The Time Has Come to do Some Soul Searchin'

OK, I promise I will post some more on the amazing Sam Shoemaker (see yesterday's blog), but I had an experience last night that I wanted to share. Being a child of the 60s and 70s made me an adult in the 80s (married in 1980; both children born that decade). I was introduced to the music of Glen Frey via the TV show Miami Vice. (Songs Like "You Belong to the City" and "Smuggler's Blues.") Last night I was checking email and piddlying with a project with www.GrooveShark.com on (you really should check it out). I called up the music of Glen Frey and listened to a song of his I'd never heard of before called Soul Searchin'. It's about a dating relationship, but it actually is a pretty neat expression of what "soul searching" is all about. Hey you be the judge:

The time is coming to do some soul searchin'
No more running, no more bridges burnin'
The time is comin' for you and me
To take a look inside, no matter what we see
Let's do some soul searchin', just you and me
Our lives are changin', this old world keeps turnin'
And I sit here wondering what we're really learnin'
I know you're just a woman, I'm just a man
Let's be true to each other, do the best we can
Let's do some soul searchin', soul searchin'
Some soul searchin', soul searchin'
Let's do some soul searchin', just you and me
There's a big train rollin', big train rollin'
I can hear it hummin', hear it hummin'
But the river is risin', river is risin'
And the rain keeps comin', rain keeps comin'

It's time to get onboard, before we're washed away
It's time to leave behind some things from yesterday
Let's do some soul searchin', soul searchin'
Little bit of soul searchin', soul searchin'
Let's do some soul searchin', just you and me
Come and talk to me
The time is comin', you know the time is comin'
To do some soul searchin', do some soul searchin'
No more runnin', they'll be no more runnin'
No more bridges burnin', no more bridges burnin'
It's time for every woman and every man
Build a new world together, workin' hand in hand
It's time to stop pretendin' that you're somebody else
You know you can't change this world, but you can change yourself
Let's do a little soul searchin', soul searchin'
Little bit of soul searchin', soul searchin'
Let's do some soul searchin', just you and me
We're gonna take a look inside, forget our foolish pride
It's time to search our soul yeah, search our souls
And make a good thing whole
Soul searchin', soul searchin', soul searchin'

What's Your Life About?

I encountered portions of this poem in my devotions recently, so I tracked down the full poem which I share here. My source can be found here. I'll dig up some info about the author and share it here in future blog posts.

I Stand By The Door

An Apologia for My Life - by Samuel Moor Shoemaker

I stand by the door.
I neither go too far in, nor stay too far out,
The door is the most important door in the world-
It is the door through which people walk when they find God.
There's no use my going way inside, and staying there,
When so many are still outside and they, as much as I,
Crave to know where the door is.
And all that so many ever find
Is only the wall where a door ought to be.
They creep along the wall like blind people,
With outstretched, groping hands.
Feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door,
Yet they never find it ...
So I stand by the door.

The most tremendous thing in the world
Is for people to find that door--the door to God.
The most important thing any person can do
Is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands,
And put it on the latch--the latch that only clicks
And opens to the person's own touch.
People die outside that door, as starving beggars die
On cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter—
Die for want of what is within their grasp.
They live, on the other side of it--live because they have not found it.
Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it,
And open it, and walk in, and find Him ...
So I stand by the door.

Go in, great saints, go all the way in--
Go way down into the cavernous cellars,
And way up into the spacious attics--
It is a vast roomy house, this house where God is.
Go into the deepest of hidden casements,
Of withdrawal, of silence, of sainthood.
Some must inhabit those inner rooms.
And know the depths and heights of God,
And call outside to the rest of us how wonderful it is.
Sometimes I take a deeper look in,
Sometimes venture in a little farther;
But my place seems closer to the opening ...
So I stand by the door.

