Random Thoughts

1. I'm excited to spend the day with my family!

2. My kids are getting big.

3. Yesterday Cale went with daddy to the barber shop to get a haircut. WE HAD SOME BOY TIME!

4. My wife and I went on a date last night. SHE'S THE BEST!

5. I started building Noah's ark because of all the rain we've been getting in Oklahoma :). I think it's rained 17 days in a row.

6. I can't wait for football season to start. Fall is my favorite time of year. If football season was in the summer, I think summer would be my favorite time of year :).

7. Life is to short not to enjoy it! I wrote that just in case you're having a bad day!

8. I love the staff that I have the privilege to serve with! Having a great staff makes work fun! As I said earlier, life is to short not to enjoy it.

9. I want to say a big thanks to my assistant Erin. She makes my life and my wife's life a lot easier and less complicated. Thanks for serving People's Church and my family with such dedication and excellence.

10. I can't believe I'm really a blogger and I actually enjoy it! WEIRD HUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quarterly Reviews

Every quarter we do a review with all of our employees. I use to do all the reviews (admin and pastors). Now, I only review our two executive pastors, and they do the reviews for the rest of the organization. I will list some benefits of doing quarterly reviews.

1. Every team member deserves to know what they are doing right and where they need to improve. At People's Church, we have a very candid environment. We tell people the truth about what's good and what's not. We always do it in love, but we do tell people the truth and expect improvement where it's needed. Believe it or not, people really do want to know how they are doing at their job.

2. As Bill Hybels says, "The local church is the hope of the world." The local church effects people's eternal destinations, so I think we ought to monitor our progress. Quarterly reviews help us monitor if every employee is advancing the vision of the church. THE LOCAL CHURCH HAS A SERIOUS MISSION TO ACCOMPLISH!

3. Quarterly reviews allow each team member to set goals for the quarter. Our entire leadership team sets yearly goals, and then, each quarter every area works toward accomplishing the goals. We believe in having a target to shoot for. If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there!!!

4. Quarterly reviews help us refocus and reaffirm the core values and direction of People's Church with each team member.

5. Quarterly reviews is a great time to let each team member know that they are valued! Everybody needs encouragement. Everybody needs to feel appreciated. Everybody needs to know that what they do is making a difference.

6. Quarterly reviews hold each team member accountable for their production or lack thereof. As an organization or church gets larger, it's easy for people to fall through the cracks and not be held accountable for their production. At People's Church, we are committed to tweaking our systems as we grow to insure that each person knows where they stand in the organization.

I would encourage your church or organization to implement some kind of review system for your team members. It really does make a tremendous difference in the organization and for the team members.

The Most Challenging And Rewarding Job

The most challenging job for any leader is to find and develop leaders. At People's Church, we are always looking for sharp, committed, loyal, gifted people who love God and love the vision and mission of People's Church. Here are some of the challenges about finding leaders.

1. There is a commitment vacuum among people. Many people aren't committed to anything. They may be highly gifted, but they're not committed. They may be really smart, but they're not committed. They may be really positive, but they're not committed. We don't hire staff members who don't have commitment. We try to hire most of our staff from inside the church, and one of the first things we look for is: are they COMMITTED to God, to their family and to the local church.

2. There is an integrity vacuum among people. Many people will say one thing and do another. Their word isn't any good. Their morals aren't very high. They will say they are committed to God, but don't exemplify Christ like behavior. They say they are committed to the local church but they don't tithe to their local church, serve in their local church or fellowship and grow spiritually with other believers in their local church. Many people's talk doesn't match their walk. I have a little test I give people. I watch people for a while to see if they are just talk! If a person has integrity, the longer I know them will cause me to respect them more not less.

3. There is a work ethic vacuum among people. Many people think working for the local church is easy. It's just coming to church with a bunch of other Christians and praying and reading the Bible all day. WRONG! We do love God. We do pray and read our Bibles, but the local church, if it's working right, demands flat out hard work. At People's Church, slackers don't get hired. People who don't know how to pray like it depends on God and WORK LIKE IT DEPENDS ON THEM don't make it in our environment. We believe the local church is the most important organization on the planet, and it deserves our best. People's lives are changed by Christ through this entity called the local church. Many people just don't like to work hard. Our staff ARE not workaholics, but we are going to put in 40 to 50 hours a week of high quality work for the kingdom's sake!

