Tag Archives: strategic plan

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4 Questions About A Life Plan

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This is the first post in a series on life planning. In this series, I will share with you the basics of a life plan and why you need one. I will also go through the details of my own life planning process. Neither my plan nor my process are perfect. In fact, they are evolving from year to year. My hope is that you can take what I do and use it to create your own plan.

life plan

Why A Life Plan?

Why in the world do I need a life plan? Who actually does that anyway? I mean, isn’t it too stressful or time-consuming to go to all the trouble? I just take one day at a time and make the most of life. I don’t want to lock myself into anything.

For these and various other reasons, few people actually go as far as creating a life plan for themselves. We are certainly familiar with, and see the need for, planning when it comes to building houses or buildings, managing huge projects, and even weddings or careers. But when it comes to our lives, the only one we will ever get, most people simply “wing it.”

Does this make sense to you? We have more invested in our lives than we do in anything else. We have greater expectations from our lives than we do most any project we will work on, right? So if this is true, would it not make sense to spend some time planning for it? Would it not stand to reason that we should attempt to maximize the life and resources God has given us?

Okay, so you are beginning to see a potential need for a plan. You are not quite convinced yet, but you are willing to read a little further. Good! Let’s continue!

What Is It?

What exactly is a life plan? Effectively, a life plan is a map of how you want to live your life. It takes into consideration your resources, current position, your intended destination, and the impact you want to make along the way. It gives you a general path to use as you navigate the twists and turns life throws at you.

A life plan cannot guarantee you that life will or will not go a certain way, but it can give you a much more active role in determining where you go and how you end up. A life plan cannot assure you of specific results, but it can help you get the most out of your resources as you reach for your goals. Much like a GPS system in your car, it will not prevent unexpected course changes due to forces beyond your control, but it can help you get back on track as quickly as possible.

So, I hope that you are a little closer to making a decision to create your own LIFE plan. If you are, there are two more questions to answer.

When Should I Start?

The next question you should ask is “When” to start. Well, I have heard it described in this way:

The best time to plant an oak tree was ten years ago. The next best time is right now!

In light of that, I would recommend you start as soon as possible. Your first efforts at this process do not have to be perfect. You would literally laugh if you saw my first plan (if you could call it that)! Perfection is not the point. Progress is the point.

I encourage you to determine right now that you are going to do this. Do not worry about how it is going to look or what anyone else might say if they saw it. You are not doing this plan for anyone but you and Jesus.

Assuming you are ready to take the leap and get started, you only have one more question.

How Do I Do It??

How exactly does one go about creating a life plan? What are the steps? What are the components? In the next several posts, I will guide you through the answers to each of these questions. I will break down the components of my own plan, as well as the steps I take each year.

When we are done with this series, you will definitely have a better idea of what a life plan looks like and how to create one. You should also see the benefits to starting your own. You will even have resources you can use in your own process. As we go, please make sure to ask questions and get clarification on anything that is unclear.

What are your thoughts?

Do you see the need for a life plan?

If you already have one, have you seen the benefits?

This post was originally published 1/22/12

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Final Lessons From David Green Of Hobby Lobby

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This is my third and final post in a series I am doing on lessons we can learn from David Green, Founder and CEO of Hobby Lobby. Recently, I shared an article from The High Calling (a Christian blog community) which was an in-depth interview of David Green. Because the article was so long itself, I did not expound on it in that post. Instead, I am taking a more detailed look in this short series of posts.

David Green

David Green

As I said before, I have never met David Green. Maybe one day I will be able to meet him and learn more about his Christian approach to business! Until then, I will simply do the best I can by reading various articles (and soon, his book More Than a Hobby). As I do this, I will attempt to apply what I learn. I will also share it here on this blog.

In reviewing the interview article I mentioned above, I found what I believe to be 15 clear lessons for anyone attempting to integrate faith and business. Though each of us has different situations and challenges, I think you will quickly see that these lessons span across industries and business sizes.

