Life Point Blog

Henry Judyisms

Here are some of my "Judyisms" I recently wrote or compiled...
• We must be intentional about pointing our feet in the right direction.
• You can't get what you could have until you let go of what you do have.
• We don't go to mentors or leaders anymore to get information. We have all the information we could want.
We now go to mentors and leaders to help us make sense of the information.
• We aren't sinners who occasionally do something right. I am a child of the King who occasionally messes up.
• Does your team know you're for them?
• The world will change when followers of Christ are truly with each other and for each other.
• You have to work on stuff...
o Attitude - without this you will hurt yourself
o Relationships - without this others will hurt you
o Persistence - without this problems will defeat you
o Priorities - without this the insignificant will hamper you
o Credibility - without this no one will follow you.
• The number one job of a Christian leader is to hear from God and then bring that back to their people.
• The people are not here to give you a successful ministry. The people are the ministry.

I Love 2008!

I feel like this is going to be a GREAT year. I am pumped. We got a great staff. The right people on the bus. We have our first staff meeting tonight with this team. My thoughts are these:
1: I want a time of prayer and Bible Study FIRST. This is mandatory
2: I want to repaint the Vision of Life Point Church to the team... Especially since we are doing a 2 part Vision Series called DESIGN just on our vision.
3: I want to be very specific about what we want to accomplish by EASTER March 23rd. Easter will be a HUGE day for us so there is lots to be done
4: I want to go over each staff persons roles and responsibilities for not only the weekend but the week as well
5: I want to brainstorm marketing, creating buzz, and branding....

Our goal to EASTER is to get the word out about Life Point. We have a great product. It is tweaked and will continue to be tweaked. But the BEST marketing is WORD OF MOUTH... We have to be the most creative we can be to get this good news out.

I am so thankful to God for all that I have been through to get me to this point. It has been a hard but revealing journey and I really see how God is molding me so there is more of Him and less of me. That is awesome...

What I Expect From Staff

Mark Batterson had a great post a while back on what he expects from his staff. As we develop the Life Point staff I think his thoughts are right on the money:

1) I expect loyalty. I've got your back and you've got my back.

2) I expect you to be growing spiritually. This is my primary concern. It is so easy for those of us in full-time ministry to seek God for others instead of seeking God for ourselves. We've got to do ministry out of the overflow of what God is doing in our lives!

3) I expect a positive attitude. Attitude really is everything. And I've learned that how much you enjoy ministry depends on who you're doing ministry with. Let me just say it like it is: negativity sucks. Literally. It sucks the life out of a staff.

4) I expect staff to verbalize rather than internalize. I want a staff culture where people can have tough conversations about tough topics. Life is too short to hold a grudge. My philosophy of conflict is John 1:14. Jesus was full of grace and full of truth. Truth means I'm going to be honest no matter what. Grace means I'm going to love you no matter what.

5) I expect staff to have fun. We all have bad days. We all have long days. But if ministry isn't enjoyable you need to get out of the game! The top quality I look for in prospective staff, besides a thriving relationship with Christ, is a sense of humor!

6) I expect you to make mistakes. We have a core value: everything is an experiment. Part of experimenting is failing and learning. I have no problem with mistakes. I just don't want staff to make the same mistake over and over again!

7) I expect excellence! I think a dose of divine discontent is healthy! We need to keep getting better and better at what we do. It is that commitment to excellence that allow staff to morph in greater responsibilities at NCC.

Staff Core Values

I got an email from a church planter who was asking if we had core values for our staff. We do and I am posting them here:

LPC Staff Core Values

• We value community.
We do life together.
Cause vs. community.

• We treat each other with dignity.
No pranks or put-downs.

• We are loyal to each other, our leaders, and our common vision.

• We do ministry as a team.
We aren’t into kingdom building.
We are not a federation of sub-ministries.
We realize our part in the overall vision.

• We model for the church.
We never take our staff hat off.
People are always watching.

• We are authentic in our walk.
The church will only go as far as its leaders.
Personal integrity.

• We are lifelong learners.
We value continual training.
• We choose positive attitudes.

• We celebrate the victories of others.
Our staff culture exudes encouragement.
We pray for each other.

• We care for each other.

• We realize perception matters.
We have incredible freedom because we have clear boundaries.
We agree on our ethics.

• We value commitment, passion and ability regardless of age or sex.
We value the influence and strength of young leaders.
We value the full participation of women in leadership.

• We work hard.
We hire people who are driven, then help them find balance (rather than hiring people who are lazy and then try to motivate them).

• We intentionally have fun.

Sunday's Visit To Calvary Fellowship

On Sunday we go to the East Coast to see my brother Bob Franquiz. Bob is a fellow blogger and you can read his blog HERE. He is the founding and lead pastor of Calvary Fellowship and their website is HERE.. Bob has written 2 books: Watermark: An Explanation of Baptism and Elements: Starting a Revolution in Your World.

