Growing Churches And Why They Grow

This article is intended for Bible believing Church leadership. As a conservative old school believer I used to say "we don't need user friendly churches; we need user deadly churches." (Romans 6: 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. KJV) This is to imply that the church should be so structured to bring about transformation that means proverbial death to the old man and sinful behavior. While this is true one can not abandon wisdom in the name of conservativism, holiness or old time religion. A Church without a life transforming message that challenges the status quo and clarifies right from wrong is nothing more than a hymn singing social club. But that's another article; in this article I want to explore the wisdom of being a user friendly Church and what that means.

I have been inspired by Paul's writing to the Colossian Church: Colossians 1: 9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work. So what is His will? Clearly it is not His will that any should perish. (Matthew 18:14)

Grow Calendar 2011

With more than nine years as a full time evangelist I have had the opportunity to worship with some of the most successful Churches and ministries in the country. In recent years I have visited scores of Churches in more than half of the continental US states posing only as a visitor; in all of this I have identified 4 qualities of user friendly churches. I have shared these principles with Churches all over the country in much greater detail than is possible here; it is my hope that you will be inspired by these ideas and further explore the user friendly principles. Before I share them with you I want to define what I mean by "user friendly". A user friendly church is accessible, comfortable and conducive to visitor participation. Now here are the four qualities.

Visibility

User friendly churches are visible. This does not mean that you have to be in a prime geographic location. What it does mean is that the community needs to know you exist and why it would benefit them to attend.

To create greater visibility let's start with your immediate community. Obviously your property should have curb appeal. Simply a little manicuring of the lawn, landscape and parking lot will make a huge difference. Your property appearance should scream "we know you're looking and we welcome you to look closer." It would be a shame if hundreds or thousands of cars passed by your property every day and only a few noticed your church because it blends in with the surroundings. Of course you will want to check on zoning restrictions that restrict what you can do on your property. If restrictions are tight you can do things like folding signs and removable effects that can be placed at your drive access at the start of the service and removed as service begins walk lightly and you can get away with a lot.

Here is a checklist to get your maintenance staff started:

oClear easy to read signage

oClear easy to recognize lot entrance

oCleanliness

oInviting landscape (don't hide the building)

oPleasant lighting

oAttention grabbers (banners, flags, special occasion signs, inflatable mascot or seasonal displays)

The second visibility is what I call reference visibility. Reference visibility includes the yellow pages, internet and newspapers as well as a few other options that should be considered. When I arrive in a new city the first thing I do is find the phonebook and check for a UPCI church to attend. Upon surveying a substantial sampling it became obvious that the first place families go to find a new church upon moving is the yellow pages.

Your yellow pages listing should include your church name, defining statement of faith or organizational association, pastor's name, at least two contact numbers, address, service times, driving directions and web URL address. If you can afford the space you should also include ministries offered, a benefit statement, map and picture of the property and or pastor.

The reference visibility that is second only to your yellow page listing is the internet website. If your church doesn't have a web presence, make it happen within the next thirty days. Your church website doesn't have to be fancy or complicated; a free site management service is better than nothing. The following checklist includes the minimum information you should make available on your website:

oChurch name

oStatement of faith

oNames of ministries and ministry directors

oDriving directions and or map

oPhoto of the church

oArticles or audio sermon samples

oEvent calendar

oContact information (consider alternative contacts)

The third reference visibility is newspapers and periodicals. Obviously your church should run ads to announce special events such as revivals, public seminars and public services offered. Consider assigning the title of publicist to someone that will be responsible for running ads and getting free periodical, news and media space. If your church is offering a public service like gifts for the needy at Christmas send press releases to the area media. Announce available ministries, special events, new ministries, building programs etcetera.

Other possibilities that increase visibility might include billboards, highway signs, bumper stickers, T-shirts, radio spots and TV spots. Next I want to leave you with a couple of power tips for creating visibility.

