One of the things we find ourselves doing in professional vocational church work is putting together a set of well designed programs then pointing people toward our programing so they can walk the yellow brick road of discipleship and we can walk away with the feeling that we’ve done our job. The problem is….many of the people we set off in the direction we think they should go….don’t necessarily need what we just offered them.
Example….The other day I was working in our NEXT environment and 5 minutes into the conversation I had to ask a couple if they were married. I was just about to point them toward our singles events and our men’s/ladies groups because all signs pointed toward them being single….when in fact they are married. (Don’t get me started on trying to figure out the couple who defines themselves as a couple and want to be in a married group but they’re not married?)…probably another post.
One of our defining statements at New Life is, “Read people before you direct people”. If we truly want what’s best for the person we’re talking to, we will read them and find out about them before pointing them in the direction we think they should go. If we care more about our program and the environment we created…then we’ll simply shove them into the mold we made and hope for the best. Side note…any environment that you have to shove someone in….will NOT last for them. It must be natural. There needs to be an urgency for them to want to move in that direction. You need to ask some key leading questions that open up the conversation to learning more about them.
Example: How long have you been coming to New Life? What did you like best about the service today? Describe some of the church environments you’ve experienced before? Why did you come to church today? That last question might seem a little direct…but asked at the right time is a very powerful question. Likely, everyone who is at your church….made a very conscious decision to get up, get dressed, & drive down to church today. Let’s ask what they’re looking for? Maybe we can help them find it.
Final point: If your going to work on reading people before directing them…make sure you have somewhere to direct them once you discover their need. If a single mom is standing in front of you with a desperate need to have someone watch her 4 year old for 60 minutes so she can have 60 minutes of peace while listening to your pastor…..make sure you have the absolute best environment for her 4 year old. It would be despicable if we dropped the ball at that moment.
Yea, it’s snowing in Seattle. This is about what happens during this season in the Seattle area. We get a few inches of snow and the commute goes crazy. Brenda has been doing a great job navigating the snow. This shot is of Maple Valley Highway on my way into the office today. Not too bad, although right after I shot this picture….it started snowing pretty heavy and covering the road. So I had to put down the iPhone and be more careful. Kids out of school another day? Whatever. As much as I don’t like having to drive around people in the snow (I’m fine with my driving….just don’t like theirs) I do think it’s beautiful.
Did a bunch of doughnuts in the church parking lot on arrival. Now that was fun.
Believe it or not, this is a statement that causes some discussion. Many people think that a church should be defined by the people who have attended there the longest. Some think it should be defined by the person who spends the most time presenting behind the mic. Some think that the church should be defined by the family who holds the most power. We don’t believe this at New Life. We truly believe that we are defined by our frontline volunteers. Think about it…we can do all the strategizing and planning to create irresistible environments….yet if the person who meets the guest first…gives a wrong impression….that is how we will be defined. Our fronline volunteers are people like Mike & Abby Durrett. They lead our host team. They carry themselves very well and challenge our host team to strive for the best care to everyone who walks through the door. Guests make comments like, “I really felt like they were pleased to meet me”, “I felt very welcomed when we came in”, “the people seemed genuinely happy”. This is our host team. They make a difference by making people feel welcomed. Others on our frontline are our volunteers in Adventureland (nursery) and Kid Tough (elementary kids). Again, we can create the best environments possible for adults….but if we suck in the area of reaching kids…the parents would not come back. The final group that I define as our frontline volunteers are all the people who trust us by bringing their friends who are far from God. Think about it. You’ve built a relationship with a friend/neighbor/co-worker and now you’re going to take the risk of inviting them to one of the most important areas of your life….you church and relationship with Christ. We’re honored and humbled to have great people who trust us to bring their friends to the environments we’ve created for the sake of eternity. New Life is defined by our frontline volunteers.
We’re celebrating the giving of thanks with Brenda’s brother and his wife Roxanne. We ate Turkey at noon….visited Starbucks at 4PM…..watched the traveling pants 2….and now we’re just lounging. Spending the night the doing some shopping and visiting Grandma Coggins in Mt. Vernon tomorrow.
We have found that one of the areas that we are NOT weak in is having new people come visit our church. We don’t have an “evangelism” problem. The people in our church have really embraced the environments that we’ve created and church has become irresistible. People attend because they are invited. The question we need to ask and the tension that’s created is, how do we get them to stay? Why do they stay? What keeps them connected? We believe that they stay because they are included.
