] What are the first things that need to be first?
[00:13:43] What are the most important things that need to go on your plate before anything else?
[00:13:47] And to me, that's all about calendaring. I uh,
[00:13:51] I'm analog with my calendar
[00:13:53] And I know you've seen this before jesse. I might this this episode might go on video, but
[00:13:58] Kind of give I got color codes
[00:14:00] I got all sorts of stuff going on that and
[00:14:04] It's the only way I have found to make sure that the things I really want
[00:14:08] To get done get done
[00:14:11] so
[00:14:12] What the reason it helps me so much is I know tomorrow how i'm going to be spending my time
[00:14:17] Do things come up? Of course they come up, but if I know tomorrow tomorrow. Oh, jeez
[00:14:22] You know the whole morning is sermon writing morning, so I'm not going to take any meetings during that time. I'm not going to
[00:14:27] Schedule something else because that is really important time every week that I can't sacrifice or even I put my devotional time in
[00:14:35] Because it just reminds me that's what i'm doing tomorrow morning at this time
[00:14:40] And it really helps me
[00:14:42] I feel less anxiety about my list of things that need to get done because I know I I have a plan
[00:14:48] Of how i'm going to attack all those things
[00:14:50] Yeah, and I think what happens when you have good uh good handle on your rhythm and routine of your time management
[00:14:56] Then when exceptions do come along
[00:14:59] You can break from your routine to a point and and still be okay because you know you're going to get back to that rhythm and routine
[00:15:05] And I've noticed that um the times where I've kind of
[00:15:09] Drifted from this discipline and I'm kind of making it up week to week or day to day or something
[00:15:14] I just you're kind of just feeling your way through the dark and it's harder to be productive
[00:15:19] and uh
[00:15:20] I don't know. I think more thorough in your work or whatever and start you start missing stuff
[00:15:24] And so I think those are some key key things that when you're developing your schedule make sure the
[00:15:30] Very most important things get on there first your devotional time your your sermon writing time
[00:15:35] Maybe it's your time to sit there with a blank sheet of paper and dream about stuff
[00:15:39] I don't know whatever the key things are and and then
[00:15:42] See what's left over and begin to fill in I I like to leave some some free area on my calendar because
[00:15:49] Sometimes you got flex a little bit and so I don't like to have air
[00:15:52] I don't know do you fill in every minute of every day or do you kind of have some space? No, I I think in terms of blocks and
[00:16:00] When I feel like I've I'm kind of done
[00:16:03] Because I don't know that I always take up all the time in the block
[00:16:06] So I'll just allow that to be unscheduled
[00:16:09] And that that really works for me. So I feel like I it's designated if I want to use it for that
[00:16:14] But I there's usually some extra time in there
[00:16:17] Yeah, you want to create flexibility so they are not pulling this rigidity to your routine that becomes right because you want to stick with it
[00:16:23] If you don't like I think I think the other piece for me is and something I haven't tried
[00:16:27] But I've always had good intentions about is setting something of office hours
[00:16:31] And I think you do a good job of scheduling
[00:16:33] You know you set aside amount of time that you can meet with people and that's kind of it for the week
[00:16:38] And I kind of do it more anecdotally or one off and I don't know that that serves me super well
[00:16:44] And so actually Andrew our assistant pastor here
[00:16:47] He's like, why don't you set some office hour times every week?
