UNLEASH 2010: Breakout Session 2

new-spring-church Breakout Session 2

Giving…Budgeting…Spending

Paul Marshall & Joe Sangl

Giving:

0-1,000 People –

  • Established Accurate (Excellent) record-keeping (Used Simple Access Database)
    (Without accurate record keeping, you have a mess!)
  • 1st Time Giving Letter (No matter how much given)
  • Let God be in the equation
  • Build margin, early & often!

1,000 – 5,000 people –

  • Moved to FellowshipOne (Helps track Ministry & Giving)
  • Did 1st Capital Campaign (3 year pledge)
  • Educating people about finances (FPU) – The church decided to take on the responsibility to teach the people about finances.

5,000+ people –

  • Did 2nd Capital Campaign (3year pledge)
  • Class – “Financial Learning Experience”
    *Common sense is uncommon
  • Group Study: “I was broke. Now I’m Not.”
  • Started looking at tithing/offering as a “Worship Experience”
    (52 Weeks – 52 Different Ways to focus)

Budgeting

0-1,000 people –

  • Commitment to pay staff well from the start
  • Benefits to staff employees from the start (100% of employee. 50% of dependents)
  • Lead Team: Monthly review of finances
  • Budget for a year
  • Let God be in the Equation

1,000-5,000 people –

  • ACS for Accounting (Linear System)
  • Retirement plan w/ matching funds
  • POs

5,000+ people –

  • 3rd party salary survey for senior pastor
  • Annual budgeting with approvals by SMT

Spending

0-1,000 people –

  • Accurate record keeping of expenditures
  • Pastor NEVER signs (signed) checks
  • 2 Signatures required on all checks, with a signing limit (only a handful of signers 3-4, 2 signatures required)
  • Farmed out Payroll
  • Let God be in the Equation

1,000-5,000 people –

  • Annual review by 3rd party (CPA)
  • Brought payroll back in-house
  • Purchased Land

5,000+ people –

  • Changed to new PO system
  • Sage MIP Accounting System (Segment Based)
  • Microix
  • True 3rd Party Audit
  • Project next years budget from last 6 months income
  • Watch cash flow
  • Provide a wish list if God gives a special gift to the church (this is separate from budget)
  • Individual ministry budgets: Breakout with current years expenses (money spent), column to list suggested next years budget with an additional column to list reasons why it is being suggested.
  • No fundraisers. People give to a vision before they give to a need. Every Sunday is a Big Event, that helps cast vision.

UNLEASH 2010: Session 2 Perry Noble

perry-noble1Unleash 2010 Main Session 2

Session Notes

Acts 14:8-

The best thing a church can do is make sure their senior pastor is healthy

Be careful for the crowd….those who deify will crucify. (My Note: Wow!!!)

The problem with a lot of pastors is that we will not admit our humanity

vs 19 – The people stoned Paul…not Barnabas or anyone else. Paul, the Leader. The main guy…that’s it.

3 Words:

1. Awareness –

Many times we make mistakes because we are unaware.

  • Some people’s thoughts is that they do as much as the Senior Pastor and they carry the same load.
    (Its not that they are trying to be mean…they are just UNAWARE)
    (When Satan wants to stop a movement he always goes after the leader)
  • 3 Rocks Pastors Need to Be Aware Of –
  1. Rock of Distractions – Distractions will come our way.
    Pastor, do not get distracted with things outside of Jesus

    • Don’t get distracted by false agendas
    • Don’t get distracted by yourself
    • Don’t get distracted by Pride

    If God is using us, its because we were barren, and God changed our lives, we did nothing ourselves.

  2. Rock of Deception –
    • The deception that the Pastor has to do everything
    • The Bible calls those who do not work, lazy; It calls the one who will not rest, disobedient
    • Pastor – Do you have a date night with your wife? Without the kids? Without the cell phone?
    • Pastor, if this world can’t live without you for an hour…it’s in trouble!
    • Pastor, your kids need you!
    • Pastor, your marriage is the most important marriage in the church. It’s got to remain strong.
  3. The Rock of Discouragement –

    • Listen to your coaches, not your critics

2. Unity –

  • Pastor – Be a man worth rallying around
    How to be a man worth rallying around:

    • Lead with Integrity (Be real – Be Sexually Pure – ETC.)
    • Get Big Vision from God (You want great leaders? Have a great vision)
    • Listen to your staff (Ask your staff: What do you think?)
      Your leaders will have a solution, your robots will wait until they are told what to do.
      Pastor, make sure your leaders are resourced, and get out of their way.
    • Keep short accounts – Don’t be bitter at people.
    • Make expectations clear – You can’t keep people accountable to an unspoken rule or expectation.
    • Honor your leader’s time

3. Passion –

  • The average pastor is the SBC is 22 months.
  • Churches are unhealthy because there are men of God who are unwilling to stand when the rocks are thrown.
  • If you can’t support the vision of the pastor, get off his team. If he is disobeying God…God will cut him down, not you.
  • When a man of God has a supportive team or staff gathered around him, he can get back up when the stones are thrown.
  • If a staff will rally around the pastor, no rock thrower is a match for them.
  • Pastor, who do you have standing around you?

