Love this new video from Granger Community Church (HT: Tim Stevens). It does a great job of casting vision for a church to be outward-focused, impacting the lives of people in our communities.
Read more about where Granger is heading next.
Over the past several weeks, I’ve been highlighting Bellevue Church Management System (bvcms), an open source church management system. Here’s a real-life case study of a church that transitioned into using BVCMS. Bellevue Church Management System interviewed Rob Lamarre, Administrative Pastor/Business Operations Manager of Point Harbor Community Church, about his experience with the system. Point Harbor, located in Chesapeake, Virginia, was established in 1976. Approximately 850 people attend Sunday morning worship, and the church has 16 staff members.
Q: What problem or challenge did you face that led you to use bvcms?
A: Nobody at the church could look up information remotely. This was overburdening a few of the staff because they were constantly getting calls from people asking them to look up information. In addition, the check-in system was terrible.
Q: Did you already have a church management system in place? If so, what compelled you to seek a different solution? If not, what compelled you to see a church management system?
A: The church was using a system, but it wasn’t adequate – it was really just a big phone book. Being a data guy, I always want to analyze things and know about our trending, such as how many 35-year-old dads came to our church last summer. But the data in our old system was not very good. There weren’t many people that understood how to use it, so there weren’t a lot of checks and balances as to how data got entered or how valid it was. There were occasions when we had three different records for the same person because that person’s name was entered differently. Although that’s still possible with bvcms, it’s less likely because of the way it’s set up.
Q: How did you learn about bvcms?
A: I started looking around at different systems, and was introduced to bvcms founder/developer David Carroll though a vendor I met while working on an unrelated project. I was concerned about David being a “small shop,” but he put our fears to rest and showed us how we could use Bellevue Church Management System to do all the things we were trying to do. There were so many features that it was a lock for me.
Q: How did bvcms meet your needs?
A: The biggest win I had was with children’s check-in. We have between 200-300 kids each week, and we would have kids stacked back as far as the eye could see trying to check in. I noticed a lot of parents get upset and leave the line, so the bvcms children’s check-in feature with the touch screens, and the way it provides management for the staff and ministry leaders to be able to login from anywhere and see the names of the kids they are working with, was very appealing.
Q: What do you like best about bvcms?
A: I love the fact that even though I’m miles away, I can login and provide support. The ability for everyone to work from wherever they are is huge. Children’s check-in runs smoothly every Sunday now, and we are capturing the parents’ data as well. Now when they come to register for the first time, we register the whole family.
Q: What difference has bvcms made from a financial, operational and ministry perspective?
A: David has given us excellent support, and financially it’s been a big win. When we have an issue, David takes ownership and stays on top of it until it is resolved. The only reason I would ever be hesitant to notify David of a problem is because I know he’s going to stop whatever he’s doing to work on it. We have a system better than anything I knew was out there.
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This is a sponsored post from Bellevue Church Management System, one of my ministry partners on TonyMorganLive.com.
This week, we spotlight Colonial Church in Wichita Falls, Texas where Terry Chapman is the pastor.
Terry Chapman
TONY: Who are you?
TERRY: After trusting Christ at an early age, I married my high school sweetheart, Jackie. We have two children and five grandchildren. During our forty years of marriage, I have pastored four churches – all in the state of Texas. I became Senior Pastor at Colonial in 2010 following successful stints in the Metroplex. Leading as a team-oriented problem solver who identifies strategic objectives has been the focus of my first year. I have a heart for my team, their families and their growth and I’m not afraid to expose myself and his team to unexplored waters.
TONY: When did your church launch?
TERRY: Colonial has been in existence for just over 20 years. The church’s simple beginning lead to the name of the church. Lunn’s Colonial Funeral Home was the original meeting site. Currently we have two services on Sunday 9:30 and 11:00a.m. We also have a Wednesday night experience: meal, family worship experience and students activities.
In continuing with our Church Spotlight feature (you can see the two previous spotlights Cornerstone Church and The River), today I’d like to introduce you to Word Alive Church in Oxford, Alabama, and pastor Kent and Beverly Mattox.
TONY: Who are you?
Kent and Beverly Mattox
KENT: I met my future wife, Beverly, in the early 1980’s. She was a drug dealer and I was a drug addict. While on a date, Bev told me of a vision she had many months earlier while driving down the interstate on a drug run. She said the skies opened up and she saw a man with her that looked like me standing on a platform preaching to thousands of people. She told God “I think you’ve got the wrong person,” and she heard God chuckle and say “I’ll see about that.” As she recounted this vision to me, Beverly told me I was supposed to be a preacher. At that mention, I was the one laughing!
Shortly after that, my life took a downward spiral resulting in a drug overdose that nearly cost me my life. We moved to Orlando, Florida to work with my dad in order to help us get our lives back together. It was during this time in Orlando, Florida that my wife and I were delivered from a lifestyle of drug addiction in 1986. The Lord radically changed our lives and we started ministering the Gospel. I served as an Associate Pastor in Orlando, FL, for ten years before launching Kent Mattox Ministries. After almost two years of traveling the world preaching the Gospel, the Lord called us to start Word Alive International Outreach.
The guys at Bluefish TV did an amazing job of capturing the impact that Atlanta churches are having by working together. Check out this video:
Are you beginning to see similar collaborative efforts in your communities? What impact is it having? Join the conversation by adding your comment.
Chris Farley teaching at The River
A couple of weeks ago, I revived the “church spotlight” series on my site introducing you to Cornerstone Church. Today, I’d like to highlight The River Church in Semmes, Alabama where Chris Farley (no, not this one) is the senior pastor.
TONY: Tell us a little bit about your personal story.
CHRIS: I was born again at an early age, rededicated my life to Christ when I was 17 and entered the ministry my freshman year of College in 1988. After graduation, I traveled extensively both nationally and internationally speaking in churches and leadership conferences, and was serving on staff at a church in Ohio when in 1999 a small, traditional congregation in the deep South called and inquired if we were interested in being their pastor. I was 30 years old and there were around 20 people attending — and that was on a good Sunday!
TONY: When did your church launch?
CHRIS: Although this church had been in the community for decades,The River actually launched only 8 years ago. That’s when we discovered our true DNA as a community of faith and as a result we changed our ministry philosophy, our core values and the name of the church.
Yes, people will leave the church. Sometimes it’s good to just state the obvious. My friend Scott Hodge did that today. He shared:
“You know as well as I do that your church will never be the right church for everyone. In fact, trying to be will pretty much guarantee that you’ll end up reaching no one. Actually, you will. But trust me, you don’t want them.”
Check out the rest of what Scott had to share on this topic. If you’re not following his writing, you really need to. He’s smart. He’s leading a great church in the Chicagoland area. Especially if you’re in the process of transitioning your ministry, you need to follow Scott’s story.
It’s a bit of a tradition around here to recap the top posts of the year as we approach the new year. Not only does that give me a bit of a writing break to prioritize time with family, it’s fun to go back and see what created buzz in the last year. Over the next several days, I’ll count down the posts that generated the most traffic. Feel free to continue the conversation associated with each post.
Let’s start with #10…
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Over the last year or so, I’ve had the opportunity to work with a number of great churches throughout the country. I’ve had the chance to provide training to staff teams and consulting on a variety of topics including staffing, structure, volunteer strategy, discipleship strategy, weekend service environments and more.
12Stone Church in Lawrenceville, Georgia
Along the way, I’ve connected with many great leaders. It’s given me the opportunity to hear some great stories of how God is working in churches across the country. Here’s a sample of the churches I’ve been at:
When I first started blogging, one of the aspects I most enjoyed was sharing stories from churches and leaders who might be off your radar. I’d like to begin sharing some of those stories again. I think these will be an encouragement to those of us in church leadership. With that, meet Rusty Hutson, Lead Pastor of Cornerstone Church in Auburn, Alabama.
TONY: Tell us a little bit about your call to ministry.
RUSTY: I was in a discipleship group of men who challenged me and caused me to reassess my purpose in life. In 1992, I accepted a call to ministry and my wife and I moved to Wilmore, Kentucky where I attended Asbury Seminary and received a Master of Divinity degree in 1996. I also read the book “Rediscovering Church” by Bill Hybels and it changed my whole idea of doing church. We packed up the kids and headed to Chicago one Friday afternoon just to see what was happening at Willow Creek. I was deeply impacted by the experience of being at this amazing church. I was appointed by the United Methodist Church back to my hometown of Montgomery, Alabama as an associate pastor at First United Methodist Church. After 3 1/2 years, I was then appointed to start a new church in the Auburn, Alabama area.
TONY: When did your church launch?
RUSTY: Cornerstone started as a classic “parachute drop”. I had no people and no buildings. It was just my wife and our three boys. We gathered a small group of people in October 1999 who were committed to seeing a new church happen. We met every week to pray and gain a vision for whatever God wanted to do through us to reach non-believers with the love of Christ. We launched on January 9, 2000 in an Auburn skate center with 235 people in attendance. Ten years later, here we are with 1,000 in attendance and three services accomplishing what God set out for us to do.
TONY: Where are you located?
RUSTY: We are located in southeast Auburn in a growing section of town. We have a 20,000 square foot facility on 20 acres of property right off a main artery that connects Auburn and Opelika.
TONY: Tell us something unique about your church.
RUSTY: One of the most unique things about our church is where we started. When our original core group began to research possible locations to worship, the only place we could find that would suit our space needs was the local skate center. We felt like it was the place God had chosen for us, so we took it (even after experiencing the overwhelming smell of sweaty socks and stale nachos from the snack bar). We became known as the “skate center” church, which ended up being a good brand for us. We didn’t have access to the building during the week, so we had to set it up and take it down every Sunday. It took an army of deeply committed servants to accomplish this each week for five years. However, that spirit of service has stuck with us. In keeping that spirit alive, we decided to buy the disco ball from the skate center and had it put right in the middle of our worship space just before the grand opening of our building in 2005.
TONY: Any ministry highlights from recent months?
RUSTY: We just celebrated our tenth anniversary this January, which was a huge milestone for us. We have also almost completed a vision we have been working on in Uganda since 2006. We partner with a church in a town called Buloba. We have dug a well right near the church where all the people from the area come to get clean drinking water. The people who live within walking distance know that Buloba Community Church provided this for them. It has become an incredible tool for evangelism. We have started a child sponsorship program in the community. This fall we completed our goal of sponsoring over 300 children. We are in the process of completing a church building that will house worship, a school and offices for the pastor and the administrators of the school/child sponsorship program.
TONY: What’s your latest leadership learning?
RUSTY: I guess I am learning how to lead at this level. Every time we grow I feel like I’m having to gain new skills that help me deal with more staff, more leaders and more complexity. Also, as we look toward the future I’m on my knees a lot more. This is good because, honestly, I’m not the leader God needs me to be yet. I think I’m learning to rely on Him more and less on any ability I may think I have. I’m learning how truly inadequate and privileged I am to get to do this.
For the last several summers, Craig Groeschel and the LifeChurch team have been offering a fun outreach series called “At The Movies.” As soon as the weather gets toasty, LifeChurch sends out promotional materials in local neighborhoods in the form of doorhangers with a bag of popcorn attached. Meanwhile, each campus participates in a movie-themed, decorating contest. Imagine walking into church and finding yourself in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, Jurassic Park or The Batcave. Volunteers go nuts with the competition and invite their friends and family to see what they’ve been working on.
For each week of the “At The Movies” message series, Craig pre-records his teaching, weaving in clips from a popular movie. Some of the movies they’ve used in the past include We Are Marshall, The Pursuit of Happyness, and The Bucket List. Here’s the catch–they never reveal the movies that they’re going to use in the annual series. Check out the promo.
The result? Every July, the “At The Movies” series generates the highest first-time visitor rates. Who turns down an invitation to see a movie at church? Furthermore, LifeChurch experiences record salvation decisions. It’s become their biggest outreach push of the entire year, and kick-starts the momentum heading into fall. LifeChurch has expanded to 14 campuses in 5 states including their online campus, and it’s one of the fastest growing churches in the country.
This year, LifeChurch has produced the At the Movies @ Home Kit. The kit includes a DVD with movie suggestions for the whole family, activities and biblical truths that you can pull out of each movie. Families can invite the neighborhood gang over for a movie, or use it for a family movie night.
By the way, LifeChurch makes their resources available for free. Here are the various resources that they have available from this summer’s At the Movies series.
That’s what’s worked for LifeChurch during the hot summer months. Yes, it’s possible to gain momentum when most churches experience a dip in attendance. What has worked during the summer for your church?