[00:16:50] And if people want to come meet with you, that's when they can do that and they can schedule that
[00:16:54] You know with the office and then you don't have to kind of chase meetings with people
[00:16:59] It's sort of a few dedicated times that you have set aside for that kind of in the block mentality
[00:17:03] So um, I think those are the kinds of things that can set you up for success and you're instead of chasing your schedule
[00:17:09] It's it's you know, it's serving you instead. Yeah
[00:17:12] Um, and we'll link in the show notes. There's a whole episode we did on this
[00:17:16] At some point I don't remember that I don't remember what number it was
[00:17:19] So i'll go back and look and we have that many episodes now. We're at at some point
[00:17:24] We talked about you say that quite a lot. I know I we've talked about everything a few times so
[00:17:29] Uh, anyway, I know I know there's a whole episode we did on the time management piece
[00:17:34] So we'll link to that. Okay. Uh, here's the second one
[00:17:36] This is this is more to do with ministry
[00:17:38] So first is calendar to make the ministry possible and the second is
[00:17:44] Something that we are looking at right now
[00:17:46] because I think
[00:17:48] one of the challenges of church in the week-to-week experience of church is that
[00:17:53] We're really good at at rhythm
[00:17:57] We're really good at routine. I don't mean that in a pejorative sense. It was we're really good at that
[00:18:02] We know how to do that
[00:18:05] I think where we get stuck is we don't do a great job of creating
[00:18:11] moments for people
[00:18:14] To have
[00:18:16] I don't know how to say it. It's it's not necessarily emotional, but it is emotional but having a
[00:18:22] an emotional reaction
[00:18:25] Or a more visceral experience to their faith
[00:18:30] Because
[00:18:31] worship
[00:18:33] The way that the way that it is
[00:18:36] Tends to be a very passive
[00:18:39] endeavor
[00:18:40] Yes, there's some singing and some standing and depending on how you do communion. There may be some movement that way
[00:18:46] But largely it's kind of a passive exercise and I think what happens is
[00:18:50] Christians get lulled to sleep by the
[00:18:54] By it being sort of passive and routine like that combination doesn't always serve it well
[00:18:59] so
[00:18:59] I'm a big fan of
[00:19:01] Creating some kind of spiritual waypoints or creating moments
[00:19:05] And so this is what the second one is about. How do we create more moments that lead to movement?
[00:19:12] Hey reclaim leader community
[00:19:13] I want to share a really great opportunity this fall on how to develop your church's discipleship strategy
[00:19:20] We're going to do a six week zoom cohort
[00:19:24] Where you will learn exactly how to create or refine your church's discipleship strategy
[00:19:29] How someone moves from guest or outsider to engaged follower of jesus or engaged member of the church
[00:19:37] And how to leverage christmas as an important catalyst
[00:19:42] Listen, most churches just hope that spiritual formation happens organically
[00:19:47] But the truth is it's like trying to follow someone through the forest at 100 yards away
[00:19:51] It's too easy to get lost and confused
[00:19:54] And here's the thing. I've definitely learned the hard way is that
[00:19:58] Many are slipping out the back door of your church and you don't even know it
[00:20:02] Why because they don't know what to do next they feel stuck or they feel stagnant
[00:20:07] So by the end of six weeks, you will have a framework for your discipleship strategy and a plan
[00:20:14] On how exactly you will leverage christmas
[00:20:17] This is exactly what i've done at my church and have helped other churches to do
[00:20:22] And for us it's led to over 100 attendance growth in the last 12 years and
[00:20:27] How we went from about 40 people engaged in small groups or bible studies to about 400
[00:20:34] Every single time we offer them
[00:20:36] So we're going to get started on september 24th, and we're going to go for six weeks
[00:20:41] There's going to be three teaching modules and three workshop modules where we help you in real time come up with your plan
[00:20:49] And here's the best part. We've made it super affordable for churches. So only 75 dollars per person
[00:20:57] gets you in
[00:20:58] And all the teaching modules are going to be recorded so you can keep them and share them with your team
[00:21:05] Space is very limited. We want to keep it small so that we can get the most out of our workshop time
[00:21:10] So make sure you jump in right now. Don't wait reclaimed leader com forward slash disciple
[00:21:17] That's reclaimed leader com forward slash disciple do it today. I hope to see you there
[00:21:24] If you want to draw people or engage people in their faith, how do we do it with all of their senses?
