Episode Summary In last podcast we went over three reasons churches do not grow - today we are going to dive into three things we can do in order to do our part. (Side note - I don’t believe “it’s just God!” If that were the case then every church in the world would be growing!) YES - it is God—but it’s also some other key factors. #1 – Prayer Prayer doesn’t change God – it changes us! I am 100% sure as a leader you have prayed for your church to grow; however, when it really begins to catch fire is when we lead the people we lead to pray for this as well... ...because as they pray God will change their hearts and will allow us to be on the same page. #2 – Plan A lack of planning is often the result of... The inability to decide between what is good and what is best.Confusion as to how to plan for the future. Here are five questions your leadership team can discuss that will help you effectively plan for the fall. #1 – What does our local public school calendar look like? What does this have to do with church? EVERYTHING! So goes the school schedule, so go the attendance patterns. The best weekend to launch a vision based series that will fire up the core is whenever the students go back to school. In January people "get back in church" for their New Years resolution, and...in the fall they do it again during this time frame. So - what will your church do to reengage them? (This year Second Chance Church, the church I pastor, is doing an "I Love My Church" Series that will begin with everyone who attends getting a free T-shirt...more about how it goes later on!) #2 – What will you do to keep them engaged? Often times as a leader--when people came back to church I thought they would stay; however, I quickly learned that after they return for a few weeks--they are highly likely to begin drifting away again if we do not put in the effort to keep them engaged. Often times the fall is an awesome time to do a "felt needs" series, like one on relationships, or even a, "You Asked For It" series where you focus on the questions people really do what to know. #3 – What’s your plan for developing leaders? If your church is going to reach more people - then you are going to need more leaders. Leaders, after they are identified, must be developed--that being the case, what's your plan for doing so? In my opinion, there is not a one size fits all plan; however, one of the most careless ways to approach leadership development is to simply say, "let them develop themselves." (I took this approach for far too long.) You can read through a book together, watch leadership video curriculum, or even attend a conference or do an offsite together. But--whatever you do--do something, because as the capacity of the leaders around you grows--so will their ability to handle responsibility. #4 – What are you doing for your Christmas offering this year? If you don't take a Christmas offering--you can skip this question, no big deal. However, if you do take a Christmas offering, right now is the time you need to begin to prepare for it. I know it seems to be a long way away...but, it's not - and if you begin to plan now and then assign certain people to execute the plan along the way - the possibility of a significant increase in giving http://perrynoble.com/hello/se...will become a reality. #5 – What is the next big step of faith The Lord wants you to take? We can’t take steps towards it if we do not identify it. Is it to launch a building campaign, start another service or campus, hire additional staff...this list could go on. However, determining the next step is essential to getting the staff, volunteers and attenders fired up about the same thing. #3 – Perspire If you want to see your church grow – it’s going …