Henry Tolbert [00:00:00]:
What's up, family? And welcome to yet another episode of the Church Systems podcast. Maybe if you've been rocking with us for a minute, you know that we're here to make sure you have the tools that you need to really thrive and succeed in the ministry that God has called you to. And we want to help you do that. And that's really the heart of what we do, and that's really the intent behind everything that we do. And so we're going to continue to do that. Today I got another episode for you that I think is going to be great. I'm going to give you some help. Or better yet, I'm going to show you how to find real help.
Henry Tolbert [00:00:36]:
We live in an age where there are a lot of the best way I can say that there are a lot of scams out there. There are a lot of charlatans out there. There are a lot of things out there that want you to pay for help, that want you to do all these other things for help. But the question is, do they really help? And then on the flip side, there are some programs out there, there are some different things out there, some different tools out there that really are valuable. They've helped a lot of people, but just because they've helped people doesn't mean that they'll help you. And so today, I'm going to help you see how you can decide which programs are helpful to you. For those who haven't met, my name is Henry Tolbren, the owner and founder of Simple Systems Consulting. And we help you grow the church without burning out or without using complicated marketing.
Henry Tolbert [00:01:24]:
And so today, I want to jump right into this man, because I'll tell you, over the years that I've been involved in ministry for the past 20 years or so now, especially when I became a church planter on my own, I have tried so many different programs and so many different things. As a matter of fact, any church coaching program that you're thinking about right now, I've probably been in it at one point or another. I've been in the programs, I've read the books and all of those different things, and some of them helped me tremendously. They made a huge difference in my life. But one of the things, this is my story, one of the things that happened to me is I was trying to implement this particular strategy, and I was talking with some guys and they were really helping me. And this one program was really helping me personally. But when I got ready to take it to our church, I discovered it just didn't fit. I was in a different culture.
Henry Tolbert [00:02:14]:
And I'm not shy about saying that most of the coaching programs that you find out there, they are not built for people who look like me, right? They do not consider black church culture. They do not consider the unique things that are different about our churches than the others. And so what I would do is I would go on this long journey trying to figure out how to contextualize it, try to make it work, so forth and so on. And eventually I figured out, I said, man, look, somebody needs to create something that is a framework that can fit churches, black churches in particular, but all churches of different sizes, different cultures, so forth and so on, because you can be in the city, you can be rural, you could be small, you could be large, you can have all these different things going on, and you need something that fits. And so that's what we try to do.
Henry Tolbert [00:03:00]:
All right?
Henry Tolbert [00:03:00]:
And so today I want to help you figure out how to find the right help and how to identify it when you find it.
Henry Tolbert [00:03:06]:
All right.
Henry Tolbert [00:03:06]:
A couple of things. Number one, when I talk about help, what am I really talking about?
Henry Tolbert [00:03:11]:
Right?
Henry Tolbert [00:03:11]:
What's really the thing that's driving that conversation for me when I talk about help, right? So I want to talk about three particular things, because these are the things that are very prominent that are out there in the market right now. And these are some of the things that you're probably looking at. Number one is courses. You're looking at courses. And when we talk about courses as help, we're talking about some kind of online or hybrid course that you can go on and take. It is where the information is already put together and you're more or less just walking through a curriculum. And most often than not, courses are self paced and you do them on your own.
Henry Tolbert [00:03:47]:
Right?
Henry Tolbert [00:03:48]:
So they give you the information and you've got to take the information and go and work with it, right? This is what a lot of online seminary is like. It's like a course. It's like, hey, look here, go to information. Here's what you need to read. Here's what you need to do. Take it, run with it. God bless you. Let me know if you have any questions like that kind of thing.
Henry Tolbert [00:04:05]:
Another form of help is consulting. And when I talk about consulting, that's where you can really mostly talk with and sometimes work with an individual who can give you the answers and help solve problems with you. That doesn't mean they're going to fix the problems, but it does mean that they could tell you how they can be fixed, and sometimes they'll take you to the next step and say, okay, look, now let me come in and fix it for you.
Henry Tolbert [00:04:28]:
Right?
