MIM Ezine, November 17, 2007

-- "Purpose-Filled Ministry: Attracting, Retaining, & Returning Part III: Retaining People for the Long Haul," Part 3 of 3, by Teena M. Stewart

-- "Broken Stained Glass Windows: Personal Change, Part 4" by David Chivington.

-- Book Review: "Leveraging Your Leadership Style: Maximize Your Influence by Discovering the Leader Within,"

Visit our bookstore page and compare prices at three different Christian online bookstores.

You have managed to get people in the church doors, but how do you move them from visitor status to becoming connected members who stay for the long term?

One of your key tools is the visitor form you provided them in your printed bulletin which I talked about briefly in my last column. Now is the time to utilize that information. The form should indicate whether they are first-, second-, or third-time visitors, what type of information they are looking, and whether they wish to be placed on your mailing list. They should also indicate whether they are interested in growing spiritually, as well as their interest in the youth group or children’s ministry, or perhaps others offered by your church.

First-time Visitors: First-time visitors should be handled differently than those attending for the second or third time. Make phone calls to the visitor to welcome them, tell them more about your church and its ministries, and offer to answer any questions. Also send out a welcome letter addressed to the visitor and signed by the senior pastor. Include a pre-stamped feedback card they can complete and return to give you feedback on your church.

Second- or Third-time Visitors and More: These visitors have returned more than once which may indicate a serious interest in your church. They most likely want to know more about your church and may already want to connect. Your Visitor’s form should indicate an option to join the mailing list and request more info on small groups, baptism, or new member’s classes, etc. Be sure to enter their info into your database and pass on the information to key ministry leaders who can contact them to invite them to the indicated ministry areas of interest.

With each contact, be sure to emphasize Bible study/small group ministry opportunities because these groups are crucial for helping people to become a part of the church family. Most people who join small groups stay for the long term.

Other ways to connect them: Though visitors may not be ready to volunteer at your church yet, some may be already thinking about it. You do not want to discourage them by approaching them too soon. However, it is often through simple volunteer opportunities that people start to feel connected.

In your conversations with them, be sure to mention that your church has ample volunteer opportunities. Let them know that any time they are interested in learning more about them, someone in the church office will be glad to discuss them with them.

Be sure your key staff and ministry leaders are prepared to look for ways to utilize newcomers too. They should not assume that because they are new they will not help out. People who volunteer are more likely to become more active in the church because, as with small groups, they bond with people and feel valued. It gives them a sense of belonging.

This article wouldn’t be complete without addressing the issue of people who are Missing in Action (MIA). Some people come for a while and then drop off the radar scene, which can happen for a variety of reasons. Sometimes life gets in the way. Other times, unfortunately, something has happened at church that has hurt or upset them. There is no fast and simple way to prevent MIAs, but there are some things you can do to decrease the numbers that you might have.

Educate your key leaders and small group members and leaders regarding MIAs and urge them to notice when someone they know has not been seen in a while. Ask them to be responsible for giving that someone a call if they have not seen them recently.

I know one volunteer who told me that she had served in a leadership position at a church and had stopped attending for six months. It was not until someone called her to tell her she had been nominated for a board leadership position that they became aware that she was an MIA. How embarrassing for the church.

People get involved and stay longer when they feel they matter to the organization. If they feel disconnected, they will fade away. Let’s do our best to help people see where and how they can be valuable. We can help them plug in so they become mature and dedicated Christ followers.

Do you or your church have other ways to track the retention of church members? We’d love to hear your suggestions. Please email Teena at smartwords@sbcglobal.net. We’ll share them with our readers.

Teena Stewart is a published writer, a ministry consultant and coach, and a product developer for DreamBuilders Ministry in Motion. Her new book Successful Small Groups from Concept to Practice (Beacon Hill) will be available in November, 2007. To learn more about Teena, her writing, coaching and consulting services, click here.Email Teena at smartwords@sbcglobal.net

Two months ago I introduced the concept of the broken stained glass window theory based on the writings of Rudoph Guiliani and Michael Levine. (Check out www.ministryinmotion.net/MIM_July_4_2007.html) The broken window theory is so named because in the beginning it was about how fixing broken windows can be used to reduce crime. The theory holds that apparently trivial things like broken windows in abandoned buildings directly leads to serious deterioration of neighborhoods. Someone who wouldn’t normally throw a rock at an intact building is more easily tempted to break a second window in a building that already has one broken window.

