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Why Do We Use Different Language?

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 | Jay McSwain

Last week our ministry received an inquiry that to be honest warmed my heart. At first glance I wondered if the person was being critical, but the more I thought about his comments the more I was excited that someone took the time and gave thought to what is being presented through our website. The following is the message we received:

“Subject=Consistent Language”

S1=”We equip churches with the right tools to help recruit volunteers and place them in a ministry that best utilizes their gifts and talents.” – this is a quote from your getting started page. From video blog you make the point its about “servants” not “volunteers.” To be consistent may I humbly suggest you change your wording here? You appear to have a great process as I am checking things out. I have a personal passion as a mission coach about helping people discover their purpose.”

I first want to thank this minister who took the time to carefully read and reflect upon our website. Secondly, I want to explain the apparent inconsistent use of “volunteers” vs. “servants” on our site. We recognize that most churches use the word “volunteers” in recruiting members to serve in various positions within the church. I wish this were not so, but it is what it is. My desire is to change the word from “volunteer” to “servant”, but in order to communicate to those who are seeking to use our tools, resources and process I must start with what is familiar to those wanting to learn about PLACE Ministries.

I stated in the video blog http://www.placeministries.org/videoblog/ the words volunteer, volunteers, volunteered are only used 4 times in the entire Bible while the words, serve, servant, servants are used 1010 throughout the Bible. I passionately desire that churches would move away from using the word “volunteer” and talk about those who serve as servants like we see in the New Testament. Jesus stated in Matthew 20:28 that “…the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve…”. Paul encourages us to follow his example as he follows the example of Christ (I Corinthians 11:1).

I would like nothing more than one day to not have the word “volunteer” listed on our website as something someone does within the Body of Christ. But until the culture and language is changed at times I am stuck with using words like “volunteer”, “volunteers”, “volunteering” or “volunteered”. Consider being a part along with our ministry in changing the language from “volunteer” to “servant” in your culture.

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2010 to 2011-Where Are We Going?

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011 | Jay McSwain

For the better part of the last 7 days I have pondered what to write regarding my observations as a church consultant from 2010. Even more difficult is what are trends going into 2011 that churches need to be aware of in order to be effective in their ministries. At times I have wanted to scream at my own lack of clarity for helping others and even for the direction for the ministry that I lead in helping churches connect their people to meaningful ministry. About half way through 2010 after listening to countless senior pastors and staff members tell me their stories (some many times over) I came to one definitive conclusion:

Working on a church staff is hard!

I traveled and talked with literally hundreds and hundreds of pastors and church leaders across the country. I attended conferences lead by the superstars in the Christian world. I read books and blogs, attended webinars, listened to podcasts and sermons, walked the beach reflecting on what God was revealing to me about what was and is happening in the church and specifically how trends are shaping ministry involvement today.

These are but a few of what others are saying as it relates to church…

Need more evaluation
Need to create a vision
It’s not more vision but understanding your culture
Need a strategy
Sermons need to be deeper and more biblical
Sermons need to be more relevant
Churches need to be more social media friendly
Churches need to become more technologically savvy
Churches need to get back to building face-to-face relationships
Churches are not hiring and depending more on volunteers
More Americans are attending church
Less Americans are attending church
Need to be more actively involved in government politics
Need to be less involved in government politics
Giving is down
Is there a way to do more with less
Denominations are dead
Big box church will continue to attract
House churches are the next “big thing”
Churches need to be more ethnically diverse
Christians need more passion for the world
It is not about missions but being missional
Christians are becoming more theologically ignorant
Need to portray more tolerance to those outside the church
Need to call sin and be less tolerant

The list could go on and on. Entire books, seminars, sermons and online media forums are working overtime to convince you and me that what the church, its leaders and people need is to _________________ (you fill in the blank). Maybe it is my age, but ministry and direction for leading ministry is becoming more and more complicated and confusing. It seems for every idea to take us to the promised land another idea downplays the one we just learned about and offers the perfect solution to solve our issue and take us to where we want to be in our church and ministry.

