Jesus gave his disciples instructions to get a boat prepared for Him. The crowds were growing and His enemies were on the prowl. In fact, His enemies were planning how they were going to destroy Him.
Jesus planned his next step. His enemies were pressing around Him and the multitude was drawing from Him. He needed this boat to be conveniently nearby so that he could either make an exit in a hurry or He could continue to teach the multitude from a safe place.
Nonetheless, he planned this and told His disciples the next step in His plan. "Get me a boat...quick!"
We too must plan our next step. We must plan for potential adversities that may come our way. If you've planned accordingly, then the adversity can become an advantage.
We've all heard the saying, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." That is true, and even more so in ministry today. Churches must plan for the next step and be ready to take that step when the timing is right. We'd all like the right circumstances and the most favorable options to be present when a decision is made to move forward...however, seldom are circumstances "just right."
Our planning must include "long range" and "short range" together. Long range is the thing we envision in our hearts. Short range is the next step required to move in that direction.
It's like planning to pay off all of your debt in five years. In order to do that you must start today (short range) making the right choices that will assist in debt relief (long range).
Planning has been a lifesaver for me personally. Almost everything we do at BFWC is done with careful, strategic planning. In 2004 we launched two morning worship services. It was the natural step for us with limited seating. We planned six months before we made the transition. When it finally happened, everyone was excited and felt prepared to make the adjustment.
Here's some keys that helped us:
Key #1 - Destination
You must determine where you're going. Begin with the end in mind.
- We prayed and sought the Lord's guidance.
- We envisioned having two morning services and what it would look like.
- We saw it in our mind first.
You must know your terrain. Gather necessary information to make quality decisions.
- I remember asking pastor's and leaders who had been through this process themselves to explain to me what they experienced.
- The research took about 30 days and included lots of phone calls and any information I could find on the Internet.
Key #3 - Motivation
Know the steps it will take. You must set achievable, markable, goals to make the vision a reality.
- After gathering the information, we begin to put our timeline together.
- We set our schedule for 6months out, 3 months out, 1 month out and 1 week out.
- At each benchmark we became more and more enthused about what was coming.
Plan the work. Planning is the launching pad for success.
- We put pencil to paper and mapped out two identical services.
- We determined how much man power would be needed to make this happen.
- We asked for volunteers to attend the early service.
- A lot of preparation went to preparing new signage, advertisements, notification to newspapers, basically anywhere people could read our service schedule. When the time came we would have to switch everything from the Internet to paperwork.
Work the plan. Faith without works is dead.
- The day finally came and we launched the additional service on Easter Sunday.
- Our leaders were enthused and it was exciting to move into uncharted territory.
- I had an excitement in my heart and a tinge of nervousness too.
- Everything went well because we had planned for this moment for over six months.
All transition must be managed. Management includes finances, time, and people.
- We counted the cost.
- Organized the team for both services.
- Doubled up on ushers & greeters.
- Asked the worship team to assist in both services till we could grow more musicians, etc.
Key #7 - Evaluation
Chart your progress. This is the point of "re-vision" that brings you back to step one in the process. Continue the process until you reach your objective.
- After the first week, we evaluated how things went.
- We began to tweak each week to see how we could improve.
- Within the first few months the dust settled and it felt like we'd always been doing this.
- Now we track both services for attendance, offering and demographics.
- One thing we've learned is that people like having options.
