Auburn SDA Church
Creative Ways to Cast Vision

  • Every church has a general vision.
    They just don’t know how to get
    From point A to point B.
    Every church wants
    To grow.
    To be full of kids
    To be well known in their community
    Etc
    Vision casting is
    Helping the church see
    The path
    From where they are
    To where they want to be.
    This is completely unique
    For each church.
    Case Study of Auburn
    During my interview
    They told me what
    They wanted to be.
    They wanted:
    Church filled with kids.
    Very active in community service.
    Soul-winning church.
    The vision was there…
    Additionally
    Much ground work had been laid.
    Once upon a time
    they had great kids ministry.
    They had put forth
    much effort to
    engage and serve
    in their community.
    They had already
    official partner of local elementary school.
    food ministry
    chaplain of police department
    connections with mayor
    connections with local hospital
    connections with women’s shelter
    yearly school supplies ministry.
    The area had a future
    historically depressed community
    now outskirts of Atlanta metro area
    expecting major future growth.
    When I arrived
    we didn’t write
    a new vision statement.
    They knew what they wanted
    they had made some progress
    they just needed more
    focused effort to
    move toward their goals.

    Growing Kids Ministry

    We arrive during Covid.
    SS class was dead.
    average attendance of 50.
    They said,
    their children’s SS classes
    were empty due to Covid.
    We later found out
    they had 1 SS class
    for all kids
    ages 0 to 12
    before Covid started.
    Children’s SS had died because
    it wasn’t
    focus of church
    well staffed
    well supported
    done poorly.
    We knew that
    there were many
    SDA families
    in the area.
    Our philosophy was simple.
    Build it,
    and they will come.
    We immediately recruited
    staff for classes
    that had no children!!!
    This was a step of faith!
    My wife taught 1 class.
    I taught 1 class.
    We convinced 2 others to teach.
    A lesson I learned,
    if you are blazing a new path,
    pastor is leading the charge.
    My job is to create new XXXXX
    create stability
    hand it off to church member.
    It wasn’t simple.
    We had 1 class
    with zero attendance!
    Primary was empty!
    Our plan was:
    build it,
    and they will come.
    We had to have it ready
    for a family to come.
    Primary was empty
    3 months
    6 months
    9 months.
    Teacher begged for permission
    to give up
    leave class
    wait for 10 minutes
    got to adult class.
    We doubled down on our plan.
    Teachers show up on time.
    Stay to end.
    kids or no kids!
    Vision casting
    didn’t happen at board meeting
    didn’t happen during sermon alone
    It happened
    talking to crying teacher
    wanting to give up!
    We needed small wins!
    We needed a little success
    to celebrate together!
    And it happened.
    People changed churches
    to come to ours
    for children’s SS classes!
    We first attracted other SDA’s
    who shared our vision:
    great children’s ministry.
    We relaunched our
    Pathfinders
    Adventurers.
    Other churches were still closed.
    Our goal was simple
    build it,
    and they will come.
    We didn’t just think of it.
    We didn’t just write it down.
    We didn’t just read it.
    We simply made choices
    to live that plan.
    Visions fail
    because they are not
    realistic plans
    with intentional steps
    to fulfill them.
    We started VBS…
    pretty soon we are booming
    with more and more kids.
    We now have
    largest Adventurers club
    in the Atlanta Metro area.
    What did it take?
    Intentional prayer
    Intentional plan.
    Intentional leadership.
    a place poised for success.

    Church Growth

    We started getting visitors.
    Our hospitality process
    was embarrassing.
    No greeter.
    No welcome.
    No members connected.
    Nobody noticed you.
    It was bad.
    The church said,
    we want to grow.
    Your #1 opportunity for growth
    are people who already show up!
    People were showing up
    and being ignored!
    I shared with church board
    we have lots of visitor
    They are being welcomed.
    They are not being processed.
    No contact info.
    No further invitations.
    etc.
    Church board denied
    there were many guests
    they were treated poorly.
    I knew that if I
    could track our guests
    we could follow-up more.
    Through much convincing
    invested in church managment software.
    Reasons
    Track visitors.
    Track leads.
    Delegate lead.
    Manage Attendance trends.
    Manage volunteer service.
    This proved to be
    extremely useful tool.
    We could track visitors.
    How many.
    Gather contact info.
    Welcome them back.
    Find out if they are SDA.
    Invite them to next steps.
    Join SS class.
    Take Bible lessons.
    Transfer membership.
    I trained greeters
    to engage the visitors.
    We had started potluck
    1 time per month.
    There was little
    engagement of guests
    on other Sabbaths.
    We started Meet and Greet.
    Food every week.
    Guests invited to stay.
    The greeters were taught
    take attendance by name.
    Dale Carnegie
    "Remember that a person's name is to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”
    What were the results?
    We sat down to plan our
    vision statement.
    mission statement.
    One of our goals:
    I insisted that we have
    and evangelistic goal.
    Faith dream:
    double in attendance in 5 years.
    Four years later,
    our vision came to fruition.

