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Question 7: Services

How Do We Match What We Say Is Important and What We Really Do?

The final session with Jeremy and his team was still a couple weeks out—it was a Tuesday and I had a phone conference scheduled with Jeremy. Whenever we work with churches, we spend ample time in between live strategy sessions dialoguing over the phone about next steps and implementation, and it also serves as a time for the pastor to ask pending questions that we can help to navigate through. I called Jeremy and got caught up on how things were going and how the team was responding. Everything was positive and Jeremy reported that the team’s spirit was high. Their confidence was growing as direction for the future was becoming crystal clear. They truly felt that their best days were ahead of them.

As we continued to talk, we ran through a few questions Jeremy had and before we knew it an hour had gone by. Jeremy said to me, “Chris, before we hang up I wanted to ask you one more question.” I said, “Sure, fire away.” He said, “In two weeks we are having our last strategy session on the seven unavoidable questions every leader must answer. I noticed that the next strategy session says ‘services.’ I am assuming that is our Sunday services, correct?”

I said, “Yes, that is correct.”

He asked, “Is there anything I need to know or anything that would be helpful for me going into this session?”

“Well, Jeremy,” I said, “I’m glad you asked because it was on my agenda to talk with you about today. There are a few things you need to be prepared to discuss when we meet again.”

I told Jeremy that “for the last few months we have been working diligently on creating clear mission and strategy, really diving in to what the focus of your church will be and how we are going to make it happen. I believe God has helped us develop a strong and clear model that, if we work it, will work. Would you agree?”

Quickly he responded, “Absolutely! I have never felt so confident about the future. We are on the right track.”

I said, “I’m so glad you feel that way too. However, this final step is the one that may be the most difficult. Up to this point we have been creating strategies, and quite honestly, most of them are fairly nonthreatening. But now we are going to look at the weekend services, and here is the most difficult question: Does the style, language, and environment match the audience we say we are trying to reach? If yes, then great, but if not, then what are we willing to change so that services and strategy match?” There was a long pause on the phone, and I could tell it was a little bit of an awakening. He was contemplating something that most likely he hadn’t thought through or at least hadn’t given enough thought to.

He spoke up and confirmed my feelings. “I don’t think I’ve really thought that through all the way. This may cause me to have to change. It’s going to cause other leaders and people who have been at the church longer than I have to be open to change, but I’m not sure if they are. This could also affect our finances. If I lose some key givers in all this, it could create some financial pressure.” I said, “Jeremy, you are right that it may cause some issues. My desire is to help you successfully navigate any changes that may be necessary. But understand that you must get clarity on what you want to do before we meet with your team and before we extend this down toward your leaders and volunteers. As a leader you must prayerfully choose whatever direction God is putting on your heart and then have the courage and wisdom to lead the people to where God is taking you.

“In my years of doing this, I have learned a couple things: first, most pastors would rather hold to an old way that isn’t working than discover a new way that does work. Most don’t want to think of themselves as traditional, but we all are to some degree. Tradition in the dictionary is defined as ‘a long-established way of thinking or behaving.’ We all have our ways of thinking and doing things, and we’ve been thinking and doing it that way for years. Whether you are thirty years of age or sixty, you have traditions. The question isn’t, ‘Am I traditional?’ The question is, ‘Am I willing to trade those traditions for transformation?’ How badly do you want to see more people transformed by the power of God’s love? How badly do you want to see your church grow and truly impact the community God has called you to? What are you willing to do to see this happen?” Jeremy jumped in and said, “I completely understand what you are saying. Those are some real and honest questions.”

Then I said, “The second thing I’ve noticed, Jeremy, is that we as pastors often live in fear of what a few people in our church might say or do if we decide to make necessary changes. Often we allow these people to own us. We lead from a position of fear that they may leave, that they may talk, and that we can’t financially afford to lose them. Those are real and validated fears. However, you must understand that if you allow people to own you then God can’t. He has to have the final word in where you are taking this church, not someone who holds their attendance or their pocketbook over your head. Again, I am not saying that these fears aren’t real, I’m just saying that these fears can’t have the final word in your leadership.”