New Residence Welcome Package

You can easily get information about new residents who move into your city or county. If you share your plan with apartment managers they may help you with distribution. Simply put together a welcome package that includes some home warming gift, some coffee and or tea a brochure and handwritten card of invitation from your assembly. (I like the idea of having the card signed by hand by each member. This can be done in advance.)

Hotel Church Directory

Organize and produce a nice looking church directory to be placed in hotel rooms. The cost of the directory can be shared by all of the churches you choose to involve. Most hotel guests that attend services while visiting your city will attend the church of their choice anyway you're just making your information available through one more media. May also consider an area attractions directory that would include only your church and other businesses; I have seen such directories that list only Christian owned businesses in the area.

Accessibility

Accessibility begins with your marketing pieces (Brochures, yellow page and media ads etc.) you should include clear directions that include popular area landmarks and highways, maps are nice. Once the visitor finds your property it is important that they know how to access your parking lot so have lot entrances clearly marked. The last thing you want is for your visitor feel frustrated or anxious this early in the visit. It is also a good Idea to have visitor parking reserved and marked with signs. Make sure the main entrance is marked clearly so the visitor knows exactly where to go. If you use alternative entrances or walks during bad weather have portable signs to put out to accurately direct the visitor. Greeters should be present to greet the guest; make sure they are trained to inform the guest about where the sanctuary, restrooms, nursery and Sunday school classes are located. A tour should at least be offered; if the tour invitation is turned down hand the guest a diagram of the property that clearly indicates the location of rooms that may be of interest.

Service times should be visible on signs and at all entrances. Greeters should be trained to meet ladies with children and the elderly at the car during adverse weather conditions to assist them into the building. Pathways should be well lit. Restrooms should be clearly marked and if they are hidden down some dark or hidden hallway mark the hallway and light it up. Ushers should ask the guest where they prefer to sit (front or back) and offer to escort them to a seat.

Friendliness

Now this isn't something you can plan and assign. Congregational friendliness must be learned and it must be sincere. The saints should greet the visitor with a smile and a handshake as well as some non-prying personal questions. These personal questions can help identify common ground to create personal relationships. Youth and children should be taught to get to visitors their own age; they may invite the guest to join them in the Sunday school class. I would like to think that someone in our assembly would extend an invitation to our guest to go out to dinner with them. I try to make this invitation myself when time and opportunity permits. If it makes you more comfortable most won't accept.

Someone in leadership should approach all visitors to explain how the service will be conducted, when the children will go to their classes and where those classes are. If an entire family visits find out the ages of the children and adults and inform them where they should go for breakout Sunday school classes. Once you know there ages it can be a good idea for either the Sunday school teacher or a representative from the class to personally greet and invite the visitor to join today's class.

Diversity of Ministry

Truly user friendly churches are aware of unique needs of their community and make an honest effort to meet those needs. If you have a large population of Spanish speaking people, and obvious ministry need is Spanish interpretation or Spanish specific ministry. Other considerations include young married couples, singles, senior citizens, college students, military etcetera.

Growing Churches And Why They Grow

Grow Calendar 2011

Electronics Landfill Ban Growing in the US - North Carolina Promotes Electronics Recycling

When most people think of recycling they imagine sorting through their trash to set aside plastic bottles, glass containers, and paper products donned with the classic triangular shaped recycle logo. While these materials have long been the most common to be recycled, there is growing awareness of the need to consider electronics recycling as a crucial part of green living. In fact, more and more states have banned disposal of electronics in landfills and are promoting electronics recycling programs.

Many household electronics can be recycled including; cell phones, TV's, computer monitors, computer hard drives, keyboards, telecommunications waste, servers, circuit boards, power supplies, cd players, digital cameras, and a variety of other items. This long list of e-waste products presents a new opportunity to drastically reduce the amount of waste modern society produces through the course of everyday living. While e-waste recycling presents a great opportunity, it also presents a huge potential hazard if we ignore it. For example, CRT display televisions (classic TV's) contain on average four to eight pounds of lead. When dumped in landfills the lead from these units can be absorbed into the ground causing soil and ground water to become toxic. This process causes irreparable damage to the environment as well as our own critical life resources.

