Greg Atkinson

As I said in my last blog post, children’s ministry is key to having and creating an irresistible church. It’s one of the big 3 things that I look for as a secret shopper (First Impressions, Children’s and Security). I should also mention I’m a dad of 3 elementary aged kids, so how your Children’s Ministry comes across is huge to me.

When I visit churches, the three things that I must see and look for are… Is your Children’s Ministry clean, safe and secure?

Let’s look at each of the 3 things every children’s ministry must be:

Clean

Germs – every church has them. However, if my kids consistently comes home sick from church, I’m going to catch on and not return. One of the best practices I’ve seen many churches do is to place hand sanitizer dispensers throughout the building and in every classroom. This is wonderful.

When I say “clean”, I don’t just mean germs. I mean neat and well-kept rooms. If a room is messy, dirty and cluttered, it gives me a bad impression as a parent and makes me want to take my kids out of the room or I sit in the worship service thinking about it.

Safe

Every room where children are and playground or outdoor area where children play must be safe. This is a pretty simple concept. You can’t have any jagged edges or rough corners, sharp objects that can poke out a kid’s eye, etc. If your room is not safe, I’m not leaving my kid. For parents that do leave their kid, they may not be able to concentrate and worship during the service because they fear for their child’s safety.

Even worse, God forbid something happens and a kid gets hurt – If your room was not safe and the accident could have been prevented, you and your church will be liable and could get a bad reputation. One single accident or accusation could lead to news coverage and bad PR for the church. Much worse – a child could be hurt or damaged for the rest of their life. Kids are precious and should be protected at all costs.

Safety also includes those that work with your kids. Every kids worker must go through a background check. Period. I was recently talking with a pastor that said none of their kids’ volunteers had been through a background check. I was disturbed and shocked. He knew he needed to change that, but I don’t think he’s moving fast enough.

Safety also includes that you are staffed properly and adequately. If I’m dropping my baby off into a nursery with one volunteer and ten babies, I’m turning around and leaving. Make sure you have a good ratio of kids to volunteers.

Safety also includes the view into the room. Many kids’ rooms have big windows that parents can look into. Also, most churches have windows in their doors or a half-door that allows people to see in, but keeps the children in the classroom. You don’t want kids wandering down the hall.

Lastly, always escort kids to the bathroom (same sex) and make sure they are not messed with, molested or kidnapped. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been able to stand and wait in a kid’s bathroom at a church that didn’t have proper security. This is a nightmare. We must protect our kids and do whatever it takes to see that they grow up without shame.

Secure

When I say “secure”, I’m mainly focusing on the children’s check-in and check-out procedures with a laser focus on their check-out procedure. You need to do whatever it takes to make sure that whoever is supposed to pick up a kid is the one that picks up the kid. I was just talking with a pastor the other day that had a divorced dad pick up his kids without the mom that had dropped them off knowing it. There was a lot of drama and it could have been avoided.

Security also means that every entrance and exit of the children’s area and facilities are covered with volunteers that only let parents in and out. I was just at a great church in California last week that had every single entry and exit covered and it was a beautiful thing to see.

My friend, Tim Stevens, has written about his theory on three growth lids. One of the growth lids that he says every church ought to keep an eye on is children’s ministry. Tim says, “If it looks like a child is entering a room that is too small, understaffed, or unsafe, then the parents will not return.”

Obviously, I look at the kid’s facilities, decor, atmosphere, curriculum, and what my kids think after I pick them up. Creativity goes a long way in children’s ministry and you can never emphasize enough how important that kids’ ministries are FUN. I want my kids to learn about Jesus, but also have the time of their life and love going to church.

These three things I shared today (clean, safe and secure) are just basic building blocks of a next-level children’s ministry and unfortunately, are often overlooked by some churches. If you will focus on the entire experience for your kids, including these three keys, you’ll have an irresistible children’s ministry.

