The Agency

HOW DO I INVEST IN PEOPLE?

If you want to make your life count by making an impact with people along your path (see previous post), it all begins with relationships. But How? Here's a few ideas to get you thinking:

LISTEN. BE THERE.
One of the best ways to impact someone is to just walk through life with them. You don't need a counselling degree and it's not about having your life all figured out. You don't need to have unlimited knowledge or always know the right thing to say. You don't need to be perfect. Listen. Be there.  Be a friend.

BE A FRIEND. HAVE A FRIEND
We all want someone to be there for us. Someone who will stick close through the good times and the bad. A mutual relationship where we can help each other through life. We all want that...so don't sit back. Take the first step. If you want to have a friend, most of the time you need to be the friend first. We provide opportunities to make connections in Networks & Journey Groups, but you still might need to take the first step. Your level of connectivity is really up to you. So whether it's in your neighborhood, workplace, in our community or at church, tke the first step and connect with someone. If you are willing to take the first step, that relationship could be one where you make a big difference in someone elses life and your develop a great friendship that changes your life as well. 

INVEST & INVITE
Investing in people is about a process. We're called to to share God's love and message with people in our lives & along our path. It's about investing in people far from God, being a friend, and looking for opportunities to invite them to church in order to invite them into a relationship with God. We aren't trying to make "converts". We believe God can make all the difference in our lives and we want people to experience a relationship with Him. So don't be weird, just be yourself. Don't be pushy, just share your experience. Respect people and the process. Pray and ask God to help you see opportunities to share his love and message through our words and actions.

Invite someone to join you some Sunday at The Journey. Statistics show it takes at least seven invites for someone to show up. A lot of people want to explore God but they are just waiting for an invite. If they come, follow up. Take them to lunch after church or ask them what they thought later in the week. Share your thoughts too. Look for opportunities to invite them to explore God more and maybe begin a relationship with Him.

SHARE YOUR STORY
How has God changed your life? What does follow Jesus mean for your life? How have you experienced God? Think about it. Write it out. Be prepared to share it.

BRIDGE THE GAP
Here is a great picture to explain what Jesus did on the cross. You can easily draw it on a napkin or whatever and ask people where they see themselves. It's based on Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Memorize it. Share it.

GIVE ME MORE
Each week we provide some follow up questions to each message. Grab a friend or two and make your own group. Invest in each other. Follow & pray for each other during the week. Help each other take steps. 

BIG QUESTIONS INVITE

This month, we're tackling some big questions about God & life for our Sunday Series. This is a great opportunity for you to invite someone to The Journey.

As an agent who lives out the mission, will you except this challenge?

1) Pray for a specific person(s) to invite to this series. Pray for boldness to invite them. Pray for their hearts to be open. Pray all this week.
2) Send them e-invite, give them a postcard, send them a facebook event invite, or just ask them.
3) If they say yes or maybe, follow up with them so they don't forget. Maybe do breakfast before church or lunch after with them.  Maybe offer to pick them up so they don't have to walk in alone.
4) If they say no, don't give up. Don't be pushy. Try again later...maybe with Christmas.
5) If they come, follow up. Ask them what they thought. Maybe share something that was meaningful to you. Don't be weird. Don't force it. Just be yourself and share from your heart.

Take advantage of this next series and let's be the light and live the mission.

Here's some more ideas on how to invite people on Next Steps Page.

 

EASTER DETAILS

Easter is just over a week away. It's always a big day for us at The Journey with lots of guests and people who might be there for their one and only time in church. We want to be on our "A" game. If you are volunteering, be there early and prepared. Be looking for guests so you can help & welcome them, so we can break down the walls so they can meet with God. Don't miss this opportunity to bring someone with you. Use the E-vites below to invite someone to join you. Please consider coming at 8:15 am or 5:00 pm to make room for our guests. Please park far & sit near and let's make this a great experience for everyone by doing all we can to help people connect with God.

GOOD FRIDAY
We will have a 25-30 minute walk through experience. You can come any time between 11:30 am - 1 pm or 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm. If you have kids, come and take turns if you need too. There will be videos, communion, readings and more sensory elements to remember what Jesus did on the cross.

EASTER SUNDAY - 8:15 am, 9:30 am, 11:00 am, 5:00 pm
We will have four identical gatherings with full kids programs. There is also free breakfast from Panera Bread before the 8:15 am service or there's Pizza, Peeps and an Egg Hunt after the 5:00 pm. This year as we celebrate Jesus, the cross & resurrection, we are looking at how we can awaken our lives as well. 

More EASTER DETAILS: Here
EASTER INVITE: Here
EASTER FACEBOOK PAGE/INVITE: Here

CONFESS MY SECRET

Coming in March, we have a new series planned about forgiveness, freedom & hope. It's called My Dirty Little Secret. We want people to experience God and His forgiveness by dumping the guilt, regrets & pain of past mistakes. We want people to experience life in a relationship with God and not be held back by sin and certain struggles. So will you help us get the word out? Use whatever opportunities you have to send people to confessmysecret.net.

PRAY

It's the most wonderful time of the year. Christmas will soon be here. It's a season when people tend to be more open to hearing about God. So, invite someone to church this season. Be praying for God to open the hearts of our guests. As people come to our Christmas events, be praying that they will hear and respond to God's message of love and hope. Also be praying for each other - as we agents are in the field at all the holiday festivities at work, in the community and with our families - pray that we will be bold with God's love and message and take advantage to invest & invite in this holiday season. 

INVEST & INVITE TIMES 2

You might have heard this term at The Journey before...Invest and Invite. We want to encourage you to invest in relationships with people who are far from God and look for opportunities to invite them to The Journey. We have post cards and business cards, materials, facebook and e-invites to help you do that. Christmas is a great time to invite people to church. With all the songs in the stores and the holiday spirit, some people are more open to coming to a church.