[00:21:29] Not just um, you know, they're their brain or their ears on a sunday morning. So
[00:21:36] Here's what i'm getting at
[00:21:38] I think you could do that through let's start with sacraments. I mean baptism
[00:21:43] We started a few years ago. This was actually in the middle of the pandemic
[00:21:47] We started accommodating for immersion baptism as an option in our regular worship service
[00:21:53] We've talked about this. We buy we bought the tank
[00:21:56] and
[00:21:57] It's been awesome. And so what happens is
[00:22:00] people have this people long for this experience
[00:22:04] And we always give them an option of how they want to be baptized if they're adults and adults
[00:22:10] You know confirmation age and older
[00:22:13] If they want to be immersed or not and they always pick immersion
[00:22:17] Because for them and what they say every time is this I just feel it more
[00:22:22] The act of of going under the water and coming out. There's something really powerful in that
[00:22:29] And then once we started doing that the flood gates opened up
[00:22:33] I guess pun intended but it they really opened up and more and more people wanted to do it when they saw others
[00:22:38] Doing it. They're like, man, I would love
[00:22:40] To have that experience and we just had this last weekend our third annual
[00:22:44] beach baptism
[00:22:46] Or we offer first time baptisms
[00:22:49] And we offer remembering your baptisms
[00:22:52] and
[00:22:52] The difference is not much if it's just
[00:22:56] Theologically in the reform tradition. We don't believe in rebaptism
[00:23:00] So what we say is remember your baptism in the name of the father son and holy spirit
[00:23:05] And then we dunk them right so we do it and
[00:23:09] This last one was a great reminder of the power of these moments that leave to movement. So
[00:23:14] Just if it's the stories that you hear so
[00:23:17] There's a college student who was baptized
[00:23:20] Who I didn't know it at the time as a bit of a side hustle listen. We got to pay for college
[00:23:26] Um, I teach public speaking online at our local community college
[00:23:31] One of the students
[00:23:32] Started attending church with their family. She was baptized
[00:23:37] This last weekend with her whole family there. We had a mother and a daughter
[00:23:41] Daughter on the high school soccer team told all of her friends on the soccer team
[00:23:45] She's getting baptized and had another kid say
[00:23:48] How can I do that?
[00:23:50] We had um a jewish woman who was invited by a friend at the gym a year ago to come to church
[00:23:58] She got baptized
[00:24:01] Last year we had a mom whose two teenage boys
[00:24:03] Wanted to be baptized. They had lost their father a few months before quite tragically
[00:24:08] And I'll never forget when they came up out of the water
[00:24:12] And the older son gave me a hug and he said thank you for doing this
[00:24:16] I'm like thank me for doing this
[00:24:19] This is a the privilege of my life
[00:24:22] And every time we do that event
[00:24:25] You see the emotion and the power of that moment
[00:24:30] And it's powerful for me honestly after every single time I have the same thought I shared with my wife. I'm just like
[00:24:37] This is why I became a pastor for this right here
[00:24:40] This is why
[00:24:43] So I think people are looking for these spiritual waypoints and what's a way that we can make it
[00:24:49] more visceral more engaging more
[00:24:53] of a moment
[00:24:55] That leads to movement
[00:24:57] Yeah, yeah, I love that Jason and I think part of it is
[00:25:02] creating a sense of
[00:25:06] We're all in this together. I you know a lack of a better word if you promote it well in advance
[00:25:11] It's not just you show up on that day and you say hey this afternoon
[00:25:14] If anybody wants to come we're gonna baptize some people at the beach
[00:25:16] I imagine that it was weeks of hey baptism sunday's coming up
[00:25:20] We'd love for you to come and support those that are being baptized. It's gonna be so great
[00:25:24] And if that's you I'd love to talk with you about that
[00:25:26] I'm sure there was a lot of that building up to that
[00:25:29] And I think that's maybe as important as the thing itself because if you miss that front end
[00:25:35] Then that moment can fall flat or people feel like I didn't hear about it. I missed out on it
[00:25:40] I I didn't know so I think planning that ahead
[00:25:42] And picking sometimes one of the things in the reform tradition
[00:25:46] We cheat a little bit because we don't think salvation is tied to the moment of baptism that it's you know
[00:25:50] It's the outward sign of an inward reality all the things right the theology of it
[00:25:55] And so we can set some dates and say this is baptism sunday
[00:25:59] You know, we're gonna do this and we do it twice a year here at marine view one
[00:26:01] We offer baptism in our sanctuary. We had a dunk tank at one point and then we said the floor
[00:26:07] I don't know if we can handle
[00:26:08] I don't know
[00:26:09] In the fall the risk reward kind of thing
[00:26:12] Yeah, we do the sprinkling or water on the head in the fall using the baptismal font and in June
[00:26:17] We do our baptisms down at the beach right down the road from marine view
[00:26:20] In the Puget Sound it's 48 degrees. It's gonna be so cool. We'll not forget your baptism if you do it
[00:26:26] And um, we find that people, you know, kind of depending on who they are
[00:26:29] We'll prefer one or the other
[00:26:31] But we've made it part of the rhythm of our life
[00:26:34] And something that people now look forward to and anticipate and
[00:26:38] This last one in in June we had just an awesome response of people being baptized
[00:26:43] But also my favorite part alongside that was because we had been promoting it for about six weeks and letting everybody know
[00:26:49] Just about the whole congregation showed up. We celebrated these baptisms
[00:26:54] Then we had pizza and cake afterward as like all these people down at this beach
[00:26:58] And imagine all the neighbors around were like what is happening down
[00:27:03] It's just and so we always have people walk by and go, what are you guys doing?
[00:27:06] And it's that this is cool
[00:27:07] I think you know
[00:27:08] Those are the things that those I like that language you use waypoints spiritual waypoints or maybe even call them catalytic
[00:27:16] Experiences that cause someone to take a step forward in their in their faith journey
[00:27:20] Or it kind of calls the question and says are you ready to do this?
[00:27:24] Are you you know, what does it look like to mature and grow in faith and to take a step like this?
[00:27:28] And um, so I think those are those are that's a good example of the kind of thing we're talking about
[00:27:33] and there's other ways to do this something similar and we did a VBS Sunday
[00:27:37] This year which I was a little anxious about
[00:27:40] Will people show up for this all the people who worked hard all week long for vbs
[00:27:44] And all those families that are not church families. Are they going to show up on a sunday?
[00:27:48] Well, we promoted it for like six weeks and we worked really hard at it
[00:27:51] And we got people jazzed up about it and we talked about it and we invited and we re-invited
[00:27:55] We did and then by the time it got to that day it ended up being an awesome celebration
[00:27:59] But you can't just last minute your way to those kinds of things. Yeah, it's that it just really doesn't
[00:28:06] It usually doesn't work that way and here's the other thing. Have we not created these?
[00:28:12] moments
[00:28:14] I don't know if we would have caught these people who ended up coming to the baptism. I don't
[00:28:20] I don't know if we would have really caught them to engage them in the life of the christian faith
[00:28:26] Or the life of the church. Have we not offered it? So I think
[00:28:30] Part of it's the offering, you know
[00:28:32] Thinking through it and making it available
[00:28:34] And I think a great place to start is no because some churches may just like, you know, gee
[00:28:38] It's just you know, it's me and the custodian and
[00:28:41] I don't know how to pull this off and that's fine
[00:28:43] But you're probably doing communion on a regular basis
[00:28:46] What if you tried doing something a little different communion?
[00:28:50] So maybe if you don't do intention try intention and you can always have somebody an elder
[00:28:55] Go around and serve it to people who can't physically get up and go forward
[00:28:58] But even just that act of getting up and go forward and then think of your words around the words of institution
[00:29:03] So you give the words of institution, but then I'll say something like
[00:29:09] Today when you get up
[00:29:11] And you receive the body and the blood of Jesus Christ, you're saying yes all over again to a life of faith
[00:29:18] Let this be your yes in a way. It's sort of an altar call around the sacrament
[00:29:24] And it feels that way to people
[00:29:27] So I think I think the sacraments are a great place to start
[00:29:30] Um, and then there's of course the rest of the worship service
[00:29:34] where energy and emotion are part of the experience
[00:29:38] and
[00:29:40] Here's the criticism I hear of this
[00:29:42] I usually hear this more from a traditional crowd that says, you know, we're not here
[00:29:47] to entertain
[00:29:49] We're here to worship God
[00:29:52] I agree, but I don't agree with your premise that it's entertainment necessarily
[00:29:58] Do some churches do that? Yes, of course
[00:30:01] But I would ask them
[00:30:03] When you sing amazing grace
[00:30:06] Why does that lift your soul?
[00:30:10] It's because you love that hymn
[00:30:11] You could sing every verse with no words
[00:30:13] It reminds you of God's goodness and mercy reminds me of pivotal times in your life
[00:30:18] And you walk out of church saying that was that was great today
[00:30:21] Was it because of the instrumentation?
[00:30:24] Was it because of the tone of the organ?
[00:30:28] No, it had everything to do with the emotional relationship you had with that song
[00:30:34] It was it was the based on the same thing emotion
[00:30:37] Is why you felt worship was so powerful that it's the same thing
[00:30:41] So the question is how do you just bake that in to the service?
[00:30:44] How do you intentionally design moments that lead people through taking a step?
