Sometimes blunt, crude words are the only things that can shock a person out of a rut and motivate him to improve to the next level. This four-part blog series is for the church worker who needs such forthright words.

When achieving a goal seems impossible and you are not making any progress, imagine that:

You will die unless you achieve it.

In other words, ask yourself,

If my life depended on it, what would I do?

Circumstances are a powerful thing. It is amazing what people can accomplish under the right motivating circumstances. So when you feel like giving up on pursuing your goal, ask yourself, “What would I do if my life depended on it?”

Odds are you can give more effort. Odds are you can be more creative. And often the most brilliant creativity happens in times of desperation. So if you want to innovate, if you want to enhance your performance, figure out what you would do if your life depended on it.

This is a psychological mind hack. It gets you thinking past the limitations you put on yourself because you do not want to leave your comfort zone. And if you truthfully answer the question, then you must choose whether or not you are willing to invest that type of life-at-stake effort, passion, and willpower.

Stay tuned for more crude words.

Read Part 1 - You Deserve to Go to Hell

ChurchMetrics.com is a new, free church management web app that enables your to track trends within your church.

LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK) created Church Metrics as a resource to help track trends in attendance, salvations, baptisms, and financial giving. And soon the free church management app will be available for any church to use at ChurchMetrics.com.

In the future, more features may be added to Church Metrics, but LifeChurch.tv wants to keep it simple and easy to use for its launch.

Jeff Hook is the CEO of Fellowship Technologies, a company specializing in web-based church management software called Fellowship One.

ABOUT FELLOWSHIP TECHNOLOGIES

Year Began: 2004
Active Clients: 850
Staff: 65

Originally, the Fellowship One church management software was developed for Fellowship Church (Grapevine, TX). Now, it is currently used by 32 of the top 100 largest churches in America.

10Q WITH JEFF HOOK

1Q = What is a church management system (CMS)?

At a basic level, church management systems help churches track information about their congregations.

Traditional church management systems were primarily simple databases of attendees/members for tracking addresses and giving records. From that, modern solutions have evolved to be complete “operating platforms” for churches to not only track vital data about the members of the congregation but to also manage processes more efficiently from outreach and assimilation to event registration and check-in to online giving and group management.

As the capabilities of systems broaden, the church is able to use computers to streamline operations much the same as commercial businesses do.

2Q = What are Fellowship One’s most popular features?

The fact that we are Internet-based is a big advantage over the more traditional solutions. This allows church staff to access the information wherever and whenever they need the data using any computer that has a web-browser. As computing becomes even more mobile through devices like the Apple iPhone, this ubiquitous access will help churches provide better service to their congregation members.

Also, because Fellowship Technologies is a Software as a Service (SaaS), all of the technical heavy lifting (such as backups, upgrades, security, etc.) is performed as part of the monthly service by us. This cuts down on the technical resources the church has to hire and manage. Because we are native to the web, true integration from the database to the church’s website is relatively easy and allows the congregation more convenience in conducting church business like managing online giving, registering for a special activity, submitting questions and inquiries, as well as looking for the right small group to join and submitting a volunteer application.

Functionally, the really big draw for us is our best-of-breed check-in system that provides security for children and real time attendance tracking. This gives the staff a jump on following up on who did not attend a service to make sure they know they were missed. That is somewhat the irony – a church should track attendance not necessarily to know who attended, but who was missing; somewhat counter-intuitive. This personal care and interaction makes a big mega-church seem smaller through better customer service and follow-up.

3Q = Are there any downsides to using church management software?

1. The biggest issue in using a robust church management system is the amount of information that can be tracked is new for some churches. But without that data, the information is not present and, thus, is not beneficial.
2. We also see a problem in the discipline of churches in keeping their data relevant and complete.

Irrespective of the specific church management system used, a church needs to have a data strategy that helps determine what the minimum amount of information that will be capture and then how it will be maintained.

4Q = Are there any types of churches who do not work well with a church management system?

All churches need some sort of church management system, even if it is manual. In the United States, every church is required to report to the congregation their individual giving for IRS purposes. Computer systems are made to provide such reporting with ease.

5Q = What does the future hold for Fellowship One?

Fellowship One will continue to improve in both its depth and breadth of functionality.

1. We will soon release the ability for a church to write its own reports. This is a request from a lot of our customers and will help them get information the way they want it when they want it.
2. We are also rolling out a complete data warehouse and analytics tool for our flagship customers. This will allow church staff to slice and dice information for decision-support purposes over a set of aggregated time-based data. This will allow churches to make better decisions from real operating data. We think this is a first for the church industry.
3. Finally, we will be releasing a new “Groups” module that will be the foundation for much of the system going forward. This will improve our ability to support small groups, yet also be foundational for website communications, social networking, and curriculum-based learning.

6Q = What are some well-known churches that use Fellowship One?

1. Community Bible Church (San Antonio, TX)
2. Fellowship Church (Grapevine, TX)
3. Granger Community Church (Granger, IN)
4. Holy Trinity Brompton (London, England)
5. Lakewood Church (Houston, TX)
6. Mariners Church (Irvine, CA)
7. New Birth Missionary Baptist (Decatur, GA)
8. New Life Church (Colorado Springs, CO)
9. NewSpring Church (Anderson, SC)
10. Prestonwood Baptist Church (Plano, TX)
11. Victory Christian Center (Oklahoma City, OK)
12. Victory Christian Center (Tulsa, OK)

7Q = What is the Dynamic Church Conference?

The Dynamic Church Conference is our annual user and developer conference where our community of users comes together for education, training and networking with other users.

Last May, we had approximately 371 church staffers come to Frisco, Texas, to learn how to use Fellowship One to its fullest. Besides just Fellowship One training, we try to expand their thinking with speakers who address where they think the church industry is going and how technology will play a role in the future of church.

8Q = In addition to Fellowship One, are there any other resources that you would recommend for churches who want to be better organized and more efficient?

There are so many good resources out there now that a church staffer can almost get overwhelmed with new ideas. I am a real proponent of a church looking at its own congregation data to help determine how best to improve. Too often, a church is trying what works at other churches instead of examining the facts about themselves. This “cookie cutter approach” fails many times and then the staff gets disheartened.

By looking at the “real” data, churches can better gauge how to serve the people within the congregation, such as asking questions like who is the typical customer, what stage of Christian walk are they in, what “services” do they need (family, marriage, health and healing, stewardship, etc.) and how is the church fulfilling those needs? If the church tries to “copy” what worked somewhere else, they may execute the plan well yet miss the mark entirely because the congregational needs are different.

9Q = I believe studying data can give us valuable insights into trends, problems, and success secrets. In all of your years of helping churches process data, are there any insights and ministry lessons that you have learned?

I definitely agree with your supposition concerning data. Two of the biggest issues in churches today are:

1. A lack of an overall data strategy (what information to collect when and how to keep it complete and relevant)
2. A lack of repeatable business processes that result in metrics to determine whether progress is being made

Pertaining to the first point, we see so many churches that have many duplicate or incomplete individual records within their database. Thus, when aggregated for reporting purposes, the numbers are really meaningless. It is the old computer adage: garbage in, garbage out. Sadly, many of the churches do not realize that the quality of their data is poor. Defining a strong data strategy and then having the discipline to follow through on execution would go a long way in providing better information.

To the second point, Dr. Peter Drucker, a business guru and management consultant, is attributed with saying that “you cannot improve anything that you do not measure.” Churches are notorious at tracking attendance and offerings and that’s about it. To improve results, more data points within processes need to be tracked and reported so on-going improvement can be achieved. Repeatable business processes that result in metrics will allow churches to better know whether the results of their investments in certain ministries are actually paying off for the congregant.

10Q = What is the best advice you have for church leaders?

The best advice I have for church leaders is to make change happen. Progress requires change and change requires leadership.

Too often, the administrative personnel (administrative assistants and operations) who run churches are comfortable with status quo. The only way churches are going to improve their ability to support the Christian walk of their congregation and thus grow in quality and quantity is to provide better service in meeting the “life” and “spiritual” needs of the people in the community. This has not been the mindset of the church historically, but in my opinion should be more so going forward.

To be successful, this change must be managed; driven even or the efforts will falter. Many times when we fail at change, we go back doing the same things we always have; however, expecting different results. Some people give that as the definition of insanity.

Be sure to check out Church Relevance’s “10Q” category to read previous 10Q interviews.

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.