Church Executive magazine March / April 2016

MAR / APR • 2016

H E L P I N G L E A D E R S B E C O M E B E T T E R S T E WA R D S .

Lawrence

Fudge

Helping Hollywood feel like home at MOSAIC p6

PLUS Mobilizing data for better ministry 11 The Social Security outlook 14 Time to re-screen?

Best practices 32

Offering asset management, planned giving and account a dm inis t r a t ion for 86 years t o m inis t r ies a nd c hurches dedicated to transforming lives.

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FROM THE EDITOR

“It’s all about choices” All my life, this four-word mantra was something my older brother — now a psychologist — repeated a lot.

As a key confidante growing up (and still today), this was simple advice from a pretty deep guy. Usually, it was what he said when I came to him with dilemmas; but he also “prescribed” it in the face of really great, really wonderful conundrums.

Though delivered without an implied predilection toward one outcome or another, I knew what he meant when he said it: do what’s right — not what’s easiest, and not just what’s right for you; do what’s right, period.

As church leaders, your choices — particularly in the areas of leadership and stewardship — are partly your own, but also made on your church family’s behalf. They trust you to do what’s right … even if you don’t immediately know what that is. They trust you to do the homework. They trust you to find out.

So, maybe it’s best stated another way: “It’s all about options.” And, as you fl ip through this issue, you’re going to see that options are a recurring theme in the editorial content.

You’ll learn about tech-driven ministry and administrative options — particularly in the way of app-based functionalities — in our Mission: Accomplished cover profile, featuring Lawrence Fudge, executive pastor at MOSAIC, on page 6. Located in the heart of Hollywood, MOSAIC’s reputation for engaging young people is world-renowned … but they don’t do it alone; mobile technology plays a big part in their reach. Pastor Lawrence is eager to share the wealth of knowledge the church has amassed (largely through trial-and-error) with you, his peers in ministry.

On page 9, you’ll fi nd a brand-new series, Alternative Facility Options. In this case study, you’ll discover what leaders at the new Oklahoma Assembly of God State Youth Camp in Sparks, OK, found out: Sometimes a different kind of construction makes the most sense. Find out what made this project — churchexecutive.com

with a massive 18,000-square-foot worship center at its core — so uniquely suited to a different kind of building.

When it comes to your own family’s peace of mind, the Finances & Administration series on page 12 will map out your Social Security options — a huge “moving target” for so many Americans. As its author, Rev. Dr. Patricia L. Hunter, CFP®, explains, the program has undergone major changes over the years, and 2016 will be no exception. You still have certain options, but they’re going away; now is the time to act.

From report-writing tools, to mobile giving technology, to safety practices, to purchasing, to risk management — and even to sound system components that could make the pastor really, really happy (and beyond) — weighing the options and making a sound-stewardship choice in every instance is your job, and your privilege.

To that end, Church Executive has a job, too: to come alongside our readers and educate you about your options. We hope we’ve done that with this issue, and with every issue we produce.

All the best,

churchexecutive.com Volume 15, No. 2 4742 N. 24th St., Ste. 340 Phoenix, AZ 85016 • 800.541.2670 RaeAnn Slaybaugh Editor in Chief rslaybaugh@churchexecutive.com Steve Gamble Art Director sgamble@churchexecutive.com Judi Victor CEO & Publisher / Director of Sales jvfly@churchexecutive.com Kevin Boorse Business Manager kboorse@churchexecutive.com Blair McCarty Sales & Marketing Coordinator bmccarty@churchexecutive.com Olivia Haase Sales & Marketing Intern ohaase@churchexecutive.com

EDITORIAL ADVISORY PANEL Stephen Briggs Associate Pastor of Administration First Baptist Church | Hendersonville, NC Denise Craig Chief Financial Officer Abba’s House | Hixson, TN Mike Klockenbrink Chief of Staff Lakeside Church | Folsom, CA Dan Mikes Executive Vice President Bank of the West | San Ramon, CA John C. Mrazek III Executive Pastor Pathways Church | Denver, CO Sam S. Rainer III Senior Pastor West Bradenton Baptist Church | Bradenton, FL Mark Simmons Business Manager Christ Community Church | Milpitas, CA Eric Spacek Senior Manager GuideOne Insurance | West Des Moines, IA

CLA LET’S CHAT: Email: rslaybaugh@churchexecutive.com Facebook: ChurchExecutiveMagazine Twitter: @churchexecutive.com

A publication of:

Church Executive™ Magazine is published bi-monthly by Power Trade Media, a division of The Producers, Inc., 4742 N. 24th Street, Ste. 340, Phoenix, AZ 85016. Subscription Rates: United States and Mexico $39 (USD) one year, Canada $42 (USD) one year (GST included), all other countries $75 one year, single issue United States $5 (USD), all other countries $6 (USD). All articles in Church Executive™ Magazine are copyrighted and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written permission of the publisher. For reprints of 100 or more, contact Judi Victor at (602) 265-7600 ext.

125. Copyright 2016 by Power Trade Media. No advertisement or description or reference to a product or service will be deemed as an endorsement, and no warranty is made or implied by Power Trade Media Information is obtained from sources the editors believe reliable, accurate and timely, but no warranty is made or implied, and Power Trade Media is not responsible for errors or omissions.

March / April 2016 • CHURCH EXECUTIVE

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March / April 2016

CONTENTS

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COVER STORY MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED LAWRENCE FUDGE: HELPING HOLLYWOOD FEEL LIKE HOME AT MOSAIC Executive Pastor | MOSAIC | Hollywood, CA MOSAIC is a place where new, young church leaders are very purposefully trained up, and where current leaders have a constant eye trained on the faith horizon — and beyond. And then there’s technology. Mobile technology, to be specific.

By RaeAnn Slaybaugh

16

SERIES

NEW! ALTERNATIVE FACILITY OPTIONS

9

Happy campers: Oklahoma Assembly of God State Youth Camp

By Erin C. Townsend

INTELLIGENT CHURCH GIVING

11

Why your report writer is no longer good enough

By Joel Mikell and Curt Swindoll

FINANCES & ADMINISTRATION FOR CHURCH LEADERS

14

The Social Security outlook: what you and your family need to know

By Rev. Dr. Patricia L. Hunter, CFP®

CREATING A CULTURE OF GENEROSITY

16

Technology doesn’t have to be scary

By Beka Johnson

MULTISITE & PORTABLE CHURCHES

21

28

Essential equipment considerations: expert advice

By Scott Cougill

LEGAL REALITIES

22

Examining organizational structure — including (and especially) church members’ rights

By David O. Middlebrook

THE SPIRIT OF STAINED GLASS

25

Taking the mystery out of stained glass commission & design

By Andrew Cary Young

INSURANCE ESSENTIALS

27

4 steps to creating a safe ministry

By Eric Spacek, JD, ARM

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CHURCH EXECUTIVE • March / April 2016

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PASTOR-FRIENDLY SOUND SYSTEMS

28

Go with a pro: How expert know-how brought crisp, clean, modern sound to an Old World sanctuary

By Daniel Keller

33

31

SAVINGS IN NUMBERS Getting started with a procurement services company

By Glen Witsaman

PROTECTING CHILDREN IN THE CHURCH

32

NEVER AGAIN: BEYOND INSURANCE

33

Time to re-screen? Best practices for the long term

By Patricia Carlson

Want to move “beyond insurance”? Begin at the beginning!

By Michael J. Bemi

34

STREAMING MADE SIMPLE Capturing community — every moment

By Andrew Ng

CONTINUING EDUCATION A HEART FOR PASTORAL COUNSELING

18

FOCUS ON: PASTORAL COUNSELING

20

Q&A with Dr. David P. Mann, Associate Dean for Counseling Programs at Ashland Theological Seminary The Center for Church Management & Business Ethics at the Villanova School of Business

DEPARTMENTS From the Editor

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3/1/16EXECUTIVE 5:36 PM March / April 2016 • CHURCH

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MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED

Lawrence Fudge / Executive Pastor / MOSAIC / Hollywood, CA

Lawrence

Fudge Helping Hollywood feel like home at MOSAIC

Ask most people, and they’ll say the appeal of MOSAIC — a world-regarded Millennial-revered church in the heart of Hollywood — is, in some ways, intangible. Executive Pastor Lawrence Fudge would agree … to a point.

The rest, he says, is equal parts creativity, imagination, experimentation and communitybuilding. MOSAIC is a culture of welcome (no matter where you are on your faith journey).

It’s a place where new, young church leaders are very purposefully trained up, and where current leaders have a constant eye trained on the faith horizon — and beyond.

And then there’s technology. Mobile technology, to be specific.

When did you join the staff at MOSAIC, and what led you to this church?

I moved to Los Angeles in 2005. My wife and I were newly married, and we wanted to live somewhere new for a while.

We began to attend and serve at MOSAIC. One year in, I heard a message about sacrifice — sacrifice of money, time and more.

Go and spend as much time around people you want to become like.

I really took that to heart.

I interned at MOSAIC for two years, pretty much full-time.

After that, I continued to volunteer — I didn’t go and get a job elsewhere. In late 2009, I was invited to come on staff and started in January 2010.

I didn’t come from another church; I was a volunteer leader and was invited to take on more leadership and responsibility at the church. That’s kind of our model for hiring, in general.

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MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED

“I think what mobile giving has done is to help us access people quicker. They can give that first gift easily, which is a huge breakthrough moment, spiritually.”

MOSAIC has a well-established reputation as innovative and Millennial-focused. Is this an accurate depiction?

It’s accurate in one sense, but it’s a little overstated in another — if people think we’re exclusively focused on Millennials, I mean.

We reflect our community. Hollywood is very young, and the church demographic really matches Hollywood’s demographic. So, we are young; we do reach young people. About 70 percent of our weekly attenders are between 20 and 34 and single, so they definitely fall into that category.

Our community is very transient. People come in and out of the city often. They pursue a dream; maybe they make it, and maybe they don’t. So, the turnover is really high.

Part of it is that we feel a responsibility to train up young leaders. Pastor Erwin [McManus] talks a lot about how much of our responsibility is to be like a teaching hospital — to train up people who will carry that on in the future. Because of this, we have leaders at MOSAIC who are Millennials.

Though some of the appeal of MOSAIC for Millennials is likely intangible, let’s talk about the elements that can be pinpointed. In what ways has the church been able to reach this often-elusive demographic?

I haven’t found [Millennials to be elusive], to be honest. Some of the things that have been real values at MOSAIC for years — creativity, imagination and experimentation — really resonate with our people.

They have a hard time with standardization or feeling like they’re cogs in a wheel.

