I spent part of my childhood as a missionary’s kid in Lima, Peru. The home we lived in was a tall and skinny red three story concrete building squished like a townhouse between two other houses. From the outside, much of it looked like a castle turret. This is where the staircase was, and underneath the staircase, at the very bottom of the house was a cold, dark, and dusty bathroom with a low ceiling.

The kitchen was across the hall from this bathroom, so we frequently passed by it without giving it any notice. But one night as I was in the kitchen opening a bottle of coke, I heard a ploop.

I paused and listened…

Ploop, ploop.

The noise sounded like it was coming from the bathroom. So I quickly rushed across the hallway, turned on the bathroom light, and looked into the toilet.

What appeared to be a big brown worm was swishing around, and then it shot down the hole towards the sewer. But it wasn’t a worm. It was a rat tail. And all around the toilet seat were rat paw prints. I was surprised. I did not know rats could come up from the sewer to the toilet. It was an unexpected problem but easily fixed by placing a weight on the toilet lid.

MINISTRY LESSON
Expect and plan for unexpected problems in unexpected places.

This may sound impossible, but it is really quite simple. You can never completely prevent problems from occurring. But you can budget resources (time, money, & skills) so that they are available when an unexpected problem arises.

In others words, create margin for your ministry’s time, money, and skills by not scheduling every minute of your day, not spending every dollar in your budget, and not overcommitting yourself to one specific task. Then when an unexpected problem shows up in an unexpected place, you will likely have the resources to solve the problem quickly and effectively.

For Discussion:
- How to you prepare your ministry for unexpected problems?

Other MK Ministry Lessons
1. Speaking Another Language
2. Big Numbered Intis
3. Timoteo’s Fly Eye Kaleidoscope
4. Christmas Tacos
5. Worm Pills
6. The Presence of Guns
7. Cusco Limits

I spent part of my childhood as a missionary’s kid in Lima, Peru. One October, my parents hosted a team of doctors and nurses from Cincinnati for medical missions in Lima and Cusco.

At one of the ministry sites near Cusco, many of the children had worms. It is an easily cured problem with worm pills. Unfortunately, our medical team could only briefly solve the problem. After taking a worm pill, the children would rush to the water spigot to wash the pill’s bad taste out. But the water from the spigot contained the parasites which gave them worms in the first place.

The worm pills could never solve the problem until the root of the problem was taken care of first. Without clean water, the worm pills were useless.

MINISTRY LESSON
Effective problem solving takes care of the root of the problem.

For example, a congregation that resists change for tradition’s sake, does not need persuasion as for why change is necessary. What they need is a mindset shift from a selfish, inward focus to a selfless, missional focus.

Or when your children’s ministry check-in process is creating long lines, do not corral the parents with stanchions if what you really need is to simplify the check-in system.

If volunteers are not performing well, you probably do not need better volunteers. You probably need better leadership.

If you don’t take care of the root of the problem, you will always have problems to solve.

For Discussion:
- What are your tips for problem solving?

Other MK Ministry Lessons
1. Speaking Another Language
2. Big Numbered Intis
3. Timoteo’s Fly Eye Kaleidoscope
4. Christmas Tacos

I spent part of my childhood as a missionary’s kid in Lima, Peru. I still have quite a few souvenirs from my time there, including some intis I have tucked away in a box in my closet. In 1990, intis were Peru’s currency.

What I like about intis is they come in big numbers. I have a bill for 50,000 intis and another for 10,000 intis. They even made a 5,000,000 intis bill. It is a neat feeling to hold millions of monies in your hand, especially if you are a kid.

But the problem with intis is they are worthless. They stopped using them in 1991. And even when they did have value, 5,000,000 intis was comparable to $2.50.

Sometimes big numbers are meaningless.

THE MINISTRY LESSON:
Sometimes big numbers are meaningless. Does it really matter how many ADDYs your church wins or how many eggs you hid at your Easter event? Not really.

But what about church attendance and membership? Do they matter? To some extent, yes. Membership and attendance can be great indicators of how effective your church is. But the perceived value of these numbers can also be falsely inflated.

While attendance and membership are important, we cannot lose focus on which numbers truly matter. We cannot forget that the most important numbers are those that measure spiritual gains for God’s Kingdom. How many people came to Christ? How many people came back to Christ? How many people are growing in their spiritual maturity? Lives changed are what matter.

Which is greater? An inward-focused, stagnate church of 5,000 or a passionately selfless Christian who reaches just one of society’s untouchables?

Living in a statistics-loving culture where “bigger is better,” it can be tough to shake the perceived importance of big numbers, even when they don’t really matter. It was thrilling to find obsolete inti coins in the dirt. Psychologically, the coins seemed valuable, but in the real world, they were just worthless big numbered intis.

Numbers are important. But some numbers are more important than others. Focus on the numbers that really count. Focus on the most important measurements - changed lives.

For Discussion:
- What “numbers” does your church measure, and how do you measure them?

[Photo Credit: José Félix Arias Ynche]

Great custom graphic design is ideal. But sometimes time, money, or skill limitations make it necessary to use premade graphics. And even when you have the time, money, and skills, there are still occasions when it is more efficient to not reinvent the wheel and to instead use and build upon a premade resource.

In either case, here are 15 of the best sites offering free church graphics and resources. And if you want to spend some cash, I have also included 6 sites that cost money but are worth considering for premade resources.

Free Church Graphics and Resources

• CreativeMYK.com
  Offers free church graphics including logos, photos, vector art, projector slides, bulletins, sermon graphics, projector slides, templates, and more. The site also includes a social network for Christian artists.
• LifeChurch.tv Open
  Offers free sermon series resources that include message outlines, sermon graphics, videos, and more creative materials created by LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK).
• Muddy River Media
  Offers free illustrative videos, motion backgrounds, countdown timers, stock photographs, illustrations, small group resources, and more.
• NewSpring Ministries
  Offers free sermon series resources (e.g., sermon graphics, audio, message outline, & service outline) as well as administrative forms and manuals created by NewSpring Church (Anderson, SC).
• Northside Christian Church Creative Resources
  Offers free logos, posters, and other artwork designed by Northside Christian Church (New Albany, IN).
• Nside Admin
  Offers free administrative documents from North Point Community Church (Alpharetta, GA) on church government, human resources, accounting, facilities, IT, and Web.
• Seacoast All Access
  Offers free sermon series resources that include sermon graphics, motion graphics, audio, video, message notes, and small group questions created by Seacoast Church (Mt. Pleasant, SC).
• Vine Resources
  Offers free sermon series graphics, postcards, countdown videos, and message bumpers created by the college ministry of Southeast Christian Church (Louisville, KY).

Free General Graphics and Resources

• Adobe Exchange
  Offers free downloads to use with Adobe software including brushes, styles, gradients, custom shapes, and patterns for Photoshop.
• BittBox
  A blog that regularly highlights free Photoshop brushes, Flash components, vector graphics, and more.
• Brusheezy
  Offers free Photoshop brushes.
• Flasheezy
  Offers free Flash elements.
• PS Brushes
  Offers free Photoshop brushes.
• Smashing Magazine
  A blog that regularly highlights free graphics, fonts, and more.
• Vecteezy
  Offers free vector graphics.

Church Resources that Cost Money

• Creative Pastors
  Sells sermon series resources that include sermon graphics, video, mind maps, outlines, audio, and more created by Fellowship Church (Grapevine, TX).
• North Point Resources
  Sells logos, DVDs, sermon messages, conference messages, and more created by North Point Community Church (Alpharetta, GA).
• Outreach
  Sells church graphics that include postcards, banners, bulletins, door hangers, invitations, brochures, logos, signage, and more.
• The Church Box
  Sells sermon series resources that include sermon graphics, PowerPoint slides, and audio created by Four Corners Community Church (West Chester, OH).
• WiredChurches.com
  Sells sermon series resources (e.g., outlines, graphics, videos, audio, & scripts) and administrative resources (e.g., forms, documents, & manuals) created by Granger Community Church (Granger, IN).
• WorshipHouse Media
  Sells mini-movies, motions, stills, software, and editables for churches.

For Discussion:
- What are you favorite websites for church resources and why? Be sure to mention whether they are free or cost money.

At the beginning of April 2008, church leaders will gather at the Awaken Conference in Pasadena, CA to hear from Erwin McManus, Bill Hybels, Wayne Cordeiro, and other spiritual leaders. The Awaken Conference also has a blog, which is intended to be a source of discussion about new modes and methods for doing church. Last week, I guest blogged the following thoughts on how to discover new and more effective ways for doing church.

In his book The Medici Effect, Frans Johansson explains how breakthrough insights come at the intersection of ideas, concepts, and cultures. This is why it is important to study what methods are working for other churches. This does not mean you should mimic other churches, but simply, you should purpose to understand why a method is successful within its context. As you do this, your scope of knowledge will widen and, consequently, give you more breakthrough insights into what will and will not work for your church.

But don’t stop there. Expand your intersection to outside of the church bubble. How are other people using technology? How are businesses learning to communicate more effectively? Are there any insights you can glean by observing God’s creation? Sometimes a completely unrelated idea can be the source of an innovative insight.

But when it comes to discovering new, better, and more effective methods for doing church, intersecting your life with the cultures of the people whom you are called to reach offers some of the best insights. The better you understand the cultures of your community, the more insights you will have in how to best reach them. Be like Jesus. Spend time with people.

Lastly, we cannot forget that the most important part of our intersection is God. He is the source of our greatest insights. And when His wisdom is coupled with your willingness to study and pursue new things, you are sure to find ways to do church more effectively.

Be sure to check out the Awaken Blog. They have new insights every week.

Going All the Way by Craig Groeschel of LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK) was written as a guide to having a better marriage, but it also has some valuable lessons for leaders. In particular, Craig discusses how to be a better listener in 3 easy steps.

1. When someone is speaking, stop everything and focus intently on the other person.
   Don’t think about something else. Don’t formulate your response. You’re goal is to comprehend not just the person’s words, but their heart.
2. Don’t just listen with your ears, but also with your eyes.
   Pay attention to facial expressions and to body language. You’ll be surprised how much information comes through gestures and stance, even how the other person breathes while they’re talking.
3. Repeat back to the person what you’re hearing so the other person knows what you heard.
   By telling [someone] what I think [he] meant, I can confirm that I’ve understood [him]. It also affirms to [him] the value of what [he] said. It shows [him] not just that I heard [him], but that I was listening. Which demonstrates to [him] that I care.

Being a good listener not only makes you more likable but wiser. There is a lot to be learned from the ideas and insights of other people.

For Discussion:
Are there any tips you would add to these three for becoming a better listener?

Earlier today children’s ministry expert Jim Wideman of World Outreach Church (Murfreesboro, TN) blogged the following good reminder for church leaders:

God is just as concerned about how we treat the people we lead as what we get accomplished.

Remember, they may be your leaders, but they are His kids.

So don’t let the success of results be at the expense of relationships.

The Christian Post has a great article by Nelson Searcy of The Journey Church (New York City, NY) on how to deal with five common church growth barriers. Here is a list of the five barriers with a quick summary of Searcy’s thoughts on each.

1. Space
   >> When a room reaches 70% of its seating capacity, it’s full.
   >> Most churches face growth barriers when attendance reaches 65, 125, 250, 500, and 1,000.
   >> It is better to grow to 300 or 400 before starting a second service.
2. Self-Development
   >> If the church leaders have stopped maturing spiritually and progressing personally, the congregation is not far behind.
   >> Warning signs include stale sermons, the congregation’s passion waning, and the halt of staff and church growth.
3. Sharing
   >> Churches stop growing when they become inwardly (instead of outwardly) focused.
   >> Healthy churches should have a 5:100 ratio of first-time guests.
4. Weekly Worship Service
   >> To keep your service strong, always try to look like a church twice your size.
5. Staff
   >> Hiring staff is a faith issue.

For more on each area, read the full article from The Christian Post.