Let me preface what I’m about to write by saying that basic and foundational things like prayer, discipleship and evangelism (having an externally-focused church as I’ve stated before) are all a given. Each church should take the Great Commission seriously and have an emphasis on the “Go” and on the “make disciples”. I start everything with prayer and so please know that what I’m about to discuss is with the above stated things as must-haves and what I consider foundational to a healthy church.

With that being said, let me share with you the big four that I look for when I visit a church, secret shop a church or consult with a church. As the title says and Scriptures encourages us – we should compel them to come in. The big four that I look for when I do a secret shopper are First Impressions, Children’s, Security and Worship. Yes, worship is last and I have listed them in the order that I weigh them.

As many studies have shown us, people make up their mind whether or not they will return, long before the worship service and especially the sermon. Most visitors will know in the first 10 minutes if they will return to your church.

First Impressions

Let’s start with what I consider to be the most crucial of all ministries at a church. Whether you call it First Impressions, Hospitality or Guest Relations – it matters and is paramount to breaking down walls and making guests feel welcome at your church.

“You’ve got 10 minutes. Somewhere between the parking lot and the children’s center, the ten minutes pass…They should know they matter to us before they hear how much they matter to God.”- Mark Waltz, Granger

Something I tell all the churches I work with is: “You must be strategic and intentional about breaking down any barriers of intimidation. You must be strategic and intentional about creating warm, welcoming environments.”

Now, I could spend an entire series on just first impressions. This is everything from your online presence (social media like Twitter, Facebook – as well as your website). For example, I did a secret shopper this past weekend and I had created 13 pages in my report on just online presence before I ever left to attend their physical campus.

Once one comes to your physical campus, the real fun begins. First impressions then includes the parking lot, greeters, ushers, and people that greet you at your church’s Welcome or Information Booth. First impressions also includes things like smell (your church may stink), signage (your church may be intimidating and confusing for new people) and how your facility is kept up and maintained. All these things play subtle parts in a guest’s first impression of your church and their subconscious.

Children’s Ministry

Maybe I’m biased because I’m 35 and have three elementary school-aged kids, but I believe in having a strong and attractive children’s ministry. A lot of churches target parents in their mid-twenties to mid-forties and the best way to compel them is to offer a children’s ministry so dynamic that kids drag their parents to church.

I’ll dive deeper into the Big 3 that I look for in every children’s ministry in the next blog post, but for now, let me suggest that you make children’s ministry a priority. I’ve seen churches that spent millions on their worship center and have dumpy children’s facilities. I’d never return with my family to churches like that. Show me – show your community that kids are important and that you care about partnering with parents to be a help in their spiritual growth. We all know the statistics on the likelihood of people accepting Christ after age 18. Student ministries (children’s through youth) are vital to fulfilling the Great Commission.

Security

This is probably the most overlooked part of most churches I visit. Most church leaders have never set down and intentionally and strategically thought through how and why they do security. I wish this wasn’t important and that you didn’t have to have some kind of security presence, but unfortunately, that’s not the case. If their had only been one church shooting, that would be enough. I’m sad to say that several churches have experienced the tragedy of shootings – not to mention molestation and kidnapping.

Bottomline: If I’m worried about my kids’ safety, I’m not going to enjoy the worship service and I will miss what God wants to do in my heart through the experience of corporate worship.

Security includes everything from people’s cars in the parking lot, to the safety of infants in the nursery, to children’s facilities, check-in and check-out procedures, mentally ill people acting out in the middle of a service and protecting the senior pastor. Every great church with a well known senior pastor that I’ve worked with had a body guard standing next to the pastor for his protection. This is not for show or something for rock stars – this is something real and needed to protect that man of God from people that mean to do him harm. When you stand for truth and speak against sin, you become a target for many that live in darkness. If you haven’t already, think through every aspect of security in your organization. I just returned from a church in California that had security people covering every single entrance and exit to their children’s ministry. It was a beautiful thing to see and made me feel safe as a parent.