I have already written two posts covering the first 10 of these lessons. Hopefully you have learned something (again or for the first time!) that you can apply to your situation. In today’s post, we will cover the final five lessons.

#11 – Be bold about your faith.

This lesson will likely contradict what some of us have been taught – don’t mix business and religion. However, I think you need to hear exactly what David Green is saying here. Hobby Lobby does not ask about beliefs when hiring. There is not a faith requirement for employment.

However, he is committed to telling everyone – employees included – about his faith. A Christian business is not one made up only of Christians. Instead, it is a business in which the leadership or ownership sees the eternal need in all of us and seeks to share the One that will meet that need!

#12 – Have a clear statement of purpose.

Does your business have a Christ-centered mission statement or statement of purpose? If not, have you thought through the benefits of creating such a statement? I would encourage you to take the time and seek God’s guidance in this area. I think you will be surprised at the results.

David Green mentioned the Hobby Lobby Statement of Purpose. This statement effectively answers the question, “Why does this company exist?” This statement not only serves as a great roadmap for determining strategic direction, but can also be used in making the tough decisions we face every day.

#13 – Trials are good for us.

Two statements that David Green made when discussing the tough times in 1985 stood out to me.

At that time, I learned more than I ever learned in my life.

I know I couldn’t handle all of the success today, if I hadn’t gone through that.

Folks, James tells us to consider it pure joy when we face trials. This is what he is talking about. David Green makes it clear that he is thankful for the trials. He knows the value they brought him. If we are willing to learn, God can do the same with us.

#14 – Recognize you are a steward.

I am not supposed to choose favorites among these lessons, but I think I might have to at least hint at this one! At the same time, I will resist the urge to take the next 45 minutes of your time sharing my thoughts on this subject.

The Bible says that the earth and everything in it is God’s. We do not own anything! This includes our businesses, regardless of what the stock certificates may reflect. As a result, we are merely stewards of these businesses for the time God gives us. As stewards, we should be asking how God would have us use them for His glory and eternal impact.

David Green and his family have gone to great lengths to make sure this is clear among them. If you noticed, he described how the company is technically in their names, but they have all agreed (and signed) that they have no rights to any money from the stock. They earn their compensation through whatever jobs they hold – not through the value of the stock.

Whether you are willing to go to this length or not, you truly need to recognize that you do not own your business. Begin the mental and emotional process of acknowledging this fact to God and see what He does. I think you will be amazed.

#15 – Trust in God.

Though the above lesson is my favorite in the bunch, this one trumps them all. If you are not able to apply this lesson, then you will not be able to stick it out with any of the others for very long. For you to truly live out any of these other lessons, there are some basic assumptions you must accept first.

    God is good.
    You are a child of God.
    God has your best interests in mind.
    God is perfectly faithful.

If you will accept these truths in your heart, then you will KNOW that you can trust God. When you trust God, you will follow His lead regardless of the apparent consequences – even when others may be advising you in a different direction. David Green made decisions against the advice of some Christian professionals because he knew clearly what God was asking him to do. That is trust!

What lessons would you add from the article?

Which one(s) stands out to you?

What actions do you need to take as a result of these lessons?

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More Lessons From David Green Of Hobby Lobby

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In a recent post, I shared an article from The High Calling (a Christian blog community). The article was an in-depth interview of David Green, founder and CEO of Hobby Lobby. Because the article was so long itself, I did not expound on it in that post. Instead, I am taking a more detailed look in a short series of posts.

David Green

David Green

While I have never met David Green, based on the articles I have read, there is plenty there is plenty we can learn from him! In fact, the more I read about the Hobby Lobby story and David Green’s leadership, the more I want to model our business after his. Hopefully you will learn something from this short series of posts as we dig a little deeper into Green’s story.

