Last week  I was at the assimilation conference put on by Church Leader Insights. Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas, started and built Journey Church in New York and have been training pastors for many years through CLI.  Nelson was an engineer by training and cut his teeth on  ministry at Saddleback in the 90s.  A few months ago Nelson asked us to come alongside to partner with them to serve churches.  He knew our history and background.  I knew theirs.  It was a no-brainer for us to work with them.  They are known for training churches on the 8 systems of building and managing church.  Last week the focus was on assimilation.

Tomorrow I'm heading to the Church Leader Insights training on Assimilation.  I thought it might be interesting to write something ahead of time about my thoughts about the topic and then follow it up with thoughts on what I learned about assimilation from this excellent training by Nelson Searcy.

We've been thinking a lot about pricing lately.  One of my favorite business blogs has been doing a series based on the book "Confessions of The Pricing Man:  How Price Affects Everything".  The author, Hermann Simon, talks about three basic strategies for pricing: Low, Premium, and Luxury.  Each one has it's own strengths and challenges.  We've struggled with this issue for a lot of years and have only adjusted our pricing twice.  At a high level, this presses me to think about a really basic question.  Is Church Management Software Worth the Money?  Which begs the question, how much money?  First, some thoughts about the value software brings to churches.  Then, I'll relate this value to the 3 strategies.

 You just invested time and money in a Church software application.  You enjoyed the conversation with the sales person and got a lot out of their implementation process.  However, the congregation has been slow or limited in using it.  

The only thing worse than a child being hurt or abused by an older child or adult is that hurt or abuse happening in Church.  This concern keeps those of us bent on child safety awake at night.  There is no greater concern for safety in church ministry than this.  The liability and legal issue is important, but even more important is the authentic concern pastors have for their families, parents have for their kids and kids have for their friends.  Here are three common challenges to child safety every church faces.

Agility is the ability to improve speed and grace.  It is the way an athlete moves on the field that gives him or her a competitive advantage.  It is the way a lawyer exudes confidence with clarity and timing before the judge and jury.  It is the way a software company innovates quickly, efficiently and beautifully to serve their clients.  Agility is also the way some churches are able to constantly improve how they attract, equip and release people.

Last week I visited with the Executive Pastor and IT director of a church about an hour from me.  Over a decade ago they built a really useful software application to manage their church.  It is especially good at automating follow-up of guests.  We talked back then about Churchteams and I was impressed with what they built.  Obviously, they didn't need us.  

We are part of the Plano campus of Watermark Church here in Dallas.  It was a Saturday morning in July, I was at our church for the second week of training on speaking.  I had spent the week putting together a 10 minute talk using the structure we had been given.  I had also had 3 lunch meetings that week, a morning ministry team meeting, an early morning accountability group and an evening spent with a couple's group.  I was tired that morning and wanted to be home to get stuff done around the house.  As I was talking with a good friend, I found myself complaining about all the time I had invested in ministry that week.  Now, that's not really like me.  I love ministry and am grateful for the opportunities to invest in the lives of people.  But, something was happening in me that morning that happens all the time in the lives of your most engaged leaders.  I was feeling over-engaged.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven."