See you on the new site,

Steven

I have acquired ChurchGrowth.info! This web platform will be utilized to provide strategies for planting and growing the local church. This is very much so in the beginning phase of development. My heart to create ChurchGrowth.info into a powerful and widely used platform that sets local churches up to win in their community. Great things take time, and so this project has not set date for a launch just yet. I want to begin in strength, so I won’t be rushing into getting everything up and going just yet. We will get there, so sign up for the launch announcement in the mean time.

Cheers,

Steven

Now that my schedule allows it, I am excited about the major updates planned for this site and the renewed emphasis on consistent postings, quality guests, and a refined focus to the content being produced.

My whole new interface that is planned to roll out early February of 2013.

Merry Christmas,

Steven

See the UPDATE HERE.

1. Look at what you are currently doing and be resourceful

The first thing I look at in strategizing marketing is what the organization is currently doing, and how we can use those things to promote upcoming events. Utilize what you have. Most youth groups do events and outreaches, but rarely do they strategize the timing of those events in regards to how they can build surrounding events as well. Big Idea: Plan events in advance and promote camp at outreaches to gain interest beyond your regular attendance.


2. Have attractions not Christian constants

In regards to the language and driving points for a youth camp, if your target is both Christian and non-Christian, then build your attractions to something that would appeal to them. Time of worship and prayer are not huge attractions for lost youth, but having a known band, a great location that screams “vacation”, or taking along a comedian/entertainer can really make the event appeal to those you are after.


3. Early registration pricing

One of the greatest initiatives you can have is to get pre-registrations for the following year during the camp and the few weeks after. This is so key in getting people committed to come early on. You can also push registrations by reducing price if they sign up at other events and during pre-registration initiative


4. Leverage social media

You can do giveaways where they enter to win by posting about camp on Facebook. Resolve issues by creating a group or event page to use for communication about problems, reminders, and Q&A.


5. Remember the parent

You cannot forget that parents play a factor in the decision. Announce youth camps in main service as well as youth services so they can be familiarized with what is going on. Have take home information for parents to look at and make a decision for their kids.


6. Do more than an announcement

Don’t stop at doing a video announcement or a stage announcement. That does not fully give a taste of the event. Theme a few services that are special camp services that have fun presentations, camp themed messages, announcement of camp, encourage youth to dress in camp attire, have camp band lead worship, the whole nine yards. Be sure to do this BEFORE it is too late to sign up. Also, have students share their experience through previous years.


7. Build everything in careful planning

Do major outreaches and community engagements to build your youth group several months before camp. It is a great way to build your youth group and provide an avenue for growth, community, and discipleship within close proximity of when they arrived.


8. Lead the way with word of mouth

You and your leadership team should be asking students if they are signed up, if they are going to camp, and working through the situations that hinder them from coming. This catches on and students start asking the same thing to each other and it can encourage them to invite their friends outside church.


9. Contact your contacts

It’s amazing how people get details and never use that information they are given. Call people who are in your database. Send out email updates to parents and students about camp and upcoming events. Parents want to know what is going on within the church for their kids.


10. Measure your outcomes

To continue to grow you need to see where you are currently and challenge yourself to grow the following year. To help track how you are doing, log the number of sign ups for each week of the year to see if you are doing better to date compared to the previous year. This helps to see if the promotional initiatives are effective and if not, you can then adjust accordingly.

Cheers,

_rec

]]> http://stevenrecords.com/church-marketing/10-marketing-tactics-for-christian-youth-camps/feed/ 0 http://stevenrecords.com/strategy/8-ways-to-help-your-church-embrace-change/ http://stevenrecords.com/strategy/8-ways-to-help-your-church-embrace-change/#comments Thu, 26 Jul 2012 13:11:01 +0000 Steven Records http://stevenrecords.com/?p=557 If you have pastored for any length of time you have certainly experienced opposition, criticism, and rejection when it comes to implementing change. I have seen the worst of it. I have been there when a simple change in leadership means loosing over half of the congregation, and the remaining “leadership” disagrees with every decision, insisting that the former was better. People naturally do not like change. People, by and large, like familiarity and routine. The huge difficulty for many is coming up with a way to make the necessary changes to carry the ministry forward without crumbling the ministry that currently exists. So I have outlined a eight practical tips to help people embrace change.
1. Ask yourself: Is the change fair?

The first thing to do is ask the hard questions about the change itself. Is the change justified? Is in necessary? Why is there change? How will the change be positive in the long term? Does this negatively effect certain people in particular?

2. Get your team on board first

It is amazing how frequently changes are made and announced before they are mentioned and talked through with the team. You need people to be the culture that embraces the change from the beginning. Who better to carry that culture than your leadership team? They can make a huge difference on the perspective the congregation haves on the change, just by their personal influence in the conversations that follow the announcement.

3. Tell the why

It is not enough to have a “because I said so” attitude toward leadership. Change has to be justifiable and it has to serve a purpose. You will be surprised to see how understanding people are when you just tell them why the change is better than the status quo or another option.

4. Give time to adjust

This is a HUGE WARNING: Do not throw big changes on people overnight. If you are going to move the piano from the left of the stage to the right, move it an inch at a time. Make the announcement of the coming change well in advance to give people time to adjust. A change in pastoral leadership, addition of a campus, time changes and other things can cause huge problems if not handled delicately. Announce things far enough in advance and walk people through it enough times, so when the change happens it is like it already has happened.

5. Include them in the outcome

Often times change is rejected because they do not see the change working. By encouraging the congregation to carry the change, they are more confident in its success. Get people to pray over it, to facilitate it, to get behind it. When starting a new program you can get people to be thinking about it, launch an info session on it, have people sign up to get involved. During the switch to being a multi-site campus for a church, I saw people go from being totally against the notion to actually being the key leaders at the new campus because they prayed, learned more, and got involved.

6. Make it a cultural norm

For a church to maintain growth, there is always the need for change. To avoid opposition to change, get the church used to it by making that the only constant, and forming a culture that receives change well. This is often established through trust and confidence in the decision making of the leadership. So build rapport through small effective changes that are also intentionally setting a culture that responds to change well.

7. Look after those effected

Sometimes a decision can mean the end of a program or part of the ministry. Or it can mean a new direction entirely for a portion of the church. Notice what people will need more attention to cope with and adjust to the changes, and make sure they are looked after by someone on the team, if not you personally.

8. Show the big picture

Where there is not vision, the people parish. People come together when there is vision. A church is all about doing something bigger than oneself to make a difference in this world for the kingdom. Churches all are called to different things in different areas, but the biggest help a leader can do in communicating change is pointing the change back to the vision. Showing that the change will help advance and forward the vision that we are all gathered together to accomplish.

Change is necessary in reaching an ever changing world, and although we change strategy, style, and leadership; although we expand and prune, build and destroy, it is all centred on an unchanging Gospel to advance an unwavering purpose. My hope is that you go unhindered by the fear of resistance to change, through a well thought strategy on communicating change to your congregation.

]]> http://stevenrecords.com/strategy/8-ways-to-help-your-church-embrace-change/feed/ 0 http://stevenrecords.com/hillsong/a-great-week-at-hillsong-conference-2012/ http://stevenrecords.com/hillsong/a-great-week-at-hillsong-conference-2012/#comments Fri, 20 Jul 2012 01:15:00 +0000 Steven Records http://stevenrecords.com/?p=552 Hillsong Conference has been an amazing faith filled week for pastors and leaders from all over the world. It is one thing to walk into the massive stadium and be in utter awe at the sheer magnitude of the occasion. Yet it is an entirely different dynamic when you begin to realise that the crowed is actually filled with a company of world changers that represent the influence of millions of lives. Each person is being impacted by an encouraging week that is all about drawing the best out of these leader so they can be more effective in the ministry at their church.

