5. Pick the best time to do your Grand Opening or Big Sundays. In Acts 2 we see that God launched the Church on the day of Pentecost. This was no accident! There are theological, historical and sociological implications to this date. Pentecost, which means “50” was the final celebration of the Feast of First Fruits which happened 50 days earlier. At this Feast God’s people were to give a free-will offering (Deuteronomy 16:9-10) celebrating God’s provision. Theological and historical significance was that the Feast of First Fruits started on the Resurrection Sunday and ended on the Day of Pentecost. So we see that the church was born out of the first fruits of Christ’s sacrifice. The sociological significance was that Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks was one of three annual pilgrim feasts (Deuteronomy 16:16) where God’s people from all over the world came to celebrate. This is why we see such an array of people and languages in Acts 2:5-11. Pentecost was no accident. It was strategic and that is one reason why three thousand were added to the church that day.

What are the implications for church planting? 1) We need to look at our communities and discover those times when people are more receptive to the Gospel or attending a church event. 2) We need to look for times when something is in a start up mode, for example; the starting of the new school year. In our experience we have seen three seasons to do Grand Openings or Big Sundays:

• Fall: Late September-Early October<=”<” li=”li”>
• Lenten Season: February-March (The Sunday after the Super Bowl)

<=”<” li=”li”>

• Easter: Late March-early April

The best time for launching a new church is in the fall because you have nine months before you face the summer slump. The second best time for launching a church is four weeks before Easter. This gives you more time before summer hits and it gives you the advantage of the “second pop” or second Big Sunday of Easter. The third is to launch on Easter.

6. Repetition is the key. The old adage is that it takes “six to stick.” That means it takes six images or appeals for you to get people’s attention enough to take action. Personally I believe it takes more than six touches in building relationships with unchurched or irreligious people, because the devil and everything else in our culture is bombarding these people with the message that they don’t need church, church is irrelevant don’t waste your time there. Marketing programs that are ineffective are marketing programs that are short lived. As a planter you will need to figure out how to find the funding to keep touching your community with positive messages and warm appeals.

For years we have used two to three mass mailing campaigns in the grand openings of our new churches.  Recently I have discovered a rule of thumb from Dave Ferguson that it takes three mailings to create awareness and five mailings to create action.  In the launching of their campuses and new churches they send out five mailings to their target audience within a three week period before their launch date.  The quicker you can get to six touches the bigger the impact you will make.

7. Address felt needs in your community and not programs in the church. Those who are spiritually seeking are interested in felt needs, believers are interested in programs. What are the felt needs in your community that will grab people’s attention and cause them to re-enter church or enter church for the first time?

8. Create interest in the minds of your target audience. When creating your marketing piece use good questions with strong images, they have a way of piquing interest and sticking in peoples hearts. Here are a few ideas:

• <=”<” li=”li”>Are your dreams fading?
• <=”<” li=”li”>Are you stuck in a rut?
• <=”<” li=”li”>Do your relationships need a lift?
• <=”<” li=”li”>Do you need a vacation?
• <=”<” li=”li”>Are your kids getting the best of you?

Relevant message series create interest and provide optional dates for people to attend. Anything on relationships, family, money, or current issues will grab people’s attention. I did a series of messages on “stress” and taught through the book of Philippians because the biblical antidote for stress is joy, the theme of Paul’s letter. The church I attend now did a series entitled “Dinner Table Taboos” and tackled the tough topics of abortion, homosexuality and social justice. We saw the attendance rise after each message. Good message series can create and sustain buzz in your community.

Special guests are another way to create interest in your community. I am stunned at how a ten minute testimony of a local athlete or television personality can pique the interest of a whole community. The first time I did this was with a well-known basketball player, broadcaster and business man from our region. We decided to do a Special Sunday event in the middle of July. At the time we were averaging about 70-80 people on Sunday mornings. We did two newspaper ads, a newspaper insert and a press release with a follow up article. That Sunday we had a 169 people attend our service and never went under a 100 again. By the fall we were averaging over 170 people every Sunday.

