Henry Tolbert [00:00:00]:
What's up, family? And welcome to yet another episode of the Church Systems podcast. Man. Listen, we have been dropping that heat for the last several episodes as we have been exposing the church funnel. It is a blueprint from how you move people from the crowd to the core, how you move people from the masses to the mission. And today, we're moving you from plan to progress. Grace. We're going from just knowing what to do to actually getting started with doing it. Listen, for those of you I don't know, my name is Henry.
Henry Tolbert [00:00:33]:
I'm the owner and founder of Simple Systems Consulting.
Henry Tolbert [00:00:36]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:00:36]:
And a huge part of our heart is to help you see growth. That's right. When we talk about growth, we mean spiritual growth. People are becoming more like Jesus. Numerical growth. The church is growing and the kingdom is expanding. And then financial growth, you're gathering the resources you need to make a difference in your church and in the community around you. And so today, as I said before, we're going to continue, and we're going to go deeper into this church funnel, and I'm going to show you how to actually implement it.
Henry Tolbert [00:01:04]:
I'm going to show you how a very simple framework can actually help you add your next 50 people. I'm here to tell you, if you follow the blueprint that I'm about to give you, you can step into a season of growth. So let me stop for a minute. I want to talk to some specific people first, let me talk to that pastor who's got 25 or less people in your church. I'm telling you, I'm about to give you a simple framework that will help you double your church if you follow and you execute what I'm about to give you. Let me talk to that pastor who's got 50 people in your church. I'm telling you, I'm about to give you a blueprint to help you double and expand your church. If you follow the blueprint, whether you got 100, you got 150, whatever it is, I'm about to give you something that can help you.
Henry Tolbert [00:01:52]:
All right?
Henry Tolbert [00:01:53]:
Again, the smaller you are, the easier it is for you to double.
Henry Tolbert [00:01:57]:
Right?
Henry Tolbert [00:01:57]:
That's a good way to look at it. The smaller you are, the easier it is for you to double. But it's just about doing the right things.
Henry Tolbert [00:02:04]:
Right?
Henry Tolbert [00:02:05]:
And if you think that I'm some charlatan who just spitting stuff out there, then just hold on a minute. Give me a second, and maybe I can convince you that this is not me just blowing smoke. All right, so let's review. First, here's a church funnel. We talked about this. We walked through this. We looked at all the different components of it, and we're going to talk about this some more coming up here in a second. But here's what we talked about.
Henry Tolbert [00:02:27]:
We talked about, this is a part of the church funnel.
Henry Tolbert [00:02:29]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:02:30]:
We talked about recognizing where people are. We talked about in our last episode, how do we develop people? And then we're getting ready to take another step further. And I'm going to show you that again. But look at this quote by John Maxwell. He said, the true measure of leadership is influence, nothing less, nothing more. Really, what he's saying there is, leaders have to be able to influence people. If you cannot influence people, you're not a leader. If you can't convince people to follow a certain course of action, if you cannot influence them, not convince influence them, then you're not walking in true leadership.
Henry Tolbert [00:03:06]:
Jesus was a leader because he influenced us. He influenced us to leave the world that was covered in darkness and to walk into the kingdom of light. He influenced us to leave our old lives behind and to pick up his new life and then to go on mission with him. He gave us an invitation, and we graciously accepted that invitation to go forward.
Henry Tolbert [00:03:29]:
All right?
Henry Tolbert [00:03:29]:
And so here's one of the things you have to know, and this is a hard peel, but so I want to give it to you on the front end so that we can do the work. Next to the Holy Spirit, the senior leader is the single greatest influencer of direction in the church. Next to the Holy Spirit, the senior leader is the single greatest influencer of direction.
Henry Tolbert [00:03:49]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:03:49]:
Let's talk about this from a couple of angles. Number one is that when you are the senior leader, you are the set person that God has put to lead the church forward. That means that he is holding you responsible. Not responsible for everything, but responsible for what he's called you to do.
Henry Tolbert [00:04:07]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:04:08]:
I think we got to get to this, and this is super important. Again, when it comes to responsibility, we are not all the same. We're not all the same. We are held accountable to whatever the call is that the Lord has given us. And so a random layperson or a random deacon in the church is not held to the same call as a senior leader. A senior leader is called to lead and guide, to protect, to cover the flock that God has entrusted them with. There are others who will help them do that, but there is a unique burden that the senior leader must carry not to do everything, but to simply be responsible for everyone. And so you must think about that.
Henry Tolbert [00:04:46]:
And here's the other thing, because I know somebody here is thinking, well, I want to be the influencer, but I got these people in a way. I got those people in a way. Listen, even if you're not physically influential, you are spiritually influential.
Henry Tolbert [00:05:00]:
Right?
Henry Tolbert [00:05:00]:
And I don't have a problem. I've encountered natural issues with people, issues with staff people, issues with volunteers, issues with members, issues with all these kind of other people in leadership. I've encountered all those different things. But here's what I would say to you. Do not be guilty of tolerating something in the natural that you have not taken before God in the spiritual. If you are not naturally as influential as you need to be, you are spiritually influential. So you need to understand that you are responsible. All right, so let's talk about this.
Henry Tolbert [00:05:34]:
Let's talk about setting the right foundations.
Henry Tolbert [00:05:36]:
Right?
Henry Tolbert [00:05:36]:
So if you're a leader, I'm getting ready to give you a blueprint, but I need you to understand something. What I'm giving you is a framework, a blueprint, but it means nothing if you don't do these things that need to be done in order to set a firm foundation. And you may discover that one of the things that's been holding you back is you've been missing these things that I'm getting ready to show you, that I'm getting ready to say to you. You've been missing these things. And as a result of missing these things, you've not been moving forward in the way you need to move forward. So here are a couple of things you need to do. Number one, you need to get serious about prayer. You need to pray on the level that you're trying to get to, right? You've got to pray more fervently and more consistently than you ever have.
Henry Tolbert [00:06:19]:
If you're believing God to help you go to the next level, to help you reach more people, to help you make a difference. If you really want to see that vision come to pass, God is waiting for you to ask him to be involved. And that's what prayer is. Prayer is an invitation saying God, look, I want you to come get involved in this. I want you to come and be involved in the affairs of earth. And you have got to pray at a serious level. And not just you by yourself as a senior leader, but you've got to get the church serious about prayer. You need to have an intercessory team or ministry or prayer team that is serious about plowing the ground in the spirit.
Henry Tolbert [00:06:55]:
That is serious about going before God in the spirit so that the church can begin to happen. Because what you will notice, and what I've noticed even in my own life in ministry, is that transition happens in the spirit before it happens in the natural. And so you want to make sure that you're already praying in that direction. So if you want to set a good foundation, you need to get serious about prayer. Number two, you need to build you a growth focused team. You need to build a growth focused team for the church. And I mean this, it's so important. You need to understand this.
Henry Tolbert [00:07:26]:
Everybody in the church doesn't want to grow. There are some people who like the church just like it is. It is their own personal country club where they have everything just the way they want it. It's as easy as they want it to be. It's as simple as they want it to be. They don't want more people. More people bring more complications. More people make things harder.
Henry Tolbert [00:07:45]:
There are some people who don't want that. And you need to be aware of that. And so as you're aware of that, you need to build a team that is not just okay with growth, but that understands that growth is a part of the mandate, that the expansion of the kingdom is a part of the mandate. You need to build a team that understands that. And when you build a team that understands that, I'm telling you, it will change things. You wouldn't have to fight for so many of the other things that you have to fight for if you had a team that understood the value of moving the kingdom forward. So you need to build a team that is on your wavelength. I'm telling you, it is so frustrating.
Henry Tolbert [00:08:22]:
If you are a pastor who feels called to grow the church and serve more people, and you're surrounded by people who have no interest in evangelizing, they have no interest in sharing the gospel. They have no interest in seeing other people developed and seeing other people come to Christ. It will frustrate you. It will frustrate you. So right now, you need to start thinking about as you bring new people into the inner circle, as you bring new people onto the team, you need to think about whether or not they're growth focused. You need people who share your heart and your vision and your propensity for moving the church forward again. And I'm not saying all people have to be this way, but I'm saying what you don't want is people who are going to fight against growth.
Henry Tolbert [00:09:03]:
Right?
Henry Tolbert [00:09:04]:
Number three, you need to get some systems help, okay? You need to get whatever help you need to make sure that you have the systems in place for growth, because here's what will happen if you don't have the systems in place. And a bunch of leaders are getting ready to experience this for Easter. Coming up very soon is you're going to see a wave of people come to church for Easter Sunday, and they're going to come and they're going to shake your hand and they're going to hug your neck. They're going to tell you how much of a great time they had and how awesome it was. And then next Sunday you're going to show up and not only will the crowd not be as large as it was for Easter, it's probably going to be smaller than it was the week before because you get the Easter hangover. And one of the reasons that it's going to happen and you're going to be disappointed two weeks out is because there are no systems in place to help keep the people moving. Those people who show up on Easter Sunday are going to be in your 5000. But if you don't have a system to move them to the 500 and to follow up with them and to keep the journey going, then you're going to miss it.
Henry Tolbert [00:10:07]:
So you need to make sure that you're prepared for that. You need to get whatever help you need. Obviously, we can offer that help to you with our church systems boot camp, but even if it's not us, there are a ton of options out there. Find the help you need and then number four, you need to commit to going all in for one year. Going to give you this blueprint, but it's not one of those things that you can take and say, we're going to do this for 30 days and all of a sudden it's going to work. You got to commit to going all in for twelve months, 365 days. You got to commit to going in all in for one year. You got to commit to it.
Henry Tolbert [00:10:41]:
You got to say, look, I'm going to do this and I'm going to stick to it for a whole solid year and I'm going to watch what God does as a result of it. You've got to commit to that. You've got to decide of your own accord that, hey, I'm going all in. I'm not pulling back. I'm not going to stop. I'm going all in. All right, so now let's review what we talked about and let's jump into it. We talked about the church funnel.
Henry Tolbert [00:11:02]:
We said, here is who they are. Right here is who the different groups of people are. All right, you can go and watch that. In a previous episode, in our last episode, we talked about how to develop them. Here is how you pull those people forward.
Henry Tolbert [00:11:17]:
Right?
Henry Tolbert [00:11:17]:
Here is how you help them take the next step in their faith and on their journey. Last, not least, today I'm going to talk to you about how to implement this.
Henry Tolbert [00:11:27]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:11:27]:
So here's what I'm going to do. For every one of these levels, I'm going to tell you just the really simple one word, two word phrase for how you implement the church. Funnel for each of these six levels of people.
Henry Tolbert [00:11:43]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:11:44]:
So I'm going to give you the blueprint and if you follow this blueprint and you put this in practice, this will help you add the next 50 people to your church. All right, I'm here. I'm just trying to tell you we've seen it happen. We're watching it happen as we speak. This is the blueprint. Here you go. All right, number one. All right, you want to implement this strategy for the 5000, the first thing you need to do is you need to offer value.
Henry Tolbert [00:12:07]:
You need to ask the question, what do we have that would be of value to people? What do we have that can help the people around us? What can we offer people that can really make a difference in their life? This is a hugely important question and I know the churchy person in you wants to say, I got the gospel. Hallelujah.
Henry Tolbert [00:12:27]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:12:27]:
But that's not where I'm at. Right, I know you got the gospel, but the people that you're trying to reach, they may not be at a place where they can see it the way you see it. And so what I'm saying is keep going to the lowest common denominator. What has God afforded you through the gospel that you can transfer to people?
Henry Tolbert [00:12:47]:
Right?
Henry Tolbert [00:12:48]:
We understand this when it comes to food. If I'm hungry, I don't care how good your sermon is. My stomach rumbling is louder. Well, what you're asking is what is the rumbling in the life of the people around you that the church can be a solution to? Maybe for you it is a food program. Maybe it's not food. Maybe for you, you have the ability to provide mentorship for young boys at the local school. Maybe you can be a part of partnering with the recovery program. I don't know.
Henry Tolbert [00:13:23]:
Whatever it is, you need to figure out how you offer value. Maybe it's providing something for Children, maybe it's something for singles, for couples, whatever it may be, if you can figure out what you have that you can offer to people, and you can offer them value. It constantly gives you an opportunity to get in front of these 5000. And the more you can get in front of the 5000, the more opportunities you have to help them move to the 500. I cannot stress enough how important your answer to this question is. What value can you offer? This question will help reshape and reframe your vision. You need to ask yourself if I'm talking to a single person on the street or a person on the street who does not know God, and they're not even looking for God. What need in their life can God use us to meet that we might connect and minister to them with the potential.
Henry Tolbert [00:14:22]:
Not necessarily the goal, but with the potential that they might one day partner with the church. You got to offer value. You've got to figure out what it is you have to give and how you can offer it to those people who need it. Number two, you want to develop the 500. You want to use this strategy. You got to collect data. One of the things that you've got to do really well is if, and I say this over and over again, if you don't have data on people or you're not collecting information from people, then you have no way to follow up with them. Listen, the secular world has mastered this.
Henry Tolbert [00:14:57]:
The secular world has mastered this. You cannot do anything without people collecting data and following up with you and sending you emails and text messages and phone calls. And here goes a coupon for this. You think they're giving you a coupon because they want you to save money? No, they're giving you a coupon because they know if they give you 25% off, you'll come and spend more money than you would have spent with them before they sent it. They figure 75% of something is better than 0% of nothing, and so they follow it with you until they get it. And they know if you buy something once, the chance of you buying again are really, really high.
Henry Tolbert [00:15:34]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:15:34]:
The church has to grab this, is that when we connect with people, we must collect their data so that we can follow up with them, so we can call them, so we can check in with them, so we can inform them about what's going on in the church. We've got to put the data to use. And let me say this. Don't collect people's data just to text them about church every Sunday. And every Sunday morning, you just text them, hey, come join us for church in 2 hours.
Henry Tolbert [00:16:00]:
I get that.
Henry Tolbert [00:16:00]:
That's important for some people. Some people need that, but that's a poor use of data. You need to use that data to really connect with people and to figure out who they are and how you can better serve them. And I've talked extensively about this in other episodes, so I won't stand on it. But you got to collect the data. You got to make sure you collect the information.
Henry Tolbert [00:16:22]:
All right?
Henry Tolbert [00:16:23]:
For the 72, you want to take the next step with them, you've got to offer next steps. That means you need to have a new members class that is available to people. And I suggest that this class is available 24/7 meaning that it needs to be digital, it needs to be virtual, it needs to be online. You need to have an online new members class that people can join and take 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so that they can plug in and be a part of what's happening.
Henry Tolbert [00:16:50]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:16:50]:
That new members class affords you so many amazing opportunities to really set the stage and set the tempo and the culture for where people need to go. And I'm telling you, you need to do it because it will make a world of difference when you do, it'll make a world of difference, but you've got to be willing to step into it and get it done. You got to create the class. And again, this is one of those things that we have done that we do. If you want us to create it for you, we will create it for you. We've got one that we've already built. We can have it back to you literally in a matter of days. Okay.
Henry Tolbert [00:17:24]:
But it's one of those things that you got to have it available. If you want to develop and you want to get people, you want to start implementing this, you want to get people from the 500 to the 72, you got to get them through a class, because the new members class is where you help people discover their gifts. It's where you help them get entrenched into the vision. It's where you help them see your heart. It's where you help them see how they can be a part of the team and make a difference. All right, the twelve, you want to implement this, you want to move people from the 72 to the twelve, you got to offer ministry. You got to offer ministry. Man, I don't know what happened.