…updating

UNLEASH 2010: Session 1 Perry Noble

perry-noble1Unleash 2010 Main Session 1

Joshua 5

Session Notes:

Many times God takes leaders to a cliff and tells them to jump. If we don’t jump another generation will.

Leaders have to learn to jump.

If someone is going to jump, it should be the church. We should set the example. Problem is churches have forgotten how to jump!

4 Factors:

1. Desperation Factor

Joshua was given the task of circumcising all the men, with a flint knife, and no medicine to numb the pain.

Gen 34: Three men were able to kill an entire village because the men were in pain…

God brought Joshua and his followers to a place where they were completely vulnerable and exposed to their enemy.

He was bringing them to a place where they were marked men, but they would be desperate for Him.

When is the last time we were desperate for God (as leaders)?

Church leaders want safe and predictable.

Church Planter: You WILL be tested financially within your first year of your church plant

God will test you financially. If you are following God you will always have your back up against the wall financially.

Business people in your church want everything to make sense financially, but our God leads us to uncomfortable places.

2. The Sacrifice Factor

Every Israelite man loved the idea of progress…

Everyone loves the idea of progress, but they have a problem with the sacrifice requirements.

Two Things We Have to Sacrifice:

1.  Sacrifice Comforts

Satan is rubbing some leaders’ feet…you are comfortable where you are at…he’s rubbing your feet, setting you up for a fall…all because we want to be comfortable.

  • Giving up personal preferences
  • We are more interested in attendance than repentance

Random Note: Perry preaches about masturbation. Some pastors say they only preach about the “Holiness of God” – Perry, “You can’t get to the holiness of God, masturbating, that’s why we preach about it!”

  • The church has to be comfortable with the lost (coming to our church) and acting like their lost
  • Blended Worship is where we try to make everyone happy and no one enjoys it.

2. Sacrifice Conformity

  • There are too many churches trying to conform to what a a denomination dictates to them rather than what God desires of them
  • Missional is a buzz word that will not be around in 5 years, if you are the church, you should be Missional.

3. The Recognition Factor

  • Some of our problems in the church world is that we no longer recognize JESUS
  • No man is the most powerful person in your church….Jesus is the most powerful person in the church

4. The Strategy Factor

  • One size fits all is a lie.
  • Churches want a one size fits all strategy
  • Some strategies work for some churches while they do not work for others
  • One size fits all…Listen to God, Do What He Says. That strategy will work for anyone!
  • Joshua 5 – Jericho strategy was the only time God used this strategy
  • We need to be more dependent on the Supernatural rather than strategy
  • Vision comes before Strategy not Strategy before Vision
  • People want to get back to Acts 2. That was the foundation, why get back to where Jesus started?
  • If you can fully explain what’s happening in your church, Jesus probably is not involved
  • If we would be on fire for the ONE who called us, there is way more that he wants to offer us, way more than we have already seen
  • Jesus didn’t die so we could do church our way, He died so we could do church His way

UNLEASH 2010: Breakout Session 1

perry-noble1stevenfurtick-buttonUnleash 2010 Breakout Session 1: Senior  Pastors Only

Perry Noble &
Steven Furtick

Breakout Session Notes

God can speak through people who are equivalent to Balaam’s donkey – Steven Furtick (They’re pretty much jackasses…Don’t tithe, don’t get involved, etc. But God can speak through them)

  • The parameters of the overall vision gives the leadership freedom to lead & think Big – The overall vision comes from the pastor – Steve Furtick

(I was reminded about this quote from Church Planters Conference) “You can’t have a strategy without first having a philosophy” – Pete Wilson

  • When you hear from God and your leaders know you hear from God, you can lead them to do some stupid stuff 🙂 However, you have to REALLY hear from God, you cannot front like you hear from God.
  • Leaders have to choose the path of humility – “God cannot lift an unbowed head” – Steven Furtick
  • The unspoken lid to our leadership is the fear of being burned – Steven Furtick
  • The Great players play hurt. Preach hurt, don’t preach bitter! – Perry Noble
  • God’s promise is bigger than your perhaps – Steven Furtick
  • A pastor cannot choose his successor – Perry Noble quoting Rick Warren