4. There is a positive attitude vacuum among people. Many people have an attitude problem. They don't work well with teams because they have trouble getting along with people. At People's Church, one of our core values is having a positive attitude. We will not tolerate a bad attitude. Life is way to short to work with people who see the glass half empty instead of half full.

Weekend Update

1. 10...The Countdown Begins series is going really well. Many people are benefiting from this series!

2. A quick review from this weekend: 1. Parents, invest in your kids spiritually. 2. Provide loving discipline. 3. Model honor by submitting to authority.

3. 1. Kids, obey your parents. 2. Respect your parents. 3. Listen to your parents. 4. Forgive your parents. Parents and kids, don't forgo the fifth. This is the first commandment with a promise. Be spiritual by being a doer of God's Word.

4. Over 20 people gave their hearts to Christ!

5. It was great seeing people obeying God's Word by being baptized in water!

6. I really enjoyed the new song the worship team did this weekend. It was the third song in the worship set. Worship team thanks for your hard work.

7. I really appreciate all of our volunteers. I want to give a big shout out and thank you to Matt Chandler. Bro, you do a wonderful job overseeing our sound. Thanks for your passion to see lives changed by God through People's Church.

8. We are getting so much rain, I've been thinking about building an ark. WILL ANYONE HELP ME BECAUSE I'M HANDY MAN CHALLENGED :)!

9. It's almost time for fantasy football! To the People's Church staff: GET READY FOR ME TO RIP YOU TO SHREDS IN FANTASY FOOTBALL! NO HOLDS BARRED :)!

10. Tiffany and I feel so blessed to pastor People's Church. We are living our dream! THE BEST IS YET TO COME!

Why I Blog

Today The Daily Oklahoman (the largest newspaper in Oklahoma City and I think the largest in the state) is airing a podcast that I did for them on why I blog. Check out the podcast by clicking here.

For all of you that live in Oklahoma, The Daily Oklahoman is doing a story on blogging pastors that should be in tomorrow’s newspaper. Be sure to check it out.

Blogging family: What are some subjects that you would like me to post about? Send them to erin@peopleschurch.tv

HAVE A SUPER FRIDAY! I'M SPENDING THE DAY WITH MY FAMILY! WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A BLAST!

Attraction Or Retention Pt. 2

Let’s look at the retention problem today.

1. Your weekend services need to be great! THE WEEKEND IS KEY TO ATTRACTING AND RETAINING THOSE WHO ARE GUESTS AT YOUR CHURCH! If the weekend services are horrible, you don't have to worry about retaining because people won't be visiting your church or at least they won't be coming back a second time.

2. The first 5 minutes of the arrival onto your church campus is crucial. At People's Church, we always say the sermon starts in the parking lot. Many people make up their minds to come back to our churches within the first 5 to 10 minutes of their arrival. If your parking lot attendants and your greeters were jerks, your worship or message probably won't undo how they were treated when they first arrived. We have to work at creating a friendly and inviting environment for our guests!

3. I'm a big believer in following up with everybody who is a first, second or third time guest. If they fill out a communication card, they will be contacted by People's Church. I used to call every first time guest myself. I did this until we were around 800 people in attendance. I spent an hour to two hours a week making phone calls to EVERY first time guest. I THINK THIS WAS VERY HELPFUL FOR OUR CHURCH AND ITS GROWTH. If your church is under 500 people, I would encourage you to call every first time guest. Now we have 3 or 4 of our pastors make the phone calls every Monday. I will never delegate this outside of the People's Church office. We simply can't afford to drop the ball in this area. We also send a hand written note to every first, second and third time guest. They also receive a letter from me or from one of the staff members. Every first time guest receives an email first thing Monday morning thanking them for coming and asking them to fill out a very short form online about their experience. The information they send back to us is anonymous, so it allows the guest to be candid about their experience at People's Church. We also call every second & third time guest. AS I SAID, I'M A BIG BELIEVER IN FOLLOW UP!

4. Small groups are a major key to retaining those who come to your church. Everybody needs friends in the church. Everybody needs relationships. Everybody needs to grow spiritually. Everybody needs to be cared for. YOU MUST HAVE A STRATEGY AND SYSTEM TO GET PEOPLE CONNECTED INTO A SMALL GROUP SETTING!