In reviewing the interview article, I found what I believe to be 15 clear lessons for anyone attempting to integrate faith and business. Though each of us has different situations and challenges, I think you will quickly see that these lessons span across industries and business sizes. In my last post, I took a look at the first five lessons I saw in the interview article. Today, we will review the next five lessons.

Let’s dig right in!

#6 – Learn from mistakes

I bet you have never heard this one before, have you? I know this is supposed to be common sense, but I have not found it to be that common. Too often, we are guilty of repeating our mistakes. At least I am.

Note what David Green said when asked about learning opportunities. He talked about how his company almost lost it all when they stretched too far for growth. He did not dwell on this point, but I will.

They survived that time period, but made the decision that they would be debt free in the future. That is a huge decision that impacts virtually every other financial decision in a business. Sacrifices are made and “deals” are passed up that would require debt. This is no easy lesson.

By the way, what do you think David Green is saying about this decision after what we have been through the past several years. Regret? I don’t think so!

#7 – Simplify your priorities

Again, this is not rocket science here. We hear this a lot, but do we act on it? In many cases, we get so elaborate with our plans, for Christian ministry or business, that we tie ourselves in knots. We start out feeling great about our strategic plans, but before long we are confused and paralyzed.

Instead, David Green tells us that he and his company had three simple priorities for using their cash: pay tithes, grow, and pay debt. Folks, that is as simple as you get. No confusion here, just simple priorities (based on Scripture as well!).

#8 – Plan for the future

In addition to preparing for their future by paying down debt, David Green and company also made sure to set goals and budgets for their future.

I have heard many managers and leaders claim that forecasting and budgeting is too difficult given today’s uncertain business climate. I simply disagree. Sure, it is more difficult! But that does not mean we should not even try!

Even with the uncertainty, there is huge value in laying out the budgets and forecasts and the game plan to back them up. Make adjustments along the way as conditions change, but do not give up the planning altogether!

#9 – Take care of the people

If you will notice, Green spent twice as much time talking about how he is determined to take care of his people as he did in discussing his three uses of cash! That is significant. Without the people, there is no cash!

I am taking special note of this lesson myself. Based on the feedback I received in our recent employee focus groups, there are some areas related to this subject that we need to address.

Our goal here (for all of us) should be to base our decisions here on Scripture. There are many ways to view this subject, but I think it is important we start by looking at what the Bible says. More on this later.

#10 – Have stated personal life goals

David Green had three stated personal life goals: have a strong marriage, be successful at what he did, and for his children to serve God.

He later added two more: for his grandkids to serve God and to tell as many people as he could about Jesus Christ.

I have talked at length about LIFE planning on this blog. If you have followed my posts on this subject, you know that I am a huge proponent of taking the time to state these personal life goals. Some people may be more detailed or complex in their goals while others keep it simple.

Either way, this is not a lesson to skip over. I encourage you to take the time and start this process. I think you will be amazed at what God will do in your heart as you do.

What comments would you add to any of the lessons so far?

Have you learned similar lessons on your own? How?

Which lesson is one you need to act on now?

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Are You Guilty Of Fast Food Leadership?

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In my last post, I told you why vegetables are good for you. Of course, I used vegetables as a metaphor for trials and struggles in our lives. In staying with the food theme, today I want to discuss fast food and how it applies to Christian business owners and leadership!

leadership

Terrible Diet!

As I have told you before, I am in the car business. While the car business is known for many vices that I will not mention here, there is one that I believe is certainly appropriate to learning how to better represent our Christian faith in our businesses and jobs. This vice is a terrible diet.

Because we are in the retail business, we always need to be available for the customer. Traditional lunch hours are typically nonexistent for us. We grab a meal whenever we get a chance. This is just the nature of the business and we accept it as so.

The result of this issue is that most of us live off of fast food. It is quick and cheap and we can eat it in the car on the way back from the drive-thru! We may think to ourselves, “Today will be different – I will eat healthy today!” but we wait until the last minute and only have time for the fast food!

