Outreach Manual 12-10-12-FINALedit.6x9
Transcription
Outreach Manual 12-10-12-FINALedit.6x9
Outreach Manual For Church Growth Copyright © 2012 by Matt Maddix Motivations All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from Matt Maddix Motivations. 2 Table of Contents Introduction......................................................................... 5 The All Church Outreach Process....................................... 7 21 Action Steps for The Outreach Process ....................... 15 10 Things Outreach Directors Must Do To Succeed ........ 19 How To Teach A Bible Study........................................... 25 3 Styles of Teaching Home Bible Studies ........................ 29 Structuring an Effective Guest Follow-up Ministry ......... 33 Guest Follow-Up Passion ................................................. 37 The Power of Personal Connection................................... 39 Organizing The Guest Follow-Up System........................ 41 How To Actually Do Guest Follow-Up............................ 45 Train For Guest Follow-Up Success................................. 47 The Actual Guest Follow-Up............................................ 51 15 Action Steps For The Guest Follow-Up Ministry........ 53 How to Become A More Effective Soul Winner .............. 55 10 Action Steps to Personal Soul Winning....................... 61 How To Effectively Disciple A New Convert.................. 63 Seven Ways to Connect with New Christians .................. 69 Next Level Connection and Discipleship Ideas ................ 73 Final Word For Outreach Team Leaders .......................... 77 Out of the Box Ideas for Soul Winning Churches ............ 81 Resources .......................................................................... 83 All Church Outreach Form ........................................... 83 Guest Follow-up Connection Form .............................. 84 Soul Winners Top 12 Form........................................... 85 Author Bio ........................................................................ 87 3 4 Introduction There are over seven Billion people alive on this earth who are in desperate need of the Gospel and the Church. Never in the history of the world has there been more opportunity to reach people. I’m so excited about the Mission of Evangelizing the world. It’s my personal passion and mission to help every Church in the world grow and reach its potential. The primary thing that every church needs to accomplish this mission is focus and a structured plan. I’ve been privileged to learn from not only the Master, Jesus Christ, but also from some of the greatest Church leaders in the world. Experience has taught me what works and what doesn’t. However, I’ve noticed that many churches have a lot of Passion and no structure or a lot of structure and no Passion. The churches that have a healthy Balance of Passion and Structure are the fastest growing Churches. After seventeen years of traveling across the Globe motivating churches for Soul Winning and Discipleship, I’ve decided to draw from my experiences and compile a manual containing proven strategies to help any church grow and get results. I’ve helped churches with thousands of members as well as medium size churches, church plants and churches that meet in living rooms. It’s been a thrill for me to watch churches grow. In 2005, after being a Pastor for five years and working as an Outreach Director under four Pastors, I launched the ministry of Soul Winners Boot Camp. To date we have trained over 32,700 Soul Winners in 75 Soul Winners Boot Camps. We’ve started four Churches and have organized hundreds of Block Parties and Outreach events through this ministry! God has blessed us to see thousands of people 5 receive the Holy Ghost and get baptized in Jesus’ name! To God be the Glory! I don’t claim to know it all or have all the answers. However, I’m asking you to read this manual with an open mind and a willingness to try new approaches and ideas. If you follow the principles and recommendations in this Outreach Manual, I can assure you that your Church will grow. God bless you! If you want further coaching or information about my Ministry, visit mattmaddix.com. Follow me on Twitter and connect with me on Facebook. I’m available and eager to work with you and your church! Matt Maddix 6 The All Church Outreach Process We are racing the rapture of the Church. Jesus is coming soon, and it is imperative that the Church becomes serious about obeying Jesus’ instructions to “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15) The specifics for this Gospel directive were given by Jesus in John 3:5. “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Unfortunately, many of our churches are still a little offbalance in their approach to soul winning and discipleship. Over 80% of Jesus’ ministry was out in the public rather than in the synagogue with believers. The book of Acts describes a Church that primarily conducted its ministry in the streets, in the homes, in prisons, and anywhere else they could find an opportunity. Most of our churches meet inside a church building an average of twelve times a month. Very little of our ministry is conducted outside the walls of our buildings. We are commanded to be outreach churches, and until we make the transition to become an outreach church or a soul winning church, our Divine Mandate to preach the Gospel to the whole world will not be fulfilled. When I say the word outreach, what is the first thing that comes to mind? You think knocking doors or passing out flyers, right? That doesn’t sound appealing to most people; consequently, we’re not getting very many people to participate. In reality, we are dealing with volunteers attending churches 7 who are already very busy with their involvement in Choir, Sunday School, Youth Ministry, Bible Quizzing, Ladies’ and Men’s ministries, Sunday and Wednesday services, Tuesday night prayer, etc. There is always something going on. Outreach is not something we DO. It is what we ARE. It should be our culture. I’ve spent hundreds of Saturday mornings doing the traditional outreach routine in churches across America. The typical schedule goes something like this: 1 - Show up at 10:00. 2 - People stand around eating doughnuts and drinking coffee and chocolate milk. 3 - At 10:30 the Outreach Director stands up and passes out flyers that give information concerning the church address and service times. 4 - Instructions are given for the area of town that flyers are to be passed out. The area of ministry might be residential where flyers are placed on doors of homes, or it might be a commercial parking lot where flyers are placed on car windshields. This approach involves very little interaction with people unless they happen to be out in their yard or getting in their car in the parking lot. 5 - A short prayer is prayed for the success of this endeavor, then everyone smiles, grabs some flyers and leaves, pretending like they’re having a good time. 8 The bottom line is that this is not effective. We are not getting the results that we should. Here’s the reality. Riding a dead horse is no fun. The way we’ve done outreach in the past is dead. Those days are over. There is NO momentum, NO excitement. When you have a church of 200, and only 10 people show up for outreach, your process and system is faulty and needs an overhaul. I don’t know too many people in churches who can give up another night every week for the rest of their life or add one more thing to their schedule. Nor will people give up their Saturday mornings to do outreach. Two things need to happen in order to keep volunteers motivated and engaged. They need to do something they enjoy and feel confident in their ability to accomplish. At the end of the day, if they don’t like it, are not having fun, or have no passion or confidence to perform the task, their efforts will lead to failure, frustration, and ultimately the death of an outreach church. We simply cannot have that. After being involved in hundreds of such frustrating and exhausting “outreach” endeavors, I sought God about this matter and asked for an approach that would be effective for all churches whether they were large or small. This program that I have developed has given birth to my belief that the entire church can and should be involved in outreach. In the various areas outlined in this approach, every member of any church should be able to find at least one area they could be involved in. I’ve discovered that having specific areas of Outreach that people can focus on based on their passion and confidence will produce the most results. When people are doing what they love and feel capable of doing with success, they will not need “motivation.” They will be inspired if the 9 Outreach is fun, practical, easy and most importantly, successful. I’ve created, “The All Church Outreach” focus that will help make this happen. There are ten areas of Outreach that people can get involved in. The areas of involvement are as follows: 1 - Guest Follow-up Visitation 2 - Aggressive Evangelism - going out and talking to people about the Gospel and asking heaven or hell questions 3 - Assembling gift bags or baking cookies, pies or cakes 4 - Spiritual Warfare prayer team – those who stay in the Church and pray while others are winning souls 5 - A Plant and Water team - Those who pass out flyers and door hangers 6 - Compassion in Action – A team of people who serve the poor and those who are hurting or in need 7 - Those who baby-sit small children for those involved in outreach 8 - Bus Ministry visitation 9 - Send personal cards to backsliders or those missing in action. Intensive care backslider visitation – Go out and visit backsliders 10 10 - Teach a Home Bible Study In order to implement this process, I recommend that Monday nights be designated as outreach night because this process is built around guest follow-up visitation. The allotted time for the All Church Outreach is 1 ½ to 2 hours. I’ve found that trying to do this on Saturday morning is not the most effective. Before beginning, every member of the Church should fill out an outreach form and check off areas of interest to them. I am persuaded that God won’t allow the church to grow if we don’t follow-up on the Guests and New Converts that He has already sent to us. Our endeavors should be realistic, practical, effective, and produce results. Once the outreach surveys are completed by all church members, tally the results of the survey and divide the church into four teams. Each team will meet once a month. One night a month shouldn’t be too hard on anyone. Team One will meet on the first Monday night of every month; Team Two will meet on the second Monday; Team Three will meet on the third Monday, and Team Four will meet on the fourth Monday. It is important to understand the flow and process of this program. Outreach should start at 6:30 or not later than 7:00 each Monday night. All participants should arrive promptly so as not to waste valuable time. During Tag in, the Team Leader will thank everyone for coming and give information for that night’s work. He or she will give out assignments for all the members for that evening. After assignments are given out and discussed, 11 everyone prays together, and then departs in faith to their assigned positions. Here is an example of the type of assignments that would be handed out. 1 - Those involved in guest follow-up will be given names and contact information for making phone calls and visits. 