Speaker A [00:00:00]:
What's up, family? Welcome to another episode of the Church Systems podcast. Before we even jump in, let me tell you, I know what you're thinking. You see the title of this podcast and you're thinking, systems, church systems, they're too corporate. They're too corporate to help us grow, and they really just get in the way of what we're trying to do. Well, actually, I'm going to show you why church systems are actually a godsend and why they're not too corporate. They don't get in the way, but they actually come along to help you. My name is Henry Talbert. I'm the owner and founder of Simple Systems Consulting.
Speaker A [00:00:32]:
And this is the place where we give you the tools and the resources you need to build a healthy church. And when we talk about health, health is spiritual. Are the people growing more like Jesus? Health is numerical. Is the church growing and expanding its reach, depopulating hell so that heaven might be populated and then financial? Are we gathering more resources so we can serve more people and make a difference in our community? On today's episode, I'm going to be talking to you about how church systems absolutely transformed our church, and I'm going to show you how it can absolutely do the same thing for you. All right, so before we get into that, there are a couple of things we got to do. We got to debunk some myths, because there are some myths out there about church systems that you might be believing and you don't even know. You believe it. You believe these myths, you believe these lies.
Speaker A [00:01:19]:
Maybe because they've been told to you, maybe because you haven't seen it any differently, or maybe because you just don't know. Either way, I'm going to help debunk these myths for you. So let's start here. Number one, systems make churches impersonal. I've heard this before and I actually used to think this that, man, you get too corporate. You miss out on the organic, you miss out on what you need. And the truth of the matter is you can still do personal organic ministry within the context of healthy church systems. As a matter of fact, church systems can help make your church more organically impactful.
Speaker A [00:01:56]:
You think about Jesus when he feeds the 5000 with the two fish and five loaves of bread. What does he do in this organic miracle? Well, in this organic miracle, the first thing he does, one of the first things he does is put a system in place. He says to the disciples, have the people sit down in different groups. Right? Let's get them organized, because if they're running all over the place. It's going to be chaotic, and it's going to be a whole bunch of people walking up here talking about they didn't get anything. They're hungry, and they're frustrated. So you know what? Put everybody in groups. And once we get them in groups, then let's start to deliver.
Speaker A [00:02:30]:
And so the organic miracle takes off and it takes place, but it's done in a way that is still personal, that is still connected, and is still a part of what God wants to do, because there are systems. And so systems don't have to make your church impersonal. As a matter of fact, systems help you avoid missing people and avoid people falling through the cracks. Sometimes when we talk about organic, we talk about the good components of organic, which is stuff just happens, and there's no hierarchy and things of that nature. And here's the reality. When you don't put a system in place by design, then you go with whatever system gets created by default. And this is where favoritism, and this is where people can become invisible and they get overlooked because there is no system to make sure that everybody gets the same experience. And so that's myth number one, is that systems make the church impersonal.
Speaker A [00:03:21]:
They don't. They actually help you be more personal by making sure you know who you are responsible for and what you're accountable to. All right, number two, systems are too complex for small churches. This is another one I've heard, and it's also not true at all. Sometimes we think that when we hear systems, we think, big church, we think, man, get as many in as you can. Raise them up, get them out as fast as you can. That's not always the case, really. When we talk about a system, we're really saying what's going to be our way of getting a certain thing done.
Speaker A [00:03:51]:
For example, you need a benevolence system, right? Maybe you already have one. If somebody needs benevolence, what's the blueprint for that? Is it available to everybody? Is there a certain amount? Do I have to be a member of the church or can I be a member of a random community? I remember a couple of years ago as I was pastoring a church, I got a phone call from a lady from Tennessee saying she was just going through the phone book, calling churches. She needed some help with something. And for her it was like, hey, this is what we do. So you have to, in moments like that, you have to ask yourself, what's our system? And systems are not. These cookie cutter things. That's one size fit all. They actually change to fit your church.
Speaker A [00:04:28]:
And so the evangelism system for a church of 1000 may be different from the evangelism church for a church of 50. It may be very different. Some of the components may be the same, but you build it according to where you are, to your vision, to your size, to who you are. And so churches are. Systems don't have to be too complex. As a matter of fact, they can be simple systems. You like how I did that? All right, so systems don't have to be complex. They can be simple.
Speaker A [00:04:59]:
Here's myth number three. Relying on systems means less reliance on faith. I hear this, too, that, man, if I'm putting my faith in systems, I'm missing it, man. Only the Lord adds to a church. Only the Lord does this. Only Lord does that. And I get the heart behind it is that. The heart behind it is like, man, let's just stay organic.
Speaker A [00:05:18]:
Let's just do this. And the truth of the matter is this, is that if it was all about faith, there are some small churches that would be making mega impact right now. If it was all about faith. Some of the smallest churches that are struggling more than anybody else right now are led by some of the most faithful leaders you've ever seen in your life. And so it's not just faith, right? It has to be more than that. It is how we steward what God has given us. It is faithful stewardship. And that's not just money and resources.
Speaker A [00:05:51]:
It's people, it's ideas, it's creativity, it's vision. It's all of those different things. And so I don't rely less on my faith. I still lean very deeply into my faith. I still trust God. I still believe God. I still lean on him. I still know that he is the source of everything that I will ever do.
Speaker A [00:06:10]:
But what I am saying is, how do I help other people get involved in bringing this vision to pass? Here's what happens when you don't have systems, is that you become insulated, isolated, and a lot of what the church does can boil down to one or two people. And so you need to go beyond having a person, which is what most churches have. We have people. But really what you need is a system, because when you have people, when a person goes down, the ministry goes down. And so you need to build a system. You need systems that will help you move the needle forward, that will help you walk people from where you are to where you need to go. And here's the reality of all of this systems enhance our personal connections. They're scalable, meaning that they can grow with us, and they help us really continue to move forward in our faith by making sure that people can go forward again.
Speaker A [00:07:03]:
A discipleship system in your church means that you have a path, you have a plan for where people will go next and how people will take the next step as they continue to go forward in what God has called them to do. All right, so that's the first thing I had to do. We had to debunk those myths. We had to pull those myths down. But now that I pulled the myths down, let's talk about some real life examples. Because there are some people whose churches have been transformed by church systems, and because I want you to get this, I'm going to show you how to get started with systems in just a bit. But before I do that, I want to show you some real life transformation stories. Transformation story number one is Epiphany Church of Wilmington, Delaware.
Speaker A [00:07:45]:
My brother, Pastor Derek Parks, one of our longest standing members in our boot camp. Not just a part of our boot camp, but a friend of mine. We have really developed some serious relationship. And one of the things that we saw happen in their church just last year, they went from 15 to 85 in six months. And hear me, I am not exaggerating. I'm not adding or subtracting a single iota away from those numbers, because here's what happened. We spent some time with Pastor Derek, and I knew and his wife, Atiya, and I knew that they were called. I knew that they loved people, they cared about people.
Speaker A [00:08:22]:
I mean, they were down in the mud. They were meeting with people all the time. They were helping people. They were walking with people. They were serving in the community. We were doing all these different things. But Covid came and really decimated their church. Prior to that, they had grown up really strong.
Speaker A [00:08:36]:
They were on the right track. And Covid came, and it seemed to knock everything down. And I went to go and visit them in the spring of 2023. And when I went up to go and visit them in the spring of 2023, there were 15 people in their church. It was so much so, to the point where I literally prayed for every person and prayed and lay hands on every person in a church. And I prayed with them because I knew God wanted to do something special. But he had brought them down to a remnant, and that might be the same for you and your church, is that sometimes I believe God in his wisdom. He brings us down to a remnant so that he can bring us back up again.