Attractional Worship

I know there’s a lot of discussion and debate about whether a church should be attractional or missional. I’ve talked extensively about it all over the country. I’m a both-and person and like for a church to seek to be both, but when it comes to the corporate worship service – I look for an attractional model. Again: COMPEL them to come in. Blow your people and your community away with excellence and an environment that allows the Holy Spirit of God to move.

I never got over Sally Morgenthaler’s book Worship Evangelism. I think lost people can be moved by witnessing genuine and authentic worship happening. I also know God moves through the preaching of His Word. Please know I’m not talking to just large churches. I work with large churches, but my home church in Georgia is a church of 350 people. They do things with excellence and for a small church, blow me away each week that I’m home.

Regardless of what size church you are, you should think through worship flow, song selection, authenticity, communication/preaching and every aspect of what you want people to experience each week when you gather. Are sound, video and lights important? I think so, but you don’t have to have the best of the best to see God move. One of the most special and memorable services we did at Bent Tree when I was there was have a stripped down music set with no technology. Below is a picture of the worship team singing with an unplugged band around a single light bulb.

Whether you’re in a school, movie theater, gym or worship center – you can seek to create an environment where people encounter the Living God.

Please know these are not Biblical laws or Scriptural requirements. These are just four keys that I look for when I visit a church and I’ve found over the years that the churches that do these four things well, see God bless their church in amazing ways. Think through each as a team and prayerfully consider how you can do each to the best of your ability.

Did I miss something? What are your keys to creating an irresistible church?

Today, I’m flying back from San Diego, CA after doing a secret shopper visit for the Rock Church.  As a secret shopper or mystery worshiper of churches around the country, I’ve found there are some reasons that I will tell a church I would not return for a second visit and some may be news to you. Whether I’m working with a church plant of 60 people or a mega-church of over 15,000, some things are universal and should be present regardless of church size. Throughout this post we’ll look at actions and areas every church needs to address.

The Front Door

Before a guest ever steps foot on your church’s physical campus, he or she has probably already checked out your church website. What every church should have clearly visible on their homepage is a section or button for first-time guests. Once clicked on, this should take you to a page that addresses FAQ’s, service times, directions, parking instructions (Is there a side of the building that is better to park on if one has kids?), what to expect (upbeat music and relevant, practical, Biblical preaching in a come as you are atmosphere, etc.), what to wear (Are jeans okay? Are shorts okay?), and encouragement for them to be sure to stop by Guest Central or your church’s Information Booth to pick up a first-time guest packet.

What Stinks?

It’s important that no church ever underestimates the sense of smell. While sight is the strongest sense for short term memory, the sense of smell is the strongest and most vivid for long-term memories. If you’ve ever smelled something and had memories you hadn’t thought of in years come flooding back, that’s your sense of smell in action. Every church has the potential for positive or negative smells. Mold is a bad smell. Coffee is a good smell. Bleach is a bad smell. Citrus is a good smell. Many churches have restrooms that are disgusting and smell like urine. This lack of attention to detail can be costly and discourage many from ever returning. As best you can, try to walk into the lobby or entrance of your church with a new nose.

Park Here

One of Tim Stevens’ three “growth lids” that he thinks every growing church should have someone who is constantly watching is parking. Tim says, “This is why Visitor Parking is so crucial. If it’s difficult for newcomers to go to your church, they won’t go.” Some would argue that guests want to remain anonymous and don’t want special parking. Of course some want to go unnoticed and will choose to park in regular parking (a minority), but for the rest of newcomers, they are appreciative for a close parking space; it’s a kind gesture in an already intimidating and nerve-racking experience of attending a church for the first time, especially a large one with a huge campus.

This Way Parents

One way to assure guests will not return is to have a confusing, long or hard to find process for getting their kids registered and in the right classroom. Wise churches have signs for first-time guest kids’ check-in and make the process quick and painless. Regular attendees may know to go up to the check-in kiosk and enter their phone number or swipe their card, but guests will be clueless and need a manned station that is clearly marked for guests and have a volunteer walk them through the registration. Then have that person or another helper walk you to your kid’s class explaining what will be going on and how to go about picking their kids back up. If they must have a sticker with corresponding numbers on it to get their kids, this needs to be explained to them. Signage for the kids check-in should start in the entryway of the guest parking. Do not assume people know where to go once they enter the building.