2 - The Plant and Water members will be given flyers, door hangers, and an assigned area to work in. 3 - The gift bag crew will bring baked goods or other gifts that have been purchased for placing in gift bags and will assemble them. 4 - The Spiritual Warfare team will stay at church and pray for those involved in face-to-face visiting. 5 - The Compassion in Action members may deliver two bikes to kids with no dad and bring groceries to single moms. Others may visit bus kids. Someone skilled in the art of encouragement will write hand-written cards to Backsliders or MIA’s. Others will visit backsliders and bring baked goods. This approach is exciting because now everyone is doing what they like and are passionate about, and people are involved who would never have considered outreach ministry before. Soon momentum begins building because people are serving and reaching their community. It’s exciting and rewarding if you stay consistent with it. 12 Nothing great happens in life if you are not committed to it. Don’t slack or faze out. Get in, get involved and make a difference in your church and community. 13 14 21 Action Steps for The Outreach Process 1. Watch the 20 Training Videos given in the Outreach Training Package. 2. Give each Member the All Church Outreach Form and have them take 5 minutes and fill it out. They must check at least one, but are able to do more than one. 3. Gather the forms and type the information in an Excel Database. 4. Meet with Pastor to pick Three Outreach Team Leaders and an Outreach Secretary. 5. Have a meeting with the Three Team Leaders and the Secretary to explain the Process. (1) They need to Communicate results. (2) They lead a team once a month. (3) They need to Motivate and Communicate with their team. 6. Organize the Teams based on Connection and areas of Outreach they signed up for. 7. Email the Outreach Training Video links to the Outreach Team Leaders. 8. Set the Launch date for the First Monday night Outreach. 9. Email the Follow-Up Training Videos to those who will be doing Guest Follow-Up. 10. Email the Home Bible Study Training to those who will be teaching a Home Bible Study. 15 11. Meet with the Greeters to make sure that the Guest Cards are handed to the Outreach Secretary each Sunday. 12. Make a Decision about the Focus for Compassion Action. 13. Make a Decision about the Gift that will be given to the Guests. 14. Print off enough Follow-Up Connection Forms for the Follow-Up. 15. Set up a Conference Call with all of your Volunteers to Cast Vision and communicate details. 16. Set a regular Communication date with your Outreach Team Leaders and Secretary. The First Tuesday night of the month. Conference call for 15 minutes at 9:15 (use freeconferencecall.com). 17. Order 500-1,000 Flyers, Business Cards or Door Hangers all month. 18. Make a List of your Home Bible Study teachers. Have a meeting with them and challenge each of them to partner with someone they can train. Ask them to text you each week with the names of the ones they taught a Bible Study to and keep track of that in an Excel spreadsheet. 19. Complete the” Church Score” Report each week and keep track of your results. 20. Set up a Group Page on Facebook to Communicate, Inspire, Post Pictures and Connect with all of your Volunteers. 16 21. Use YouTube as a Means of Communicating with your Team. Remember, your entire church is on your team. You are the Coach! The leader! The manager! You must continually communicate! 17 18 10 Things Outreach Directors Must Do To Succeed As you know, Success doesn’t just happen without intentional and clear focus. There are things that successful people do that bring them more results than others. I really believe that any Outreach Director can become less frustrated and see more results by doing the following: Primary responsibilities of the Outreach Director – Other things may be assigned by the Pastor. 1 - Organize the Outreach Ministry – If you have gone through my Outreach Director training at “outreach.mattmaddix.com,” you’ve been given an Excel spread sheet outlining the basic organizational flow to keep the Outreach Ministry organized in church. The Director should know every single number for the following areas: *Who the Team Members are *What areas they are involved in *Who is teaching Home Bible Studies *Who wants to learn to teach Home Bible Studies *How many Home Bible Studies are being taught *How many Guests have visited the church 2 - Motivate the church to be involved in Soul Winning. We need soul winning churches whose members are consumed, passionate, and driven to win souls. We should be excited about outreach and the prospects of winning family, friends, and co-workers. There are many resources available to help train the church at soul winnerstrainingcenter.com. 19 3 - Train, communicate with and motivate the 4 Team Leaders who lead the weekly Outreach teams. Find someone who can be an Outreach Secretary who is gifted in keeping track of details. 4 - Keep track of Home Bible Studies. If the church has a Home Bible Study Director, communicate with him/her and motivate. Channel everything through the 4 teams. Have plenty of Home Bible Study supplies and generate excitement for the Home Bible Study Ministry. Have everyone purchase, “The Light of Truth” Home Bible Study. 5 - Keep track of new converts. No soul should EVER be dropped due to not tracking their progress. Outreach teams are small groups which can be trained to track the attendance of New Converts and monitor how they are faring in their discipleship process. 6 - Keep track of Guest Follow-up results. Manage this process. Keep it flowing smoothly. Know how many Guests attended each month and the follow-up results of each one. 7 - Communicate details with Team Leaders. Have a system of communication. Do a monthly conference call with the 4 Team Leaders. I personally use freeconferencecall.com. Reinforce values, focus, encourage leaders. Use group Facebook pages to share reports and motivate. Encourage results to be sent to each leader at the time of visits, Home Bible Studies, etc. 8 - Communicate with the Pastor. God blesses structure, organization and stewardship. Prepare a Monthly report for him. Weekly report forms are also available. Send your report at the same time each month. For example, you 20 should email a report to the Pastor on the last Sunday of every month. I’ve learned that effectiveness comes as a result of having established routines and consistency. Example of the kind of information to report – Team 1 had 13 people at Outreach. Team 2 had 22 people at Outreach. Team 3 had 11 people at Outreach. Team 4 had 27 people at Outreach. There were 42 first-time Guests this month. 62 Home Bible Studies were taught. 12 were baptized in Jesus’ Name. 19 received the Holy Ghost. All teams followed-up on 50 people. Of the 50, 22 are in Home Bible Studies. 9 - Be intentional in planning and scheduling all outreach events for the church. Suggested events to schedule: * Schedule a yearly Soul Winners Boot Camp. * Block Parties can be held 2-4 times per year. Select a different community for each of these events. * Mike and Carol Hopkins have created a program called “Community Connection,” which is a great resource with ideas for teaching the church to become involved in their community. 10 - Organize all Holy Ghost and Baptism certificates. Frame them and present them in church so the church can share in the honor conferred on New Converts. I always scheduled this the first Sunday of each month and made a huge deal with it. We created a PowerPoint with the Picture and name of the person or family that was baptized or received the Holy Ghost, brought them before the church, introduced them and gave them a framed certificate, a new 21 Bible with their name engraved on it and held a special dinner after church for them. 22 How To Schedule A Bible Study Remember, this is an Outreach Manual for Church Growth. Therefore, I strongly recommend that every church should have a very focused and organized Home Bible Study ministry. We need to have hundreds of Bible Studies being taught each month in our churches. This is by far the most effective tool for Evangelism and Discipleship that we’ll ever use. There are four very important things to remember when scheduling a Bible study. Your body language, tone of voice, confidence and level of certainty are important keys to your success in getting a study scheduled. I am a strong believer that there are millions of people on this planet who would say yes they are interested in learning more about the Bible. Here’s the key to getting them to say yes. When you feel the time is right with co-workers, friends, neighbors, New Converts or with someone you have a good connection with, ask this question: “Do you desire to know more about the Bible?” It’s either a yes or no. Either they do or they don’t want to know more. Soul winning is very similar to closing in sales, so if he or she says yes, your next words should be: “That’s great! Here’s what we’ll do. We’ll get together on Thursday night at 6:30 or 7:30 for a 30-minute Bible study. What works better for you?” Pause and remain silent until the person speaks. Most of the time, they will choose one of the suggested times. If they say they can’t do it Thursday, stay confident and smooth and offer another day and time. 23 After you have scheduled a Bible study, do NOT call and ask if the Bible study is still on. Make a confirmation call and say instead, “Hey Mike. This is Matt. I just want to let you know I’m excited about our Bible study tomorrow night. I’ll be there at 7:00. I’m bringing refreshments. What are your favorite drinks? Would you prefer wings or pizza or cookies and coffee?” That’s how you confirm the Bible study. In summary, three important keys to remember in scheduling a Bible study: 1 - Let’s get together for a 30-minute Bible study. (That lets them know you don’t intend to tie up hours of their time.) 2 - Give them a day and two times to choose from. (Ask, “What works better for you, 7:00 or 8:00 this Thursday?”) 3 - Never, ever try to talk them into it. Simply ask a question, let them pick the time, and schedule it. In scheduling a Bible study, an important Key is to tell them the Bible study will only last 30 minutes. Good luck, God bless, and I can’t wait to see the results in your home Bible study ministry. 24 How To Teach A Bible Study Most of you are familiar with Home Bible Studies. Some of you may have even taught them. I will give you some basic principles for teaching a Home Bible Study. Every single believer needs to be involved in the Home Bible Study process. It was what Jesus wanted us to do; it was the New Testament Apostolic pattern practiced in the book of Acts; and it is the most effective way to win souls and disciple new converts. In addition to being fun and exciting, teaching Bible Studies is a very effective way to retain the Harvest that God gives us. When it comes to Soul Winning, you will find that keeping it simple and basic is key. Many average saints struggle with longer Bible studies for various reasons. For the most part, they need something shorter and easier to teach. Starting in Genesis is not always the best strategy for Soul Winning. Everyone needs to own a Home Bible Study. Some of the more popular one-hour Bible studies include: 1 - A Place Prepared For You 2 - Into His Marvelous Light 3 - The New Birth Experience If you are a relationship builder, you may prefer longer ones like: 1 - Exploring God’s Word 2 - Search For Truth 3 - Search For Truth II with its beautiful graphics. 25 One of the most effective ways of teaching people is to start out talking about Jesus. “The Light of Truth” Bible study, which I authored, has seven 30-minute lessons and comes with a link to download handouts for each lesson. An instructional video and audio mp3 discussing how to teach and have home Bible study breakthrough is also included with this study. (You can order a copy of this Bible study at mattmaddix.com on the store page.) The first three lessons of “The Light of Truth” discuss the life of Jesus Christ. All scriptures are already on each handout. There are teaching boxes included in the Teacher’s Manual which give additional teaching points. The best place to meet is in someone’s home or a public place like Starbucks or another restaurant or coffee shop. Let your light shine by letting people walk by and hear what you’re teaching. Jesus was always in public. Start with small talk, and eat refreshments. Bring something for snacking to the Bible study. When you’re ready to begin the lesson, thank them for taking time out of their busy schedule to study the Bible with you. My preferred teaching style is that of facilitating a discussion. If students are comfortable with reading, have them read the scriptures and share their opinions on how these Bible verses apply to their life. They learn more by active participation. Allow them the freedom to ask questions about the lesson, but avoid getting off-track by spending time on random questions unrelated to the lesson. Ask questions: What do you think God is saying? What can we learn from this? Don’t do all the talking. Give them time to share their thoughts on the scriptures read. Make 26 notes in your teacher’s manual. Read and discuss for 30 minutes. It is important to keep your Bible Studies no longer than 30 minutes. People are busy and time-conscious. Leave them wanting more when you’re finished. If you keep it brief and make an impact, you’ll have greater results and more success. At the end of the Bible study, close by asking for comments on what was learned and how they will apply that information in coming weeks. Schedule the next Bible study. Never leave it to chance or try to schedule it later in the week. Begin and end with a short prayer. Have small talk for another 10 minutes and let them know you will be leaving soon so they don’t think you’ll hang out for all night. Leave them wanting more. Be in and out of the meeting in 45 minutes to an hour. 27 28 3 Styles of Teaching Home Bible Studies After finishing a structured 1, 7, or 12-lesson Bible study, additional informal studies can be arranged. Ask them to buy a good study Bible, or if it can be worked into your budget, buy one for them. Here are some ideas for continuing studies. Style #1 - Word studies. Schedule time for 10 word studies. Each week, select one topic and print off 10-20 scriptures related to it, (ie worship, prayer, praise, sin, forgiveness, love of God). For the first 10-15 minutes, read the scriptures and have them write notes about the things that stand out to them. Then for the final 10-15 minutes, go through and discuss what was studied and written down. Ask for their favorite scripture. What is God saying to them? How can they apply that to their life? Do they have any questions about the scriptures read? Share things the teacher received from the scriptures. Style #2 - Chapter studies. If working with a business man or college student, take them through the book of Proverbs. Cover 2-3 chapters per study. The same principles apply as in style #1. There are so many different chapters in the Bible for reflection and discussion. Take them through the Gospels and the book of Acts. Style #3 - Character studies or Favorite Bible stories. (i.e. Joseph, David and Goliath, Daniel in the Lions’ Den). You could have them read the story or character references before the lesson and write down their thoughts. Then the 30 minutes together can be used to share thoughts with each other. 29 These are simple, easy, and fun ways of getting people to study the Bible. As long as you have a Bible, you can easily become a Bible study teacher. With this style of studying, you can also learn so much from those you study with. Remember, always schedule the next Bible study and encourage them to invite friends and family. 30 Action Steps for the Home Bible Study Ministry 1. Determine the Bible Study or Bible Studies that you are going to use when you teach a Home Bible Study 2. Make a list of all those who desire to teach a Home Bible Study in your Church. 3. Have them give you their availability and how many Bible Studies they are able to teach each week. 4. Make a list of all of those who are READY to start teaching a Home Bible Study now. 5. Make a list of all of those who are currently teaching a Home Bible Study. 6. Appoint a Home Bible Study Director or your Outreach Director to manage the Home Bible Study process 7. Show the Home Bible Study Training Videos (found in the Outreach Director Training Series) to your Church or at least to those who desire to teach Home Bible Studies – outreach.mattmaddix.com 8. Partner people up in your church. Make sure that those who have a desire to teach a Home Bible Study go with those who are teaching Bible Studies so that they can be trained. 9. Communicate with your church the need for them to text or email you each week with their Home Bible Study results 31 10. Use freeconferenceall.com as a means of Communicating with all of your Home Bible Study teachers 11. Take 10 minutes and report the results to your church on the last Sunday of the month. 12. Celebrate those who are teaching by having them stand or come on the platform. Give them a reward in front of the Congregation. ($5 Starbucks gift card – just an idea) Create positive peer pressure. 13. Allow a few teachers to give testimonies of their experiences. Show pictures and introduce new people who came in through Home Bible Study. 14. Schedule a Home Bible Study training night once a quarter. Show the Home Bible Study training video or schedule a guest speaker to come in and motivate. 15. Set Monthly Goals and Keep a visual before the church. You must become very goal oriented when it comes to the Home Bible Study ministry. 32 Structuring an Effective Guest Follow-up Ministry I recently read a staggering statistic that woke me up and made me extremely passionate about Guest Follow-up. I have a deep conviction and strong inner belief that every church on this planet needs to have a very clear, focused, aggressive, and effective Guest Follow-up Program. Church Growth Analysts today say we have an 84% chance of retaining Guests if we will follow-up on them within 36 hours of the person’s first visit. Think about all the energy, money, focus and effort we expend in trying to get people to come to our church. Churches spend thousands of dollars trying to get people to come to their church, but if they don’t follow-up within 36 hours of the initial visit, then they’ve immediately lost the chance of retaining them by 84%. If the Guest visited on Sunday morning and a personal follow-up visit hasn’t been made by Tuesday night, then they’ve almost lost them. I believe God has given me a very effective way to followup with Guests. The #1 thing that’s missing is the personal touch. We need to commit to personal touch in everything we do, whether it is Outreach, Soul Winning, Discipleship, or Guest Follow-up. Make sure everything has a personal touch. Many churches send a letter thanking people for coming to church, and they will list ministries that the church has to offer. Then they close with a sentence that says, “If you need us, or are interested in a Bible study, call the office, and we’ll send someone out to teach you or minister to your need.” If that is our only way of following up, then it is no wonder we are not retaining our Guests. I’m a 33 revivalist and have been in many churches with a 100-soul revival. The primary reason we are not retaining our Guests has nothing to do with the devil, the fact that people are busy, we are Pentecostal or have standards. The main reason people don’t come back is because we are not following up and haven’t yet made a personal touch. A Pastor may give a guest card to Frank and ask him to follow up on these people. Frank loves his Pastor, but he gets busy, and days pass before he finally makes a call to thank the Guest for coming. The bottom line is, if we don’t close the back door, that door revolves, and the Guests will go out without ever coming back. I plan to give you information and techniques on the following areas: *What to say when you make phone calls *What to do when you actually visit a Guest * How to transition into Follow-up * How to schedule a Bible study It all boils down to training and preparation. We are the best at making excuses or assumptions of what we’re not good at. However, if you want what successful people have, then you need to do what successful people do. You don’t have to recreate anything. Every church which has implemented this follow-up process has increased their retention up to 60%. I’ve done this thousands of times, and if you’ll take this information, role play it and practice it, you will start seeing increased retention of your guests. Those who are masters in any area have practiced and studied the script thousands of times. The #1 secret to effective follow-up is to stop referring to guests as visitors. Not only ushers and hostesses should greet newcomers, but 34 also the whole church should involve themselves in greeting and helping newcomers to feel welcome. Introduce yourself and ask for their names. Make some personal small talk with them. These personal touches greatly impact guests. My First Guest Follow-up Experience Sometime ago I was preaching a lengthy soul winning revival in a church with a membership of about 250. We were winning souls and teaching 15-20 Bible Studies each week. We were involved in outreach during the day and at night. Hundreds of Guests were coming into the church. Excitement was running high, and almost everybody that breathed was being baptized. During prayer one day, the Lord spoke the words “Followup” to me. I had never had done Guest Follow-up before, but that very day I went into the Pastor’s office to get some pens and noticed a grocery bag next to the pens. The Pastor told me that the Guest Follow-up Cards were inside. I asked if I could take them back to my hotel room for review. That night I went through every card and read every detail of what people had checked and written on the forms. As I was going through then, I noticed there were 65 people who had requested a Bible study in the past year. I was alarmed! I called the secretary and asked her to email me a database of all the people who had visited the church in the past year. She laughed and said they didn’t have that information in the computer. So I stayed up that night till 5:00 am and put all this information into a database. 