First I’ll Evolve, Then I’ll Unleash And Then I’ll Go Exponential

If you are a church planter, church leader…or thinking about being one…I cannot stress enough the need to go to the “Evolve Conference” (February 18-19) by Mountain Lake Church in Atlanta (Cumming), Georgia, the “Unleash Conference” (March 13) by Newspring Church in Anderson, South Carolina and the “Exponential Conference” (April 21-24) in Orlando. I’ll be taking the entire Compass Point staff to “Evolve” and several young leaders-in-training to “Unleash”. Since “Exponential” is in our backyard…we’ll be taking a bunch of people from our church (lay leaders, staff, Elders, etc.) back and forth each day. All of these conferences are very affordable, have some of the best church plant pastors lined up to speak and offer great opportunities to network with some of today’s top church leaders. If you are planning to go to these conferences…drop me an email or put a comment on this post so we can make plans to hook up. Again…get these on your calendar and get registered…QUICK…they are filling up fast!!!

Part IV: The Conclusions

Now that the story has been told…it’s time to add a few final observations, comments and conclusions. I came close to not posting any of it for fear of offending friends, being too open, being seen as a negative person, people getting the wrong idea…and of other pastors trying copy what we are doing…thus perpetuating the clone cycle.

I want to make a few things perfectly clear…

1. Compass Point is not a huge church. Most other pastors that blog are reaching thousands. Compass Point is reaching dozens and sometimes hundreds during any given week. We are not a success compared to what is seen as successful churches these days. That is fine with us…but might not be fine with you. We are reaching people that no other church in Lakeland is reaching…thus it means slow growth…but no overnight success. So I wanted to give full disclosure…nothing I wrote about will make you a megachurch in 30 days or less. I think it will eventually…but who knows?
2. The things we are seeing in Lakeland…most other communities in America are not seeing (maybe they are and I just don’t know it). We are growing into a very large town…a bedroom community for Orlando and Tampa. Most of the folks here are blue collar workers, lower income white collar and artsy college students. What works for us will probably not work for you.
3. The folks that we are reaching…and the numbers we are seeing…doesn’t look too good on paper or in denominational reports. But it sure is rewarding…and humbling.
4. I have nothing against megachurches, modern worship technology or stool-sitting communicators. Those things are fine and work in many situations around the country. They didn’t work for us or our people…so we ditched them.
5. While the leadership of Compass Point and I have limited the amount of input from other resources…it doesn’t mean we have completely cut them out of our lives. We still read books, check out blogs, hang out with other pastors, listen to podcasts and go to conferences. However, we make sure the resources more closely match the direction that Compass Point is moving and are affecting the kind of folks that Compass Point is reaching (more on that in a later post). God uses others to speak to pastors…it would be pretty dumb to ignore what other churches and pastors are doing.
6. This is all still just an experiment. In the end we could be really wrong…and wouldn’t you look like the fool for following what God called us to do.
7. There are a bunch of people going to Hell everyday. There are way better things to do than argue over what may or may not be the best church planting or outreach strategies out there. The purpose of the posts were to help others avoid the mistakes we made…convey what was working for us…but not to start some asinine online argument.
8. So far the negative emails about the series have been criticizing my honesty. Look guys…church planting isn’t easy…and some days just stink!!! If you want cute, happy stories there are plenty of blogs out there that will pump sunshine up your skirt. This isn’t one of them. I love church planting…I love being a shepherd…I love being used by God…I’m having the time of my life right now….but I refuse to pretend that there aren’t difficult days…or that I know what I’m doing. If I knew what I was doing I wouldn’t have to worry about seeking God’s guidance everyday…and someone would ask me to speak at a pastor’s conference.

Now it’s time to move on…

The “Secret” To Church Growth

I have alluded to the fact that the third year of Compass Point’s existience was the most difficult and rewarding in our history.  I’ll share about that in more detail sometime this week or next.  However, I think one of the benefits from this year has been that I’ve discovered the “secret”…or rather “secrets” to church growth.  They are…

1. Follow others.
2. Follow God.

Both will acheieve growth in attendance.  However, only one will acheive growth in baptisms, discipleship, leadership development and truly carrying out the “Great Commission”.  For the shepherding-disabled…that would be the second one listed above.