Sad But True

One message I am not hearing on a regular basis is that people need a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. If I do hear this message it is often buried within some self-help message or in such an un-winsome and/or irrelevant way that it will cause people to move further away from Christ or ignore the message. Sad but often true of me is that I think way too much about methods, models and messages to influence the organization of the church in a positive manner and not the organs that pump life into the Body of Christ.

Church Consultant Is Suppose To Give Answers

I know a church consultant like myself is expected to give simple answers to complex challenges, but sometimes I feel we need to “just” ponder what the challenges are in our life and ministry.

Maybe 2011 could be much more impactful if we would spend less time looking around and more time looking up and within ourselves.
Maybe we could be more effective in 2011 if we spend less time listening to the latest superstar communicator and listening more to the Holy Spirit within each of us as believers.
Maybe 2011 could be more fulfilling and significant if we strove to introduce more people to the Savior and fewer to our agendas.
Maybe 2011 could be more successful if we focused on making Him successful and less on making ourselves successful.

As you begin 2011 I would welcome the opportunity to listen, encourage, advise and pray with you the direction you feel God is leading you and your ministry. Thanks ahead of time for the privilege to come alongside you in the journey.

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I Gott’em on the Bus…But What Seat?

Tuesday, December 14th, 2010 | Jay McSwain

Jim Collins coined the phrase, “Get the right people on the bus” in his best selling book, Good to Great. Some time ago I was in a daylong think tank session with a minister. During the meeting the subject of getting the right people on the bus for churches came up. He said he believed he had the right people on his bus (church members). He believed God had directed people to become a part of his fellowship. His problem was what seat should they occupy. I whole heartily agree with my minister friend.

The first quarter of 2011 PLACE Ministries and I will be focused on how to help church leaders intentionally get the right people in the right seat on the bus. This past summer I rewrote my original PLACE Implementation Guide from 1999. Honestly, the new Implementation is entirely different from our original.

After years of working with churches across the country and some overseas I have found there are four steps in getting the right people in the right seat or connecting people to meaningful ministry. The four steps are:

Step 1 – Determine Your PLACEment Purpose
Step 2 – Communicate Your PLACEment Purpose
Step 3 – Execute Your PLACEment Purpose
Step 4 – Evaluate Your PLACEment Purpose

Missteps in Implementing Your PLACEment Purpose
While I pondered throughout the late spring and into the summer what is involved in effectively connecting God’s people to meaningful ministry a set of steps kept coming up in my mind. Imagine a set of steps with your destination at the top. Then imagine trying to skip steps and as quickly as possible reach the top. What might happen if you try to quickly skip steps to make it to the top? You’re right. You would fall down and might even hurt yourself. If you did this enough you would most likely give up on trying to get to the top where you wanted to go and settle for never reaching your ultimate destination. I have seen this scenario play out hundreds and hundreds of times in churches our ministry has worked with over the year.

The reason most churches never effectively connect their people to meaningful ministry is they skip Steps 1 and 2 (Determine and Communicate Your PLACEment Purpose). Secondly, they never ever get to Step 4 – Evaluate Your PLACEment Purpose. The next fad from the latest celebrity church shows up and there is no time to evaluate. Sadly two steps are skipped (Determine and Communicate) and one is never taken (Evaluate). And if Step 3 (Execute) is made most are stuck there and eventually jump back down never to step again, but settle for mediocrity in connecting people to meaningful ministry.

Staff Experience
I knew the order for my four steps were correct based on working with so many churches. I learned from my first consultation with a church after the Implementation Guide was completed in the fall how easy it is to skip Steps 1 and 2 even when the purpose is to develop them first. After completing the Guide it was exciting for me to be the scribe for a church staff as they worked through developing their purpose for connecting their people to ministry. Right in the middle of the discussion the staff member directly responsible for their intentional connection process (PLACE) started getting into the execution (Step 3) of their process. I started laughing as I realized she was not even allowing the group to complete Step 1 (Determine) much less address Step 2 (Communicate). I asked was this typical of their staff meetings. The staff members nodded in agreement that it was typical. Right in the middle of Determine their PLACEment purpose (Step 1) she started talking about logistics like when they should offer PLACE, how many should they allow in the class, when she should train their PLACE coaches, etc (Step 3 – Execute). This scenario is played out time and time again in churches.

How, When, Where and What are answered and so often Why is never is brought up much less answered and even less communicated in a winsome way to the people in the church that leaders are trying to connect to meaningful ministry. Sadly, the end result is an ineffective intentional process to connect people to meaningful ministry. An ineffective process often leads to an abandoned process and going back to just asking those on the bus to take a seat wherever they want to sit. Even more disappointing than taking a seat is too many are going from bus to bus (church to church) or even sadder getting off the bus (church) entirely.

I look forward to writing more on getting the right people in the right seat on the bus. If you would like to fully unpack the four steps I encourage you to order our Implementation Guide – Steps to Implementing Your PLACEment Purpose.http://www.placeministries.org/c-4-leaders.aspx?pagenum=5

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Are You Promoting Hearing or Doing?

Monday, November 22nd, 2010 | Jay McSwain

Recently I was in a church that intrigued me when they gave their weekly announcements at the end of the service. The staff member talked about all the opportunities to get involved in ministry. As I listened I realized every opportunity was about coming to an event to hear a person teach, not about what I considered “getting involved in ministry.” Shortly thereafter, I was in a mall where a church was advertising, “How May We Help You? – Now Offering 162 Ministries for You and Your Family!” Now let me state up front I am not against a church teaching its members truths from Scripture or offering ministries to help believers grow in their relationship with God and build strong families. Paul teaches Timothy in II Timothy 3:16-17 that, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (NIV). Paul is saying to Timothy teach in order that believers can serve.

The Swinging Pendulum

I’m afraid that often churches swing from one pendulum to another is not just hearing vs. doing. So many churches will highlight one teaching in the Bible to the exclusion of another. They will often do this with the one verse that is balanced in its command. For example, in the Scripture above Paul writes about the importance of teaching so that a believer can be “equipped for every good work.” Often those who believe in doing over teaching quote a verse like James 1:22, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” However, when you look at God’s Word as a whole it is not either/or, but both/and when it comes to hearing and doing.

The reason I thought about writing today on this subject is yesterday when I was at church I read the church bulletin. To my surprise the bulletin was about 50 percent opportunities to come and hear and 50 percent opportunities to go and serve. Often during the Christmas season that is quickly approaching churches work extremely hard (which I am grateful) to provide opportunities for their members to help those less fortunate. Let me give a quick challenge to you in evaluating your church’s advertisements this past year. Did your church balance hearing and doing? Was the hearing people received so that they could “…be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (II Timothy 3:17) or some type of self-help? In closing to those of you reading that help shape the direction for your church calendar will you seek next year to balance hearing and doing?

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Returning Ministry to the People

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 | Jay McSwain

Back in 1990 Greg Ogden (www.gregogden.com) wrote The New Reformation – Returning the Ministry to the People of God and in 2003 followed up with Unfinished Business: Returning the Ministry to the People of God. Both books championed the empowerment of the laity (non-paid staff) doing ministry that for years was done by clergy (paid staff). My own understanding of what God desires for all of His people to DO as ministers of the gospel was greatly enhanced by Greg’s two books.

The Observation

Have you ever wanted to believe something was true, but you just weren’t sure the evidence would truly back-up your belief? Over the past 13 years I wanted to believe we were seeing trends that laity (nonpaid staff) were being empowered to do the ministry. But I wasn’t convinced that what was taking place was more information and knowledge being dumped on God’s people with little empowerment truly being given to them.