Henry Tolbert [00:04:28]:
And it can be both. I do consulting, and a part of the kind of consulting we do is that we have both options, is that we have it where I could just tell you and give you some wisdom, but I also have it where I can come alongside you and really do some of the things for you and with you. And then lastly is coaching. And when we talk about coaching, this is somebody who's going to grab you by the hand and walk with you. I like to call this tour guides, because if you want to go to trip, there are two ways you can go. If you want somebody to help you with your trip, you can get a travel agent or you can get a tour guide. A travel agent is going to plan your trip, organize your trip, and when it's time for the trip, they're going to wave at you from the dock as you take off, going where you go. That's what travel agents do.
Henry Tolbert [00:05:10]:
They don't go with you. They tell you about it. Maybe they've been there before, but they're there to tell you about it, to tell you what happened, to tell you how it goes and then to send you on your way. But a tour guide says, I'm going with you. You're packing a bag. I'm packing a bag. Let's go hand in hand, and I'm going to go with you. And so when we think about coaching and consulting, particularly coaching, I'm thinking about tour guides.
Henry Tolbert [00:05:33]:
I'm thinking about coming alongside you to say, let's walk together. And so as you think about help, I want you to think about which of these do you need?
Henry Tolbert [00:05:42]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:05:42]:
Typically, courses are going to be the lower end from an investment standpoint, because with courses, it allows a creator to create something once, put it out there, and you go and get it. And so the reason that the cost is so low is because you're not taking up individual time from the instructor. The instructor recorded it once and multiple people can get it. But as you go forward into coaching and consultant, you're going to have more of an investment, but you should also have more of a return on your investment.
Henry Tolbert [00:06:14]:
All right.
Henry Tolbert [00:06:14]:
And we'll talk some more about that. But I want you to think about which type of help is best for you if you're at a space where you're saying, look, I really don't want to invest a whole lot.
Henry Tolbert [00:06:23]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:06:23]:
I want to invest less than just say $500 or whatever it may be, then courses may be the way to go for you. But if you really want to see some movement, then consider coaching or consulting. But think about which one do you need? Are you at the place yet where you've decided, like, listen, I'm tired of wasting time. I'm tired of wasting money. I want to do this once and I want to get it right. Then I want you to consider that. If you're saying, look, I'm just testing the waters, I'm trying to see what's what. Then courses may be the way for you, but whatever it's going to be, you need to decide what do you need right now?
Henry Tolbert [00:06:58]:
All right?
Henry Tolbert [00:06:58]:
And so as you decide this, I'm going to give you five things to help you move down the road to find the right help and to get the help you need. Five things that are going to help you really identify what help looks like for you and how to find the right help.
Henry Tolbert [00:07:14]:
All right?
Henry Tolbert [00:07:14]:
Number one, whatever help you get, it needs to understand the four C's. It needs to be able to understand your four C's. And I need you to understand something. These four C's are different for everybody, but it needs to understand your four C's. Number one, it needs to understand your context. Your context is really the unique surroundings around everything, right? It's not enough to just say, oh, we're a baptist church in Nashville, Tennessee, and this is who we are. That's a part of your context, but it's not the whole thing. What community are you in? That's a part of your context.
Henry Tolbert [00:07:51]:
How do you operate? What's the history of your church? That's going to help determine the context.
Henry Tolbert [00:07:55]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:07:56]:
Not only are we a baptist church in Nashville in an urban setting, but I'm pastoring now after a pastor who was there for 40 years.
Henry Tolbert [00:08:06]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:08:07]:
So the people I'm pastoring have ever known one leader, and here's how this leader was. That's a part of your context. You need to make sure that whatever you're going to do, that it's going to work with your context, that it's going to understand all of the unique things about who you are, who your church is, and why you do things the way you do. Number two, it needs to understand your culture. I love to define culture as the understood way of doing things. Our culture is our unique way. It's a part of what makes us different from the place down the street, right. A part of our culture is when we start worship, we stay in worship until the Holy Spirit tells us we're done, right.
