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Finding The MVP Of Your Ministry
By admin | June 21, 2008
Bless The Lord!
Earlier this week I came upon the post by Chris Forbes the Ministry Marketing Coach entitled “Marketing Ideas for Vocational Evangelists” and was pressed to find the MVP for all ministries.
I really enjoyed his gentle manner of reshaping the terrain that is very pronounced in the ministry community. There tends to be a predetermination that what I did yesterday, I must do today.
This position is often accompanied by the equally self defeating position of a self-debasing humility that causes ministers to feel personally insignificant and undeserving of any recognition what-so-ever.
Add all this malarkey to the fear that promotion is a worldly exercise that should be avoided at all costs and the result is a group of God called God Ordained preachers who are not convinced that they are extremely necessary for the development of a strong Christian community that makes an impact on their culture, as well as, their environment.
As we have been teaching both here at www.fromchurch.com and at www.poorpreacher.com, it is important to determine who you are commissioned by God to reach. Rick Warren determined his target was “Saddleback Sam”.
Who is your target? Who are you called to reach? How will you reach them? Where are they located? What do they want? What do they REALLY need? All these questions are precursors to determining the direction, method, and focus of ANY ministry.
Bishop James ‘I Feel God’ Brown
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Marketing Ideas for Vocational Evangelists: Know Who is the MVP of Your Ministry—Hint, it Ain’t You!
Often when people get to preaching about what is ailing the ministry vocation of Evangelism, the subject turns to Mission and Vision.
Mission: Get Back on Task!
I have heard some really good sermons about how Evangelists need to get back on track and share the gospel more often and not just wait until they are preaching a revival. If you are working as an evangelist and not actively winning people to Jesus personally, you should know that is not how things ought to be. Your ministry as an evangelist ought to be an expression of the overflow of your personal experience as a witness of the gospel.
Vision: Build Up the Body!
Also, sermons that are preached to encourage Vocational Evangelists tend to focus on the need of the Evangelist to become more clearly focused on the vision of equipping the church for reaching the world for Christ. Some evangelists need to revisit their ministry calling and get back to the vision of evangelism mentoring.
You can be a great musician, performer, or motivational speaker and still not fulfill the vision of equipping the church. All evangelists need to remember their role is not just to entertain the church or do evangelism for them, but to help congregations, “prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (Eph.4:12b NIV)
People Focus: The Elephant in the Room People Don’t Talk About Enough
You hear sermons preached about these topics all the time and the evangelist are the most vocal in voicing the “Amen!” I agree with all these ideas but I can’t help but notice a missing area of need that I don’t hear preached often that is a major part of the problem for why some Evangelists are not being used by churches.
It’s the elephant in the room nobody is talking about. Below I want to give you a little straight talk you might never hear from the platform of an Evangelism conference.
That is the vision of putting people as the MVP of your vocational evangelism marketing outreach. A lot of what is ailing the marketing of Vocational Evangelism has nothing to do with their Mission or Vision. I have met many evangelists that were zealous witnesses who saw their role as serving the church but can’t get a call from a church to save their life.
Let’s focus on the “P” MVP of the MVP:
M=Mission
V= Vision
P= People Focus
What’s the Secret to Getting More Bookings as a Vocational Evangelist?
If you want to connect with more churches with your vocational evangelism ministry, you may need to change your focus from your need to get bookings, toward the needs of the people in the churches you want to serve. Many don’t seem to “get it” that their ministry advertising and promotion is not about them and what they want to do but about what people perceive they need.
Start Asking the Right Questions:
People who wonder why they can’t get a booking in a church usually are asking the wrong questions. They ask, “How can I get more churches calling me?”, but they don’t ask, “Should I still be doing puppets?” They think, “I can do so much for the church if they would just call me!” but fail to ponder, “Can I really promote myself as a youth speaker when I am 67 years old?” They say, “God told me I should preach at your church!” but don’t ask, “I wonder if I come off as pushy to the people I call?”
Take a Hard Look at What You Have to Offer the Church
Many Evangelists are so locked into their “form” of evangelistic presentation that they have trouble adapting to the audiences they want to reach. This blinds them to the fact that what they happen to be doing, doesn’t happen to be in demand. (See also Southern Gospel music in some settings) Some are so focused on what they want to do and what they feel they can do, they fail to see they come off looking pushy to people while trying to get people to book them on their terms.
Update Your Wardrobe Please!
In a few cases, maybe more than I care to admit, I have seen Evangelists dressed in such flamboyant and strange styles that I wish I could talk them into getting an extreme make over! There are a few who dress so strangely or so out of style, they are almost clownish in their appearance.
Since I am not pointing anyone in particular out, I can say this: If your choices of clothing style are more important to you than seeing the lost come to Christ, you deserve it when people don’t call you. God forbid that the one thing standing in the way of you reaching a person for Christ is a visit to the tailor!
Don’t Pump the Result Stats, Really Don’t!
People know it when you are exaggerating the results of your ministry. If when you report your stats, you “speak ministerially” and make it sound like you get more results than you really do, you are marketing yourself as a disreputable person. If you are not getting good results from your evangelism, revisit your Mission and Vision.
Get Over Yourself!
A few Evangelists come off as demanding “Divas” when they do get a booking and fail to recognize that they way they act is keeping them from getting referrals to other churches. Okay, you don’t like your hotel room! So the green room didn’t have your brand of soda and wasn’t at your preferred temperature! Sometimes pastors confide in each other, ever hear of that? Well, when you ask for crazy perks when you speak, that’s one of the things they talk about to each other! Develop a reputation as a humble servant.
For the record: If you are not getting on the platform of big events in your state, it could be because you called and asked. Some even try the “God told me to call” card. The organizers of these events get all kinds of calls like this, make one call like that, and you will be marked. Trust me! Try to get attention by getting evangelism results and develop personal reputation as a humble person.
Do You Think You are God’s Gift to the Church? Well, You Should!
This may come off as a shocker to some, but some Evangelists have a problem with pride. They seem to be under the impression they are God’s answer to the evangelism needs of the local church. And the really strange part of this is, THEY ARE!
However, not because of who they are, or what they can do, but because of who God is and what the Holy Spirit can do when they submit to him. Many pastors are humbled when they see an Evangelist come to their church and do in one week what they could never do in a year. That is a testament to who the Holy Spirit is and what His gifts can do. It is not about the individual Evangelist, but the Gift of Evangelist. A few evangelists miss this point though. What you do is too important for the church for you to get hung up on ego or your personal preferences for presentation, style, or taste.
Get back to your spiritual gift; refocus on reaching people and meeting the needs of the church. Take yourself and your wants out of the picture and put the Spirit’s leading ahead of your agenda. He might lead you to change what you do. You may have too put away old tactics, change your presentation and approach. But don’t fear, God will give you what you need to do it. Take the advice of Paul.
“For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” (1 Corinthians 9: 19-22 NIV)
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June 21st, 2008 at 2:27 pm
[...] admin put an intriguing blog post on Finding The MVP Of Your MinistryHere’s a quick excerptThat is a testament to who the Holy Spirit is and what His gifts can do. It is not about the individual Evangelist, but the Gift of Evangelist. A few evangelists miss this point though. What you do is too important for the church for … [...]