Special guests not only create interest but also establish the one thing that every new church struggles with and that is “credibility.” I constantly heard people saying, “If (special guest) is going to be at that church that meets in the school I better check it out, there might be something to it.” Special guests also fire up the invitational network of your church. It creates multiple conversations and opportunities for your people to invite those in their sphere of influence.

9. Always ask for a Specific Response. Too much marketing by churches are general awareness announcements not specific invitations. Remember that marketing is an invitation. Be specific in what you are inviting people to. Use phrases such as…

• Join us for our Grand Opening.
• Will you invest 5 weeks to building a stronger family?
• Be our special guest this weekend.
• You are invited to experience a new beginning with us.

Make a simple appeal that expresses sincerity, genuine concern and pure excitement for what you are inviting people to. Remember, you are asking people to break their routine and invest their time with you.

You may also invite them to a Big Sunday, say Easter, while also announcing a new series of messages starting the following Sunday. This way you can get six to seven weeks of use from one marketing piece.

Excerpts from FirstSteps to Planting a Missional Church

Two Sides of A Tradegy

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)–In North America, we have the opportunity to impact the world by sharing Christ with our friends and neighbors. Jesus commanded His followers, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matthew 28:19). The nations have become our neighbors. It is my prayer that every Southern Baptist church, regardless of size, would make a commitment to join with other Southern Baptist churches to embrace the National Evangelism Initiative (NEI).

The name of the National Evangelism Initiative is “GPS – God’s Plan for Sharing.” The GPS vision is “Every believer sharing. Every person hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ by 2020.” We need this evangelism initiative to rally Southern Baptists back to our first love of seeing people saved, baptized and discipled in a New Testament church.

Just imagine if every Southern Baptist church really embraced the vision of preparing God’s people to pray, to engage the culture as trained witnesses, to sow the Good News of Christ, and to baptize (harvest) those who are gathered. We would certainly see revival occur and perhaps even a spiritual awakening.

Prayer is one of the four “mileposts” along the GPS roadmap and you can start praying right now as part this year’s Soul-Winning Commitment Day on Oct. 5. The question being asked this year is “Who’s In Your Wallet?” Southern Baptists across North America will be making commitments to reach out beyond the walls of their local churches to engage the culture with the Good News of the Gospel.

Believers will select three people for whom they will pray. Each church member will receive a 3-1-6 prayer card on which three names can be written down. They will carry this card in their wallet or purse as a reminder to pray for these three persons at least one time a day for six days. Secondly, they will be encouraged to pray that their relationship will open the door for a conversation about Christ. Thirdly, they will pray that the response of each of the three persons will be to accept Jesus as Savior.

We must start with prayer. Nineteenth-century pastor and author E.M. Bounds said, “When God’s house on earth is a house of prayer, then God’s home in heaven is busy and powerful in its plans and movements!”

The early church knew that the revival spirit of God was centered on intense and intentional prayer. “When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak God’s message with boldness.” (Acts 4:31). “No person is a soul winner who is not an expert in the ministry of prayer.”

The ministry of prayer is key to seeing many souls saved. The person who prays will see many things answered from God that the prayerless person is denied. We need diligently to pray for the lost as we seek to take His message of salvation to those around us.

Ken Weathersby is senior strategist for evangelization for the North American Mission Board. For more information on the God’s Plan for Sharing initiative, visit www.nei2020.org. For more information about Soul Winning Commitment Day visit www.thebigday.org.

Here is another story from one of my favorite blogs.  Desiringgod.org

August 30, 2008  |  By: Noel Piper
Category: Commentary, International Outreach

Death toll and property damage still being assessed after mobs targeted Christians in Orissa.

This situation in Orissa state seems to get worse by the hour.

