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Avoid the Trap: Fix Message Delivery Failure

Too often, the messaging on our website and marketing material fails to deliver. Why? Because we, as church planters and pastors, fall into a common trap.

Quick Recap

Last time, I asked for one-word your feedback on this question:

How do you feel when you’re interested in a topic but fail to understand what an expert says about it?

The example I gave referenced going to a conference focused on a topic you’re passionate about…but leaving confused because you couldn’t track with the conference speaker. The same could be said about an author who confuses you or a professor who talked over your head.

Based on your feedback (thanks for that by the way), you said this leaves you feeling:

• provoked

• gipped

• anxious

• doubtful

• suspicious

  Here’s the question: What if, without realizing it, we are making our audience feel the same way after visiting our church website (or perusing our marketing material)? None of us set out to do this. Yet many of our websites and marketing material do—they address topics important “to us” using language “particular to us”. And when we do, our audience can feel:

• provoked (“They think they got it all figured out.”)

• anxious (“Why doesn’t this make sense to me?”)

• gipped (“They’re not even talking about real life.”)

• doubtful (“I won’t be able to find any answers to my problems there.”)

• suspicious (“Yip, I figured they were like this.”)

  The Trap Causing Message Delivery Failure

Here’s a common trap: our websites, marketing, and communication do NOT empathize with our actual audience. Instead, we ask our audience to empathize with us. In other words, we ask our audience to start with us. This is understandable, though. As church planters, the demands are high, the stakes feel even higher, and the resources to meet them seem scarce. When you set out to create your website or a piece of marketing material, it’s usually under the thumb of ‘I needed this done yesterday!’. And so we begin with “me.”

• I need to get this done.

• I need to get this off my to-do list.

• I need to get us from here to there.

• I need to get this info out there.

  Now, I’m NOT suggesting any of this is wrong. In fact, let’s assume Jesus is calling you to get the website up, or the welcome packet created, or the invite card designed. With that settled, we now turn to how to go about it. To avoid the message delivery trap we must stop empathizing with ourselves and instead empathize with our audience.

Here’s a simple question you can ask to jolt you into this mindset. Did my unbelieving friend or neighbor wake up concerned about “X” today? Did they wake up concerned about knocking out the church website or welcome packet or other marketing task consuming me today? No, they didn’t. So the question now becomes, “how can I develop the message and design of our website to serve my neighbor, not check something off my to-do list?”

Ready to see how this played out in 2 real examples?

  Church Website (External Marketing)

A while back, I was working with a church on their website as part of my work with Robby Fowler Design. When it came time to work through the messaging of the website, they submitted a first draft. As is common, it included a significant amount of information important to church staff. As a long-time pastor of 20 years, I could easily spot what staff person wrote each section and what was important to him/her at the moment. Written ‘between the lines’ were the questions and answers important to the staff person and his/her role. What was missing were the questions and answers a real person from their community would wrestle with.

For example, no one in their community woke up with the pressing question, “I wonder what the full story is behind church ABC…how they got their start…where past leaders were educated…if they underwent a name change…etc.?” And yet I received several paragraphs of text detailing the church’s history. Would a potential website visitor want some info on the church’s background? Sure. But here’s the crux of the matter: Your audience is far more concerned with how you might be able to help them with their OWN history (failures, shortcomings, and tragedies) than they are about the history of your church. In other words, if you talk at length about your history but never address your audiences’, they’re likely to feel provoked or gipped or anxious or doubtful or suspicious.

Training & Event Promo (Internal Marketing)

Another church I work with needed to internally market an important training initiative to their folks. Here’s the quick backstory before they contacted me—it’ll be oh-so-familiar to you.

Elders and staff evaluated the past year of ministry (2016) and looked ahead to plan for 2017. As a result, Jesus led them to focus on a particular area of growth in 2017. So elders task staff with coming up with a game plan. Staff creates the game plan. Finally, the plan gets delegated to a particular staff person to execute. Staff person reaches out to me to help promote the critical church-wide training event.

As I discussed the promotional needs with the staff person, it went something like this. “We’ve discovered our church family needs to grow in X this year. So we’re going to launch some spiritual formation and personality assessment tools for our people to grow in these spiritual disciplines.” Naturally, he wanted to begin the ‘conversation’ of the promotional material by talking about spiritual formation and an assessment tool. The problem is, few if any of the church members woke up that morning thinking, “man, I’ve got a serious spiritual formation deficit I need to address TODAY!” So for our promotion to deliver and stick to our audience, we had to first ask what do they care about as it relates to spiritual formation and their wiring. After empathizing with our audience, we began the message off by asking, “Ever wondered how your past shapes your personality and your trust or mistrust of God?” Seems simple, I know. But too often our marketing and messaging fails to deliver because we begin and end with us, not them. In this case, it’s “I need to put together a training event and get our people there so they can get trained…and I can get done what I was tasked to get done.”

How To Avoid The Failure Trap

Here’s a simple way to avoid this trap. The next time you need to tackle an external or internal marketing task, create two columns on piece of paper. On the left side, put the heading “Important to Me”. On the right side, put the heading “Important to Them”. Then, starting on the left side, list why this thing you are marketing is important to you. These will come easy. Now take a deep breath, pray for empathy and understanding, and then list some things important to your audience and how they relate. Then when you develop your marketing or promotion, start with them…not you…and move them along.

Confession

I hate to think about how many times I’ve approached marketing or promoting from my selfish perspective. I think things like, ‘This is important…don’t you get it…don’t you care…this is a big deal.’ I want my audience to empathize with me. I expect them to know and care more about my to-do list than I do about theirs. And I get peeved when they don’t respond inline with my perceived ‘weight’ I’ve attached to the good thing I’m marketing.

Good News

Jesus laid aside starting with himself so he could start with me: my sin, my selfishness, my needs. He didn’t leave me there. He not only provided for the needs I perceived, he provided for the needs I wasn’t even aware of. He empathized. He understood. He came for me, just as I am.

Just as I am – poor, wretched, blind; Sight, riches, healing of the mind, Yea, all I need, in Thee to find, O Lamb of God, I come! P.S. I’m currently working through some similar, more extensive thoughts about church marketing, messaging and branding in relation to the incarnation. It might turn into a book to help planters and pastors think biblically, missionally and practically about how to market their church. I’ll keep you posted. As always, I’d love your feedback on this or any other topics I might help you with. You’re called to plant. I’m called to help.

The post Avoid the Trap: Fix Message Delivery Failure appeared first on The Church Planter Starter Kit.

This article by Robby Fowler first appeared at Church Planter Starter Kit and you can find it here.

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Failure to Deliver: Give Me Your 1-word Feedback.

When you send an important email, nothing is more frustrating than getting a bounce alert that says, ‘Failure to Deliver’. In the world of email, you get an alert. But what about when we communicate, market or share our church plant with someone?

I’m going to take aim on helping us avoid ‘message failure’ in the next email. But first, I need your help.

I need your 1-word response to this question…

How do you feel when you’re interested in a topic but fail to understand what an expert says about it?

For example, when you go to a conference or buy a book on a topic you’re really interested in…but the conference speaker, break-out session, or author leaves you confused. How do you feel (in a single word)?

Leave your 1-word response (how you feel). Or, you can click here to anonymously share your 1-word response online.

PS Please choose an emotion other than ‘frustrated.’ I know…that’s the go-to emotion for us dudes. Dig deep.

I’ll use your responses in the next email article. You’ll be encouraged by how easy it is to turn this feedback into a powerful motivator for effectively communicating and marketing your church plant.

The post Failure to Deliver: Give Me Your 1-word Feedback. appeared first on The Church Planter Starter Kit.

This article by Robby Fowler first appeared at Church Planter Starter Kit and you can find it here.

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Prepare for Impact: Marketing that Makes an Impact

Anytime I take the time to write an article for Church Planter Starter Kit, or anytime I work on a project with a Robby Fowler Design client, I want to have an impact. As a church planter, you are no different. Whether you’re busting out an email, working on your website, or designing something for your social media presence, you want something to happen. You want this particular piece of communication or marketing collateral to have an impact.

Wouldn’t it be great to have a simple formula to ensure your communication and marketing had maximum impact? Well, you’re in luck friend. That’s precisely what we’ll look at in today’s article.

First, let me give you the simple formula for impact. Then I’ll briefly explain it. Finally, I’ll show you how this is actually a gospel formula—not merely a marketing or communication tool.

The “Prepare for Impact” Formula

In order for your communication or marketing to have an impact, three things are involved.

Impact happens when your communication or marketing is seen, heard, and understood.

Now let’s take a brief look at how each of these three components works and why they’re necessary for impact.

1. Seen

The first step involves the visual component and locale of your communication or marketing. Here’s what I mean.

Visually, can it be seen? Is it attractive to my audience? Will it appeal to their sensibility and draw them in? If not, they’ll blow right past it and you’re dead in the water.

But it’s not only about the visual or design, being seen is also about location. When it comes to location, is it placed where my audience can easily find it? Is it placed where they are looking? Will they come across it at the appropriate time or place? If your communication or marketing is visually stunning but hiding under a rock, you can kiss impact goodbye.

Let me give two completely different examples of how being “seen” for impact is the crucial first step. Let’s consider how this plays out for your church website, and then on a radio spot or radio ad. Visually, is your website attractive? Is the design cheesy or confusing? Is the design appealing to the people we’re called to reach? Visually, does your radio spot create an appealing image or visual in the mind’s eye of your audience? Does it paint a picture and get their attention? Now, how about the location for each example? Can people find your website online? Is your radio spot on the right stations at the right time for your audience?

In summary, for your communication or marketing to have an impact, you have to be seen first.

2. Heard

The second step to prepare for impact is to ensure you are heard. In other words, does the content and layout enable my audience to hear me? As you create the content for your marketing or communication, wheter big or small in scope, is it legible and easy to digest? Is the content style and length appropriate? And is it framed in a way the will pull my audience in to read it?

Let’s think back to our website and radio spot examples. For your website, do you have too much content (causing people to bail out)? Do you have the right content? Is the font size big enough so my visitors can easily read the content? For your radio spot, is the audio clear and loud enough? Is the message clear? Is the voice, music and narrator compelling, blah, or a turn off?

Bottomline, our communication or marketing must be seen and heard to have an impact.

3. Understood

As a church planter, you have or will have an experience akin to this…You wind up in a meeting space that acoustically speaking, is less than ideal for a gathering. It’s a big, boomy, echo chamber…but hey, it was free or cheap. There you are taking in your new meeting space and planning your pulpit position when someone pops their head in the back door and says something to you. You look up because you heard them…but you have no idea what he or she said. The fancy acoustical word is ‘intelligibility’—the ability to hear and understand what someone says. In this case, you heard someone, but the boomy echo prevented you from understanding the message. The same is true for achieving impact.

Being understood relates to the organization, movement, and effectiveness of your content. Is the content well-organized? Is it moving? Does it have a compelling plot line (problem > resolution)? Is it focused, clear and relatable to my audience?

Again, here’s how this works in our two examples. Is my website organized to answer the questions of my audience? Can they easily find what they’re looking for? Do we effectively address their questions, hesitations, misunderstandings, fears, etc.? For your radio spot, does it raise an issue facing my audience? Does it then address the question, hesitation, misunderstanding, or fear I just raised?

In conclusion, your communication or marketing must be attractive and easy to find, it must be clear and easy to understand, and it must address the questions and needs of your audience in a compelling manner. This is how you prepare for impact.

Don’t Gloss Over The Impact

One fatal mistake at this point is to assume impact—to assume your audience will know what you want for them or from them. It is true: when your communication or marketing is seen, heard, and understood, you can effect change. But you need a clear impact in mind, a goal. Then ask yourself, “Is the desired impact clear? Is there a call to action of some sort? Is the next step or the response clear and doable for the audience?”

As it relates to our examples, does the website have a clear call to action or next step for your visitors? Or does the radio spot offer a clear next step easy enough for your audience to remember and then act upon when they have a free moment?

So before you charge ahead on your next piece of communication or marketing initiative, consider what impact you want to effect and work backward from there. Put yourself in the best position to be seen, heard, and understood and make sure all three ingredients are present and working together.

The “Prepare for Impact” Formula as a Gospel Formula

Being seen, heard, and understood as the key for impact is nothing new. The same formula directly corresponds to the Incarnation and the gospel. The incarnation is the epitome of God being seen, heard and understood with a clear impact in mind.

Seen: God became flesh and dwelt among us. Emmanuel.

Heard: Jesus went out on the water so large crowds could hear. And he frequently announced, “Let him who has ears to hear, hear.”

Understood: Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount pattern is, “You have heard it said…but I say to you…”. And after numerous miracles in the early stages of his ministry, Jesus would tell the person, “Don’t share this yet because people are not yet ready to understand my identity and mission.”

Impact: This is the heart of the gospel. It’s not merely information, but transformation offered by a person—Jesus. The gospel says, “Be doers, not just hearers.” And Jesus’ famous commission includes the distinction, “…teach them to obey all that I have commanded…” (I.E. not just understand what I commanded).

You are on safe, ancient, proven ground when you aim to be seen, heard, and understood in order to impact and affect others for change in the name of Jesus. Ultimately, he is in charge of change. But he’s given us a great formula to follow as we depend on him for the results.

The post Prepare for Impact: Marketing that Makes an Impact appeared first on The Church Planter Starter Kit.

This article by Robby Fowler first appeared at Church Planter Starter Kit and you can find it here.

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Free Christmas Bundle for Church Planters

Your Free Christmas Bundle

Church planting is hard. And the hard work often goes unappreciated. But, you, church planter, are a encouragement of faithfulness, leadership and sacrifice. With all the work you put in, I bet you could use a Christmas bundle filled with free goodies! And wouldn’t you know it, I happen to have a bundle with your name on it. As a way of saying thank you for bravely following your calling, I’ve put together a Christmas bundle of resources for you. I hope in some small way this encourages you and helps you enjoy your family and the birth of our Savior. Merry Christmas!

PS Since this is the season for sharing, pass this along to a friend.

Grab Your Free Christmas Bundle

Pop in your email address and get the freebies!

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Email

Get Mine

Then check your email for an email from Church Planter Starter Kit

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The post Free Christmas Bundle for Church Planters appeared first on The Church Planter Starter Kit.

This article by Robby Fowler first appeared at Church Planter Starter Kit and you can find it here.

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Drawing a Blank on Your Website, Messaging or Marketing?

Drawing a Blank on Your Church Website, Messaging or Marketing?

As you plant your church, you know how intentional you must be with your time. You have a lot to do, and there’s no one else on the depth chart to delegate to. Ugh. Feels overwhelming, right? So when it comes time for marketing and sharing your message, how do you ensure it has an impact? The last thing you can afford to do is stare at a blank while the clock ticks away. The truth is, many of us are forced to shoot from the hip under the pressure of a deadline or the tyranny of other to-do items. Bang out some words. Get the website finished. Hammer out a welcome email. Fly by a flier. Fling it out there and hope for the best…but the feeling in your stomach is the anticipation of the worst. Lost opportunity.

I live in a part of the country with two prized values: bbq and sweet tea. I was having a late afternoon lunch by myself one day in the best bbq joint in town. As things slowed between the lunch and dinner crowds, a few of the workers scurried around topping off sauce bottles and brewing the next batch of tea. Now I came to this spot a lot, enough to know the infamous owner and his ol’ fashion ways of running his business. If you want a place that ascribes to “the customer is always right” philosophy…this was not your joint. But if you ascribe to the “bbq so good we’ll tell a customer to get off his phone or get out line until he’s ready to order like a human”…you’ve found a home. The owner, with his peculiar way of doing things, walked through the main dining area and asked a new employee who was making tea if she knew how they did it. She answered back, “I think so. So-and-so and so-and-so showed me how they each do it.” “Hold up now!”, he barked. “We do it the same way every time. If we can’t do something as simple as make our sweet tea the same way every time, how are we gonna serve our customers great bbq every time?” He then promptly showed her THE correct way to do it. Said, “Now that you know, you won’t have to wonder or waste any time trying to figure it out.”

Wouldn’t it be great if we had a trustworthy recipe to follow when it came to the website, marketing, messaging and branding for your organization? Think of the time saved and the opportunity gained. You could replace your marketing anxiety with actual excitement, knowing you’ve got something to share that will serve and help your audience.

In the next installment, we’ll take a closer look at some ways we can start to build our own ‘Sweet Tea Recipe’.

In the meantime, ask yourself this question: (Part 1) Why do we do what we do, (Part 2) the way we do it, and (Part 3) what are we unwilling to compromise on? Jot down your thoughts or feel free to email them to me. We’ll come back to this important discovery.

The post Drawing a Blank on Your Website, Messaging or Marketing? appeared first on The Church Planter Starter Kit.

This article by Robby Fowler first appeared at Church Planter Starter Kit and you can find it here.

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#3 of 3 Technical Time Wasters for Church Planters

Remove This Time Waster from Your Church Plant

  Are You Staring in ‘Home Alone’?

With Christmas just around the corner, our TV sets are soon to be filled with classic Christmas movies like Home Alone. If you haven’t seen it, you’ve got bigger problems than this email can address… you’re not human.) Often planting a church can leave you feeling like you’re the main character in the movie, especially when it comes to tasks requiring technical knowledge. After all, you are a church planter not a member of the Geek Squad.

So when it comes time to figure out things like online giving, email hosting, your church website, domain names, monthly supporter updates…you are left feeling sheepish and ignorant. You start to ask yourself “Am I alone in this?” It’s one thing getting folks to show up to a neighborhood barbecue. It’s another to get a group of knowledgeable experts excited to help you setup your podcasting or figure out a plan for the 8 million social media options available to you.

As a pastor and entrepreneur, I understand the daunting task of trying to keep up with technology and which options best fit my needs. I have had the joy of working with close to 30 churches and church planters as a leader, pastor, or consultant.

Here is a simple plan to help you stop wasting time on technical tasks and keep moving forward with your church plant.

A Plan to Kill Technical Time Wasters

Find a trusted resource internally or externally. From the minute you feel called to plant a church, be on the lookout for one or two places you can turn to for technical help. This could be`an online resource or a core team member on your church plant. Ideally, you want someone who understands the unique challenges and needs you’ll face at the early stages of your church plant. While there are some similarities to starting a business, there are important differences like revenue, staffing, volume, giving, volunteers, etc.

Shut out other competing noise. Once you have identified a trusted resource turn down the volume on other voices. Otherwise, you may find yourself frozen by too many choices. For many of the technical tasks challenging you, there are numerous ways to solve them. Pick one or two trusted voices and don’t worry about the rest.

Follow the expert advice and execute the plan. Just do what they tell you to do. Will you mess up? Maybe. But don’t let “perfect” be the enemy of good and functional. As long as you got received advice to begin with you should be good to go.

Once you find a trusted resource, turn down the volume on other voices, and follow the advice, you will find yourself wasting far less time and feeling far less frustrated. Along the way you will enjoy picking up some technical tips, gaining some technical knowledge, and feel the support and hope of having a trustworthy partner who understands your plight.

Summary

Don’t be stuck trying to be the technical expert for your church plant. You will end up wasting time, losing momentum, and not giving your best energy fulfilling your primary calling.