    Soul Winning

    We go visitor because
    of the children’s ministry.
    The visitors
    transferred their membership
    because they felt welcomed.
    Soon all these new SDA members
    started inviting their
    friends and family.
    First few years
    not successful at soul winning.
    4 baptism in 4 years.
    We tried.
    Facebook leads
    Mailers
    Trained members as bible workers.
    Friendship evangelism workshops.
    Held reaping meetings
    Very poor results.
    The system was broken.
    We were trying
    to convince strangers
    our truth is best.
    No relationships.
    No connections.
    Just:
    strangers come here
    check out my truth...
    Failure!
    I new that
    we were missing
    relational component.
    As church grew,
    more people coming.
    Not just SDA transfers!
    People started inviting
    SDA friends.
    This is where
    the magic is at!
    We currently have
    30 active leads.
    Non-SDA people
    coming to Adventurers
    coming to church
    taking Bible studies
    getting baptized.
    We have about 15
    active Bible studies.
    Where did they come from?
    They walked in the door!!!!!!
    All of them!!!!
    All of the leads
    where we had no
    prior contact with them
    before: “take these lessons”
    completely failed.
    The vast majority
    of bible study leads
    that started after
    regular attendance at
    church or other ministry
    has led to baptism!
    We are on track
    to have more baptism
    in this calendar year
    than know history of church.
    For soul winning
    the formula is simple
    it is built on relationship
    ideally on
    people who attend.
    Reaping seminars are great
    but don’t do them
    if there is no fruit to reap!
    They will discourage the church!

    Community Service

    We are doing things.
    We have program.
    They are not relational.
    Our community service
    is currently failing our goals.
    This is the next step
    focus on making our
    community service
    more relational.
    This is hard,
    it takes more investment of time.
    Our church is mostly
    busy young professionals with kids.
    They are short on time.
    They are free on Sabbath morning.
    Maximize our reach on Sabbath.

    Building Project

    Before I arrived,
    church bought property
    considered building
    planted a church instead.
    But they were still
    talking to architect
    about building plans
    with 60 people in attendance.
    I never said,
    building dreams are over.
    I didn’t have burden for
    building a church.
    I would have rather
    been open to planting again.
    Bigger issue,
    church was empty
    could not promote
    vision to build because
    there was no need then!
    We had to prove
    to our members that
    we had rapid church growth
    could consider the project.
    We evaluated our area.
    15 SDA Church within
    20 mile radius.
    Conclusion
    we should plant
    another church.
    Planting is easiers
    in many ways.
    Find 20 people who
    will break off from group
    and start over.
    Much easier than
    lets try to build
    4 million dollar church
    when church is
    now half empty!

    We officially decided
    as a church to
    move foreward with
    a building plan
    for new church
    in 2023.
    Our sanctuary seats
    130 comfortably.
    At 110
    we agreed,
    we need to build.
    Not everyone agree
    what is what we needed.
    By last year,
    we had at least
    30 people in the
    overflow room each week.
    We knew we would
    have to raise
    at least
    1 million cash
    for the project.
    This seemed like
    a scary goal for
    a church our size.
    But we were
    financially viable congregation.

    Mostly a church
    of young professionals
    with small kids.
    Financially healthy.
    We were told by
    fundraising director
    at our conference
    capital campaign
    will increase giving.
    I believed them,
    but many were scared.
    Many of our leaders
    struggling with
    scarcity mindset.
    Only so many pieces in pie.
    I told them
    God has another pie.
    Vision casting
    is not a meeting
    is not a sermon
    it is a belief system
    it is a way of life.
    Result:
    Church budget is flat but healthy
    Building giving is on target
    Tithe significantly increased
    Praise God!

    Conclusions

    How do you cast vision.
    Church probably already has healthy dream.
    Evaluate resources
    Evaluate desired destination
    Make strategic, and intentional steps
    to move toward goal.
    Why are churches unsuccessful?
    bad location
    poor resources
    sometimes.
    More often,
    pastors and churches
    are too busy maintaining.
    Too many resources go toward
    keeping shop
    not reaching toward dreams.
    Make sure your
    greatest efforts
    around about
    reaching goals.
Auburn SDA Church
31 members • 12 followers