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On July 1st 2011 North Carolina became the 18th state in the union to place some kind of ban on electronics disposal in landfills. North Carolina residents must now recycle their old TV's and Computers. This ban covers all computer components including; monitors, CPU's, laptops, printers, fax machines, scanners, mice, and keyboards. The ban also covers all TV's including; flat panel TV's, tube TV's, and projection TV's.

While the ban is aimed at preventing citizens from disposing of their e-waste in the garbage, the state is not looking to target individuals for non-compliance. The new law will be enforced at the landfills, and those businesses will be responsible for rejecting waste containing the prohibited items. The enforcement of this new law presents additional challenges for officials as the motivation for landfills to comply can only be judged on a case-by-case basis. Outside of landfill management taking the initiative to do the right thing; there is little keeping them from conducting business as usual.

Besides the benefits this new law presents to the residents of North Carolina and the rest of the United States, this law represents a growing trend of public awareness and action being taken by leaders in this country to bring the American people into a new age of environmentally responsible living. And while we are taking huge leaps towards reversing the damage we have done over the past 50 years, other countries like China and India are undergoing technological revolutions and will soon be presented with the same issues we are seeking solutions for in this country now.

It's our responsibility as technology leaders to show other nations there is a productive way to live responsibly, and that this way of living can go hand in hand with economic health and prosperity. As our recycling industry grows and contributes to the economic growth of this country, people's eyes are opening to new possibilities. People are steadily being given the chance to live responsibly while enjoying the many benefits of a technologically advanced lifestyle.

Electronics Landfill Ban Growing in the US - North Carolina Promotes Electronics Recycling

Grow Calendar 2011

Building a Blogging Calendar

Blogging is hard. But keeping a regularly updated blog that always relates to your book in some way makes blogging a great way to continue expanding your audience. It's also a means of passing on information that is useful to your readers and provides them with something of value.

For me, the best way to do this is taking a 12-month calendar and finding topics for each month that relate to issues/themes discussed in the novel. I call this the "Blogging Calendar". Once you have brainstormed an initial calendar, start researching various possibilities on the Internet. The research process can also be the spark for additional topics you may not have considered.

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Some of the themes in Shades of Darkness, Shades of Grace were: alcoholism and chemical dependency, politics and voter awareness, divorce and child custody issues, health concerns, particularly ovarian cancer, Minnesota history and tourism, and writing and publishing trends. Some months are going to be easier to fill than others, but here are examples of how I started plotting out my blogging schedule.

March

Women's History Month

April

Alcohol Awareness Month

September

Labor Day

Ovarian Cancer Awareness

October

Ministry Appreciation Month

Domestic Violence Awareness

Grandparents Day

November

U.S. Presidential Election

Finding topics relevant to your book at least gives authors a starting point. In my case I also keep abreast of current events in the realms of politics and the writing/publishing industry. For example, I posted a blog on the Twin Cities hosting the GOP Convention and tied it together with the Pierson family's political activism. I've also done a number of blog articles on the writing and publishing industry, and I post whenever something of interest to authors happens, such as Amazon's new policy on Print On Demand (POD) publishing.

Blogging does take work (especially if you have several blogs to keep updated) but think of it this way - you're not only promoting your book(s), you're providing reader benefits, and writing regularly, all of which helps you as an author to constantly improve.

