I was reading Willow Creek Repents (which I think is an unfair title) and was fascinated by the findings issued by a new book from Willow Creek. This lead me to watch the video by Greg Hawkins where he explains the point of the book.

At the end of the video, he concludes:

Our dream is that we fundamentally change the way we do church. That we take out a clean sheet of paper and we rethink all of our old assumptions. Replace it with new insights.

At Plaid, we agree with this statement and believe that Plaid can assist ministries in this transformation.

Existing church software enables measuring discipleship through “participation”

Essentially, existing church management software reflects and promotes the “participation” model Hawkins describes. The software is focused on recording data that according the Hawkins does not contribute to discipleship.

For example, ChMS vendors are developing the “hottest” feature and churches are spending lots of resources to implement it. Check in or integrated attendance recording. That does not seem to be the place where innovation should be occurring.

The tools we use shape our thinking. If we do not change our church software, how we do church will not change.

Plaid answers the challenge issued by Hawkins and Willow Creek

Plaid is different. It does not record attendance. It measures “attention” or engagement of leaders towards its members.

Attendance shows how the members engage the church. A metric that Hawkins now questions and an assumption that Bill Hybles in fact says was a mistake,

Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for.

Plaid rather measures the engagement of leaders with members. Using attention data (what contact records they interact with inside the software: edit, add, comment, send email, organize into a list, etc.), we can help individual ministry practitioners discover who they “disciple”. Essentially, this is based on the idea found known as Dunbar’s number.

At Plaid, our quest is to give ministries new ways of measuring. I am not fool enough to think Plaid is a silver bullet, but I do believe that refactoring church software is one aspect of this change.

At your events, there are many ways to aquire contact information from new people and visitors. It usually results in a stack of handwritten cards. Even with well-intentioned ministry teams, entering this information into some kind of database falls through the cracks or is not completed in a timely manner.

Plaid makes it easy to enter contact information:

• You only need to enter 3 fields (name, phone and email) in order to add a contact
• You can add one or 10 contacts at a time

Discover the hundreds of ways Plaid can improve your ministry.

I use Google Calendar with Gmail to organize my life and work. I do not carry a paper calendar and usually just scribble notes (in pencil) on whatever scrap of paper is nearby. I have tried all the Daytimers and Hipster PDAs, but I am just not a paper person.

You might guess that I sometimes have trouble remembering appointments or making timely phone calls. I’m embarrassed by my tardiness and its my reputation (such as it is). I recently made a small change to my Google Calendar which now sends my mobile phone a text message as reminder.

It is easy to set up SMS reminders for Google Calendar.

First, you need to set up  your phone. This can be done through Settings and clicking on the Mobile Setup link. Follow the simple instructions to enable your phone. (Basically, Google sends your phone a text message with a numberical code which you need to re-enter in this setting.) Once you do this correctly, you will see under Mobile Settings that your mobile status is “Phone number successfully validated.”

Then you can set your SMS notification preferences for your calendar. To do this, on the right under My Calendars, click on the drop down menu and select notifications. On this screen, you can set your SMS preferences. By default, I have all events send me a text message 10 minutes before its start. You can then change this preference on an event by event basis by editing the “Options” of that specific event.

I have a throw away phone and a pay-as-you-go plan. But even my $19 phone gets the text message and if I view it and click “Options” any phone numbers I list in the event, I am able to call without dialing.

As a web designer, you would think that I spend most of my time in Photoshop designing web pages. Well, you would be wrong. I spend lots of time managing projects. When I pastored, I never thought in terms of project management. And that was my mistake. I had projects all over the place, but simply managed them like tasks.

• Mail newsletter
• VBS
• Schedule summer missions trip
• Get van fixed

One of the things that I learned from Getting Things Done by David Allen was the difference between next actions and projects. Nothing in the above list is a next action and most 3 of 4 are really projects with many next actions. For example, Get van fixed is not a next action. Find repair shop for van is the real next action.