Good News

I was recently talking with a church planter about some of the common technical struggles he and other church planters face. When it comes to figuring out websites, domain names, and the like, planters and pastors are met with two common temptations—expediency and money. The temptation of expediency says, “take the path of least resistance and you will be happiest.” Just get the website…any website…done. The temptation of money or finances says, “You are never going to have the finances necessary to do this right so take control and find the cheapest way to do it NOW.” I have given into these lies too many times.

Even though Jesus never wrestled with domain names, podcasting, websites, or support emails as part of his public ministry, he was faced with the exact same temptations of expediency and money. Satan boldly promised him the crown without the cross and riches without trust or sacrifice. Jesus—weak, empty, and starving—chose to say no to temptation and yes to the Spirit even though the circumstances and Liar screamed otherwise.

In the maddening frustration of technical tasks which must get done, Jesus understands and his Spirit is with you. Let him remind you of the closeness of the Savior’s empathy and power, the trustworthiness of the Spirit’s leadership and love, and the abundant provision of the Father’s love for you as his child (not his church planting cog in the wheel of kingdom expansion).

The post #3 of 3 Technical Time Wasters for Church Planters appeared first on The Church Planter Starter Kit.

This article by Robby Fowler first appeared at Church Planter Starter Kit and you can find it here.

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#2 of 3 Technical Time Wasters for Church Planters (2 of 3)

Remove This Time Waster from Your Church Plant

Last time I dawned my Cap’n Obvious Hat and noted church planters are crunched for time. One of the most common time-wasters is usernames and passwords. Plant a church and you’ll have a million of them. Social media. Bank account. Domain name registrar. Web host. Email. On and on the list goes. Keeping track of them (or NOT keeping track of them) wastes time. So I proposed a simple, free solution so you can stop worrying about keeping or losing this critical information. Get the full scoop here.

Today we’ll turn our attention to the second of three common technical time wasters and how you can avoid it.

But first, let me start with an encouraging reminder. You have a bold, honorable calling. You’re entrusted with the best news on the planet, empowered by the Spirit, on behalf of the best person in the universe—Jesus. He’s made you and called you to follow him and lead others to be the church. Not a bad gig. And this is why you don’t want to unnecessarily waste time. So let’s get on with removing time-waster number two.

2 Time Waster: Starting from Scratch…over and over again.

When you start your church—or any new venture—you will do one thing over and over. Chances are, you will do this several times a day. You will draft a document. You will fire up Word, or Pages, or a Google Doc. You do it for small things and big things. You’ll draft things like…

Leadership development docs

A letter to the bank

Church announcement

Guest info sheet

Small group material

Children’s ministry handbook

I wish I could snap my fingers and say there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow with all of those documents already created. But I can’t. However, there is something you can do to save time every time you create one of those documents. Rather than starting from scratch with a blank document, create a template.

A template will save you save you time by removing decisions you have to make any time you create a document:

fonts

font sizes

colors

layout

margins

headers & footers

logo

Built-in Templates Fall Short

Perhaps you’ve had an “important” document to write—so important that you dabbled into the templates that come with Word or Pages. If you have (like me), here’s what you may have noticed.

You don’t always end up saving time. That’s because you can’t always figure out how to make your content fit the template. Your heading or content is too short or too long. Your photograph isn’t as compelling or coordinated as the template default. Either way, it just doesn’t add up.

Your finished product doesn’t look like theirs. When you started the template looked like a great option. When you finish…well, not so much. You’re not sure where you went wrong, but there’s little time to fix it.

You look like a stellar church-planter AND an award-winning designer. You navigated the template like an experienced pro. The only issue is those templates don’t necessarily match you. The other documents you created in the past or in the future don’t match. You end up with an outlier here or there.

Create Your Own Template

Create your own template as a simple, time-saving solution. Don’t be intimidated. I’m here to help. Here are some tips to creating a template you can use over and over again. But before I pass those along, here’s what one church planter said after I helped him create a template for his church. “We were talking the other day…the Pages template you created for us saves us so much time. I know it sounds crazy. But every time we go to create something, we can just start typing and know it will look like ‘us’.”

Template Examples

Here are two examples of templates. The first is a simple one-page template. The other is my template for Robby Fowler Design. It’s a 3-page template including common elements I use in almost every document I create. Download a PDF of each template to take a closer look.

Tips for Creating Your Own Template

Include your logomark. Put it in the header of your document so it shows up on every page. Don’t make it too large (and braggadocios). You might center it, but it probably looks better visually aligned with the left or right margin. (Don’t get stuck centering everything.)

Pick 2–3 colors based on your logo. Use the darkest color as the color of your main text. Use the other color for a heading. Use the third color as the color of any link in your document.

Choose a combination of 2 fonts only. Here’s a great resource for the 40 Best Google Fonts…and Google fonts are free.

Increase your margins from the default 1″ left & right. For the best reading experience, the av­er­age line length should be 45–90 char­ac­ters (in­clud­ing spaces).

Set at least 3 Heading levels. Choose a single font for your headings. Make the size difference between each heading level and between your main font-size overtly obvious. IE Don’t make Heading Level 1 18pt, Heading 2 16pt, Heading 3 14pt, and your main text 12pt. Go bold, go big, or go home. (Like 36pt, 24pt, 18pt).

Add your basic contact info in the footer. IE Your website, phone, email, a copyright if appropriate, the name of your church, etc.

Go to File > Save as template. (Or search the Help menu for how to save a document as a template in your software of choice.)

Summary

Save time by creating a document template. Make yours as simple or complex as you need. Then start with your template every time you create a new document for your church plant.

The post #2 of 3 Technical Time Wasters for Church Planters (2 of 3) appeared first on The Church Planter Starter Kit.

This article by Robby Fowler first appeared at Church Planter Starter Kit and you can find it here.

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Top 3 Technical Time Wasters for Church Planters (1 of 3)

Common Technical Time Wasters for Church Planters

This is NOT breaking news, but I’ll state the obvious: church planters are crunched for time. Every day feels like 30 hours of work crammed into a 24-hour day. Like you, I believe Jesus never gives us more than his Spirit can empower us to accomplish in a given day. Like you, I also struggle with trying to control too much, and feeling overwhelmed.

Because time is so important in the early days of planting a church, we would be wise to remove any unnecessary time wasters. One area that can throw church planters for a loop is the technical tasks accompanying church planting.

Here is the first of three common technical time wasters and how you can avoid them.

Number 1 Time Waster: Keeping up with passwords.

When you plant a church, a “new church” is not the only thing you start. You open bank accounts, create social media accounts, buy a domain name, grab a new email address, and lots more. Each of these comes with a username and password. I can’t tell you how many times I help church planters who have no idea what their username or password is for a given account. Some of them jot down their username and password on a scratch piece of paper and stuff it in their wallet. Inevitably their wallet is the size of an Acme brick. Others write them down in a document…or two…or three. And some just never bother writing them down at all.

Thankfully this problem is easily solved With a handy app called Dashlane. I’m a geek. When it comes to password apps, I’ve used a lot of them. I love Dashlane. Not only does it keep my data secure, but it saves me a ton of time. Here are seven things Dashlane does well when it comes to saving you time (and keeping your secure).

1. Dashlane intuitively asks if you want it to add new usernames and passwords when you browse.

For example, if you navigate to a website and enter a username and password NOT currently stored in Dashlane, a handy pop-up window will ask if you want to add it. You don’t forget the username or password. And you don’t have to take the time to manually add your username and password to your password app. The result is time saved.

2. Dashlane logs you into websites requiring your username and password.

You head to a website and stare at the login screen. You try to remember what username and lame password you used but you draw a blank. Not any more. Dashlane remembers for you. In an average day, Dashlane does this for me probably 10 or more times. The result is time saved.

3. When signing up for new accounts, Dashlane recommends strong, unique passwords and stores them in your Dashlane app.

You no longer have to come up with unique, secure passwords…or use your anniversary for the 100th time. You also don’t have to remember a bunch of unique, secure passwords. And thanks to what I mentioned above in item number two, the next time you log into the website, Dashlane will automatically supply your username and password. You’ll be logged in before you can blink. The result is time saved.

4. Dashlane can store your bank account information.

So if you set up a PayPal account or an online giving solution for your church, Dashlane will automatically supply your bank account and routing number on the application. Imagine form fields auto-populating with the stuff you’d normally spend 10 minutes tracking down. Which one of those random numbers on the bottom of the check is your account, and which one is your routing number anyway? The result is time saved.

5. Dashlane gives you the ability to securely share your username and password with someone else.

This is great for church planters who need to delegate tasks to other team members. Now you can securely share login information. And because Dashlane prompted you to create a random, secure, strong password when you setup the account…you don’t have to worry about sharing your one password you’ve used for everything since Al Gore invented the internet. It’s also great for sharing usernames and passwords with your wife…like when it’s time to pay your wireless bill online. The result is time saved…and a happy wife. (Your welcome.)

6. Dashlane can generate new, random passwords for existing accounts all at once.

If you’re the paranoid type, Dashlane can generate and register new, random passwords for several accounts all at once. For many existing accounts, Dashlane can generate a new, random password for you AND go to the site and update your password settings for you…all with the click of a button. Looks like you just saved more time.

7. Dashlane alerts you of any potential security risks.

The Dashlane app features a handy “Security Dashboard.” Here you will see any passwords that are:

weak

reused

old

compromised.

For example, if you have an account with a company who has been compromised (like Target in the past), Dashlane will alert you and encourage you to change your password.

Summary

Each of these great, time-saving features listed above are free. All you need is to download the free Dashlane app and add the browser extension for Google Chrome or Safari.

For a small monthly fee, you can upgrade to Dashlane premium.  This will enable you to sync all of your username and passwords between your computer and your smartphone. I upgraded my account a few months back and love it. The premium service brings the security and convenience of Dashlane to my phone and laptop.

The only thing Dashlane has failed to capture is how much time it has actually saved me. Stop wasting your time losing, Miss placing comma or forgetting your username and passwords. Stop wasting time losing, misplacing, or forgetting your username and passwords. Grab the free Dashlane app and start saving time. Use the extra time to love on your wife and kiddos!

The post Top 3 Technical Time Wasters for Church Planters (1 of 3) appeared first on The Church Planter Starter Kit.

This article by Robby Fowler first appeared at Church Planter Starter Kit and you can find it here.

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The Best Email Host for Church Planters

Who Should You Use for Email?

Email. You’re stuck with it. Like it, love it, or hate it. Email is part of your church plant. So what is the best email host for church planters? Choosing the right email hosting provider makes your life easier. Your decision can save you time and money. But there are tons of choices available. And most normal people have no idea how to make an informed decision. I work with lots of church plants, churches and businesses through Robby Fowler Design. I always set them up on Google Apps. And they always love it.

Here are 8 reasons why Google Apps is the best email host for church planters like you…(and churches, and businesses).

Two quick notes about email and Google Apps.

Here’s the difference between Google Apps email vs Gmail. Gmail is Google’s email solution for individuals. You can get a Gmail account for free. It always comes with a “gmail” address like “yourname@gmail.com”. Email with Google Apps functions just like Gmail except you use your own domain name like “yourname@churchdomain.com”. Unlike Gmail, Google Apps is a paid service.

An email host is NOT synonymous with your email app (the one you use to check your email). For example, Apple Mail or Outlook is an email app. Gmail, Zoho Mail, or your domain or website host like GoDaddy or Bluehost are examples of email hosts. Think of your email app like a car, and your email host like a grocery store. You can use different cars to go snag items from the grocery store.

8 Benefits of Google Apps for Email

Google Apps includes email hosting on their rock-solid platform. Google Apps also gives you additional apps, like Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and lots more. Enjoy these benefits of Google Apps for email.

1. It’s super cheap.

$5 per month, per user. And that includes all the apps in Google Apps suite (including email hosting). As a church planter, you look for every place to pinch and save. You’ve gone hunting for spare change under couch cushions and car seats before date night. This is way easier. (You won’t have to discard old cheerios, fruit chews, and french fries.) So why not save on email.

2. It’s super popular.

There are countless third-party apps that work with Google Apps email. You can easily find a third-party email app to access your email. For example, you can use Apple Mail to check your Google Apps if you prefer it over the native Gmail-like default experience. I’ve tried a ton of them. I’ll share a great one with you another time.

3. It’s safe.

Google is a tech behemoth. They are serious about safety. Their business depends on it. You get to take advantage of industry-leading two-step authentication and know you’re safe. You sleep well at night knowing personal info like your banking statements are secure. (I’ve talked about how to setup two-step authentication here and here.

4. It’s not ‘spammy’.

Google handles 1 qer-jillion-tera-tons of email. They do a fantastic job of sniffing out spam. You don’t get hot-and-bothered (or embarrassed) by spam because they weed it out for you. You won’t need fancy plugins or additional apps to do it for you.

5. It’s cutting-edge.

Not sure if you noticed or not, but Google, Apple, Microsoft, even Facebook…they’re all duking it out to be #1. This is great for consumers. Whether it’s security options or helpful new features, you know Google is forward-thinking.

6. It’s independent of your web host.

This is a common woe you can avoid. When you buy your domain name, you get hit with all kinds of add-on options. Church planters get enticed by the “want us to host your email for you?” add-on. Many domain name registrars and web hosts offer this service. The problem is, when you move registrars or web hosts in the future, you’ve got to find a new email host. That means you’ll have to change your settings in your email app. And so will others. That’s a major pain!

7. You get more storage space.

Google Apps comes with cloud storage. You get plenty of room to store files, attachments and more. Plus, if you are a ‘saver’, you can archive old email instead of deleting it. Then use Google’s powerful search features to find an old email you need when you need it. (Rather than, “Ooops, sorry IRS. I must have deleted that critical email proving my innocence.”)

8. You’ll need it for other services.

You’ll need your own domain-hosted email to use popular email marketing solutions like MailChimp. More and more, email marketing providers frown upon free email services like Gmail, Yahoo Mail or Hotmail. These free email services make it easy for spammers to create a free account and then use MailChimp to spam. This is not good for business. So MailChimp and others have clamped down on it.

9. You get Google Apps.

I won’t go into all details, but Google Apps is super-handy for church planters. There are so many ways to use Google Docs, Spreadsheets, and the like to make your life easier. No other email host comes with all these apps.

Summary

There are 9 reasons why Google Apps is the best email host for church planters. But how do you get all 9 benefits? Well, speaking of 9…

Get Help for $9

If you’re ready to make the switch to Google Apps, I’ve got great news. I put together a Google Apps Starter Kit to make setup a breeze. Grab the kit for $9. You’ll get screen shots and step-by-step instructions. In a few minutes, you’ll be all set—enjoying the benefits and saving money. Grab your copy today.

The post The Best Email Host for Church Planters appeared first on The Church Planter Starter Kit.

This article by Robby Fowler first appeared at Church Planter Starter Kit and you can find it here.

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Don’t Waste Money on Useless Email Accounts

Don’t Waste Email Addresses. Use Google to Save Money.

The label of church planter and “techie” are not always synonymous. But the label of church planter and “cheap” go together like peanut butter and jelly. Even if you are a tech-savvy church planter, you can use Google to save money with this little trick. And who doesn’t like to save money?

Google Apps & Email

A few moments after you are born, you get an email address…(slight oversimplification). When you plant a church, you usually want an email address too—one connected to your domain name, like firstname@yourchurchdomain.com. If you’re smart (and we both know you are), you use Google Apps to host your church email. The reason you do this is because it’s cheap ($5/mo per user), reliable, and comes with a host of other useful features (Google Apps like Google Docs, Spreadsheets, etc). Add to that, Google’s dominance means there are numerous 3rd-party email apps that work with Gmail. Thus, you can easily find one that fits you well. (More on that in another article.)

Save $ With This Top Secret Trick

Assuming you’re with me on the ‘Google Apps Express train’, here is where we start saving you money. The trick is to take advantage of the ‘alias’ option connected to Google Apps Mail (which is what you may think of as ‘Gmail’). Before you start thinking of yourself as the next Jason Bourne, it’s not that kind of alias.

First, I’ll tell you what we’re going to do by creating this alias. Then, I’ll point you to a resource to help you to do this (and more) in a matter of minutes.

What Is an ‘Alias’

The ‘alias’ in your Google Apps user account is like a nickname. For example, I’ve gathered a few nicknames through the years. ‘Raw-B’ is my street name for when I need to keep it real. Or ‘Raw-Dawg’ for my more informal street relationships. Then there’s ‘Dobber’ from my younger days. And ‘Crabby Rabby’ for when my attitude with my wife sours (which may or may not have occurred a time or two in our 21 years of marriage).

The beauty is, you can create as many ‘nicknames’ or aliases as you want for any given user.

When to Use an Alias

Here are some common ways I setup aliases for many of my Robby Fowler Design church clients. You can use the approach matching your circumstances.

In the beginning of your church plant when it is just you, set up these aliases for your account…

Create an alias for whatever general email account you use like ‘info@…’ or ‘contact@…’

When you’ve got a volunteer or paid assistant helping you…

Create a user for your assistant and give him/her the general aliases of ‘info@…’ or ‘contact@…’

When you have a volunteer or paid ministry leader, like a Children’s Director…

Create an account for him/her (like ‘joe@yourchurchdomain.com’), and then assign him/her an alias of ‘childrens@churchdomain.com’ (or whatever name you use for your children’s ministry).

You can apply the same approach for ‘worshiparts@…’ or ‘youth@…’ or ‘missionalcommunities@…’ and any other similar position.

When you have an event like a men’s retreat or membership class…

Create an alias like ‘men@…’ or ‘membership@…’ or whatever the name of your event. Associate this alias for whoever is organizing the event (you or another leader with an email account

The beauty is that any email sent to the ‘alias’ automatically goes to the associated email address. Take the last scenario as an example. You create an alias of ‘membership@yourchurchdomain.com’ for your email address. You promote that address for the event (IE “to join us, send an email to…”). You check your email like normal. Viola. Any email sent to the alias for the membership class is right there in your inbox.

Get Help Now

Don’t be intimidated by the prospect of setting this up yourself. You can do this. You just need a little help. Good thing there’s a Google Apps Starter Kit from Church Planter Starter Kit to walk you through the process. Grab the starter kit and get setup in a matter of minutes. The kit will show you how to setup Google Apps and Aliases. It’s a simple PDF with screen caps showing you exactly what to do. If you know how to point, click, and type, you can knock this out and start saving money today.

Money-Saving Summary

Everybody likes to save money, especially church planters. Google Apps charges $5 per user, per month. Don’t throw away $60 a year on ‘email address’ that is not associated with a real person. Use an alias and take your wife out on a date with the savings!

Get your Google Apps Starter Kit today

Confession

I’m just like you. I don’t like doing things that make me say ‘yuck.’ Maybe the thought of email setup makes you gag. Your palms start to sweat. You feel your ineptitude might compromise the entire world wide web of inter-connected computers. Email setup doesn’t do that to me. But large groups of strangers do. I’m more task-driven than people-driven. Boiling it down, sometimes people make me think ‘yuck.’ So I take matters into my own hands and avoid the yucky stuff.