There is another reason why I stand there.
Some people get part way in and become afraid
Lest God and the zeal of His house devour them
For God is so very great, and asks all of us.
And these people feel a cosmic claustrophobia,
And want to get out. "Let me out!" they cry,
And the people way inside only terrify, them more.
Somebody must be by the door to tell them that they are spoiled
For the old life, they have seen too much:
Once taste God, and nothing but God will do any more.
Somebody must be watching for the frightened
Who seek to sneak out just where they came in,
To tell them how much better it is inside.
The people too far in do not see how near these are
To leaving--preoccupied with the wonder of it all.
Somebody must watch for those who have entered the door,
But would like to run away. So for them, too,
I stand by the door.

I admire the people who go way in.
But I wish they would not forget how it was
Before they got in. Then they would be able to help
The people who have not, yet even found the door,
Or the people who want to run away again from God,
You can go in too deeply, and stay in too long,
And forget the people outside the door.
As for me, I shall take my old accustomed place,
Near enough to God to hear Him, and know He is there,
But not so far from people as not to hear them,
And remember they are there, too.
Where? Outside the door--
Thousands of them, millions of them.
But--more important for me--
One of them, two of them, ten of them,
Whose hands I am intended to put on the latch.
So I shall stand by the door and wait
For those who seek it.
"I had rather be a door-keeper ..."
So I stand by the door.

Health Problems Lead to Dale Salico Leaving the Helm at Transformation Ministries

This afternoon, the following email went out to supporters of Transformation Ministries:

January 27, 2010

Dear Pastor and Church Family,

Greetings in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ!

The Executive Committee of Transformation Ministries regretfully accepted the resignation of Dr. Dale V. Salico as Mission Lead. Dale’s continuing health issues over the past nine (9) months have compelled him to step down, effective February 28, 2010.

The Executive Committee affirmed Dr. Ross Chenot’s continuance in serving as Acting Mission Lead for the interim. A Search Committee is in the process of being formed, and I will be contacting nominees in the very near future.

The Committee directed the staff to move forward with the vision, mission and core values of our strategic plan, including the search and hiring of a Church Planting Lead.

One of our core values is God-dependent; we are a people of prayer, obedience, faith and risk. I encourage us to look forward to the future God is calling Transformation Ministries with hope and optimism.

Sincerely,

Neil E. Frey

President

Board of Directors

Transformation Ministries

The Big Day Report

The Big Day: a strategy for rapid church growth

Introduction

God wants His church to grow. As a matter of fact, it’s natural for the church to grow. After all, it’s the body of Christ, and bodies grow. Paul compares the church to a temple being built. That rises in growth as well.

But the reality is that churches encounter growth barriers. Some are external. A small population is an external growth barrier. So is a demographic shift, as we have in the San Gabriel Valley. A large population who are not conversant in English and who are culturally less inclined toward the Christian faith are external barriers.

There are also internal growth barriers. As challenging as external barriers may be, internal barriers are harder. The most basic internal growth barrier a church has is indifference to lost people. The second is a general spiritual coolness. Next is a focus on tradition and structure as opposed to a focus on the future and the lost. Rick Warren has often been quoted on this point: “A church can structure for control or for growth, but not both.”

The Big Day strategy is useless unless it challenges God’s people to come face to face with their own internal growth barriers. It won’t work unless you are bothered that the people next door are hell-bound. It won’t work unless you are passionate in your devotion to God, and that gets expressed in your prayer time and in the time you spend in God’s word and in God’s worship. It won’t work if we’re obsessed with forms and structures and procedures. It won’t work if we think that following Jesus is a matter of being nice. It’s not. It’s a matter of being obsessed with Him, and taking up your cross daily and following Him. It means blood, sweat and tears for the Kingdom of God. It means an obsession with a bloody cross and an empty tomb. It means that down to the soles of our feet we care that people are lost and hell-bound and are convinced that God has made us ambassadors for Christ, urging lost people to be reconciled to God. It means that we truly love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves.

A way to break growth barriers

So did you get that? This isn’t a gimmick; it’s a way of releasing a passion. If there’s no passion, the Big Day is a waste of time. If there’s no passion for Jesus and for lost people, do the community a favor and shut the doors of the church.

