Books

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Breaking the Missional Code by Ed Stetzer tonight. I went through two highlighters in this book, a new record. There is so much great stuff and I highly recommend it as required reading for anyone who wants to help their church reach people. Here are a few of the high points:

      I also had to chance to read Mark Dever’s pamphlet on elders in Baptist life. I recently attended the Founder Conference in Owasso, which is put on by reformed minded churches who in most cases still have the office of elder in their governance. I think that some are of the mind that these reformed churches are not very appealing to young people, and in many cases this is true, but there are several reformed churches that are having great success with younger generations. This is especially true with college students, who are favoring the works of John Piper (a pastor), Derrick Webb (a musician), and Mark Driscoll.

      This is the second book I have read this year on eldership within the church, the other being Elders in Congregational Life by Phil A. Newton. In Edmond I had some great discussions with college students, local church staff, and our business administrator about eldership that spurred my interest. Here are a few of Dever’s high points for your consideration:

• The Biblical offices of the church widely recognized in the new testament are bishops or elders and deacons.
• Elder and deacon are not synonymous. Dever frames it this way, "Their (deacons) work is to care for the physical and fiscal needs of the church, to create unity in the body, and to support the work of the pastors and elders."
• New Testament churches had a plurality of elders in a single local church.
• Elders are to direct or lead the church.
• The staff is to determine how to carry out the pastoral directions set out by the elders, though the staff may themselves be elders.

      I believe that I am beginning to lean more towards the reformed mind set personally, but desire that it be a part of a church that incarnates the Gospel within their context.

I am going to the bookstore this week to pick up the next round of readings. Do you have any suggestions, whether church related or not?

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They Like Jesus But Not The Church for awhile now.  I first ran into Dan Kimball at the first National Pastor’s Convention in San Diego where I helped lead worship.  I sat in on one of his classes and was enthralled.  I really connect with Dan’s work and want to invite you guys to join me in reading this book.  I would like to hear from you if you have already read the book or let me know if you plan on picking up the book and we can meet at a local coffee shop and talk about the book.  Let’s get together friends.

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Your Marketing Sucks and wanted to convey something stuck out to me from one of the final chapters.  In the chapter entitled "Pick the Low Hanging Fruit" we encounter the term "cross-selling."  Cross-selling basically means that you try and sell another product to an existing customer.  This idea struck me because I think that is what we can do inside the church.  We cross sell the Gospel and our events to existing customers.  We have to go out and find people who don’t already have the Gospel.  Stop cross-selling and start opening lines of communication with people who aren’t within the church.

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Your Marketing Sucks by Mark Stevens this week.  Stevens uses this book to discuss his idea of Extreme Marketing.  The book begins as Stevens discuss how many companies waste their money on marketing with no goal or metric to measure the success of the marketing.  I have blogged before about metrics and as the marketing director and web administrator at Arrow Heights I can attest to how our new web site and blogs are mentioned by countless people as the reason why they are visiting our church.  The second chapter deals with what is called closing in the sales world.  "Nothing really happens until a sale is made," is the mantra that gets repeated throughout the book.  It reminds me of the speech Alec Baldwin gives in Glengarry Glen Ross where he says, "Coffee is for closers."  …………I am sorry I got lost watching that clip on YouTube for a minute.  So how do you measure marketing for a church and what exactly does it mean to close.  You can’t sell the Gospel.  It is not for sale.  Only God can can work in a man’s heart to bring him to saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  I can measure how effective an ad was.  I can measure how many people are visiting our web site.  I can ask people to tell me how they heard about our church.  A few things that I am taking away from the first half of the book is the need to align leadership with the marketing.  The fourth chapter was about making a spectacle of yourself or company.  The book came recommended by Seth Godin and I would have to say Godin’s book Purple Cow is a great read on making your organization stand out in a crowd.  In Tulsa the density of churches is incredible.  You have heard it said that there is a church on every corner, well at 101st and Elm there are 3 churches on the corner.  So many churches.  I don’t think there is a need to stand out in a crowd of churches for the sake of the churched.  There are so many great churches in our area ministering to the saved that you have a great chance of finding a good church.  My goal is to help Arrow Heights stand out as a church that cares for and ministers the unchurched.  Steve Furtnick says Elevation church is all about the numbers.  The number of lives changed.  The number of addictions broken.  The number of marriages healed.  I think that if we are going to see amazing transformation in the lives of people who are far from God then we had better start opening lines of communication with people who are far from God. 