Don’t Have Time

We would love to go to the more upscale restaurants and get a salad bar or some fish, but we simply don’t have the time. Not only is the healthier food more time-consuming, but it is also more expensive. Even if we had the time, we would go broke eating there often.

Sure, if we were on top of things, we could make our own lunch and bring it to work with us. Not only could we better manage our diet, but we could also eat for a lot less money! Unfortunately, it is rare to find someone that plans like this.

Leadership Is Similar!

So, what is the point of this discussion? My point is that this habit is very similar in nature to the way many of us do leadership with our teams (or families).

Think about that for a moment.

Intentional Leadership

We all know and have been taught at some point that we need to be intentional about developing our teams. In a perfect world, we should plan out our week to include frequent one-on-one time with each of our team members.

We should plan ahead to have a meaningful discussion about their strengths and their weaknesses. Certainly, we should spend time with them building a plan for them to follow to success. All of this sounds familiar, right?

Why Fast Food Leadership?

Then why is it that the majority of us resort to fast-food leadership? Why, instead, do we grab a quick ten seconds between customers to tell them where they need to improve? Why do we wait until the last minute to give them a tip or two on how they should prepare for success? Do you think this is how Jesus operated with his disciples?

We know that if we would do a better job of planning ahead and prioritizing our time by block-scheduling when we can, we would be much more effective in creating teams worthy of success. Yet so few do this.

Take Control Of Your Schedule!

Folks, it is the same story for all of us – regardless of our industry. We simply must take control of our schedule and make it work for us. It is not acceptable for us to know what we should be doing and not do it. As James 4:17 says, when we know the good we are supposed to do and do not do it, it is a sin.

Harsh words, but true.

I encourage you to commit to changing your leadership diet. Quit resorting to the fast-food leadership and start working toward leadership that comes from planning ahead. I think you will see the benefits!

For a good blog on time management, take a look at Life Of A Steward written by a friend, Loren Pinilis. He has great material from a the perspective of a Christian leader.

Additional Resources

Even though this post is not really about our eating habits, I could not resist including the following resources! Take a look and let me know what you think. The first is a blog by Stephen Skinner, a new friend of mine from LinkedIn. He owns and operates a health food store for the purpose of Christian ministry. He is the real deal and I recommend you check out his site –The Natural Pharmacist.

The other resource is a guest post by the wife of a friend I have never met, Tom Tarver. Tom and I are fellow bloggers on Christian faith topics (his blog is A Curious Band Of Others) and converse a lot online. Anyway, his wife Ellen wrote a guest post that must be read! Check out this link to read her post and enjoy – Ellen Tarver guest post.

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Christian Business: My All-Time Top 10 Posts

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I have not done a Top 10 post in a while, so I thought I would catch up. The following Christian business posts are my most popular so far, since the beginning of the blog! I hope you will check out the ones you don’t recognize and let me know what you think!

Christian business

Top 10 Christian Business Posts

1. Why I Decided To Walk Away From The Family Business…
This one is close to my heart because it is truly what started all of this. Interestingly enough, this post received more than three times as much traffic as #2. It has been the top post every time I have ranked them. It was certainly a turning point in my life – one I will never forget.

2. Pursue The Gifts You Have, Not The Ones You Want!
This is a great post about embracing our God-given gifts. This post received more comments than any of the others on this list.

3. Reason 2 of 5 To Run Your Business According To Your Faith
In this post, I look at how the Greatest Commandment(s) relate to our business purposes. This really hits at the core of what drives my efforts in business.

4. 10 Warning Signs You Are Not A Good Leader (Part 1)
I think we have all tripped over one or more of these at one time or another! Make sure to read “Part 2” as well! How many did you recognize?

5. Taking Action: Owners Manual For Life!
Here I describe one of the various methods our company employs to do ministry in the course of doing business. I also explained how I was heeding my own advice to just take action!

6. Why Acknowledge Christ In Christmas?
As a result of a friend sharing a video with me, I ran a Christ-centered TV ad leading up to Christmas. I posted about this video and the bigger issue of acknowledging Christ in Christmas.