Jeremy said, “Thanks so much for being honest and candid with me. There are a lot of changes that need to happen with our strategy and a few changes that need to take place in our approach on Sundays. What I’m hearing you say is that I need to make sure that I am confident going into our upcoming meeting with what I feel God has called us to do and be and then lead our team and church in that direction.” I said, “Yes, you are correct. I am not telling you which way to lead, but I am telling you to prayerfully consider what changes need to happen. Then together we can navigate those changes. But you are the one who must ultimately lead this and you cannot lead from a position of insecurity; you have to lead with confidence. In our next strategy session we will talk about some ideas on how to improve your weekend services and a little about navigating change. But again, Jeremy, I just wanted to help you be prepared by discussing this with you today.” We spent a few minutes praying together over the phone, confirmed the time and date for our final strategy session, and said good-bye.

Before I knew it, two weeks had passed and I was sitting back in the conference room with Jeremy and the team. We opened in prayer and immediately dove into the final question on the whiteboard:

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On this trip my wife Laura was able to join me and we actually got into town a day early. We had spent the day before walking through the city, hanging out, shopping (well, she was shopping and I was watching), and just simply having a great time together. One funny thing happened while we were walking down the main boulevard that I had to share with Jeremy and the team. I told them that we were walking past this large area that had been roped off and in the middle was a giant BBQ and lots of picnic benches. It was sort of an outdoor BBQ restaurant. The big banner at the top said, “Best crab in town.” Although it had a big BBQ grill, it only served crab and side dishes, no meat that you would typically find at a BBQ. The sign on the left side of the entrance said, “Today’s special—Crab legs, corn on the cob, and beans.” Then the sign on the right side of the entrance said, “Sorry, out of crab legs.” Now maybe it’s just me, but I found that hilarious. The main thing on the menu is crab, the BBQ is set up in the middle to cook crab, the sign at the top claimed it had the best crab in town, and the sign at the entrance included crab in today’s special . . . but they were out of crab. The main thing they were about was crab. If crab is going to be the main thing that people are coming to experience, then you better have crab and it better be good.

I looked at the team and I told them, “Your Sunday service is your crab, and because it’s the main thing then it better be good.” They all kind of laughed but they got the message. I continued by telling them, “There are two things to consider: One is how can we make our Sunday services better? The other is what changes need to be made in order for our mission and strategy to match our services?”

At South Hills Church we haven’t done everything right. As a matter of fact, I think my next book should be on all the things we have done wrong. I can’t even imagine how thick that book would be! But one thing we have done right is that we have always been clear about our mission. We have been a church committed to helping those disconnected from God find a relationship with him. That mission and drive have directly impacted how we approach our Sunday services. We’ve always wanted to maintain a passion for worship, hearts of generosity, and relevant messages that anyone (church or unchurched) could grow in and be challenged by. We like to say at our church that we are bilingual. Not in Spanish and English, but in the way that we communicate and present the messages and services. We will always keep in mind those who have an active faith in Jesus and those who are exploring the possibilities of having one. We want to help those who are believers grow but not lose those who are not. We want to create services that people (saved or unsaved) love to attend.

In short, we realize at our church that, unlike the NFL, we don’t have the luxury of having only one Super Bowl per year. We have fifty-two Super Bowls. Fifty-two times when we host our main gatherings. This is the place where hopefully our people have invested in and invited those neighbors and friends who are far from God. These are the times when our mission comes to life and our strategy is played out. Most of us would look at Easter as Super Bowl Sunday and I can understand why. But I challenge you to consider that we have fifty-two Super Bowls and every one of them is important. Every one of them is an opportunity for our church to fulfill its mission and for us to move people (churched and unchurched) a few inches closer to the Master.