Give It Away

Something subtle, but powerful is a church that has a generous spirit. Chris Hodges at Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, AL is big on this. They have a coffee shop, but they also have a designated area where people can get free coffee and not pay anything. They also give away their message CDs. Too many churches charge for everything and wonder why no one buys CDs of the message. If you want to bless people and create a generous spirit throughout your church, give away free coffee and message CDs (and other surprises throughout the year). Chris Hodges will have ice cream trucks pull up outside the church doors and give away free ice cream to congregants leaving on a hot, summer day.

Security Counts

One issue that is huge to a secret shopper and visiting families is security. If a parent is worried about their child’s safety, they will not enjoy the service and will likely not return. A children’s classroom must be clean, safe and secure. Security also includes the check-out process. If anyone can walk into a classroom and pick up a kid, you’re asking for trouble and will turn off potential newcomers. It’s important that your kids’ volunteers are trained well and know to ask for the parent’s sticker when picking up their kids. This is vital and goes a long way to ensuring a tragedy doesn’t occur and a parent has peace of mind.

The Visible Pastor

Accessibility of the senior pastor is another subtle and powerful statement of a church. Even pastors of the largest churches in America make an intentional and strategic effort to be seen, greeted and hugged after a service. They may have a body guard present for security reasons, but they are available and willing to pray with people that need to speak to their pastor. Some churches have a designated “Guest Central”, like Steve Stroope at Lake Pointe in Rockwall, TX or Brady Body at New Life in Colorado Springs. Some have a “Meet and Greet” like Charles Hill in Utah. Some pastors stand down at the altar and meet and pray with people like Kevin Myers at 12Stone in Atlanta. Some walk around the campus shaking hands like Don Wilson at Christ’s Church of the Valley in Phoenix. Erwin McManus at Mosaic LA has an “After Party”, at which the pastor is present and available to meet with newcomers. This, especially in a large church, goes a long way toward countering the rock star or unavailable pastor stigma that so many guests walk into the church expecting.

Finish Strong

It’s simply not enough for greeters and parking lot attendants to say “Hello” or “Welcome” when one walks into their church. To go to another level, have your first impressions team stationed at their posts when the service ends to say “Goodbye” or “Have a nice week”. This goes a long way to wrapping a bow around the entire morning experience and will send them off with a lasting positive impression.

Do these 8 things and you’ll see a greater return and higher percentage of second and third-time guests.

*This article originally appeared in Outreach magazine.

This past weekend I was visiting a church in Missouri and I got to see the simple church model up close. Their mission is simply to Worship, Grow and Serve. It was a beautiful thing to behold. What is your church’s mission? Have you read Simple Church? How are you living it out?

My friend, Jim Tomberlin, just released a FREE ebook entitled “125 Tips for MultiSite Churches”. This is a collection of all his experience, consulting, research, study and insights on the multi-site movement. This is a must-read for all church leaders. You can get it HERE. Big thanks to Jim for offering this resource for free!

***Here is a message from Jim to my readers about his new book:

Hey Everybody,

Check out my new eBook “125 Tips for MultiSite Churches & Those Who Want To Be.” This a compilation of my 15 years of multisite church experience.

This eBook is about helping guide leaders through the decision-making and implementation process of going MultiSite. My intent is that these tips will become guideposts to help you navigate these new waters. And for those of you who have been doing MultiSite for some time now, it will serve as a refresher about the most important details as you continue to multiply the number of additional campuses your church starts, supports, and sustains.

While going MultiSite can certainly be a practical, pragmatic decision, it is also one that allows us to expand our reach and multiply our ministry impact in one of the most reasonable and cost-effective ways available to church leaders today. There is nothing more exciting than to be a part of a growing, healthy church. There will be surprises along the way, but the good news is that many have already been there and are finding their MultiSite strategy to be a critical element to their kingdom expansion strategy.

May God extend your borders, multiply your impact, and enlarge your harvest. If we can help, let us know.

Be fruitful and multiply,
Jim Tomberlin
MultiSite Solutions

LifeChurch.tv (through their OPEN Network) has done it again! Known for years for offering free resources to the Church, now they are helping you with your church’s Facebook page through a series of training videos.

With training videos on how to do events, extras and configurations, fan updates, insights/metrics, moderation, notes, photos, videos and wall updates – they have you and your Facebook team (which can be made up totally of volunteers) covered on how to create, manage and lead an effective and attractive Facebook page for your church.

Check out their resources and videos HERE. Now you have no excuse for not having a great Facebook presence!

The following is a guest post from Randy Elrod. Randy hosts a gathering for creatives called re:create – which my worship pastor friends tell me is their favorite conference/event of their year. Check it and him out! Here’s what Randy wrote about leadership this week on his blog:

Three professors in Harvard Business School’s Entrepreneurial Management unit who focus on the study of creativity—recognize the romantic allure of believing it’s a rare quality bestowed on a chosen few, but all agree that notion has been debunked long ago, and rightfully so.

“Creativity does have a reputation for being magical,” says Harvard professor Teresa Amabile.

“One myth is that it’s associated with the particular personality or genius of a person—and in fact, creativity does depend to some extent on the intelligence, expertise, talent, and experience of an individual. Of course it does.

But it also depends on creative thinking as a skill.

“The desire to do something because you find it deeply satisfying and personally challenging inspires the highest levels of creativity, whether it’s in the arts, sciences, or business,” she says.

So what can leaders, managers and entrepreneurs do to promote a healthy, positive inner work life among employees?

Sure, a pat on the back or a company Ping-Pong table is always welcome, but what these Harvard Business School professors discovered was much simpler:

People have their best days and do their best work when they are allowed to make progress.

So…

1.) If you are leading, give your team room to make progress.

2.) If you are in a situation where your progress, your creativity is stifled, don’t hang on just for the paycheck.

Instead, look for the place where your passion intersects a need, and there you will find opportunity—that job, that calling—that will give you deep satisfaction while being personally challenging which results in the highest creativity.

Leaders that recognize this simple fact almost always have extraordinary teams!

Thoughts? Takeaway?

*** This is Greg and this blog post from Randy plays well into what I was trying to get across in my recent blog post about StrengthsFinder2.0. If you haven’t read that post, read it HERE. When you know your strengths, talents and how God has created and wired you, you can find a job that suits who you are and let your employer know how to best manage you.

Recently, I decided to go back and read some classic books that it had been years since I first read. I figured that if I can read my Bible continuously, why not go back and re-read some books that were foundational in my ministry and life?

One of the books that I decided to re-read was Simple Church. I can’t express to you how much that book resonated with me the first time I read it. It was a breath of fresh air and struck a chord deep within me. So, I dusted it off and started to read it again this Monday.

Here is an excerpt from Chapter One – The Simple Revolution Has Begun:

Simple church leaders are designers. They design opportunities for spiritual growth. Complex church leaders are programmers. They run ministry programs.

Church leaders who are programmers focus on one program at a time. Their goal, though never stated, is to make each program the best. Church leaders who are designers are focused on the end result, the overall picture. They are as concerned with what happens between the programs as with the programs themselves.

The simple church leaders we surveyed were expert designers. They were not the producers of spiritual growth and church vitality. Only God is the producer of the growth. But like the apostle Paul, these church leaders are expert builders (see 1 Cor. 3:10). They have skillfully designed an environment where life change is likely to occur. They have designed a simple process that moves people through stages of spiritual growth.

To have a simple church, you must design a simple discipleship process. This process must be clear. It must move people toward maturity. It must be integrated fully into your church, and you must get rid of the clutter around it.

Maybe you never thought of yourself as a designer. Maybe you’re more comfortable with the description of a builder. I urge you to strive for both. To my programmer friends, maybe you really resonated with the statement: “Their goal, though never stated, is to make each program the best.” Maybe that stings a little. We’re supposed to strive for excellence, right? Sure. Dig deeper!

A designer is focused on the end result and sees the overall picture – that’s the key difference that I want us to chew on today. Maybe you’re too busy being busy and His yoke is not easy for you. Maybe you’re in a system that is unhealthy. Maybe you need to go away on a retreat and prayerfully read through Simple Church as a leadership team.

I don’t know what your particular situation is, but I felt led to share this challenge with you and encourage you to be an INTENTIONAL and STRATEGIC (my two favorite words) designer. Work hard on a simple discipleship process that is clear to all. If I visited your church, would I be overwhelmed? Would I know my next step? Would I be given the opportunity to grow in Christ?

So, dear friends, are you a designer or a programmer?

One of the books that shaped me and my philosophy of ministry is The Purpose Driven Church. Another way of identifying or describing a purpose-driven leader is as an intentional or strategic leader. It’s no accident that Jesus instructed us to be “shrewd as serpents” (Matthew 10:16). Purposeful, intentional and strategic should be words in the vocabulary and arsenal of every church leader.

I don’t think what I’m about to say is black and white or cut and dry, but in my experience and travels, the biggest difference I see between small church leaders and mega-church leaders is grasping this concept of equipping others.

I know I’ll take some heat for this, but most small church leaders are doers and that’s why most churches in America never grow beyond 200 people. I mean really – how many people do you think one person can handle? 200 is it. Mega-church leaders know that they have to multiply themselves, understand Ephesians 4 and the equipping style of leadership and lead accordingly.

The reason I say this isn’t cut and dry is because as I’ve blogged about before, another huge difference between small churches and fast-growing churches is fast-growing churches are externally focused – that’s another issue all together, but for the purpose of this blog series, I want to focus on the leadership style of a doer vs an equipper and how that affects one’s capacity for leadership.

Moses is a revered leader in our Bible and seen as one who accomplished much in his time, but even he had to learn this lesson from his father-in-law Jethro.

Moses’ father-in-law said, “This is no way to go about it. You’ll burn out, and the people right along with you. This is way too much for you—you can’t do this alone. Now listen to me. Let me tell you how to do this so that God will be in this with you. Be there for the people before God, but let the matters of concern be presented to God. Your job is to teach them the rules and instructions, to show them how to live, what to do. And then you need to keep a sharp eye out for competent men—men who fear God, men of integrity, men who are incorruptible—and appoint them as leaders over groups organized by the thousand, by the hundred, by fifty, and by ten. They’ll be responsible for the everyday work of judging among the people. They’ll bring the hard cases to you, but in the routine cases they’ll be the judges. They will share your load and that will make it easier for you. If you handle the work this way, you’ll have the strength to carry out whatever God commands you, and the people in their settings will flourish also.” Moses listened to the counsel of his father-in-law and did everything he said. – Exodus 18:17-24 (MSG)

Thanks to Moses’ father-in-law speaking the truth in love to him and opening his eyes to effective leadership, Moses learned a valuable lesson and because it was recorded in Scripture, it’s there for us to learn as well. Moses became an intentional and strategic leader.

I use these words in the context of our discussion on Equipper vs Doer in order to bring clarity to our calling as pastors and in light of the Ephesians 4 passage we looked at earlier. If we are intentional about what we do and don’t do and strategic about who we delegate to, empower and free up to lead and take risks, we can experience unbelievable fruit in our ministries and the joy that only comes from doing what you were created and called to do. Not only that, we get to watch others get to use their gifts and talents for God’s glory, too.

My prayer for and encouragement to  you is to be intentional and strategic in your leadership. Ask yourself daily, “Is this something I alone can do? OR “Is there someone who is more passionate and gifted to do this that I can hand this off to?” So, with our 3 day look at being an equipper vs a doer, where do you see yourself now? I’ll ask the original question: Are you an equipper or doer? And today’s question: Are you intentional and strategic as a leader?