This isn't a business plan to just sucker people into the doors of our church. This is really about you sharing your story and your relationship with people. This is about experiencing Jesus in such a way that it changes how you see yourself and the people around you. It's about God's love filling you and overflowing to the people around you. 

There is a second part of investing and inviting. It's not just investing in a relationship and then inviting to church. It's also investing by following up and keeping the relationship and conversation going. If someone comes, it's asking them what they thought or sharing what was meaningful to you. It's not just inviting them to church, it's looking for ways to invite them into a relationship with Jesus.

You have the unique opportunity for God to use you to make a difference in someone's life. For more thoughts on Invest and Invite, check out the podcast here.

SHARE YOUR STORY

We would like to encourage you to write out your story - your journey wiith God. It can be helpful for you and it can be a great tool to talk to people about God. People can debate things about God but most people will listen and respect your experience. 

We even see this in the Bible with the blind beggar. Jesus heals him and give him his sight back. The religious leaders are asking him all kinds of questions and he doesn't know the answers so he says - I don't know about that but I do know that I was blind but now I can see. (check it out in John 9)

As you talk to people about God, you might end up in a similar situation. You can say, I'm not sure about that but here's my experience... and share your story.

BRIDGE THE GAP

How do you explain God's story when you only have a few moments? Here is a verse and a little picture that can help you talk to people about God. This works best after you have built a relationship with someone and they're curious or asking questions. You can draw this for them or even just share the concepts.

Try memorizing this verse from Romans 6:23 and the picture/steps/drawing below:

Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The picture shows the the verse...because we've all messed up (sin) we don't deserve (wages) to be with God. Our sin separate us from God and we deserve hell (death). But God gives us what we don't deserve (gift). God offers us life here on earth and forever in heaven in a relationship with Him. And it's all through Jesus and what he did on the cross. The cross bridges the gap between us and God if we are willing to trust that Jesus as our Savior and Leader in life.

Mark shared the drawing at The Agency and also talked about the 4 "R's". We are designed to be in a relationship with Jesus. But our sin ruined it. The grace of the cross can restore us - if we respond to Jesus.

I hope these tools can be helpful to keep your thoughts focused in those times when you have just a few moments to share. You can draw the picture or share the verse and concepts about God's story and love for us.

IT'S TIME TO BE SPECIFIC...OR IS IT?

We talked in the Agency this past Sunday night about how to begin and continue spiritual conversations with people who are questioning, seeking, disconnected from Jesus.  We also talked about “replacing yourself” in your area of ministry by always looking for someone else to join the team.  Proactively looking for people to invite to be a part of your service team.

Depending on the relationship, there are a couple of ways we can go about this.  If the relationship is new, or we’re not really sure about the person’s comfort level with us, or with church or God, in general – we may want to give a general invitation.  “You should check out The Journey sometime”.  “Hey, if you ever want to jump in and serve somewhere, I’d love to have you join me”.  It puts the ball in their court, and there's no pressure (which are good things).  There is also the potential, that it gives someone an easy out (which is maybe not a good thing).

When we have a little deeper relationship with someone, we've earned their trust, or we know their level of commitment, it affords us the opportunity to be a little more specific.  "I'd love if you'd come check out The Journey with me this month.  Are you available next Sunday?" (then take them out to lunch to hear what they thought!).  Or, "Hey, I serve in as a host - just saying hi to people.  I love it.  I'm wondering if you'd like to join me and check it out.  It's a great way to serve.  I'm hosting in two weeks.  So, what do you think?"

There are times when we're too specific, and the person isn't ready to make that commitment.  But, I think, more often it's that we're too general and if we were more specific the person would have joined us, but they leave the conversation saying "that would be fun - but I don't know when.  I wonder if they're going this next week?"  And before long they don't think about the opportunity anymore.  And, we become convinced that they're not interested. 

AGENCY RECAP: AUGUST 29

Below there's a summary of what we talked about at The Agency. The Agency is a group of volunteers & leaders at The Journey. We're called to live out God's mission.

YEAR GOALS
We function on the school calendar and we are starting a new year next month. We shared some highlights of last years goals and looked towards this coming year. We have goals of having around 800 people at The Journey where 65% of them weren't going to church before The Journey and where 67% are involved in volunteering and 55% are in groups. We hope to baptize at least 60 people this coming year and start another campus as well.

REPLACE YOURSELF
If we are going to accomplish those goals, we will need more hands on deck. That means you might need to step into a new role because you have more to offer. If you know someone who has been coming and isn't volunteering, ask them to join you sometime as you serve and just try it out. You will need more help in your area as we continue to grow. We did some funny role playing of ways to replace yourself - too bad if you missed it. For more on replacing yourself as a concept or with some tips, check out this podcast.

COMMUNICATING CHRIST
Communication isn't easy (see above video) especially when it comes to talking to people about Jesus. But we are agents called to share God's message. As we continue to grow as a church, we need to be prepared to talk to people about God. Mark shared some tips & ideas on how to create conversations. You don't need to know everything or be the best word-smith. Share your story. Ask people about their weekend - then share about yours and church at The Journey. Look for a similar interest and share about God through that common ground. Invite someone to church (business cards at info center, e-invite online) and if they come, ask them about it and create a conversation. If you get a chance, share God's story in Romans 6:23. We all practiced a little drawing called Bridge the Gap. It's an easy way to share God's story (look for another post on that). We also had some funny role playing to give some other ideas - if you missed it too band.

We ended our night by breaking up into our teams for focused training. Thanks to everyone who came out. We hope this event helps you grow as a follower, a person and in your area of service.