[00:30:48] You could do it through music and prayer
[00:30:51] celebration you're celebrating
[00:30:53] Um, you know confirmation students or what whatever you want to celebrate
[00:30:57] 50 year members
[00:30:59] You do with your message and you do it through the sacrament. So that's a big one
[00:31:02] I know it's a long one but creating moments that lead to movement
[00:31:07] Yeah, but then here's why the next part is so important. This is number three. This is the third tip
[00:31:12] You want to make sure you have somewhere to move them to
[00:31:16] Have we made it clear?
[00:31:19] In our strategy like what does it look like for somebody to take a step towards jesus?
[00:31:24] What does it look like relationally and then what does it look like programmatically?
[00:31:29] um
[00:31:30] And this is all about discipleship pathway like what is our strategy for bringing someone as a first time guest all the way to engage leader
[00:31:37] What does that look like if you don't have a strategy? I think that's a great place to start
[00:31:42] What is our strategy? What's our strategy from online?
[00:31:46] person who fills out a card
[00:31:49] To
[00:31:51] Showing up in person in a bible study. What does that even look like? How do we get there?
[00:31:56] Like stones on a pathway. What are our stepping stones?
[00:32:00] And they could really be whatever you want, but they need to be they need to be there
[00:32:04] Or it's like asking somebody to follow you like a hundred yards away through the forest
[00:32:08] There's just too many ways they can get lost
[00:32:10] So do you guys spend?
[00:32:12] Time thinking or talking about this is this baked into your routine? I assume that it is but
[00:32:17] Say maybe a little bit about your it isn't yeah
[00:32:20] One of the things we're always going to be thinking about or asking related to an event or even to a church service
[00:32:25] Is what's the next thing for that person or what's the invitation?
[00:32:29] And sometimes the end of the sermon the invitation is hey come back next week and hear more
[00:32:33] We just finished the series in jona come back and hear about jona and what happens after it gets
[00:32:39] Vomited on to dry land or whatever like so, but what's the thing that you're going to ask them to do or invite them to
[00:32:44] Do next and in september we're going to be inviting people to move towards groups
[00:32:49] That's the you know so hey if you were part of dbs this summer if you were part of a you know
[00:32:54] A newer to our life and you've been attending church
[00:32:56] We'd love for you to consider being a part of one of our groups and get connected more closely in with community
[00:33:01] And we'd love to have you do that but we're thinking in terms of what's the next part of the pathway
[00:33:05] And for us it kind of breaks along four lines and we know that everybody's
[00:33:10] In different places with different needs some are church people coming in looking to
[00:33:13] Immediately get involved others are just brand new and they kind of need an introduction to faith or something
[00:33:18] So we have a handful or a variety of
[00:33:20] Parts of the pathway so that you can have a little bit more
[00:33:24] customizable
[00:33:25] If for lack of a better word approach to each person
[00:33:28] So that sounds like you need
[00:33:30] connection or you need a bible study where you can go deeper and learn more or you need
[00:33:36] The opportunity to serve and so you're we're going to plug you in to you know getting involved with our
[00:33:41] Outreach and missions team or hey, you're kind of like a church veteran
[00:33:45] Let's stare you towards some leadership and how can we help you do that? Maybe that's your next step
[00:33:49] So kind of creating within those pathways some variety for that meet people where they are in their own spirit
[00:33:55] Yeah, because you're whatever your overall pathway is it's built on a bunch of smaller pathways
[00:34:01] Yeah, so for example your overall strategy is we're going to put together a bunk bed in my son's room
[00:34:08] So I want to go from whatever he has now
[00:34:11] To this new bed. That's the overall strategy
[00:34:14] Yeah
[00:34:14] So but you do that in steps, right? You don't just do it all at once you put it
[00:34:18] You put together the frame you assemble the ladder you put in the mattresses whatever
[00:34:23] So thinking about your pathway
[00:34:26] You just have to ask what are the steps
[00:34:29] What are the steps to get them from community into the congregation on sunday morning?
[00:34:33] And then what's the step from getting them to in the congregation to meeting people in the congregation fellowship
[00:34:38] And then what's this step from fellowship to attending a small group or a bible study or serving?
[00:34:44] or giving
[00:34:46] Yeah, and then what is this step that we hope will get them to a place of leadership?
[00:34:51] And and every single one of those could be multiple steps
[00:34:53] But that's that's how you build the pathway because some people are like you keep saying pathway
[00:34:57] Jason and I don't know what the heck you're talking about. So that's just it. How what are the steps we need to help?