Let me use my last entry to focus on how the broken window theory helps us make personal change. John Trent (The 2 Degree Difference: A Story of How Changing Little Things Changes Everything, B&H Publishing Group, 2006) gives a picture of the people who are likely to take this process seriously. “They’ve prayed and planned; they’ve read books and gone to seminars; they’ve attended every focus group at work and small-group meeting at their church; they have faithfully filled out every handout they were given, and still they feel like their lives are stuck at the starting line.” (119)

Many people become discouraged and defeated when they try to make personal changes. Think of the many broken New Year’s resolutions. All the energy, clarity, emotion, and conviction at the start never seems to translate into real change. The reason for this is that people do not see success quickly enough. That’s the power of making small changes. By encouraging us to think in terms of small changes we are able to become more successful. Trent notes that by encouraging small steps, reaching goals is self-reinforcing until visible, tangible changes become obvious,

Trent uses a story format to help us see the importance of focusing on small changes. One account he relates is about a soldier in Iraq whose lieutenant closes each of his debriefing meetings by booming out, “One inch!”

The soldier writes his dad this explanation. “You see, on some days, it’s hard to figure out if we’re making any progress over here. He, the lieutenant, drills in us that our job is just to move things forward for the Iraqi people one inch at a time-and that we’re one inch closer to going home.” (p. 28)

Trent also uses the example of the writer Anne Lamott. In her book entitled Bird by Bird, she tries to help students who are writing, but have gotten stuck.

I go back to trying to breathe, slowly and calmly, and I finally notice the one-inch picture frame that I put on my desk to remind me of short assignments. It reminds me that all I have to do is to write down as much as I can see through a one- inch picture frame. That is all I have to bite off for the time being. All I am going to do right now, for example, is write that one paragraph that sets the story in my hometown, in the late fifties, when the trains were running. I am going to paint a picture of it, in words, on my processor.

The author doesn’t try to write a whole book at one sitting. She writes just enough words to fill in a “one-inch picture frame.” The book is a composite of many small pictures. Big projects are done by doing small things like fixing broken windows, or focusing on moving it one inch, or by writing one paragraph at a time. This is also the point in making 2-degree changes with the steering wheel.

When one drives down the interstate, one is constantly making 2-degree changes. Make greater adjustments and one changes lanes. Stop making 2- degree changes and one will eventually be in huge trouble. Trent comments that one has to keep making 2-degree changes consistently if one wants to stay between the lines.

The idea of righteousness is the act of keeping our lives on the right path, between the lines, by making 2-degree changes consistently.

Jesus rewarded the “good servant” who was faithful in a “few things,” reminding us that good servants do the small things well. Is it possible that in the Kingdom of God, the “great ones” are most faithful in making the small changes? The value of Trent’s book for me is in the challenge to stop overreaching in my visions and goals. I will be most effective if instead I see myself taking small steps of change. So now I try to eat salads once every day, but not every meal. I try to walk at least 20 minutes most days. On most days, I try to set aside 30 minutes to help clean the house, not every day and not the whole house. I try to sit and read a little every day, not a whole book but a few pages each night. And I am different because I have made 2-degree changes in my life.

My ministry is also different. I am not as focused on big changes as O am on small changes. I see things more in terms of process. Fixing broken stained glass windows is more important to me now. I pack less work in my day and am more satisfied, if I have moved the Kingdom one more inch. I laugh more. I play more and yet, it seems that I accomplish more. I am discovering that small changes in one area of my life actually changes things in other areas of my life.

For those who wish to use The 2-degree Difference book, Trent adds many pages of small group discussion questions or questions for private work as a journal in the back of the book. This adds to the readers experience because it moves the book from a theory to a process that will bring about significant results to the reader’s personal, spiritual, and family life.

Rev. Dr. David Chivington, District Superintendent Assistant for the United Methodist Church in West Ohio. "Chiv" holds degrees from Taylor University, United Theological Seminary (Dayton), and Perkins School of Theology (SMU). He and his wife, Roxie, have four children and four grandchildren.

It’s that time of year again when it has become necessary for me to switch from shorts to pants, and I couldn’t be happier. I had almost forgotten the comfort, warmth, and security that wearing pants provides. It’s just like getting a hug of sunshine, but without the searing heat and life-threatening melanoma.

The reason I’m writing about pants, though, is to address the looming danger concerning them. In view of current global hostilities, I feel it is only a matter of time before some nut somewhere learns how to make a bomb out of pants, and then the TSA agents out at the airport start asking us to place our pants on the conveyor belt to be screened.

This is exactly how the revolution will begin, because under no circumstance will I willingly surrender my pants. It might get ugly. They might beat me. They might drag me off to jail, but, by jingo, I’ll have my pants on.

My friends, we must not let them take our pants. Our civilization depends on it. Without pants, our society comes crashing down.

Just look at what happened to Rome. You may well argue that the Romans created a successful empire wearing togas (which, in the original language translates literally as “man-skirts”), but if that form of apparel was so great, why didn’t their civilization last?