This will be the first time the team has seen a church in a movie theater. So we are pumped. Bob is going to hang out with us after church( of course I am buying lunch) and our team and his team get to play together for a while. This is going to be so cool for us and really bring the vision for us home.

Team Fun Time

I am continually amazed at just how great a team God has brought together for Life Point. We had an incredible, incredible staff meeting Tuesday night. Russ did a knock out devotion on David. We rolled up our sleeves and started planning both preview services and the Launch. The dates are set! Angelia and her staff of Tammy and Todd are firing on all cylinders for Kid's Point. Our children's ministry is going to be unbelievable. Angelia told me her vision is to have the best children's ministry in SW Florida, measured by kids that get to know Jesus.

I can't imagine doing this without our Executive Pastor Russ. Russ is totally awesome. A great teacher/preacher, administrator, friend and ministry partner. Russ' strengths are my weaknesses and my strengths are his weaknesses and together we have an incredible bond. I am amazed at his wisdom!!

James, "The Lessor" are totally on track with the marketing and buzz items. Jim brings so much to the table. He is my right hand and I truly love this guy. I only wish my heart was more like Jim's.

I mean it and I know it sounds redundant but I love this staff. Everyone is so gifted and talented and has the vision. I mean it is such a God - Thing. I thank God for being so very gracious by bringing the most incredible team together to do what He has called us to do. I love you guys!!!

Thinking About The Launch

Thinking About The Launch ….

KEY QUESTIONS TO ASK…

• For whom are we creating the Sunday morning experience?
• What do you want the Sunday morning participants to feel?
• When does our church experience begin for the guest?

SCRIPTING THE WORSHIP EXPERIENCE

• WARNING: Sometimes when we discuss the production elements of church’s worship service, we seem to neglect the power of God and willingness of the Holy Spirit to do His work in the heart of the participant. Our job, as leaders, is simply to create an atmosphere that is conducive to the worshiper experiencing God in a real and powerful way.

• Don’t major on the minors; focus on your critical success factors.

FACTORS THAT CAUSE SOMEONE TO REJECT A CHURCH:
• Children’s Ministry
• Unfriendliness
• Worship
• Preaching
Surprising Insight from the Unchurched, Rainer, page 56.

• Do everything with excellence
• Schedule and pay for at least 3-4 preview services prior to opening day.

STAFF

Never compromise on the 3 C’s of hiring: (Courageous Leadership, Bill Hybels)
• Character - are they a self-motivated, teachable, humble God-seeking person?
• Competence– observe them in action before hiring!
• Chemistry – is there a magical, Holy-Spirit prompted nudging?

SET-UP MINISTRY
• Recruit a stage manager to run your set-up time.
• Pray first; then turn on some loud funky music. (It changes the temperature of the room)
• As the senior minister, show up and invest in people.
• Try to avoid having the band set up and tear down every week.
• More people, showing up earlier to set up is less work for everyone .
• Break the job apart and assign at least two people for each area.
• Structure in a “Spiritual Shift” .

CHILDREN’S MINISTRY
• Hire staff ASAP to provide leadership.
• Make sure your children’s ministry looks safe and fun.
• Have a check in and out policy, giving the parents a pick-up card
• Have a “workers” service for the children’s workers.
• Identify workers with lanyard, shirts, etc.

FRONTLINE MINISTRY
• Recruit greeters and hosts who are smiley, bubbly and love people!
• Create a great playlist on your iPod and play it in the lobby!
• Identify your hosts with shirts, lanyards, etc.
• Make sure that you have an info center with lots of material that communicates next-step strategies to guests.
• Create great signs and banners to identify key areas. (www.oaicorp.com or www.groupimaging.com)

EVALUATING THE WORSHIP EXPERIENCE
• Always remember your calling!
• Don’t look at the numbers until Monday
• Do a Monday morning Post-mortem; video tape your worship service and watch the entire thing together.
• Ask the question: “was God honored?”
• Remember the three month rule for new attendees:
• Take it easy on yourself…you have a lot of challenges that established churches don’t have!
• You are limited to what you can set-up and tear-down in one hour.
• You are required to improvise regularly.
• You will receive less encouragement than in previous churches.

CONSTRUCTING THE WORSHIP EXPERIENCE
• Can you control the lighting, sound and mood of the worship space?
• Does the movie theaters appropriately reflect the church’s target demographic?
• Use Pipe-And-Drape and plants to shrink the size of a room.
• Somebody, do the math! Is there enough power? (amp=watts/volts) generally, you will be in a facilities with 120 volts.
• Digital (DMX) or analog (LMX), that is the question.

Front lighting
• Should never use colored gels (except for special effects) always go for a flesh tone gel like ROSCO’s “bastard amber.” Never use an un-gelled lamp; it washes out your flesh tones.
• Try to buy ellipsoidals (Altman Source 4) for your front of house lighting, they are extremely bright and provide long throws and lens shuttering.
• Should be positioned at a 45 degree upward angle from the object or person being illuminated. (As close as possible)

Back lighting
• Use any combination of lamps (Par 64, fennel, ellipsoidal, strip, cyc, etc.) with wattages that your dimmers and power source allow.
• Use a combination of warm and cool toned gels to create depth and dimension on the stage
• You might be able to sub-contract your entire lighting needs, look for a turnkey job.

SOUND
• Buy lots and lots of Rubbermaid bins with wheels (unless you have the entire portable church rig)
• Buy a “sound board case” with a “multi-connector snake” built in!
• Use in-ear monitoring for the band if at all possible.
• Buy a decibel meter and run your front of house sound anywhere from 92-98 DB.
• Have lobby music, children’s and worship areas.

VIDEO
• Buy the brightest projector (or overhead) that you can afford.
• Choose the appropriate software/video switcher for your church’s vision and budget.

OTHER STUFF
• Get Bibles to give away to guests.
• Use giveaways to bribe people to fill out their connection cards.
• Hand out a bulletin/program with information about how to take the next step.

Churches Who "Get It"

Todd Rhoads at Monday Morning Insight has a great post about Churches that "Get It". Life Point wants to be one of these churches that gets it.

Here they are:

Ten Observations from Churches Who “Get It”
1. Each church has a pastor with a vision. And it’s not just that these pastors have a vision… it’s that they have a gift for communicating that vision to their staff and their entire church.

2. Each church hires almost exclusively from within. Most of these churches do a tremendous job of training leaders and empowering people in ministry. When that happens, the cream rises to the top, and that’s how they find their best staff people. Most do not have church staff experience, but rather bring their expertise from another area of business or commerce.

3. Speaking of staff, the staff of these churches ‘get it’ too. The staff in these churches are very loyal to their church and to their leadership. They are totally sold on the mission, vision and values of their church. They also view their job not only as to serve God, and the church; but also to come along side and support the vision and leadership of the senior pastor. These churches have very loyal staff.

4. A larger percentage of their staff (or staff wives) are pregnant. Just an observation here… but there are a lot of staff pregnancies at these churches. I’ve done no official polling or investigation here… it’s just a trend I’m seeing in these churches that ‘get it’.

5. These churches and pastors don’t have a clue what they’re doing. No really… more than one of the senior pastors said something to the effect of “I really have no idea what I’m doing.” But, they’re having a great time doing it!

6. Since they don’t have it all figured out, these pastors all shared their desire to connect with other leaders who can help mentor them. Each and every leader spoken to has asked in one way or another, “Who are some people that you think I should talk with?” In other words… who are the people out there that can help mentor me? Another encouraging thing is that these pastors are also excited about mentoring others.

7. These churches are not shy about sharing resources. They share their stuff with others freely. These aren’t a group of stingy churches… they are sold on their mission; and at the same time want to help other churches and their leaders however they can.

8. Most all of these pastors are bloggers. Not sure what the correlation is here; but four out of the six senior pastors are active bloggers. Some blog more to their church audience; others blog for other church leaders. Many of these churches have multiple church staff blogs. And the influence of their blogs and voice is expanding.

9. These churches are not afraid to make tough calls. If they see a ministry that needs cut, they’ll cut it. A staff member that’s not pulling his/her weight? They’ll reassign them or help ‘free their future’. They are not afraid to make gutsy and/or controversial calls. And best of all, it is their vision and mission that make these decisions, according to them, much easier.

10. Numbers are important to them. Because each person represents someone that Jesus died for, they make an effort to count that person because that person matters. While numbers is not the end-all measurement; it does provide insight into the amount of ministry and serves as one stat to how well you are achieving your ministry goals.

Come To Florida

We are looking for staff who would be willing to come to Bonita Springs/Naples area of Florida to join us as part of the launch team at Life Point Church. If you know of someone or are interested contact: info@lifepoint-church.tv

Click on image for bigger size

Church Launch Team Life Point Church/Bonita Springs & Naples

As we are in the throughs of planning the pre-launch strategy for Life Point, I feel that starting with a team is paramount. The first two things we need to concentrate on are the resources of people and the resources of money. A suggested launch team consists of the the minimum following members:
Team leader (Pastor): Full-time, paid. A magnetic personality, networker, entrepreneur, who attracts a diversity of people. We have this person.

Creative Arts & Media/Worship leader:
Full-time, paid. Recruiter of various types of indigenous music. The primary responsibility is to recruit churched/unchurched people who just happen to like singing, playing an instrument, being involved with drama, running the sound system,generating computer graphics, media, lead staff on creative team. Filling positions and supervising all areas of music, media, and technology. Will supervise, initially all administrative personnel.

Student/Youth/Media Leader: Full Time, paid. Begin networking all high school campuses and formatting core youth team. Interface with students at GCU to start campus ministry and recruit members of launch team. Work on tech and media items.

Children's Minister: full time paid.
The ministry involves recruiting, training, planning, designing all areas of Children’s Ministry. We need this person.

If you know of any one that would be interested in even the possiblilty of talking about the positions we are looking for, please contact me. Even if you don’t right now, please keep your ears open and pray that God leads the people He has already chosen to us.