[00:35:03] Bring people from one place to another your image of pathways just right and paving stones
[00:35:07] Just think of paving stones on a pathway. What goes on each one to move people down the pathway of faith
[00:35:13] And do whatever you think is best going to help you do that and I do think it is helpful to think about what the end goal is
[00:35:19] What's what's at the end of the pathway?
[00:35:22] Well on this side of eternity
[00:35:24] It doesn't ever quite end right that pathway goes on as we mature and grow
[00:35:28] But I think the goal is something like to present people mature in christ to help them grow into
[00:35:33] their their identity as uh as a christian and to mature in that faith and to now bear fruit in that faith and
[00:35:40] And become bearers of the mission alongside
[00:35:43] The leadership so I think there are things that we look to
[00:35:46] Sort of we go
[00:35:47] What is our ultimate kind of goal or hope for people our prayer for people?
[00:35:51] Is that that we would find mature followers of jesus who are having making a kingdom impact in our community
[00:35:57] Like that's that's what we want to move people toward and it's all these steps along the way to get us there
[00:36:02] And we're all on our own path you and I we're still walking on that path
[00:36:05] And some people would say well, I don't know if you're very far along the path Jason
[00:36:10] But we're all growing and developing and so what's the next step in your path or my path and helping other think in those terms too
[00:36:17] Yeah, so listen you're you're hoping to launch things this fall
[00:36:20] We kind of gave you just a few different targets to hit at I would suggest don't feel like you got to hit all these at once
[00:36:27] but
[00:36:28] Start I would say start with your calendar and just start planning making the plan for how you're going to spend your time
[00:36:33] Because you don't want to short change the people that matter most in your life as a result of
[00:36:37] Of doing the Lord's work. I don't think that's what the Lord wants
[00:36:41] um
[00:36:42] And then you know, maybe it's hey, let's think more about creating moments for people
[00:36:48] Or let's think we got to really nail down our pathway
[00:36:51] And think about that for the fall like maybe uh if we want to break it down say what does it go
[00:36:57] Like between now and christmas what pathway we're trying to create to invite people to take a step and then here's the last tip
[00:37:03] The last tip is this
[00:37:05] Hold your expectations loosely
[00:37:10] And to remember it's not just about numbers but impact
[00:37:15] Yeah, you may it may take a while for things to get traction. You may do things once and it feels like oh my gosh
[00:37:21] You know we had like hardly anybody. It's okay. It doesn't mean give up
[00:37:25] It just sometimes these things take a while to get going especially in church life
[00:37:30] Yeah, exactly right. I mean you were down in huntsville, alabama
[00:37:33] I mean they got all the rockets down there and all that you're talking about spacex and
[00:37:36] Launching and relaunching well every iteration there's learning and growing and getting better at it
[00:37:41] So that the next launch is more successful than the last one
[00:37:44] And there's sort of momentum that builds it in in any organization or anything that you're trying to do
[00:37:50] Effectively and so stick with it
[00:37:52] And you you know, I think we you talked about how when you started your small group ministry there at tower hill
[00:37:57] Just had a couple of groups and now it's you know, 60 percent of your people again remember
[00:38:01] But you know, you guys have done an awesome job of really establishing a strong small group ministry
[00:38:06] But it took years to do it didn't
[00:38:08] But you began to move in that direction
[00:38:11] And I think that's what you're saying hold your expectations loosely because when you start something worthwhile
[00:38:16] Sometimes the temptation is to give up on it too soon
[00:38:19] Instead of sticking with it and seeing the momentum and
[00:38:23] The impact grow over time
[00:38:25] So don't be discouraged if it's not like a grand slam the first time out of the gate
[00:38:30] It might set the foundation for some really good things going forward. Yeah
[00:38:34] All right. Well, hey, thanks everyone for listening and this was a little bit of a long one
[00:38:38] But I hope it's really helpful as you get in and and start
[00:38:43] Slugging away any last thoughts here jesse before we sign off this week
[00:38:47] Just such good reminders jason and coming back to that michael hyatt stuff
[00:38:51] I'm already i'm like my brain was split in two immediately when you brought that up
[00:38:54] I was like, I need to get that back out and
[00:38:57] Just a good reminder on some key key disciplines for us to be working on as we head into the fall
[00:39:02] All right, everyone. Thanks for listening ministry is hard. It is so much better when we do it together
[00:39:08] We'll see you next week