Nelson Searcy is the lead pastor at Journey Church in New York City and was on staff at Saddleback Church.  Here's his take on how to follow up with newcomers to your church. Since we already email and call (and possibly send a form letter to) all of our first time guests, do I really need to write a handwritten note to each of them? YES, YES, YES AND YES! The handwritten note is MORE important and impactful than either the email or the calls. The handwritten note shows that you took some actual time writing out a personalized note, rather than simply plugging their name into a database and pressing “send”. On top of that, the handwritten note is more likely to be opened than a form letter (see my ABC Mail video for more about this). And don’t forget to include a free gift of some sort –…

Scott Ginsberg is most famous for wearing a name tag that reads "Hello, My Name is Scott" around the clock ... and has done so for years.  His blog is a good read.  In a recent blog post, he discussed a few things he has learned from wearing a name tag: 1. Stop proving yourself and start expressing yourself. This is a hard and humbling shift to make in your behavior. Took me about five years. And looking back, I now realize there are a few steps that can be taken by anyone to do so: FIRST: Stop proclaiming and start displaying. Create avenues for others to experience your unique talents. SECOND: Stop demanding your rights and start deploying your gifts. An attitude of entitlement doesn’t look good on anyone. THIRD: Stop trying to be somebody. Befriend who you already are. It’s a lot less work. Ultimately, these practices will…

Here is part three of last weekend's message.  You can listen to the message by clicking here. 3.  Break the connection between money and success. There is something about money that makes us feel successful.   We feel more important in a new car than we did in our old clunker.  Four bedrooms are better than three and five are better than four. Men, we're particularly susceptible to this line of thinking.  We measure our success (or significance) by job titles, income levels, benefits packages, and 401k's. In God's economy, things work differently.  Jesus defined eternal success not by how much you have but how much you give.  When he taught his followers about greatness, he said the greatest of all would be a servant.  Instead of climbing the ladder of upward mobility, Jesus challenges us to descend the ladder of humility. In the end, God isn’t interested in your money…

Here's the second part of my weekend message on distorted views of money. 2.  Break the connection between money and happiness. How many times have we thought to ourselves, "I'd be happy if I had _____" (and you can fill in the blank)?  Typically, the blank gets filled in with the latest iPod or a new car or a house with more square footage.   We think if we had more money we would be happier people. King Solomon was the wealthiest  man of his generation.  Any fellow who can support over 700 wives in addition to 300 concubines must have a few bucks.  If any man could have afforded to be happy, it was Solomon. Yet in the book of Ecclesiastes we find a man in search of happiness and failing to find it.  The book is littered with phrases like ""Meaningless! Meaningless!"  says the Teacher.  "Utterly meaningless!  Everything is…