Ryan Wakefield's Blog

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Sun, 03 Apr 2011 17:11:30 -0400

You can find my latest posts here: http://www.ryanwakefield.com/

The Capital Campaign – Dips and Cul-de-sacs

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 11:57:16 -0400

I just got done with Seth Godin’s Book, “The Dip.” Seth has really become the best in the world at these short marketing books that give you some simple and powerful ideas to think about. He has a way of taking what we probably already know and packaging it in such a way that we’ll actually do something about it.

In this book Seth talks about dips, cul-de-sacs, and knowing when to quit and when to press on. His suggestion is that both quitting soon and pressing on can have enormous benefits; you just have to know when to take what course of action.

So what does this have to do with capital campaigns? Well, as leaders we have to avoid getting a campaign stuck in a cul-de-sac and we need to help people understand how to get through “the dip.”

One great analogy that Seth uses in the book is that of the air pressure in a tire. Think about it… even after your first 70% of your energy pumping air, the tire is still flat. However, once the tire is full, the next 10% can make it burst. Going back to campaigns, it’s true that you could do a campaign about 80% of the way and it still come across flat. And if you push too hard, the entire thing can blow up.

When it comes to individuals, it’s true that most everyone involved in your campaign is going to face a dip. That is the point where faith and vision hit reality. In the dip it seems like you’ll never be able to reach the top. My suggestion is that leaders have to anticipate that people will hit a dip and we have to know how to lead people out that dip. If not, people will become discouraged quit too soon.

Finally, as leaders we have to keep campaigns out of cul-de-sacs. A cul-de-sac is where you end up going around and around doing the same things over and over again without going anywhere. People are good at knowing and sensing when an organization is in a cul-de-sac. I’d suggest that the worst-case scenario is a campaign that hits a cul-de-sac at the same time people are hitting dips.

There’s really so much that could be discussed on this topic, and obviously these thoughts are fresh on my mind from reading the book. Are you in a dip, or maybe a cul-de-sac? Maybe you’d benefit from reading Seth’s book.

I love forward progress, creating and launching. This past...

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 10:48:00 -0400

I love forward progress, creating and launching. This past Sunday, Larned Assembly of God launched their new website: LarnedChurch.com

Throughout this process we have used Clover Sites. We have been super impressed with their product, service and their web development solution. Clover has designed their development tool so that a church administrative assistant or volunteer team can easily update the website. Furthermore, Clover has built in a mobile website feature, easy to read analytics, a media player, and simple tie ins with podcasting, Google SEO and Google Analytics. For a smaller church this is really an amazing product.

This is just a first step in our work with Larned Assembly. I can’t wait to see what else God is going to do as we continue this journey with them.

The Wakefield ESPN Tournament Bracket Group

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 18:42:00 -0400

The Wakefield ESPN Tournament Bracket Group:

Get in the bracket action now!

Group Name: Wakefield
Password: Wakefield

Your Church Pet Peeves

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 10:56:00 -0500

The local church is the hope of the world! Many others have said that before and I believe that statement is true, in context. Because really Jesus is THE hope and the church is His bride. The church is not THE hope but part of the Hope’s plan of redemption.

With that in mind it is natural that He is passionate about the church and so should His people be. That’s probably why I got a lot of passionate responses from people when I recently asked on Twitter, “what are your pet peeves about church?” (The responses I received were from people who want to see the church at it’s best - not just ripping on church.)

I can’t saying that I agree with or even know the full context of everything on the list. However, I do know that is healthy to get feedback from people in order to see and address blind spots we may have as leaders. With that in mind here are some of the responses I received.

Church Pet Peeves

When a pastor tries to squeeze the last point of his message out in the form of a prayer that is directed to the crowd, not God

Untouchable and unapproachable pastors - obsessed with being the leader rather than serving

Announcements, announcements, announcements, announcements

Environments used as a replacement for the Holy Spirit

A selfish inward focus driven by an American consumer mindset

Dictatorship leadership

Inward focus - when a church defines ministry as only what happens in the four walls of the church

Pastors who guard their Sabbath but expect volunteers to serve on theirs

Tithing is a choice?