That having been said, what is a Big Day?

The Big Day is an all out push toward a single Sunday to break a growth barrier, reach new people and set an attendance record.

God is into “Big Days”! Day one of creation was a Big Day! So was the day of the crossing of the Red Sea, the birth of Jesus, the death of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus. Pentecost was the first Big Day of the church. And guess what? We’re looking forward to the second coming—now that’s a Big Day!

Natural Growth Level Barriers

Students of church life have observed that there are predictable numerical growth barriers that churches have to deal with to get beyond and reach the next level. The reason for these numerical growth barriers is complex and has to do with the natural cohesiveness of different group sizes as well as room size, available seating and available parking. Our church has been stuck bumping up against the 250 barrier for a few years. To compound the complexity, we have two worship services which each have their own growth barrier issues.

The following growth barriers have long been recognized: 65, 125, 250, 500, 750, and 1000. The 8 AM worship service has hung around 50 and the 10:30 at around 160 (the remainder are children). The good news is that the 10:30 service is well past the 125 barrier; the bad news is that the 8 AM is right at a growth barrier, and that together, both services are stuck just below the 250 barrier.

But there is more good news: we have the structures in place for a church nearly twice our size. One principle of growing churches is to structure for a ministry larger than they currently have. By this, I mean we have plenty of discipleship pathways and programmed next step opportunities and we have sufficient staff.

The short-term challenge is to enable the 8 AM worship service to get comfortably past the 65 level (to average at around 100) and to get the 10:30 worship to close in on 200 on a regular basis. That gets the whole church up around 300 and past the 250 barrier.

The purpose of a Big Day is to specifically target a growth barrier that ushers in a new period in the development of the church.

The objective is to see a 20-40% increase in one day, with the recognition that most of the newcomers, sadly, will not stick. But, praise God, some will. Let’s calculate out how this could work.

Let’s do a scenario for the first Big Day, February 14. Since it will be the first one, let’s try for a 20% increase that day:

8 AM: from 50 to 60

10:30 AM: from 160 to 192

Total: From 210 (adults) to 252 (adults) (include children and the total is around 275)

Of course, there will be significant attrition. Users of the Big Day Strategy say that adding 10% is a big success, but we probably need several runs to get to that level. So let’s assume that we retain just 5%. That represents about 15 new worshippers who stay from that day’s efforts: about 3 in the 8 AM and 12 in the 10:30 AM. It is likely that neither each individual service nor the entire church breaks clean through a barrier the first time out.

Our second Big Day push is the very best opportunity of the year: Easter Sunday. This time, let’s project that we do somewhat better, going from 20% to 25% increase that day.

8 AM: 53 to 66

10:30 AM: 172 to 215

Total: from 225 to 281 (include children and the total is around 310)

Again, assume attrition, but at a slightly better rate where we retain 7%. That represents about 20 new worshippers who stay—about 5 in the 8 AM and 15 in the 10:30 AM. That brings total worship to about 245 (excluding children; with them the total is about 270).

Now apply the same formula to the Fall Big Day, in October. Since October is not as “hot” as Easter, but it will be the third time in a year we’ve done it, let’s project a return at the same rate as Easter:

8 AM: 58 to 73

10:30 AM: 187 to 234

Total: from 245 to 307 (include children and the total is around 330).

This time, let’s project keeping a full 10% increase (we should be getting better at it by now). That’s about 25 people. That pushes total attendance to 270 (64 at 8 AM and 206 at 10:30 AM; include children and it’s right around 300). That gets the 8 AM right on the cusp of the 65 barrier, brings the whole church well over the 250 barrier and the 10:30 still has plenty of room before it another natural barrier.

Why do a Big Day?

