There’s a lot happening at the Cartersville location of West Ridge Church in the coming weeks. Because of that, I want to provide my church family an update. If you aren’t part of our community, well, you can just ignore this post. :-)

Here’s what’s coming up that you need to have on your radar:

• Momentum – Last Sunday it was fun to celebrate baptisms, the generosity you displayed with Hope for Christmas (see below) and large crowds at both services. I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of a church where worship attendance went up on Thanksgiving weekend. Thanks for continuing to invite your friends and family. Yesterday we added seats to the auditorium to accommodate the larger crowds. Pray with me that we can add a third service option soon to give us the opportunity to reach new people.
• Campus Pastor Transition — James is continuing to work with the team at the East Paulding location to transition leadership. He officially starts as the Cartersville pastor in January. In the mean time, James is participating in team conversations in Cartersville, and you will see him at several services and events in the coming weeks. We embrace team teaching at all our locations, but you will also begin to notice that James will be teaching more frequently in Cartersville.
• New Series —  We start a new series this Sunday. It’s called Stressmas. You can read about the new series and then be intentional about who you will invite to join us on Sunday. I’m guessing you may know someone who is experiencing stress in their lives who would benefit from this series.
• Hope for Christmas — I’m so proud of you! Last week we collected food for Hope for Christmas. Hundreds of bags came in. You are a generous people. I love that! This week we are focusing on toys for kids or “Secret Santa Shop” gifts for parents. You can get recommendations on the Hope for Christmas website. I’m hoping we end up with a mountain of toys and gifts after this Sunday.
• Kids Singing in Services — We’re starting a new tradition this year. On Sunday, December 18, all our kids from kindergarten through fifth grade will be singing in the Sunday morning services. If you are a parent, you should have received an email message with details. I’m fully expecting December 18 to be one of our largest Sundays ever in Cartersville, so plan to arrive earlier than usual to get a parking spot, a seat and, if you have kids, to get them checked-in. More important, bring your family. Invite grandparents and cousins to watch your kids sing. (And don’t forget your camera to capture pictures and video. It’ll be a Kodak moment.)
• Christmas “Eves” Services — As we do every year, we’ll be celebrating Christmas Eve Eve in Cartersville. This year we’ll also be offering an identical program on Christmas Eve. You’ll help us make sure we have adequate seating for you and your friends if you get your FREE tickets as early as possible. The sooner you do that, the better your chances of getting your preferred service time.

“I don’t fear the wrath of what other church people think about the risks we take. Instead, I fear the thought of people who will live an eternity without experiencing Christ.” –Kem Meyer

Here’s the rest of Kem’s article on pushing the envelope.

Following my post about using tickets for Christmas Eve services, I had requests for samples of the tickets we use at West Ridge Church.

As much as possible, we encourage people to get their free tickets online. (By the way, if you live in northwest Atlanta metro area, we’d love for you to grab some tickets and join us at one of our locations with your friends.) As you can see, we use Eventbrite to process online tickets.

Below is a picture of the physical tickets we print. This is a sample for one of the service times. Obviously we print different tickets for each of the different service times and locations.

In his landmark bestseller book Good to Great, Jim Collins lays out the now-famous hedgehog principle. It’s the idea that everyone, every organization, has a “sweet spot” that serves as the intersection of three circles.

Many organizations spend lots of energy chasing too many ideas and initiatives. The great ones know how to say “no” to the good stuff and focus on the ONE thing they’re really great at. (Dashboard Groupcraft is an entire consulting practice built around this simple idea.)

It’s powerful, it works but it’s hard to execute.

If you’re a church communicator reading this, you may conclude, “That’s for businesses. In the church world we’re not about ‘economic engines’ or profits, we have to serve many different people in many different ways.” Does this mean that there is no place for focused strengths within a church? Sadly, in fact, many church communicators’ programs suffer from a severe lack of focus. The results are lackluster–that is, if they even measure results at all.

SiteOrganic helps churches across the country with their church websites and overall online ministries. Much of their focus is on strategy. In a recent survey, SiteOrganic found that 53% of church website managers are operating with no strategy or focus. Another 40% said they had a strategy but it was imperfect or out-of-date. For these churches, the hedgehog principle yields to the scattershot principle.

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This time of year, I routinely get questions from folks about using free tickets for Christmas Eve services. As I’ve shared in the past, using tickets has several benefits:

1. It helps us make sure we have seats for everyone to invite their friends and family.
2. It helps us determine when we need to offer more services.
3. It makes it easier for people to invite their friends.
4. It communicates something special is going to happen.
5. It communicates these services are open to the entire community.

For more specifics on each of these benefits, check out the article I previously wrote on Christmas Eve tickets.

What’s your experience? Has using tickets helped you reach more people? What are some specific lessons you’ve learned? Join the conversation by sharing your comment.

I read an interesting article from The Barna Group the other day that highlights some recent research they’ve completed. The research was completed over five years by surveying young adults ages 18 to 29. (I remember when I was in that category.)

Here are a few of the myths they identified about church dropouts:

• “Most people lose their faith when they leave high school.” The truth is that young adults are leaving the institutional church, but they’re not losing their faith.
• “College experiences are the key factor that cause people to drop out.” The truth is the young adults begin to disconnect from church before they hit the college campus.
• “This generation of young Christians is increasingly ‘biblically illiterate.’” The truth is that there’s really no generational gap between Christians; however, older non-Christians are more familiar with Bible stories and Christian theology.

Check out the full article for more myths and additional insights.

Is your ministry connecting with young adults? If so, share what’s working and what’s not. Join the conversation by sharing your comment.

Over the last several weeks, I’ve shared a series of articles on building senior leadership teams — the teams at the top of your organization. In case you missed them, here are links to all the articles in the series:

• When should we start building the team?
• 7 Roles that Can’t be Delegated
• 7 Questions to Identify Who Should be on the Team
• 7 Strategies to Empower Leaders
• Are you avoiding these mistakes with your team?

The most common question I’ve received as a result of this series is this: Can you help me find these leaders?

The short answer is yes. The reality is the decision about who will be on your senior leadership team is probably the biggest determining factor of health and success for your church. This decision is much bigger than those about discipleship strategies, series plans, buildings, budgets, etc. Determining who is on your senior leadership team will shape every other decision.

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1. Grambling State University – Since I’m just a few miles away this morning, I thought I’d give the Grambling team the number one spot. If they can’t beat the Browns, their marching band could certainly take them.
2. North Paulding Junior Wolfpack - That’s the football team at my son’s middle school. They definitely have a better running game than the Browns.
   
3. Indianapolis Colts – The Browns have a better record, but the Colts will have Andrew Luck.
4. My Daughter’s Powder Puff Team – The quarterback threw like a girl, but I never underestimate the power of estrogen.
5. 1982 San Diego Chargers – Most of the guys are in their 60′s now, but my guess is they could still take the current Browns team behind the potent “AARP attack” led by Dan Fouts.

Engage Burkina

By Paul Richardson, Executive Director of Engage Burkina

The people in Burkina Faso are truly the poorest of the poor. When I was there recently, I spent some time with some pastor friends that oversee the water wells that we have dug there.

At one point in our conversation one of the pastors got a bit choked up about the needs in his own village. This man has been overseeing the digging of more than 40 wells for us, and then got out some words that I wasn’t expecting: “We don’t have water.”

Have you ever been without water? If a water main breaks near you home and your neighborhood goes without for a few hours it is really inconvenient. You can’t wash your hands, wash clothes or dishes, take a bath, make coffee, mix up Kool-Aid for the kids, hose them off from playing outside or flush the toilet. Ever gone a day or two days? If so, you’ve probably temporarily moved in with friends or gone to a hotel. If you’ve ever had that happen for just a bit, then you have had a glimpse of what the people in Burkina Faso experience.

There are thousands of villages without water. There are even neighborhoods in more significant towns and cities, including the capital, where water is not in adequate supply.

You can engage in giving to this need, and you don’t have to be able to afford a whole well. We have set up a store on a website called, Engage Burkina. There you can give in any amount, or sponsor a whole well. Your group, office, Boy Scout troop, baseball team, or church can pick an amount and raise it over time.  The more wells we provide, the less often we’ll hear, “We don’t have water.”