Speaker A [00:09:13]:
And so we have been working with Pastor Derek, and they had really taken the systems and implemented so all the things were there. And now they were just waiting for a move of God to come and to breathe on what had happened. And in that meeting, when I was there in the spring of 2023, I set the challenge before them. I said, what could God do in 52 days? And within 52 days, people literally started showing up at their church. It was unexplained. One Sunday, 25 people got off a bus and came to church, and we still don't know where the bus was from, what was going, what was that? But they came. And listen, not only this, a worship leader walked in, a keyboard player walked in, a drummer walked in, a guitar player walked in. Everything that they had been praying for walked in.
Speaker A [00:10:02]:
And guess what? They had the systems to turn guests into new members, and they went from 15 to 85 in less than six months. Right now, they're actually doing two services now because God has continued to expand their services and expand their vision and expand their reach because church systems come along and they're scalable, but they're also personal, and they come along to support what we believe about our faith. Another testimony that I'll tell you and I could spend so much time here is Bible way of Sumter. Pastor Eric Rush of Sumter, South Carolina. Bible way. Pastor Rush joined our program a little over a year ago, in December of 2022. And in December of 2022, Pastor Rush joined the program. And he was a fairly new leader, had taken over kind of during the pandemic, and was really looking to move some things forward.
Speaker A [00:10:54]:
And when I talked to Pastor Rush, his mind was made up. He wanted to move forward. He was ready to take the next steps. And he said something to me that was very unique. He said, hey, he said, I'm letting you know I'm joining this program. I'm investing in this program, but I've told our church, if this doesn't work, I'm going to pay it back out of my own pocket. He said, because I needed us to make this investment, but I needed us all to believe in it. He said, so I believe in it.
Speaker A [00:11:16]:
I believe my churches will believe in it. And I said to him, I said, well, look, Pastor Rush, I'm telling you now, based on what I know about you, I said, if this doesn't work when you refund them, I'll refund you. I said, that's how much confidence I have in you and how much confidence I have in our program. And Pastor Rush started doing all the things that we were teaching, all the things that we were talking about. And last year, this church that was just right around 100, just under 100 people saw 25 new members join their church. Right. That's 25% of their congregation has now been added. And not only that, but it's couples, it's families.
Speaker A [00:11:49]:
They really had a focus on reaching men, and now they have greatly increased the number of men in their church. Their children's ministry is growing. Their youth ministry is growing, and it's all because they started to implement the systems. And Pastor Rush would tell you this, is that it's not just that the systems do the work, but it's the framework that systems build for you is because you have those frameworks in place. Your leaders are more energized, they're more motivated, because they're clear. Some of our leaders have fallen into a rut, and they've fallen through this space of just going through the motions simply because they're not clear on what they should be doing. It doesn't feel like what they're doing is working. It doesn't feel like it matters.
Speaker A [00:12:30]:
And they're not having enough conversations around what to do next. One of the simple systems that we help to implement for Bible way is your staff meeting template. We gave them a template for their staff meeting, and it completely revolutionized how their team comes to the table. Now, when they show up for staff meeting, everybody shows up knowing what they're supposed to bring to the table. Everybody shows up ready to engage. It's not just the pastor talking, but it's everybody showing up to do their part, and it makes a big difference. I was talking to Pastor Rush about this, and he reminded me of some things, and I'm going to share them with you. Some things that I'd actually shared with him kind of in a moment of reflection and things of that nature.
Speaker A [00:13:09]:
Here's what I want to share with you. Here's another thing, a side benefit of systems that sometimes we don't see. Systems change the mindset of the church. It helps you to see that stuff doesn't just happen, but somebody has to do it. As senior leaders, if you're a senior leader, you're listening to this. One of the reasons that you probably are overloaded and overwhelmed is because the mindset of the church and the mindset of your people is that pastors got it. That's their mindset. Their mindset is that you're going to take care of it, that you're going to do it, that you're going to get it done so they can just chill, they can just hang out because it's taken care of.
Speaker A [00:13:49]:
That's their mindset. Right. But then not only does it change your mindset, but church systems, they also change your methodology. They change your methodology. And so it shows you that not only is it not just the task of the pastor, but here's how we do it. Right. We don't promote people based on who we like. We promote people based on who comes through the process.
Speaker A [00:14:19]:
That's methodology. It's saying that here is how we do it. Many of your leaders know what they're called to do. Even you as a pastor, you know what you're called to do. What you're struggling with is how to do it. What you're struggling with is how to do it well. And church systems help solve that issue. The third thing is motivation.
Speaker A [00:14:38]:
Pastor Russ shared this with me. Pastor park shared this with countless other pastors in our program. Also shared this. Is that one of the things that church systems did, man, they added a new motivation to our church is that people were more motivated than ever. They were more motivated because that was clarity. Everybody was on the same page, and the morale of our team went through the roof. And when the morale of our team changed, everything else changes. I want you to know this.
Speaker A [00:15:02]:
What's in the core is in the fruit. And if the core is healthy, then the fruit can be healthy. And motivation is one of the byproducts, because now people know you're not wasting their time, you're not wasting their energy. Look, your leaders may not tell you, but one of the reasons that they miss a lot of meetings and they miss some Sundays is because they're just not motivated. They're not motivated. And church systems can help you solve that problem and can help you do that. All right? So check this out. If you want to start implementing church systems, you want to get on the path.
Speaker A [00:15:33]:
All right? I want to give you some building blocks. I'm going to help you do it. If you take what I'm about to give you, it's going to put you on the path so that you can start moving forward. So here are the building blocks of effective church systems. All right, number one, leadership and vision alignment. You've got to get really clear on what you're doing, and you got to get really clear on who you are. You've got to get really clear on what you're called to do, what you're good at, and what you're not good at. We just finished a four week cohort with some church leaders, with senior leaders, senior pastors, and one of the first things I walked them through was personal awareness.
Speaker A [00:16:08]:
It was called the Breakthrough leaders cohort. And you can find a link to that if you want to go through that class and watch the replays and take that course. You can find a link to that in the comments or in the description. But listen, you have got to know who you are because I'm telling you, your people might be more aware of your weaknesses than you are. And so if you could learn to be honest about your weaknesses and your strengths and focus on the areas where you are, you need to learn if you are a micromanager because that's what's going to keep you from reaching high achievers. You need to learn if you're two hands off because that's what's going to also keep you from getting people who are detail oriented workers right. You need to know who you are and you need to make sure that your leadership aligns with your vision. Don't tell me you have a vision to reach 25 new people and you don't have the leadership to lead the ten you already have.
Speaker A [00:17:07]:
Your leadership and your vision have to align. So that's one of the building blocks of systems. All right? No system can overcome this division or a break between leadership and vision alignment. And so you need to make sure that your vision and your leadership are aligned. Number two, you need to make sure that you have a plan to manage and engage volunteers. How do you treat the people who come alongside you and serve? Do you have a blueprint? And odly enough, that's one of the systems that you can build. But you need to think about how you engage with people. You need to think about whether or not you're willing to offload some things off your plate and allow other people to step into it.
Speaker A [00:17:48]:
And to do it, you need to think about that. You need to think about how you're going to handle them. Number three, you need to think about how do you keep up with people, right? Are you ready to keep up with people? Are you ready to follow up with people? These are some of the core things that you got to have in order for your systems to work well. And these are also systems that you need to install and that we can also help you install. But you need to think about what do you do with new members, right? If I ask you right now, what's your membership role? Do you have a database you can go to right. If I asked you what are your attendance trends for the last year, can you pull up a database and tell me the number of people who have been faithfully attending service for the last year? Can you tell me what your strongest weeks are, what your weakest months are? Can you tell me those things? How good are you at following up? If a person comes to visit today, will they hear from you this week so you can invite them to come back again? Right. You need to be thinking about that. That's a huge part of your systems as well.
Speaker A [00:18:42]:
And last but not least, financial stewardship and transparency. You need to be thinking about, are you making the best use of your resources? You know, I was speaking with Pastor Rush, and he shared this with me. He said one of the things that you guys helped us with most, he says, you helped us to see that we could do more with what we had. He said, we were looking at the glass as half empty. He says, and you saw it as half full. And you helped us to see that we could do more with what we have. And I'm telling you, for most churches, financially, you could do more with what you have. You could do more with what you have.
Speaker A [00:19:25]:
It's just figuring out how do you invest in the right things. I tell this story sometimes. I was working with this guy, this pastor, and I told him, I said, man, I believe in what you guys are doing. And I said, I believe in what we have. I said, I really can help you. I said, so what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you our program free for three months, all right? I said, and if you decide to keep it after three months, it's just going to be. At that time, our program was only 197 a month. I said, 197 a month? I'm going to give it to you free for three months.
Speaker A [00:19:54]:
If you don't want it, just cancel it. Well, in our program, I can go in the back of house, I can see how many times a person logs on. I can see all those kind of things. And I saw that he really hadn't used this stuff, although he had begged me for it before, told me how serious he was, all this kind of stuff like that. About a month into his trial, I get a phone call, hey, man, can you go ahead and cancel for it, man? I said, you got a month and a half left. He said, yeah, but I can't afford for it to charge me. Just go ahead, cancel. I don't want to forget about it.
Speaker A [00:20:22]:
Just go ahead, cancel it. I said, all right, cool. I canceled it. It. I went to go and look at his live stream about a week later with a congregation of less than 20 people. He had purchased an led wall. And I sat there and I just said, lord, like, we think that an led wall is more beneficial than discipling our people, developing our volunteers, increasing the giving in our church, and really having a bigger impact in our community. And a part of it is just, we've got to be convinced that we can do more with what we have, and we've got to be willing to do the right things financially, especially to help us move forward.
Speaker A [00:21:05]:
All right? So if you can do those four things, we can start building into something special. All right, so now here's what you want to do. Let's talk step by step implementation. You're just trying to get started right now. Of course, I can't give you the whole shebang. I can only give you so much. So I'm going to give you enough to really wet your appetite so that you can really see what it is. And then, of course, if you want to go further, we can help you do that.
Speaker A [00:21:28]:
All right, number one, here are some things that you can do on the front end if you want to get ready, if you want to apply to work with us, because we're moving to an application, so we're moving away from where just anybody can join our program. We're at the point now where we've worked with enough people, our program has been vetted. We know how strong it is. We know the difference we can make. And so now we're moving to an application where you can apply to work with us. And once you apply to work with us, we'll look at your church, we'll look at you, and then we'll say whether or not we really believe we can help you. Right? And we're not looking at your size. We're not looking at your budget.
Speaker A [00:22:01]:
We're really looking at your work ethic. We're looking at your ability, ability to follow through, and we're going to be looking at some of these things. Right? So one thing that you can do, if you want to start the process, you need to start assessing your current needs and gaps. What are the needs in your church? What are the areas where you're really struggling? And you know you're struggling, what are the areas that you see? Right? And you may say, man, we got new people joining the church, but we're not doing anything with them. You need to know that. You need to make a list of those needs and gaps, you need to start writing that down so that you know what you're up ends. Because I've learned that when you rightfully identify the problem, you can more easily identify the solution. When you rightfully identify the problem, you can more easily identify the solution.
Speaker A [00:22:42]:
And so I'm trying to help you to start identifying the solution, but you got to know what the problem is first. So where are the areas where you're struggling? Are you struggling with getting people involved? Are you struggling with leadership? Your leadership team? You haven't met with them in three months, six months. And when you do meet, you really don't know what to talk about. What are the areas where you're struggling? You need to know that maybe you've lost connection with the community. You haven't done an outreach project in so long, and then the ones you did do people not come in, and so you feel yourself losing influence in your community, and that's a gap that you really want to fill. You need to start identifying that. You need to identify and assess those things so that when help shows up, you know exactly where you want to go. And even beyond that, you know what to pray for, you know what to ask the Lord for.
Speaker A [00:23:28]:
But you need to identify, you need to assess your current needs and your gaps. The other thing you need to do is you need to set clear and achievable goals. Like, what do you really want to accomplish, right? Going from ten people to 1000 people in a year, that's not really good. But maybe you would say, hey, it's 25 of us here, it's 50 of us, it's 100 of us. Let's get 25 new people plugged into the church Easter weekend for the first time in a long time. Let's see if we can have a full house for Easter Sunday, right? Set achievable goals. Let's get a discipleship class in progress, right? Let's do vacation Bible school this summer so we can reconnect with our community and our kids. Whatever it is, set some clear and achievable goals.
Speaker A [00:24:17]:
Set goals that are crystal clear. You know what they are, but you know that you can also pursue them and you can actually go and get them. The third thing is you need to choose the right tools and resources. You need to make sure that you have the tools and the resources to help you do what you're trying to do. I'm telling you, tools and resources fast track the success of whatever you're trying to build. All right? If I wanted to get a message to somebody, I could get in my car and drive over to their house and go and tell them. Or I can use a tool and a resource like a phone or a text message or an email to get that thing out more efficiently and to make sure that it's done well. You can do the same thing.
Speaker A [00:25:00]:
Don't try to hand piece everything together when there are programs and tools and resources out there that have already built it for you. Right. Case in point is church hub. Our software. Our software. Church hub. We've already built a website template. We give you social media templates, we give you forms, we give you sign up, we give you online discipleship classes, we give you email templates, we give you text message templates, we give you all of these different things.
Speaker A [00:25:24]:
And so with us giving you all these different things, why recreate it? We've already created it for you. And the right tools and the right resources will help fast track where you're trying to go and make sure that what you're trying to build and what you're trying to do, you can do it effectively and efficiently. Here's another thing, and I'll go to my next .1 of the things that is slowing down your process is that you are asking people who are managers to be creators. I'm going to say it again, you're asking too many managers to be creatives. There are some people who are great. If you give them something, they can hold that thing down, they can maintain it, they can keep it where it is. But there are some things when you're first starting, you need creators, you need spiritual entrepreneurs, you need those people who are willing to go out into the deep, create something new for everybody else to follow. But 70% of the US population are maintainers.
Speaker A [00:26:18]:
They're maintainers. They're not people who are creatives. And so what you need to do, one of the things you can do to fast track it, is put those creators or maintainers rather, into a program or give them the resource that has already been created. So all they've got to do is execute. All right, number four, another thing that will really help you implement is you need to train and empower your leaders and volunteers. You need a schedule. Again, we just talked about this in our breakthrough leaders cohort. But you need a rhythm for how you meet with your leaders.
Speaker A [00:26:51]:
You need to consistently be connecting and meeting with your leaders so that you can take the next steps with them. You got to do that. You got to make sure that you're meeting with them, you're training them, you're developing them because they're a part of the lifeblood of the church. If you don't train and develop your leaders and empower them, right? So you got to train them, teach them what to do, empower them, let them go and do it. If you don't do those two things, then your progress is going to be stuck and you're going to be at a standstill. You're going to be way beneath where you could be. And the problem that I know you probably face is that you're a vivocational leader. You're working a full time job, you've got a family, you've got a million other things going on.
Speaker A [00:27:30]:
You just don't have time to add training to the list. And this is why going back to number three is tools and resources. There are programs like our programs that you could be a part of that will train your leaders for you so that you don't have to. But if you want to get started, you've got to train your leaders and you got to empower them. You got to let them go and do it. Are they going to get it perfect every time? No, but that's a part of what training is. Let them go and do it. They make a mistake, you correct it, and they get better going forward.
Speaker A [00:27:59]:
Most churches never develop a lot of great leaders because they won't let people make mistakes. I use this analogy with my kids all the time. One of the reasons that my five and six year old daughters can wake up on a Saturday morning, come in the kitchen and fix their own breakfast, pour their own cereal, is because I let them waste a lot of milk. I let them sit the bowl on the floor and stand over it with the big old heavy gallon of milk, trying to pour it. I let them make that mistake a bunch of times until they figured out how to handle it. And now they can pour milk without issue. But it's because I let them have a couple of spills. You've got to be willing to let your people have some spills so that they can actually move into what God has called them to do.
Speaker A [00:28:45]:
You can't be afraid of mistakes. Mistakes are how we grow. But if you have training in place, you don't have to fear mistakes. If you don't have training in place, you're going to always be afraid of mistakes because you have no mechanism to help people get better. So you got to train and empower your people. And then number five, you need to make sure that you're constantly monitoring, evaluating and adjusting. When you put systems in place. It's not just to set it and forget it.
Speaker A [00:29:11]:
And a lot of times they'll work and they'll roll. But you need to constantly be getting better. Why stop? Keep getting better, keep innovating. In the times we live in, if you stand still for but a moment, you're falling behind. You've got to keep innovating. You've got to keep on getting better, which means you just got to keep doing it. I remember years ago, Pastor Ed Young Jr. Said to me, he said, delegation without investigation is an abomination.
Speaker A [00:29:37]:
So anytime you delegate something to people, you need to constantly be monitoring it, evaluating it, and making adjustments to help it get better. All right, so if you could do these five things, you can start moving towards implementing some of the systems, just really getting aware of preparing yourself for what is to come. All right, so now let me tell you, what do systems do for your church? I'm going to tell you, because systems make an impact that maybe you're not thinking about. And this is how systems transformed our church. I never forget, as a church planter, when our church really started to grow. And in just a matter of years, we had gone from, at our smallest, we were about 25 people on a weekend at one point, right? And then eventually, we started to really grow. But as we started to grow, I started to notice that I couldn't keep up. People were in the church.
Speaker A [00:30:34]:
We needed more volunteers, but I didn't know the volunteers. They weren't trained. They weren't prepared. And so we had to put stuff in place to help them get prepared. And that's when we learned the power of systems. And when we learned the power of systems, what I discovered is that there were more gifts in our church than we knew of because we simply didn't have the mechanism to discover how gifted people were. Imagine for a moment if I told you that one of the people who visited your church in the last year was a high level CEO with an amazing skill set who could completely help transform your church, but you have no idea because you don't have the mechanisms to figure it out. And that was where I was.
Speaker A [00:31:15]:
I didn't have the mechanisms to figure it out, so I had to work through it, and so I had to start implementing systems, and they really had an impact on our church. So here are some of the things that those systems did for us. Number one, we saw increased visitor retention. When you don't have church systems in place, it's like fishing with a net, going out fishing with a net that has no net just has the base and the structure of it, but there's no net. People fall through and they just go right out the bottom. It's like a pocket with holes in it. Maybe that's a better analogy. And I'm sorry I keep scratching my nose.
Speaker A [00:31:48]:
If you're watching on YouTube, for some reason, when I start to get sinusy, my nose just itches, and it's just like right here on the tip. I don't know why. And so I just keep touching it. So you all bear with me. That's my little weird quirk. All right. But increased visitor retention systems help you make sure that people don't just fall through the cracks, but that instead you have a process in place to not only reach them, but to keep them. Another thing is enhanced member engagement.
Speaker A [00:32:17]:
There are people in your church who could add so much to your congregation, but you need systems in place. Here's one simple way. Evangelism. People don't invite when they don't think we're prepared for what they're inviting people to. When you're prepared as a leader, when you've got stuff in place and your membership knows that you're going to care well for their friends and family who are invited to the church, they invite more. And that's one of the benefits, is that you can get more people to engage in the work of evangelism, which we're all supposed to do when you start to do things in the right way. Another thing that comes from church systems is improved financial health. Every new person that you plug into the church represents roughly, on average, about $1,000 a year to the budget.
Speaker A [00:33:03]:
That means you can go out and help more people. You can go out and you can do a food pantry. You can go out. You can launch a school if you want to. You can launch a daycare, a learning center. You can go and do all these different things as people come to support the mission and the vision. But that vision needs to be organized for people to support it, but then also a stronger community presence. People in your community will know who you are.
Speaker A [00:33:27]:
They will know that you exist. They see you as a leader in that community. They see you as somebody who has a voice, who can make a difference. All those things happen when you put church systems in place. So here's. I want to close out here. I want to ask you this question. How could a systematic approach change the way your church grows? Right? Maybe your church is not growing because your strategy is just to pray and hope, or just to sit back and wait or as so many of the trolls on Facebook say to me, preach the gospel, and that's enough.
Speaker A [00:33:58]:
And it couldn't be further from the truth. It couldn't be further from the truth because people, our faith is not just about preaching. I don't know why we think that. I don't know why we think that. Preaching, is it preaching, yes. Helps us find salvation and it does those things. But people have to live real lives. After you finish preaching, they got to go be married.
Speaker A [00:34:20]:
After you finish preaching, they got to go figure out what they're doing with their lives. They got to figure out how to provide for their family. They got to figure out how to be mothers and fathers. They got to figure out all these, they got to figure out what are they going to do on this earth. They got to figure out where can I serve? How can I make a difference? Why did God create me? They've got to, they got to figure out all these different things. And the word of God has the answer. The word of God answers every single one of those questions. But after you answer the question, it's not just enough to be a travel agent and say, hey, here's the direction you need to be going.
Speaker A [00:34:51]:
You need to be a tour guide and say, here, grab me by the hand. Let's go together. So that's what I'm asking you. How could a systematic approach change the way your church grows? Here's a confession. Here was my strategy in the early days. I prayed for church growth and waited. I just prayed for church growth and I did what I could. In the meantime, I just prayed for church growth and I waited.
Speaker A [00:35:16]:
And then I realized even miracles have a system. Who knew? Even miracles have a system. Jesus at the wedding of Cana, I'm going to do this miracle. But look, those empty water jugs, go fill those. That's a system because in the law, it told them they needed to have these jugs for washing and these ceremonial washing jugs because they followed that basic law, that basic system. All of a sudden, on top of that natural, Jesus could come and put his super. He could put his super on a natural. Even miracles have systems.
Speaker A [00:35:55]:
Go wash. Go dip seven times in the pool. Go show yourself to the priest. Those are systems that were put in place to say, I'm going to use this to facilitate the miracle I want to do in your life. And so I want you to start thinking about how a systematic approach can change you. All right, listen, if you want to know more about being a part of our program, as I said, we're getting ready to move to this application where people are going to have to apply to be a part of our program. But right now, you can go, you can click a link and you can go and sign up. I want you to scan that QR code to learn more about the church systems boot camp, or you can click the link in the video description and you can learn more about setting up a time for us to chat to see if we can serve you.
Speaker A [00:36:38]:
Listen, I believe in you. I believe in your church. I believe in church systems. I believe that this is the Lord's doing. I say all the time that this is the modern day application of the apostolic call that I believe God has given me. I believe God has sent me as a sent one to go and to serve leaders like yourself. And I would love the opportunity to do that through our church systems boot camp. All right, listen, I hope this has been a blessing to you.
Speaker A [00:37:04]:
I hope you leave more encouraged. I hope you leave excited, and I hope you've got something to think about so that you can go sit down and think about all the things that we've shared today. All right, listen, until next time, keep the gears turning. Bye.