Also, one of the things we value so much is the ability to provide a place where everybody can belong before they believe. Millennials may not carry a bound-and-set beliefs system; even so, they can come to church and know that they belong, and that they have a family here while they’re still in the process of figuring out where they are in their own personal beliefs.

I think that creates a safe space for them.

Also, when they look around, they see other people who’ve grown and are leaders in the church, and who are peer-aged — that inspires them. It makes them feel like, There’s not just room for me here; I actually can become somebody here. I can grow here. There’s no glass ceiling about who I can become if I have the right character, the right giftings.

How we communicate has also been instrumental. Pastor Erwin, of course, has a really unique gifting in how he communicates, and he helps to shape us. I think that has influenced how all of us communicate and share the gospel.

There’s also nuanced things. A couple years ago, we were looking at how we communicated through social media, for example. A lot of our communications are done via Instagram or Twitter. The younger you are, the more likely you are to get your information through those means. I didn’t get what some of the younger people on our team were creating in that sense. I didn’t totally understand it. But, the response has been overwhelming!

The thing is, I’m 35; I’m not that far out of the Millennial category. But, these people are 25 and maybe younger. They know how their peers are communicating and are using these tools better than I could.

And you know, technology is just that: a tool. It changes. Tools change. When one tool is no longer useful, you throw it away and pick up another tool.

If you look at our website right now, it’s super simple. There’s not a lot of info on it. We don’t put much on the calendar. It’s simple. It’s clean. It’s clear. It’s aesthetically really nice. But, it’s not info-heavy.

Our traffic on our social media is very, very high. Our traffic to our website is almost entirely mobile. So, people aren’t looking for tons of data and info on their phones when they go to a website; they’re usually looking for something quick — when, where, those types of things. churchexecutive.com

What are some tech tools you use to be more progressive in giving and reaching younger people at MOSAIC? Last spring, we implemented Pushpay, and the eChurch app was implemented a little later. The app — the custom app we use now — was actually part of a conversation I had with the company early on. I was trying to solve a problem: How do we move people from guest to giver quicker?

I felt like the on-ramp took too long.

I really liked how they approached giving. I liked what they were offering and how their systems worked. And I wanted us to have our own mobile app at MOSAIC — a place that would host content (our content) but that would also enable giving.

We discussed this, and Pushpay agreed that MOSAIC would be a sort of “beta test” for the custom church app that they offer now, eChurch.

People are used to paying for things fast and easily on their mobile devices. I felt like giving should be able to match that. If we value giving to the church like we say we do, we have to make it simple for people.

For instance, we have a really large podcast following at MOSAIC. With the app, I just wanted a single place where we could put all that content, and incorporate giving into it. Pushpay’s technology has allowed us to centralize all these things into one place on a mobile platform. We envisioned the person who’s at the gym, on the treadmill, listening to a MOSAIC podcast, and then — while they’re there doing that — they also want to give to MOSAIC. How do we make that accessible?

Pushpay heard that, and they took on that project.

To be an early adopter of any technology takes real confidence. What would you say to a church leader who’s hesitant?

To me, the real risk is that you don’t adapt. That you stay the same and the world changes around you, and now you’re no longer moving people to give at all. Culture has already shifted; how people manage their personal finances has changed. If we don’t also adapt, the Church is going to be left farther and farther behind.

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MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED Pastors struggle. We’re simultaneously thinking about and caring for the people we have, thinking about and trying to reach the people we don’t have — and they’re different people!

The people you’ve had for a long time, if they’re doing the things you call them to do — giving being one of those things — they’re already doing what you’ve asked. The people you haven’t reached yet don’t understand that value. And even when they get there, they probably aren’t going to do it the same way as the person who’s done it for years. So, a value I’ve been taught [at MOSAIC] is, How do you make the decisions for those you haven’t yet reached? That’s the future.

We’re a little bit heightened [at MOSAIC] in the sense that the people we reach are largely of a transient nature. People come in to Los Angeles and Hollywood and move out just as often. With that frequency, we’ve had to adapt quicker because there’s really no guarantee that our people will be with us five or 10 years from now. It’s just not our reality.

Today, what percent of gifts to MOSAIC are given digitally versus traditionally?

About 81 percent of gifts are given digitally through the technology platform we have with Pushpay and their eChurch app. We were at about 60 percent when we made the shift to Pushpay a year ago, and that was when we were using tools I wasn’t as happy with. So, I knew the future of giving at the church would be almost entirely digital. Pretty much everybody under 40 is giving through some sort of electronic method.

I will say, though, that among the 81 percent of people who give digitally, recurring gifts are a little tougher to gauge. Los Angeles is full of people who function like independent contractors. Not a lot of people are salaried employees.

If you work in entertainment, for example, it can be feast or famine. If a person is working on a project, they might make a ton of money, but then there might be a period of time before they work again.

In what ways does Pushpay’s mobile giving enhance the worship experience — and ministry — at MOSAIC? Giving absolutely is part of worship, and we’ve continued to adapt how we approach that time in our gatherings. We’ve gotten stronger in how we ask, and how we’ve elevated the value — not just of being generous, but of being generous to the mission of the church. There should be no more important place in the world to give to than the church — specifically, to the church you’re joining in mission with.

We’re talking a lot about Millennials today, but I think it’s broader than that; many people, generally, don’t have a value for giving. While Millennials are often generous through socially conscience businesses or nonprofits, many don’t have a connection to a tithe. It may not have been ingrained in them in childhood, so you can’t assume their generosity.

I think what mobile giving has done is to help us access people quicker. They can give that first gift easily, which is a huge breakthrough moment, spiritually.

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CHURCH EXECUTIVE • March / April 2016

While I don’t think our growth in giving is exclusively because of mobile giving, I believe we now have the tools to help us grow our church into being more generous.

Mobile giving data can also help our team identify areas of ministry opportunity. We can see trends — changes in attendance or giving, for example. When giving stops, it’s a sign of something. It could be a sign that they’re in financial difficulty. It could also be a sign that there’s something spiritually happening. It could indicate home struggles, or they could be struggling with the church in some capacity. You never know.

In any case, it does communicate something, and it does allow you an opportunity to reach out and see how things are going.

It’s likely that MOSAIC will continue to set an example for what’s needed to reach younger generations. How do you envision the church looking different in 10 years?

That’s a big question. I think we’ve begun to see some of it already — a move away from more traditional methods of communicating, whether it’s printed materials or a website visited on a desktop. Fewer and fewer people will access their information that way. MOSAIC is kind of there now, because it’s just the nature of who we reach. I think we’ll continue to go in that direction.

We’re already an on-demand culture. People want to access what they want, now. That’s where mobile devices come in.

For example, in the month of February, we run a modified schedule at MOSAIC, and mobile devices are a huge tool for us. It’s a crazy month on Hollywood Boulevard — Superbowl Sunday, the LA Marathon and the Academy Awards. During a lot of these events, you can’t really access to our building.

We’ve learned that communicating schedule changes through email will miss the majority of people. But, if we encourage — as we have — the whole church to have the mobile app on their phones, we just send push notifications. It’s far, far more effective.

Emails get filtered; they go into the junk folder; they become white noise. We all have far too many emails. We put far more stock into the power of mobile devices.

And, on the back end, we can get all kinds of fascinating, important information about who our people are, because we “see” them. We see their activity. We see where in the country they are. When people download an app, and you ask where they live, you can see: Wow, there’s this unique contingent of people in this city who follow us and know what’s happening at our church. Are there opportunities to develop community around that? I think the trends driven by that type of data are going to continue at MOSAIC. You know, 20 years ago — when MOSAIC became a multisite church and was meeting at a nightclub at night — there wasn’t a model for that. But, Pastor Erwin was able to see the vision and potential.

He has really called us to be in the “R&D” [research and development] arm of the Church. We may not master everything, but we’re going to try it out. If we experiment and it works, it might open the doors for other churches, as well.

At MOSAIC, we talk a lot with churches that seem very different than us. We’re not experts in all of this. But maybe — if making certain changes seems risky to one of those churches — any success we see here will give others the confidence to make those changes, too.

— Reporting by RaeAnn Slaybaugh

QUICK FACTS ABOUT MOSAIC Lead Pastor & Founder: Erwin McManus Location of main campus: Hollywood, CA — on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea, one block from the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Number of staff (full- and part-time): 20 full-time, 5 part-time Combined weekly attendance: 3,500 churchexecutive.com

ABOUT THE PROJECT

By Erin C. Townsend For an 18,000-square-foot worship center for the new Oklahoma Assembly of God State Youth Camp in Sparks, OK, a metal building system made the most sense. HERE’S WHY. Located in the heart of Oklahoma — halfway between Tulsa and Oklahoma City, where many of the state’s Assembly of God churches are situated — this new camp replaced the denomination’s popular Turner Falls camp, which hosted thousands of young people more than 50 years.

At the center of the new camp was a brand-new worship center for more than 1,000 people.

A facility this large — which, given its unique environmental and site challenges, didn’t lend itself to traditional construction — was no easy feat. After all factors were accounted for, a pre-engineered metal building from Memphis-based Varco Pruden fit the bill.

For one thing, the new worship center needed to be a free-span structure — an open space with no columns. This was possible with a metal building because of the engineering and strength of the steel framing. Better yet, the space could be free-spanned without incurring the cost of conventional structural steel construction (namely, extensive drawing and engineering). Instead, metal building systems consist of framing, roof and wall systems as part of an integrated package — a single-source solution.

Second, the weather and site itself were forces to be reckoned with.

The wetness of the winter and spring months, combined with the soft Oklahoma clay, proved challenging.

All things considered, a metal building made the most sense in the end. It features a rigid framing system, as well as an architectural roof system — for aesthetic appeal — and metal exterior wall system.

RPR™ Panel, Varco Pruden’s reverse-rolled, Galvalume® wall panel system, was also employed; so was the Cool Leaf Green SLR II™ roofing with KXL™ finish and Classic Beige Panel Rib™ walls. Earth tones were selected to complement the surrounding landscape.

MUCH MORE THAN “A BIG BOX” Lest you think a metal building automatically means a “warehouse look” — with little opportunity for customization — take a look at the finished worship center project at the camp.

It features an inviting wrap-around porch with rough-sawn cedar veneers and stone arch entries to match the dining hall. A three-tiered gable entry roof and a 30-foot cross tower welcome worshippers. The “country-style church” fits in well with the scenery, thanks to its green metal roof and beige metal wall panels.