Catherine Johnson is the author of the novel, Shades of Darkness, Shades of Grace. Visit her web site at CatherineJohnsonNovels.com or contact her via e-mail at: catherinejohns58@yahoo.com

Building a Blogging Calendar

Grow Calendar 2011

Create a Custom Laundry Room Using Stock Cabinets

One of the latest trends in home design is the creation of customized laundry rooms. With today's emphasis on customized spaces, there are a lot of companies that are cashing in by claiming to sell customized solutions specifically for the laundry room or garage. While they may call them custom, there really isn't anything custom about the cabinets. Similar to custom garage solutions, they are usually made out of particle board or flake board with a white veneer, which is exactly what you would buy if you were shopping at Home Depot or Lowes. The high prices are based on the concept that you buying them specifically for that space.

If you are planning on building a custom laundry room, you might want to think about using stock kitchen cabinets for the space. Kitchen cabinets are going to have the same features and functionality that you would get from these "custom laundry room cabinets, but you will be paying half the price. These cabinets usually feature higher quality materials, such as solid wood face frames and doors, and will usually have solid plywood sides as well. Rather than paying a company that specializes in custom units, consider buying these cabinets and installing them yourself.

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While stock kitchen cabinets can usually be found at your local home supply store, you can usually find some pretty good deals on-line as well. Recently, there has been a flood of companies importing stock cabinets and selling them on the internet. So rather than paying a premium for so-called "custom" cabinets that are designed specifically for your laundry room or garage, trying using kitchen cabinets. Not only will you get a durable product, but you can also coordinate the look of your house by having the same cabinets throughout.

Create a Custom Laundry Room Using Stock Cabinets

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Faster Hair Growth: 4 Simple Things You Can Do To Grow Hair

Are you by any chance looking for ways to achieve faster hair growth especially that you have quite a number of special occasions and events to attend to? Well, end your worries. There are a multitude of hair care tips that will bring you faster hair growth. They are just actually waiting for your picking in the Internet. Here are just a few of the so many hair growing tips and blips that you may take note of and follow:

1. Get some Aloe Vera leaves.

Grow Calendar 2011

Get some leaves of the Aloe Vera plant, peel the skin out and rub the gelatinous flesh into your scalp and hair. This is a better option than buying hair products that can make your hair grow because you are guaranteed that by using Aloe Vera, there are no side effects or harmful ingredients. If you will choose to use the commercially available hair growing products, you might just end up having hair damage instead of hair growth.

2. Use coconut oil as your hot oil treatment.

If the events you plan to attend are just a few weeks or months away, what you can do is give yourself a hot oil treatment at home using one of the most natural means to grow hair - that is, by using some coconut oil. When applying the hot oil into your scalp, make sure that you also get to massage your hair for thirty minutes. Do this everyday until the event you are waiting for draws near. In case you do not know, the minute that your scalp gets massaged, the hair follicles are stimulated. This triggers removal of dead skin in your head which in turn, unblocks the pores necessary for growing your hair.

3. Daily Routine

Your daily routine should include eating a healthy diet and at the same time getting the required number of sleep to stay healthy. By having a proper diet, you will be able to feed your scalp the nutrients that it needs. As a matter of fact, these nutrients will be used by the hair follicles in order that your hair may grow. Otherwise, if you will not eat healthy foods, your crowning glory might just end up a fading glory after all.

4. A Substantial Dose Of Omega 3 Fatty Acids In Your Diet

Make sure you incorporate a lot of Omega 3 fatty acids in your diet by eating a lot of oily fish or fish with such fatty acids so that you can definitely experience speedy growths in your mane. Not only will doing so help you feed your scalp with the essential nutrients to grow hair but you will also be able to take advantage of the potent anti-inflammatory benefits that such Omega 3 fatty acids bring. What is more, you will also be surprised and at the same time pleased that with this faster hair growth technique, you will be able to get rid of any kind of inflammation in your scalp. That way, you finally say goodbye to all the redness and itchiness in your head.

Faster Hair Growth: 4 Simple Things You Can Do To Grow Hair

Grow Calendar 2011

How Do You Make Your Hair Grow Faster And Longer: 3 Easy Steps Is All It Takes

1. Natural Is Proper

Yes, there can be no doubt that to take care of your mane properly would entail making use only of the most natural ingredients and hair products. For this, it becomes all the more reasonable to use herbs and oils to pamper your locks and therefore eventually achieve the hair growth you need.

Grow Calendar 2011

In addition, to go natural would mean to stay away from the unusual or artificially manufactured hair products that can oftentimes, cause more harm than good. Go for hypoallergenic shampoos and conditioners. Get rid of hair dyes in your bathroom shelves and instead use natural henna powder to color your hair. Really, it is very crucial that you put all these in your head or else it would be useless picking up hair tips and advices if you will not follow them after all.

2. Pamper Your Hair With Oils

Likewise, the question of how do you make your hair grow faster and longer would require that you pamper your locks with the essential oils you may desire. Choices to choose from would include the Argan moroccan oil, Coconut oil, Jojoba oil, Olive oil, Mira oil and several other oils you may have preference to. All such oils have been proven to show significant results as far as strengthening and giving luster to hair is concerned. Since the hair will become much stronger, hair falls and hair thinning is eliminated once and for all.

3. Indulge Your Mane In Aloe Vera's Nutrients

Or you may also pamper your mane with the hair nutrients you may obtain from the Aloe Vera leaves. All you will need to do to obtain such hair nutrients is to peel off the leaves of the plant and use the gelatinous substance to massage on your scalp and hair. By doing so, you are on your way to getting the thick and long hair you want without having to resort to the expensive and hair-damaging volumizing shampoos and hair products sold in the market.

4. Always Check For Split Ends

To finish off; make it a point that you visit your favorite hair cutter and instruct him that you only want your hair trimmed by half an inch as you plan to grow your mane. Tell him you are just there to get rid of possible split ends or damaged hairs that might further give problems to your mane. With all four tips, there is now ay you will need to ask about how do you make your hair grow faster and longer ever again!

How Do You Make Your Hair Grow Faster And Longer: 3 Easy Steps Is All It Takes

Grow Calendar 2011

Redoing an Old House

With the housing market in the slump now is the best time to become a homeowner. Whether it be buying new, buying old and remodel it or building from the ground up. The main thing is to move on now while the market is so down. In this section we will talk about existing homes to remodel. Right now is the best time to be the one on the buying end unlike in years past where it has been a seller's market. There are great deals out there for existing houses, make sure you have a qualified person check them structurally.

If there is nothing wrong with it structurally then just about anything can be fixed easily as long as the price you are getting the house is a steal. Say if you can buy a house that needs some work and a couple acres of land for say ,000.00, you have to put another ,000.00 in it but once your done that 60,000.00 house is worth 0,000.00 in a down market, what is it going to be worth when the market goes back to normal 180,000.00 or maybe even 0,000.00. What I am telling you is you can take something not that attractive and cheap and turn it into your dream home for very little, at the same time you already have equity for your children's college, your retirement, emergency you see what I mean.

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I am not saying go out and buy an old house and you're going to be happy it will take some work and it can be done cheap. I want to give you an extreme example. I bought a house in the country with 2.5 acres of land, an 8 stall horse barn and a 20x40 garage and workshop original price was ,000.00 and let me tell you this house looked really bad. I ended up purchasing this house for ,500.00.And over the next 3 to 5 years put another 20,000.00 in it, but the house now is worth 150,000.00. That is 85,500.00 equity, and was all done over time. One advantage of doing it this way is it is all tax deductible.

The little things you can do to fix an old house up are unbelievable. If you take your time you can have the house of your dreams before you know it. As far as buying material your major home building stores (Lowes, Home Depot) are always doing deals like twelve months with no interest. This is a great way to remodel and not cost a bunch at one time. I am working on several How To projects that will outline all of these options and fixes. So if buying and remodeling an existing home is for you especially with the minimal investment move on it now while the market is down and make that great deal. Remember never settle for the first offer negotiates it will save you several thousand dollars.

Redoing an Old House

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