Dec/090
The Giving Talk
Whenever we receive an offering at Oak Leaf Church (which is every weekend), we always do a giving talk to explain what is happening. This giving talk might be a Biblical challenge, a video showing where the money goes, a thank you, or something vision related. We let guests know that they are encouraged to give, but not expected to give. And we pray over the offering. Here’s a recent giving talk from one of our services.
We take this time seriously and we plan it out just like we would plan any other service element. What do you do when it comes to receiving the offering in your church?
Dec/095
Worship Service Pet Peeves
Here’s a few of my worship service pet peeves. These are not super-spiritual or theological, just a few things that irritate.
#1 – Too Many Announcements. I really don’t like announcements at all, but if you’ve got more than one of them in your service…I promise you that nobody is paying attention. If you must make an announcement, keep it to one thing that applies to everybody in the audience.
#2 – Taking the Offering. Don’t use the word “take.” You’re going to “receive” an offering or you can ask people to “bring” an offering, but you don’t have mafia guys who are going to go through the aisles and take it. At least I hope not.
#3 – Prayer as Transition. How can we get from this song to the message? Oh, I know. The worship leader can pray. Prayer is talking to God, not a move-the-acoustic-guitar-transition.
#4 – “You Guys Know the Story.” In your sermon you reference another Bible passage and you say “You guys know that story about Joseph and his brothers.” Well, there’s a good chance that someone there has never heard that story and has no idea what you’re talking about. So you just made him feel like church is for the insiders who possess secret knowledge.
#5 – Music Stands. If you’re in the band, then take some time to learn the music and the songs. If you don’t know the song, then you shouldn’t be on the stage.
Anything that you would add to this list? What are your worship service pet peeves?
Nov/090
Preservice Music
Here’s an iMix of some of the stuff that we’re playing preservice to create a vibe in the House of Rock before the service starts.
Oct/090
Before and After
A few times in our three year history, we’ve done a big inviting message, really challenging our people to invite their friends, neighbors and co-workers. Then we follow that up with an evangelistic message, geared to share the gospel and give people an opportunity to respond.
This last time, we expanded that idea into something that really worked well for us. We did an entire SERIES on the mission and purpose of the church, focused on inviting. We wrote the names of the people that we wanted to reach down on some glass windows. We did this for one straight month.
Then we followed that with a whole SERIES focused on evangelism. We were extra-intentional to speak to guests and give people a clear opportunity to respond to Christ.
So we challenged them during CONTAGIOUS to spread their faith and get people to the next series. Then we talked about Jesus during BREAK FREE.
The result – at the kickoff of the Break Free series, we had our highest attendance since Easter, and during the series, more than 50 people decided to follow Christ. It was a great two months in our church.
Sep/090
Service Order
Over the last three years, we’ve changed up our typical service order a good bit. What we’re doing now is probably pretty simple, but I’m loving it. Here’s an overview of a typical weekend service at Oak Leaf Church.
Opener - usually a cover tune, sometimes a very upbeat worship song, sometimes a generic video, sometimes a special video. if we do a cover song, it ties to the topic. We try to start light and get “more spiritual” as we go along.
Welcome – a pastor (or volunteer) comes out and welcomes everyone, tells guests what to expect, introduces the topic/series, and introduces the worship leader.
Worship – usually 2-4 songs. starts with high energy. We don’t worry too much about tying the songs to the series…sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t.
Giving talk - we used to do the time of giving at the end, but we moved it here to keep it connected to the worship set. someone comes out and says what is about to happen and spends a couple of minutes talking about giving. sometimes it’s a principle, sometimes a verse, sometimes a story, and sometimes a video. We’re intentional with this part of the service.
Bumper video – during the bumper video, we pass the buckets. This usually lasts a minute. If we don’t have a video, we just put some verses or the series graphic on the screen and play some music. The band clears the stage at this time as well.
Message - hopefully, this part is self explanatory. at the end of the message, I will invite anyone who made a decision to follow Christ to go to the next step table and pick up a next step packet.
Closer – sometimes, I just pray and dismiss everyone. sometimes, there’s a closing element or a song. If it’s a song, it will tie into the message pretty well.
Sep/090
Preach to those Not There
If you’d like more guests to attend your services, then start talking to them. Even if it’s regulars, constantly reference first time guests. Make sure you’re explaining things to guests. Acknowledge their presence. By constantly talking this way, you will reinforce something important to the regulars.
You’ve got to preach to the people who aren’t there.
Aug/090
Odd Service Times
When we moved to the House of Rock, we went from four services on the weekend down to three, with one of those services being on Saturday night. We thought we’d get more people on Saturday night than at 8 something or 12 something on a Sunday. And we thought Saturday night was slightly better than Sunday night for reaching lost people.
There are really two reasons why churches choose to have extra services at odd times like this. First, because the Sunday morning services are jammed packed. And second, to reach a new segment of the population. While both are growth strategies, one views the extra services as more of an overflow from the main thing (Sunday morning), while the later looks at these new services as a new market.
That’s how we’re approaching our Saturday night services. We don’t think of them as simply a way to create extra seats on Sunday morning…we’re trying to build a brand and a community with this service. In fact, event though we really don’t need the seats, we’re adding a second Saturday night service this fall, in order to make it more of an event.
We’re also looking for ways to slightly differentiate with our Saturday night service and build identity. We’re going after families by offering 2 hours of free childcare after church…parents can go out to dinner or hang out with each other. We’ll also throw some movies up and maybe a football game this fall.
Do you do services on Saturday night or Sunday night? Are they different? Do they attract a different kind of person? Leave a comment and share your story.
Aug/090
Series Planning
A few months before we start a new series, I spend a good deal of time writing a series overview. This document contains information on why we’re doing the series, a brief outline of the topics and Scriptures, any songs I think would work, and some of my ideas on graphics and set design.
I send this document to our creative people so they can run with it and make the series great. It gives them time and context, two things that creative people desperately need.
Here’s the series overview for what we’re doing in September (Break Free) and what we’re doing in October (Storybook Sex)
Jul/093
Classes
Next week, we’re starting a pilot program at Oak Leaf Church called Oak Leaf University. It’s a series of four week courses that will happen on Tuesday nights from 6-8. They cost $20, and include snacks, course materials and childcare.
While we’ve offered Journey Groups since our church began, I think Oak Leaf University will meet a different need. The courses are short term (four week commitment), meaning that it’s easier for many to attend. We’re providing childcare, which is easier for parents with children. It’s a little more classroom-oriented, which appeals to a different kind of learner.
The four courses that we are offering in the first semester are Theology 101 (I’m teaching…here’s the student book that we prepared), Introduction to the Bible, Parenting and Finances. Two “Bible” topics and two “Practical” topics. So far, we have had 100 people sign up for July, which is about 15% of our adult weekend attendance.
The idea is to run it for one month, with two months back to back, and then take two months off. That will give us six semesters a year, and we’ll offer different classes. We are currently working on a course for new Christians, something on Leadership, and a Church History course for the fall.
Jun/090
Calendar Requests
As our church gets larger, we can’t just decide to throw things on the calendar. All events must go through the calendar process.
There’s a Word Doc form (included in the Docs&Forms package by the way), but the form is also online. This gets submitted to our office manager who checks for immediate problems and checks on availability (of the date, the room, the media tech if needed). All calendar requests are approved in our weekly lead team meeting.
By the way, we use Google Calendar for the master church calendar. Two or three people can add/delete things but every staff member can subscribe.
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