5. We allow people easy access into certain ministries. You don't have to be able to quote the 66 books of the Bible to be a greeter at People's Church. We try to get people connected into a ministry as soon as possible because it allows them to take ownership of the church and build relationships with the people they serve with.

6. Pray and allow God to give you some ideas that will work in your community to retain those who come to your church. PEOPLE MATTER TO GOD, SO YOU NEED A STRATEGY TO GET PEOPLE CONNECTED TO THE LOCAL CHURCH AND GROWING IN CHRIST!

ATTRACTION OR RETENTION

One of my pastor friends and one of my mentors said a very profound statement to a group of us pastors over a month ago, and it really stuck with me. The statement was, "Every church either has an attraction problem or a retention problem." What leaders have to do is figure out what problem their church is having and fix it. Today, I'm going to give some thoughts about how to solve the attraction problem. Tomorrow, I will give some thoughts about how to solve the retention problem.

1. You have to have great weekend services!

2. A great weekend service must have God's presence and anointing.

3. A great weekend service has excellent music.

4. A great weekend service has biblical, relevant and applicable teaching and preaching.

5. A great weekend service has a super kids’ ministry.

6. A great weekend service has a friendly and caring first impressions ministry (parking lot, greeters, ushers, and all other volunteers who are serving on the weekends).

7. Get some outside feedback about the quality of your weekend services. Too many churches think they have great weekend services, but they really don't. Almost everybody who attends their church thinks it's great, but there's a problem if everybody who visits thinks it's not! At People's Church, we constantly have guests, pastors and leaders coming to check out the church, and we're always quick to ask them how their experience was and what we can do better. I don't want to be guilty of thinking we have great services when we really don't!

8. You have to have life change in the services. God's Spirit has to be changing lives on a regular basis. CHANGED LIVES CHANGE LIVES. When someone is changed by the power of Christ, they are motivated to go and tell their friends and family about their life change. Then their friends and family are invited to experience God's life changing power. A great question to ask yourself is, "Are people giving their hearts to Christ on a regular basis?" If not, why not? THE CHURCH IS ALL ABOUT SEEING LIVES CHANGED BY AN AWESOME GOD!

9. The church people must be excited about the church. The greatest marketing for any church are the people who attend the church. If people aren't excited about your church, that's a huge hurdle to overcome in solving the attraction problem. I would encourage you to pray and find out what God wants you to do to create excitement and passion in the hearts of the people you lead. The people must be excited about Christ and about seeing hurting and lost people connected to a loving God. When people are excited, they invite their family and friends to experience God.

10. You have to choose who you lose. So many churches wonder why they’re not reaching people for Christ, but they spend all their energy on keeping instead of reaching. Their only concern is keeping church people happy, while a lost and dying world goes to hell. If your focus is on keeping disgruntled and high maintenance church people happy, you will have a VERY, VERY, VERY difficult time attracting new people to the local church. At People's Church, we choose who we lose. We let high maintenance, all about ME Christians go to another church so that we can stay focused on reaching and not just keeping church people happy. We don't spend our time trying to cater and please church people. Our goal is to please our heavenly Father! Our goal is to do what God has called us to do! BOTTOM LINE, WHAT YOU CATER TO IS WHAT YOU GET! YOU CHOOSE WHO YOU LOSE!

Things I Don't Like

1. I don't like excuses. Our world is full of excuse makers. Guess what, making excuses won't get you anywhere. Those closest to me know that I will not tolerate excuses. I don't want to hear excuses. I don't want to hear why you can't get it done. I don't want to hear the problems, I want to know the solutions. If you are an excuse maker, STOP IT AND Just do it! EXCUSES WON'T GET YOU ANYWHERE!

2. I don't like division. For the record, People's Church is very unified, but I do dislike Christians who tear each other down. I dislike preachers, ministers or whatever you call them who tear down other ministries. We are on the same team! WE CRITICIZE WHAT WE DON'T UNDERSTAND. YOUR CRITICISM OF ANOTHER MINISTRY OR CHRISTIAN IS NOTHING BUT PRIDE! Friends, quit bringing shame to the name of Jesus and quit injuring people who are on the same team. We will never kick the devil in his face if we are spending our time kicking each others' faces!