The crackling noise of a peppermint wrapper in the microphone as the pastor tries to put a mint in his mouth before the altar call

Dead time in worship

Fake people

Cliques

Loud vibrato utilizing singers, sitting behind you

A “church crush” coupled with the copycat syndrome

Don’t miss next week, don’t miss next week, don’t miss next week, don’t miss next week, repeat

The people - distractions: talking during worship, cell phones not on silent

A lack of sensitivity to the Holy Spirit

Using scripture out of context

Poor follow-up for visitors

If you miss a service, or you can’t volunteer more then others then you’re not as valuable or there is something wrong for you.

Seven Deadly Sins of Christian Fund Raising

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:47:09 -0500

Scott Rodin, author of “The Sower,” has a great list of what NOT to do when it comes to fund raising. In his list of the Seven Deadly Sins of Christian Fund Raising, #4 really stood out to me – The Unwillingness to Invest the Time. I think this is a major trap for pastors when it comes to building a culture of generosity. But look why Scott says leaders must be willing to invest the time:

· Building trust and relationships takes time

· Ministry requires presence

· Shortcuts almost always require some level of manipulation or coercion

· If we are in a spiritual battle, we must be willing to engage for the long haul

· Impatience is a deadly enemy

Scotty Gibbons always says that “ministry flows out of relationships, and relationships take time.” The same is true when is comes to developing stewards. It flows out of ministry relationships. When leaders aren’t willing to invest the time they end up turning to coercion, intimidation, and tricks. Unfortunately, this can take the joy right out of people growing in the grace of giving.

(FYI – the 8^th deadly sin is calling it fund raising)

Boost Your Electronic Giving - Part 2

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 16:06:16 -0500

Here are suggestions six through ten to help boost your organization’s electronic giving.

6. Support It

a. When you make a big push for electronic giving, offer to have support staff available to walk people through setting up their account.

b. Do some user testing by watching people interact with all the points of your electronic process. Is it hard for them to find it on your website? Do people have trouble increasing the amount they give when they get a raise? Is it hard for people to know who to contact if they run into a problem? Do people know your site is secure? Is your electronic giving card glossy and causing ink to smear? By observing people actually use your process you can learn a lot.

c. Give biblical based reasons why people should give. Make sure you include a variety of reasons, not just the same couple of reasons over and over again. Include those reasons, the organization’s vision, and testimonies in the online giving section of the website.

7. Celebrate It

a. Include a section in your Annual Business Report about the importance and value of reoccurring electronic giving. Make sure your Annual Business Report communicates the “why” behind your ministry.

b. Send out quarterly giving statements. You guessed it – include a special note of thanks for reoccurring partnerships. Focus on the impact it is having relative to the vision.

c. Be sure to thank those long-distance supporters of your ministry. Send them a handwritten note and possibly include an Annual Business Report.

8. Integrate It

a. Make sure your system looks, feels, and works the same across all platforms and mediums.

b. Use the same approach with your offering envelopes and pledge cards that you use online.

9. Revamp Your Envelope

a. Use your giving envelope as an entry point to reoccurring electronic giving.

b. Consider making a postage-paid version of your offering envelope that can be easily mailed in.

c. Consider pointing people to your envelope when you have a special convention or offering instead of a separate pledge card.

d. Design your envelope with a large flap that covers up sensitive financial information.

10. Research It

a. Give someone on your team the authority to lead in this area. Let them gather information and examples on the best practices out there and report back to the team quarterly.

b. Put it on the agenda of your creative team. Ask them to brainstorm how to get creative with encouraging people in their generosity, stewardship and giving.

c. Surround yourself with experts in this field who can be a resource to you as needed.

d. Contact me if you’d like to visit more about creating a generosity movement in your organization.

Boost Your Electronic Giving - Part 1

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 15:37:00 -0500

AG Financial Stewardship Consulting helps ministries bridge the gap to their vision by creating a movement of generosity within your organization. Part of this process involves making sure that it is simple for people to financially partner with you. Electronic giving is one effective way to develop a broad base of financial ministry supporters. Here are the first five of ten suggestions to help boost your organization’s electronic giving.

1. Have a Simple Solution

a. Make sure you have a simple, effective, secure, and easy-to-use system in place. A good system should allow people to easily track and change their giving. If they want to increase their monthly donations or start to give money to missions it should be simple.

b. Make sure your system supports and focuses on reoccurring giving.

c. If you have a service in place, ask your people what they like and dislike about it. Use that feedback to improve it.

d. If you do not offer online and on-site electronic options, then do some research on best practices in that field or let us recommend some options to you to get this established.