      How can we keep our marketing from sucking?  We can create synergy through alignment.  When I think of what closing for the church means I am reminded of this passage of scripture from 1 Corinthians 3:

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

      I am only a servant of God and my job is to plants seeds.  We are all responsible for watering those seeds, but God is the one who makes it grow.  This is why Arrow Heights is "developing" authentic disciples and not "creating" them.  God creates them and He has given us the tools and resources needed to develop them.  Marketing is planting and the most fertile field for me looks very different than you may think.  Fertile ground for me is a place where there are people who are far from God.  People who don’t know God.  People who don’t know why they are far from God.  That is the fertile soil that must be worked.  Will you work with me?  Will you help plant?  Will you take these seeds to fertile soil?

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      I sat in the cafe reading the book "Broken Windows, Broken Business" by Michael Levine.  I was reading the chapters dealing with bad employees as broken windows.  The premise of the book is based off of UCLA professor James Wilson’s theory that if your go into a neighborhood and see a broken window or graffiti, that if the problem isn’t fixed quickly within 72 hours that it sends the message that the criminals are in charge.  This theory was put to the test by Rudy Giuliani in New York City with amazing results. Levine took this theory and applied it to business.  After visiting Jim Norton I want to talk through a few chapters.  The employees at Jim Norton were very hospitable and I can’t say a thing about them except, "well done."  This is customer service and in the church our staff, greeters, ushers, and members are our customer service representatives.  Every time someone walks into our church every member needs to realize that they are the first impression of our church.  This book is really amazing and has me thinking in so many directions about how we can improve our first impressions, follow up, and overall guest experience.  Remember to smile this weekend at church and shake lots of hands.  Welcome people you don’t know.  Sit in the middle of the pew so that first time guests don’t feel awkward about brushing past you to get to a seat.  Volunteer your time on the weekend to help pick up trash on the campus or edge the sidewalks.  Look for broken things in the church and tell someone in charge about it.

     Why should we care?  There are several things around the church that are in disrepair.  We are raising funds to repair some of those items, but there is a lot of work to be done and our facility team is working hard to keep up and the list is long.  Here is the thing though.  I think that there are a lot of us in the pews that could pitch in to make a difference.  We have a lot of small things sending signals to outsiders.  These perceptions become reality.  "I visited AHBC and the people were nice but there were a bunch of ceiling tiles missing in the ceiling, paint peeling off the building, trash in the parking lot, signs were missing letters, dead plants…I just felt that if they couldn’t take care of the building how well were they taking care of my children."  I don’t think that statement is too far fetched.  Put yourself in the shoes of a visitor who has never been here before.  Come to church this weekend with a fresh perspective.  Look around for broken things and let me know about them.  Volunteer some time to help make AHBC an amazing place.  Make it a family affair.  Become emotionally attached to this community.  I am done for now.  I still have several more chapters to read.  See you guys and gals on Sunday.

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Pop Goes the Church by Tim Stevens of Granger Community Church.  I am really enjoying the book and identify with what Tim has to say about engaging our community through popular culture.  I think that most church people have so disengaged with culture that they have problems connecting with the unchurched and their children.  Stevens quotes from Matrix of Meanings frequently throughout the book, which appears to be a jumping point for this book.

      Our small group been going through a study of the tough sayings of Jesus and today we read Luke 12:49-53 and the words of Jesus stuck out to me where He says, "how it consumes me."  What does it mean to be consumed with something?  There has been something stirring within me over the past several weeks that is becoming that consuming passion.  It is the desire to reach the unchurched within our community.  I am beginning to see my role of marketer as being an advocate for people outside the walls of AHBC.  I have got to focus on reaching people who have never known the Lord, not just connecting with "free agents," or the "dissatisfied."  There is a quote from Steve Furtick in PGTC stating everything that they do is about getting more people at the church so that they can see more people experience the life change that comes with knowing Christ.  I am consumed by a longing to witness lives being changed, to connect people to the Gospel and to grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ. 

There’s a stirring deep within me
could it be my time has come?
When I’ll see my gracious savior
face to face when all is done.
Is that His voice I am hearing?
Come away my precious one.
Is he calling me?
Is he calling me?

What has been stirring within you lately?