• A Big Day is a tremendous act of unselfishness. It focuses on the community to reach lost people. Three Big Days will require a major, selfless effort all year long.
• It ticks off the devil! There is an old southern saying: “If you never meet the devil head-on, you may be traveling in the same direction.” Unfortunately, the Big Day has also had the effect of ticking off some church members who become distressed at the effort and the change needed to carry off the Big Days.
• It builds momentum in the church. I have to admit, by temperament, I’m an incrementalist—somebody who’s most comfortable boiling frogs than slaughtering sacred cows! The Big Day, when successful changes the formula in the church dramatically (think Pentecost!) It suddenly creates momentum and morale. As many organizations have discovered, there’s almost nothing as powerful as momentum when it’s swinging your way—and there’s nothing as terrifying as momentum when it’s running against you.
• It attracts attention. We’ll be using mailers and other outreach tools (see more on that below under promotion) to attract attention.
• It builds “buzz” in the community. You can’t beat buzz! That’s when people just start talking: “That’s a good church…something is happening there…they’re always doing something special.” Hey, I’m happy to say that when I go to community meetings like the Chamber of Commerce, I hear this kind of chatter now. It can only get better!
• It helps grow the people in our church. As somebody who’s always thinking discipleship, this one gets my attention. Outreach, done right, has a purifying and stretching effect on the persons involved. It means I gain new skills in sharing my faith, in inviting others, in prayer for others, in follow-up, and in incorporating newcomers. All of these are good for the already here!
• It increases the attendance and commitment of the marginal people in the church. This is a very important part of what a Big Day does. Have you ever said on an Easter, “I wish it could be like this all the time”? Sure. Now, did you notice that on Easter, most of the increased attendance isn’t from people who’ve never been there before—it’s from having everybody who ever attends there all at the same time? One of the central objectives of a Big Day is to transform marginal attenders into regular attenders, which of course boosts overall attendance and changes the lives of the marginally committed toward being deeply committed.

The Financial Investment

How much will it cost? I recently read a shocking figure: the average American church will spend $600 in ministry for each new member it gains. But think for a second. That’s not expensive; that’s an investment. Seriously—if we spend $600 for a new member who then gives just $12 per week, we get that back in a year. “It costs too much” can’t be considered a serious objection. Money is not the limiting factor—faith, ideas and effort is. I will factor in costs in the section below on promotion.

A step-by-step process

1. Decide to do a Big Day—that God wants us to do it

It will be high cost. It will test all of us. We need to make an informed decision and to count the cost.

2. Determine the dates to do the Big Day

Experience has shown that the three best days to do Big Days are Easter, early February (after the Super Bowl) and about a month after school starts.

3. Pick the sermon series for the big day

These are not focused on building believers so much as communicating “We believe that God has a solution for the issues in your life.”

For February, I have chosen the theme of “From Stress to Rest.”

For Easter, I have chosen the theme of “Easter Changes Everything” which gives us a pretty broad scope to choose from. But the idea communicated would be along the lines of, “The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to you to deal with the problem of…”

For Fall, I have not settled on theme yet; we may use a “campaign” that spurs personal growth along the lines of Forty Days of Purpose (a new campaign from Saddleback is “Life’s Healing Choices”, and I’m intrigued by that). Another concept I’m considering is “Revolution: How You Can Change the World.”

In each instance, we’ll start a series on a Big Day, and challenge the people there to be there for the whole series. This is also essential. Always start a compelling series on the Big Day as a means of making a case for returning—and developing a habit of worship attendance that wasn’t there before.

4. Develop a good Big Day plan

To do this right requires a lead-up of at least three months.

The four Ps of the Big Day Plan:

One: Prayer. A few days before the Big Day we should have a 24 hour of period of continuous prayer. I’m going to ask our leaders to pray and fast that day as well. (Some people should not fast due to health issues such as diabetes, and that’s understandable.)

Colossians 4:2-4 says,

²Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. ³And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. ⁴Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.

Prayer moves God, dispatches angels, scatters demons and heightens our own alertness.

Over a hundred years ago, Charles Spurgeon said, “The condition of the church may be accurately gauged by its prayer meetings. So is the pray meeting a grace-o-meter, and from it we may judge the amount of divine working among people. If God be near a church, it must pray. And if he be not there, one of the first tokens of his absence will be a slothfulness in prayer.”

Two: Promotion. Last Easter we sent out 14,000 Impact Cards via Outreach.com and saw a jump of first-time people for Easter. Three people have become regular attenders from that mailing. This year, let’s try newspaper cards for the Wednesday before Easter, and the Wednesdays before the two other. The advantage here is two-fold: cost and language.

The cost of the Easter mailing last year was over $3,400. The cost of having similar cards placed in newspapers covering a much larger area would be about $1,300; just under $1,000 for the cost of the cards (included printed back) and $300 (that’s 10,000 newspapers at $30 per thousand, which is the minimum placement for the Pasadena Star) for the cost of having them placed in the newspaper. This would cover every Pasadena Star delivered in Temple City, Arcadia, Bradbury, Monrovia, Sierra Madre, San Marino, El Monte, Rosemead and the eastern part of Alhambra. If we did this three times in 2010, that comes out to roughly $3,900, just $500 over the cost of last year’s big Easter mailer.

The problem with using direct mail in our area is the high portion of the population who don’t speak English as their first language, or who speak very little English at all. Using the newspaper gets around this problem. People who take the Pasadena Star are obviously conversant in English.

Also, any advertiser will tell you that consistent repetition is an important part of promotion. People rarely respond to an ad the first time they hear it. Doing newspaper inserts three times in eight months compounds the impact.

To encourage the marginal people of our own church, we should call the whole church directory the week before the Big Day to give everyone a special invitation and encouragement to be there. We should have each Sunday School and Growth Group teachers call the whole roster of the class or group the same week with the same invitation. We should have youth workers call not only students, but their parents that week as well.

Three: Personal evangelism. We would use all the tools in our arsenal: servant evangelism (like water bottle giveaways, free gift-wrapping, etc.) to promote the Big Days. We would also announce the Big Day well in advance and distribute My Connection Commitment Cards a few weeks before each Big Day and give people time to fill them out during worship.

It’s essential that pastors and board members take ownership in this and make a commitment to invite people in their oikos (network of relationships). No one in leadership can be exempt. When Jesus called His first disciples to follow Him, He told them that they would be fishers of men (Luke 5:10). Interesting—Jesus never called anyone to be keeper of the aquarium!

Evangelism is one of the stated values of our church. All our leaders need to live by the values we profess, or they should not be regarded as leaders. This pertains to all the pastors and staff, the board, teachers and others who are involved in leadership. As someone put it, “If you’re not fishing, then you’re not following!”

Four: Preservation. This is where the Connection Card and the first-time guest gift come in, as well as the whole connection (assimilation) system. To go into detail on all the things we do for connection goes beyond the scope this report. The key thing here is to brace for a higher volume than usual and to have plenty of materials on hand for guests.

5. Set a goal for the Big Day

We’ve discussed that above. What I didn’t say before is that we should go public with the attendance goal for the day so as to generate enthusiasm for the attendance goal to create focus and to give us a reason for celebration. Not only that, the attendance should be counted on the spot so we can tell the people that day (especially if we hit or surpass the goal!)

6. Preach on the Big day the week before the Big day

I plan to set aside the entire message two weeks before Easter for this very purpose. (I would do it the week before, but that’s when we do the Palm Sunday musical.) This is a day to cast vision. This is a day to focus of prayer for the spiritually needy. This is the day when we’d give out the Impact cards for people to use to invite others as well as the My Connection Commitment cards as a pray and invite reminder for themselves. This is a high challenge day. Everybody walks out knowing that a BIG DAY is coming. Then that week, we’ll follow up with people who made a commitment to invite (via their Next Step) by multiple means (letters, emails, etc.) The staff and the board would get their reminder as well.

7. Conduct the Big Day

OK, the main event comes. One thing to keep in mind: get ready for a satanic attack! The devil’s irritated, and this is the day the sound system won’t work, or the kids are sick and so on. That’s why you pray, pray, pray!

Also, this is a good day to offer snacks on the courtyard, to have parking directors in the lot and to have up additional parking signs to direct people to the two other lots we have available to us.

8. Follow-up on the Big Day

We’ll debrief the Big Day as a staff and report that to the board, asking for their insights as well. Then we’ll improve, and get moving on the next Big Day. And we’ll celebrate!

Topic Faith Story of the Year Missed by the Pros!

RNA.org has named the top religion stories of 2009. Of their top 23 (all they named), they managed to miss number one! The number one story? The Manhattan Declaration! Please have a look at their website, and sign the declaration--I did some weeks ago. If you're on Facebook, so is the Manhattan Declaration.

From their website, www.manhattandeclaration.org:

Washington, D.C., Press Conference Unveils 4,700-Word Statement Signed by Some 150 Orthodox, Catholic & Evangelical Leaders

WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 20, 2009—Today a group of prominent Christian clergy, ministry leaders and scholars released the Manhattan Declaration, which addresses the sanctity of life, traditional marriage and religious liberty. The 4,700-word declaration issues a clarion call to Christians to adhere to their convictions and informs civil authorities that the signers will not—under any circumstance—abandon their Christian consciences. Drafted by Dr. Robert George, Dr. Timothy George and Chuck Colson and signed by more than 150 Orthodox, Catholic and evangelical Christian leaders, the Manhattan Declaration was made public at a noon ET press conference held in the Lisagor Room at the National Press Club.

Among the signers of the Manhattan Declaration at the press conference:

• Joel Belz, Founder, World Magazine
• Chuck Colson, Founder, The Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview
• Jim Daly, President and CEO, Focus on the Family
• Marjorie Dannenfelser, President, Susan B. Anthony List
• Fr. Chad Hatfield, Chancellor, CEO and Archpriest, St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary
• Robert George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University
• Timothy George, Professor, Beeson Divinity School at Samford University
• Harry Jackson Jr., Bishop, Hope Christian Church
• Fr. Francis Martin, Professor of Sacred Scripture, Sacred Heart Major Seminary
• Fr. Martyn Minns, Missionary Bishop, Convocation of Anglicans of North America
• Rev. Neftali "Charles" Olmeda, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference
• Tony Perkins, President, Family Research Council
• Fred Potter, Executive Director and CEO, Christian Legal Society
• Justin Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia, Diocese of Philadelphia
• Alan Sears, President, CEO, and General Counsel, Alliance Defense Fund
• Ron Sider, Professor, Palmer Theological Seminary and Director of the seminary’s Sider Center on Ministry & Public Policy
• Fr. Robert Sirico, Founder, Acton Institute
• George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center and Founding President of the James Madison Foundation
• Donald William Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, Diocese of Washington, D.C.

Excerpts from the declaration include:

“We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to affirm our right—and, more importantly, to embrace our obligation—to speak and act in defense of these truths. We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence.”

“We recognize the duty to comply with laws whether we happen to like them or not, unless the laws are gravely unjust or require those subject to them to do something unjust or otherwise immoral.”

“…We will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriage or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family.”

This Christmas (and next) do something!

While I figure out how the MP3 player I got for Christmas works, I checked my email and was led to this video. Miles McPherson is a great guy, very real and very approachable (I saw him the day after Prop 8 was passed and gave him my congratulations--Miles was a real help in that arena.)

Enjoy.

Our 2010 Strategic Plan

OK, I know it's been a while since my last post. Below is one reason for that--the 2010 strategic plan for FBC Temple City. It's like goals on steroids. Later, I will post a report on the Big Day Strategy mentioned in the plan.

2010 Strategic Plan—First Baptist Church, Temple City

December 9, 2009

Vision

We want to be a Christian church in which the greatness of Jesus Christ can be experienced and entered into by people from all nations (through faith in the bodily resurrected Jesus Christ) and which will continue to impact and transform the San Gabriel Valley by deeds of love done in His name and for His glory.