My friend K (yea that’s his name) has been coming to New Life for just over a year. When he first walked in he had the look of someone you should be afraid of. Someone who might hang out with gangsters. He came to church with his wife & kids. I got the impression that he was coming for his wife. K’s total involvement was whatever his wife wanted to do and whatever his kids needed to do. Over time, he went through Starting Point, Crown Financial, he’s joined our Host Team, and he’s one of our key leaders for setting up our “Well” service. Not that it matters, but he just cut his hair last week and he’s dressing different. I asked him why he did that and he said, “to show respect to my elders and be an example for my kids”. K is a perfect example of someone staying because they’re included. Yea, he could still be coming and experiencing church with his family just because they want to come…but he wanted more. He noticed something different. He’s now included and he’s part of the family.
I’m so glad that I’m part of a church that allows people like K to come and be accepted for who he is and not require that he changes before he belongs.
People attend because they are invited, they stay because they are included.
Over the next few days I’ll be blogging about ten statements from the initiative we’re doing as a leadership team here at New Life. These statements are from the booklet that Pastor Troy is creating (and he’s really good at creating booklets) called “Our steps and systems”. I’ll be commenting on our defining statements. These are the statements that define how we treat new people.
My friend John at www.human3rror.com has the unique opportunity to travel to his homeland (Korea) and meet his birth mother who had to give him and his twin brother up at birth. Click here to read the story. I challenge everyone who reads this to support John by praying for him and give if you feel led.
I’ve always seen myself as politically conservative. Yet, I find myself guardedly optimistic about President-elect Obama and actually a little excited about how he will rally our country to be more united. As much as I disagree with some of his policies….he’s MY president…I respect him….and I’m looking forward to seeing how he leads our country. Does that make me a moderate?
Today was a great day with Brenda. I woke up this morning with a splitting headache. Took 2 tylenol and went downstairs to sleep it off with a little NASCAR practice playing on the TV. Kids off to school and lazy morning. Then we showered up and took off around 1:30 in the van pool. Brenda had a work meeting that she needed to attend so we decided to wrap our day date around her meeting. Off to grab morning (afternoon) coffee….Kirkland to deliver the clamps back to my cousin after holding onto them for about a month. then we stopped at Big 5 to get fast pitch cleats for Brooke. What a depressing place to work. Then we rolled into Joe’s sporting goods to grab some sweat pants for Brooke. What a cool place to work. Brenda almost bought a little ipod speaker thing for her office….but decided to hold off for now. Hint: great gift for Brenda for Christmas….a little speaker thing for her Ipod for her office. then we took the back roads in Kirkland to Costco. bought a bunch of stuff at Costco…I’m sure we totally needed everything we bought….?
Oops….it’s almost time for Brenda’s meeting….rush over the 520 bridge and on to Children’s. As she attends her meeting…I head off to U Village for an intimate time with a cup of coffee & my email. Long story short….I enjoyed the coffee but couldn’t get on-line…so I was only intimate with the coffee. Bounced around U Village for a couple hours…picked up Brenda from meeting then off to a great Italian dinner at Ciao Bella.
Brooke had Dance tryouts today. Yes, she’s on the school dance team!
Drew is at a church thing tonight with the High School. I really like the stage of life Drew is in right now. He’s really cool to hang with. (he’s 14….will be 15 on December 24th)
I love my Friday Day Dates. I love my kids. I love my wife.
I’m a creative, strategic, passionate, & honest pastor living in Seattle, Wa. I’m married to Brenda and dad to Drew (15) and Brooke (12). They are the best part of me. I truly believe that there are normal people who are Christ followers and it’s a personal goal of mine to represent. Lately I’ve been trying to figure out how I can live out my faith by volunteering in my local community and trying to make it a better place to live.
This blog is the expressed thoughts and opinions of Loran Lichty and does not necessarily represent the beliefs or ideals of my extended family or New Life Church.
One of the things we find ourselves doing in professional vocational church work is putting together a set of well designed programs then pointing people toward our programing so they can walk the yellow brick road of discipleship and we can walk away with the feeling that we’ve done our job. The problem is….many of the people we set off in the direction we think they should go….don’t necessarily need what we just offered them.
My friend John at 