As our team has traveled and experienced many services through those we have coached and the churches that are part of our affiliate program, we have noticed a few things about the approach toward the Sunday services.

When it comes to making our services something that both the churched and the unchurched love to attend, it seems we are never short of excuses for why we find it difficult to be creative and to reshape our services. Here are some examples:

I think we need to remember that our Sunday services need to be events that people love to attend, events that our current church people love so much that they bring their friends to check out, and those friends also love so much that they come back and bring their friends, and so on and so on. Because of this we have got to wrestle, work, strategize, and get the help needed. Whether we like it or not, our services are the biggest entry point. Some people like to argue that in the book of Acts people would win their friends to Christ and then bring them to church. However, that is not true for our culture today. Your services are the first step in new people engaging in the life of your church, so they need to be good. From the curb to the chair, we need to work hard to give a meaningful experience to the people who show up to our services. We need to be willing to put transformation before tradition, to challenge our overall experience on the weekend. Our preaching, our music, our style, our series, our children’s department, our guest services, our videos, our graphics . . . everything! We have to be willing and open to look at it all and ask the tough question, “How do we match what we say is important and what we really do?”

Have you ever called a company and had to go through their automated system, which frustrates you? You finally get to where you need to be in the system and they put you on hold and play some cheesy music. About every sixty seconds a voice comes on and says, “Thank you for your patience, your call is very important to us. Please stay on the line and the next available operator will assist you.” Now here’s the irritating part (at least for me). I am being told, after twenty minutes of sitting on the phone, that “your call is important.” So important that we don’t have enough people on staff to take care of you and so we are going to make you wait. I’m sure that I am just being cynical, but I bet a few of you have felt the same way. If my call is that important and you truly care about me that much, then why am I on hold for twenty minutes? It seems like what they say is important is not what they actually do.

This example works for us in the church world. We have got to answer this seventh question and make sure that what we say is important actually matches what we really do. If we are about reaching people, do our services show that? If we are about connecting with people, does our Sunday experience express that? If we want our church to be a place that people love to attend, then we must ask, Are we there yet? Are we willing to change to get there? Here’s a question I love asking pastors: If you weren’t the pastor of your church, would you attend there? More pastors say no to this question than say yes. This is a huge problem! If we know what our mission is and what we are trying to accomplish, then we have to make sure that what we are doing on the weekend truly represents that. Otherwise we are no better than the company that tells us we are important but then puts us on hold for twenty minutes.

After I shared all of this with Jeremy and the team, one of them raised his hand and said, “I don’t think that what we are doing on Sunday is currently reflecting the mission we have recently created. I think we need to consider making some changes. I mean, if we are honest, what we are doing isn’t helping us grow.” I was wondering what Jeremy was going to say to this, but just as I was thinking it, Jeremy jumped in and said, “You are absolutely right. Our mission that God has given us doesn’t reflect what we do on Sundays. We are not getting the results we want because we have been too concerned with the few who might not like it rather than the many who need it. We are not going to change overnight, because I don’t think that would be wise, but we are going to start moving toward matching our mission and our services. We are going to create services people love to attend. We cannot and will not continue on the same path. We have a clear mission and a clear strategy and now we need to line it all up.”

It was a bold and courageous statement that only a confident and strong leader could make, to put God’s mission that he has laid on your heart above everything else. It sounds easy but it’s not. I remembered telling Jeremy on the phone just two weeks earlier that he would need to decide how his services will match the mission and strategy that God had helped us develop. I was so proud of him at that moment. He was ready to lead the team toward making the necessary changes that would move their church to a place of continual and sustainable growth. But honestly, this is what real leaders do. They lead the staff, team, and church toward the vision God has called them to. They are willing to make the changes necessary, even in themselves. They don’t live in fear of the few because they see the big picture. Throughout Scripture God called leaders to lead with courage—Gideon, Moses, Aaron, David, Peter, Paul, and the list goes on. That same God is calling you to lead your church through the changes necessary to help the ministry you are leading reach its absolute fullest potential. Lead with courage. Lead with boldness. Let fear submit to your belief that God can and will lead you through. You can do this, my friend.

The team was excited about Jeremy’s newfound courage. They were excited that change was on the horizon and they were up for the challenge. I said to the team, “I cannot tell you what to do or what to change. I can give you some suggestions as food for thought on your services and I can help you create a road map for implementing change, but in the end it will be Jeremy’s decision on what changes are made.” I got out of my seat and went over to the whiteboard and began to jot down some notes for them to consider. I told them, “Here are some potential things you could contemplate regarding your services.”

Creative communication—Make sure when preaching to consider the audience, and to learn how to communicate to both the churched and the unchurched. Remember that a longer message doesn’t make it a better one. Say it in the most engaging and creative way possible. Because the message is such a big part of what people are engaging with, it’s important to become the best communicator you can. Get the help you need. Get someone to coach you. Don’t let pride get in the way of your getting better.

Creative elements—There are so many resources out there to help you make the service more creative: videos that help enhance your theme for the service, props that can be used as illustrations during the message, songs that can drive the point home. Here’s something you can do: put together a creative team of four to five people. Plan the themes of your message (not the whole message) four to six weeks ahead and let your creative team come up with ideas that match the theme and would enhance the overall experience. We have done this at South Hills since day one. It’s not a matter of money or something only a big church can do. Anyone can do this if they are willing to do the work. Trust me, it will be worth it.

Creative series—One of our greatest series throughout the year is known as family month. This is when all campuses and all departments are focused on this one series. It usually lasts for about four weeks and deals with the family. Topics range from communication in the family, learning to forgive, and making time for your family to intimacy in marriage, raising your children, etc. We figure out ways to advertise it to the community as a citywide family month, we challenge people to find families who need these topics, we have everyone on the first week wear a rubber wristband that states the theme, and we ask them to wear it all month. It is a big deal. My point is that we have creative series every month and we have been doing this since we had little to no budget. We just figured it out. Plan your series in advance and get creative. Find topics that the average person is struggling with and address them from God’s perspective. You will find that the people of your church will start feeling incredibly confident that every Sunday is the right Sunday for them to bring their friends.

I told the team, “I could go a lot further on these subjects regarding your services, but for now this gives you enough to consider. The main point I want to convey is to make sure that your mission and services match, that what you say is important is what you really do. Never let tradition win over transformation, and do the work necessary so that you can present the gospel of Jesus Christ in the best way possible. It’s not about putting on a show, which I believe some people use as an excuse not to do the work. It’s about presenting the message of Jesus in a way that people far from God can connect and relate to. It’s about fulfilling the Great Commission in a way that makes sense to those who need to hear it.”

I could tell that the team was excited. The transformation that took place from the first day we met to now was nothing short of a miracle. God truly birthed new vision and new life into this team. I told them, “Now we will need to create a plan on how to begin bringing people on board. We will need to meet with your top leaders and then your volunteers. Not so much about the services, though that will come, but about all the other elements that they will need to buy in to—the mission, strategy, values, metrics, and culture. I will meet with Jeremy and we will set out a plan. How you roll this out is important and will play a big part in your overall success, so we need to get this right.”

I concluded our final time together in the same way I want to conclude our time together in this book. I want to encourage you to do the work necessary to create the clear picture and plan that God has for your church. God’s heart is for your church to win—to be a place of life change and transformation and to build a church that lives in the stage of Increase. Do what the apostle Paul said to do and “fight the good fight” (1 Tim. 6:12). Let your heart rise up with courage and let your spirit be filled with greater passion than you have ever experienced. Stay hungry and humble and don’t be so prideful that you refuse to get the help you need. We lean on God because we need him, but he leans on you because he is counting on you to lead his church toward greatness. In him, through him, and because of him, you are enough. Go to work on the seven unavoidable questions every leader must answer, and I promise that God will answer you with an explosion of his spirit on your life and ministry. The best is yet to come!