35 The next day I called the Pastor and asked him to meet me for lunch. I told him I knew we were in a soul winning revival, but after tallying the results of the Guest Follow-up Cards, I felt it was urgent that we transition into putting all our energy and focus into Guest Follow-up for the remainder of the revival. Most churches put about 80% of their time, energy and money into getting people to church and about 20% into follow-up and discipleship. When I pastored, our church literally went from an attendance of 90 to 260 the day that I transitioned and reversed those percentages. We began putting 20% into evangelism and marketing and 80% into discipleship. That’s how our church exploded. 36 Guest Follow-Up Passion First Guest Follow-up Story Continued: We met for lunch, and I requested doing nothing but guest follow-up for the remainder of the revival. I had never done guest follow-up before, so I didn’t know what I was doing. I teach that we need to “learn of God” to improve our efforts. We get so busy that we forget to STOP and ask God for wisdom. The Bible says, “Seek and ye shall find.” It also tells us that as long as Uzziah sought the Lord, God made him to prosper. (II Chronicles 26:5) One of the reasons we don’t find answers is because we don’t seek God. There is POWER and assurance in the scripture that says, “WITH God ALL things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26) We are laborers together with God. No matter what situation we face, God will give us wisdom, favor, breakthrough, and clear direction. There’s an old saying that says, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” Instead of panicking because you haven’t done Guest Follow-up, it’s important to learn the power in being still and listening for God to show you what steps to take. As you begin taking action on the ideas you receive in prayer, you will learn from the process what works and what doesn’t. During the process, God will give you wisdom and in time, you will become a Master. After my meeting with the Pastor, I took the challenge and started calling Guests. My first call was to Todd. I identified myself and told him I had two reasons for calling. I immediately thanked him for coming to church and told him that when people visit our church, we have a custom of bringing them a gift. Then I said, “I’m going to 37 be in your area tonight and only have 10 minutes to bring this gift to you. Will it work better for you if I come by at 6:45 or 7:15?” He said to come at 7:00. When I hung up, the Holy Ghost whispered to me to write that conversation down. So I wrote it down, then went to Bath & Body Works to buy a candle to present as a gift. As I prayed in the Spirit during the drive to Todd’s home, the Lord whispered things for me to say as I presented the gift. I was confident that I wouldn’t fail because I was bringing a gift and asking a few basic questions. When Todd came to the door, I handed the gift to him, and he thanked me. I told him, “It’s our pleasure, but before I leave, I’d like to ask some quick questions about your visit to our church. How did you hear about our church?” I learned that they were committed members of another denomination and really loved their church, but had decided to visit as a result of an invitation from a friend they worked with in Real Estate. Even though they didn’t know much about Pentecost, they came because of a personal connection. They also shared that they had been frightened by the message in tongues and interpretation that had taken place during the service they visited. At the end of the Follow-up visit, I asked if they wanted to know more about the Bible. When they said yes, my reply was, “I didn’t come to get you to join our church. I realize that there are lots of people who want to know more about the Bible, so I tell you what I’ll do. Let’s get together on Thursday night for a 30-minute Bible study. What time works best for you?” They said to come by at 7:30 on Thursday night. I thanked them for their time and said it was great to get to know them a little better. 38 The Power of Personal Connection Guest Follow-up is the center and primary focus of everything that is done during the Monday night outreach program. We must follow-up on EVERY Guest who visits the church within the first 36 hours except for Wednesday night Guests. If a volunteer wants to visit someone on Thursday, that’s great; otherwise mid-week Guests will get followed-up during the weekly Monday night follow-up. First Guest Follow-up Story Continued: I was excited with the results of my first ever Guest Follow-up experience. Here is an important principle to remember. If we had done standard follow-up of sending a letter, they would have read the letter and thrown it away. But a personal touch changed that. During our first Bible study, Todd’s wife shared that her grandmother had cancer and was in the hospital. I learned what hospital she was in, and the next day I brought the grandmother some flowers and a book called “Chicken Soup For The Soul.” I read her a couple stories from the book, along with a couple psalms from the Bible. I even sang “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” “Amazing Grace,” and “What a Day That Will Be” with her. I concluded the visit with prayer, and left. I never even told the little lady that I had visited with her grand daughter. The next Sunday Todd and his wife were in church. I was so surprised because I hadn’t invited them to come back after our Bible study. I ran off the platform, gave them a big hug, and said I was so glad to see them. With tears in their eyes, they announced that they had decided to make our church their home church. When I asked why, they said 39 they had visited grandma, and she had told them about the pastor who had visited her, prayed for her, and brought beautiful flowers, and a book. They had been unsuccessful in finding someone from their church to take time out to visit her Grandma. Because of a personal touch, they left the church they loved and began attending our church. After some time of teaching Bible studies, they were baptized and filled with the Holy Ghost. It all happened because of a personal Guest Follow-up visit. Here’s the process: Each of the four Monday night teams will be composed of members who have confidence and passion to do the guest follow-up. Set up your own system. That team director will need to have in advance the contact information about each guest who has visited the previous week. Many guests don’t want to give their contact information. Those who are doing visiting will make calls at the Monday night meeting, then make the visit that night. Never do guest follow-up alone. Develop a training mentality. Always have people with you who are being trained. The key to reproduction is to have someone listening while you make the call as a training experience. When done with follow-up, while backing out of the driveway, have the partner text the outreach director the results of the follow-up. If you make the personal contact and schedule the Bible study, you must be the one to teach it. If you are interested in getting your entire church trained for Effective Guest Follow Up, go to guestfollowup.com 40 Organizing The Guest Follow-Up System So many churches don’t have an organized system of tracking Guests and following-up on them. I believe God blesses churches that are structured and organized. Time spent organizing a Guest Follow-up Program is never wasted. If you will set aside one month to get this process in place and train your people, things will begin flowing, and you’ll start seeing results. I have a 3-story home, and I teach my son to always put things in the same place every time, so we never have to lose time looking for them. If I take my wallet out while I’m upstairs, it would be easy to lay it down there, but I’ve built habits into my life that remove the frustration, irritation, distraction and time wasted of trying to find something that is out of place. If we would develop processes in our churches, we would flow so much better, and there wouldn’t be as much chaos and distraction. People would be at peace and know exactly what they’re supposed to do, and when and how they are to do it. What are we doing with our new babies? Do we have systems in place to Follow-up and Disciple them? Everyone should know the process and each step in that process. Each of the four Monday night teams will have some of its members who have confidence and passion for doing Guest Follow-up. Each Team Leader should prepare in advance a list of each Guest who visited the previous week along with their contact information. Many Guests don’t want to give their contact information, so if contact information is incomplete, the Leader should attempt to get that information before the Monday night meeting. 41 Those who are doing the visiting will make the phone calls at the Monday night meeting, and schedule the visit that night. Never do Guest Follow-up alone. Husbands and wives can go together, but if they’re both skilled, it’s better to separate them and let them train others. If visiting a couple, it’s good to send a couple. Women to women and men to men. Develop a training mentality. Always have people with you who are being trained. The key to reproduction is to have a trainee listening and learning while you make the call. When the follow-up visit is completed, while backing out of the driveway, have the partner text the results of the follow-up to the Team Leader. If you make the personal contact and schedule the Bible Study, you must be the one to teach it. When doing actual guest follow-up, what should you do when you only have three Guests from the previous week? Always work back through the directory. Start with the most recent guests, but understand that there will be setbacks and challenges, people who won’t answer their phone, or those who give you the wrong number. For example, what if for several months, every Guest gives wrong contact information or blows you off? If you can report that you have literally called and made an attempt to follow-up on EVERY Guest that visited, God will be very pleased with the attempts. God is the one who gives the increase. If nobody is home, work back through the directory and call Guests from months ago. The same principles apply with following up Guest visits from long ago as they do from the previous week. Never be afraid to ask if you can visit. Even though we have “ninety-nine” in 42 our fold, we must aggressively go after the “one” who is still missing. If you can’t schedule appointments, call backsliders or MIA’s. If you still can’t make appointments, go into a room and watch training videos, role play and sharpen your outreach skills. Tracking Results The four Team Leaders can easily tally the results of each Monday night Outreach because the team members send their reports at the time of each visit. Then the Director can compile those results and immediately have all the information available for the Pastor. They can keep track of all visits and Bible studies taught each month. You can easily get to the place where EVERY Guest is followed-up on because each team is responsible for the Guests who visited the previous week. As a church, we should make a commitment to ongoing training, and transition into a mentoring, developing, discipling, reproducing church which is always training others to do Guest Follow-up and teach Home Bible Studies. There should be a weekly Soul Winners class. Follow-up Suggestions After a Large Event Suppose you have an event like a Block Party with 500 Guests in attendance. It is not realistic to follow-up on all those Guests. Ask these questions on the event registration: 1- “Would you be interested in someone coming to your house for a Bible Study?” (Delete “free” home Bible study from guest registration cards.) 43 2- “Do you have a church that you attend on a regular basis?” 3- “Do you plan on attending a church in the near future?” After a large event, do the follow-up on the phone. Always call those people who requested a Home Bible study first. The only visits that should be scheduled are with someone who was baptized, received the Holy Ghost, asked for a Home Bible study, or is looking for a church. 44 How To Actually Do Guest Follow-Up This section will give you a word-for-word script for making the Guest Follow-up calls. Commit to practicing this script 15 times every day for 21 days. Practice changing the inflection in your voice. Using a mirror to practice will improve your body language, confidence and level of certainty, and will make a huge impact on your results. Some people, when asked to do something uncomfortable, will say how nervous they are. You cripple your results because of not applying proper body language and confidence. You need to Stand up and say something like, “I can do all things through Christ.” This is easy. Remember, there is no failure in this. Mean what you’re about to say and dial the number with confidence. Sample conversation for scheduling a follow-up visit: “Hey Mike, this is Matt Maddix from the Pentecostals where you visited yesterday. How you doing bud?” He may say, “I’m doing good. How can I help you?” He may be a little guarded. Your reply: “I’ve only called for two reasons. First of all, I want to thank you for visiting our church yesterday, and secondly, it is our custom that when people visit our church, we bring them a gift. I’m going to be in your area tonight, and I only have 10 minutes to bring this by. Would it work better for you if I brought this by at 6:45 or 7:15?” (Don’t say anything else. Memorize this word for word until you can say it comfortably. Don’t add one single word 45 to this script! Be confident, smile and stay confident until you get a response.) He may say, “7:00 works better for us.” Your reply: “Good. I’ll see you at 7:00. Let me confirm your address. I have you at 1001 Myrtle Beach Drive. Is that correct? Good I’ll see you at 7:00.” The goal is to schedule an appointment that night. Always have someone standing by you to listen as you make the call. Do not ask if they are busy or if this is a good time to talk. There will be times when they don’t answer. Do NOT leave a message. Call back in 10 minutes. If they don’t answer the second time, do not leave a message. Call again in 10 minutes. Many people do not answer numbers they do not recognize. On the third time you can leave a message, but don’t give too much information. Strike interest in their mind to call you back. Simply say something like this: “Hey Mike, it’s Matt. Could you please call me back at 725-315-2489? Thanks.” Then hang up. When I get a call like that, it intrigues me. Leave no information and thank them. Do not say, “Thank you and God bless.” Don’t say anything about the church because your goal is to schedule an appointment. 46 Train For Guest Follow-Up Success Successful Guest Follow-up results from prayer, training, practice and experience. It’s not just passion and burden that will get the job done successfully. It’s been said that you don’t really master something until you’ve done it 10,000 times. We represent the Kingdom and need to represent it with excellence. We need to be skillful in our ministry. David played skillfully before the Lord. Imagine if your son had to have brain surgery, and the Doctor had never done brain surgery before, but he loved kids and wanted to help them. You would not let anyone have control of your life who was untrained and unprepared. How much more should we be trained and skilled in our handling of men’s eternal souls? As soon as your follow-up call is made, grab a gift and your partner and get in the car. Remain focused on the Father’s business, and your hard work will pay off. Go over your script with your partner while driving to the Guest’s house. It’s so important to stress that you only have 10 minutes to visit. When you have a structure in place, God trusts you and gives the increase. He evaluates how you treat people, and if you genuinely care about them, He will send you more. When you pull into that driveway, you get the missionminded look in your eye, believing that God will give you success. When they open the door, hand them the gift, and they will say, “Thank you. That’s really kind of you.” Remember to say, “It’s my pleasure. Before I leave I have a few questions I want to ask you about your visit yesterday. First of all, how did you hear about our church?” (Don’t 47 ask if it’s okay to ask a few questions. Have “Guest Follow-up Connection Form on a clipboard.) Listen to their responses! These questions are asked for the purpose of getting them to open up, make a connection, and apply the absolute most powerful relationship principle from Dale Carnegie – “You can win more friends in two months by being interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get people interested in you.” The #1 reason churches are not growing is because we haven’t trained, taught, and discipled people to recognize the value of relationships and connections. I am an effective Soul Winner not only because I love building relationships with people, but I’ve also learned some principles that will work in any culture or area of the country. In addition, God has given me wisdom and favor so that I can win souls anywhere. If you want to win people, you must show them you are genuinely interested in them. You cannot fake being genuine or authentic or real. When you are real, people open up to you. Listen when they talk; show interest, do not argue, debate, or give long explanations. Question – If you were looking for a church to attend, what would you be looking for? Don’t be tempted to get into a discussion with that. You are not there to sell the church or talk about it. You are there for two reasons. To connect with the Guest and to schedule a Bible Study, which is the main purpose of the visit. 48 Imagine God looking at your church on Monday night and saying, “They follow-up on every Guest. They convert. They execute. They make it happen.” There are no excuses. We are only asking folks to commit to one Monday night for two hours per month. Repetition, repetition, repetition is the key to successful training and execution. If you are interested in more training, there are 95 resources on the soulwinnerstrainingcenter.com page and members receive a weekly Tele-Seminar every Tuesday at NOON (EST) 49 50 The Actual Guest Follow-Up Use the Guest Follow-up Connection Form like a chainsaw, a hammer, or gasoline for your car. It has ten questions, but you don’t have to use all of them. These are very basic questions used for the purpose of getting people to talk. You don’t have to take time to write down all the answers while talking to the Guests. Once you leave and get into the car, you can write down all the answers you can remember. Question #8 – Is there anything in your life that you would like us to help you pray about? If you pray for them, write a note after the visit to let them know you’re praying. The Golden question and main purpose for the visit is the final one. Question #10 – Do you ever want to know more about the Bible? There will be times when with all the master techniques you’ve used, people will not want to schedule a home Bible study. If he says, “No,” I will say, “These are all the questions I have. Your answers have been helpful to me, and they will be helpful to our church. We always want to know how we can improve.” Listen. Make eye contact. Smile. Nod. No debating. Don’t argue. Don’t do a lot of explaining or justifying. Simply say, “Thank you. I appreciate you sharing that. Thanks for your honesty.” Give a quick handshake when you are done and thank them for their time. Do not oversell or over-talk it. You might say a quick prayer, if appropriate. Upon leaving, immediately text your team captain and give a report of the visit. Remember, if a Bible study was scheduled, the people who do the follow-up will need to be the ones to teach the 51 Bible study because they are the ones who made the personal touch. Continuously train. Always take someone with you. Remember that the goal of follow-up is to schedule and teach a Bible study. Most churches using this process are retaining 40-60% of guests who visit. I recently received a letter from a pastor in Seattle, who after implementing this Follow-up program, now has a 48% retention rate of guests. Once I was speaking for a church which had sent some of its members to one of my boot camps. They were excited and began giving gift bags to all of their guests. They showed me one of the gift bags, and I was stunned to see that the only things in it were a church business card and a church pencil. Surely we can do better than a business card and a pencil. Ideas For Gift Bags: 1- Bottle of water. You could even attach labels with church information on them. 2- Gift card to a restaurant 3- Motivational book 4- Starbucks gift card. 5- Nice scented candle If you want to learn more about Guest Follow-Up and train to become a Master, visit guestfollowup.com 52 15 Action Steps For The Guest Follow-Up Ministry 1. Appoint a Guest Follow-Up Leader/Director The Follow-Up Director must be, (1) Positive, (2) Organized, (3) Communicator, (4) Committed and (5) Consistent 2. Appoint a Follow-Up Administrator/Secretary The Follow-Up Administrator must, (1) Get the Guest Cards on Sunday, (2) Email the information to the Guest Follow-Up Leaders, (3) Keep track of the results of the follow up each week and (4) Always make sure that the follow-up teams have gifts to bring to the guests. 3. Watch the Follow-Up Training Videos – guestfollowup.com 4. Schedule a meeting with all the Volunteers for Guest Follow-Up 5. Communicate the Vision of Follow-Up – (1) Follow Up on EVERY guest with a personal visit and (2) Schedule a Home Bible Study with guests 6. Make sure the Volunteers watch the Guest Follow-Up Training Videos or at least read this Outreach Manual 7. Meet with Pastor to determine the Gift that will be given to the Guest – (1) Starbucks Gift Card, (2) Case of Water, (3) Homemade Cookies, (4) Gift Bags or (5) New Book – Joy Haney has many good inspirational 53 books available. Check her website for ideas. (joylhaney.com) 8. Meet with the Ushers/Greeters to make sure that the Guest Cards are given to the Follow-Up Secretary each week. 9. Make sure that those that are doing the Follow-Up are also the ones that will be teaching the Home Bible Study. 10. Keep an Organized Excel spreadsheet of all of your Guests and the Results of the Guest Follow-Up. 11. Make sure that you always send out 2 people to visit people. There will always be one person doing the Follow-Up and the other person who is training. 12. The moment the people leave a Follow-Up Appointment, they must text the results to the FollowUp Secretary. This keeps the process organized. 13. Schedule a Training Night once a quarter and show the Follow-Up Training Videos and do some Role Playing. 14. Make sure that your process of Gathering guest information is smooth and effective. For advice on this, invest in a 15-minute coaching call at mattmaddix.com 15. Print off at least 100 Follow-Up Connection Forms to keep in the Office for the Follow-Up Volunteers. 54 How to Become A More Effective Soul Winner Learn how to win friends, family, co-workers, neighbors and people you already know. Every one of us has a personal mission field. We don’t live in our neighborhood by accident nor do we work with people by accident. Our children’s school teachers are even ordained. Apply these principles to your life. Learn to live an intentional, focused, and balanced life. Don’t make excuses. Be encouraged. If you feel you’re too shy, don’t have confidence, or think you have to knock doors, remember that Jesus said over fourteen times, “Follow Me.” Once He said He would teach them to become fishers of men. The secret is to become a person of faith and learn to allow God to flow through you and do the work. God orders our steps, gives us favor, gives us breakthroughs, gives opportunities, leads us and gives us wisdom of what to say and when to say it. I’ve won atheists, 9 Trinitarian pastors, Methodists, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, and two college-age Muslims in Washington, DC a block from the White House. God flows through me and gives me words to say. I have conquered fear and the fear of failure. The secret is to realize that soul winning is a result of God flowing through us. Wherever we are, God is going to flow through us, and He will give us not only words to say, but also the wisdom to know when to say them. Timing is everything. Jesus said we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Soul winning is not what we do; it’s who we are. 55 Jesus said, “You SHALL receive power after the Holy Ghost comes upon you, and you SHALL be witnesses.” (Acts 1:8) Make a commitment that 1) We are a partner with God, and 2) We will learn the Soul Winners Top 12 Prayer Points. It’s time to quit making excuses. We’re all at different levels, and God doesn’t expect the same thing out of each person. It is important to understand that God is looking for a willing heart and an attitude that is willing to give Him our best. Commit to being a person of faith, and God will use you. Doing the work of God is a thrill. Soul Winners Top 12 List Make a list of 12 people you want to win to God. Put this list where it’s visible; on the refrigerator, in the bedroom by a mirror, or somewhere you will see it every day. Start praying five very specific prayers over these 12 people. 1 – Ask God to give you Wisdom. Wisdom is the primary ingredient for anyone who wants to be an effective soul winner. Don’t spend another ounce of time worrying over saying something stupid. Soul winners believe that when they have asked God for wisdom, He will give it to them. 2 – Ask God for Favor. Prayer For Favor Won a Couple to Jesus I remember one time I was preparing to baptize a couple I was working with. They called and said they had bad news 56 and wouldn’t be able to get baptized as scheduled. After asking some questions, I learned that they had gone to a birthday party the day before at Chuck E. Cheese. When they told their family that they were going to get baptized at the Pentecostal Church, their family said, “What? You can’t get baptized there because those people are crazy. They are a cult. You’ve got to swim in your skirt and can’t go to movies.” I was in state of faith while listening to their comments, and I kept smiling. I’ve learned that regardless of how circumstances look, God is at work. I gave them an answer to their concern, and we ended the conversation. The Holy Ghost whispered to me, “Ask Me to give you favor.” So I started praying for favor with their family. A day later they called and said, “Pastor we can’t explain this, but we have decided that we will stick with our original decision, and we will get baptized. We told our family we love that church and trust that pastor.” 3 – Pray for Salvation and Deliverance. Set them free. 4 – Pray for a Spiritual Awakening in their life. 5 – Pray for a Breakthrough Opportunity. Follow this pattern, and you will eventually see a breakthrough with at least 1-6 of your people. Imagine if we could get our church to list 12 names and pray these specific prayers over them. A major key to success is Focus. Often, soul winners don’t win souls because they lack focus and are not intentional. It’s been said that Failure to plan is a Plan to Fail. What would happen if we made lifestyle evangelism a part of our weekly lifestyle? 57 Steps For Implementing the Soul Winners Top 12 Process Step 1 - Strategically, specifically pray 5 prayers over those 12 people everyday. Step 2 - Every Sunday night, plan out your week. Step 3 - Focus on common ground. Learn how to ask good questions. Talk about things that interest them. Step 4 - Make eye contact. Smile, be positive. Speak life over people. Learn to give sincere compliments. We all have 168 hrs each week. Each day we sleep 8 hours and work 8 hours. What do we do with the other 8? Busyness doesn’t necessarily produce results. We all get 21 meals a week. I'm persuaded that every Soul Winner should give to God at least 1-2 of those meal times to connect with a sinner or new convert.” We are the salt of earth, and it’s time to get the salt out of the saltshaker. Get out of the church and out of your comfort zone into the world where the people are. Set a personal goal of building a relationship with at least one person on your list. Text, call, or email someone on the list every week. Schedule as many appointments as you can, but set a goal of at least one personal contact each week. Build relationship. Get around people and let them get to know you. Don’t assume you’re not a people person. Everyone can be a people person. Just be real and genuinely interested in people. They will open up and begin to trust you. 58 When the time is right, after building a connection with these 12 people, you will feel a Holy Spirit nudge. Ask the question, “Out of curiosity, did you ever want to know more about the Bible?” “Yes,” they’ll answer. “Then let’s get together this Monday night and have a 30minute Bible study. What works better for you, 6:00 or 7:00?” After you’ve taught a Bible study over time and built a trusted relationship, look for an opportunity to invite them to church using this approach. “Is there anything that would keep you from coming to church with me this Sunday morning?” Eight out of ten times they will say yes. Arrange to meet at Starbucks for coffee and ride together. You won’t backslide for hanging out with sinners. We will backslide if we don’t hang out with sinners. Remember, we overcome by the word of our testimony. Aggressive Evangelism Approach “You know I’m a believer in God, and I don’t preach at you. I have a curious question for you. If you had to choose, would you want to go to Heaven or Hell? You know, most everyone I ask this question says they want to go to Heaven. The Bible says that except a man is born of water and Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom. The Good News is that it only takes a few minutes to ask God to forgive us of our sins and less than 10 minutes to be baptized in Jesus’ name. Is there anything that would prevent you from taking 15 minutes of your time to make sure you’re ready to go to Heaven?” (That’s a legitimate question. How do you lose with that type of approach? If 59 they’re not ready to make that commitment, maintain the relationship and let God do His work in their lives.) Learn to live a balanced life. Spend time with your family, read, exercise, and be a productive soul winner. You don’t win souls because you don’t have a plan. If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time. Challenge: Now you have a specific target. Don’t veer off the path and try to do your own thing. Use these techniques that have been proven time after time. We must be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves; he that winneth souls is wise. We must use wisdom. Study these techniques over and over, and write down everything you’re told to do. Just do it, and the results will take care of themselves. You’ll be happier. The Church will grow. More people will miss Hell, and more people will go to Heaven. There will be more excitement and momentum. Remember, you can go to soulwinnerstrainingcenter.com for more resources to help you become a more effective Soul Winner. 60 10 Action Steps to Personal Soul Winning 1. Make a list of twelve people that you want to see saved. They can be friends, family, co-workers, neighbors or acquaintances. 2. Start praying for all twelve of them everyday. Pray for: (1) Wisdom, (2) Favor, (3) Salvation, (4) Spiritual Awakening and (5) A Breakthrough opportunity. 3. Intentionally start spending time connecting with one or more of your twelve each week. 4. Focus on connecting, building relationships and letting your light shine when spending time with your twelve people. 5. Don’t be overly eager to schedule a Bible Study or invite to church until the time is right. 6. When the time is right, schedule a Bible Study by asking, “Do you ever desire to know MORE about the Bible?” If they say, “YES,” then say, “That’s great, here is what we’ll do, we’ll get together this coming Thursday for a 30 minute Bible Study. What works best for you, 6:30 or 7:30?” 7. When the time is right, invite them to church by asking them, “Is there anything that would keep you from coming to church with me THIS Sunday morning?” 8. Get your life balanced and structured. You get 168 hours a week and 21 meals. You should at least give one or two meal times to connect with one of your 61 twelve. Manage your time well, and you’ll be a more productive person. 