I’m a firm believer in measurable outcomes. The New Testament is full statistics. Just this morning I was reading in Mark 8 where Jesus reminded the disciples that he had fed 5,000 people on one occasion and another 4,000 people on a second occasion. He knew exactly how many baskets of bread were leftover each time. He kept track, right?

I like to see data to know whether we are accomplishing the things we say are important to us. Since our adoption of 13 Measures of a Healthy Church several years ago, below are some of the vital statistics we report on each month. The data below is through November 30, 2011. It’s been an amazing year in so many ways.

Salvations: preaching the Gospel results in people receiving salvation through Jesus Christ.
Over 315 people have made decisions to become Christ-followers through our ministries.

Baptisms: a measure of transformation is a believer’s desire to publicly testify to their faith.
We’ve baptized 134 people who have testified publicly to their faith in Jesus.

Attendance: growing attendance reflects our biblical desire to influence the world for Christ.
Our attendance has grown by 15-20% since January.

Guests: as we reach out to our community we should see guests visiting our services.
We’ve welcomed 430 first-time guests to Fairhaven Church so far in 2011.

Connecting: we are working to connect new people to our ministries.
We hosted 471 people at bi-monthly events to help them connect to Fairhaven.

New Members: a healthy church will attract people willing to become covenant members.
Over 80 people have made covenant commitments as new members of Fairhaven.

New Givers: one reflection of a person’s commitment to a new church is their decision to give.
Over 400 new individuals and/or families have begun giving tithes and offerings this year.

Generosity: as God blesses us, we will share that generosity with people and organizations.
We sent over $166,000 to the China ministry of Luke and Amy Wong.
We added $20,000 to our giving to the Alliance Great Commission Fund.
We supported nine different local organizations with special gifts totaling almost $8,000.
We just donated over 1,100 bins filled with household good to help the homeless in Dayton.

Benevolence: a defining quality of Fairhaven is caring for the needs of our church family.
Almost 200 individuals and families were helped through gifts totaling $50,000.

Debt Reduction: as God provides through His people, we are reducing our mortgage debt.
We’ve paid almost $700,000 in extra principal payments to reduce our mortgage.

It’s been a great year at Fairhaven Church. God’s blessing has been almost immeasurable, and it’s my prayer that beyond the things which we can count, many, many hearts and lives have been transformed beyond what can be seen. God be praised!

Wishing you a blessed New Year!

This past Sunday we held our only annual congregational meeting for the purpose of electing new officers to our Boards and for conveying to the congregation our approved 2012 budget. I think our presentation was excellent and so with that in mind, I thought I’d share the handout with you. It led with vision and inspiration, which is critical, and conveyed the figures with a sense of “let’s join God in what he is doing at Fairhaven Church.” The meeting was positive and forward-looking. We are blessed.

2012BudgetBooklet

I was reading an HBS article this weekend, “Why Some Teams Succeed” and appreciated a set of six factors which the author believed contributes to team success. Since I both lead teams and participate on other teams, I am a student of good team dynamics. Here is the list, in my own words:

1. A clear set of goals and objectives which everyone can understand. Why are we here? What are we trying to accomplish?
2. A method for measuring success, i.e. good metrics. What does success look like?
3. Ongoing training so that key skills necessary for success are reinforced. Do we need improved hard skills or soft skills? Would training of some type enhance our effectiveness?
4. Decision-making authority over how to reach goals. Do we have the authority to execute our plan?
5. Team-based rewards and incentives, vs. individual incentives. Will we be judged by our individual performance on the team or on the team’s overall effectiveness?
6. An open culture with dialogue, feedback and access to important information, and senior management. Can we get the information we need in order to accomplish our goals?

How does your lead team, ministry team or department function in view of these factors? Ambiguity, lack of authority, closed dialogue, individualism, and missing accountability can keep a team from succeeding, even if you’ve got great people on the team.

Wow– these past few months have been off the charts. So busy that most days it seems like I don’t have time to even take a breath. A new construction project, dashboard reports, Board meetings, meetings with bankers, the 2012 budget, staffing puzzles to solve, overseeing staff, writing curriculum… it never ends.

How do you relax in the midst of your crazy stressful work life? Here’s how I spell relief:

1. Take a walk in the woods.
2. Play a round of golf.
3. Spend time with my grandson.
4. Do some woodworking.
5. Read a Civil War novel.
6. Get away for the weekend with Kay.
7. Relax in front of the fireplace.
8. Do anything in the garage with classic rock playing.
9. Go out for dinner.
10. Watch TV (I wish this weren’t on the list).

What do you find most relaxing?

Senior Leadership Teams: 7 Questions to Identify Who Should be on the Team | TonyMorganLive.com.

I know I haven’t been blogging for awhile. Combination of too much to do, hating to type, nothing worthwhile to say, and wondering if it really is any benefit. One of those years, I guess. Anyway, I found a platform that I’m more comfortable with: Tumblr. It’s microblogging…meaning it’s for shorter posts, more media, and it’s easy to access from anywhere. Just my style. So, if you want to follow me, check out www.visionmeetsreality.tumblr.com .