What is the Conference Like
The image that Hillsong Conference paints is what is can look like when the churches join as one. Not in the conforming to a particular mould, but the family like atmosphere that realises we are all in this together. We all have something we bring to the table, and we as leaders can encourage and build one another up to be better leaders and more effective ministers. One of the things I realised as conference came to a close is that I not only knew what to change, but I had a new found confidence to make those adjustments possible. It wasn’t a laundry list of things that are outlandish and impractical to my leadership, rather it was tailored to be practicality accomplished in leaders at any capacity. It didn’t stop with the sessions however, some of the conversations I shared with delegates and volunteers had been so powerful. In many ways, hearing about the passions of others makes you all more passionate about your calling and service to the Lord. During the week I interacted with church planters, missionaries, senior pastors, youth pastors, worship leaders, and students that I specifically remember as highlights to what was a phenomenal week.

Serving at Conference
Serving at Hillsong Conference was a very stretching. I was working with one of the key leaders that looks after conference. I was ready to step up to the plate and have a go at some unchartered territory. I developed a script and lead backstage tours, hosted functions for leaders, and did a lot in terms of leading volunteers, hosting people, and building relationships. I drew from my strengths and pushed through the 15 hour days to come out on the other side happy with the results.

I would encourage you to get a group together and go the Hillsong Conference 2013. It’s going toe be revival!

Cheers,

_rec

]]> http://stevenrecords.com/hillsong/a-great-week-at-hillsong-conference-2012/feed/ 0 http://stevenrecords.com/church-growth/a-local-church-with-a-global-mindset/ http://stevenrecords.com/church-growth/a-local-church-with-a-global-mindset/#comments Wed, 20 Jun 2012 08:43:14 +0000 Steven Records http://stevenrecords.com/?p=532 It has been quite sometime since my last post. My laptop had finally kicked the bucket, and it took a few weeks to get a replacement. Now I am back online and more enthusiastic than ever!

For this post, because we in America and Australia live in such a westernized individualistic society, I thought it would be good to look at how local churches supporting one another can be a huge benefit mutually and globally.
I am awestruck that Hillsong Conference is just a few short weeks away and it has been a fantastic journey in preparation for the event. A lot of hard work, planning, strategy, and prayers has formed the preparations needed to put on something like Hillsong Conference, but in the midst of all the day to day tasks involved it is so important to keep the main things the main things. The purpose of the conference is to “Champion the cause of the local church.” That means our goal is to support local churches in fulfilling their God given purpose.

The event truly is amazing. Pastors and leaders come from all over the world; they are built up, encouraged, and inspired with fresh insight and ideas through the conference. Pastors will go back to their churches ready to take their church to a whole new level.

I am currently taking a class on Corinthians, and Paul frequently brings up in 1 Corinthians that believers are to be focused on others rather than self. He also lays the fabric of the church in which the church functions as a body, not as individual parts, but as individuals operating as one. Now it is easy to see this in the context of individuals making up a local church, but Christ isn’t just the head of a local church, but a global church. I’m not saying we should tear down diversity and form one denomination, I am saying that we ought to serve one another and seek after the benefit of other churches as well as our own.

I am convinced that your reach stretches when you reach out

What Hillsong has done through their conference has given them a huge platform of influence that far extends the walls of their church. That platform is there not because of a name, but because of an attitude and perspective that sees when local churches grow, the global church grows. It is a heart that understands by helping our neighbor, we all benefit. That’s not to say one is better than the other, just as we wouldn’t assume that an eye is better than an ear. We all can contribute to the bigger picture if we do our part, but it is hard to contribute to the bigger picture if we do not look beyond ourselves.

My big challenge here is simple, serve the Church and not just the church. When we have that mindset in place we can take the Church farther than ever before, and I am convinced that your reach stretches when you reach out.

Thanks for listening,

_rec

]]> http://stevenrecords.com/church-growth/a-local-church-with-a-global-mindset/feed/ 2 http://stevenrecords.com/church-marketing/growing-churches-by-building-relationships/ http://stevenrecords.com/church-marketing/growing-churches-by-building-relationships/#comments Fri, 04 May 2012 13:12:12 +0000 Steven Records http://stevenrecords.com/?p=523

Relationships are instrumental to opportunity

Networking tends to be a poorly represented tool for churches. We often think of networking as a thing for businesses and NGOs rather than a means to gain opportunities for growth for the local church. One of the most important resources I have learned to value while at Hillsong is relationship. Relationships are instrumental to opportunity and are the basis of influence. It is far more likely that people will take you at your word if they know who you are. The more someone knows you the more they are willing to listen and therefore respond.

A plan to make it work


Have you tried throwing out ads on radio or doing a direct mailer to generate interest about your church and seen little to no results? Chances are the reason for the poor results is a lack of public relationship. General public needs to know who you are before you can invite them to the party so to speak. The most valuable information you can use in promotion is not statistics, but awareness of where you stand with the public. By being aware of that stance you can then effectively strategize ways to move up the latter of relationship and in so doing, the latter of influence.

Building Public Relations from Nothing

Starting out with no PR can be tough and slow going, but it’s not impossible. By going to public events that fit your target audience and just being intentional to network can be a start. Make it a goal to meet at least 30 people, get 5 contacts and go for coffee with a few of the people you meet at each event. Although you may not have any professional need from these contacts you are building relationships and physically representing your church in the community you are trying to reach. Once people start to know who you are, you build credibility out of relationships, which in turn gives you a better response for those less personal church growth efforts.

Is there an easier way?

A church is a community, and a community is formed out of relationships. Although relationships take time and effort, they make a church what it is. Although I could point to many marketing campaign strategies that might work, you will be far more confident in getting results if there is a foundation to launch off of. Even so, you don’t have to be the only person going to events to network and promote the church. Hopefully you have a team. That team can engage with your local community as well, giving this slow going process momentum. Doing the math, if you have a team of 5 people and every week you all talk briefly about the church to 30 people then in a month you have promoted to 600 people. In one quarter that would be 1,800 people that have heard about your church from a person they now have some sort of relationship with.

Cheers,

_rec

]]> http://stevenrecords.com/church-marketing/growing-churches-by-building-relationships/feed/ 0 http://stevenrecords.com/church-growth/how-to-be-heard-as-a-leader/ http://stevenrecords.com/church-growth/how-to-be-heard-as-a-leader/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 01:03:20 +0000 Steven Records http://stevenrecords.com/?p=520 Seeing young leaders rise up to the challenge of leading a team, I have noticed that one person will usually try and claim leadership over the group, and quickly be frustrated when no one follows his leadership. The blame gets put not on his inability to lead, but on the people who are insubordinate to an equal partner who has done nothing to earn the right to lead. At the end of the day, people are not willing to follow someone based on their claim or title alone. A leader needs to be in a position to lead before he can properly do so. It is far better to be in a stance of leadership than a claim of leadership. The voice of a leader is only as strong as the relationships he holds with those he leads. This is true of any capacity a leader can function in.
It is far better to be in a stance of leadership than a claim of leadership.

In marketing, a company that has an established relationship with the community- establishing trust through consistent visibility and service- will see a far greater response than those companies that have not made an effort to be in a stance where people will want to listen to them. A politician is easily dismissed from a candidacy if he has not built credibility through years of involvement in government. Hollywood stars are often chosen as spokesmen for causes because they have consistently been visible to the public and shown interest in the cause. A pastor who has made sacrifices, and proven himself time and time again by serving those he leads can ask much from his followers because he has invested in the relationship.

Trust is built through challenges and opportunities when the true colors of a leader are shown.

The question to ask ourselves is not, “Why am I not being heard?” Rather, the question is, “Am I in a position to lead?” Although many have the ability, talent and skill to lead a group efficiently, few have clocked in the hours necessary to establish credibility and authority. Are those hours really necessary? Absolutely. There is no fast tract to being an authoritative leader. Trust is built through challenges and opportunities when the true colors of a leader are shown. However, it is in these vulnerable moments when a group can become a team, a room of strangers can become family. A leader unites a diverse group of people under one vision that threads a common bond between strangers making them friends. A leader does this not by his claims, but by his stance. Let us not assume authority based on our ability, but assume responsibility as leaders to build a foundation of credibility through time and character.

Cheers mate,

_rec

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