The answer is obvious. No pants. That’s right. They went prancing around in their togas for years, and their enemies didn’t take them seriously anymore. If you don’t believe me, put on a dress, pick a fight with someone, and see what happens.

Even after the fall of Rome, and possibly well into the winter of Rome, their enemies were still snickering at them.

No one can deny their smart fashion sense and style, but at the end of the day, they are still wearing skirts.

Yes, admittedly they have done well in a few battles in the distant past, but they’re not exactly considered a major world power anymore, are they? It wasn’t the Scottish that pulled Europe out of that mess back in WWII was it?

No sir. That’s why the phrase “Don’t worry, the Scottish will defend us” has never gained popularity.

But it’s not really the Scots’ fault that they lost the struggle for world dominance. It’s hard to concentrate on fighting when you’re worried that your dress might fly up at any minute.

Excerpt from Sun Tzu’s Art of War: “All other factors being equal, the side wearing pants will always win the battle.”

So, yes, I love pants. I maintain that pants are the ultimate clothing item, the pinnacle of perfection in apparel. If mankind had not been in the habit of going au naturel at the time, I believe that God would have created pants on the eighth day and then maybe thrown in chocolate, too, as a bonus.

Have you ever stopped to reflect on the wonder that is pants? I’m getting so emotional about this subject, I’m moved to render a poem.

Yes, I am passionate about pants, but what’s wrong with having a little passion in your life? I get excited when I encounter things that work for me and I want to let the world know about them.

That’s the way I feel about the good things God has done in my life. When I think of all the miracles God has done and the ways he has blessed me, it’s hard not to get excited, and sometimes, if I’m not real careful, it leaks out a tad.

I think that this might not be an altogether unhealthy process since it has a tendency to encourage others and let them know that God is still active on this planet. One of the central themes of the Bible is that God is very much interested in mankind and is still very relevant in our world.

That thought encourages me and gives me hope because I know that in whatever circumstance I may find myself, God will be there—even if, heaven forbid, I find myself out at the airport, waiting for my pants to come down the conveyor belt out of the X-ray machine.

Ministry in Motion has launched a new blog for readers just like you at http://ministryinmotionnet.blogspot.com/. It is a place to ask questions, exchange ideas, and encourage other ministry leaders in our growing network.

This month Tom Hanover will check the blog posts regularly to respond to questions and share ideas on strategic leadership. Stop by and let us know how ministry is going for you!

Leveraging Your Leadership Style: Maximize Your Influence by Discovering the Leader Within,

by John Jackson and Lorraine Bosse-Smith (2007, Abingdon Press, ISBN-13:978-0-687-64516-9, 112 pages)

What is your preferred leadership style and how do you use it to provide effective leadership? Bosse-Smith and Jackson have developed a useful profile and description to equip leaders to answer those questions and more.

John Jackson is the founding and Senior Pastor of Carson Valley Christian Center in Minden, Nevada, and the President of VisionQuest Ministries. He has also worked as an associate trainer with John Maxwell and is the author of several books. Lorraine Bosse-Smith is President of Concept One, Inc., a corporate training and consulting firm as well as The Total You, a wellness and fitness center. She has many years of experience in corporate America and is the author of several books.

Bosse-Smith and Jackson compile their leadership experience in this quick read booklet to highlight some key principles that will benefit every ministry leader. While the idea of leader profiles is not new, their profile (included in the book) will give the ministry leader some vocabulary for understanding and describing various styles of leadership.

There is no one style of effective leadership. Their examples and illustrations help the reader to grasp that different styles of leadership have wonderful advantages and important limitations. Learning to work from and communicate with diverse leadership styles enhances the success of a leader.

The BIT (Behavior Individuality Traits) questionnaire sets up the reader to explore the various dynamics of relating to various dimensions of an individual’s leadership style. The following chapters not only describe each trait in deeper detail, but also identify effective means for communication and relationship building. This is how the authors teach the reader to leverage their unique distinctiveness into effectiveness.

This is an easy-to-read book written in common everyday language. While it is brief, I still burned through several yellow highlighters marking key concepts. At times, it can sound like a series of clichés strung together. However, they do work to illustrate the deeper discoveries behind those sound bytes that illumine truth for the leader.

If you’d like to examine your leadership style from fresh eyes, check out this newly published book.

Attention: Churches, Small Groups & Non-profits. Are You Paying Too Much for Books & Resources?

If you or your organization normally orders multiple copies of books and Christian resources you can save money by applying for a special discount coupon via DreamBuilders Ministry in Motion's online bookstore. The coupon is absolutely free with no strings attached. Email Teena Stewart atsmartwords@sbcglobal to apply for this discount coupon.

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DBMIM -November 17, 2007