Henry Tolbert [00:08:48]:
We prioritize the word. So maybe we worship, but our culture right now is driven towards boomers, senior adults. And so this is our culture. Our culture is that they want a hymn and they want this. Whatever. You got to make sure that whatever program you step into, it understands your unique culture. It understands. I'll give you an example.
Henry Tolbert [00:09:10]:
I would work with a ton of churches who would go through these programs because they wanted to do discipleship. And many of the programs talk about small groups. Small groups is pretty. At one point, I don't know if it still is, but it's the one thing that a lot of churches would talk about when it came to discipleship, and rightfully so. It seems like a return to the biblical model of the New Testament, right? But here was the challenge, is that when small groups started to try to infiltrate some african american church cultures, it was a struggle. Because in african american culture, people naturally group together on their own, so they don't wait for us to put them in groups. Really, the groups already exist in most places. And so that was something a part of the culture that a lot of strategies and a lot of programs didn't understand.
Henry Tolbert [00:10:05]:
And so what you have to figure out in the black church culture is not only do I need to go into small groups, but how do I make that shift from people constantly hanging out with these preexisting relationships to coming into our new strategy? That's culture.
Henry Tolbert [00:10:21]:
Right?
Henry Tolbert [00:10:22]:
Number three, make sure that this help understands your community. What makes your community unique? Are you in a community that is being gentrified? Are you in a community that has changed and is now filled with crime and things of that nature? Are business moving in and out or out of your community? What are the unique things about your community? What's your community's relationship with the church? How does your community see the church? The uniqueness of your community makes a huge difference. Is your community open to the church? Is your community filled with people who are in your target audience?
Henry Tolbert [00:10:57]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:10:57]:
It is possible for you to be in a community that no longer looks like your church. The community around you has changed. So whatever solution you're going to lean into, whatever help you're going to find, it needs to understand your community. And then, number four, it needs to understand your unique challenges.
Henry Tolbert [00:11:13]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:11:14]:
And you've got to understand these things, too. What are the unique challenges that your church is facing? Are you missing a generation or two?
Henry Tolbert [00:11:23]:
Right?
Henry Tolbert [00:11:24]:
So does the strategy help you do that? Are you struggling to get the word out. Are you very internal and internally focused? What are the unique challenges that you have? The program needs to be able to understand that, to help you overcome it so that you can get to the other side.
Henry Tolbert [00:11:40]:
All right?
Henry Tolbert [00:11:40]:
So number one, if you're going to get help, it needs to understand whatever help you get needs to understand these four C's about your church. Number two, the second thing you want to do if you're going to go into a program, there's something you must do. You must avoid Saul's armor. You got to avoid Saul's armor. And we know the story of David as he's getting ready to go and to battle Goliath. And Saul, who is well meaning, loves David's courage. And Saul, I believe he wants to be a part of what's happening and he wants to be a part of what's going on. He wants to be included in the story.
Henry Tolbert [00:12:17]:
And so what he attempts to do is to give David his armor. And the problem with that is, let's say Saul could have been 6ft, six inches tall, right? He could have been a tall guy and David could have been something like 55658, whatever it may be. So you can imagine a man that's well under 6ft trying to wear the armor of somebody who's six foot, six inches tall. It just doesn't fit. Well, the same can happen for strategy and vision and systems and help is that you could put on somebody else's armor. Here's the irony of how things work in the church. We idolize the leaders who lead large churches. That's who we idolize.
Henry Tolbert [00:13:00]:
That's who we bring in to speak at the conferences. We bring the people who have built large churches. The problem with that is that when they come back to tell us how they're doing it, the things that they're doing at their size don't work for churches with less than 50 people, they just don't work. You can't think that far in advance until you set some foundational stuff in place. And so while their ideas are great and their ideas can one day serve you very well, you need strategy that fits where you are, right? It does me no good if I have a newborn baby. It does me no good to go and fill the closet with clothes for a one year old because, listen, it may help me a year from now if they grow fast, it might help me eight months from now. But guess what? Today nothing fits. Today nothing fits.
