Video Transcript: Lesson 27 Outside Help

Hello, and welcome back. Can you believe it? We're up to lecture number 27  already. And today we're going to be talking a little bit more, one more way  about thinking differently about how you do ministry and what revitalization might be in some steps needs to take there. And so today, I'm going to challenge and  encourage you to get some outside help with this great work that you're doing in  your context. Okay. So let's begin with a word of prayer. We always want to  begin and end with prayer, putting this before God. Lord, we give you thanks for  this day, we give you thanks, we have the breath of life and us, we thank you  that we have the Spirit of life within us you are holy and awesome of the worthy  of all that we can give you and we just honor you today, Lord Jesus Christ. We  pray, Lord that in some way that you might empower and equip us to do the  divine work of Your kingdom. Lord, thank you so much for my brothers and  sisters, watching today and listening, pray that Lord, you are going to do a great  work in them today. And bless them so that we as a whole world might bless  you. Amen. Okay. So throughout this whole class on revitalization, I have  referenced that we had a coach who helped us out and that was definitely a  huge part of of our, of our experience. So kind of going back to the beginning,  when when I knew that our church needed revitalization I've shared this, I was  floundering for a while I had some well intentioned ideas that really kind of  bombed. And I got to a point where I just realized, like, I don't know what to do.  Like, again, I said, like, I don't even know what revitalization is. I don't know  what the and I wouldn't even know how to get there if I did, because I thought I  had, but I really wasn't getting very far. So that's why I enrolled in a program, a  doctoral program on church revitalization. Because I wanted to be with people  and study under people who knew all about this, who were way much more  further down the road than I was, I wanted to be with people who had done this,  who had experience, who had wisdom, who had insight, and who could help me. And so that's why I got into this program. And the program that I got into was  specifically geared towards church revitalization. And as part of this program,  this doctoral study, that we had a coach from out of state fly to our church, and  spend two days a month with us for about a year and a half. And actually, even  after that we contracted with this person to continue to come with us beyond that for a certain period of time. I can say definitively that any success that we have  had over the past number of years, is because we got outside help, until we got  some outside help, and some wisdom and some coaching. We were stuck, like I said that like that, that rock that big boulder in the mud, like we were stuck, we  could not get it going. We couldn't figure out what to do. Now, it's not just us. It's  kind of like everybody, the ministry I've worked through is called embers to  flame. It's the one that my friend and mentor Harry Reeder is over. There's  another gentleman who at the time was working with him, Len. And Len was  kind of over this ministry as well, in the use of rather than just the embers to  flame ministry is kind of like a conference. And they wanted to know how 

effective these embers who flame conferences were, how much revitalization  was actually taking place by the people who came to the conference. So they  had done some interviews and surveys and all that. And they found out that the  level of implementation to those who had gone to their conference was about  15%. So people would go to these 3-4 day conferences, they'd go home, and  they'd actually apply about 15% of what they learned. And as you can imagine,  Harry and Len were very disappointed with these results. They were doing these big conferences, they had great content, wonderful teaching really profound  biblical truth inspiring stories. But it was only resulting in 15% implementation.  So then they brought on kind of a coaching piece to go alongside their ministry.  And then they did that. So people would go through the conference. And if they  wanted, they could sign up for a coaching, which is what basically what we had.  And then they would, they ran that for a while. And then they said, Okay, we  know that if you don't have any coaching, implementation is about 15%. What  about if you do apply coaching? And you have somebody there working with you from the outside on site? What is now the level of implementation? So let me  guess, what would you think it went from? I can tell you it went up, it has to go  up, right? So it was 15%? How about 80 to 85%. That number was just  astounding to me when I first heard it, and I heard it just as we were starting our  coaching, I can tell you, as somebody who's gone to conferences, and just kind  of come home and read books and kind of put it back on my shelf, versus my  experiences having a coach, it is absolutely the case, I'm actually surprised the  numbers aren't lower for the 15% and higher for the coaching. Our experience  was like 100% implementation. Whereas we had really struggled before we  really got unstuck. It was the fact that we had a coach working with us, who  could give us to kind of show us why we were stuck, and how to get it unstuck.  That made all the difference. And he was able to do that because he'd helped. I  think it was like 99 or 100 other churches before us get unstuck, as well. So I  want to talk to you today about getting outside help to make this happen. Now,  when I talk about outside help, I'm talking about just a few things like you can  take the route our church went now we were in a position where we had the  ability to hire a paid coach, a consultant, somebody who would come and help  us. And that was, it did come with a cost. Fortunately, our denomination was  able to help us with those expenses. We also spread it out over a couple of  years of church budgets, we had individuals who really believed in what we  were doing, they paid for it. So we had all different kinds of streams that were  able to make coaching a reality. So it wasn't like we were flush with money and  we have like a million dollars in the bank, we had to kind of scrimp and ask and  budget for it. But since it was a priority for us, we we made it happen. Okay, I'd  say that's more a good description, we kind of we made it happen by just going  through a lot of different avenues to to make it happen. So that's always just a  good, a good way to go. Somebody who does this professionally, who's walked 