7. Is Lack Of Excellence Excusable In Christian Business?
Too many Christian business people think mediocrity is excusable because they get a pass for being a Christian. Too many consumers get nervous when they find a Christian business because they are sure the service or product will be poor. Is this really acceptable?

8. How To Create A Life Plan Document
If you do not have one, in any shape or form, then you need to read this post. You are missing out on some serious impact and influence without one.

9. Reconcile And Forgive Immediately!
This was the fifth post in a series on character issues for leaders. I confessed my own struggles in this area as well.

10. Do You Have A Strategic Plan…For Ministry?
Just like #8, if you do not have one, you need it. We often make strategic plans for our businesses, but very few do the same for their ministry impact. Read this post and get started!

Did you see a post you missed?

What was your favorite? Why?

If you have a blog, what has been your most popular post? Sound off!

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Celebrating This Blog’s Six Months Anniversary!

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six months

Six Months Anniversary

Incredibly (to me!), it has now been a full six months since I started this blog. A lot has happened in the past six months. I am really excited about all I have learned and the people I have met. If you had described all of it to me last fall, I would have called you crazy!

I have to be honest. When I set out to do this blog, I was not sure how many people would actually read it or get anything out of it. I certainly did not expect to get much exposure outside of my immediate circle of influence.

My Purpose

From the beginning, here was my purpose:

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    I have started a new blog called Christian Faith At Work. I am writing it to business owners and leaders who are trying to figure out how to integrate their Christian faith into their businesses.
    By including the resources I have accumulated over the past eight years of learning to use my business as a vehicle for ministry, as well as real-life examples from my experiences, I will teach the readers how to run their business from an eternal perspective.
    They will not only learn from the resources I have gathered, but they can also interact with someone who is actually doing it, learning from my mistakes and victories.

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I knew this purpose resonated with me, but I did not really believe it would do so with others. However, as you will see in the stats below, I was wrong! I want you to know how much I appreciate all of the encouragement and feedback you have given me over the months. I have truly enjoyed the time and would not trade it for anything. I look forward to the coming months (and hopefully, years!).

Statistics

Below, I have listed some of the incredible statistics that have accumulated during the six months since I started at the end of August 2011.

six months

When I consider some of the popular blogs that I read myself, I know these stats are not that impressive. However, I am still proud of what God has done here in such a short period of time. If anyone reading this right now is considering doing something similar, I want to encourage you to start! If I can get here, so can you!

Top Posts

Below, I have listed the ten most popular posts from the past six months.

1. Why I decided to walk away from the family business…

2. Pursue The Gifts You Have, Not The One’s You Want

3. Reason 2 (of 5) to Run Your Business According To Your Christian Faith

4. 10 Warning signs you are NOT a good leader – part 1

5. Taking Action – Owners Manuals For Life!

6. Why Acknowledge Christ In Christmas?

7. Reconcile And Forgive Immediately!

8. “Go Make Yourself Useful!”

9. How To Create A Life Plan Document

10. Do You Have A Strategic Plan…For Ministry?

Once again, I want to thank all of you that read this blog. I am enjoying it and I hope you are getting something out of it, too!

Do you have a favorite post listed above (or even one that is not)?

What about your own blog…what was your top post?

If you are thinking of starting something similar, what is holding you back?

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Take Action (Now)!

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take actionDid you read my post from Wednesday, Taking Action: Owner’s Manual for Life?

If not, why not?
Stop right now and go read it.

I will be right here waiting on you. Go ahead…I mean it!

Observations

Okay, now that you have read my post on Taking Action, I bet you have some observations. You probably do. In fact, I am almost sure that everyone reading this right now has some questions or comments about Wednesday’s post. Some of you are wondering which Bible translation we are using. Some of you think the cover was a little on the cheesy side. Others are probably doing the math on $1.50 a piece for roughly 2,500 books.

