Thr3e Session 2 - Systems and Strategies

These are more notes from the Thr3e Conference at Elevation Church with Steven Furtick from a few weeks ago. (I have two other previous posts.) I have a few more posts that I'm going to put out this week to conclude the notes from this amazing day in Charlotte. Some of this may or may not make sense to you, but they do to me. Enjoy!

Best Practice #1

We're Ruth's Chris, not Golden Corral

• We are not a buffet, but we offer the best steak "experience" out there.
• Less is better. Do a few ministries and do it with excellent.
  

Best Practice #2

Dress for the wedding, not the gas station

• Structure for where you want to go, not where you are.
• Plan your volunteers for twice your average. Example: If you have 25 in nursery, plan for your number of volunteers for 50 in nursery.
  

Best practice #3
Stress Participation, Not Membership

• Get people involved!
• They must buy-in before they sell out.
• Don't be afraid to ask for commitments.

Best practice #4
Eat the fish, leave the bones

• Learn from anybody - from T.D. Jakes to John Piper.
• Don't swallow the whole fish at a conference and apply it to your unique situation. Not everything will apply to your church.
• "The thing that makes you unique makes you powerful."
  

Best Practice #5
Create a culture of intensity

• Work the volunteers like staff. Pastor Furtick treated his staff members like paid staff members, even before he paid them a dime.
• Don't lack the courage to demand your people to live up to their potential.
  

Best Practice #6
Church is all about the numbers

• Numbers represent lives being changed. Study and understand your numbers and trends.
  

Best Practice #7
Think INSIDE the box (rather than OUTSIDE)

• Work with what you have.
• When you think "outside the box", it usually leads to frustration. When you think "inside the box", it will lead to innovation.
• "Inside the box" thinking will cause the box to expand and get bigger.
• Biggest limitations in our ministry have created our greatest innovations.