Though I have never really talked about it on my blog for fear of sounding like a name dropper…I have been honored that men like Shawn Lovejoy, Perry Noble and Dr. Ed Stetzer have taken the time to converse with me about church leadership.  All of them at one point or another in our discussions have talked about limiting input from other sources and just getting in tune with what God was revealing…what His vision is.  It took it a while for the message to get through my thick skull…but once it did things began to change for the better around Compass Point.

I am not opposed to learning as much as I can about church processes and structure from other resources.  I am not opposed to learning how to streamline church strategy from blogs, books, magazines, podcasts or other church leaders.  However, I have learned that it is not okay to get vision from any other source but God.  Vision from other resources can grow a church in the short term…but it cannot grow the Kingdom of God in the long term.

Too many times we as church planters and leaders read about…or hear about…great churches doing great things…and we fall in love with their vision and their flock.  We try to reproduce that in our own communities with our own churches…and deep down I feel that is a sin. When I say sin I mean as in the actual disobedience of not following God’s revelation in our lives.  He calls us to be at work in our community in the way in which He guides us…and we ignore that to chase the latest, greatest church strategy concept so we can sit at the cool kid’s table at a pastor’s conferences.  You can’t call it anything else but sin.

True Kingdom growth by the church you lead can only come from true vision provided by God.  It took me three years to learn to put down the latest business leadership book, turn off the church growth podcast on my iPod, switch off the growth strategy DVD on my  television, set aside the church leadership seminar notes, attend a few less pastor’s conferences…and just take a bunch of time to get with God…and listen.

Church growth is easy…Kingdom growth entails following God…and God alone!!!

Things That Worked For Us In 2007

In contrast to my other 2007 review post here is a list of things that worked for us this year at Compass Point.  It’s a pretty small and simple list…but was hard to come by (more on that in a later post).  We tried most everything else out there to grow a church…only to throw in the towel…and come back to the basics.  In 2007 what worked for us was…

1. We studied the Bible.
2. We followed the Bible.
3. We preached the Bible.
4. Finally, we prayed about everything before we did it…no matter how big or small.

This list reminds me of that scene in the movie “Bull Durham” where the coach is talking to the team in the locker room and says, “Baseball is a simple game.  You throw the ball…you hit the ball…you catch the ball.” 

Seriously…the marketing, technology, programing, music style, etc. is all just window-dressing.  The real meat is with the vision…and you can’t get it…or pass it on…without doing all of the stuff listed above.

Things That Didn’t Work In 2007

Around this time of the year most bloggers are putting up “best of” lists. Leave it to me to put up a “worst of” list. I’m beginning to realize just how different Compass Point is from other churches around Lakeland and the United States. What works everywhere else usually bombs here. 2007 was Compass Point’s third year as a church plant and we did a lot of experimenting…and discovering. When we started the year we were still trying to flesh out who we were…by the time the year ended we knew. The following is a short list of things that didn’t work for us in 2007. It is not to say it wouldn’t work in other churches…it just bombed for Compass Point.

1. Topical messages series as the norm. In 2007 we started the year doing one topical messages series after another. It bombed. We began tp realize that our folks…and the unchurched people they brought with them…we hungry for a deeper teaching of God’s Word. I am not saying that any and all topical preaching is not deep…just the stuff we were doing wasn’t deep. We we just threw out the cute themes, graphics and sermon notes…and concentrated on preaching through a whole book of the Bible…it seemed to click for us. We still do topical series about three times a year (no more than four weeks at a time). The rest of the time it is expository preaching through the whole counsel of God’s Word.

2. Anything affiliated with a movie, television show or the culturally cool. Basing marketing and message series on LOST, Spiderman, 24, sex, bling, Desperate Housewives, etc. works in other churches…but crashes and burns at Compass Point. Our people have a low threshold for cheese…and anything associated with television shows, motion pictures or the latest cool thing…is cheese. We learned that the hard way with the “Evan Almighty” push.