Good News

The amount of personal ‘yuck’ I bring to the table is indescribable. If pictures are worth a thousand words, then the cross confirms I’m infinitely ‘yucky’. Our gracious Savior stepped into our yuck. He was proactive. He was brave. He was determined. He took responsibility, depended on the Spirit, trusted the Father, and dove head-first into my yuck—including the fury of the Father’s wrath my yuck deserves. Jesus frees us from the fears that cause us to get ‘stuck in our yuck.’ Whether the task is small or the challenge is big, Jesus is with us and has all authority over our procrastination or reluctance.

The post Don’t Waste Money on Useless Email Accounts appeared first on The Church Planter Starter Kit.

This article by Robby Fowler first appeared at Church Planter Starter Kit and you can find it here.

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Protect Your Family Online, Part 2

Protect Your Family Online with The Circle: Part 2

Church planting is taxing on your family. You have a demanding schedule. You long to pastor your family well, but man is it tough.

Ever been here? Your wife has to head out. You’re in charge of the kids. But you also need to get a few things knocked out for the church. So you hand over a smartphone or tablet to buy you some time. Your kiddos instinctively know how to use it before they can form sentences. What they don’t know is how to control it so it doesn’t control them—or worse, harm them.

What if there was a simple way to control and monitor what streams into your home? There is. It’s called Circle. Circle pairs with your router and enables you to control the devices and computers connected to the internet in your home. And it’s easy.

Last time, I urged you to grab one on sale for $79 from Amazon. If you didn’t, no worries. It only cost $99 and is worth every penny. I shared 3 Things I Like About Circle for my Family. And as promised, I am going to give you a few pointers so you can manage your devices like a pro…pastor-dad.

5 Tips for Setting Up Circle

If your family is like mine, you can wind up with more devices than an Apple Store. Here are some techie tips I’ve learned along the way. (For the record, I’ve got two teens and one elementary age child…a grand total of three if you crunch the numbers.)

1. Follow the Directions from Circle.

Circle setup is straightforward, even if technology frightens you (or your spouse). I found the experience much like an Apple product (IE ‘It just works’). I was able to set mine up in a matter of minutes.

Here are two things to keep in mind when you set yours up.

First, place it right next to, or very near your wireless router. I have a combo wireless router/cable modem. If you have a modem/DSL router and then a separate wireless router coming out of that, set your Circle right by the wireless router. This will keep things zippy.

Second, Circle has a rechargeable battery. Plug it in and leave it plugged in. That’s so it stays on even if someone unplugs it. (Looking at you, teenager.) But beware. If your internet connection is lost, like a power outage or storm, your phone may still connect to Circle and think it’s online. It may also ‘appear’ online (IE show a ‘connected’ icon for your wifi). Just turn off wifi on your smartphone to use data until your cable modem or DSL router reestablishes a connection with the internet.

2. Start with Circle’s profiles and tweak them as needed.

Circle comes with profiles for each member of your family like pre-k, kid, teen, adult. Start with these and then customize any apps or content from their extensive list. For example, you might turn Snapchat off/on for your teen. But there’s a good chance you can just run with the profile settings as-is.

3. AFTER you talk with your family, set up time limits.

Chat with your family. Then pick a time limit setting, but let them know this is only a starting point. Circle lets you choose overall limits (like 6 hours a day) and app-specific limits (like 2 hours of Netflix per day). I like the app-specific function to curb particular habits of my teens. Finally, keep talking with your family and adjust as needed. You don’t want to be Cap’n Pharisee…like I did.

Note, if you have teens and they have phones, you’ll want to have another conversation. Talk with them about data usage on their phones. Circle would cut my teens off when they’re time was up. Then they’d head over to data and keep streaming. They’ve gone over their allotted monthly data a few times. (Ouch!) So we keep having the discussion about why we have Circle to begin with. (Fun times.)

4. Create a generic family profile for friends of your kids.

I created a generic family member profile called ‘Friends’ on Circle. This generic ‘Friends’ profile is set to Circle’s filter level of ‘Teen’. Now, when my teens have teen friends who come over I get an immediate alert from Circle that a new device is on the network. I quickly add those new devices to the ‘Friends’ profile. And I only have to this once. When they come back over, their device is already associated with ‘Friends.’

5. Consider a generic family profile for gaming systems.

My kids have gaming systems too, like XBox, etc. I created a separate family member profile called ‘Curfew’ and set the filter profile to ‘Teen’. I then set the bedtime of my older teen to a little later than that of his iPhone. In the summer, he and his buddies stay up and play online computer games together. For example, his iPhone time ends at 11pm, while the computer he plays games on with his buddies usually ends at 11:30pm.

Summary

You don’t have to be stuck in frustration. Setting up Circle right can help you manage how your family uses the internet at home. It only takes a few minutes. You can pastor your family well in this critical area with help from Jesus and a great tool like Circle.

Confession

I have no idea how our parents managed without the built-in babysitter of endless media streaming on endless devices into the tiny hands of infants. Seriously, it is oh-so-easy to allow a screen to capture the hearts and imaginations of our kids so we can ‘get some work done.’ My response to this realization can be a pharisaical knee-jerk reaction to grab a great tool like Circle and then feel extra-holy for ‘taking a stand for righteousness.’ The problem is, I often do it to feel better about myself as a dad. And then, when my kids revolt, super-dad turns into super-jerk.

Good News

Jesus is pure. He doesn’t rub it in. He doesn’t gloat. But he is righteous…perfectly righteous. Faced with all the same temptations I face as a dad, he trusted the Father over pleasure, comfort, ease, misaligned priorities and excuses. While Circle can practically help me carry out my responsibilities as a father to ‘pastor’ my family, it cannot touch my super-jerk heart. Jesus’ love alone can overcome the bent of my heart to give in to pleasure, comfort, ease, pride, and my failed attempts at self-righteous fathering. He can transform my heart, and he alone is the hope for the heart of my kids.

The post Protect Your Family Online, Part 2 appeared first on The Church Planter Starter Kit.

This article by Robby Fowler first appeared at Church Planter Starter Kit and you can find it here.

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Protect Your Family with Circle, Part 1

Protect Your Family Online

I don’t normally fire off time-sensitive weekly emails…but the last one was an exception. Which, by the way, is why you should join my email list.

“What time-sensitive info did you pass along to your peeps?”, you ask. Great question. I told them to snag Circle for their family for $79 from Amazon!

“Ok…great”, you say. “What is that and why should I care?”

“Circle” Your Wagons

If you’ve ever felt the tension of trying to tame your kids’ screen time—read on.

If you have internet access at home and kids from the age of 2–18, then you should get Circle for $79—$20 off the usual price of $99.

Circle makes it drop-dead simple to protect your family and take control of the internet usage streaming into your home. I bit the bullet a while back and got one for my family and I love it. Sure, my kids hate me and hate it…but that’s just proof it does what is supposed to do. It enables my wife and I to control…

WHAT streams into our home;

And HOW MUCH time our kids spend drinking from that stream.

If you are a parent, you know the struggle. It is REAL! Can I get an amen? Our children’s faces are lit, NOT with the shekinah glory of God, but the light of a screen. A smartphone. A tablet. A laptop. Or better yet, all of those at once…while the TV is on.

3 Things I Like About Circle for My Family

1. I set filters on what kind of content my kids have access to on a ‘per-kid’ basis.

I’ve got to teens and one who just broke into double digits (that’s 10 in case you’re not good with numbers). Some of the content appropriate for my teens are not appropriate for my youngest. The same is true of certain apps. (Yes, can turn on/off access to specific apps with Circle). Circle lets me easily filter what my wife and I deem appropriate for each kid. I can begin with Circle’s built-in filters like “Teen” and “Kid”and then customize from there. Beautiful.

2. I set time-limits for my kids’ internet access.

With Circle, I can set awake and sleep times so my teens don’t stay up till 2am liking Instagram posts of cat pictures. Again, I can do this on a ‘per-kid’ basis. So my youngest shuts down at one time, and my teens at another. In addition, it’s summer time, so I can adjust those times once school kicks back in. I can also set a daily limit (like 6 hours of total internet time) and app limits (like 2 hours on Netflix). Brilliant.

3. I set the internet rules for my kids’ friends when they come to my house and use my access.

The minute a friend walks through the door with his or her iPhone, Circle lets me know a new device is on the network. I can easily set the phone to a profile of “Teen” or “Kid” and know he or she won’t accidentally access something inappropriate (at least not via my wifi).

Add to that, all of the above applies too. I can set awake/sleep times, or even “pause” access for a device.

Summary

If you’ve ever felt frustrated or helpless in your attempt to manage and control the internet usage of your family, then I highly recommend Circle. It won’t replace your family’s need for Jesus, but it will help you lead your family with wisdom.

Next time I’ll post another article on a few of the things I’ve learned about setting up Circle and dealing with the revolts of your kids who are more convinced than ever of your insanity.

PS Don’t be fooled. My family is not ‘super-holy’ and I’m not a ‘super-parent.’ Just a dad struggling like you!

The post Protect Your Family with Circle, Part 1 appeared first on The Church Planter Starter Kit.

This article by Robby Fowler first appeared at Church Planter Starter Kit and you can find it here.

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Free People to Connect With Your Church Plant

Are You Disconnected?

Church planters love to see Jesus free people from sin and death. This begins by connecting with real people in your city. Connecting with the people in your community is the first step to further connecting them to Jesus. And Jesus loves to free people.

Like every church, you use your website as part of your overall strategy to connect with those you are trying to reach. But is your website doing everything it could to help guests connect with your church plant? Or are you missing out on providing clear connection points?

The Pitfall That Leave Guests Disconnected

It is easy to assume you are providing clear connection opportunities on your website. The cause is a fundamental problem in every organization I call the “Knows + Nose + No’s”. (Let me briefly explain so you’re in the know.)

