3. Get your key influencers involved.
Getting key influencers involved in the process is vital to building positive momentum. Getting these individuals involved in planning and promoting your service is critical. Filling these individuals with excitement about setting a new record and touching lives with the gospel is key because it will spread infectiously throughout the congregation.
Too many pastors try to carry the load all by themselves, which is an unbiblical notion. Christianity is a team sport. Team building is one of the skills successful pastors need in their tool belts. Learning to pick the right players on your team is crucial. Guiding and leading the team is imperative. I encourage pastors to use short-term task forces with a specific task along with a starting and ending point. If you build a task force for each of your major outreach initiatives for the fall, winter, and spring, your team-building skills will improve each time, and the impact on your congregation will dramatically improve.
4. Put some effort into planning for before, during, and after your Easter service.
I call this the “three month rule,” which is to begin the detailed planning process at least three months before launch of the outreach campaign. Here is an overview of what would happen in those three months:
Three D’s of Event Planning
1. Develop a punch list – generating a complete list of ‘to do’s’ with due dates that that need to be completed to insure a successful event.
2. Determine a time line – listing major objectives 3 months before the event and 1 month after the event.
3. Delegate
Here are the major areas that need to be covered:
- Intercession
- Communication – Membership Awareness
- Marketing & Promotion to Community
- Worship Service Planning & Preparation
- Follow up & Come Back Events
5. Promote prayer & fasting for friends, neighbors, and family.
It is a must to incorporate a church-wide prayer project for before and during the campaign. One example: Call the church to “pray for five neighbors, for five minutes a day, for five weeks” before the outreach campaign. Tim Beavis of The Orchard Church in McHenry developed a “Who is my neighbor?” campaign with this concept. Check out the card he used to encourage his church to pray for their neighbors. You might consider using 2 identical cards in your church, one for the individual to hand in to the church for the prayer team to pray over and the other of the individual to take home with them. In addition to this, you could also call the church to a season of prayer and fasting.
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