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Lately, the Worship Department has taken some simple steps to better invest in our musicians. We have not always done a good job at this, but we have found that a few small changes have made a big impact. Here are a few.

• We have devotions during one of the worship experiences. Since every band member and singer is expected to sit through one sermon, that leaves three other 40 minute blocks of time at Providence and one at Butler that we have decided to use very intentionally. During one of the sermons, we will gather the band and singers together to share some Scripture, pray, cast vision and just see how their walk with God is going. It seems like a no-brainer, but it is so easy to get caught up in the busyness of Sundays that this can be forgotten very easily.
  
• I already mentioned that every musician is expected to watch a sermon. We have taken that one step further and asked that the whole band goes to the same worship experience and sits together. It helps foster a sense of community within the group and prompts some good discussion afterwards.
  
• There is intentional time during the week dedicated to writing thank you notes, commenting on people’s Facebook pages, and just calling to see how things are going. It is amazing how far a simple thank you and genuine encouragement can go.
  
• We have started a meeting that occurs every two months with all of the band and singers in order to cast vision. We want to tie their hearts to the vision of the church, not the Worship Department. We have only done this once so far, but it was a great success.

These few simple practices are reaping huge dividends in our ministry. Take these suggestions and see what works in your context. The key is to be intentional and not let the work of ministry keep us from caring for the ones who are doing it with us.

Wade Joye, Worship Pastor

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A lot of organizations struggle with limiting their own growth. There is always a lid on growth and often leaders can create their own lids. One self-imposed lid is when a leader is unable to let go of details and rise to the next level of leadership.

I think this is definite problem in the local church but we recently went through a season where we swung the other direction. Here’s the quick rundown. We always set Elevation up for our Pastor to be able to lead out front. We’ve intentionally set up everything to keep him out of as much detail possible so he can spend time hearing from God, studying for sermons, and casting vision.

With each shift we’ve made with grown, we’ve removed Pastor from more and more detail. This is a good thing. But what we found was that he was continuing to lead our “department head” meeting and everyone was so focused on not bringing up detail that we began to see things slip. It was not intentional nor was it a flawed system; we just needed to add another meeting.

So we added what I now call the “bored meeting”. It is in this meeting that we drill down on every detail necessary to ensure we are not allowing things to slip through the cracks. Hence the term “bored” because the details are not the most exciting parts of a meeting. It includes the same department heads but I lead this meeting and when we have our meeting with Pastor ideas are fleshed out and the details have been worked through.

Here are several things that I think all churches can apply from what we learned through this:

· Have a Pre-Meeting- Most churches have a meeting that the Lead Pastor is a part of with his leadership team. Don’t frustrate the leader by coming in with half-cocked stuff. Meet before hand (everyone except the Lead Pastor) and hash out details and protect your Pastor from the things that will only complicate his day. If he oversees the agenda then get it early and go through things first. He’s got a sermon to plan and you’ll be amazed how freeing it will be for him to stay out of the details.

· Change your meeting structure often- As soon as you think that you’ve got the perfect meeting structure it’s probably time to rock the boat. If your church has doubled in size in the last year and your meeting schedule hasn’t changed then you are probably not going to be ready for the next wave of growth. We always think through ways to change our meetings up to better utilize people’s gifts. You’ll know when it is time to change the meeting up when the leader is unsettled with the current structure.

So there is a brief rundown on a recent shift in meetings. This post will likely be outdated sooner than later because this structure seems to be working well for us right now.

Chunks Corbett, Executive Pastor

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1) The content must be worth the time it takes to make it.

The importance of content kind of goes without saying, but I’m saying it here because when you’re stuck in the detail of something it’s sometimes hard to surface long enough to see when something really matters at the big picture level verses when it is only important in the detail itself. For instance, when we report on our children’s ministry, we only include numbers about 4th and 5th grade attendance, overall attendance and volunteer retention. I could tell you how many preschoolers we had in church this Sunday, but it doesn’t directly impact the bigger picture so I can just as easily leave it out. We believe that if these 4th and 5th grade is on the increase, overall attendance is growing and volunteers are still coming then everything else is probably falling into place.

2) It should be obvious to someone who has never seen the detail behind the report what the report is actually saying.

This is tricky because sometimes you have to sit with a report for a few minutes to figure out what it is telling you. I’m not saying that reports can’t be complicated only that they must be obvious. Label all information well, place headers and titles in bold font and make sure they clearly explain what you’re presenting. You should also find a layout that works and stick to it so the person receiving the report can always go back to the same box to find the same answer.

3) The format of the report is almost as important as the report itself.

I am a format fanatic! If I’m going to present something that carries the message of my ministry to people who don’t have a complete understanding of it, it had better look good! Therefore, I use color. I include graphics when they’re available and I spend the time it takes to make the report look good. It matters.

For your viewing pleasure I have included a copy of one of our reports here. Check it out! It’s a work in progress, but hopefully it gives you an idea of what I’m talking about.

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