3. Servant evangelism as an organized thing. No offense to my emerging brothers and sisters…but not everyone is called to feed homeless people. After we tried a church-wide, organized servant outreach push…it bombed. That is when we started taking the Scriptures about the body of Christ being separate parts functioning as one unit seriously. There are certain people at Compass Point that love to feed homeless people…there are certain folks that don’t. There are certain people that like setting up sound equipment at 6:00AM on Sundays….there are certain people that don’t. Compass Point needs both types of folks to do what God called us to do. We’ve stopped trying to force people to be “emerging” and just let them do what gifted them for. It’s working for us.

4. Marketing. I have no clue why marketing doesn’t work for us. Some of the disconnected folks coming to Compass Point say they came because “we didn’t send another stupid postcard to their mailbox.” That may be true…a bunch of churches in town send out mass mailing and bombard the local cable television with ads. Most of it is cheesy (see #2 on this list). We’ve put some invite cards into our folks hands to give out if they ask people to come to Compass Point…and that has seemed to work. Our attempts this year to truly market just tanked…hard. We doubled in attendance and tripled in giving…when we just stopped trying to put our name out there…and started trying to put Christ’s name out there. Go figure.

5. Functioning without structure, parameters, accountability and rules. We always prided ourselves with being a church that could make changes quickly. In order for that to happen we had little structure and almost no parameters. It looks cool…sounds cool…it isn’t cool. It is one of the main reasons we couldn’t take the next steps because you can’t manage what you can’t measure. Without parameters, written expectations and doctrinal guidelines we were failing fast. In September we started talking to some other churches about what they do. In October we went up to the “Best Practices Practicum” (there’s another one coming up May 12-13, 2008…don’t miss it) at Mountain Lake Church in the Atlanta area and hung out with Shawn Lovejoy and his staff. God literally used it to save Compass Point Church. We came back with ideas, plans…and most importantly parameters. We are going into 2008 with bylaws, leadership structure, job descriptions, doctrinal guidelines, rules, regulations, evaluations, budgets. etc. It has rocked our world for the better!!!

6. The junk we found in leadership and business books, magazines or podcasts. The secular world is not the Christian world. Companies are trying to make billions…churches are trying to reach people for Christ. Businesses have the idea that first is best…Christ said the first had to be last. Companies are trying to get ahead as quick as they can…churches are suppose to take the time to disciple. Trying to apply anything from a Fortune 500 company to a church is like trying to mix oil and water. We tried it…it was stupid…it bombed. We chunked the business books in 2007 and started reading the Bible. Way better stuff about leadership in it…not to mention it’s Godly leadership. Enough said.

7. Bigger is better. This isn’t a shot at megachurches…just something we discovered for ourselves. At Compass Point every time we tried to do something huge or really hype something…it bombed. The whole “be sure to be there next Sunday because we have a HUGE announcement that is going to totally change Compass Point in a HUGE way because I’m so pumped about it” fell into the cheese category for us…and thus came crashing to the ground. We discovered..the hard way…that our folks hate hype, but love to be crammed in. We stopped the hard push on events and started downsizing our meeting space. Last month we went from using all of the gymnasium to only using half. Our people loved it…and brought a bunch of new people the following weeks. In a time when most churches struggle with attendance because of the holidays…we had record attendance and salvation responses.

8. Winging, stealing, copying or borrowing sermons. Trying to use what God laid on other pastor’s hearts…and waiting until the last minute to prepare for the message I was going to bring…just wasn’t working. In October we just ditched it. When I get a little burned out from preaching week after to week these days…I just take a Sunday or two off and let someone else have it. Though I must admit I don’t take that many Sundays off these days from burnout. Spending more time in God’s Word each week and having an structured study and prayer regiment has opened up so many new avenues for fresh preaching and sermon ideas.

9. Lack of spiritual discipline. The whole “go along to get along” concept works well in liberal politics…but has no place in the church. We were so afraid of offending people and running off disconnected people that Compass Point allowed anything in the doors. Consequently there were various types of cancer within our midst. You can only do two things with cancer…cure it or cut it out. We spent too much time in 2007 trying to cure cancer to no avail. We learned that many times the best Biblical approach was to cut it out. It sounds harsh…it sounds unloving…but mostly is sounds Scriptural. It is not easy…it is painful…it is needed for both the church and the person causing the offense. It is rare…it is a last resort…it is something that Compass Point no longer puts off doing when needed.