3. I don't like church shopping. I've talked to people who have been looking for a church home for 2 years. WHATEVER! If Jesus was the Senior Pastor of a church, these people would still be looking for a church to call home. This is a sickening mentality. FIND A CHURCH WHERE YOU CAN SERVE, GROW, GIVE, AND BE A BLESSING! There is no perfect church so quit making church ALL ABOUT YOU and get plugged in somewhere.

4. I don't like a lack of commitment. Our society is inundated with a lack of commitment. Many people today are not committed to anything (marriage, church, family, job). The moment something goes wrong they're out of there. As a Christ follower, we should be the most committed people on the planet.

5. I don't like spiritual space cadets. It really bothers me when people use God and His name to try and get what they want. QUIT HIDING BEHIND GOD AND JUST SAY WHAT YOU MEAN! Christian people love to say God told me or I feel led to accomplish their own agenda. Quit spiritualizing everything to get your own way!

Weekend Update

1. We had great services this weekend. This message really spoke to a lot of folks at People's Church. EVERYBODY NEEDS A DAY OFF! EVERYBODY NEEDS A VACATION! We are not human doings, we are human beings!

2. I told People's Church I will still be the primary speaker on the weekends, but I'm not going to continue to run at the pace I've ran at for the past 5 years. I realize, if I continue to speak as many weekends as I've been speaking over the past 5 years, I'm going to kill myself! So I've decided that every year I'm going to speak somewhere around 40 to 42 weekends a year at the max.

3. Church family, I really appreciated all the kind words and concern for me after the message. I'm really OK! I'm tired, but I'm not close to burnout. I'm not even close to losing my passion and burden for People's Church and for the lost and hurting people in Oklahoma City. I just need two or three weeks off from preparing messages and speaking on the weekends. I JUST NEED MY BATTERIES RECHARGED! I'M GOING TO PASTOR PEOPLE'S CHURCH WITH INTEGRITY, PASSION, VISION AND STRONG LEADERSHIP FOR THE LONG HAUL! I'm not going to burn out before I'm 40 years old, so I'm making some mid-course adjustments so that I can run this MARATHON of ministry without passing out.

4. 26 people gave their hearts to Christ yesterday. I'm excited for each one of you who surrendered your life to Christ this weekend. WAY TO GO!

5. This coming weekend is going to really help a lot of families. Be sure to invite as many people as you can who don't attend church to be at People's Church this weekend. So many people need biblical solutions with all the issues and challenges they are facing with raising their children. The title this weekend is Honor Your Father And Mother.

6. This coming weekend, we will be baptizing people in all 5 weekend services. If you are a Christian and haven't been baptized in water, it's time to go public with your faith! NO EXCUSES, GET BAPTIZED THIS WEEKEND!

Father's Day Laughs

All of my kids make me laugh. They bring so much joy to my life by just watching the funny and goofy things they do. Here's some things that make me laugh.

1. Cale, my oldest son, says he's a pastor and has other pastors that work for him. He says he has five other pastors :). He even has staff meetings!! THAT CRACKS ME UP!

2. Cade, my middle child (son), is monkey see monkey do. Whatever his older brother does he ALWAYS has to do. I just laugh watching him copy his older brother. It's quite the sight to see!

3. Caris, my little baby girl, plays a little raise her hands game with daddy and momma. We say sissy raise your hands, and my nine month old little girl raises her hands over her head and just smiles and giggles. It melts my heart and makes me laugh.

4. Watching my two boys play with their little sissy on the floor cracks me up. They kiss on her and blow on her and sometimes ROLL on her. Watching the three kids play together is normally a funny occasion (if no one cries)!

5. Listening to my two sons talk to each other is very funny. Sometimes when they wake up in the morning or wake up from their naps, they stay in their bedroom together and talk to each other. Cade is only two years old and doesn't talk that well, but the two boys seem to communicate great with each other. They have some pretty intense conversations for kids who are only two and three years old. I like to stand outside of their bedroom door and just laugh at those two boys talking like nobody's business!

BEING A FATHER IS TRULY AN INCREDIBLE THING! I CHERISH EVERY MOMENT!