Henry Tolbert [00:13:52]:
And it's going to be frustrating. It's going to be aggravating. Because nothing fits in the now. And you need to make sure that if you get help, that they can't just give you what you're going to need when you get to a certain size. But you need to make sure that that help can give you what you need where you are right now. And I think this is true for your personal life. You need stuff that can help you now. You need things.
Henry Tolbert [00:14:15]:
You need support. You need coaching that can encourage you out of the pit you're in right now. You need support for the struggles you're going through right now. You need stuff that will meet you right where you are right now. And that's so important. And so two things you got to think about within this. You need strategies that fit you today, that fit you as you are, right? Not that fit who you were 20 years ago. One of the biggest compliments I get from some of the churches we work with, a lot of pastors will tell me, like, man, you're me.
Henry Tolbert [00:14:44]:
20 years ago, I had vision, I had ideas just like you. And I was like, well, maybe that's why the Lord sent me. And they go, but I'm not that person anymore. I don't think that way anymore. I think I've kind of just fallen into the mold of how it goes and this and the other, and so I don't do that anymore. But, man, you remind me of who I used to be all those years ago. And you need to find support that fits who you are today. Not only that, you need to find strategies and support that fits your team.
Henry Tolbert [00:15:15]:
Listen, it does you no good to get an extravagant strategy that your team can't follow. If your team is technically challenged, you need support that will walk with them with patience through the technical part. If your team is used to doing everything manually and by hand, you need support that will help move them towards automations and say, hey, here is how we can get this done in this way and not have to move to this other thing. Right? That's what you need. You need that kind of support that's going to help you where you are, but not only help you help your team.
Henry Tolbert [00:15:53]:
Right?
Henry Tolbert [00:15:54]:
One of the things I talk about often, there's a church that we work with up in Kentucky, and it's a church that was filled with mostly senior adults. I went to a church anniversary celebration and they had all the people who had been walking with the Lord for more than 50 years to stand, and more than half the church stood up. And so it was people who were 70 and above, largely in this church. But we started working with them, and we started talking about social media. And eventually we got to the point to be able to say that we had an 80 year old deacon who still to this day, is knocking it out of the park, creating reels on social media. But that's because we brought a strategy that fit the team. We knew who the team was before they joined us. We knew who they were, and so we made sure that we could walk with them where they are to help them get where they needed to be.
Henry Tolbert [00:16:48]:
All right?
Henry Tolbert [00:16:48]:
So, number two, you got to avoid Saul's armor.
Henry Tolbert [00:16:51]:
All right?
Henry Tolbert [00:16:51]:
Number three, you need to know what to look for.
Henry Tolbert [00:16:56]:
All right?
Henry Tolbert [00:16:56]:
How do you discern somebody who's been around and been doing this for a while and who has real results from somebody who's just throwing some stuff out there? And let me be the first to.
Henry Tolbert [00:17:07]:
Say this, all right?
Henry Tolbert [00:17:08]:
I'm going to sip my coffee while I say this because it's important. I know what it's like to be the new guy on the block, to really have seen the Lord do some things through me and my church and the church that I led and some churches I've been a part of, but to not have proven that what I'm bringing to the table, what I'm bringing to the kingdom, what I'm bringing to the market, that it really, really works. And so here's what I did in the early days is that I hosted a beta program. And so our programs now, we've got programs now that range from every price range, but we've got some programs that we would consider high ticket programs.
Henry Tolbert [00:17:48]:
Right?
Henry Tolbert [00:17:49]:
And so, just to give you a ballpark, they can be $5,000 or more for a year.
Henry Tolbert [00:17:53]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:17:54]:
Well, that was a time where you could get that exact same program for $99 a month, and I would get on a Zoom call with you every single week without fail. And I would stay on that call for two to 3 hours every single week, pouring into and investing in churches, trying to help them move forward. And I did that because I wanted to build the credibility. I wanted to help some initial churches so that I could then turn around and say, well, look at how we help these guys. I know we can help you. All right, so I'm saying it to say I don't look down on somebody who's just starting, somebody who has a vision and who hadn't gotten there yet. But what I do recognize is that for some of you, the stakes are too high to just take a chance on something that has not yet been proven.
Henry Tolbert [00:18:41]:
All right?
Henry Tolbert [00:18:42]:
And so if that's where you are, here are four things that you want to look for. If you're looking at a program, you're looking at a coaching, consulting courses, whatever it is. All right, number one, the first thing, one thing you want to look for is testimonials. Can you find the testimonies of other people who have been blessed and who have already benefited from this thing? That's one of the things you want to find. You want to find real people who can give you real feedback and who you can see real testimonies and stories of how this thing has worked for them. That doesn't mean that it had to be perfect, that they did everything right, because all of these programs depend on the input of the people who come into it. So I don't care if I give you a master class. If you don't execute, it's not going to work.
Henry Tolbert [00:19:27]:
But if you can find testimonies, I think it brings a lot of value. Number two, you want to look for free content. Here's something I've always lived by, is that one of the reasons that it should be easy for people to invest in the program and the paid programs that we have is because of the amount of value that I give away in the free programs. I believe this with all my heart, man. You could go through my free videos, through my free courses and my free training, and you could move your church forward. As a matter of fact, there's a church in Florida. Every time I see this pastor, he tells me, he's like, man, listen, we did all the stuff that you talked about. I've seen you at conferences.
Henry Tolbert [00:20:02]:
I see you on YouTube. I see you on Facebook. He was like, all we have done is execute the free stuff you gave us, man. And it's working. And I believe when somebody can really help you, man, they can give stuff away. Somebody asked me not long ago, like, man, you give so much stuff away. Like, how do you do it, man? What's in your program? I said, listen, I've got so much stuff. Like, I'm so passionate and I'm so versed in what I'm talking about that the free stuff that I give you away is not even a part of the core stuff that we're really, really teaching.
Henry Tolbert [00:20:34]:
And so you want to look at somebody's free content to get a sense of what their paid content has to offer. If their free content can't help you, their paid content might not be able to help you either. All right, number three, you want to look for customization. You want to make sure that whoever you're working with has the ability to be flexible if something doesn't fit you perfectly. So if they've got something that's already together and you see it and you know it's not going to work for you, you want to make sure that they're flexible enough to customize it for you, to make sure that they can say, okay, let's tweak this a little bit to make it yours. For example, we talk about our small group strategy. We encourage churches to employ small groups for discipleship and things of that nature. I was working with the baptist church who said, well, we do more of a Sunday school model.
Henry Tolbert [00:21:24]:
Can you help us with that? And so we did is we tweaked it. They were having but pre pandemic, they were having a men's and a women's Sunday school class. And so we helped them transition that to virtual so that even after the pandemic on Sunday morning, their men and their women would get together on separate Zoom calls, have a joint Sunday school class, and then everybody would get dressed and come on to church and meet in person.
Henry Tolbert [00:21:48]:
Right?
Henry Tolbert [00:21:49]:
That's customization. We customized it to fit what the leader thought would be best for them, and it worked out for everybody involved. All right, number four, I think this goes without saying, so I won't spend a lot of time here. You got to make sure that it's Bible based. If somebody's going to give you a strategy, it needs to be rooted in the word of God because that's what the church is all about. That's what discipleship is all about. It's got to be rooted in the word of God. And so you want to make sure that these curriculums, that these thoughts, these ideas, that they are Bible based.
Henry Tolbert [00:22:18]:
I can't stress that enough, but I got to say it got to be Bible based. And then, number five, I want to encourage you to look for coaching, look for people who can come alongside you and do it with you.
Henry Tolbert [00:22:31]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:22:32]:
There's a couple of things, a couple of ways that you can look at this finding support, right? You can find support that it's called do it yourself.
Henry Tolbert [00:22:42]:
Right?
Henry Tolbert [00:22:42]:
Meaning I give you the content and you just go do it yourself.
Henry Tolbert [00:22:46]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:22:47]:
I'm not going to help you. I'm not doing it for you. I'm just telling you how to do it, and you go do it on your own. That's usually the least expensive option.
Henry Tolbert [00:22:55]:
Right?
Henry Tolbert [00:22:55]:
You do it yourself, then you've got done with you type of content. That's where we say, okay, look, here's the information. Now, let's walk together and do it right? Let's walk together and do this together. And currently that's how our primary program is structured. It's a done with you, right? You've got some things that you do. We've got some things that we do, all right? You've got to set up certain parts of your culture, your vision, all that kind of stuff like that. But we build your discipleship class, right? You've got to give me the information for your 501. But then I help you get free access to Google emails and Google Ad credits, right? You got to give me pictures and logos and all that kind of stuff like that.
Henry Tolbert [00:23:36]:
But we're going to help you set up some of the base things that you need, right? All of those things are done with you. And then on the higher end, you've got done for you. That's where you pay somebody. You invest in my services, I build everything for you. And then I say, hey, look, here it is. Here's how you use it. But I already built it, right? You've got to figure out where you are. But I want to encourage you to seriously consider coaching.
Henry Tolbert [00:24:00]:
Coaching is done with you where I say, let's walk together and let's go on this journey to make sure that we get this done.
Henry Tolbert [00:24:07]:
All right?
Henry Tolbert [00:24:07]:
You got to be aware of that. You need to know what it is.
Henry Tolbert [00:24:09]:
All right?
Henry Tolbert [00:24:09]:
So that's number three, you need to know what to look for.
Henry Tolbert [00:24:11]:
All right?
Henry Tolbert [00:24:12]:
Number four, you need to be able to answer, what do you need? Oh, my goodness. I cannot tell you how many leaders are unaware of what they need. They don't know what they need. You don't know what you need. You're saying I need help, but what is help? You need to know what you need.
Henry Tolbert [00:24:30]:
All right.
Henry Tolbert [00:24:30]:
A couple of things to help you think about that. A couple of questions. Number one, how does your team learn? How does your team learn what's been the most effective way to get your team on board for a project or for an initiative or for something that you were doing? What was the best way to do that? You need to be aware of how your team learns. Number two, you need to know, what are the gaps in your team? What are you missing and who are you missing on your team?
Henry Tolbert [00:24:56]:
Right?
Henry Tolbert [00:24:56]:
Your team is probably not perfect as constructed, and so you need to understand, what are the gaps?
Henry Tolbert [00:25:02]:
Right?
Henry Tolbert [00:25:03]:
What are the gaps as in who's missing, but what are the gaps? As in what knowledge or ability is missing from the people on the team.
Henry Tolbert [00:25:10]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:25:11]:
Are they struggling? Do they not understand technology? Do they not understand systems? Do they not understand organization?
Henry Tolbert [00:25:18]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:25:19]:
What are the gaps on your team that need to be addressed? But then, number three, how far away are you? My lord, you need to know how far away you are.
Henry Tolbert [00:25:29]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:25:29]:
If your vision is to be a pastor and a leader of a church of 250 people, you need to know how far you are away from that goal. And I'm not just talking about attendance numbers.
Henry Tolbert [00:25:43]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:25:43]:
If you're called to lead 250, that's great. That's a goal. That's what you feel like the Lord has put in your heart. I'm not saying if you got 50 people, you're really far away because that's not always the case. I've seen churches who had 50 people, but they were this close to 250 because they had so many things in place. Their worship services were well organized. The presence of God was strong and powerful. They had discipleship stuff in place.
Henry Tolbert [00:26:12]:
They were getting ready for it. But the only thing they were missing is an evangelism strategy. They didn't have a strategy to get people in the door, whatever it may be. So you need to know how far away you are.
Henry Tolbert [00:26:23]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:26:24]:
Internally, organizationally, administratively, how far are you away?
Henry Tolbert [00:26:30]:
Right.
Henry Tolbert [00:26:30]:
How far are you away? You need to understand that those are things that are going to help you understand what you need.
Henry Tolbert [00:26:35]:
All right?