It looks good. But more important, the worship center does what it was intended to do: comfortably accommodate 1,000 campers, staff and adult volunteers. churchexecutive.com

Owner: Oklahoma District Council of the Assemblies of God (Oklahoma City, OK) Builder: Daniels and Daniels Construction Inc. (Broken Arrow, OK) Architect: Crafton, Tull and Associates Inc. (Tulsa, OK) Pre-engineered metal building: Varco Pruden Buildings (Memphis, TN)

This level of customization continues throughout the site. Built on a 410-acre parcel of land a few miles south of Chandler, OK, the camp’s rolling acreage has woods, meadows and several ponds — including manmade 5- and 20-acre -acre lakes.

Campers and guests enjoy fishing, swimming, paddle boats and a “blob” water feature — a large, air-filled inflatable rubber tube floating on the water. Campers can jump on to the attraction from a 20-foot tower.

To “feed” these amenities, water was brought to the site from Chandler, channeled with a huge underground concrete water reservoir. A water treatment facility was constructed and installed, as were large septic ponds to treat waste water.

Campers enjoy six RV camp sites and primitive camping; five outdoor basketball courts; five sand volleyball courts; five “high-five football” courts; a 5,000-square-foot log cabin for executive sleepovers; and 16 modern cabins. Each cabin spans 6,000 square feet and features four large bunk rooms to accommodate 64 campers and staff — including private restrooms / showers — surrounding a central commons area.

To feed up to 1,000 campers, a 23,000-square-foot dining hall was built, complete with four commercial buffet-style serving lines and a full commercial kitchen, including 600-square-foot walk-in coolers and freezers.

And that’s not all on the food front: The camp also boasts a 5,000-squarefoot concession stand with an octagonal design. This eight-sided footprint allows for serving counters to be positioned around the core and for open seating to be situated around the perimeter.

It’s worth noting that the concession stand wasn’t originally intended to be a metal building. However, Oklahoma is prone to tornadoes, and the structure’s original plan, which called for a wood, octagon-shaped roof — supported by wood columns and beams — would be prone to damage in inclement weather. To ensure safety and stability, contractors changed the structure to a steel building during the construction process.

For continuity and safety, the roof contours and elevations were carried through the other buildings on the site.

For ultimate comfort, all the new buildings on the camp site are airconditioned. This is an especially welcome upgrade in the summer, when temperatures regularly exceed 100 degrees.

THE HEART OF THE MATTER The Oklahoma Assembly of God State Youth Camp is a sprawling, impressive setup. By any camp’s standards, it’s top-of-the-line.

What makes it a destination for the denomination, however, is the worship center. It’s the heart of the project. By thinking outside the box — and considering a non-traditional building option — this critical space is everything the owners wanted, and more.

Erin C. Townsend is public relations coordinator for Memphis-based Varco Pruden Buildings [ www.vp.com ], a division of BlueScope Buildings North America, Inc. Varco Pruden markets its products through a network of more than 1,000 authorized builders within the United States and Canada.

March / April 2016 • CHURCH EXECUTIVE

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Intelligent Church Giving

You can’t afford to anymore

guess

Why your report writer is no longer good enough

By Joel Mikell and Curt Swindoll

Making important ministry decisions without insight-driven data is a known gap that has existed in almost every church we’ve worked with over the past 40 years — regardless of denomination, church size or ministry budget.

This is why church leaders are constantly wrestling with the same questions: • How do I lead our church from where we are to where we want to be?

• Will our current strategy ultimately get us where we want to go?

• Are there things we should be doing that we’re not?

Report-writing tools were supposed to help solve these challenges, but it’s evident that those are limited in their application. As a result, church leaders feel like they’re swimming in a sea of information, but still thirsty for insight.

Where do these new report-writing tools fall short? More importantly, is there a better way to analyze the information you have to finally start gaining traction towards your ultimate vision?

Those are the two questions we’re working together to help church leaders answer. churchexecutive.com

Why your report writer isn’t good enough Here are four reasons why traditional report-writing tools aren’t sufficient for helping your church make the type of progress you know is possible: 1) The insights they provide are limited. There are three elements of any analytics model that must be present to provide confidence in bridging the gap between your ministry today and where you intend to be one, three and five years from now: Descriptive Analytics — Descriptive analytics provide a clear and complete picture of your efforts based on objective information. This enables you to challenge or validate the true impact of your ministry decisions in a way that wasn’t possible before.

Predictive Modeling — Predictive modeling helps you look toward the future by providing a real-time look at future results based on historical detail. This allows you to quantify the future impact and implications March / April 2016 • CHURCH EXECUTIVE

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your present decisions based on a set of proprietary algorithms that can be manipulated at every level to isolate and understand how one decision affects the overall outcome.

Prescriptive insights — Prescriptive insights put information into action by contextualizing comprehensive data modeling within your church culture to drive prioritization and accountability to ensure change actually takes place. This allows your team to focus its attention and efforts on the parts of your ministry that will take you where you want to go. It will also clearly highlight what must demonstrably change in order to produce the ministry outcomes you desire.

Traditional report writers only provide insights into one of those areas — descriptive data. But, relying solely on this information is like trying to drive a car by only looking at the rearview mirror. It’s the predictive modeling and prescriptive insights that help you know how to move forward.

Bottom line: You can’t afford to make critical decisions based on the output of any standard report writing tool.

2) It doesn’t inform other areas of ministry. You must be willing to have crucial conversations with your ministry leaders if you want to change the output of your ministry. This isn’t about who’s right or wrong.

This isn’t about pointing fingers. This is about using data as a diplomat to challenge or validate your intuition about what it’s really going to take to get you where you want to go.

Bottom Line: If you want to change in the ways that will accomplish the vision God has given you, you need to make the right adjustments, at the right time, with the right people.

3) It doesn’t take into account the long-term impact of your weekly decisions. Making a tactical shift won’t be enough to overcome a trajectory that’s taking you to a different destination. You need a clear line of sight between today and the outcome you want to create.

Traditional report writers don’t project forward the future implications of today’s ministry decisions. As a result, you won’t be able to connect the dots without a multi-year approach to database analysis that removes any and all existing silos.

Bottom Line: You need to be sure you are making decisions based on a complete picture before you will be able to fully grasp the implications of the ministry decisions you make today. You can’t afford to wait.

There’s a better way…

As the ministry landscape continues to evolve, we are more convinced than ever that the challenges you face require world-class tools to ensure sustainability and growth in the future. Through Pursuant, we’ve invested more than a decade and millions of dollars perfecting a series of advanced analytics and modeling tools that have informed decisionmaking in hundreds of organizations, including some of the world’s leading nonprofits.

These tools haven’t been available to church leaders in a way that is accessible and affordable. Now they are. It’s more critical than ever before if you intend to successfully sustain and grow your ministry. This is why we think it’s vital that you reassess your report writing tool as the basis of your ministry decision-making.

Joel Mikell is president at RSI Stewardship. Follow him on Twitter or find him on Facebook.

Curt Swindoll is the executive vice president for strategy at Pursuant, the parent company of RSI Stewardship. He leads Pursuant’s work with faith-based organizations and the firm’s Direct Response practice group. Follow him on Twitter.

Ready to lead with clarity and confidence like never before?

Learn how you can gain actionable insights that provide a clear line of sight between today and your ultimate vision for ministy. www.Pursuant.com/SmarterMinistry

12

CHURCH EXECUTIVE • March / April 2016

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“Paul Gage was the man I called on to help lead the most successful capital campaign we have ever experienced at the Rock Church.”

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The Social Security outlook: what you and your family need to know

By Rev. Dr. Patricia L. Hunter, CFP ®

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CHURCH EXECUTIVE • March / April 2016

churchexecutive.com

For 80 years, Social Security has been a key part of how Americans ensure their financial security after they retire. As dependable as it has been, Social Security has gone through major changes over the years — and 2016 will be no exception.

The recently passed Bipartisian Budget Act of 2015 made some of the most significant changes to Social Security benefits in recent years.

The changes mainly affected two claiming strategies known as “file and suspend” and “restricted application for a spousal benefit.” These strategies have often been used to increase Social Security income for married couples. Both strategies have been eliminated for most future retirees, but you might still have time to take advantage of them depending on your age.

File and suspend Under the old rules, a worker who had reached full retirement age could file for retired worker benefits in order to allow a spouse or dependent child to file for benefits based on the worker’s earnings record. The worker could then suspend their benefit in order to claim an increased worker benefit at a later date, up to age 70. The spouse or dependent child would continue to collect Social Security benefits, even though the worker had suspended their benefit. For some couples and families, this strategy increased their total lifetime combined benefit.

Under the new rules — which applies for suspension requests submitted on or after April 30, 2016 — this strategy is no longer permitted. A worker a can still file and suspend their Social Security benefit, but a spouse or dependent child cannot collect benefits on the worker’s earnings record during the worker’s suspension period. This effectively ends the file-andsuspend strategy for couples and families.

Restricted application Under the old rules, a married individual who had reached full retirement age could file a “restricted application” for spousal benefits after the other spouse had filed for retired worker benefits. This allowed the individual to collect spousal benefits while he / she delayed filing for their own benefit, in order to accrue delayed retirement credits.

Under the new rules, an individual born in 1954 or later who files a benefit application will be deemed to have filed for both worker and spousal benefits, and will receive whichever benefit is higher. He or she will no longer be able to file only for spousal benefits.

A limited window still exists to take advantage of these two claiming strategies. If you are currently at least age 66 or will be by April 30, 2016, you might be able to use the file-and-suspend strategy to allow your eligible spouse or dependent child to file for benefits, while also increasing your future benefit. To file a restricted application and claim only spousal benefits at age 66, you must be at least age 62 by the end of December 2015. At the time you file, your spouse must have already claimed Social Security retirement benefits or filed and suspended benefits before the effective date of the new rules.

If you are already using the “file-and-suspend” or the “restricted application” strategy, you will not be affected by the new rules. You have already met the age requirements.

What do you need to know?

You must have turned 62 by the end of 2015 to file a “restricted” application.” churchexecutive.com

To claim from your spouse’s suspended benefits, your spouse must “file and suspend” within 180 days from November 2, 2015.

If you are already receiving benefits, these changes will likely not affect you.

If you haven’t claimed Social Security yet, you might want to reconsider your strategy in light of these changes.

The elimination of these two claiming strategies removes some options for couples, but it doesn’t minimize the importance of deciding when to begin receiving Social Security benefits. The basic options for claiming Social Security remain unchanged. Presently, the earliest age at which you can receive Social Security retirement benefits is 62; but, if you choose to take retirement benefits before your full retirement age (66 to 67,

Social Security Administration data: Fast Facts & Figures about Social Security, 2014; Social Security Basic Fact (April 2, 2014); Annual Statistical Supplement 2014; and Annual Statistical Supplement 2015 (In Progress). *FRA is full retirement age.

depending on the year you were born), your benefit will be permanently reduced. If you delay claiming Social Security retirement benefits, you’ll receive delayed retirement credits, which will increase your benefits by 8 percent for each year you delay up to age 70.

