Do Less to Reach More

Volume 383
July 26, 2010

"We really enjoyed the No Man Left Behind Training. We went back and cancelled half of our men's activities!"

OK, that's not exactly what he said to me, but it was the gist of it. Imagine that! A men's leadership team comes to a Man in the Mirror training and then goes back and actually stops doing some of their men's activities. Perhaps we shouldn't be telling people about this.

The Rest of the Story

Scott R., a leader at a large church in central Florida, realized that his church was in a rut. They would have a large event each month, alternating between the men and the women. Scott and a few other leaders from his church came back from the training and made some proposals to the senior leadership, which they agreed to.

• They would only do two to four "big" events for men each year, instead of six.
• They would have a specific purpose for each event, instead of just doing it because the women had an event the previous month.
• Every event would lead to something else. There would always be a "next step."

The results have been quite positive. For one thing, it's been much easier on his leaders, who were getting burned out. "They were running in the other direction whenever they saw me," he shared. In addition, with fewer events, they are able to focus on higher quality, a big key for men. Finally, the men know why they are having an event. As Scott said, "The guys were getting bored. It was just the 'same old, same old.'" Now they know an event is leading somewhere.

Do you have burned out leaders and bored men? Maybe the answer isn't doing more; it's doing less, and doing it well. Sit down with your leaders and review your men's activity schedule. Answer these simple questions:

• Do we have enough leaders to do all of these activities with excellence? If not, what can we handle with the leaders we have, and/or how can we recruit more leaders?
• Is there a compelling reason for men to want to come to these events? If not, how can we adapt our events so that they don't seem like the "same old thing" to our men?
• Do these activities take the men anywhere? Do we have an intentional strategy to connect men from these events to longer term discipleship opportunities? If not, how can we enlist leaders of other ministries (like small groups or Sunday School) to work with us to connect men into their activities?

Men have a lot of demands on their time. Let's give them vibrant, fulfilling opportunities to make an impact for the Kingdom and grow in their walk with Christ.

With you in the cause of Christ,