Purpose

· To spread the Good News that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and to make faithful disciples from people of all nations, according to the Word of God (Matthew 1:21; 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 2:11)

· To demonstrate the reality of God's love for our neighbors through service to the community (Mark 12:30-31, Luke 10:29-37; Mark 10:42-45; I John 3:16-18)

· To glorify God by preparing believers for personal growth and purposeful action (Mark 1:16-18, John 15:8; Eph 4:11-16)

Values

Worshipping God: We were made to love God with all our hearts. We believe that worship is both the celebration of the love of God as well as surrender to the will of God.

The Family of God: We were made to experience being the family of God. We believe that fellowship means time together, study together and service together. We believe that this best happens in the context of a small group. We believe that we are called to be an English-speaking church that warmly welcomes and enfolds people from all nations and languages.

Growth in Jesus Christ: We were made to continue to grow as followers of Jesus Christ. We believe that spiritual growth is a lifelong process. This means obedience to Jesus Christ's commands, regular study of God's Word, living a life of prayer and serving one another in love.

Impact on the Community: We were made to change the world by making disciples from all nations. We believe that there is no one thing more important than sharing the greatness of Jesus Christ to all persons, locally and globally.

THE WORSHIP PLANNING SYSTEM: “How we plan, execute and evaluate the worship services.”

2010 OVERALL GOAL: Our goal is to increase the number of worship support workers (those helping with sound and projection) by 100% and to improve the physical set-up for worship.

MAJOR OBJECTIVES:

1. Train a minimum of 6 people to assist with sound and projection

2. Alter the platform for more flexible usage for worship.

3. Improve stage lighting

4. Improve the projection to allow people on the platform to easily see what is being projected.

GOALS:

1. Hold a minimum of three training opportunities for sound and projection

2. Make stage and lighting alterations

a. make an alteration plan, including a budget

b. determine cost and if needed, raise funding

c. make alterations by September 1, 2010

3. Assure stage projection improvement

a. explore available options

b. make an alteration plan, including a budget

c. determine cost and if needed, raise funding

d. make alterations by September 1, 2010

THE EVANGELISM SYSTEM: “How we attract people to our church”

2010 OVERALL GOAL: Our goal is to touch the lives of 16,000 people living the Temple City area with God’s love through the people of FBC.

MAJOR OBJECTIVES:

1. To touch 2,000 people through the Camellia Festival

2. To touch 10,000 people through three newspaper insertions

3. To touch 1,000 people through personal invitation (mostly in conjunction with Big Days)

4. To touch 3,000 people through the website.

GOALS:

1. Train at least 75% of adults in evangelism and world missions involvement.

a. Through Sunday message teaching throughout the year

b. Church wide small group campaign

c. On the job training at outreach events

d. Send a missions team to Taiwan in Summer, 2010

2. Engage 50% of small group participants in evangelism and/or outreach events

a. By Sunday morning teaching

b. By small group teaching

c. By making outreach an expectation in small groups via training of leaders

3. Offer at least three special classes or seminars on personal evangelism

a. Offer 401 at least twice

b. Offer a seminar or small group devoted to personal evangelism

4. Promote our website via Constant Contact emails and through Google Adwords advertising

5. Have three “Big Days” in 2010 for the purpose of breaking growth barriers: Feb. 14, April 4 (Easter) and October 10.

THE CONNECTION SYSTEM: “How we move people from first time guests to members at our church”

2010 OVERALL GOAL: To increase the proportion of first time guests who return and stay long-term.

MAJOR OBJECTIVES:

1. Improve the First Impressions ministry

a. Have regular training for FI workers (three to four times a year)

b. Have a working schedule for FI workers

c. Have a FI worker in the back courtyard between services

2. Establish the First Response ministry

a. Train FR workers (once or twice a year)

b. Have a working schedule for FR workers

3. Improve “neutral spaces” (interactive areas)

a. Strategically place round tables and benches to encourage discussion and interaction after worship services by Easter

b. Modernize appearance and atmosphere in restrooms by Easter

4. Improve the atmosphere in the lobby by Easter

a. Better lighting

b. More colorful pictures

THE SMALL GROUP SYSTEM: “How we fill and reproduce small groups at our church.”