10. Trying to be a communicator. The whole sitting on a stool sipping coffee calmly talking into a Countryman mic strapped over my ear just wasn’t working for Compass Point or me. I grew up listening to “fire and brimstone” preachers like Sam Cathey. I use to be comedian that walked all over the stage with a microphone in my hand. This whole civilized sit down and teach thing was not what God designed me to be. I am a preacher. I get loud…I get animated…I get up and walk around. I think of myself more of a barbarian in the pulpit than a statesman. In November we chunked the stool, canned the coffee and ditched the Countryman mic. God began to move, I got energized and the folks of Compass Point responded. We discovered that a mule may not be as pretty as a stallion…but most folks relate to the mule.

My Favorite Post Of 2007

This post got me in an international Associated Press article and on Fox News. This post received the most flaming emails. This post received the most criticism from other blogs. This post caused the biggest hits ever to my blog. However, it is the following post from June 11th that is my favorite from 2007. The cloning of churches in America is one of my biggest pet peeves and this post is probably the closest to my heart over the last year. I have reposted it for those that initially missed it.

CLONES

I’m a clone.
I know it and I’m fine.
I’m one and more are on the way!
- Alice Cooper in “Clones (We’re All)”

Clones are everywhere. Everyone is “real, relevant and relational”. Everyone is “doing church differently”. Everyone is “authentic”. Everyone is a “new community of faith”. Everyone…is beginning to look the same.

The same tag lines. The same lighting system. The same message series. The same praise band. The same videos. The same…welll…the same.

You’ve never seen church like this? You can’t throw a rock in any direction in America without hitting a church that looks like that!!!

It started out with a few in each town. They did it…and did it well. They reached people for Christ, baptized them, discipled them and then shepherd them into leadership. It was successful. It was incredible. It was a mighty tool for the Kingdom of God. It was yesterday!

Move on. Think outside the box. Be creative. Innovate. Paint a new picture on a blank canvas. Color beyond the lines. Invent. Redefine. Provide an alternative. Imagine. Inspire. Be original. Become the first. Lead the way. Raise the bar. Blaze a new trail. Go where no man has gone before. See past the horizon. Dream. Dream big. Dream new!!!

Whatever you do, aspire to be more…than just a clone. The Kingdom of God…and a lost world…needs it.

The Title Of Lead Pastor

At Compass Point we take the titles of our leaders very seriously. We don’t set a title just because some other church has done it…or it looks cool. We mainly give a leader a title for two reasons:

1. To clearly communicate to the flock of Compass Point what that leader’s role is.
2. To remind the leader what they are there for as a servant to God and as a shepherd to Compass Point.

Over the last few months I have noticed some bloggers kind of taking shots at the title of Lead Pastor. I can only speak for myself and why I have the title of Lead Pastor at Compass Point. It is solely for the the second reason listed above.

I truly believe that the head earthly shepherd of a flock should be leading out in all areas of spiritual development and example. I think that the CEO model of church leadership is flawed and is not in any way Biblical. The idea that the Lead Pastor…Senior Pastor…sits in an office, only interacts with the top level leaders, studies for preaching 50 hours a week and never gets out among disconnected people was not an example set by Jesus Christ. I realize that there comes a numeric size in church where it becomes difficult for a pastor to do everything…to be there for everyone…we are seeing that firsthand at Compass Point right now. I also realize that there has to be times when teaching, preaching and leading pastors shut out the world to concentrate on God. However, being an example and setting the bar for accountability, lifestyle, discipleship and evangelism is something a Lead Pastor or Senior Pastor should never delegate.

The reason that I prayerfully chose the title of Lead Pastor over Senior Pastor is strictly a reminder to me that I’m not a CEO setting at the top of major corporation barking out orders to my underlings. It is a title that reminds me that I have to be out in front actively leading others to do the things for which God has called us to do as followers of Christ and the Bible. It reminds me that I must be more than just a hearer of His Word…but an actual doer of His Word. I should always being setting the example by leading out in…

• Developing a more deeper personal relationship with God.
• Developing a more deeper understanding of God’s Word.
• Spending many hours a week in Bible study and serious prayer.
• Being a Godly, loving husband that knows when to say “no” to the outside world.
• Living a life above reproach.
• Leading my family in the ways of the Lord.
• Modeling submission to proper accountability.
• Fleeing from all appearances of evil.
• Knowing good, sound doctrine and being able to convey that to others.
• Planting Scriptural seed in the lives of those I come in contact with.
• Being open and active in the areas where the Holy Spirit is watering planted seed.
• Mentoring those that can take the next steps in following God’s calling for their lives.
• Encouraging folks to really development an intimate relationship with our Father.
• Developing authentic relationship with others…both believes and non-believers.
• Physically helping around the church.
• Worshipping in Spirit and in Truth.
• Being a friend to “the least of these”.
• Displaying wisdom in the things that I say, do…and write (I struggle in this area)
• Not allowing “snakes in the playground” by tolerating bad doctrine or false teaching.
• Go to places that Jesus would have gone…which isn’t always the four walls of the church.
• Being a shepherd…not a CEO…to the flock of Compass Point.

Seldom is a day when I am not giving out my business card to someone. I’m reminded each time I see my title on the card…that as the Lead Pastor of Compass Point…I am to do more than just tell people how to live their lives according to the Scriptures…I am also to show it.

We’re In This Together

I seem to confuse people.  At times I blog about my friends that lead modern churches and at other times I ask questions online that are almost…well…Emergent.  I seem to be all over the map…and pull ideas from everywhere.  I keep getting emails asking me to clarify which one I am…modern…or post-modern.  The answer is…I am neither…yet…I am both. 

At the ripe old age of 41, I’ve learned never to negate things just because it’s not your idea…movement…church style…community…calling…denomination…etc.  As the leader and shepherd of a church I cannot afford to ignore any thing which God is using for His glory in other churches.  It doesn’t mean that I go out and copy them…or try to apply something to Compass Point which does not fit our situation.  However, it does mean that I check it out, be amazed by it, apply it when I can and be happy…and celebrate…that God is allowing another church to use it to reach people.

Gary Lamb’s church is a polar opposite of what God is doing at Compass Point.  Yet, I have spent almost as much time on my knees praising God for what He is doing through Ridgestone as I do for Compass Point.  Travis Johnson’s church attracts a multi-ethnic audience, where as Compass Point attracts young, white, artsy 20-somethings.  Yet, he and I throughly enjoy trading ideas back and forth.  Tadd Grandstaff has not even launched his church yet and Compass Point has been going about three years.  However I am constantly inspired by his blog.

The point is…we are all in this together…no matter what style of church we are called to be.  The guys I mentioned above pastor churches that are not even remotely like Compass Point…yet, the folks of Compass Point have enjoyed some of the ideas we have used from those other churches (the ideas have been tweaked..of course…to fit into the "Compass Point way").

This leadership thing is an ongoing process.  Something…that I pray…I never stop growing in…learning in…and furthering my knowledge in.  Creativity and innovation is hard enough to accomplish without limiting ourselves by only accepting ideas from within our comfort zone…or small circle of like-minded "friends".  Shepherding people in their walk with the Father is hard enough without ignoring the suggestions…and successes…of other pastors just because they don’t identify with my little identity group.

To try an answer the original question again…I am both modern…and post-modern.  I am both conservative…and charismatic.  I am both simple…and complex.  The only thing I am willing to leave unchanged is the fact that God’s Word is without error and that it is the ultimate authority in my life…and the life of Compass Point.  Other than that…I am open to trying anything!!!  I am willing to hear…and apply…any idea…from any source…that can help me reach more disconnected people in Lakeland, Florida for Jesus Christ.

Another Question That Plagues Me

If you could start a movement…a revolution…would you settle for just starting a church???

A Repost About Total Attendance

Over the last several months I have received a few emails from church pastors/planters asking me to point them to a post I wrote last year about not getting jazzed about attendance totals.  I basically wrote that percentages give a much clearer picture of the spiritual health of a church…not the totals.  After receiving another email request this morning I just decided to just repost the whole thing.  Here goes…

We Stopped Looking At Totals

Unlike many church planters, I didn’t spend college taking
Bible courses or attending seminary (I’ll share more about this in a later
post). I was a business major. I fell in love with economics, accounting and
statistics.  However, it was
macro-management that really got me emotionally charged . . . the ability to
see the big picture of a company then determine success, failure or needed
change. In those classes I learned that
totals don’t really prove anything in business – it’s percentages that show
success or failure.

Several years ago I arrived at the idea that totals prove
very little in church work when I was doing some administrative consulting at a
Central Florida church. They were having some financial problems and I was brought in to make
suggestions on where they could cut. After looking things over I felt – among many things – that the $60,000
salary package they were paying the youth pastor was way too much.  They were not getting their bang for their buck.

A healthy youth ministry in any church should count for no
less than 10% of the total attendance in the church. The youth pastor had been there for almost
eight years. He took the youth group
from 55 teens to a little over 100 in that time. For many churches this youth group total
would be cause for celebration! The
problem . . . the church ran over 2,500 in weekly attendance. In over seven years the youth pastor and
youth ministry was bringing in less than 5% of the people. To make matters worse, they had never had one
youth baptism. Almost all the kids had
church homes before coming to this church. The totals looked good, yet the percentages showed the church was
getting the bum deal.  They kept the pastor on staff, but set some new goals for him.

In my life as a pastor – first on staff at other churches –
and now as Lead Shepherd of Compass Point, I am amazed at how many pastors
don’t understand that totals don’t really mean much. When I have a guy at a pastor’s conference
tell me they are running 500 in worship I wonder, “500 what?” Does he mean 500 people that didn’t have a
church home or 500 people that hopped over from other local churches? Does he mean 500 folks that are getting a
meaningful weekly dose of community and Bible study in small groups or 500
people that just show up for the Sunday morning “show” to enjoy the cool videos,
kicking lights and rocking band?

I’m honestly not trying to sound holier-than-thou, I just
think it’s time we started asking some tough questions about what total
attendance numbers really show. It’s
easy to spout off a cool “pastoral” number at a planter’s conference to pump up
our fragile preacher egos or “one-up” someone else – which I have been known to
do. The question though, comes down to .
. . are we really affecting people for change with our church plants? To answer that question, Compass Point
stopped looking at totals and started looking at what we feel are the important numbers . . . percentages.

When we planted we took the time to really look at what
our
goals were as a church plant and to design a ruler for measuring
whether we
were actually meeting the vision. We felt
a calling to reach unchurched people. For us unchurched is defined as
anyone not actively involved in a church
for over sixteen months. To break it
down into modern church-planting concepts our initial target market was
not based on age, race, social-economic status, music style, location,
etc. It was simply the unchurched of Lakeland, Florida.

We also wanted to make sure that folks were not getting
saved, baptized and then out the back door. We knew that small groups were of paramount importance to Compass Point
- much more so than even Sunday mornings. For us success was not how many unchurched people came through the front
door, but how many never exited out the back door.

The measuring stick we set for determining success, failure
or the need to make changes was based on percentages. Since the spiritual goal for our flock is
life change and ongoing spiritual growth we only count Sunday attendance in
order to compute the percentages. Please
also note, we have never had a numeric goal for Compass Point - only
spiritual ones.

We concluded that success in meeting the purpose and calling
of Compass Point meant that we needed to see 70% of our attenders be unchurched
– having had no church home in at least sixteen months. As I stated in yesterday’s post over 80% of
our folks meet this goal. Within that
percentage almost half have had no church home in their entire life before
coming to Compass Point.

We also determined that Compass Point would not be
considered a healthy church until over 65% of our attenders were actively
involved in a weekly small group. At
present our percentage is around 58% so we have more work to do there. I really won’t be happy until we reach
100%. Lofty goals I know, but necessary!

Compass Point was planted to reach
people that other
churches were not. In essence, we would
be horrified to know that we pulled one person from another church. We
were never called to illicit “Kingdom
trading”, we were planted to see “Kingdom growth”.  Tracking
percentages and not totals is the only way to make sure we are not
engaging in pulling people from other churches!

As a church plant seeking to reach unchurched
people with the Good News of Jesus Christ, we have dismissed totals as
way of
determining success. Totals – for us –
are like a Polaroid. Pretty to look at and able to be quickly produced,
but strictly show a shot of the surface. To
measure our ability to meet our calling we need an MRI or X-ray to see
what the make-up is like on the inside. For us, using percentages meets
that need.