Mail newsletter, VBS and summer missions trips are all projects that have many next actions. Every ministry has projects like these to manage. If you apply a few easy principles, you can start feeling productive and less stress out (hat tip: FreelanceSwitch):

1. Write out the desired outcome. I find that I procrastinate more when I do not know what I’m trying to achieve with a project. This is even more true if you have been “assigned” the project rather than creating the project yourself.
2. Get the outcome approved in writing. One of the sources of conflict in the church is miscommunication. Conflict can be reduced by getting written approval from your stakeholder (pastor, team leader or board) that you are on track before you start. This includes getting a time and date for when you need to deliver your project.
3. Create an ordered list of “next actions”. This may get a little pedantic. Basically, you can not do “mail newsletter”. But you can “Email pastor for his column”, “Ask church administrator to print off labels” and “Schedule volutneers to prepare mailing”.
4. Review your “next actions” and estimate the time. I find it best to take that number and TRIPLE IT. Yes, multiply it by three. This will account for all the things you do not know that you do not know.
5. Communicate to all stakeholders while you finishing your next actions. Tell them what you did, what you are doing now and what might be at risk. Get in the habit of talking about the bad news before people hear about it from someone else. If you are not going to have all your classes covered on Sunday morning, tell the people who need to know before Sunday! I also am in the habit of just asked open ended questions like “How do you think this is going?” as a way to engage the people I’m serving.
6. Stay focused. Once you list your next actions, work hard not to add to the list of the project. This is called scope creep and is a sure way to destroy a project.
7. Celebrate. When your finished, share and enjoy your success.

How do you feel productive in ministry? Add your comments below.

Apple announced that Google Maps will be one of the 12 widgets that launch on the new Apple iPhone. Well if you want your church to appear on Google Maps on the iPhone, get your ministry listed on Google Local Business. If you have problems getting your church listing working, visit the Google Maps Help Group.

DaySpring allows you to send free Flash cards to people. You can find:

• Birthday
• Prayer
• Sympathy

There are dozens of others. This is a simple way to keep in touch between ministry events.

Ministry is hectic. Most people serving in ministry have other things in their lives going on besides church. It is hard enough to carve out time to actually be at the ministry event and find the time to prepare for it. If we are honest, our time for spiritual disciplines is what gets lost when we are busy. And who of us is not busy.

But the energy and power we need for ministry is found in exactly those disciplines. If we are really serving people, then we need to be responsible to those habits which actually affect our ministry. So here is one easy way we can gain some time for solitude, meditation and prayer:

Reduce your screen time

The US Census reported most adults and teens “will spend nearly five months (3,518 hours) next year watching television, surfing the Internet, reading daily newspapers and listening to personal music devices.”

My wife and I are totally guilty of this — our laptops are always open. Like you, our habit is to watch TV in order to relax. Now, I am not saying get rid of TV or your laptop because I am certainly not going to do that — but see if we can watch 30 minutes less screen time every day. We will lose 8 days screen time a year; and gain 30 minutes a day for solitude, meditation and prayer.

That seems like a good trade…

Ask my wife, I am the king of procrastination. So take these suggestions from someone who is in the process of unlearning the bad habits that cause procrastination. I found that putting off something until the last minute was a sure-fire way to kill my ministry.

Here are some of the causes of procrastination:

• Task is too complicated - Often we just think that it is too complicated because we do not take the time (meh) to break it down into simple next actions. When I take the time to actually think through the task at hand; it ceases to be so complicated. And if I find that it is really complicated and I can not get it done in time, then I need to tell someone as soon as possible. Remember it is what it is.
• Seeking perfection - As spiritually minded servants, we often want to do things perfect. We need to get over that — ministry is full of “good enough”. If you only do things perfectly, you will get little done and so burn out.
• Indecision - Usually making no decision is a worse experience than making the wrong decision. Pray and trust God and get moving.
• Wrong priorities - In ministry, it is easy to address the squeakiest wheel to avoid conflict. But you know what’s important, you know what God values. Do those things first.
• Boredom - This is one thing that always got me. I got bored easily with the details of ministry, like keeping attendance or counting offering or organizing the craft room. But getting the details right is one key to success in ministry. If you find yourself bored, see if you can trade with someone else on your team or maybe use a new tool to do the task.
• Focused on to many things - If you are passionate about your ministry, I know that you are being asked to take on more and more responsibilities. This dilutes your focus and can lead to procrastination simply because you just do not know what to focus on first. To prevent this, decide on what your focus is and just do that.
• Being a slob - I am a slob when it comes to the physical world (my digital life is well organized). If you are a slob, then admit it and find someone on your team who can organize stuff.
• Laziness - To prevent laziness, I just need to schedule more time for myself. Often I’m lazy not because I’m really lazy, but I choose to be lazy because I’m overworked and do no have enough time to recharge.
• Being tired - I do not need a lot of sleep, but I also stay up to late. When I’m well rested I get more done.
• Breaks - Next time you take a break at work or church, be aware of how long it takes to ‘get back at it’. If you take an honest look often our breaks are much, much longer than we think.

The trick for me is to be aware when I’m practicing the bad habits of procrastination, so I can change my point of view.

My friend James at Agile Ministry writes down some valuable advice on how to recruit people to serve in ministry,

Step 1: Go to the source - Find the connectors

In every church there is at least one member that tends to connect with a large number of others within the church. These “connectors” have a doorway into a large number of people within the church, often knowing where they work, what they like to do, and what skills they possess.

Spending a little time with these connectors each week can provide leads on someone that may provide help. Before talking with your connectors, be sure to have a short list of who you need. Visit your connectors regularly, as they may have met someone new that can help you out.

Step 2: Go to your neighbors - Find the like-minded

While we all llke to look inward in our church as a first step, don’t be afraid to go to other churches in the area. Whether it is of the same or a different affiliation, there may be someone who will help out a church in your area. If you live in a rural area, make some appointments to meet others in a nearby area to obtain help or find leads on someone with the skills you need.

Step 3: Go a different way - Find an alternate path

Finally, it may be necessary to find an alternate solution your need. While this isn’t always the best option, it may require you to stretch your team by seeking creative solutions when you don’t have the necessary skills available. Remember: just because it isn’t the first solution you had in mind, you should still give 100% of your effort to His glory.

Volunteer Scheduling

Notice what is missing from this list: pulpit announcements, bulletin inserts and newsletter articles. If you are looking for a great solution to scheduling, make sure you download the PDF “Handle with Care“; a white paper with practical steps for leading your church ministry.

if you are looking for a great scheduling tool, visit Church Director which is an a volunteer scheduling and ministry tool.

I rarely have business cards when I need them. Even in this age of digital communications, the business card is still a “must have” tool for ministry. This applies not only for so-called paid staff, but to any ministry team. I am ordering some cards and here are a few online providers that provide really cheap 4-color printing:

• Printing For Less
• 123 Print
• Overnight Prints
• Vista Print
• PS Print

If you are able to use standard shipping, then these printers are really, really cheap. I am using Vista Print for the first time and getting several business cards printed for $3.99/250. Be sure that I will let you know how that goes.

One tip before you venture into online printing, make sure that you review the specifications of the formats they will accept.

Pocket Sized Communications

If you want to be totally cool, get a Moo Card. Moo allows you to create cards (as if by magic) from a Flickr account. You can get 100 mini cards for $19.99. So how would you use Moo for business cards for your ministry?

• Create a Flickr account for your ministry
• Upload and organize photo of your ministry in action
• Use Moo to select 100 photos of your ministry
• Add your contact information
• Get your cards in the mail

Put a couple in this cool business card holder by Umbra. And you have an amazing communications tool for your ministry that fits into your pocket.