Deciding when to file for Social Security benefits is one of the biggest decisions that you will face as you approach retirement. It will be based on many factors, including other sources of retirement income, whether you plan to continue working, how many years you expect to spend in retirement, and your income tax situation.

Although some claiming strategies are being eliminated, Social Security is one of the largest income sources in retirement, and how you claim can make a big difference for your retirement.

MMBB Financial Planning Manager Rev. Dr. Patricia L. Hunter, CFP ® brings 25 years of experience to her ministry. Before joining MMBB [www.mmbb.org] in 1987, she served as assistant pastor of the Mount Zion Baptist Church in Seattle, WA. She is a graduate of Seattle University, where she taught Womanist Theology and Black Church History. Hunter also has a master of divinity degree from Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School and a doctor of ministry degree from the Saint Paul School of Theology (Kansas City, MO). In 2008, she earned her certification as a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional.

March / April 2016 • CHURCH EXECUTIVE

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Technology doesn’t have to be

SCARY ExperienceChurch.tv® in Puyallup, WA, isn’t afraid of technology. Early adopters of live streaming (hence, the .tv), digital child check-in and more, Senior Pastor Dennis Cummins and his team embrace tools and technologies that simplify processes and free up resources for ministry.

Mobile giving, then, was a natural fit.

Pastor Dennis Cummins 16

CHURCH EXECUTIVE • March / April 2016

The need for a better, easier way to give presented itself to church leaders in a number of impossible-to-ignore ways. The long-standing option of giving by credit card — by writing the card information on an offering envelope — had obvious issues. And, though the church had adopted an online giving option, people often accessed it with their smartphones. It took them to a URL — and that’s where things got tedious.

“They had to enlarge [the screen], pinch and squeeze, put in their address — it required all kinds of information,” he explains. “By the time they were done, it was just too difficult.”

That’s not the case anymore: After rolling out a mobile giving option from Seattle-based Pushpay, the church has seen an astounding 1,000-percent increase in mobile giving.

Cummins and his team recognized the truth: texting and mobile giving is part of the culture.

“People will respond to a text before they’ll respond to an email, a voicemail or even a phone call,” he points out. Now, in terms of giving, they just perform a few simple steps and they’re in.” churchexecutive.com

A SMOOTH TRANSITION While the results are definitely a big deal, Cummins says that getting mobile giving going wasn’t.

“It’s not like we integrated Pushpay and did a big mobile giving campaign; we didn’t change anything,” he recalls. “We just let the system do its job.”

By its design, Cummins adds, mobile giving engages first-time givers and makes recurring gifts easier to set up.

On the ministry side, mobile giving lets the worship team get back to the message quicker. “We talk less about the giving process and more about the giving reasons” Cummins explains. “It lets us focus on the main things.”

In April 2015, one of those things was crisis response following a 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Nepal that killed more than 8,000 people and injured more than 21,000. The church is involved in fighting sex trafficking in the country; in fact, a team had just returned when disaster struck.

“Immediately, we were able to set up Pushpay to support our crisis response efforts, but also to support our anti-sex trafficking efforts,” he says. “It engaged people who weren’t even part of our church. The simplicity of being able to engage them to give at that level was tremendous.”

A BETTER MOUSETRAP Prior to Pushpay, church staff was reconciling deposits to several different giving channels — a point-of-sale system in the bookstore; a merchant giving account; PayPal; the then-current database giving system; and cash and checks. From a bookkeeping standpoint, it was time-consuming and frustrating. Not to mention, endless possibilities for mistakes and errors.

“We found ourselves asking, What came in? What was it for? Who gave it?” Cummins recalls.

While an integrated giving platform seemed like the solution, there were quite a few options. In the end, simplicity won the day.

“Now the staff has one administrative dashboard to go to, and that’s it,” he explains. “When I took that capability to them initially, they were, like, ‘Yes! Let’s do it! Quick!’”

Today, church staff can see a quick week-to-week snapshot of giving activity. This is especially helpful for the finance director, who produces a weekly report. “It’s so quick to just pull that up and pop it into the Excel spreadsheet,” Cummins says.

Recently, the church added a credit card swiper to its giving options.

This data is immediately input into the dashboard.

It has also implemented API, or application programming interface, with its church management system, UCare. “With the integration of Pushpay into [this system], it has only taken a few months and we’re light years ahead of where we were.”

CHAMPIONING SIMPLICITY While Cummins says a lot of pastors he works with in the Pacific Northwest still accept gifts in more traditional ways, he’s surprised at how many haven’t yet embraced mobile giving in their churches. As he talks with them, he tries to convey the benefits.

“Whatever giving options they’re considering, they have to think about how quick and easy the process will be,” he says. “I guess that’s what I champion — that there could be something better out there for them, but it’s not actually ‘better’ if it’s not simple.”

And at Cummins’ church, the mobile giving approach isn’t just simple; it’s proven.

“I look at the numbers, and it just blows me away,” he says. “It creates consistent cash flow, which is so critical in churches.”

— Reporting by RaeAnn Slaybaugh

churchexecutive.com

March / April 2016 • CHURCH EXECUTIVE

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CONTINUING EDUCATION

A heart for pastoral counseling As Associate Dean for Counseling Programs at Ashland Theological Seminary, Dr. David P. Mann knows a lot about helping parishioners navigate the human condition — but that’s now.

As a pastor, he had a lot to learn.

Tell us about the Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) program at Ashland Theological Seminary.

The CHMC program is what has evolved over the years, starting way back in the early 1970s — if not before that — with a degree in pastoral counseling. Back then, folks realized there were some real benefits from the behavioral sciences that could be integrated into the training of pastors. In my own training to become a minister [in the late 1970’s], I only had one class in pastoral counseling; and I’m pretty sure it was taught by somebody who’d never actually done it. By the end of my training, I had tons of biblical and theological training, and I was all set to answer questions. But then, people started coming to me and saying, ‘Pastor, my marriage is on the rocks. What do I do?’

So, I believe our program at Ashland was borne out of a need to help train pastors to help their congregations in ways beyond what they’d already been trained in — spiritual and religious things. The biblical and theological.

With limited training in counseling, how can a pastor know his or her limits of competence? When to refer — when they’re over their heads? How do they know when they’re dealing with someone who has a personality disorder, or a psychotic disorder?

And if they don’t know how to pick up on these things, they can place themselves in a bad spot. That can be really dangerous.

Back when I was a pastor in upstate New York, I just knew that my real calling was more about counseling and helping people. But, I recognized that I didn’t have the training, so I kept going out and getting more.

For pastors who really want to delve more into counseling, it’s important that they get the training necessary — hopefully from a program like ours which focuses on integration of the Christian worldview with the behavioral sciences.

Dr. David P. Mann 18

CHURCH EXECUTIVE • March / April 2016

Have pastors and other church leaders shown increased interest in pastoral counseling training and courses in recent years?

I’ve been with Ashland professionally, in some capacity, for 24 years.

Over that time, CMHC training has been drawing more and more people like me, beyond just pastors: they’re answering the call to the ministry of counseling, be it in the church or in the marketplace. Also, I’m thrilled to see more churches opening their own counseling centers and providing pastoral care.

Over time, in our training program, we noticed a split: some people wanted to become licensed, and others just wanted to do ministry in their churches. For the latter group — because we had to meet the license requirement coursework (research, design, diagnosis and so on) — churchexecutive.com

those students who were preparing to go into lay counseling or pastoral counseling weren’t being served well; they didn’t need the clinical coursework. So, we worked with our practical theology department and developed a more specialized degree for them: a master of arts in pastoral care and counseling.

We’ve also gotten a lot of people from the ‘nontraditional’ camp, so to speak. We’ve had a number of folks come [to Ashland] out of other nonministry professions to pursue their heart call. One of our recent students was an accomplished lawyer. He had his own practice. He and his wife and were looking around their large church one Sunday and realized there were no resources to help couples who were in trouble; no professional counseling. As this dawned on them, he said it was as if the Lord “nudged” him to retire early and go back to school — and that’s exactly what he did.

To my knowledge, he went back to his church and is helping to fill that need. He responded to the call.

What kinds of roles can a professional degree in counseling prepare leaders for?

Some students come to us knowing they’re going to become professional counselors. But, our program isn’t just about training counselors; it involves looking at the person and the transformation process that takes place while they’re here. We help them refine their call.

That said, I’ve seen a number of people leave here, get licensed as counselors, and serve in a variety of capacities — inpatient, outpatient, private practice, group practice.

Others go into pastoral work better prepared (like I wish I’d been as a pastor) to help parishioners navigate the real issues they’re dealing with, not simply the issues we’ve been trained to handle.

For pastors, it’s not just about delivering a good sermon; a lot of what we do is pastoral. It’s not just the services we perform for our people; it’s ministering to them throughout their lives.

How do you navigate Christian counseling with science?

I wouldn’t say it’s easy, but it’s not as difficult as some might make it out to be, either. Like anything we do[in Christian leadership], we need to always keep an eye towards the principles of scripture and how they play out in our world.

In my own counseling training, I remember one of my professors saying that the behavioral sciences can help us with the ‘how-to’s for the ‘oughtto’s. As an example, The Gottman Institute — which studies marriage and relationships — put out an article that said successful couples have ‘high levels of love and respect.’ I had two immediate thoughts when I read that: First: That’s wonderful! The researchers have found what scripture has said all along, because Scripture says, ‘Husbands, love your wives’ and ‘Wives, respect your husbands.’

My second thought was: Wait a second — if they’re researchers, they’ve got operational definitions for love and respect. That will help us, then, in talking to couples in our churches about what constitutes healthy, loving behaviors (or the lack thereof) or respectful behaviors (or the lack thereof).

If I get up in a congregation on Sunday morning and say that passage of Scripture, and then ask for a show of hands for those who believe it to be true, it’d be 100 percent of the people. But what if I asked, “And what does that love and respect look like?” Most of us would be stuck with, “Um, my best guess is …”

This is where I think the behavioral sciences — studying human behavior — can help us put into application a number of the things we see in Scripture.

And vice versa, by the way: scripture can hold us accountable in some of the sciences. For example, consider this question: Is my own pleasure and enjoyment in life my highest calling? From a Christian worldview, not necessarily.

What are some of the most valuable pastoral counseling skills a pastor can hone in today’s church leadership environment?

What some common psychological disorders look like, and how to refer people as needed. People need to meet with their pastors; at the same time, a pastor needs to have the skill to say, ‘This issue is outside of my ability to provide you with the best care. But, let me refer you to someone I trust who can take good care of you.’

Also, communication skills for families. Parenting skills. Gaining some understanding about the human condition and the real issues people are dealing with — addictions, personality disorders.

What does the acronym “CACREP” mean, and why is it important that a degree be CACREP-accredited?

CACREP stands for Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs. CACREP is really the gold standard for counselor education programs, be they Christian (or what they would refer to as ‘faith-based’) or — for lack of a better term — secular. It standardizes the education for the profession of counseling.

So many states have different counseling educational requirements.

The accreditation Ashland has through CACREP says to the population, ‘We’re covering all the bases of a quality counselor education program.’

On the CACREP website, I was pleased to see that if someone is searching for a school, one of their criteria is: Do you want a faith-based school? So, they’re not telling us we can’t talk about faith. In fact, in CACREP-accredited schools, if you don’t broach the subject of spirituality with your client as part of the counseling process, there’s some question about whether or not you’re actually doing competent work.

churchexecutive.com

For busy pastors (who can’t or won’t leave their full-time ministry roles to study on-campus), are online study options available in the CMHC program?

Because our program is cohort-based program, it wouldn’t really work out well for them; their lives would be so out of balance. I say that with kind of an asterisk on it, though, because I’ve had a number of pastors who were able to delegate to others while they were in the training program.

We talk a lot about self-care here — a sense of, Don’t add this on to a 60- to 70-hour-a-week ‘plate’ that’s already full.

For those who have been able to do the training, they leave with a much better understanding of people, but also of themselves. I know a little about this myself. At my church, everyone referred to me as Pastor Mann.

As a student here at Ashland, I got to be David. And David — in small groups — was able to explore some of David’s stuff.

My heart is for so many pastors, because I believe the church is one of the most healing places. If the church can become healthier in training its leaders — so that they understand the human condition and how to respond to it — those churches get healthier and healthier. That makes an impact on our society.

I often remind students that they’re change agents in their churches.

Speaking as a former pastor — before I had the counseling training — I would’ve welcomed somebody with more training share what they know with me.

Pastors are so often dealing with grief and loss; but, for me, I wasn’t trained in what grief looked like. How long is it was supposed to last?

What’s the role of the pastor beyond the funeral?

Even something like understanding why Mother’s Day and Father’s Day aren’t days of celebration for everyone in my church is important — figuring out how to approach these holidays. Not in a paranoid way, but sensitively. Some people are unable to have children. Some have lost children. Some don’t feel great about their mothers or fathers because of early life experiences — or maybe they never knew them.

We can celebrate holidays, but let’s be cautious because churches are places of ministry. At all times, we’re helping hurting people and nurturing their growth.

— Reporting by RaeAnn Slaybaugh March / April 2016 • CHURCH EXECUTIVE

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CONTINUING EDUCATION

Make time for pastoral counseling One of the most limited resources in a church is a pastor’s time. Yet, because of a variety of trends outside of the pastor’s control, pastoring a congregation has arguably never been more complicated.

While most pastors are very comfortable with their roles as counselors and teachers, it is in administration where they tend to be least prepared.

Administration is a vital part of their ministry. However, by carefully choosing staff to help with the daily administration of the congregation, the pastor might have more time to exercise his ministerial duties, such as pastoral counseling.

“During ‘Making All Things New,’ our pastoral planning process, one thing we heard over and over — from both priests and parishioners — was the need to help support our pastors in managing our parishes by developing stronger business practices,” said His Eminence, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York in a recent press conference.

Last year, the Archdiocese of New York entered a partnership with Villanova University’s Center for Church Management & Business Ethics to provide a Master of Science in Church Management (MSCM) degree to church business administrators. Cardinal Dolan hopes the program will help educate lay people to take on more of a leadership role in the church. He says this will allow the priests in the diocese to continue their role as pastoral counselors, and not “be into replacing boilers and leaky roofs.”

A little help, helps a lot A 2010 study of Catholic parishes sponsored by the Cooperative Congregational Studies Partnership and conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) surveyed 390 Catholic parishes, asking a variety of questions about church life. Various staffing options were explored, including options where the pastor was left to the do the full administrative work of the church. Also explored were options where a full-time administrator was employed.

The study found that pastors who were assisted by a full-time congregation administrator devoted significantly more time in ministry activities and in leadership, while spending an insignificant amount of time performing management activities. In fact, the impact of a full-time administrator on the pastor’s ability to spend more time on ministerial activities had the greatest impact of any of the staffing options analyzed.

Villanova’s MSCM program aims to educate just such administrators, who are able to take some of the temporal burden away from the pastor, while freeing pastors to spend more time in their ministerial and leadership duties. Students in the MSCM program receive an education that is both practical in administration and grounded in faith and the life of the church.

If you are interested in learning more, please visit the Villanova School of Business website.

This article is provided by the Center for Church Management & Business Ethics at the Villanova School of Business in Villanova, PA. 20

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Multisite & Portable Churches

Essential equipment considerations:

expert advice

By Scott Cougill

Choosing equipment for a portable church is significantly different than choosing equipment for a permanent church building.

Churches that don’t take into account the unique challenges related to equipping rented spaces will likely make things much harder for their volunteers, as well as experience more breakage, require far more storage, and end up spending more money in the long run.

So, what’s so unique about portable spaces? What are the competing values that impact equipment selection for a portable church?

System design & integration tuned to portability In most portable churches, the venue and setup stays the same each week. (This is the opposite of a “touring design,” where each venue is different.) This site consistency allows for some awesome opportunities in the design, selection and storage of the overall system.

For example, one large church we work with meets in a high school.

As people enter the school, the entire children’s area is off to the right.

Therefore, the church was able to design a beautiful, bright, arched entryway that is custom-fitted to the high school, with matching graphicwrapped registration systems. It’s easy to set up and fits perfectly each week — not to mention, fun! Companies experienced in designing touring solutions tend to miss this opportunity.

Another church we work with has an elaborate stage setup which involves trusses, programmable lights, multiple screens, live video streaming, in-house Wi-Fi, and a sophisticated sound system. Because the auditorium is mostly the same each week when leaders and volunteers arrive for setup, we were able to create an elaborate design and tune it into a system that still can be set up with non-skilled volunteers in just over an hour.

churchexecutive.com

Designing portable church equipment solutions is a very unique niche skill. As such, using professional designers — who have experience with a number of different rental venues — can add significant value in selecting the best equipment to turn a rented venue into an excellent worship experience.

Logistics Another unique challenge in portable church plants is that the equipment needs to be fully brought in and taken out each week. Some venues occasionally allow the church to permanently install audio/ video/lighting (AVL) equipment in the auditorium or allow the church to store its equipment on site.

For the majority of portable church plants, however, the church must figure out transportation and logistics details. Transportation impacts the selection of equipment; weight, storage and volume matter greatly. Looking at the BALANCED SOLUTION graphic, you will note the competing values.

Chairs are a prime example. We have worked with a church that was using a whole trailer to bring its chairs to the site each week. They didn’t consider weight, stacking and volume, and thus had a full, multi-thousanddollar, 24-foot trailer dedicated to just their chairs. All these chairs had to be carried in by the volunteers, adding significant time to their setup and contributing to volunteer burnout.

By spending just a little more on the right kind of chair, all those needed chairs could have been stored with other equipment on another trailer, saving thousands of dollars. It also would have decreased the number of people trips and set-up time.

Economics The economics of portable church solutions are more involved than just the total price of each piece of equipment. In addition, the cost of the rental venue, wear and tear, replacement costs and equipment life need to be included. In many instances, the venue is rented by the hour. Choosing equipment in a BALANCED SOLUTION — one that’s more efficient — can save thousands of dollars a year in rental costs.

One of the largest errors in equipment selection is ignoring the safe, proper storage of the equipment.

When I was an Executive Pastor, I didn’t understand this well enough.

We purchased good equipment and went cheap on the cases / tubs. We had much of our equipment loose. Consequently, our signs, electronics and kids’ area equipment wore out quickly, had dings and scratches, and had to be replaced much more quickly than other churches’ wares — churches which invested in proper storage cases and solutions.

There are many church planting networks and websites that list essential equipment for church planting. However, since most church plants and multisite churches launch in rented spaces, the essential equipment for launch needs to be looked at through a BALANCED SOLUTION lens. Engaging portability experts early in the process can lower total costs while maximizing the overall worship and volunteer experience.

Scott Cougill is CEO of Portable Church Industries in Troy, MI, a company that has partnered with more than 2,000 churches to launch strong and thrive in rented spaces. Find Cougill on Twitter @ScottCougill. For more information, download a free eBook that goes into many more specifics about volunteer structure, training, setup strategies and staffing.

March / April 2016 • CHURCH EXECUTIVE

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Examining organizational structure — including (and especially) church members’ rights There are more than 400,000 churches in the United States, each with its own governance structure and decision-making model.

By David O. Middlebrook

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CHURCH EXECUTIVE • March / April 2016

churchexecutive.com

W

ith so many different models and terminology used to describe church governance structures — elders, deacons, trustees, directors, pastor and apostle — it can be quite confusing to determine what’s the best and most biblicallysound corporate structure for your own church.

As an attorney with more than 25 years of experience representing churches, I’m often asked which structure is the best. The truth is that there are many large and healthy churches that have incredibly diverse governance structures. However, the key to any governance structure is that it’s clearly defined as to who’s in charge.

One major pitfall for church leaders is a lack of understanding around the legal rights of your church’s members. Without understanding exactly what your church members are entitled to do, or to know, church leaders run the risk of creating a problem by not going through the decision-making matrix outlined in the governing documents of the church.

But, not all church members have rights, and not all churches have legal corporate members. In fact, most states give religious nonprofits the ability to choose, at the time of incorporation, whether they will have legal members. If the incorporators choose not to have legal members, then the board of directors, or trustees, will be 100-percent responsible for the organization.

SO, WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS FOR CHURCH GOVERNANCE? There are three basic models you’ll find in a majority of churches across the United States: #1: Congregational. In a Congregational Model, the members of the church have the right to vote and make almost every decision regarding the church’s management and operation. There are monthly, (or at least regular) business meetings in which all current members are allowed to attend and vote on various matters. This model is more prevalent in smaller, older churches that don’t have significant business activities or that believe such a model is required by their understanding of scripture.

It’s important to understand that most states generally say that the board of directors has authority over the corporation unless the corporate documents clearly state that the power is specifically designated to the members. Accordingly, if your church wants to follow the congregational model in which members retain the right to vote on all issues, the corporate documents must clearly articulate that fact; otherwise, the typical default rule is that a board will control. #2: Contemporary. This model allows the senior pastor to lead the daily church affairs with a board of directors having oversight and co-management authority. There are no corporate “members” (there can still be “members” as far as having affiliation to the church, they just might not have corporate voting authority).

This model is based upon the modern view that a church is best served by a vocational staff who are at the church daily and have a better understanding of its needs. This model also imagines that the church’s business activities are too numerous or complex to wait for congregational meetings and/or that the average congregant does not want to be bothered with the church’s business decisions, but only wants to attend as a worshipper.

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#3: Hybrid. Finally, many churches seek to find some balance between the other two structural models and opt for a “hybrid” structure. Under this model, the church is run by the vocational staff who — with oversight from a board of directors — are accountable to members who retain limited voting rights on big issues. This model often reserves big decisions for the members while the board of directors and the staff leadership make the remaining decisions.

For example, under the hybrid model, members may retain the right to vote on issues such as dissolution, the acquisition of debt over a certain amount, or the selection and removal of the senior pastor. This hybrid structure creates a middle ground that allows everyone to be involved and fosters accountability.

Over the past several years, this structure has increased in popularity — particularly for churches that previously followed a congregational structure but determined that the members lacked meaningful participation on all issues. With a desire for accountability, some congregational churches have opted for the hybrid model, forming a board of directors, yet allowing members to maintain limited voting rights on issues of great importance.

IDENTIFY WHO’S IN CHARGE No matter which management model your church chooses, it’s important that the corporate documents clearly identify who’s in charge. Since clearly drafted documents affect basic church operations, it’s important for both the staff and congregation to know who to look to for leadership. If the corporate documents are unclear, the church is exposing itself to many problems.

For example, if the church is seeking a loan, the lending institution can delay or reject financing if it’s unclear who’s in charge of the corporation and who has authority to make decisions. Furthermore, a lack of clarity can lead to trouble if there’s ever a church dispute or split. If the congregation believes it has the right to vote and the leadership thinks the opposite, then who’s in control of the church?

Also, should a church decide to submit a 1023 application for taxexempt recognition, the IRS will want to know who has the power to make decisions and vote on issues within the church.

Now that you know the different models typical of church governance, go ahead: break out your governing documents and read them, cover to cover. You might be surprised to discover that your church’s operating structure doesn’t align with the governance structure set out in your articles of incorporation or bylaws.

Churches can run into serious issues when they aren’t following their corporate documents, or if their bylaws are in conflict with the church’s articles of incorporation.

You might even be surprised to hear that in most cases, if the articles of incorporation contradict the bylaws, state law provides that the articles supersede the bylaws, thus rendering the bylaws ineffective.

Today is a perfect day to review your church’s corporate documents. Remember: Moses didn’t go to the mountain to retrieve these documents; they should be reviewed and updated periodically to make sure the church is operating in a manner consistent with its corporate documents.

The materials in this article are provided for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. This article is intended, but not promised or guaranteed to be current, complete or up-to-date and should in no way be taken as an indication of future results. Transmission of the information in this article is not intended to create — and the receipt does not constitute — an attorney-client relationship between sender and receiver.

David O. Middlebrook is a founding shareholder of Anthony & Middlebrook and the Church Law Group [ www.amlawteam.com ] in Grapevine, TX. His clients include high-profile charitable and religious organizations, both domestic and international.

March / April 2016 • CHURCH EXECUTIVE

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The Spirit of Stained Glass Taking the mystery out of stained glass commission & design

By Andrew Cary Young

The commission and design processes for a stained glass window aren’t as mysterious as they might seem at first glance.

Recently, I received a phone call from a divinity school student.

She was writing a research paper about a stained glass window which our firm created for a North Carolina church at least a decade ago. The student wanted to know what, as a stained glass artist, prompted my design process. Interestingly, prior to divinity school, she was a faithful member of the congregation for two years.

She recently returned to the church to look — with new eyes — at the stained glass window. Once she permitted herself to be contemplative, she discovered that the window had a story to tell.

We discussed how the window reflected the donor families’ deep roots in the community. Its design tells the story of the old, rugged cross in brown glass painted to resemble wood. The five areas of red glass further the story of the wounds Christ suffered during His crucifixion.

This level of contemplation doesn’t always come naturally; often, as we consider stained glass design, we think in concrete terms — of the story told through symbols and images. We’re often literal in our observations.

However, creating an image with glass, lead and paint is actually a form of abstraction. The object depicted in the window is a symbol and a guidepost for the viewer to interpret — for himself or herself, uniquely — the meaning of that symbol.

A few practical steps When choosing a stained glass studio, there are a few important first steps.

Study the studio’s body of work. What you request must be within the studio’s abilities and range of styles. It’s the studio’s responsibility to meet your expectations. And, in the end, the window belongs to God as a reflection of our faith.

Ask a key question: What do you want the viewer to feel? Begin with a lyrical idea and a thought that deepens the theological underpinnings of the window.

Should the window be a celebration?

Should it express mystery?

Will it be in a room for meditation, or in a space set aside for worship by the congregation?

Understand the process. Typically, the process of commissioning a window begins with a conversation between the window designer and the appointed members of the congregation. The designer produces an initial sketch. churchexecutive.com

This is just the beginning.

The sketch might not solve all the issues in the design, but it certainly helps to define them.

Some of the references might not speak to everyone, but it will speak to some. By keeping the design “open” in this way, viewers may interpret the meaning for themselves and their own individual spiritual journey.

Consider the room. Take scale into account, as well as other environmental conditions — the amount of Mills River United Methodist Church (Mills natural sunlight and the time River, NC) of day when the room will be used, for example. The window design should respond to the room in which it will be displayed, as a different environment might not communicate the story as effectively.

Also consider the purpose of the room and who will view the window.

Design revisions should respond to the ideas and concerns identified in discussions between the church committee, the architect and the designer.

For instance, a donor might want the window to celebrate a marriage or to commemorate a loved one; this perspective might offer useful suggestions for the window’s design.

After these conversations, the studio begins the process of creating the window. At this point in the process, the focus is on letting the window become the window.

When the window is in production in our studio, it’s like an ugly duckling transforming into a beautiful swan. In its new home, the stained glass window will begin to “sing” as it becomes whole.

Andrew Cary Young, president of Pearl River Glass Studio, Inc., in Jackson, MS [ www.pearlriverglass.com ], has dedicated his 40-year professional career to creating traditional leaded stained glass as well as art glass in service to the Christian Church.

March / April 2016 • CHURCH EXECUTIVE

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Emergency preparedness — to prepare for emergencies and crises, such as natural disasters, medical emergencies, terrorism, and moral or criminal failures of key leaders.

STEPS TO CREATING A SAFE MINISTRY

By Eric Spacek, JD, ARM

It’s no secret the world we live in today is much different than it was just a few years ago.

In today’s society, it has become clear that churches are no longer the safe haven they once were thought to be. It’s not uncommon to hear stories of church violence or allegations of abuse on the nightly news.

Unfortunately, churches have become more vulnerable to these types of incidents that threaten the strength and reputation of the organization.

To help protect your religious organization from these threats, the leaders of your church are encouraged to set aside time each year to ensure the safety and security of the facility.

During this time, it’s important to analyze, review and modify current church policies and procedures to ensure adequate plans are in place to help prevent potential risks.

If your church is like many others, it probably has a limited budget, and it’s difficult for staff to take on additional responsibilities.

However — with little to no extra money — your religious organization can make dramatic improvements in the way it protects people and the property.

CREATE A TEAM Creating a Safety and Security Team within your church is a great way to get other members involved, and it allows church leaders to focus on other aspects of the ministry. This team should be comprised of three to eight members, each with different backgrounds, skills and experience.

They also should feel strongly about implementing a proactive risk management program. The goal of this team is to begin identifying risks at your church and formulating a safety and security program. Your team should meet at least once per quarter and should give activity reports to church staff and the administrative body regularly.

DETERMINE AREAS OF RISK After the Safety and Security Team has been created, it’s important they look at all areas of the organization that could pose a risk. With the goal of making churches a safer place, GuideOne Insurance suggests using the EFFECT framework to determine risk areas:

churchexecutive.com

Facility safety — to keep the church buildings and grounds safe, including heating and air-conditioning systems, electrical hazards, preventing water damage, kitchen safety, reducing the risk of slips and falls, and property crime prevention.

Financial safeguards — to prevent theft, mishandling and embezzlement of church funds.

Employee and volunteer safety — to keep workers and volunteers safe, including physical safety, workers’ compensation issues, employment practices safeguards, adult sexual misconduct prevention and board member liability.

Children and youth safety — to keep children safe from risks, such as sexual abuse and injuries in the nursery, on playgrounds and during recreational activities.

Transportation safeguards — to address safety in church transportation, including selection and maintenance of vehicles owned by the church, rented or borrowed vehicles, selection of drivers and occupant safety.

USE RISK MANAGEMENT RESOURCES Insurance companies typically have various risk management tips, tricks and resources available for churches to use as a reference. These can include fact sheets, risk management articles, training videos and assessments, and more. Some companies even provide a discount on your insurance policy for following certain proactive measures and guidelines.

EDUCATE THE CONGREGATION The Safety and Security Team should obtain resources and seek training to become informed on key elements and responses of church risk management.

The team should then educate the church board, staff members and congregation.

Speak to small groups, key committees and other members to keep them informed and receive their input on safety issues and implementation. If your church members become more knowledgeable about the steps being taken to protect the facility, they might begin to be more proactive, further limiting the risk of loss.

Determine when your organization can dedicate time to church safety and security, and try to make it an annual process. Once the Safety and Security Team is appointed, develop a strategy for slowly phasing in a prevention program. The goal is to integrate safety and security measures into the daily life of the congregation without compromising the church’s ministry.

Although the culture of the church is a busy one, adequate safety and security precautions are necessary to limit loss and disruption of your organization’s services and activities.

Eric Spacek, JD, ARM is the Director of Risk Management and Loss Control at GuideOne Insurance [ www.guideone.com ] in West Des Moines, IA. Before joining GuideOne, he served as Minister of Operations for a large Methodist church in Raleigh, N.C., and was a liability litigation trial attorney in Washington, D.C. March / April 2016 • CHURCH EXECUTIVE

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SOUND

SYSTEMS

Go with a pro How expert know-how brought crisp, clean, modern sound to an Old World sanctuary

By Daniel Keller

Built in 1914, Five Wounds Portuguese National Church in San Jose, CA, is one of the most photographed, sketched and painted buildings in the area — not only for its Old World-style Catholic architecture, but also for its notable history.

In 1915, the Panama-Pacific Exposition (the precursor to the World’s Fair) was held in San Francisco. The city was rebuilding after the 1906 earthquake, and it was hoped this massive event would bring commerce to the area. The Portuguese Pavilion was built for the Expo.

After the fair was over, the pavilion was slated for demolition. A Portuguese priest of some repute in the burgeoning San Jose valley purchased it for a song. He shipped most of it — piece by piece — to its San Jose location, where it stands today. Much of the original wood and ornate decor remain.

Thus, Five Wounds Portuguese National Church was founded. For a century, it has exuded Iberian charm and grace.

Unfortunately, however, its sound quality was anything but awe-inspiring.

A beautiful (but challenging) audio environment The church’s age made upgrading its audio components extremely difficult. “It took three guys a full day just to run wire to the loft,” recalls Joe Orlando of Atwater, CA-based systems designer and integrator Commercial Media Systems. “The building’s original electrical wiring — installed underneath the floorboards — caused nightmarish grounding noise.

“And then there were the acoustics,” he adds.

These proved especially problematic during the church’s traditional Latin Mass, which is delivered by priests for whom English is a second language. Intelligibility was a persistent issue.

It also created problems during weddings — something the church 28

CHURCH EXECUTIVE • March / April 2016

Find out how expert help fixed the acoustical and intelligibility challenges at Five Wounds Church in San Jose, CA — about to celebrate its 100th year. View the video at http://bit.ly/1Uz6Idd.

sees a lot of. Amazingly, Five Wounds often hosts as many as three nuptials on a Saturday!

“The presiders were not totally intelligible,” recalls lifelong parishioner David Viera. “We’d been living with a sound system that was kludged together over a period of 10 or 15 years.”

The church’s physical shape — with high, arched ceilings — didn’t help matters, either. Additionally, the sanctuary has a transept, denoting the lateral areas of the cruciform (cross-shaped) building design. While lovely and symbolic, this classic design feature creates myriad reflections and echoes, further exacerbating intelligibility in this worship space.

Despite its heavenly appearance, Orlando says the church was “the sort of space that gives system designers nightmares.” Particularly challenging for him and his team was the antiquated distributed sound system, which used multiple loudspeakers situated across the entire audience area, operating at lower levels than a central source type system. This added to the cacophony, introducing multiple timing issues and other problems.

“The old sound system was actually a collection of two systems,” he explains. “They just added speakers right underneath the old speakers.”

Fixing the root problem Orlando called on Rocky Giannetta, president of Roseville, CA-based Layer 8 Inc. Giannetta is an expert in acoustical measurement, system tuning, and room modeling and analysis. He demonstrated for the church a passive column — one that isn’t amplified, nor is digitally steerable — and a Renkus-Heinz Iconyx IC16-RN, which is part of the next-generation Iconyx Gen5 Series. He says it offered the most control and flexibility. churchexecutive.com

Gianetta documented reverb times as long as three to four seconds at the back of the room — the kind of conditions that could be best addressed with steerable-beam loudspeakers. For comparison’s sake, the typical auditorium has a reverb time of less than 1 second. Reverb time in a small classroom or meeting room is typically milliseconds. And, only the most massive cathedrals have reverb times in the five- to seven-seconds range.

Meanwhile, Orlando says, “We couldn’t hold a conversation with each other standing six feet apart.”

To remedy the situation, Orlando flew a single Renkus-Heinz IC2416-RN digitally steerable column array on house left to serve as the main house loudspeaker.

“Less is more in such a reverberant room,” he observes. “With two sources, you can have multiple arrival times and reflection issues from the transepts. The IC24-16-RN can give you up to eight separate beams, so you can do quite a lot with just one column.”

The IC24-16-RN is part of the new Iconyx Gen5 loudspeaker series, the very latest in the evolution of beam-steering technology. Iconyx Gen5 integrates the power of advanced beam-steering algorithms with the intuitive control of the newly redesigned RHAON II system designer software, which offers faster rendering (processing) and greater precision.

The IC24-16-RN was mounted on a 12x12-inch wooden column with a gap between the inner column and the outer plastered wood. Partially, this was an effort to ensure the equipment “blends in” with the historic church’s design, but more because of the nature of the building’s construction.

Mounting anything — let alone a heavy loudspeaker column — to the 100-year-old lathe and plaster walls was tough. “We ran wires between the big wooden column and the plaster,” Orlando explains. “It was strong old wood, but drilling and doing the wiring right were challenging.”

A close-up of the passive column and Renkus-Heinz Iconyx IC16-RN loudspeaker setup at Five Wounds, and ...

... the space that’s being covered, sound-wise, with that this one column (see above). churchexecutive.com

On house right, directly across from the IC24-16-RN, a smaller IC8-RN steered array covers an area that needed a small amount of front fill. A CFX41 four-inch coaxial two-way loudspeaker provides monitoring for the main priest’s chair.

The church has a preacher’s “crow’s nest” with a spiral staircase; below this staircase, Orlando secreted a Renkus-Heinz CFX12S 12-inch highperformance subwoofer, which delivers powerful sub-bass from 40 to 120 Hz. “The subwoofer is hidden from view behind a cloth scrim,” he points out. “It’s only used for music needing the lower octave, in order to not excite the room where it’s not warranted.”

By “excite the room,” Orlando is referring to any time a sound wave hits a hard surface, which causes it to reflect back and create an echo. Multiple echoes reduce intelligibility. The Iconyx enables him to point the sound — almost like an audio “spotlight” — and focus it on areas where the audience is sitting, away from the walls, windows, ceiling and so on.

The non-powered CFX41 and CFX12S are driven with Labgruppen amplifiers. For microphone mixing, system management and touch control, Orlando chose an Atlas Sound BlueBridge DSP digital signal processor. The system was commissioned by Gianetta . Orlando designed it and — with the help of a crew — installed it.

Iconyx Gen5 loudspeakers are tuned with Renkus-Heinz’ new RHAON II software. “I like the original RHAON , but the rendering in the new version is so much faster,” Orlando enthuses. “You can just snap your fingers, and it’s rendered. I was really, really, really pleased!”

Clearly, Orlando is a believer in Gen5. “I’ve done a lot of installs for the Catholic Church with Iconyx,” he notes. These structures — at least older ones — tend to be designed as very acoustically live, with high roofs — often domed — as well as large windows, wooden floors and seating.

Originally, this was to enhance the sound of the pipe organ and choir; but, these same acoustics can be problematic for spoken word intelligibility.

This is why beam steering has been such a tremendous boon for these types of environments, as well as for other cacaphonous environments such as train stations, airports, natatoriums and more.

“This was one of the first Gen5 installs anywhere, and the new series is the best yet,” Orlando says. “We could specify the size and configuration we needed and still hit our budget.

“Most important,” he adds, “the Iconyx Gen5 system sounds great in the space, and the client is very happy.”

David Viera is among the pleased. He recalls a 50-year parishioner who returned to Mass after several months away. “She said she was blown away by the quality of the sound and the fact that she could hear everything the presider was saying,” Viera says. “We were able to do it right, finally.”

Daniel Keller is CEO of Get It In Writing, Inc.® [ www.getitinwriting.net ].

March / April 2016 • CHURCH EXECUTIVE

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CHURCH EXECUTIVE • March / April 2016

churchexecutive.com

Take the first step toward savings Getting started with a procurement services company

By Glen Witsaman Using a procurement services company can cut your overall annual costs, leaving more funds for you to support your ministry. But, where do you start?

A well-organized procurement services company will help you save money through an established network of suppliers and distributors. The savings comes from contracts it negotiates directly with that network and is based on the overall volume of sales to its various clients. Many such companies have direct relationships with a vast variety of suppliers, from local artisan bakeries to large, name-brand manufacturers.

Whether your organization is one church, several care centers or an entire diocese, there is a procurement program that should fit your level of needs.

Step 1: Evaluate your current purchasing methods and costs. Take into consideration everything from bathroom towels, to altar candles, to food. You might also consider the expenses of facility services such as HVAC / equipment maintenance, janitorial and administrative needs.

Step 2: Research the right fit in a procurement services company. Cost savings are usually based on the volume and breadth of the established client sites that the company already has on their programs. The larger their client base, the lower the likely pricing for you.

Look for: • A network of strong national and regional programs for key product categories that you purchase today.

• Clear onboarding steps and help when you call. A company should have customer service avenues in place with options for a dedicated account manager for your account and / or a call center where you can access assistance with daily procurement questions.

• Partnerships and services that help you achieve savings in more than one area.

They should have access to savings in food, as well as supplies, services and equipment.

• A customer-only website, which should include resources to help you maximize the benefits of their program for your ministry and provide education in market trends.

• Regular communications — on product changes, distribution news and special savings opportunities.

• Low or no fees. Some companies charge a membership fee to customers to be a part of their network. Others (including entegra) charge no fee to the client.

• A program for your level of needs. If you are a large organization with many churchexecutive.com

operating locations — a diocese, a region, or a network of facilities, for example — the company you choose should be able to work with you to negotiate a contract for your procurement needs across your organization.

If you are a church with one location, the company should have established internal programs that you can become a part of to gain the same savings as a larger group.

Once signed on with the right procurement services company, it is likely that you will continue to purchase many products from the suppliers or distributors you use today. You will receive negotiated discount pricing on the same items you are already buying, and those savings will be immediate. All customers should receive the same contracted pricing, no matter how much they buy.

The aggregate savings for your organization will vary depending on how many, and to what degree, you use a contracted program. When you buy through the program, the savings is immediate and is factored directly into invoices; thus, 100 percent of the money you save remains with your ministry.

At entegra, we have some added help for our clients, including online tools and individualized resources designed to help you to attain optimal savings.

Glen Witsaman is a National Director of Business Development, Leisure & FaithBased segments at entegra Procurement Services [ www.entegraPS.com ] , a non-fee-based purchasing company that provides customized procurement and distribution services for food and related supplies to many industries, including hospitals, schools, restaurants and church groups in the United States and Canada.

March / April 2016 • CHURCH EXECUTIVE

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Protecting Children in the Church

Time to re-screen?

Best practices for the long term

By Patricia Carlson

A workplace accident is a good indicator that an employee or volunteer needs to be re-screened. You might uncover substance abuse through a drug test. You might learn of a huge financial burden that’s causing your employee or volunteer stress and anxiety.

In both instances, you’re now in a better position to counsel the individual, professionally and personally, through the word of the Lord.

And, from a liability standpoint, you will have shown due diligence in keeping your workplace safe. #3: Unusual behavior. If an employee or volunteer starts acting out or exhibiting otherwise odd personality changes, including (but not limited to) tardiness, rudeness and uncleanliness, it’s time for a follow-up background check.

A Virginia church is at the center of every congregation’s worst nightmare: One of its former volunteers is accused of sexually abusing several children he met through the church.

The worst part is that these newest charges come six years after similar allegations plagued the man and the church.

Once a clean record, not always a clean a record.

Unfortunately, insider threats like these can happen at any ministry — and frankly, any non-secular establishment. Preventing harmful acts (abuse, embezzlement, violent crimes and theft) is one of the main reasons many ministries conduct background checks on new employees and volunteers. Background checks are the single most effective tool at protecting the hundreds, if not thousands, of people who come through your doors every week.

But, just because an employee or volunteer passed an initial background check, doesn’t mean his or her circumstances haven’t changed in such a way that would make that individual a concern to the church.

Re-screening employees and volunteers can help We know this is true. Even so, the latest studies show that most employers negate this critical step in keeping their workplaces safe: less than one-third of employers re-screen current employees and volunteers.

Some industries — health care and transportation, for example — require additional background checks; most, however, do not.

Ministries have some of the lowest re-screening rates. As we reported in a previous Church Executive article (“The true cost of screening,” November / December 2015), tough budgets are often to blame. Legal issues, privacy concerns, and worrying about appearing untrusting of your ministry members also play a role in deciding against follow-up background checks.

3 scenarios when re-screening is absolutely the right move There are three concrete instances when re-screening employees and volunteers is not only appropriate, but necessary. #1: An internal move. When employees change positions (either laterally or vertically), or volunteers begin serving in new roles, they will undoubtedly have different responsibilities. In some cases, they might have greater access to sensitive information, church funds or children.

Promotions might come with benefits, such as the use of a church vehicle or a key to the building. All these new access points put your church and its people at risk if you haven’t properly re-screened the employees and / or volunteers. For example, re-screening will examine a person’s driving and criminal record and show you any new offense you might not know about. #2: A workplace incident. It’s your responsibility to ensure your church is a safe place to work. Failing to do so could leave the church vulnerable to a negligence lawsuit.

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CHURCH EXECUTIVE • March / April 2016

Many secular employers already abide by a policy that mandates a random drug test in the event of unusual behavior. Ministries might want to strongly consider beefing up this policy to include a full re-screen; while personality changes can indicate substance abuse, they can also mean something else is going on — a mental health issue, divorce, a child’s illness, and so on.

This is a time to be cautious, to ensure your congregation isn’t affected by the issue. But, it’s also an important step to take to prevent an outside problem from becoming an insider threat.

Think long-term The most effective way to incorporate re-screening into your employment / volunteer guidelines is to make it a mandatory requirement.

A study done in 2012 by the Employee Benefit Research Institute showed the average length of employment for Americans is more than five years.

Our “best practice” recommendation is every year, and “industry standard” for churches is every two to three years. By screening every year or two, you’re also ensuring your church is holding new hires and veterans to the same standards.

Back to the case of the Virginia church: If the former volunteer had been re-screened within that recommended five-year timeframe, ministry leaders might have been better equipped to handle the initial allegations of child sexual abuse — and, most important, prevent him from hurting more of the church’s children in the future.

Patricia Carlson is a Florida-based freelance writer for Protect My Ministry in Tampa, FL. [ www.protectmyministry.com ]

churchexecutive.com

NEVER AGAIN: BEYOND INSURANCE

Want to move “beyond insurance”?

Begin at the beginning!

By Michael J. Bemi

You probably noticed that this new series of articles has been retitled to Never Again: Beyond Insurance. But, how does a church organization get “beyond insurance” — and should it even try?

Let us first agree that insurance is critical for any organization that provides services to any community. However, it is actually designed as a “safety net” or “safety cushion” to protect us, our families and the organizations we work for (or are active with) from unforeseen, potentially devastating events that require financial outlays unaffordable for most individuals, families or organizations.

So, we all want — and need — that safety net.

Even so, as people of faith, we are called to be the best stewards of all the resources we have been blessed with. These include: • The people we serve • Those who assist with our ministries • Our physical assets (buildings, furniture, fixtures, equipment, vehicles and so on) • Our financial assets (land, financial instruments, bequests, charitable trusts, weekly contributions, etc.)

Now consider: Are we really being the best stewards we can be by simply purchasing insurance to protect us when something “goes wrong” involving our resources? As believers, are we not called to protect and nurture life; to not damage property of others; to not disrupt legitimate activities or undertakings of others?

If so, we need to move beyond just good insurance.

Where to start There exists a theoretical and related practical risk management framework to help us move “beyond insurance.” It follows a step-bystep process.

So, let’s begin at the beginning.

The process begins with Risk Identification, Analysis and Evaluation. I know — it sounds a bit foreboding, and perhaps also costly and very time-consuming. But it need not be any of those things.

The principle is simple: You need to work to develop a level of safety awareness and consciousness that is consistently employed by: (1) identifying and cataloging the resources / assets you have been blessed with; (2) considering how those resources are used; and (3) considering how the use of those resources in ministry could lead to, or be affected by, some loss scenario. churchexecutive.com

Some examples will demonstrate that this is not rocket science.

For instance, I’m guessing you have a church and perhaps a school and a parish center. Is there a process and a person (better yet, a group of people) responsible for regularly checking things such as: • Torn or loose carpeting?

• Loose handrails on stairways?

• Lighting that’s not functioning?

• Door locks that aren’t working or are easily “jimmied”?

• Chipped or crumbling entry sidewalks or stairs?

• Potholes in the parking lot?

• L ack of ABC fire extinguishers or extinguishers not currently tagged for operability?

• Non-functioning fire / burglar alarms?

• Exit signs that are not functioning or exits not posted?

• Electrical outlets that are overloaded?

• Rooms or compartments containing valuable items that are left open, unlocked or unattended?

• No procedure for controlling admission of visitors/guests?

• No emergency contact plan and posted instructions?

Do your facilities have evacuation plans that are posted and practiced?

Do you have vehicles? Are they regularly and properly maintained?

Do you restrict who may drive them? Are your approved drivers properly licensed and trained? Do you obtain annual motor vehicle reports on your drivers? Is there a protocol that defines allowable vehicle use?

Regarding your ministries, do you consider not only how they will benefit people, but also the many ways in which people could be inadvertently — or purposefully — injured or damaged in the performance of these ministries, if you do not properly control and direct who performs them and how they are (and are not) to be performed?

Two critical things to note: (1) You can get a lot of free help with these matters from your insurance broker or insurance carriers or third-party administrator; and (2) You need to make these matters a regular, standardized, scheduled process, with identified individuals responsible.

So, now you know where to begin!

Michael J. Bemi is president & CEO of The National Catholic Risk Retention Group, Inc. (Lisle, IL) — a recognized leader in risk management. To learn more about available coverage — and to get valuable tools, facts and statistics — visit www.tncrrg.org

March / April 2016 • CHURCH EXECUTIVE

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Streaming Made Simple

Capturing community — every moment Lately, our house-of-worship customers have shown a lot of interest in wireless production … and for good reason.

By Andrew Ng

Crown Design Group partnered with Bayside Community Church in Sarasota, FL, to design a fully wireless, HD Micro Camera body pack for its Easter Services. Nik Wallenda — of the world-renowned Flying Wallendas — wore this custom video rig live, as he tightrope-walked across the congregation while having a conversation with the lead pastor, who was safely on the stage. The rig consisted of a Marshall CV-150, Fujinon fish-eye lens, and Teradek Bolt 300 system.” Photo provided by Crown Design Group

Wireless video capabilities let churches deliver better, more intimate coverage of all the goings-on in the sanctuary, whether it’s capturing what’s happening onstage, hovering over the congregation for action / reaction shots, or even heading backstage for an “all-access” perspective.

Another great use for wireless transmission tools is for events that take place outside the main worship area. For example, wireless video can broadcast scenes to a worship annex or overflow room, or from an outdoor service or baptism.

Regardless of your plans for wireless video, its ability to deliver unique, intimate camera angles makes your church’s live stream stand head-andshoulders above the rest in terms of production value — and, even more important, worshiper engagement. As long as an event is taking place within 300 to 2,000 feet of the production switcher, wireless cameras can be equipped to transmitting content with zero delay to anyone, anywhere on the church campus.

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CHURCH EXECUTIVE • March / April 2016

To bring all these functions within reach, we often refer customers to the Bolt suite of wireless technologies.

Here’s why.

Form and function Ease of use — and “familiarity” with a church’s existing wireless camera inventory — makes the Teradek Bolt the ideal turn-key solution for most live productions. Its offerings are designed to take in pretty much any kind of camera, whether it has an SDI or HDMI connection.

The camera can be handheld, of course, or mounted in unique locations, like near the ceiling for a bird’s-eye view. Generally speaking, wireless video products are ideal for deploying camera angles which are typically cumbersome or dangerous to run cables. Without wireless connectivity, the church team would need to figure out how to run a very long cable, which could be limiting, intrusive, and even a trip hazard.

You just pop a small box on to the top of your wireless camera, turn on your transmitter and receiver (which is usually your switcher), and the setup is ready to go. This ease of use is especially helpful for churches that rely on a team of volunteers for their video production. (Read: most of them) Even so, we recommend that a pastor asks his or her best video volunteer to use these products first and get them set up. This volunteer should consider how the system will be powered, adjust it in the ways the church will want it to be deployed, and so on — basic first steps. Once it’s set up, you don’t really need to touch it again. At that point, it’s turnkey.

Let’s talk about price “Traditionally zero-delay wireless video systems have been out of reach, budget-wise, for many churches. However, media teams who have been able to afford these systems are able engage the audience and set their streams apart from the rest.

Although the price point of Teradek’s Bolt system is still geared towards more advanced church productions (those who already have switchers, multiple cameras and streaming encoders), it’s still extremely competitively priced compared to other available devices in a similar category.

For your basic Bolt system — the Bolt 300, which offers HDMI Input/ output (common to most A/V workflows) and a 300-foot wireless transmission range — your entry point is $1,600. If your church is looking for more advanced systems that deliver more range or more professional connections, such as 3G-SDI, Teradek offers these varieties at the appropriate upgrade price.

Andrew Ng is Director of Marketing at Teradek in Irvine, CA. www.teradek.com churchexecutive.com

A COMFORTABLE RETIREMENT “OURIS SOMETHING EMPLOYEES ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE SHOULDDESERVE SINK INTO.

FINANCIAL BENEFITS.

I wish we could afford them. ”

We hear it all the time. “We’re a ministry, not a business. We just don’t have the money to offer financial benefits.” But the truth is, affordable financial benefits are not out of reach.

MMBB Financial Services thoroughly understands the needs of faith-based organizations. And as benefits consultants, we will tailor an affordable plan so that everyone in your organization will enjoy retirement, disability and life insurance benefits that are sensible and secure.

To find out more, visit us at MMBB.org/affordablebenefits. Or call 1-800-986-6222. We may just have some very good news for you and your employees.

A Financial Services Ministry

REAL PLANNING, REAL SOLUTIONS. THAT’S OUR CALLING.