Henry Tolbert [00:00:00]:
What's up? What's up, good family, and welcome to yet another episode of the Church System podcast. Listen, I know that y'all were blessed by that last episode as we just kind of introduced. Right? We didn't just throw the whole thing at you, but we just introduced the church funnel to you to let you see it, to kind of wet your appetite a little bit. And now we're getting ready to take this thing to a whole nother level because this week we're going to go beyond understanding what the church funnel is. And I'm going to take you how to show you how to develop people. That's right. How you develop people at every level of the church funnel. Listen, if I haven't met you yet, my name is Henry.
Henry Tolbert [00:00:41]:
I'm the owner and founder of Simple Systems Consulting. Now, I don't usually sound like this, but I got something weird going on with my voice and my throat, and so I kind of sound a little bit know. I don't know. I think I sound like Batman, but it is what it. Right. But listen, we, in our last episode, we started talking about the church funnel, which is our blueprint for how we move people in the church. It's built on these six groups of people that Jesus encountered in his earthly ministry, the 5000, the 500, the 72, the twelve, the three, and the one. And we have now taken that and turned it into a blueprint into a framework, if you would, that we can use to identify properly the people who are in our church so that we might serve them better, so that we might develop them better, and ultimately so that we might know how to help them take next steps.
Henry Tolbert [00:01:27]:
Well, that was our last episode. If you want to know more about that, go back and watch that episode from the crowd to the core. But this week, we're talking about from the masses to the mission, we're going to talk about how you develop people, whether they are people who are in the mass crowds all around your community, or they're people who are in your church and committed and locked in wherever you find them. I'm going to show you how to help them take the next step. Right. So look, here's a quick reminder. The church funnel, we talked about these six levels and these six groups of people that you encounter in your earthly ministry. Provision, practice, position, practice, partnership, privilege, and passion.
Henry Tolbert [00:02:07]:
These are words that we use to describe people at every level. 5000 is a level where people are connected because of provision. This is the community. This is your outreach project. When people show up to a backpack giveaway, they don't show up because they're looking for a church. They show up because they need a backpack. All right, we talked about that position. People who show up to church on Sunday practice your volunteers partnership, those high capacity leaders who go above and beyond privilege, those in the inner circle, many times staff in a church, and then passion, those in the inner core, the senior leader and beyond.
Henry Tolbert [00:02:42]:
All right, so let's keep going. We're going to take a step because now, as we understand what the church funnel is, one of the things that we've got to understand is this, is that our goal is we want to develop each person where they are and help them to go where God wants them to be. Now, I want you to chew on that for a second. We want to develop people where they are, and we want to help them go where God wants them to be. What are we saying? We're saying that we have got to meet people where they are. All right, so let me let you into my brain for a second. I was putting together a blueprint, and you're going to see some of that in what we're talking about today. And one of the things that I really wrestle with, I said, man, I feel like sometimes we introduce things to people too soon, right? Because if you introduce it to them too soon, they don't get it.
Henry Tolbert [00:03:33]:
Like, they don't embrace it. And because they don't embrace it, they miss out on the value of what it is. And so one of the things that we've got to do is we must have the ability to develop people where they are. So whatever level they're on, wherever they are in their lives right now, we've got to figure out how do we develop them right there. Not how do we push them further, too further, too much, too far, too fast. But how do we develop them while at the same time thinking about, okay, how do we make sure that they don't just stay where they are, but that they get to the next level. And that's one of the things I'm going to show you today. That's what we're going to be talking about today as we walk through the church funnel.
Henry Tolbert [00:04:10]:
All right? So first let me show you a couple of case studies, all right? Because sometimes when I talk about this stuff, it's really easy to think, oh, this is just theory, and maybe this isn't really working for people. Well, I want to give you a couple of case studies, all right? And I'm protecting the identities of these leaders in these churches because some of them, you may hear their stories later, and I want to make sure that they're protected. So check this out. Here are a couple of case studies. Case study number one is an east coast church, all right? This is a church on the east coast who had a full time staff person. And this full time staff person was really a gatekeeper, and they were a decision maker. So let me tell you what I mean. When I say they were a gatekeeper, I mean that they worked really hard to keep new people on the outskirts.
Henry Tolbert [00:04:56]:
They worked really hard. They were very protective of the mission, of the vision, which in some cases can be a good thing, but in this case, it was a bad thing because they were keeping people who could really help from coming as close as they needed to. And this person was also a decision maker. So not only could they keep them at arms, this is at arm's length, but they kept the decision making power in their hands. And so as a person who was really a high capacity leader, staff person, I call them high capacity because this was a large church, but they were kind of in that role. And what we discovered after we did some digging and after they kept running into issues, and I was brought in to come and to assess and to see where things were, one of the things we discovered this is heartbreaking, is that there was somebody who was operating in the twelve who only had the spiritual capacity of somebody who was in the 500. Now, let me tell you what I mean. We discovered that this person who was making all of these major decisions concerning the church, this person who was being so harsh towards new people as they came up through the church, we discovered that they themselves had a very thin spiritual relationship.
Henry Tolbert [00:06:13]:
And I know that sounds so tough, but the reason that understanding this framework and understanding these levels, if you would, is so important is because not only does every level come with benefits, it comes with responsibilities, and you need to make sure that people can stand up to their responsibilities. Right. Another case study, church in the south, KW number two, this was a church that was under 100 people, and we were doing some work with their ministry leaders, with the leaders who led their ministries. And one of the things that happened is that we discovered that there was a couple of, or they discovered, rather, there was a couple of ministry leaders who were no longer aligned with the vision or the leaders. Right. In other words, they fell out with the leaders. They was mad at them about a decision that they had made. They were mad because they had held them accountable on some things.
Henry Tolbert [00:07:07]:
And it was a problem. And here was a dilemma. They loved the people, but their heart had turned against the leadership and the only reason they stayed at the church for a while, they spent a couple of months kind of going through the motions because they loved the people specifically, they loved the ministry that they were a part of and they loved the people who they were a part of. And I think I could say without exposing too much that this was a music ministry. And so in this music ministry you've got these leaders who love the team, they love the other musicians, they love the worship leaders, but they're mad at the leaders. And because they were mad at the leaders they couldn't hide it. And so it's coming out. And so what happened was although they were in the role of a three in this church they were very close to the pastor, very close to the pastor's spouse, very close to the leadership team, very close to all these people, their heart had turned so bad that it was really in the place of a 5000 that the leaders may have well been a stranger.
Henry Tolbert [00:08:02]:
They pretty much declared, I'll never get over this, we'll never be the same. I'll never respect the leaders for this. Can you imagine how much damage they did before the issue was caught? And thankfully it was caught. But I tell you, they did a lot of damage on the way out. Here's my point in saying all this. I'm not saying this to scare you. I'm not saying this to upset you. I'm saying this to say that you need to be aware of who is around you, where they are and how it is that they need to be developed to go to the next stage.
Henry Tolbert [00:08:37]:
Because I believe we see this pattern in the ministry of Jesus. Again. I never forget this. The calling of the disciples. He climbs to a high place and then he calls to himself those that he wants. And you've got to remember that leadership comes with the climb. There is no way around that. There is no way to take that away.
Henry Tolbert [00:08:55]:
There is no way to make that easy. As a matter of fact, it is to your detriment to take that away. There must always be a climb that comes with the call and we cannot be afraid to hold people accountable to it. But if you don't know where people are, you can't hold them accountable. If you don't know where they are you can't hold them accountable to it. All right? And so you've got to be able to do that. All right, so let's talk about this. Today we're going to be talking about how we develop people at every level of the church, funnel all right, I'm sipping on this hot tea today.
Henry Tolbert [00:09:26]:
My throat is going a little bit. As a matter of fact, I'm vacillating between sipping this tea and drinking this glass of orange juice because I'm just trying to get myself together. All right, but let's talk about how you develop people at every level of the church funnel. All right, so let's start here. All right. Number one at the 5000. The way you develop them is you want to make sure that you spend a lot of time on the introduction. A lot of time on the introduction.
Henry Tolbert [00:09:51]:
As a matter of fact, when you do outreach projects, you need to see them as introductions. You are introducing your community, get this, not just to your church, but to the heart behind your church. I need you to catch this. You're not just introducing people to your church, but you're trying to introduce them to the heart behind your church. When you want to move people from the crowd to the congregation, when you want to move people from the 5000 to the 500, from the level of provision to the level of position, one of the things that you have to do is you have to spend a lot of time making introductions, right? Meaning you want to introduce them to the heart behind the church. You want to let them know we are the hands and feet of Jesus. But also you want to introduce them to the benefits of the church. You want to introduce them the benefits of the kingdom of God, right? You want to let them know, here is what happens, right? Salvation is the best benefits plan in the world.
Henry Tolbert [00:10:51]:
That's what salvation is. Salvation is saying, hey, what you deserve is ashes, okay? But what you can get is beauty, okay? What you deserve is death, but what you can get is life. That is salvation. In a nutshell, it is an introduction to the difference of how life could be if you chose to come into a different way. And so if you want to develop people from your 5000 to your 500, you're getting ready for 5000 to show up, some of you for Easter, for a special event, for Mother's Day, for Christmas service, whatever event you've got coming up, you're going to see people who are in this group that we call the 5000. You need to introduce them to the benefits of being a part of your church. Here's a question you need to answer. Why should I be a part of what God is doing here? See, when you answer that question, you're introducing them to the benefits of what it means to be a part of the body of Christ.
Henry Tolbert [00:11:47]:
What it means to be a part of the kingdom of God, what it means to be a part of your church, what it means to be a part of a family, what it means to be a part of a group that is intentionally making a difference so that they can have an impact on the world around them. And so you need to focus on introduction. How can you introduce people to the benefits of the church? All right, let me give you another example. If somebody is struggling in their marriage, you should introduce the church as a solution to help people with marital issues. How do you do that? You do that through a marriage ministry. You do it through a marriage outing, you do it through a marriage, a couple small group. Those things introduce to people that, hey, we've got some benefits that can help you where you are. If somebody is struggling in their faith and they feel like they're starting from one, you introduce them to a new disciples small group, you introduce them to a solution that says, hey, we're coming alongside.
Henry Tolbert [00:12:41]:
Right. If for those of you who are getting ready for Easter, you should be on Easter Sunday announcing a brand new series that you start the week after Easter. You need to be announcing that we're starting this new series after Easter. Why? Because you're trying to introduce them to this solution that the church can offer and provide. All right? So if you want to move people, if you want to impact people who are in the 5000, which is by far the largest group, you need to focus on solutions. Ministries are a solution. Men's ministry, women's ministry, small groups, youth ministry, children's ministry, families ministry, singles ministry, all these different things are solutions. All right? Number two, you want to develop the 500.
Henry Tolbert [00:13:27]:
You've got to challenge them with involvement. Every week you need to be challenging people to get involved in a greater way. Hear me? Every week you've got to be challenging your people to get involved. You've got to be challenging them to get off the sideline, to stand up, step up to the plate and be a part of what God is going to do to church. All right? And so to do this, here's one of the things you've got to do. You need to diversify your involvement opportunities. All right? Diversify your involvement opportunities. That means that the only way to get involved should not be just the things that happen on Sunday morning.
Henry Tolbert [00:14:06]:
You need to think bigger and if need be, you need to expand your vision to include more opportunities for people to serve. Because you got to think about this. Of all the different people that you have in your church, all of them have different gifts, all of them have different callings, and all of them have different ways that they can make an impact. It is your duty, it is your task to then help them see those different ways that they can get involved, that they can make an impact, but also to create some new ways for people to serve. Maybe there are some people in your church who aren't serving because they don't want to be ushers or they don't want to be in a choir, or they want to do kids ministry. I don't think those things need to happen. I'm saying focus on those things and focus on other opportunities. I learned this lesson one year with giving.
Henry Tolbert [00:14:58]:
I was talking about serving, serving, serving. All this time. I was talking about, let's go do this, let's go do that. And we were trying to go and serve at a school and do these things and so forth and so on. And as we're talking about all these things, to go and serve and go and do and so on and so on, there was just a group of people who just never got involved. And then one day I said, hey, we want to provide this for the school. Here's what it's going to cost. And some of those same people who wouldn't serve in 2 seconds, they stepped up to the plate to give.
Henry Tolbert [00:15:26]:
But I needed something that was inspiring enough to pull them off the sideline. Can I tell you the truth? Can I tell you something real honest? One of the reasons that some people won't serve your vision is because it's boring, is because it's not inspiring them to see how the church is going to make a difference. If you're asking them to do the same things over and over, if you're asking them to do what they've seen done, always, you're going to be limited. But if you would expand your vision, expand your creativity, expand your thinking, not just for the sake of being on the cutting edge, but ask the holy spirit to lead you into a greater sense of mission, I believe people would come forward. It would have been. If I'd have seen Jesus, I believe I would have followed him too. I believe I would have followed him, too. These 500 who met him in the upper room, I guarantee you a bunch of them were part of the ones who went out and changed the world.
Henry Tolbert [00:16:23]:
Because how can you be in the room and have an experience like they had on Pentecost? How can you be a part of the 72 that's in there with Jesus? And he says, look, we've been to change the world, and I'm going to send you all out before me so you all on my launch team, like, how can you be a part of a vision like that and not be impacted? I'm here to tell you if you get your vision clear and you get your vision impactful, I believe you'll see more people take the next step and get involved. All right, number three, you want to develop the 72, then one of the things you need with them is integration. Integration. There is a difference between involvement and integration. Involvement says, hey, I'm going to give you an opportunity to be a part of this thing. Integration means I want you to be with me in the center of this thing. I want you to help me carry it. Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:17:10]:
Involvement is, hey, the event starts at nine, and I need you to show up at eight to come help me do it. Integration is the event is coming up in three months, and I need you to come sit at a table with me now to help me plan and execute it. That's integration. When we come to the 72, we must integrate them into the vision so that they begin to see the vision as their vision. You want them to see the vision as their vision, meaning that they can see their gifts, their callings, their talents, even some of their dreams and their hopes begin to come alive within the context of what's happening in the church and in the body of Christ. That's integration. Integration is when these things really cease to be two separate things and they become one. Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:18:04]:
What jesus did is that jesus sent these peoples and some v 72, and he sent them out two by two. And some theologians have argued that he sent them out paired according to their giftings. But whatever he did and however he did it, he made his mission a part of their mission. He says, look, I want to go into these towns, and I want to make a difference in these towns, but guess what? I'm going to send you to help me. So you're going to go in there and you're going to make a difference. First, he sent them in, he gave them the ability to speak a blessing. He gave them the ability to speak a curse. He gave them the ability to do the things that he wanted them to do, but he gave them the ability to go and do it on his behalf.
Henry Tolbert [00:18:44]:
That's integration. If you want to develop people at the level of the 72, you must begin to integrate them so that their best might come forward, so that the best of who God has called them to be might become now partnered with what God wants to do in the church. And you can see things really begin to change for the better. All right, let's keep going. The twelve. Now we're going to sit on this one. If you want to develop people at the twelve, you've got to focus on intimacy. Intimacy.
Henry Tolbert [00:19:23]:
When we talk about intimacy, one of the things that we know about the twelve is that where Jesus went, they went. And so if you want to develop people at this level, you have got to get them into a space where they are consistently spending intimate time with other believers. And I know that word intimate kind of bothers us some in this culture, but listen, in an environment like small groups is an intimate environment. Praying and pouring out your heart, studying the word together, sharing your challenges and your successes and failures, that's an intimate space. And if you want to challenge the twelve, you've got to challenge them to be intimate. One of the things that I've seen, man, at the bottom of this funnel, the twelve, the three and the one. It's really easy to become isolated and to become separated from the people that God has called you to serve. And one of the things that you've got to remind them to do is don't forget to stay connected and stay close to real people.
Henry Tolbert [00:20:25]:
One of the best things that ever happened to me was the two years or so that I spent as a men's counselor for pregnancy resource centers. And in those times, I got a chance to, although I was in the pulpit on Sunday, I got to be in the counseling room Monday through Friday. And this wasn't with church men, so it wasn't with men who were believers. As a matter of fact, they were from all over the place. Some of them really thinking about the opposite of being a believer. And I got a chance to see what it was like for them to really go through life. Of course, I'm pro life. I believe in the protection of life.
Henry Tolbert [00:21:05]:
I'm also pro choice. I just believe that we all have the right to make our choices sooner, that we don't have to make our choices when the baby is born. We can make our choice before. And as I sat in that counseling room one day, there was a young man who came in and he was content. He was committed. He was locked in on the fact that he couldn't father a child right now, and it was best to terminate the pregnancy. And at first, I'll admit I had a bit of righteous indignation. I'm sitting there and I'm going like, no way you can do this.
Henry Tolbert [00:21:38]:
I've been in your situation before. That's what I'm thinking in my head. I didn't say that to him. But the Holy Spirit allowed me to minister to him. And as I sat there and I talked with that man, I discovered why he couldn't do it. He was wrestling. He was wrestling with all the things happening in his life. He had no family support.
Henry Tolbert [00:21:59]:
He had a job where he was barely being able to make it with him and his girlfriend as they were without a child. And he's looking at all these different things that he's saying, man, no, I just can't do it. And so rather than saying to him, no, you got to do this, you got to do that. Because God said, I didn't say any of that. I simply said to him, I said, if we agree to come alongside you and help you find the resources, do you at all want to have a child? Come to find out, one of the things that he had dreamed of was being a father. He just felt like at the time, he wasn't ready. And I don't remember the outcome of whether he terminated, they terminated the pregnancy or not. But here's what I do remember.
Henry Tolbert [00:22:38]:
I remember that getting in the mud with a real person did something to me. It added a grace to my ministry that changed everything. And one of the reasons that so many leaders in the church lack grace is because they're too far away from people. They've gotten so far away from people that they don't understand what it's like to be down in the mud and to be going through spaces and situations where your faith is not developed to a level that you know how to just walk through it automatically. And I'm saying that you need to challenge your high capacity leaders, those who are ministry leaders, those who are leading at a high level in your church. All of them should be responsible for being a part of a small group, because we can't get away from our people. We cannot get so high and mighty that we miss out on what God really wants to do in the church. And so if you want to develop people who are in your twelve who are at that level, you need to challenge them to embrace intimacy.
Henry Tolbert [00:23:43]:
And I know that was a little bit heavier than we normally get. I normally don't go off on topics like that. But listen, I need you to get this. The church has to return to intimacy. Number three, if you want to develop people at this level, the three, Peter, James and John. The inner circle. If you were those who only get to see a few things, you must challenge them with improvement. Improvement.
Henry Tolbert [00:24:12]:
The three are challenged by training. You must constantly be training your high level leaders, your staff, paid or unpaid, you must constantly be training them. If you're not training them, the world is training them. If you're not training them, the culture is training them. You must constantly be training them. As a matter of fact, in our staff meeting blueprint that we propose in, in our church systems boot camp is we challenge the pastor to spend ten to 15 minutes of a 1 hour meeting every week offering micro training to their staff, teaching them about something that really helps move the needle in their leadership and in their lives. And you've got to be doing that. I believe we see Jesus do that.
Henry Tolbert [00:25:03]:
We see Jesus and his interactions with Peter, where he says to him, hey, look, man, I'm gonna go ahead and tell you what's going on, man. Look, Satan desires to see if you is weak, but I pray for you, right? I think we see as he draws them, the reason I think he brings them Peter, James and John, that is, into these three unique situations is because he's training them. He's teaching them. You need to understand know. He brings them up on the mount of transfiguration because they got to be able to go testify from their own mouths, not just, hey, I read and I heard, but I saw. They got to be able to go back and tell the story right. And he's training them. You must train your three.
Henry Tolbert [00:25:49]:
You must train them. You must train your people in order to be able to go out and do what God has called them to do. One of the most disappointing things that you can see in the church is leaders who have a role that they are not being trained for. And I know, I'm not saying we're perfect. I'm not saying we're always ready, but we ought to always training, be training. And I'll say this to you. If you're a leader and you're in a church that's not offering you training, I'm not letting you off the hook. There's too much training available for anybody to say that they don't have what it takes.
Henry Tolbert [00:26:28]:
There's too much training available. YouTube is a university. You can learn almost anything if you just find reputable sources. If you want to do better than that, there are so many programs you can go out there and join. There are so many programs you can go out there and be a part of, and you can learn all the things you need to learn to go forward. But if you want to engage at this level, you must continue improvement. Last but not least, I want you to get this. We've got to make sure that as we step through this, that we're constantly thinking about how we will develop people at each level, from each level, from where they are to where we want them to be.
Henry Tolbert [00:27:09]:
We've got to constantly be thinking about that. We've got to constantly be wrestling with what it looks like for people to genuinely, genuinely be developed in the way that God wants them to be developed. We've got to think about that, because the truth of the matter is, people need development. People need it. People need development, and it's up to us to get to them. All right? And I skipped one. Let me go back. I'm sorry.
Henry Tolbert [00:27:34]:
The final one, number one. At that level, you need to give people influence. All right? At the level one. This is a level of passion right here. We're talking about multiplication, right? So a lot of churches never make it to this level. But if you want to get to multiplication, where you're growing at a rapid rate, you're moving into multisite. You're developing new ministers and leaders in the church and things of that nature, then one of the ways that you develop people is by gifting them your influence, is that you give them influence. You give them the opportunity to lead in micro expeditions that will prepare them for the launch that they're called to.
Henry Tolbert [00:28:11]:
One of the reasons I believe many multisites and church launches fail is because those who lead them don't get enough practice before they start. Their first time in leadership is when they drive in a whole ship. That don't make sense. I got daughters right now, right? And their first time driving can't be when I give them a car for graduation, their first time driving is first in my lap, then with me sitting on the passenger side in an empty parking lot. Then it's with them with a permit, and then they kind of graduate from there. And I think that's what we've got to do in the church. We've got to gift people with the gift of influence. We've got to let them experience taking next steps and moving things forward.
Henry Tolbert [00:28:56]:
All right, listen, don't forget, we got to develop people where they are, but we got to help them go where God wants them to be. Listen, I hope this was good for you. We've been in the midst of almost a micro series. We talked about what the church funnel is this episode. We just talked about how to develop people, and coming up in our next episode, I'm going to show you how to actually implement this, how to implement the church funnel and how it can help you add 50 new people to your church. Listen, I hope this has been a blessing to you. And until next time, you know what to do. Keep the gears turning.
Henry Tolbert [00:29:34]:
Peace.