Henry Tolbert [00:17:59]:
Well, I know a part of what happened was Covid, but one of the things that seems to happen in Covid is that we threw ministries to the side, and a part of it was because people, a lot of people had stopped attending as faithfully as they once did anyway. But, man, it is disheartening how many churches have completely abandoned ministry. They've completely abandoned the idea of ministering to people, of creating different spaces for people to minister. And here's the reality. Ministries are small spaces. They're small spaces. They're spaces that may only include a few people, and that's okay. But if you want people to move from the 72 to the twelve, you've got to offer them ministry.
Henry Tolbert [00:18:45]:
And when I say ministry, you have got to offer them an opportunity to receive and give care to and from other people. These can be literal ministries, men's and women's ministries. These can be small groups, these can be volunteer teams, these can be all these different things, but spaces where they know that they're accountable to somebody else and somebody is accountable for them.
Henry Tolbert [00:19:12]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:19:12]:
Everybody in your church should have somebody who's responsible for them. An easy way to do that is to try to get everybody in your church, either in a small group or serving on a team. If they're in a small group, they got a small group leader and other small group members who are responsible for them. If they're on a team, they got a ministry leader and other team members who are responsible for them. But you want to get people plugged into ministry. Ministry is one of the places where life change happens. And if you abandon ministry, in large part, you abandon life change. So you've got to create space for people to give and receive ministry.
Henry Tolbert [00:19:47]:
Now, if you want to move people from the twelve to the three, you've got to offer training. One of the reasons that many churches don't have established effective and prepared leaders is because they're not offering training. You must offer training. You must offer people the opportunity to be trained, to be developed, and to really have an opportunity to grow. You've got to offer training. That's how you get people from the twelve to the three. You train them. Jesus trained them.
Henry Tolbert [00:20:20]:
He trained them. That's what he did. He trained them. He taught them right. And you've got to do the same thing. You've got to train those leaders who you want to be impactful. It is unfair to expect from them something that's not being taught to them. Leaders need training.
Henry Tolbert [00:20:38]:
That's one of the reasons. Every Thursday, without fail, at twelve noon, we host our church systems boot camp coaching call. Because every church in our program, they get to send their leaders every week to be trained in church systems. Every week they come and they get a chance to be trained. They get to be exposed. They get to be raised up in a way that makes an impact and a difference in their ministry. Last but not least, you want to move people from the three to the one, then you got to offer expansion. I'm going to tell you something.
Henry Tolbert [00:21:12]:
When you have a vision for expansion, God tends, it seems like God tends to send a different kind of leader. He raises up people. I mean, when I was younger and I used to hear the old folks say that baby getting out the way, that baby walking already or they getting out the way, it must be another one coming, right? And they would always say that. And their thought was if one baby started growing up quicker, at a faster pace, the superstition was that that means that they're making space for somebody else. Expansion is all about making space. When you have a vision for expansion, new leaders are forced to be raised up because there is space for them to come about. One of the reasons that you may not be seeing new leaders raised up and coming out right now is because there's no space for them. There's no crack in the concrete for the blade of grass to get through.
Henry Tolbert [00:22:09]:
But if you would move that piece of concrete out the way, then all of a sudden you'll start to notice, man, there's grass everywhere. But it was blocked up. It was blocked up and nothing could get to it. And so that's what you want to do is you have a vision for expansion. As you have a vision for expansion. You challenge people to see promotion as replacing themselves in the church. Sometimes it feels like we would rather get to one place and stay there forever. And we fight tooth and nail to hold on to whatever authority or whatever position we actually have, when in reality what we ought be doing is doing our best to raise up other people who can take our space so that we can step into the next thing that God has for us.
Henry Tolbert [00:22:57]:
Listen, I'm telling you, if you follow this blueprint right here, you've got everything you need to reach your next 50 people. Now, if you want more help with that, we can do that. You can visit [email protected] you can learn more about who we are, what we do, and how we are making a difference in the body of Christ and how we help churches just like you through our twelve month coaching program where we give you the resources, the tools, the technology, and all the things that you need as we walk with you on a twelve month journey to see God do something special in your church. Listen, I hope this has been good to you, and I hope that you're as excited as I am to see the kingdom continue to go to the next level, right? Well, look, until next time, y'all know what to do. Keep the gear. This attorney peace.
