PREACHING & #SundayChurchHacks – Many preachers use #SermonSeries by famous preachers. These series are insightful, but be careful not to make it appear that you wrote them. #FactChecking means many listeners will eventually discover the original author. Implying (even subtly) authorship can undermine your credibility.

Commentary by Dr. Whitesel: I regularly visit and coach churches that are growing and/or have multiple venues. I’ve noticed that the same sermon content, same visuals and even the same promotional artwork is used by various church preachers. I can’t help but believe that churchgoers also notice this similarity. This will cause suspicion of plagiarism.

But these are helpful and powerful sermon series. And they are available from gifted communicators such as Craig Groeschel. I interviewed Craig Groeschel for my book “Growth by Accident, Death by Planning: How Not to Kill a Growing Congregation” (Abingdon Press).

These series make sermon preparation easier. Craig Groeschel offers “thousands of free video-based sermon series along with corresponding artwork, notes, transcripts, mailers, social media assets, and promo trailers.” This means a smaller church or a busy leader can give a sermon series attractive promotion and more importantly life-changing content; but the potential the listener will misperceive the author will increase.

I believe such sermon series have great insights that other preachers can learn and teach.

But as a communicator, you must ensure that you don’t take credit, saying things such as, “When I wrote this…” or “Here is my sermon for today.” Taking, even informally, credit for content can undermine your authority when listeners Google the topic.

Sermons series by Craig Groeschel

Consider the Paul’s words in Romans 13:7 (NASB).

Pay to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; respect to whom respect; honor to whom honor.

WORSHIP EVALUATION & Today’s #SundayChurchHacks: Music leaders, evaluate your streaming services later & catch inconsistencies.

Commentary by Dr. Whitesel:

I evaluated a client’s traditional service, but the pre-recorded exit music was techno rock. Status quo members feel at least an inconsistency, if not an insensitivity.

Technicians often choose the music played as people exit or when streaming the music played after the service concludes. But, technicians need to be on the same page as the worship leaders tasked with connecting with different cultures.

#MultiCultural #SundayChurchHacks

3-STRand LEADERSHIP & Today’s 1st #SundayChurchHacks – Most churches talk too much about new programs & so they implement them too slowly. Rx = Find your “tacticians” (organizers, Rom. 12:7-8) with this self-scoring questionnaire & give them a goal date to get it done.

Below is a downloadable questionnaire to find your Strategic Leaders (visionaries), Tactical Leaders (organizers) and Relational Leaders (team leaders):

3-strand-leadership-questionnaire-c2a9bobwhitesel-fillableDownload

3-STRand LEADERSHIP & A video introduction & tools to discover your mix of 3 leadership traits.

For a brief introduction …

A) Look at these introductory videos:

https://www.biblicalleadership.com/videos/are-you-a-general-or-a-colonel/

https://www.biblicalleadership.com/videos/do-you-have-a-no-man-on-your-team/

B) Read this short explanation of the three traits of leaders: Strategic-Tactical-Relational here: 

https://churchhealthwiki.wordpress.com/2015/09/29/sto-leadership-an-overview-are-you-a-shepherd-or-a-visionary-or-a-little-of-both/

C) Read about the different names authors have used interchangeably with Strategic-Tactical-Relational here: 

https://churchhealthwiki.wordpress.com/2017/03/02/sto-leadership-alternative-names-for-strategic-tactical-operational-leadership-styles/

D) Then read the “Questions and Answers at 3-STRand Leadership” at this link: 

https://churchhealthwiki.wordpress.com/2015/09/25/teamwork-my-answers-to-questions-about-sto-leaders-strategic-tactical-operational/

E) Finally, take the questionnaire yourself to find which is your dominant and sub-dominant leadership traits. The questionnaire is available FREE here: 

https://churchhealthwiki.wordpress.com/2015/09/29/sto-leadership-a-questionnaire-to-discover-your-leadership-mix/

CHURCH GUESTS 101 & #SundayChurchHacks – The one thing NOT to say when greeting guests: “Find out how to get involved.” Visitors are new to your faith community & many come because they have needs. Most are not ready for volunteerism – but instead seek help. Don’t focus on the organization & its need for volunteers. Instead focus on the visitor and the needs that brought them to you. Meet visitor needs, before the needs of the organization. Acts 14:8-10. #GrowingThePostPandemicChurch

#SundayChurchHacks & Here is why you should let leaders of diverse sub-congregations preach more often to the entire congregation (and on more desirable dates too)

by Bob Whitesel D.Min., Ph.D., 7/12/20. Pictured below is the pastor of a Spanish-speaking congregation preaching to the entire congregation. This reminds the church of its diversity, plus gives it a opportunity to experience the anointing of diverse leaders within the church.

Yet too often leaders of smaller sub-congregations and venues are afforded the opportunity to preach only on special occasions or during low attendance periods (such as the middle of the summer).

Relegating them to preach sparingly and at low attendance times sends a subtle message of inferiority. This works against reconciliation.

To create reconciliation in a church begins with affording all cultures equal status and affirming their ministry beyond equal opportunity.

“Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore.

Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it!

All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins.

God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.”

‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5:16-20‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Therefore a Sunday Church Hack can be to let the leaders of various venues and sub-congregations preach on a more regular and desirable basis. If not, cultural chasms develop, not bridges.

#SundayChurchHacks – Record your live service & starting streaming it early Sunday morning. Don’t make online attendees wait around until it is convenient for you.

by Bob Whitesel D.Min., Ph.D., 5/2020.

Today we are entering the “age of the eReformation,” an electronic re-formation of the way the Church shares the Good News.

But many churches wait to live-stream their worship at the customary Sunday hour (10:30 or 11 AM).  This requires online attendees to wait around until you are ready to start.

But is holding it “live” with an audience always necessary? Aren’t you hoping that people who watch it later in the week will experience the same worship encounter and connection with the Holy Spirit as you did when you recorded it?

So, why not record and post your worship service early on Sunday morning (or even Saturday night) so more people can experience it when it is convenient for them?  More people may watch it this way.

The eReformation coming upon the Church means the Good News can be more accessible through electronic means, just as it did in 1500s when the printing press allowed people to read the Word any day of the week.

For more ideas see the article I wrote for Biblical Leadership Magazine …

“eReformation: Leading post-pandemic church growth – 10 things to start doing now“

#SundayChurchHacks – Make streaming your worship easy by featuring the access link prominently on your webpage.

by Bob Whitesel D.Min., Ph.D., 5/2020.

Because we are entering the “age of the eReformation,” an electronic re-formation of the way the Church shares the Good News, access to your online worship should be easy and central.

Unfortunately, many churches still require several clicks or links to access their online worship streaming. In addition, churches often put the streaming link lower down on the page, rather than centrally located.

Because people are coming to your website because they are Internet savvy, put the link to streaming your Sunday service at the top and in a prominent place on your webpage.

Make access to your online worship service as easy as attending a live worship service.

For more ideas see the article I wrote for Biblical Leadership Magazine …

“eReformation: Leading post-pandemic church growth – 10 things to start doing now“

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Landing Page Example A (better) …

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Landing Page Example B (best):