Outside Opinions

Last weekend, Anthony (admin pastor) and I spent the weekend at Elevation Church in Charlotte.  We spent a lot of time with their Executive Pastor and visited their services on Sunday.  It was a great opportunity for us to learn from one of the fastest growing churches ever.  To prepare for the weekend, we sent some questions and thoughts in advance…things we were wrestling with and areas where we were seeking clarity.  We wanted to prepare for this weekend so that we could get the most out of it.   Throughout the weekend, we were able to talk about them and get some major insight.  It was a great use of our time.

I would highly recommend doing something like that.  Find a church that you respect, that is a little farther along than you, and plan your own conference.  Get insight.  Ask questions.  Learn.  At the end of the summer, we are actually going to spend a good bit of money bringing in a consultant.  I think churches ought to do this several times each year.  Elevation has brought in several already, and told us that 4 times a year is what they shoot for.  Maybe it’s a leader from a nearby church, or maybe you pay someone.  But organize and plan it and have a system.  You need to do more than just visit someone elses service.  Taking your staff to something like this is more valuable than a conference.  Or bringing in the consultant is like bringing the conference to you.

Here’s the document we used to prepare for our weekend.  Download evaluation_questions.doc