Returning Ministry to the People

I have realized that ministry is being returned to the people of God by looking at a trend within our ministry. Let me explain. Almost ten years ago I remember how excited I was to work with a group of lay members (all unpaid) of a large church that were empowered to research for resources that would connect their people to meaningful ministry. After several months of conference calls and emails I was invited to spend the weekend training their lay leadership along with the paid staff. My first interaction with paid staff was the weekend I spent at the church. Prior to that weekend every interaction I had was with non-paid staff. I was elated to work with this group. This up front interaction with non-paid staff in this manner was a rarity until the last couple of years.

The Positive Trend

PLACE Ministries receives thousands of orders for resources and inquiries for information about our ministry each year. Until the last couple of years we guessed that 95% or more of those orders and inquiries would come from paid staff. Over the last couple of years we have seen the trend rising with our guess being that 25-30% of our orders and inquiries are being made by non-paid staff on behalf on their churches.

So many trends in church today are not positive. This positive trend of empowering non-paid staff to connect God’s people to meaningful ministry is one we can and should all celebrate and embrace.

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I’m KNOW I’m Gifted-But, WHERE Do I Serve?

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 | Jay McSwain

This past week after talking with two ministers in different states I further committed to stressing an insight along with two keys to connecting people that I knew, but often don’t continually stress. The insight is:

Churches who believe in helping people discover HOW they are uniquely created to serve must also be committed to helping direct people WHERE to serve.

I have watched many churches teach their people on HOW to serve based on helping them discover elements like their spiritual without any thought about how to help them know WHERE to serve.

Back to my two ministers I talked with this past week. One was using our mobilyzr ministry guidehttp://mobilyzr.com/onlineguide/overview.html and pumped about how it was connecting their members to meaningful ministry. The other was excited about the personal discovery going on through the PLACE assessments, but struggling on what to do beyond the personal discovery. His church was even providing one-on-one coaching after the personal discovery, but still struggling with connecting people to ministry.

I am thrilled with churches that truly desire to help every individual in a personal and individual way discover who they are in Christ by providing insight to members and attendees into their personality, abilities, discovering their spiritual gifts and passions and connecting their life experiences to these insights and discoveries. This is why I wrote the five PLACE assessments so God’s people can discover their personality, spiritual gifts, abilities, passion and life experiences as it relates to fulfilling God’s purpose for their lives. But, I hope you will like me commit whether you are beginning your connection process or strategy or have already implemented it you will ensure to incorporate two key steps in your process and strategy. First, create a ministry guide so your people will know WHERE they can pursue their purpose. Secondly, provide one-on-one coaching to help your people know better HOW and then WHERE to serve. The results will be worth the effort. A commitment to this simple two-step process will avoid, “I’m gift but WHERE do I serve”.

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Using Different Options When Implementing the PLACE Process

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010 | Kraig Kelsey

Four months ago Kristin Dawsey, the Serve Ministries and First Impressions Manager of Brookwood Church in Simpsonville, SC began implementing the PLACE process and is making huge efforts to intentionally connect their people to meaningful ministry. I recently had the opportunity to go to Brookwood twice to equip and train their leadership. I was encouraged by a recent email I received from Kristin, “We’re VERY excited! We got a shout out in one of our Pastor’s blog http:bit.ly/b0CV0h. We have already begun registration for the first class (starts Sept. 1). Our Facilitator is super excited. And, I’m talking with a gal who will hopefully be the new Ministry Team Leader for the Connection Coaching-ensuring training, etc. LOL”

The PLACE Options

Kristin and her team reviewed the three options we have developed for incorporating PLACE resources into a church’s connection strategy and decided they wanted to incorporate what we call Option 3 – Personal Discovery + Coaching + Connecting. Over the years our team has found churches have used these three options to connect their people to meaningful ministry.

Option 1 is Personal Discovery where our five PLACE assessments are presented in various formats.
Option 2 is Personal Discovery + Coaching where the five PLACE assessments plus utilizing members within the church who are trained connection coaches to help guide those through the Personal Discovery to ministry opportunities.
Option 3 provides the concepts and tools to help transition people from Personal Discovery through coaching to actual ministry PLACEment.

One of the key elements in making Kristin’s desire for Option 3 successful is Ongoing Senior Pastor/Staff Support. Kristin and her team have worked hard to get their senior pastor and staff to not only buy into the ministry connection process, but also invest their time in working to ensure the process is successful and effective church wide.

I look forward to discussing the other PLACE implementation options in future blogs.

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Watch Out – It’s the Extreme PLACE Makeover!

Monday, July 12th, 2010 | Kraig Kelsey

Summer is here and PLACE Ministries is kicking it off with an extreme makeover! I am proud to announce that PLACE Ministries has a new website, along with a new updated product and resource line for churches to use to connect God’s people to meaningful ministry.

But the makeover does not end there. PLACE also entered the social network arena by allowing churches to follow Jay McSwain, our founder, on Twitter. PLACE Ministries’ Twitter account provides you with unique and helpful insights into the PLACE process so that you can more easily discover your PLACE in life and ministry. Follow us at @Jay_McSwain and @PLACEMinistries.

Our products and resources have been updated graphically to reflect today’s culture. The message has remained the same and the PLACE process continues to change the lives of people and engage them into ministry!

Other changes that we’ve made:

Easier workshop registration & ordering process
NEW online training & resources
FREE resources
NEW video blog: Serving Counts
Updated PLACE workshops
Refreshed products & resources
Enhanced product features & reviews

Making an Impact in Ministry & Life

More and more PLACE testimonies have indicated that PLACE is helping people, not only find their place in ministry – but also in life! It’s so exciting to here people share about how the self-discovery assessments and the principles of PLACE have helped improve a relationship, marriage or a job-related situation. People are definitely finding their lives and they give themselves away (Matthew 16:25)!

Taking It All In

Enjoy the new website features, including an entire new shopping experience in the new PLACE store. Reviewing one of our products or simply let us know how PLACE is working in your church! We want to hear from you.

So how has PLACE changed your life? Let us know.

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Receiving Member Feedback to Improve Assimilation

Thursday, June 17th, 2010 | Lisa Baker

In additions to church-wide surveys, PLACE Connection Sessions are an ideal environment to ask for church feedback. At Brentwood Baptist Church, PLACE is a requirement for membership. During the session, designed to assist individuals in better understanding who God created the to be and where they would be effective serving, we ask, “What drew you to BBC”? It’s exciting to hear all of the positive responses and then to be able to encourage our staff and lay leadership.

As a follow up to the positive, we ask, “Do you see any gaps”? The New Members (NM) coming in are generally apologetic when they make any negative remarks; after all they are excited about their new church home. At the same time that they are apologetic, they seem to grasp that we are giving them a chance to participate in making decisions that will better the church, so they let us know what is lacking. The perceived gaps may reveal an area of service for the NM, an opportunity to teach the NM the why behind what we do or a ministry area that needs attention.

If we, as church leadership, can remain teachable enough to learn from others and if we are steeped in a God-relationship so that we remain faithful to the path He has us on, we will do nothing but benefit. We will receive the privilege of seeing through fresh eyes to new perspectives that can shed invaluable light on how we are doing ministry and where we might consider looking in the future.

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Spiritual Gifts Testing & Ministry Placement – How Far Does the Process Need to Go?

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 | Barbara Valerioti

Many churches today are watching their bottom line and wanting to be certain that they are good stewards of their resources. Certainly financial resources are easy to track and show on a balance sheet – but how about your people resources? Are we being good stewards of those resources as well? Is it proper or even desirable to consider our ‘people’ as resources that we are responsible for making an account for?

…continue reading Spiritual Gifts Testing & Ministry Placement – How Far Does the Process Need to Go?

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