2010 OVERALL GOAL: Increase the number of discipleship groups (both Sunday School classes and Growth Groups) by 50% over 2009’s average. (This includes youth and children’s ministry.)

MAJOR OBJECTIVES:

1. Establish a baseline for 2009 to compare numerical increase in groups

2. Have at least 3 training experiences annually for teachers of classes and groups

3. Evaluate space for classes on campus

4. Recruit new leaders for groups

GOALS:

1. Keep working the “activate” system in growing our groups

a. Follow the focus/form/fill/facilitate formula

b. Publicize classes and groups three times a year (also known as “fill” months)

c. Strategize group numbers based on attendance need

2. Make our groups the primary source of new leaders

a. Use the “big ask” strategy

b. Have leader identify potential new leaders

3. Make our groups the primary agents of outreach

a. Make outreach once per “term” mandatory for groups

b. Work with leaders to make outreach part of group culture

4. Make our groups the primary centers of ministry

a. Use the “big ask” strategy

b. Work with leaders to identify currently under-involved people

THE MINISTRY SYSTEM: “How we mobilize people for significant ministry at our church.”

2010 OVERALL GOAL: We want to see new leaders for classes and growth groups, new participants in First Impressions ministry and other areas of ministry

MAJOR OBJECTIVES:

1. Identify, recruit and train group leaders (see more under small groups)

2. Identify, recruit and train First Impressions participants (see more under connection)

GOALS:

1. Follow the training plan for small groups (see more under small groups)

2. Train FI workers through classes and seminars (see more under connection)

THE STEWARDSHIP SYSTEM: “How we develop extravagant givers at our church.”

2010 OVERALL GOAL: To increase giving by 5% over 2009 levels.

MAJOR OBJECTIVES:

1. Review all elements of stewardship system

2. Get online giving going

3. Increase debit giving to 20 giving units in 2010

4. Teach on giving via the pulpit and classes for a total of no less than 6 sessions

GOALS:

1. Do a monthly short form, and annual long for stewardship review

2. Investigate online giving alternatives by March 1

a. Online research

b. Check with at least three churches using online giving

3. Have a debit/automated giving push in late spring (after Easter)

THE LEADERSHIP SYSTEM: “How we develop leaders at all levels at our church.”

2010 OVERALL GOAL

MAJOR OBJECTIVES:

1. Enlist new leaders for First Impressions ministry

(See details under assimilation)

2. Enlist new leaders for Growth Groups

(See details under small groups)

3 Engage training for Board members

a. Special training at annual retreat

b. At least four in-service training components as part of Board meetings

c. Encourage board members to attend offsite events such as TransMin conferences

2. Have Town Hall conversations with congregation three times a year

a. January: on annual strategy

b. May: summer events and strategy

c. September: fall events and strategy

THE STRATEGY SYSTEM: “How we constantly evaluate and improve our church”

2010 OVERALL GOAL:

MAJOR OBJECTIVES:

1. Review each system as part of annual strategy/goal setting

2. Review each system on an annual rotation of systems for examination

3. Additional training in strategic planning for Lead Pastor

GOALS:

1. Annual strategic planning beginning September 1 to be complete by November 1

2. Set systems review calendar

January	Implementation of yearly strategy and goals
February	Leadership
March	Small Groups
April	Evangelism
May	Worship
June	World Missions (not one of the 8 systems, but reviewed well in advance of WMO)
July	None
August	None
September	Ministry, Strategy
October	Stewardship, Strategy
November	Evangelism, Strategy
December	Strategy

3. Lead pastor to engage in additional training and study on strategic planning each year