The fundamental problem in every organization is that we assume everyone KNOWS what we know about the subject because it is ‘so obvious’ to us. We cannot see things from their perspective because our NOSE is so close to our organization. We are all up in our own ‘bidness.’ If we asked outsiders a series of Yes/No questions about our organization we would be flabbergasted at the number of “No’s” we get from them.

I’ve had the opportunity to live in the world of both the insider and outsider. My years of experience inside church plants as a full-time paid pastor enables me to understand and empathize with the deep desire you have to connect with people. I know what it’s like to eat, sleep, drink and think like an insider. On the other hand, I have the privilege of working with numerous churches and church plants with my design business. One of the things I bring to the table is the perspective of a guest or visitor. Or to put it another way, I can be “normal”. This enables me to switch glasses and see things from both angles. And I’ve learned a thing or two (mostly from my own mistakes.)

So when it comes time to help guests connect with your church plant from your website, keep these tips in mind to put your best foot forward.

Tips to Better Connect Your Website Visitors

To get rid of the potential pitfall of the Knows + Nose + No’s phenomenon, answer these questions for guests and visitors looking for opportunities to connect with your church plant.

First, make a list of your intended connection opportunities.

Do not assume your website offers visitors clear opportunities to connect. When we’re putting together a website amidst the mountain of to-do’s involved in planting a church, stuff falls between the cracks. You are all for your church plant. You’ve been thinking about it for months or likely years. Plus, you are a “go-getter” by nature. If you and your family moved to a town and found a church you felt called to, you would make a connection point even if it didn’t exist. Most people aren’t you, though. Make a list of intentional places and spaces you intend as connection points. Then make sure those are obvious on your church website.

Next, for each connection opportunity, answer these five questions (and apply the antidote to your ‘nose’)…

1. What are the clear connection opportunities you offer guests? On your website, organize and list out your one, two or three connection opportunities for guests, making sure the title or name is not dependent on insider knowledge or language. But don’t stop there. Give them a one sentence description of what to expect. Your goal is clarity. Bonus, if you can tie your connection opportunities back to your vision and mission, that is even better.

The Knows + Nose + No’s Antidote: Be explicit. Make the connection back to your vision for visitors. Do not assume they will connect the dots. For example, if you vision includes being “family”, say something like “Come experience family…”.

2. How will this make their life better? In other words, what will someone get out of it if he or she takes you up on this opportunity? Will they meet other like-minded people in the same stage of life? Will they connect with leadership? Will they sit and listen or will they mingle and talk? Is it formal or informal? Small group or large group? Short or long? Kids or no kids? Think like an outsider and make it crystal clear what he or she can expect to gain for himself/herself or his/her family.

The Knows + Nose + No’s Antidote: Give visitors a clear benefit showing how this will serve them in their desire to connect. Try to do this in one sentence. Use words like “Meet…, Hear…, Share…, Learn…, Discover…”.

3. Do our connection opportunities appeal to both men and women? Notice all the ‘he/she’, ‘his/her’ language in the paragraph above? That’s more than proper grammar, it is your reminder to think about how your church creates opportunities for both men and women to connect. As male leaders, we can get stuck in our own silo and forget there are men and women who need opportunities to connect in ways that serve them. If one of your connection opportunities is a round of golf with you the church planter, that could get awkward to a single mom (and hopefully your elders/leaders and wife).

The Knows + Nose + No’s Antidote: Ask your wife and some other faithful females if the connection opportunities meet women’s needs. If not, ask for her help coming up with one that does.

4. What does your website visitor need to do? You’ll leave visitors hanging if you only name and describe the connection opportunity or event. Make the action step clear. Do they call someone, email someone, register for something, show up somewhere? You’ll help visitors by making the action step clear AND by making it visually stand out. In other words, a visitor should be able to glance at this content on your website and know instantly what action he or she needs to take.

The Knows + Nose + No’s Antidote: Grab a stranger at your favorite coffee shop and have them glance at this section on your website for a few seconds (like 3–5 seconds). Then ask him or her what they need to do next. If they struggle to tell you, rework it.

5. Will a normal person feel comfortable taking this step? Remember, most folks are not like you. You are a church planter. You are abnormal. (Hopefully, you’ve figured this out about yourself by now.) Your connection opportunities must feel doable for real folks. If you ask too much of visitors, they will feel overwhelmed or frustrated. The golden rule of Connections is: do everything you can to make it easy on others, even if it is more difficult for you. If anyone has to take a hit or go above-and-beyond, it should us…not them.

The Knows + Nose + No’s Antidote: Make the action step as small as possible for visitors and make it one-step, not multiple steps. You do the heavy lifting.

Summary

No one likes feeling disconnected. Free people to connect with your church plant so you can connect them to Jesus. Serve your website visitors by making your connection opportunities clear and compelling. Spend a little time and figure out if you are communicating each opportunity in ways that speak to normal people, serve normal people, and are doable by normal people.

Confession

‘I cannot believe no one signed up.’ This frustration has simmered in my soul on many occasion. I came up with a perfect opportunity for new folks to connect with our church and got crickets in return. What follows is frustration and anger towards the new folks who neglected to sign up and show up. Then I apply the ‘icing’ of judgment on the proverbial cake. ‘They must not love Jesus or his church.’ ‘They must not be serious about discipleship and reaching our city.’ ‘Typical consumeristic American Christianity.’ Now, some or all of that could be true, but that is a problem for Jesus to address. My connection event cannot touch their heart. (But my own heart sure gets exposed.) I end up being more concerned about myself—which enslaves me—and less about seeing Jesus free people to enjoy him.

Good News

Jesus is a pursuer who connected with you and I while we were enemies. He looked for opportunities to love, connect, and serve others. When he was ignored or rejected, he chose to trust the Father and follow the Spirit’s lead. His love is so wonderful that it can cool our anger and melt our hardened hearts towards others who appear to avoid connecting with our church. Sure, we can be sad and heartbroken when people choose not to connect with Jesus. But we can continue to love and serve them because our ultimate goal is not to connect them with our wonderful church, but with our wonderful Savior. We also freed from blaming others because the cross says we are fully loved even though we are wholly to blame. Instead of blaming, we can evaluate how we might improve on the ways we can connect with others and trust Jesus with the results. If he connected us to his church, he can do the same for those he’s called you to serve.

The post Free People to Connect With Your Church Plant appeared first on The Church Planter Starter Kit.

This article by Robby Fowler first appeared at Church Planter Starter Kit and you can find it here.

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WP Themes Alternative for Church Planters

WP Themes Alternative for Church Planters

You are sifting through the myriad of WP themes on the hunt for the right one. Before you do, consider an alternative to WordPress.

Every church planter must make a choice when it comes time for a website. What platform should you choose to build your website?

Sometimes your designer or developer will choose this for you. But the wise church planter will consider more than the design of the website. If you hand off the design of your website to someone else, you will be the one stuck with whatever platform he or she chooses…so choose wisely.

Sure, the platform may be comfortable for the designer, but you are the one who should be most comfortable. This will be your baby to take care of, not the designer’s.

One popular platform churches and church planter’s turn to is WordPress. The web is chalked full of helpful articles written about the pros and cons of WordPress, so I won’t attempt to rehash those. I will make an observation unique to church planters though. Most church planters get bogged down attempting to keep up with their WordPress websites. It’s not that WordPress is akin to rocket science. It is more like WordPress can feel akin to ongoing rocket maintenance. Keeping track of updates, plugins, and content squeezes the life out of many well-intentioned church planters.

Tilda, An Alternative Publishing Platform

Tilda is a relative newcomer to the world of web design and publishing platforms. Tilda describes its service like this: “Tilda helps you build stunning websites for business and media.” You build a website using Tilda’s 170+ pre-designed blocks.

What I Like about Tilda So Far

I’ve recently been working on a website for a church planter and using Tilda for the first time. Here’s what I like about working with Tilda so far.

1. The stylish blocks are current and clean.

One benefit of Tilda being a new kid on the block is they are current. By keeping an eye on industry trends, Tilda builds design blocks to match. This keeps church planters from accidentally adding the web equivalent of a flannelgraph to a modern living room.

2. Easy video backgrounds for covers.

Video backgrounds are popular, and adding them as the background for a large cover is easy. I took the church planter’s vision video, edited down a few scenes from around the city, uploaded the resulting clip to YouTube, and set it as a looping video background for the home page. This worked like a champ.

3. A focus on typography.

I’m a designer, so, of course I love type (what lay people call “fonts”). Tilda has great support for different fonts. Combined with their stylish blocks, type looks great across the entire site. Good type means better reading. And better reading means you get your message across to your audience.

4. Saying more with less.

Another nice feature of Tilda’s pre-designed blocks is that each block comes with a preview. Thus, the user sees a preview demonstrating the right amount of content that looks good. When designing or editing, you find yourself drawn to a particular block. Part of the attraction you feel is the ‘less-is-more’ design of each block. You are inspired to keep your own content light and to the point.

5. Responsive-friendly design with lots of control and little hassle.

“Responsive design” is designer lingo for “the website looks good on a laptop, tablet, and smartphone.” Tilda does a nice job right out of the bag, and this is important. Statistics show well over half of your website visitors will view your website on a smartphone. What if you need to tweak something that looks good on a laptop but not on a smartphone? Tilda provides a simple toggle allowing you to customize blocks to show or hide on different devices. Problem solved.

6. Blocks make simple revisions or additions attainable for church planters.

In the early stages of your church plant, you need a great website to share your vision, message, and brand. You need the ability to make some minor adjustments and occasional additions to your website. You are likely not making daily or even weekly updates. There are too many other plates spinning. Tilda meets those needs while helping church planters stay within the look-and-feel of the rest of the site (branding).