2. Talk About It

a. During your offering window, be sure to include discussion on electronic giving. Let people know it is an option.

b. When you have a special need come up, let people know they can give electronically. Sometimes people assume that if they don’t have cash then they can’t be involved.

c. Share how you personally use electronic giving and/or talk about how people are using it. For example, I schedule my tithes to automatically come out of my bank account, but I still give offerings during the worship service. How are you using electronic giving?

3. Thank People Who Use It

a. When you thank people for giving in the offering, acknowledge those who have given online or have scheduled their support.

b. When people sign up to give online or schedule reoccurring donations, be sure to send out a purposeful thank you email. Share how they are supporting the vision.

c. When you have something like a snowstorm that forces you to cancel services, take the time to send out an email to the congregation thanking those who have still supported the ministry by giving online or scheduling their giving. Explain how reoccurring gifts enable ministry to still go on even though services are cancelled. (Outreach, warming center, food supplies, benevolence, disaster response, etc.) If you don’t send out an email, then just mention it in the next service. Show pictures of the ministry that occurred.

4. Teach On It

a. Occasionally take time out of your service to teach on the different ways people can give.

b. Give more in-depth training and explaining on electronic giving methods in assimilation classes like your new members class. Walk people through how to set up an online giving profile.

c. Teach on stewardship and generosity to the whole church at least once a year. Focus on stewardship as an approach to all of life.

d. Include an electronic giving section or addition to any of your financial based curriculum. Show an example budget that includes automated giving.

5. Market It

a. Be sure to promote the electronic giving option effectively on your communication materials.

b. Don’t just have an online giving button - add online giving to your website’s main navigation. A button or special promotion on specific pages is great, but it can get lost.

c. Use creative communication tools to promote the electronic giving option – videos, social networks, blogs, emails, etc.

d. Share testimonies that tie electronic giving to the impact that the vision of the church or organization is having.

e. When you have a series on stewardship and generosity, include a digital giving challenge. If you normally use a commitment card, then gather email addresses from the card and on Monday send people a note of encouragement and a clickable link where they can sign up.

Click here to jump to ideas 6-10

Ministry and Family or Family or to Family?

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:42:53 -0500

David Messner and I were recently able to attend a service at the People’s Church down in Oklahoma City. That particular morning Herbert Cooper was sharing on how he quit “cheating” on his wife. He talked about the two seasons in his life where he spent so much time working on the ministry, specifically on two building campaigns, that he was in a sense cheating on his family. During the sermon he looked at 1 Timothy 3:4-5 - ⁴ He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full^[a] respect. ⁵ (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) Pastor Cooper pointed out that Paul indicates here that a pastor should first take care of his family and then take care of God’s family.

So should ministers prioritize ministry or family, or is there a give and take? How do you apply Jesus’ words in Matthew 10:37?

I’ve heard a few lessons on this topic and I’m wondering if this is one of those issues that pastors and church leaders will never really figure out. I would suggest that much of it boils down to a wisdom and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit issue. However, I do think every leader needs to have set principles that will guide how they process ministering and family matters. Unfortunately, I think most pastors have seen and probably experienced getting ministry backwards. How should we process this topic? What are the best resources and advice out there? Which of these orders describes you and which of these describes where you want to live?

Ministry, Family, God

God, Family, Ministry

Family, Ministry, God

God, Ministry, Family

This past weekend James Larson and I were in Larned, Kansas. ...

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 13:22:43 -0500

This past weekend James Larson and I were in Larned, Kansas. While we were there we decided to try taking some HDR photos and mess with them in CS5.

The Snow that Killed Staff

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 16:56:52 -0500

I can’t stress enough how important it is to be strategic about how you develop your culture of generosity within your organization. The bottom line is that many churches have a lot of room to improve as it relates to online and electronic giving.

One example of what can go wrong, if you’re not prepared, is what happens every time it snows and services are cancelled. I was talking with one church accountant and he estimated that their church lost $150,000 in donations in 2010 because of the snow. That’s 2.5 full-time staff members with benefits that got cut in an already tight year.