Finally, major American media is waking up to this sickening story. Here’s the latest from the New York Times and their in-country correspondent:

NEW DELHI — At least 3,000 people, most of them Christians, are living in government-run relief camps after days of Christian-versus-Hindu violence in eastern India, government officials said.The government said that many people were also living in the jungle without any shelter and security because of the tensions, which erupted in violence after a Hindu leader was killed Saturday. At least 10 people, most of them Christians, have been killed since.

Christian community leaders say that at least 1,000 Christian homes have been set on fire since Monday, rendering more than 5,000 people homeless.

Many of those living in the jungle were without food or water, said the Rev. Dibakar Parichha, a priest at the Roman Catholic church in Phulbani, a town in Orissa State. Father Parichha said that about 90 places of worship, including small churches and prayer halls, had been burned down. Local officials said the figure was about 20.

The violence has occurred in Kandhamal, a district in Orissa State that has a history of communal and ethnic clashes. The latest conflict started Saturday night, when unidentified armed men stormed a Hindu school in Kandhamal and killed the Hindu leader Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his followers.

The police suspected that Maoist rebels were responsible. But Hindus blamed Christians. In the retaliatory violence, 500 houses were burned. All nine towns in the district are under a curfew, and the police have license to shoot. At least two people have been killed in violent reprisals in other districts of Orissa, including a woman who died when an orphanage was burned down.

What would drive Hindus to blame Christians? Orissa is one of the hot spots where allegations about coerced conversion to Christianity seem always to lie just under the surface.

The news media inside India are a lot less shy about stating the extremist allegations of Hindu fundamentalists:

The People’s Liberation Revolutionary Group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Azad, claiming to represent the group, called up newspaper offices to say, “We killed the Swami as he was mixing religion with politics…”Swami Laxamanananda was spearheading the re-conversion movement in the district to bring back converted Christians to the Hindu fold.

VHP leaders disagree with the police theory blaming Maoists and believe that they are “hoodwinking people by shifting the blame”. State VHP secretary Gouri Prasad Rath told HT: “This attack is the handiwork of the Christians. There were four home guards at the ashram. Had the attackers been Maoists, they would have first attacked these cops. Swamiji was fighting the missionaries for four decades. We see a clear Christian conspiracy behind this attack.”

Click here for the full article from the Hindustan Times.

This episode is a huge set back for the national government in India.

August 23, 2008  |  By: Abraham Piper
Category: Commentary, International Outreach

Written by Dan Garland

The American Church Research Project evaluated the following ten external factors to see what causes churches to grow or decline:

1. Median income of the zip code of the church.
2. Median age of the zip code of the church.
3. Average household size of the zip code of the church
4. Average educational attainment of the zip code of the church
5. Location of the church – rural, small town, large town, suburban, or urban.
6. Average percentage of households with children under 18 in the zip code of the church.
7. Average percentage of poor households in the zip code of the church.
8. Average percentage of residents who were “white alone” in the zip code of the church.
9. Year the church was founded.
10. Population growth from 1990 – 2000 of the zip code of the church.

The surprising finding of this study is that only one of the nine external demographic factors correlated with the growth or decline of established congregations (the change in the population of its zip code). This suggests that most of the reasons for growth or decline are internal factors. Source: The American Church in Crisis, by David Olson, pages 131-134

Olson’s conclusion correlates with the research findings of Essential Church? Reclaiming a Generation of Dropouts, by Dr. Thom Rainer and Sam Rainer. The main question addressed in Essential Church is, “Why do so many young adults (18 to 22) leave the church, and what will it take to bring them back?”

The book is based on a study of one-thousand so-called “church dropouts” who were interviewed about why they left. Their answers are quite surprising, having less to do with “losing their religion” and more about the desire for a community that isn’t made stale by simply maintaining the status quo.