7. The simple pricing structure works well within the confines of a church planting budget.

Tilda’s personal pricing plan of $10/mo is worth the hassle-free benefits of a hosted solution. Unlike WordPress, there are no updates, upgrades or plugins to manage. Set it and forget it (I mean that in a good, ‘super-busy church planter’ kind of way).

Questions Yet to be Answered

As I said before, I just got started trying out Tilda. I’ve used numerous platforms over the years working with the clients of Robby Fowler Design. Every platform has its strengths and weaknesses. Those with too many weaknesses eventually get gobbled up or passed by. Time will tell for Tilda. For now, here are the questions I still have as it relates to church planters:

What will revisions, additions and maintenance feel like for a church planter managing his site in the early days of his church plant? Will Tilda’s pre-built blocks make additions and revisions as easy as I think they will?

Will there be enough features to keep Tilda a viable option for ‘phase 1’ of a typical church plant? Or will some of the unique needs of a church website try to squeeze too much out of the Tilda platform?

How will Tilda fare overall in this crowded market? Even if it works great for church planters, that is not enough to sustain them in a competitive field. Will they have staying power?

Summary

There is a growing list of options when it comes to designing, hosting and managing your church plant’s website. Some solutions focus on the church market. Others have a small business focus but make great options for churches too. Tilda is a welcomed newcomer on the scene for church planters who want something that looks great and is super simple to manage.

Confession

Designing a website always feels like a pressure-cooker. There are so many options. There are so many great websites out there. There are tons of terrible sites too. The thought of someone I befriend checking out my church’s website and then making the decision whether or not to continue frightens me. What if I was too wordy? What if the site is confusing or too ‘insider-ish’…or not enough ‘insider-ish’? Will I be able to maintain it, or will we come out of the gate fast and fade in the end?

Good News

Jesus cares as much about the heart behind your website as he does about the content and design of your website.

“

Jesus cares as much about the heart behind your website as he does about the content and design of your website.

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He cares for both. One look at the stunning HD nature footage that appears when my new Apple TV screen saver kicks in is enough to shut down any argument claiming design does not matter to God. The Father designed a stunning garden for Adam & Eve. Beauty…check. Functionality…check. So yes, poorly designed websites diminish our reflection of God’s goodness and character. But a beautiful website with compelling content designed out of fear, or competition, or pride is no more pleasing to the Father. Even if Google Analytics does not track your heart, our loving Father does. My fear, anxiety, arrogance or self-reliance that surface when designing a website reveal my need for Jesus. He cares enough about his church that he can empower the designer’s design, the writer’s words, and the leader’s heart. The Father invites us to cast our website anxieties on him because he cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).

The post WP Themes Alternative for Church Planters appeared first on The Church Planter Starter Kit.

This article by Robby Fowler first appeared at Church Planter Starter Kit and you can find it here.

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Creative Writing Trick: Speedy Dictation for Busy Church Planters

Creative Writing Trick: Speedy Dictation for Busy Church Planters

“Free” and “fast” are two words that are music to the ears of every church planter. If that’s you, read on and I will give you both. But first, let me ask you this ridiculous question. What should church planters have in common with Saddam Hussein?

For all of the atrocious, despicable things about Saddam Hussein there is one thing church planters should emulate. (I say this a little tongue-in-cheek, of course.) Why would I make such a crazy statement? Because two things are true about church planters. First, church planters are always busier than they would like to be. Second, church planters never have the money they need to do all of the things they would like to do for their church plant. One task that often takes more time— and causes more pain—is writing.

Anytime church planters can use inexpensive or free technology to streamline tasks like writing and save time is a win. You spend less time doing things, and more time discipling people. The church is made up of people, not things. (That is why Jesus commanded us to ‘go and make disciples’, not ‘go do stuff’.)

Here is one more thing that is true of many church planters. Church planters are visionary leaders. And visionary leaders are often verbal processors. Verbal processors think out loud.

It is simple to diagnose whether or not you are a verbal processor. When a significant decision needs to be made about a new direction, a new ministry, a leadership position, etc., do you:

Prefer to talk with someone about your ideas, like the pros and cons?

Preferred to find a quiet place alone to think critically about the decision?

When you are trying to choose the title for your first sermon series, if you pick up the phone or head into the office of another trusted leader to talk things out, you are a verbal processor. This brings us back to my tongue-in-cheek comment about emulating Saddam Hussein.

You and Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein was a dictator. As a verbal processor, you should be a dictator too… at least when it comes to your writing.

With the advance of technology like Siri and Google voice search, it is easier than ever to dictate your writing instead of typing it. Verbal processor us can often dictate faster than they can type. Although this approach takes a little getting used to, the benefits are worth it.

Here is how you can start dictating your way to writing faster.

Using Your Mac for Speedy Dictation

If you have a relatively new Mac and internet access, you have everything you need to start dictating your writing. Here are the simple steps to get set up:

Step 1: Turn on Apple’s Built-in Dictation

Open System Preferences and click on Dictation & Speech.

Dictation & Speech in System Preferences pane

Ensure that (1) Dictation is On. (2) The keyboard Shortcut works for you. (The default keyboard shortcut is pushing the function key on the keyboard twice. This works great for me and is easy to remember.) (3) The Internal Microphone is selected as the source of your audio input. (Alternatively, your headphones with a built-in microphone will also work. Just make sure it is selected.)

Dictation Settings

Step 2: Start Dictating Instead of Typing

Once you have dictation turned on, you can dictate in most environments where you normally type.

Place your cursor where you would normally type.

Double-click the Function key twice (or your keyboard shortcut). A microphone will appear.

Start dictating. (The microphone will pulse as a visual cue that it is working.)

The experience will be similar to what you are already accustom to on your smartphone.

Note for Google Docs

Google docs, which comes with Google apps, also has a built-in dictation feature. Here is how to use it:

Open a Google Doc

Go to Tools menu and choose Voice typing…

Start dictating.

Google Docs Voice typing

Tips to Speed Up Your Writing With Dictation

Making the transition from typing to dictating takes of practice. Here are a few tips to help you along the way.

When writing longer content, create a written outline of your thoughts before for you start dictating information. I’ve included a screenshot of the outline for my article below as an example. 

Think and speak in phrases.

Pretend like you are giving a polished speech, not having a casual conversation. (Eliminate filler words like ‘uhm’, ‘ughh’ or ‘like’.)

Use this formula: Think, Speak, Stop. First, think about what you are going to say in the next phrase or sentence. Next, speak the phrase or sentence. Then stop and let your computer catch up. (To “stop,” disengage the dictation by double-clicking the Function key.)

Speak punctuation as you dictate like “period” or “comma” or “quote…endquote”.

Expect a few miscues from the built-in dictation software. The technology has advanced, but mistakes will still happen.

Consider walking and dictating into the iPhone app if you do not have an office or a quiet place to dictate. Then share your dictation document with your computer. (I use Evernote for this, or email for shorter passages.) Note, dictating into your phone while you walk will use data unless you are on Wi-Fi.

Starter List of Where to Start Dictating

Here are a few ideas of when and where you can start using dictating in place of typing.

Word, Pages, Google Docs

Email

Sermon prep

Articles or blog post

Social media messages

Written announcements

Training documents

Summary

Using your Mac’s or Google Doc’s built-in dictation functionality can speed up your writing and help you fulfill your calling to plant a church and make disciples. Try it for yourself and see if you like it.

The post Creative Writing Trick: Speedy Dictation for Busy Church Planters appeared first on The Church Planter Starter Kit.

This article by Robby Fowler first appeared at Church Planter Starter Kit and you can find it here.

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Writing Winning Website Content

Writing Winning Website Content

As a church planter, you often find yourself attempting to write content for your church’s website. A seasoned copywriter who gets your vision, brand and audience is a rarity even when a large budget is at play. So here you are, forced to wear yet another hat. While your website budget may be tiny, your need for that website to clearly share why you exist is huge.

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Your church plant website budget may be tiny, but your need to share why you exist is huge.

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So how do you communicate your vision to your audience on your website when you are not a professional website designer or copywriter?

7 Tips for Writing Winning Website Content

Writing website content is a different beast. But these 7 tips can help you make a clear first impression to visitors.

Tip 1: Write Less.

Less, less, less is more. When it comes to website content, you must say less. Visitors will consume your content on a computer screen, or more likely a smartphone or tablet. So say a third of what you might write for a paper document. Edit, cut and hack your content as if you were delivering a 12-minute sermon in your first preaching class. In actuality, visitors will spend about five to ten minutes on your site before moving on.

Tip 2: Keep laser-focused on your audience.

You are NOT saying everything you could say about your church plant to everyone in your community. (Because most church planters like to talk, let me say it again.) You are NOT saying everything there is to say about a subject, a particular ministry, your church, or anything else about which you will write. Rather, you are trying to answer the questions your intended audience has. Focus on ‘solving their problems’ with your content. Think about what they want to know and need to know to connect with your church. That’s it.

Tip 3: Write your content in short sections.

Write brief blocks of text. Think in terms of 2–4 sentences in short paragraphs. Use a short list or bullets to make content easy to scan. We both know you are amazing. However, people NEVER read anything that feels long on your website unless it is a blog post. (Even your mom will bail out and lie to your face when you ask her later.)

Tip 4: Respect the Smartphone.

I mentioned this above, but it is worth repeating. Remember over half of your website visitors will likely be on a mobile device. One challenge you face when writing website content is the fact you are likely writing content on a laptop. What may feel ‘short enough’ on your spacious computer feels MUCH longer on a phone.

Tip 5: Write down your website goals.

This should be tip number one. Answer for yourself, “What do I want this website to do for our church plant?” A website is always-on. It can be working even when you are not. What do you want it to do? Who is it for? (Hint, it is not for you.) List 1–3 goals. Write them down and literally keep them in front of you as you write your website content. Check them often. And use them to cut, hack, edit and get rid of content that does not help you accomplish your goals.

Tip 6: Outline your website structure first, then start writing content second.

After you decide your goals, you need to outline the structure of your website. Think of this like a fleshed-out “site map.” For example, you would list your Home Page, plus the sub-categories of content you will include on your home page. This outline will serve as the bones on which you build your site. After you outline the structure, then turn to the task of writing content for each of the appropriate sections.

Tip 7: Give Visitors a clear Call to Action.

Most visitors to your website want the answer to three simple questions.

Who are you and what do you offer me that could help me?

What would it look like to connect with your church?

How do I connect with your church?

Yes, that feels a bit consumeristic. But you can serve them by answering their questions clearly. You do not have to cower to consumerism or enable it. You can be bold and honest without demeaning their honest questions. For example, you might say ‘We share the good news of Jesus with the trendy and tossed-aside of the Eastside. We live life together like family centered on Jesus as we learn to follow his perfect rule in our lives. Join us Sunday as we gather from all walks of life to celebrate the transforming love of Jesus.’

Summary

You can write winning content for your church plant website. Follow these tips and you will be well on your way to expressing your vision to your website visitors in compelling fashion.

I use these same tips every time I develop a website for any organization or church. I’m not perfect, but I work hard to follow these tips on my own portfolio site Robbyf.com as well. My entire single-page site has less than 500 words total and I run my whole business from those words.

The post Writing Winning Website Content appeared first on The Church Planter Starter Kit.

This article by Robby Fowler first appeared at Church Planter Starter Kit and you can find it here.

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How To Plant A Church And Get Heard Like These Guys

How To Plant A Church And Get Heard Like These Guys

Every church planter would love a magic book with secret potions for how to plant a church. But that doesn’t exist.

How about this though, wouldn’t it be great to be heard? After all, who can plant a church if you can’t get people to listen.

If you’re the kind of leader who is NOT interested in being tuned out, read on. There is practical help on the way to help you get heard like 3 great leaders. (Spoiler Alert: No magic potions below.)

First, let’s start with you. You’re a gifted, called, compelled leader in the throws of your church plant. You have some great ideas for how to plant a church and a growing group of people following your lead, excited to be discipled and make disciples. But there’s only one of you at the moment. When you preach the foundational sermon series, when you share the exciting news, when you cast vision for the public launch of your gathering, you can never get all of your people in the same room at the same time. Some are out of town, have a family commitment, are serving the kids, etc.

The first leadership principle today’s three leaders share in common: You must do some of your leadership/discipleship through your writing.

But many leaders, church planters, and pastors feel inadequate when it comes to writing. We don’t consider ourselves writers. Plus, we receive little training in this regard. The average church planting residency offers zero help for this area. Zilch. (We’re going to change that today.)

The second leadership principle today’s three leaders share in common: If we ignore this area of our leadership—namely, writing—we risk losing the ear of our people over time.

I know this from experience. (Ouch!) As I mentioned in last week’s article, I have failed enough to help you.

Where did I go wrong and what were the results? Simple. A history of poor writing—particularly saying too much and being confusing—conditioned our folks to ignore written communication coming from church leadership. To “survive” being a normal, committed church member, spouse, and parent, many tuned us out.

The third leadership principle today’s three leaders share in common: Edit or be edited. Do the work on the front end, or pay the price on the back end. Tune into your writing, or get tuned out by your audience.

Welcome to church planting (and communication) in the real world. It’s a ‘good-communication-eats-bad-communication’ world out there. Writing matters. Poor communication guarantees poor leadership and discipleship.

A 3-Step Plan for Getting Heard Like These 3 Leaders

Here’s a simple plan to significantly improve your writing and get heard like these 3 leaders—Michael Hyatt, Donald Miller, and Ray Edwards. You can start today.

Step 1: Say it better by using a tried-and-true formula from one of these three leaders.

There are great writers we can all learn from. Even better, there are great teachers who make us better writers. Rather than feel like you must start literature training all over again, pick a trusted writing mentor and follow his/her proven approach to writing.

Here are three excellent leaders who influence others through their writing. Thankfully, each of these three writers shares his approach and invites you to emulate his success. (Note, I do not personally know any of these three writers, but I have seen them profess and demonstrate their love for Jesus through their successful businesses.)

Michael Hyatt: Michael Hyatt is a respected leader who launched his current online career out of his history of leadership in Christian Publishing—namely the once Chairman & CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers. In a matter of minutes, you can read this blog post from Michael, Anatomy of an Effective Blog Post, and get his winning formula for writing wildly popular (and effective) blog posts. Use his clear plan in your writing and watch your effectiveness improve each time you communicate.

Donald Miller: Donald Miller is a noted author, communicator, and business leader. He is a lover of story and has a genius plan you can follow every time you write. His fool-proof plan outlined in this free PDF How To Tell A Story can turn your writing into a powerful story your audience will love to hear. In fact, it is the approach underpinning this article.

Ray Edwards: Although you may not have heard of Ray, he’s a terrific copywriter. He’s got a great, free, 3-part online series called How to Write the Words That Sell Your Products, Services, and Ideas aimed at helping you write better. His intended audience in the series is those writing marketing or sales copy, but his suggested formula in the first video is solid gold. As a church planter or pastor, you always write with the intent of ‘selling your idea.’ Follow his suggestions. Your writing will immediately improve and your people will more readily hear and buy your discipleship ideas.

Step 2: Proofread your writing by reading it through at least twice.

No one feels the squeeze on their time like church planters. I get it. And many do not have a natural affinity for writing. You’d rather say it than write it. I know what you mean. But you cannot possibly make disciples by verbal communication only. It’s just not an option. So when you write anything important (training for your leaders, support emails, discipleship material, church-wide announcements, sermon series descriptions, etc.), make time to read your own writing twice before you hit “print” or “send.” For any ‘huge’ announcements, I recommend proofreading it over a period of two days. The space in between proofing lets your head clear. The fresh perspective will enable you to see things you don’t otherwise see when you rush straight from writing to printing/sending. Just try it, and you will see where you could have said things more clearly, more carefully, and more lovingly to your people. The corrections you make will build trust, influence and the continued ear of your audience. Your mistakes—the ones you don’t catch because you’re in too big of a hurry—will erode trust over time. And every great leader knows trust is hard to gain and easy to lose.

Step 3: Ensure your content passes the brutally honest and helpful ‘wife test.’

You think you’re busy. Try swapping places with your wife for one day. This is also why she is the perfect candidate to test the effectiveness of your writing. For any important communication you’re writing and planning on giving to others, let her read it. Prepare to be humbled and reminded of your need for Jesus to build your church…and your family…and your marriage. Have her read it one time over, preferably in the midst of the normal chaos of her life (like your audience). Then ask her these three questions without getting mad at her answers, or lack thereof.

What was it about?

Why should she care?

What should she do about it?

If your own wife cannot answer those three questions, your audience definitely will not be able to. Head back to the drawing board and try again. It’s worth it. What you have to say in order to lead your people should merit the effort.

If you don’t take the simple steps above, you’ll likely take the other approach and fail to get heard. The alternative looks like this: “I didn’t get heard last time, so in the future…”

I need to say more (as in, use more words and over-explain)

I need to say it more often (as in, ‘I’ll send three emails about it instead of just one’)

Summary

Follow the 3-step plan the next time you write to your people as part of your discipleship of your church. Pick a winning formula and emulate it. Proofread your writing before going public. And get your wife’s input on the three critical questions: what’s it about, why should she care, what should she do about it. Do so, and you’ll put yourself in the best possible position to be heard.

Better Leadership for Better Discipleship

It’s true better readers make better leaders. It’s equally true better writers make better leaders because we cannot lead without some critical writing. No, you do not have to be ‘Bill Shakespeare.’ But if you cherish your calling to make disciples, you would be wise to take every opportunity to influence your people towards maturity in Jesus…including your writing. The 3-step plan is easy to execute and will bear fruit over time. Reaffirming, reminding, rejoicing, reproving, revisioning…these are all opportunities for you to make disciples in and through your writing.

Confession

The words you and I write will get ignored, not heard, brushed aside, lost in the shuffle, and forgotten at times. When this does happen, the sting of disappointment can turn personal. And then sin takes root. We blame. We get angry. We resolve to ‘write louder’ next time…so those even ‘without ears to hear’ have no choice but to listen. No, we don’t set out to be this way, but the circumstances flush out what is already in our hearts. We want, nay, demand to be heard.

Good News

In the gospel story, we are counted among his disciples. We sit a stone’s throw from Jesus in the garden moments before his betrayal. Agonizing in prayer, he walks over to warn us to pray that we may not enter temptation. We hit the snooze button instead. We choose not to listen to his voice and listen to our own voice instead. A few hours later, Jesus’ words are ignored by the Father as he absorbs the blow we deserve for all of the times we choose not to listen to his words of love, life, wisdom, and warning. Because of Jesus’ act of love, the Father will never ignore our words as sons and daughters.

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We ignore Jesus’ words, but because of Jesus’ act of love, the Father will never ignore our words as sons and daughters.

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There is only One who deserves to be heard. We herald his name, even in our writing, and need not take offense when we may not get heard. We already have the ear of the One who matters. And he has proven, in saving us, that he is capable of handling any of our folks who do not listen to us as closely as we’d like.

The post How To Plant A Church And Get Heard Like These Guys appeared first on The Church Planter Starter Kit.

This article by Robby Fowler first appeared at Church Planter Starter Kit and you can find it here.