Henry Tolbert [00:26:36]:
That's number four and number five, let me encourage you at the close, all right? I want to show you five testimonies of people that we've worked with. And all of these come from the last year. All of these testimonies come from the last year. And I want to tell you about them because I want to encourage you, because I want you to know that it is possible, but you need help. You just got to find the right help. If you don't find the right help, you're going to be missing out. You got to find the right help. So here are five testimonies.
Henry Tolbert [00:27:06]:
They tell you about the church who went from 15 to 85 in nine months. That's right. In nine months. They believe God. We believe God with them. They put all the right things in place. And so this church that was about to close its doors post pandemic all of a sudden is now doing two services every weekend. What about the church? And this is an uncommon testimony that went from 20 people to 20 people in one year.
Henry Tolbert [00:27:32]:
And some people may not get that, but there are a couple of you leaders who understand this. This leader went from 20 people who were resistant and constantly fighting in an opposition to the vision to now having 20 people who are on board. And even just as of last week, visitors and guests are coming to join the church. New people are showing up every week because now the right team is in place. And this is so big because for some of you, you can't grow because you still got some of the wrong people in the right places. My lord, today I could preach on that.
Henry Tolbert [00:28:11]:
All right.
Henry Tolbert [00:28:14]:
Believe it or not, there can be people on your team who do not want to see the church grow and do not want to see the mission and vision go forward. And because they're standing there, they're blocking everything else from happening. They're almost like a type of azaya where because they're standing in the way, these Isaiahs can't rise up, and you're missing them. I could talk about the church who added 25 new disciples and 30% budget increase in one year, and it was because they trusted God and they got the right help. All right, and that's possible for you, too. That's possible for you. All right, let's talk about this. How about a church that got a new vision with a supporting culture, right? This church young man was transitioning into leadership, taking over for his father.
Henry Tolbert [00:29:03]:
So he inherits a generation of leaders who are a generation or two ahead of him. So they are very analog, very kind of one way to do things, but also very resistant. And as a result, the young people couldn't really rise up. But as we worked together, this pastor was able to see the culture change. And we didn't just get the former generation out of the way, because I don't want you to hear me saying that. I don't want you to hear me saying, okay, let's just get them out of the church. Get them out of here. No, what we eventually did is that we were able to move them and get them on the same page.
Henry Tolbert [00:29:37]:
And so now they're standing alongside the young people, realizing that we need your wisdom, but we need the energy of the next generation. And when we pull those two things together, we build something really special. And they were able to do it. And finally, I'll tell you about a church in the south, down in the Miami area, who went from 15 people coming on a weekend to having a Sunday, just not even a month ago, where they had 18 guests on one day. And I'm telling you, it's all possible as we trust God together, but also as you get the help that you need and so I want to encourage you to get help.
Henry Tolbert [00:30:19]:
Right?
Henry Tolbert [00:30:20]:
I love marvel movies and Avengers movies, and there's this bit that Thor and Loki have, and it's called get help. And it's where Thor kind of uses Loki as a rag doll, and it is this weird thing where it hurts for him, but they call it get help. And I think about that because maybe you're at a point where you've been so beat up and so frustrated and so aggravated that you're at the point where you're saying, man, look, I got to get help. I got to get some help. And maybe this is it. I don't know how you found this podcast. Maybe you found it because you were just scrolling, or maybe you've been following us for a while, or maybe somebody sent it to you to encourage you, whatever it may be. I want to encourage you to get help.
Henry Tolbert [00:31:07]:
And if you want help, I've just laid out for you how to identify help. And so if you know of some sources where you can find help, God bless you. If you think that we could be a help to you, then here's how you can take that next step. You can click the link in the description of this episode, or you can text the word chat chat to 2054-9679-9749-6799-7 you can text chat. And when you text that, we're going to start working to get a call scheduled with you. We're going to jump on a video call together. And on that video call, we're going to talk about how we can begin to move the needle forward for you. All right, listen, I want you to know something.
Henry Tolbert [00:31:48]:
I believe in you. I believe in your church. I believe in the kingdom, and I believe in what God can do if you would choose to partner with him. All right, listen, I hope this is a blessing to you, as always. Until next time, keep the gears turning. Peace.