9. Join the Soul Winners Training Center. You really would benefit from the 95 resources on the site and the weekly seminar. Go to soulwinnerstrainingcenter.com 10. Sharpen your Soul Winning skills by attending a Soul Winners Boot Camp once a year. 62 How To Effectively Disciple A New Convert We should be talking about discipleship. We’ve done over 75 Soul Winners Boot Camps across the country and have trained over 32,700 Soul Winners. Revivals are breaking out because there are lots of Apostolic harvesters and people who know how to pray with others to receive the Holy Ghost. The Questions that most often come up are: How many are you retaining? What does discipleship look like? Until we have a clear picture of the subject, we won’t be as effective as we could be. Often we put our energy into the goal of getting new people to church, then neglect following-up to the next level. New Convert Story While ministering to a church in the US, the pastor and youth pastor excitedly told me about a new guy, age 26, who had just received the Holy Ghost. He was a wealthy and successful businessman, owned his own business, and was a person of influence in the community. (I believe in reaching for the homeless and poor, but I also believe God wants to give us successful people and influencers in our community.) So I met this young man and asked him how many of his friends would come if we did a Bible study in his home. He said he could get a lot. (The first way to disciple someone is to get them involved in winning souls themselves.) 63 I asked this guy who he was eating with that Sunday, and he said he was going out by himself. (Often new converts are lonelier after getting saved because they’ve left their old friends and need new ones. No new convert should ever eat alone during the first several months of getting converted. We need to be willing to let new people into our lives and be willing to spend time with them outside of services. Discipleship involves rolling up our sleeves and building relationships with them.) I invited David to lunch with us that Sunday, and surprisingly, the church people didn’t know how to act with him. (Just relax, ask questions and find common ground to get acquainted with people.) After lunch, I gave up my nap and met the youth pastor at Starbucks where I gave him specific instructions about teaching David a weekly Home Bible Study and trying to reach his friends. (People are drawn to those who take time to listen and care about them. Every new convert should be having a weekly Home Bible Study after getting baptized and/or receiving the Holy Ghost. It is IMPERATIVE that you learn to become a scheduler of Bible studies if you are going to disciple people.) A month later I came back to that same church and asked the youth pastor how David was doing. He said he hadn’t seen him in church in several weeks and didn’t know what was going on with him. That was an unacceptable answer. Every church should have an aggressive MIA or search and rescue ministry. Don’t let people miss a week without hearing from the church. Let them know they are missed. Are they ok? Give them a free DVD of the service so they can see what they missed. If they can’t be reached by phone, go by their 64 house to check on them and give them a DVD of the service. The #1 complaint of backsliders is that no one cares. The Youth Pastor said he hadn’t scheduled a Bible study with David because he was so busy planning the yearly Easter drama. He reminded me that they had hundreds of visitors that came to this event each year so it was a very important undertaking. I asked how many people were sitting on the pews that had visited the drama last year. He couldn’t name any. I asked him why he was reaching for the masses when he couldn’t even take time for one baby that God had given them. Sowing seed to the masses is important, but when God gives us a baby, He expects us to take care of it! Discipleship Techniques 1- We must make empowering and training New Christians a priority. The #1 reason why 21st century churches are not exploding is due to lack of training. Saul’s conversion was so powerful because he immediately was engaged in ministry. New converts are gifted and have many abilities to bring to the table. 2- Caring for new Christians. There is an old saying which says, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Caring happens through action. If you love someone, show them with your time. Call them when they miss church, take them to lunch, or invite them to cookouts at your house. 3- Build Relationships and Connect. It is absolutely impossible to disciple people without building a relationship with them. We won’t keep those with whom 65 we haven’t built relationship. Our highest priority is to connect. 4- Empower Converts for Prayer. Teach them to fall in love with prayer. My “Spiritual Warfare Prayer Guide” was written when I was pastoring for the specific purpose of teaching new converts how to pray. Schedule Bible studies and prayer meetings. Walk them through the levels of prayer on the phone. Take 1-2 minutes to be thankful, 1-2 minutes to repent, 1-2 minutes for intercession for others, 1-2 minutes for the Jabez prayer for expanding our territory and to build faith in a new Christian’s life, 1-2 minutes to pray in tongues, and 1-2 minutes to pray in faith. During this time, teach them to speak into existence the things they have asked God to give them. Finally, they should spend1-2 minutes to listen and meditate. Prayer is not a difficult practice when we show them how to pray. You can order a copy of the Spiritual Warfare Prayer Guide at mattmaddix.com 5- Empower and Train Them to Win Souls. To keep people excited, soul winning must be going on all the time. Take them with you to feed the homeless and observe you teaching Bible studies. 6- Ministry Involvement – Use me or lose me. Don’t be afraid to use new Christians although they don’t look like us yet. They have talents and gifts that can be plugged in immediately. The main reason we are losing them is because they are not involved. 7- Empower Them to Study the Word. It is important to take time and not only teach the Bible, but to also show them how to study and use resource materials. 66 Obstacles to Discipling a New Convert I think that some churches are not more effective at Retaining new members because it does require time, money and energy. It’s very important to know how to overcome the Obstacles to Discipling a New Convert. There will be challenges and setbacks. Here are a few that you will experience: 1- Time. People are already busy and have to have a makeit-happen mentality. 2- Lack of Priority. Discipling hasn’t become a MUST. Until it becomes something that is not an option to neglect, New Converts will continue to slip through the cracks. 3- Lack of Vision. What is our vision for their Christian development? 4- Lack of Focus. There is too much distraction; we are not living balanced lives. We need to have a weekly plan in place to make sure babies are cared for each week. It is more important to focus on individuals rather than mass events. 5- Lack of Training. People have no clue how to connect and disciple people. 6- No process or system in place. Discipleship of others causes church members to grow, become more empowered, and energetic; their faith is increased, and they will experience more of God’s blessings on their life. When you take care of God’s business, He will take care of yours. 67 68 Seven Ways to Connect with New Christians It is important to have an intentional game plan. 1- Spending Quality Time. Fellowshipping involves literally spending time connecting, socializing, playing tennis, horseshoes, etc. How do you handle someone who is “needy” and wants you around all the time? Teach them the law of giving so they will eventually do the same thing with others. Speak life over them and convince them that they are a minister. We are all servants and need to stress that serving is an important characteristic of Christians. 2- Ask Questions and Show Interest. Randomly text or call just to see how they’re doing. Show interest in their family and other things that interest them. 3- Include Them in Ministry Opportunities. Men’s and ladies’ conferences are excellent opportunities to connect with them and allow them to connect with others while hearing powerful teaching and preaching outside of the local church. Let them visit hospitals with you. 4- Teach them a weekly Bible Study. You should spend a minimum of six months to a year with each New Convert. Study Bible Stories, Word Studies, or Subjects. Teach them how to be soul winners by inviting family and friends to their Bible studies. Referrals are a powerful way to reach communities. 5- Eat meals together. Study the New Testament and use the pattern demonstrated in the Early Church. Jesus often ate with sinners and other people He was training. 69 Zacchaeus was a prime example of this pattern. We eat 21 meals per week. We should commit to sharing at least one meal each week with a New Convert. Give one meal per week to God for discipleship. Get everyone in church involved in this ministry. Remember, this is NOT a short time commitment you sign up for; this should be the lifestyle of being a servant to others. 6- Encourage. The Ministry of Encouragement is so important and needed. Learn to give affirmation, brag on others, and help them feel a part of the church. If we read more, we would have more ideas on how to affirm others. The principles of positive reinforcement taught in the book, “Whale Done” by Ken Blanchard can be applied to discipleship. 7- Small groups. I am a huge believer in small groups. They work and are effective. It’s important to have small group networks for meetings, accountability, and socializing. Have a meal, snack, discuss life, struggles, weaknesses, building relationships. Practice unity and love for one another. They can see these characteristics demonstrated in interactions among other brothers and sisters in the church. Qualities of an Effective Discipler 1- Be prayerful 2- Be compassionate – People have struggles and flaws. They need compassion. 3- Be understanding and wise – Understand and give them time to grow in Christ. Don’t expect overnight growth. 70 4- Be patient – They are not matured at the end of 12 weeks of classes. Christian development is a process that takes time, even years. 5- Be a giver. It is impossible to out-give God. He will give back to givers in many ways. Sow a meal, reap a meal. The Law of the Harvest says, “As you sow and give, God will give back to you.” 6- Be positive. New Converts must feel your positive encouragement to them. No matter what their past is or if they fall and mess up, pull them back up and let them know they CAN make it. 7- Be authentic and genuine. Let them see your shortcomings. Although we’ve been in church many years, New Converts need to realize we still have struggles in life. 71 72 Next Level Connection and Discipleship Ideas The Church must make a commitment to focus on making sure we connect and build relationships with ALL New Members. We must be intentional and process-oriented about exactly what we’re going to do with new ones. My church exploded in growth when we started spending most of our time and money in discipleship rather than outreach and marketing. We poured cash into People, Discipleship and Guest Follow-up. We had a weekly Connect Dinner. It was a lot of work, but church growth is a lot of work. It is important to develop the right mentality to avoid burnout. Burn-out is the result of living an unbalanced life. We don’t take care of our health; we get insufficient rest and exercise, don’t have faith for God’s provision, and we forget that we are serving others as unto the Lord. Even without getting a return, our motive should be to serve and give. It is impossible for others to take advantage of us in ministry if we remember that we are doing everything as unto the Lord. Do everything for Jesus. He knows how to care for me and reward me. All blessings come from Him. 73 Discipleship Ideas Here are some ideas that may spark other ideas, thoughts, and creativity. These ideas can be implemented along with other things already being done. 1- Connection Dinner – Organize 4 cooking teams. Have Staff prepare a meal for Guests and New Members each Sunday instead of taking people out to eat. New Members could help serve, set-up, and tear down. Although this involves a lot of work, almost all of Guest Follow-up can be handled on Sunday. 2- Gender Small Groups – Men’s and Ladies’ groups can be organized for socializing with a leader appointed for facilitating discussion. Ladies groups could meet 1st and 3rd weeks of the month, and men could meet on the 2nd and 4th weeks of the month. Babysitting can be done by the other spouse or a babysitting team could be developed. The Body of Christ must learn to get off the pew and minister. 3- Monthly Pastor’s Retreat – This is a simple, low budget idea consisting of a Barbecue With the Pastor on a Saturday from 4-7. Selected Teams cook and set-up either at the Pastor’s house or the church. This idea gives the Staff and Pastor an opportunity to connect with all the New Members in an informal setting. (I was always strict about staff not visiting with the Pastor on Sunday. Sunday was designated as a day to roll up our sleeves and serve our people.) People are starving for fellowship. Quarterly fellowships are suggested. 4- Dinner With the Pastor or Coffee With the Pastor. Oneon-one time with the Pastor for New Converts. 74 5- Welcome Home Party. This event can be held on the first Sunday of each month. Celebrate with a PowerPoint presentation for all those baptized or filled with the Holy Ghost during the month. Show pictures of their baptism, family, etc. Seat them on the front row. Bring them to the platform and introduce them to the church. Give them a framed copy of their Holy Ghost and Baptism certificates along with an engraved Bible that’s been signed by the Pastor. This is dependant on budget. Give them 2-4 new Gospel CD’s so they have good music to listen to. Tell how they came to church, who brought them, a little about their family so church can get to know them better. Everything we do should be geared to reaching for the next level in involvement. It’s time to get off the pews and be a servant. Have fun working for God. 75 76 Final Word For Outreach Team Leaders I want to share with you some key steps to increase outreach momentum. High quality leaders hand-picked by the pastor have what is needed to take this ministry to the next level. I believe 100% that this process of “All-Church Outreach” pleases God. Your system of consistently following up on Guests, serving the poor, and reaching out to backsliders and MIA’s pleases God. 1- Aggressive Evangelism may be one of the least comfortable areas of Outreach, but if you can recruit some who are good at starting discussions with strangers, you can teach them to focus this strength on taking the Gospel to people. I’m all about building relationships, but there should be a place in every Outreach program for Aggressive Evangelism. Aggressive Evangelism involves going and talking to people about the Holy Ghost and Heaven or Hell. This approach still works in certain situations, is very powerful, and also very Apostolic. Simply have your recruits ask people if they had to choose, would they choose to go to Heaven or Hell. We need to start bringing people back to church to be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost. 2- We need to get elderly ladies involved in baking cookies and pies and making gift bags for Backsliders and MIA’s. It’s time to step-up visitation to Backsliders and MIA’s. 3- Our motto should be “Making It Hard For People To Go To Hell.” I had a large banner in the church I formerly pastored which said, “The Most Aggressive Church In 77 Town.” We need to be aggressive in following up on every Backslider and MIA. 4- We need to get people excited about Spiritual Warfare, not only for our church, but also for Japan and other countries of the world, breaking the spirit of Islam in America, praying against crime in our city, and tearing down the devil’s strongholds. It’s time to revive the power of Spiritual Warfare prayer. 5- The Plant and Water team should make passing out flyers fun. Make a list of coffee shops, Laundromats, restaurants, and grocery stores. Then set goals to see how many local businesses you can get permission to place your flyers. Go ask, and then get those flyers out where the public can see them. Make sure the flyers are professional, colorful and eye-catching. 6- Compassion in Action is the hottest thing going. If you remain creative, you don’t have to do it all. The more you can give your team a voice and get input from them, the more they will take ownership and be committed. There are smart, administrative-minded people who have great ideas. Start contests between the 4 Outreach Teams and give a gift card to the Team Leader who has the most outreach each month. The Team Leader’s job involves soliciting creative ideas to keep members motivated, then prayerfully selecting ideas that will work and assigning members to execute those ideas. 7- Use a conference call line to connect with members. Text and email team members to use conference calling for brainstorming about new Outreach ideas. Leaders don’t have to come up with all the ideas. Get fresh new, out-of-the-box, radical ideas from team members. Try to execute their ideas. Ask for a commitment on the phone 78 for future planning. Remind them that they are committing to one Monday per month for the glory of God and the cause of reaching the lost. Those nights will be a blast, and they’ll impact lives for eternity, see people pulled out of hell and saved. 8- Maintaining communication requires more than text messages, email or Sunday morning reminders in the bulletin. Leaders determine the temperature by the way the thermometer is set. The leaders MUST set the pace with fire, passion, and excitement! They can’t be passive, average or non-involved. Leadership inspires. Get people involved by doing things that interest them. Make sure everyone who has signed up for different areas are committed to being there. 9- Take pictures and video clips of activities within each team. Use the power of Facebook to motivate. You need to have one-on-one conversations with team members. Leaders cast vision, and if people aren’t embracing it, keep explaining the vision in other ways. Be like Martin Luther King, a man on a mission, leading that team to success, break-through and victory. Reports generate excitement and motivation. These things will fire people up and generate success. Thank you for taking the time to read this manual. I trust that God will use it to give you inspiration, direction, ideas and strategies to grow your church and become a more Effective Soul Winner. Please know that this Manual is just a little tool to help you get started. However, you will need to continue the training process. It’s best for you to attend a Soul Winners Boot Camp once per year and also to join the soulwinnerstrainingcenter.com so you can receive weekly inspiration and training. May God Bless you and your ministry! 79 80 Out of the Box Ideas for Soul Winning Churches 1. Enroll your entire Church in the Soul Winners Training Center – visit soulwinnerstrainingcenter.com 2. Take your entire Staff and Youth Group to a Soul Winners Boot Camp once per year. 3. Host a Soul Winners Boot Camp – email [email protected] if you are interested. 4. Start a Weekly Soul Winners Training Class – Have 12 people a month go through a Soul Winners Class during your Mid-Week Service and rotate your entire Church through the Class. You could train 144 Soul Winners in a Year. There are 95 resources in the Soul Winners Training Center to choose from. There are many videos to show the class. 5. Start Small Groups and Model them after Jared Arrango in New Port News, Virginia. 6. Have a Monthly Dinner with the Pastor for ALL the new people that join the church. Make it big! Invite the entire staff and focus on connecting with the new people. 7. Apply the 80/20 principle in your focus on Evangelism and Discipleship. Put 80% of your time, money and energy into Follow-Up and Discipleship and 20% into Outreach and Marketing. 8. Get a Church Facebook Page and Twitter account. Start connecting with people daily and add value. Post content, inspiration, prayers, scriptures and articles that add value to people’s lives. 81 9. Make it a High Priority to get a High Quality Church website and App. Every church needs to be focusing on getting an APP for their church. 82 Resources All Church Outreach Form 83 Guest Follow-up Connection Form 84 Soul Winners Top 12 Form 85 86 Author Bio For the past two decades, Matt Maddix has served as a pastor, evangelist, motivational speaker, life coach, and community activist. He is an international speaker and has had the honor of speaking with NY Times Best Selling Author, Matthew Barnett. He has also learned much from great men in his life, including Rev. Kenneth F. Haney, former General Superintendent of the United Pentecostal Church International, Rev. Anthony Mangun, Pastor of the Pentecostals of Alexandria, Louisiana, and his own Pastor, Rev. Jack Cunningham, Pastor of Bible World Church in Chesapeake, VA and District Superintendent of the United Pentecostal Church of Virginia. Matt Maddix is the author of “The Light of Truth Bible Study,” a highly effective book on prayer entitled, “Spiritual Warfare Prayer Guide,” a health and wellness book entitled,” The Healing Power of Juicing,” and an outreach manual titled “Outreach Manual For Church Growth.” As the CEO and Founder of Matt Maddix Motivations, Soul Winners Boot Camp, and Compassion USA, Matt is considered a 21st century innovator for church growth, life coaching, weight loss, and healthy and successful living. Since 2006 Matt has hosted 75 Soul Winners Boot Camps, motivating and training over 32,700 people. In 2012, Matt and his team will travel into 10 more cities, providing intense training sessions for church and local leaders who are ready to impact their community and world at the next level. 87 His humanitarian efforts have had a rippling effect across the country and even the world. His heartbeat is to serve the homeless, kids with cancer, and kids without a parent(s). Matt’s efforts are well known in his hometown of Tampa, Florida where several times a month he can be found providing Bibles, sleeping bags, fresh fruit, water and motivational speaking to those living on the streets, visiting children in local cancer hospitals, and spending quality time mentoring a child without a parent. Matt Maddix is a highly sought-after motivational speaker and life coach. Matt’s legacy has had an amazing start in the heart of his son Caleb. His philosophy of balanced living and training up a child begins at home with Caleb. This dynamic duo partner together to make a difference in the lives of those in need. Additional Resources: Matt Maddix Online http://mattmaddix.com Matt Maddix’s Outreach Training Package http://outreach.mattmaddix.com Soul Winners Training Center http://soulwinnerstrainingcenter.com Copyright 2012 Matt Maddix – All Rights Reserved 88