Systems

I heard a conversation the other day about a church that doesn’t believe in having “systems” because it wants to be a personal, loving church. And yes folks, I believe we have a contender for one of the dumbest thoughts ever.

If you put a system in place that will make sure new people are followed-up with, or that places people into small groups, or that connects people with places to serve in their giftedness, guess what? That system makes your church MORE personal and MORE loving. It doesn’t make your church a machine, it makes it one where people get phone calls, and thank you notes, and no one falls through the cracks.

Unfortunately I am not a systems guy, and in the past I’ve allowed that to be a weakness. Not anymore. My solution? Cleptomania! I am stealing systems, tweaking them to fit the new church we’re starting, and we’ll use them and continually reevaluate.

Who I am stealing systems from? Mostly Nelson Searcy. The dude is like an engineer (in a good way!) about this stuff and has the the best systems I’ve seen. I’m thankful God gave him the mind He did, and that Nelson is sharing his stuff with other churches. So, thanks!