That’s where I’ll be sharing my experiences, ideas, thoughts, and some of my life… Hope you’ll join me there!

P.S. You can also follow me on Twitter, paultclark, where you’ll also see my thoughts from Tumblr.

God bless!

The Fatal Flaw with 360 Surveys – Marcus Buckingham – Harvard Business Review.

I’ve been reading again Brother Lawrence’s, Practicing the Presence of God, and I am again reminded that the greatest books have already been written—starting with the Bible. If no further books on living the Christian life were published, we probably would be fine, if not better off. It’s good to go back to the classics. If you’ve never read Practicing the Presence of God, take some time this summer in a hammock and slowly go through it. Don’t be in a hurry, just let it exercise your mind and your heart.

This section from the Second Letter caught my eye today:

I consider myself as the most wretched of men, full of sores and corruption, and who has committed all sorts of crimes against his King; touched with a sensible regret I confess to Him all my wickedness, I ask His forgiveness, I abandon myself in His hands, that He may do what He pleases with me. This King, full of mercy and goodness, very far from chastising me, embraces me with love, makes me eat at His table, serves me with His own hands, gives me the key of His treasures; He converses and delights Himself with me incessantly, in a thousand and a thousand ways, and treats me in all respects as His favourite. It is thus I consider myself from time to time in His holy presence.

Lawrence is humble, real, and without any self-delusion. I love that! If the Apostle Paul and Brother Lawrence can look within themselves only to conclude that they are “wretched,” why do I spend so much time trying to convince others and myself that I’m any different?

I love the term, “touched with a sensible regret.” Jesus’ atonement paid the penalty for my sin: past, present and future. God is not surprised when I sin. I don’t need to beat myself up. I need a sensible regret that moves me toward confession.

Lawrence notes his wise steps of repentance:

1. Confessing “all my wickedness”
2. Asking his forgiveness
3. Abandonment to his will in the matter
4. Acceptance of his response, however that may look

Finally, I love what this wise man has learned. When we confess our sins, God is there to give us mercy and forgiveness in a measure we can never fully comprehend or understand:

This King, full of mercy and goodness, very far from chastising me, embraces me with love, makes me eat at His table, serves me with His own hands, gives me the key of His treasures; He converses and delights Himself with me incessantly, in a thousand and a thousand ways, and treats me in all respects as His favourite.

That’s so encouraging to me. What are you reading that speaks to your soul?

Yesterday I was chatting with David Smith, our Lead Pastor, who just returned from almost five weeks off. It was a combination of vacation and ministry. David was in Indonesia with his family as he was the speaker for the Indonesian field forum for the C&MA, our parent denomination. David spent almost 2 weeks in Malaysia at the conference and then travelled to other asian cities visiting missionaries and being a tourist. He really wasn’t a true tourist though, since he was born and raised in that part of the world as an MK.

David said something interesting when he got back. He said that he feels rested and refreshed after being away a month. He thinks that taking a month off each summer; being out of the pulpit five weeks; could be the antidote for needing a sabbatical every five years or so. He sees lots of his peers taking 3-6 months off every five years or so for sabbaticals, and he isn’t interested in stepping away for that long. If the primary reason for the sabbatical is renewal, he believes that 4-5 weeks off each summer is the best option.

Does your pastor get away that long each summer? I think it’s awesome to see David rested, refreshed and anxious to get reengaged. And I like the idea of him avoiding a long sabbatical, because I don’t know that I like the idea of the church being without his leadership or preaching for that long of a time.

A month or so off each summer? I’m all for it!

Ok, here’s a question for you… Let’s say your church normally includes in the bulletin last week’s offering listed next to the weekly need. For example,

Last Weeks Giving: $67,425
Weekly Need: $74,000

Let’s say you also list the YTD actual vs. budget. Something like,

YTD Actual Giving: $645,237
YTD Budget: $654,000

That might be a fairly normal situation for many churches–each week reporting the finances this way. But what would you do if your giving so far outpaced your budget that you were, say, $200,000 ahead of budget? Would you keep putting the YTD data in the bulletin?

The inevitable questions come to mind:

• Will people stop giving if we get too far ahead?
• Won’t the data confuse people–create more questions than answers?
• Will they think we don’t need their generosity?

What would your church do?  I know the wrestling match in your head: if we have taught our people the truth about honoring God with the blessings he has given us; if we have taught the principle of the tithe; if people are giving because they support the vision, not because the bills are unpaid… then why change anything? I agree–in my head.

Here’s what we have done–yes, thankfully we are pretty far ahead of our budget. We removed the YTD data and now include a section above the weekly figures that begins:

“Because of your generosity…”  In the paragraph we report each week one way in which we have been able to go beyond what we had planned to do to impact the community and the Kingdom. Yes, we are looking for ways to be generous with the generosity God is giving us. For instance, last weekend that section read like this: