Sparrow had an interesting January. And when I say interesting I mean like a haggard, 2 week behind, frenetic panic kind of interesting. We had some deadlines sneak up on us that one, we had forgotten about, or two; we didn’t even know they existed. Not only did we not have a system in place to handle these situations but for some of them we didn’t even know we needed a system. With all the other things we are trying to accomplish, we copy a lot from other organizations to save time and energy and quite frankly out of shear desperation. But of course, those other ideas don’t always fit with our organization’s identity and it really does look like we just cut and pasted to get by. You may be wondering how that fits into preaching.
My friend Casey Graham is really big on systems and systems that work. He’s a Big Idea Guy with an equally big heart. He’s really good at keeping churches on track and not just moving them from Point A to Point B but rocketing them way on down the road.
The next rocket is taking off tomorrow with the Preaching Rocket Tour. I’m not a preacher but give me a soap box and a mike and I can turn on a fake southern accent in no time. I do, however, meet with a lot of preachers and pastors. I interact with them long enough and I can start to see the worry in their eyes. I can see the racing thoughts of “how do I have time to hit a home-run every week from the pulpit, be culturally relevant, make the hospital visits, increase giving, make the tough calls, not lose my family in the mean time, and meet with persistent people like Carissa Figgins.” I can see how easy it is to just start cutting and pasting from online sermons and hope the grace of God covers the delivery.
My preacher friends, I can’t tell you how to preach but I can point you towards a really cool resource coming soon to your area. The Preaching Rocket Tour kicks off tomorrow. It’s free. They will teach you the best practices of digital giving, donor relations, and how to talk about money in your church. In each city, a local pastor will also share their best financial practices. The workshop will be in depth and highly practical. And you get a free lunch. In March, the Preaching Rocket Membership benefits will kick in with weekly relevant stories you actually use. You also get video coaching on becoming a better communicator. You’ll also get access to the Resource Archive, where you’ll find teaching calendars, stories and other preaching-related documents.
If you’re like me, I come across lots of people with great or not so great advice that is a bit watered down and offered at some astronomical price. But it’s rare to find people and organizations who are willing to step up, offer phenomenal resources to help you in your ministry AND not nickel and dime you to death.
I would encourage you to try it out and be blessed by the outcome. I think it will give you an opportunity to get back to who you were really called to be.
http://preachingrocket.com/about/
The Rabid Mime 