Regardless of your thoughts, I want you to put them on hold for a moment. In case you missed the following weaknesses in my post, I want to point out a few more for you!

My Observations

First, did you notice that I said we were still working on the details of the process for all of the people that will be involved in making this happen? Did you happen to see that I am not yet sure of the text on the stickers that will go on the inside cover? Finally, did it register with you that I did not go into much detail about how we would answer the phone calls? I also left out how we would track any responses to somehow gauge our results.

So, why am I pointing this out? What is my point?

Plan or Take Action?

Seth Godin talks about how we should “ship” a product before it is perfect or before we know absolutely that it will succeed. According to Godin, what usually keeps us from doing this is resistance. Whether this resistance is a fear of failure, criticism, or rejection, or maybe an overactive need for perfection, we too often give in to it and fail to take action!

Sometimes planning can delay our decision to take action. I am NOT saying that we should not plan. We should! I did a whole series on Strategic Ministry Planning. However, in certain situations, it may make the most sense just to pull the trigger and go into action.

Catalyst for Action

In an effort to blow through this barrier in our business, I posted Wednesday about our “decision” to move forward with the Owner’s Manuals For Life idea. What you don’t know is that my post was so vague in the details I mentioned above because none of those details had been determined! Our team had agreed to the idea, but had not taken any real action. I used that post as a catalyst to move us forward to take action!

I called my brother (and partner in the business) this afternoon to find out when we could have the first shipment of New Testaments. He responded, “Well, according to your post Wednesday, I guess I should already have them!” We laughed, but then took the next three minutes to determine our next steps to move this project forward. No meeting necessary. We simply decided how to take action!

I believe our first New Testaments will begin leaving out of here in gloveboxes in the next ten days (depending on shipping)! I will keep you posted!

Where do you need to take action?

What resistance are you allowing to slow you down?

When are you going to decide enough is enough?

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Prayer In The Strategic Plan For Ministry

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A new friend of mine asked me a simple question in his comment on my final post in my Strategic Plan for Ministry series. His question was simple, but convicting! My friend, Loren Pinilis (see his blog here), asked me how prayer enters the process of this planning. While this seems like an innocent enough question, it actually is a very penetrating question!

prayerI wish I could say that I had planned to address that separately or that I just assumed everyone knew that prayer was a continuous part of the process and therefore did not include it. Or I could be bold and say I was trying to draw someone in to ask that very question!

Confession

The problem is that none of these excuses are true. The simple truth is that I forgot! In a six-post series on being intentional about doing ministry in the course of doing business for the purpose of pointing people to God, I actually forgot to include anything about seeking God for guidance in the process! I left out the very One who knows all there is to know about ministry, business, and people. Are you kidding me?

Of course, now that I have done this, I have the perfect post material! How often do we do this exact thing? We plan, we strive, and we sweat the details of our efforts in every facet of our lives, but we often completely forget to seek His guidance ahead of time. Most often, we ask Him to bless our efforts once we have decided what we are going to do! This is insanity!

Why do we always seem to wait until we have run into an obstacle or crisis before we call out in prayer?

We are children of the Creator of the universe. He is all-knowing, all-present, and all-powerful. He wants to equip us “with all that is good to do His will” (Heb. 13:20-21). All we have to do is ask! There is nothing that exists that is not available to Him to use to accomplish His will (Psalm 24:1). So why do we so often forget (or refuse) to go to Him in advance? Why do we always seem to wait until we have run into an obstacle or crisis before we call out in prayer?

Role of Prayer

Whatever the answer, let’s take a look at how we should pray when preparing our strategic plan for ministry in and through our business.

Mission Statement

As we discussed, the mission statement tells why we exist as a company. If this statement is to be used for direction, to make decisions, and to inspire us, it only makes sense that God should guide us in developing it. Our prayer should seek guidance from Him on our direction (Proverbs 3:5-6). Trying to do this on our own, without seeking Him in prayer, could lead to wasted time and failed plans.

Mission Field

The mission field is effectively our target audience. We need to pray for a couple of things here. First, we need to ask God to identify those groups of people He wants us to minister to. Second, we should be praying that He will give us the right words and actions for effective ministry to these people. Finally we should ask Him to prepare their hearts to hear what He will say to them through our words and actions. (Colossians 4:3-4)

Brainstorm

As the Creator of everything we see (Colossians 1:16), don’t you think God is more creative than anyone else we know? As we go into our brainstorm session to gather ideas for ministry activities, we need to ask Him to expand our minds and spark our imagination so that we can come up with those ideas that will be the most effective in pointing others to Him.

Action Plans

Next, we need to pray for wisdom in choosing and prioritizing the best ideas from the brainstorm session. We also need to pray that God would lead us in laying out the action plans (Proverbs 16:9) and that He would grant success in these plans as well (Proverbs 16:3).

Accountability

Finally, we come to measurement and accountability for our plans. Because we will reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7), I believe we need to ask God for more wisdom. We need wisdom in determining what to measure and how to establish good accountability. Because ministry results are so hard to measure, we need to be especially careful here. This another area that could cause us significant trouble if were to do it on our own.

What other roles do you see prayer playing in this process?

Is prayer a vital part of how you run your business?

Are you willing to follow His guidance when He gives it – regardless of the cost?

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Accountability – Step 5 In A Strategic Ministry Plan

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This is the final post in a series of posts on creating a Strategic Plan for Ministry in your business. At this point, you should have a mission statement with an eternal perspective. You should have a well-defined mission field as well as a set of action plans for ministry activities that will help you to impact that mission field. Now you need to lay out the accountability processes to ensure your action plans are executed and achieve the results you desire.

Accountability

Accountability Reporting Example

Let’s take a look at an example to illustrate my point. An easy example for our company is the CCA chaplain program (Corporate Chaplains of America). We have a chaplain assigned to our company as a benefit to the employees. By permission, this chaplain speaks to each of our employees face-to-face at least once per week.

He is on call 24/7 and 365. He will meet with employees after hours for extended care sessions in person or over the phone, according to their preference. He performs funerals, weddings, and hospital visits. He prays for the company and every employee on a regular basis.

On an ongoing basis, I need to know whether this program is achieving the results I expect from it. Fortunately, CCA provides their own reporting process as part of the program. They send me a report via email at the end of each month that details the activities of the chaplain. A report like this makes it easy for me to determine whether the program is working or not.

Here is an example of their report:

accountability

Your Accountability Reporting

Your reporting may look very different. It may not be as formal or it may be more so. The format is not important. The accountability is. While each ministry activity will likely present its own measurement challenges, try to make sure there is some ability to track and measure the activities and the results (if possible).

You should have some sort of reporting for every ministry activity on your action plan. If you cannot measure it in some way, then you need to decide whether it is worth doing or not. This is not to say that you are not to do anything that you cannot measure – there are certainly exceptions. It is more about making sure that there is accountability built in to every part of your plan.

Too often, companies come up with a great idea, begin a process or initiative, and never build in accountability. Without a clue as to whether it is effective or not, they forget about it until something goes wrong or someone leaves. This is simply not being a good steward of your resources.

Measuring Ministry?

There are a couple of challenges I will note about measuring ministry. First of all, we are not able to save anyone. That is the job of the Holy Spirit. While we may count the number of times someone turns their life over to Christ during one of our activities, we certainly cannot take credit for that. We are simply celebrating!

Second, we cannot truly know the condition of any individual’s heart or whether that condition has improved in a measurable way. To attempt to measure life change or improvement is not something I recommend. I think you get it, but measuring ministry is very difficult.

As a result of these challenges, we will most often revert to simply measuring our activities in ministry. As an example, look at the chaplain’s report. We do not attempt to measure the effectiveness of the chaplain’s prayer for our company and individual employees. We simply measure the number of times he prayed. We do not attempt to measure whether his care sessions had the intended effect. We can only count the times he had them.

I think you get the idea. When dealing with the heart and spiritual matters, measuring is difficult. At the same time, we cannot just leave our efforts to chance! Therefore we do our best to discern the right activities, maintain our focus on the right purpose, and then measure our efforts. We leave the results to God.

Do you currently have any sort of ministry results reporting?

If so, do you review it as often and with the same intensity as you review your financial reporting?

I won’t ask a third question…that last one hurt too much!

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Action Plan – Step 4 In A Strategic Ministry Plan

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action planThis is number 4 in a series of 5 posts about how to create a Strategic Plan for Ministry in your business. So far, we have created an effective mission statement with an eternal perspective, identified our potential mission field, and had a brainstorm session about how we will do ministry in the course of doing business. Now we will turn our attention to the laying out of the action plan.

Best Ideas

Now, I am assuming you have already completed your brainstorming session from last time. Depending on your preference of using a smaller team of key managers or a larger group of employees, you need to gather your team together again. Taking the list of ideas generated in your brainstorm session, the group now needs to sift through and find the best ideas, making sure they are in alignment with your mission statement.

Ideally, those that are the easiest to implement with the greatest impact should come first. You can also consider which ones are the most exciting in order to get the most buy-in from the stakeholders.

Categorize the Ideas

Once you have narrowed the list down to those that are the best fit for your current circumstances, you probably want to group them according to which of the three facets of ministry is appropriate (Evangelism, Discipleship, Service), as well as which mission field category applies (Employees, Customers, Suppliers/Vendors, etc.).

While it is not necessary to evenly distribute your activities across these categories, it is good to make sure you are not ignoring any of them.

Create the Action Plan

So you have a list of your best ideas sorted into the appropriate categories. Now it is time to create the plan to actually do them! A typical action plan should cover three elements:

    Task– What will be done and by whom?
    Timeline– When it will be done?
    Resources– What is required for it to be done?

Once you have laid out the action plan for each of your ideas, set some goals for the results. Don’t be shy!

Measurement Challenge

At the same time, you need to remember that by definition, the eternal spiritual impact we are attempting to make is sometimes difficult or impossible to measure, making it tough to set goals. Much of what we are doing is actually just “sowing seeds” and pointing people toward God. We cannot save anyone. Nor can we change their hearts. Even if heart change is a goal, how would you measure it?

Because of this challenge, it is my recommendation that you lean toward setting goals based on activity. If one of your action plan items is to place small new testament Bibles in your waiting area, then just measure how many are taken. If you are teaching a weekly Bible study for employees, then just measure attendance. In this case, you could take it a step further and measure how many of those in attendance go on to lead their own study! Either way, be careful how and what you target and measure. Stay true to Scripture!

S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Of course, you need to make sure your action plan goals are S.M.A.R.T. goals as well!

    Specific– Determine exactly what will be done, when it will be done, who will do it, etc. and write it down.
    Measurable– Make sure you can measure the activity. If you cannot, how will you know if you accomplished it?
    Attainable– This does not mean to set the bar low, but to make sure they are realistic.
    Relevant– The goals need to be in alignment with your mission statement. They need to be important to you.
    Timely– You need to have a time frame or a target date. Open-ended goals are soft.

Start Now!

One hint here…though it is not set in stone, this is great advice. As the leader during this process, you need to encourage the group to agree on at least one or two action items that you will start tomorrow. Don’t lose any of the momentum you have built up to this point. Do something! You will gain a boost if you will be sure to do this.

Once you have set these goals for each idea on your final action plan, you are ready to move on to the last step in this process – determining the accountability process of measuring and monitoring the results. See you next post!

Are moving through the process with me or are you thinking this might be something for next year? Or the next year?

If you are, how is it going so far? Do you have some exciting goals?

Are you inspiring your people in a way that excites them?