That’s the bad news, the good news is that if you are focused and strategic about developing online and electronic giving you can minimize the impact of cancelling services. Giving that is scheduled never goes on vacation and never misses because of bad weather. I know for me personally I schedule my tithe and missions while giving additional offerings and over and above giving during worship services. It’s a way to make sure we are honoring God with our first and still participating in the act of giving.

What you need to know is that for electronic giving to be successful you need to do more than to just have it. You have to have a strategy for the year on how it is going to become a part of your culture of generosity. If you haven’t already check out these more specific ideas here.

Seeing Slip-Ups As Opportunities Ryan Webster is the lead...

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 15:59:20 -0500

Seeing Slip-Ups As Opportunities

Ryan Webster is the lead pastor at Larned Assembly of God in Larned, Kansas. He is one leader that I have been fortunate to get to meet since I’ve been working with AG Financial Solutions. I remember the first time we visited with Ryan on a conference call that I was refreshed by his passion for reaching people and his vision for building the local church.

A couple weeks ago Pastor Ryan fell on some ice and broke his leg. Shortly after that he had to have surgery to put a plate in. Consequently he was confined to his home for a couple weeks since. However, the broken leg hasn’t stopped him. One Sunday he preached right into his computer from his recliner at home and used Skype to play the sermon live for his congregation. No one really knew how this would go over in rural Kansas, but the sermon was a success and God used it to speak to people.

I love how God sometimes uses our setbacks to open us up to new ideas and new possibilities to spread the gospel. No one knows if Larned Assembly will actually use this idea again, maybe to try broadcasting in multiple small towns in western Kansas, but we do know not to limit what God might do.

Why Are You Keeping People From Giving? Churches often focus on...

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 14:05:11 -0500

Why Are You Keeping People From Giving?

Churches often focus on becoming 5-star at hospitality, discipleship, events, services, and the list goes on, but what how many churches focus on becoming 5-star at the donation process? Ironically, the giving process is what enables all the other ministries to exist. So, we’ve got a lot of motivation to find out if there are parts of our process that are keeping people from giving like they want to. Here are some questions to get you thinking about your process:

· Have you asked your people what they like, dislike, and would like relative to your giving process?

· Have you done some first time user testing of your process? For example, have you watched people try to sign-up and give online on your website?

· Have you integrated your on-site, online, and electronic giving approaches?

· Have you looked a variety of other churches processes to see where you could improve yours?

· Is it simple and easy for people to initiate reoccurring electronic giving?

· Do you periodically take time out of your service to explain the different ways people can give?

· Do you have a system in place that allows people to give non-cash gifts or planned gifts?

· Do you offer a support system for people interested in starting electronic giving or non-traditional ways of giving?

· Do you provide a postage paid envelope for ease of giving off-site?

· Do you thank people when they start giving for the first time?

· Do you include a note of thanks or ministry celebration in your giving statements?

These questions are really just a starting point to evaluating your process. I have also attached some example offering envelopes to see what some other churches are doing. See them up close here.

Lawton First Assembly – In Pictures and Stories

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 10:43:00 -0500

Lawton First Assembly – In Pictures and Stories:

This video is a highlight from Sunday, January 30th, 2011. We shot this video with a Canon 7D on a Sunday morning at Lawton First Assembly of God. We wanted to capture a snapshot of what God is doing at the church through “The Dream” campaign. I then dropped the best photos and video into animoto.com and it did most of the rest. Animoto is amazing, but it did mess with some of the video clips, making the first one hard to hear and some of the broll choppy.

While I was at Lawton I was able to reconnect with David Lermy. We reminisced about good times in Dr. Krans’ class. David also served on staff at The Assembly in Broken Arrow, my home church in Oklahoma.

Welcome to LFA! from Lawton First Assembly on Vimeo.

National Prayer Breakfast (via whitehouse) This morning I am...

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 09:36:00 -0500

National Prayer Breakfast (via whitehouse)

This morning I am reminded of our need to pray for those in authority and the leaders in our country. In this speech our president talks about his personal relationship with Jesus, his prayer times with TD Jakes, and his prayer life. My favorite part was when he mentioned that one of his major reoccurring prayers is that he “might walk closer with God, and make that walk my first and most important task.” That’s a great way for all of us to pray today.

How will you make your mark? MinistryDirect.com recently hosted...

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 12:40:00 -0500

How will you make your mark? MinistryDirect.com recently hosted an online conference around this idea of making our mark. I really enjoyed listening to other church leaders share how God is leading them to make a difference. So I decided to make a Wordle word cloud on how I plan to make my mark. You can see videos from other leaders here. Why don’t you creatively share how you’ll make your mark?

Who's the Real Leader in the Room?

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 21:54:00 -0500

I recently read a very interesting piece of advice suggesting a simple method to find out who actually has the real influence within an organization. It’s not the person has the largest spending authority or the person with the longest title. And no, it’s not the person who directly reports to the CEO. Rather, Jacques Elliot suggests a person’s real influence in an organization is best determined by the time horizon they make a decisions in. I think that’s really apparent tonight as the president delivers the State of the Union Address. He has to deal with today and tomorrow, but he’s also planning for 2035. So what decisions are you making tomorrow, and what does that say about your influence?

Chan Vs. Caine Round 2

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 11:51:43 -0500

It’s been interesting how many personal comments I’ve received from round one of this blog idea. I think more people are wrestling with sorting out some of this stuff than I realized. Ultimately, I think it’s a good sign when people are asking the “how should I apply this”questions.

One notion from round 1 was the idea that digital connectivity can actually be dangerous. As I was processing this with another church leader we began talking about how this can play out in the church world. I’ll admit that it’s fun to see what God is doing across our country, but should we begin to worry when everyone’s vision begins to look the same? In all honesty I think it’s hard to discern if God starting a movement or if digital connectivity has allowed us to hear from others in place of God. I think we just have to be careful that as we celebrate what God is doing in one place that we don’t just assume that we need to import that vision into our situation. Again the same thing can happen on a personal level. We can get so enamored with the momentum or blessing on what someone is doing that we lose focus on the unique calling God has for you and me. Obviously we can learn from other, but we have to be careful to seek God about how to apply that in our situation. I have learned a lot on this topic from Craig Groeschel. He points out that if we want to reach people that no one else is reaching that we have to be willing to do things no one else is doing. My point is that digital connectivity can fight against that.

Here are three questions I’ll use to help me contextualize a message and discern how to personalize it.

God, what are you speaking to me through this message that you want to use to alter my thinking in a certain way?

As I change the way I think, what are some action steps I can take or behaviors I can change to align with how you’re asking me to think?

What are some things about this message that do not align with your Word or your calling for my life that you want me to disregard?

This guy has encouraged me to leave my mark, even if I die...

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:30:00 -0500

This guy has encouraged me to leave my mark, even if I die trying.

Francis Chan Vs. Christine Caine

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 16:55:00 -0500

It’s a battle that’s been rolling around in my mind for the last 6 months. First, a little background information. We’ve all observed how spiritual isolation can foster hyper weirdness - compound cults are just one example. Now, I’m noticing how on the other side of the spectrum, hyper digital connectivity can bring about convolution and confusion.

It’s a privilege that in a typical month I get to listen to messages from Mark Driscoll, Andy Stanley, Steven Furtick, Bill Hybels, Craig Groeschel and others. But can so many messages actually be detrimental? Take for instance what happens when God seems to be speaking two seemingly mutually exclusive messages to His Church at the same time.

About six months ago I began to follow what God was doing in Francis Chan’s life. God has used Francis to challenge Christians with the truth that we’ve got to be willing to leave everything to follow Jesus. He has been a refreshing voice in a culture that easily gets complacent and resists change.

Then this fall we were blessed to have Christine Caine speak at our church’s women’s conference and Sunday services. She shared a good word about the importance of “Embracing Your Place.” You can listen to her share this message at another local church here. Now this is where the confusion could easily enter. As a Christ follower, do I need to leave everything or do I need to stay in my current place?

So here’s my takeaway. The most important thing we can do is to stay close to Jesus and be obedient to what He is asking you to do. Celebrate what He is doing in and through others, but remember that their model or methods is not the next step for you. Get to your next step by looking to Jesus first. For instance, you don’t leave your “place” or stay in a “place” to hear from God. You hear from God first about going or staying in a place. I’m afraid if were not careful we can easily elevate a place, a person, or even a method to the level of an idol in our life. Really, this is only the tip of the iceberg on how I’ve personally been processing this. I hope to have a couple more posts on how this has all sorted out in my life.

Here’s how Steven Furtick processed this same issue.