Thom and Sam Rainer offer churches four concrete solutions toward making their worship community an essential part these young people’s lives again:

1. Simplify – develop a clear structure and process for making disciples.
2. Deepen – provide strong biblical teaching and preaching.
3. Expect – let members know the need for commitment to the congregation.
4. Multiply – emphasize evangelism, outward focus, and starting new churches.

The churches that reach and keep young adults, that is churches who have experienced growth in the 18-22 age group, are churches who have addressed the internal structures, processes, expectations and elements of church. Namely, these churches have focused on the four internal factors of simplify, deepen, expectations, and multiply.

First, the church has learned to simplify.

Eric Geiger and Thom Rainer deal with this reality in their book, Simple Church. They maintain that church has become too complicated and too busy, filled with activities that have little coherent purpose. There is no clear process or path/structure for making disciples. The churches who are essential to lives of young adults work hard to communicate a clear process/path for becoming a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ.

Second, the church moves its members to deepen their knowledge of God’s Word and His truths.

These essential congregations have done three things to deepen the discipleship of their members:

1. Relevant biblical preaching is found in the pulpit every Sunday.
2. Group Bible Study is a high priority and a core value of the church. An important finding is shown in the chart below: 83% of new members who became actively involved in a small group bible study class remained active in the church after five years. Those who attended only worship, only 16% of them remained active after five years.
3. The members are encouraged and expected to study and learn the Bible for themselves. In other words, they are taught and equipped to feed themselves from the Word of God.

Third, the church has high expectations of its members.

One of the keys to raising expectations is to have a clearly communicated membership process that explains the expectations of membership to new members. Essential churches believe they are called to make a difference and to call their members to make a difference in the name of Christ. This is clearly communicate on the front end and expected as one of the checkpoints of discipleship.

Essential churches have simple structures that move believers along a clearly defined process of maturity. The process can be easily communicated and understood. Essential churches make biblical teaching and preaching a core value in all they do. Essential churches create an environment of high expectations for the members.

Finally, the research revealed an essential church is committed to help its members multiply spiritually.

Evangelism is part of the heartbeat of the church. Missions and ministry are common in the lives of the members. Essential churches have an intentional strategy to reach the dechurched and the unchurched.

In short, the essential church focuses on four critical areas:

To learn more about these four critical areas, you may pre-order a copy of Essential Church? Reclaiming a Generation of Dropouts by Thom Rainer and Sam Rainer by Dr. Thom Rainer and Sam Rainer. You may also register online for the Essential Church Retreat featuring Thom and Sam Rainer (February 26-28, 2009 at the Ridgecrest Conference Center in Ridgecrest, North Carolina).

Hello everyone.  Some  of you may already know, but we went to UAMS on the 12^th.  We got good news and not so good news.  We are finished with all the required testing for the transplant. Then they went over what to expect when we get the call for the transplant, the actual surgery, and what to somewhat expect afterwards.

I had met the required weight (and actually had lost 3 more lbs)according to the UAMS  hepatologist, but according to my chart via the transplant RN, the surgeon wanted me to get to a lower weight.  It was only 8 lbs less, but it seemed like a mountain.

Now for the good news, the transplant RN called this morning and said that Dr. Wu, the head transplant surgeon had looked over my chart.  He wants me to keep losing weight, but that it was close enough to put me on the transplant list. My case will be brought before the transplant committee Friday. Assuming that they recommend me for a transplant then the insurance company will have to approve me. Then I will officially be put on the list for the transplant.  We don’t feel like Dr. Wu would be wasting their time if they would not be approving me.  My health is in good shape, except for the liver.

Please say a extra prayer this coming Friday that we are approved to be put on the list.  My liver is getting worse and we are having more complications.  They have added 3 extra medicines this week.  We are doing ok. We do know it could and probably will get a lot worse before it gets better.  I finally have a great group of doctors that we are so thankful for.  It’s hard to believe it will be a year the end of September when all of this nightmare started.  Right now all we need is your prayers.

Thanks,

Lynne