alongside many churches just like you were ministries, and has helped them  experience the turnaround. There is also if you are part of a denomination,  there, a lot of denominations will have all kinds of staff members or coaches or  resources that are available to you. That, you know, that might be either reduced cost or free of charge, people that will will help you out in this process. And then  a third, it could just be somebody like a retired pastor in your area, or somebody  not far from you who have gone through revitalization. And they would just be  willing to help out with you. Like you just say, Hey, we're kind of where you were, we've seen good things happening. Would you be willing to just be a counsel for us just somebody, I can bounce things off somebody who'd be willing to check  things out for us. You can do that. And maybe it's a paid thing like a nominal fee, or they're just willing to do it for free. But I would just say whatever it is, whatever route you go, just inviting somebody in to your ministry situation, who has the  freedom and the authority to speak into your church and to speak into your life.  Somebody who will be able to just kind of come in and just be that outside help,  that I have found is so critically important. Okay, so let me talk just a little bit  more specifically, what are some of the benefits about having a person from the  outside come in? Kind of why does it go from 15%? To 85%? What does  somebody from the outside bring? Okay, so let's talk about some benefits.  We've mentioned this already. They bring wisdom and experience. They've been there, they've done it, they know what the pitfalls are, they know what to expect.  You're not the first church going through what you're going through. I mean, just  think of it mean pro athletes. You would think like, why do they need coaches,  like, I mean, they've been doing this forever, but they don't just have one coach,  they've got a, you know, a strength and conditioning coach, a mental coach, a  skills coach, they've got the team coach, they've got all these people around  them. They're there. They're world class professionals at what they do. And yet  they are always inviting in professionals. You know, you think of, you know, great athletes, you know, golfers and stuff, they all have coaches, and it's not all like  self taught like they you have somebody who's been there, they know how to  imagine if you're going whitewater rafting, you know, you don't just go head  down the river, you do have a guide, somebody who can read the water,  somebody who knows how to get through the difficult areas where to go and  where not to go. And just having a veteran, somebody with wisdom and  experience is incredibly beneficial. Like I said, the coach we had, he was an  extraordinarily successful businessman, who then went into church, really  church coaching, pastoral coaching, church consulting, and he already works  with 100 churches by the time he got to us, and he was tremendous. He just, he  was the difference maker. You say what happened before when you were  struggling, and then what happened when you things started to happen, and you started to move, what was different, I can tell you the difference. My friend, Joe,  who was our coach, he came in, he made all the difference. I mean, the wisdom 

he would just share and leading us and guiding us at a meetings of monthly  meetings we would have is just invaluable. I mean, the man is worth his weight  in gold in just his love for the Lord, and how he would offer counsel and say, and here's what you want to do next. And you want to just focus on one thing, and  like I said, when it and then he told me, okay, and you're not leading, and other  people have to do it. And then, you know, he taught us so much as we went  through that we really began to think differently, we began to operate differently.  Because it was somebody from the outside who had a different perspective, that made us look at things from a different perspective from a different angle. And  that's what we needed, we needed to look at things from a different way. In  order to move in order to have any progress. We kept trying to push that boulder the same way. And our coach came in and said, Well, what about if you tried it  from here? Or what if you use this for leverage, and we did and it's like, Oh, my  goodness, it's moving. That's really what happens. You get somebody from the  outside, they can look at the problem differently. Okay. A second, there's, you  really need somebody who can speak objectively and directly about where  you're at. So one of our first meetings with our coaches, our team had come and they were totally unprepared. Our coach had told us to do something, we had a  month to do it. And about 11 or 12 of us to be honest, I was the only one who  was ready for the meeting. And our coach said something just very direct to  them. He said, Well, if this is the way it goes, I can see why the church is in the  situation it's in and if nobody's gonna take this seriously. He's like, I'm gonna  have trips up here for the next year and a half. And he goes, we're gonna have  the same agenda. We're not gonna go any further and he he just laid it on the  line. He was really direct that they, they did not do what they were supposed to  doing. They did not do what they were supposed to be doing. We had lost a  month of progress. And that was just the way it was. Now, that kind of thing. It  was not uncommon at our church for kind of people to show up unprepared or  not to do what they wanted to do. And And as their pastor, I had tried to  approach this in kind of a pastoral way, I tried to, like encourage people I tried to  be, you know, help them. But I couldn't come at it that directly because like, I  was their pastor, and I was, I knew they were volunteers. And I was preaching to them. And they were under, you know, these were my flock, and I was helping,  you know them through pastoral counseling issues. And so I couldn't be as  direct as I would want to have been. And then when Joe came in, and our first  one of our first meetings, and this happened for the 100th time, and Joe just laid it on the line, I was just silently in my seat saying, like, Thank You, Lord,  because they heard it very differently from him than they would have for me. He  was just being very objective, he could be very direct. And it wasn't like he had  compromised now my relationship with folks in my church. What a blessing that  was. I'll also say, though, there were conversations that Joe had with me in my  office where he said, I think this is an area that you need to work on, or I think 

you maybe should have said something here when you didn't, or, or whatever.  And then I could hear it from Joe, very differently than I could hear from one of  my elders or a guy on the team who was a really good friend of mine, it would  have been, I kind of would have taken it more personally. But I knew what Joe  was there for. He was looking at things objectively, and fairly, I knew he loved  

the Lord, I knew he had our churches, best interests at heart, he had no  personal stake and what was, you know what decisions we made, other than he  just wanted to see us succeed. And that was just incredible. Now, through Joe's  objectivity, he was able to really reveal some blind spots for us, things that we  hadn't seen. At the end of our previous lecture, I talked about a ministry that we  had been doing for 70 years, that drew tons of people, it was the thing that it's  the thing that we've been known for in our community. And we ended up  dropping it this past year. You know why? Because several years ago, when we  were talking about our church and direction, Joe brought this up, and he goes,  this has absolutely nothing to do with the vision and the direction your church  has, like, it's a great thing. And he wasn't saying like, you should just shut the  whole thing down. But he's like, that's a great thing, but it's not your thing. And  over time, we started to bring other people on board to lead and run this ministry until this past year where we let it go. And what what a relief, in a sense, it's  been to us now that ministry continues, it's going great, it's going fabulous. God  is honoring it, and our church blesses it. We want to bless the people who are  doing it. But it's not ours anymore. And that all got started with the conversation  Joe started with us a few years ago and says, I have no idea why you're doing  this, because it's disconnected. You know what we had no. We had no sense of  that it was a blind spot. We did it because it was big, it was successful. And this  is what we are known for. And lots of people are coming. Of course, we are  going to keep on doing this. But it took an outside person to reveal a blind spot  to us that, in fact, this wonderful ministry was going to keep us back from what  we really needed to be focusing our energies on. So he was able to reveal that  he was able to expose some sacred cows, he would ask questions, why do you  do that? It makes no sense to me. And sometimes we would explain it and he'd  say, Oh, that makes perfect sense. And other times, he'd ask a question, we just be like, I don't know, I just we've kind of always done it that way. And it doesn't  make sense. Or we should stop doing this or we should do this a different way.  So really, that objectivity, and just that insight he had it was just tremendous. It  really, really made a big difference. Another thing that Joe really brought was  accountability. You know, it's hard to be accountable to people that you're in a  sense that you're really close with. Now, I know that there's different people like  men's groups have accountability partners, and, and that's all really good. But  accountability can be a really tough thing with people you're close to. It's tough  as the pastor sometimes to be the accountability guy. Just like if you're married,  and you tell your spouse you want to like go on a diet or you want to work out, 

you know, five days a week. It's hard when they're the your accountability  partner, because you don't want your spouse saying, you know what you're  eating a piece of cake like, now you really shouldn't be eating that or you you  want to sleep in, and they're saying, I thought you were gonna go running today, or it's actually we're gonna go lift weights today that can create friction right  between between a husband and a wife. Well, it's kind of the same way I have  found with pastor. Now there are certain people like with my staff and ministry  leaders, that I have a different level of accountability with, but But broadly, it's a  challenging thing. And it was really great to, you know, have tasks to do and Joe to be the one to say, Are you staying on task? Are you doing what you said you  would do? And it was great that I didn't have to be that person. But also, it was  great for the other people that Joe was asking me those very questions about  what I had to do. Because it was kind of uneven in a sense. And it was really  hard for them to say now, did you? Are you going to be ready for the meeting?  Did you do what Joe said you were going to do? So it just can be really hard  when you're the when you're the senior leader of an organization. Especially like a church where it's an all volunteer organization. So just having somebody who  can be there and hold people accountable. And if they if they don't meet  deadlines, or they don't get things done, somebody didn't deal with it graciously  and encouraging, but let people know like, hey, you need to do this. And that  was just wonderful. I really appreciated our coach's role in doing that. And then  finally, depending on who you would get to help you, they can come with all  kinds of resources. My goodness, like I said, Joe was just fabulous with  leadership kind of stuff. He had a lot of training for our church on doing spiritual  gifts assessments, we had a whole stack of books, we had to read that we did  as a team, we listen to CDs, he had a ton of just digital documents, for us to look at how to run meetings, how to develop leaders. good agenda templates. Every  time he came, we had like a new just stack of things that we could work on and  resources that we could refer to. So that was just a great thing. And so many of  those things like were really helpful. Some of those things we still use, you know quite a bit we refer to them. And if we didn't have him, we never would have had  those things at our disposal. So a coach or somebody who's done this before,  you know, they can just really bring a lot to to the game. So kind of like just  some some concluding thoughts here would be if you could do revitalization by  yourself without any outside help, my guess is you would have done it already.  Okay, I think you would have done it or, you know, if we could have done it  without Joe, we would have done it because we were trying, we were doing all  these different things, you know, there, again, go back to that 15% to 85% 15%,  doing it on their own 85% doing it with somebody from the outside. That's just  like a difference maker, it changes the whole dynamic of what you're trying to  do. And it may be uncomfortable, you might mean you might feel threatened.  And that's something you have to work through because you but I say bring in 

somebody that's trusted, who you who you know, who can speak into your  church, and into your life in a in a grace filled, but honest way, right? If you could have done it with what you know, and the people around you, you would have  been you would be on that path already. But you're not just in the same way that I was not. And I needed, I needed that help. I needed that encouragement, I  needed that direction, I needed the wisdom to come alongside me, all that sort  of stuff. So really just my way of saying this is I want you to take advantage of  the gift that is the body of Christ. You were never intended to know it all to be at  all to have every answer, right? Nobody does. But there are people in the body  of Christ, who have been where you are, who understand things in a way that  you don't, What a gift that we have each other. So I realized that there's  probably some very, very, very limited budgets and opportunities and and the  idea of hiring a church or a consultant is a million miles away. It's doesn't have to be, I have done this sort of thing for other churches in my area. And I just have  done it free. Somebody says, Hey, I understand you guys are doing some  revitalization. Yeah. And they're like, would you just be willing to come to worship with us? If you're not preaching on a Sunday? Or could you come to a meeting?  Or can I just sit down with you and talk to you a little bit about this? Or can we  have, you know, maybe quarterly meetings where you just share, I can share  with you what's going on? And you can tell me what you think, could you sit  down with our leadership team, and just kind of go over some of these things  that you've talked about with me, yet? You know, I don't, there's no money in  that. For me, I'm just so glad to share what other people have taught me that I  can teach somebody else. And so hopefully, the Lord is bringing to mind one or  several options in front of you that you can invite people in, and really help you  throughout this process. Because we need each other right, we really need each other, we're not islands, we're not super Superman, and super women of  ministry, we really need some, some people who can offer some help and, and  just think I mean, down the road, this is going to be you, right, you're going to be that person with wisdom experience, you're going to be that person who's had  some success, and you figured things out, and you're going to be able to go  down the street or across town or online, and you're going to be able to offer  something to somebody else, not just because of what you've learned, but  you're going to just be a wonderful collection of all the things that other people  have poured into you authors and conferences and online classes and, and  fellow people. So my challenge to you is to really find somebody that you can  talk to and partner with locally, right? I am so glad you're doing this class. I am  thrilled in the fact that you're watching this as an answer to my prayer that God  would raise up a harvest of people to do church revitalization. And I love that,  even though it's a bit on the one side, it's been you and I are forming a  connection here through this, but I'm not where you're at. I can't come and visit  you and encourage you but God has placed I know he has he has placed 

somebody not far from you. Who can do that. Would you please just enlist them  and just again, I pray, Lord, for my brothers and sisters out there God that you  are bringing to mind now or in the very near future? Just the right person, God  who can be who can be their partner who can be their friend who can be their  trusted adviser, God, would you bless them with that person, so that they may  do all that you have created them to do? All right. Thank you so much for  hanging in there. We're getting there. We're getting into some really good stuff.  I'm excited about where you're at in this process. Keep going. Okay, dig your  heels in God has yet to do great things in and through you. Alright, so God bless and be well until our next lecture.