Real quick, before anything else: today is the last day β° to grab the Kindle version of Ministry Sync for free on Amazon. After today it goes back to full price. If you've been meaning to grab it β today's the day.
βGet the free Kindle version hereβ
Now. Whether you download it or not, I want to give you something useful today. Because the last thing I want this to be is a sales pitch with nothing behind it.
So let me hand you the single question that sits at the heart of the whole book β and let you work with it right now.
The question every leadership team needs to answer
Here it is:
If I asked every person on your staff team to write down your church's #1 priority for this season β would they all write the same thing?
Not "would they write something similar." Not "would they be in the same general neighborhood." Would they write the same thing?
In my experience β the answer is almost always no. The lead pastor writes one thing. The kids' director writes another. The worship leader writes something else entirely. Everybody's working hard. Everybody loves the church. And everybody is, very quietly, rowing in a slightly different direction.
Here's the cruel part: the harder they row, the worse it gets.
That's not a people problem. It's a sync problem. And the fix isn't a harder conversation or a more charismatic leader β it's a clearer plan, owned by the whole team.
What to do with your answer
If you just thought to yourself, "Honestly, I'm not sure they'd all say the same thing" β that's not a reason to panic. That's a diagnosis. And a diagnosis is the best place to start.
Here are three things you can do about it this week:
1. Ask them. Literally. Before your next staff meeting, send a quick message: "Before we meet, I want you to write down what you think our #1 ministry priority is for this season. One sentence. Don't overthink it." Then compare answers. What you find will tell you more about your team's alignment than any survey or assessment ever could.
2. Name the gap, don't assign blame. If the answers are all over the map, resist the temptation to make it a people problem. It's almost never the people. What it usually means is that the plan was never clear enough, visible enough, or repeated often enough. That's a systems fix. A leadership fix. And it's almost entirely free to address.
3. Schedule the conversation. Once you see the gap, you can close it. But it won't close itself. Put a date on the calendar β even just two hours with your core team β to get aligned on the answer to that one question. What is our #1 priority right now? Write it down. Say it the same way every time. Put it where people can see it.
Clarity is a gift. And it's a gift you can give your church starting this week.
What Ministry Sync gives you
That one question is just the beginning. Ministry Sync walks your leadership team through ten decisions β in an order that works β so that the answer to that question doesn't just exist in your head, it's owned by your whole team.
Things like:
- Mission β What are we actually pursuing this season, and how will we know if we got there?
- Keystone Ministries β Which two or three activities drive 80% of our growth and health? Are we protecting them?
- Target Audience β Who are we specifically called and equipped to reach β and who are we trying to reach but probably shouldn't be?
- Annual Calendar β When do the big things happen, and are those dates building toward the mission or just filling the calendar?
Every chapter teaches you one part of the framework and then walks you through building it β not someday, this season. There's a tool at every step.
The whole thing ends with a one-page Sync Sheet β your church's entire plan, on one page, that you can pull out in a staff meeting, hand to a new hire, or walk a board member through in five minutes.
One more ask
If you download the book today and it gives you even one thing you can act on β one question to ask your team, one priority to clarify, one conversation to have β would you take two minutes and leave a review on Amazon?
Here's why it matters: reviews are how other pastors find this book. When a worn-out lead pastor is searching Amazon at 9pm looking for something practical to help his team, the number of reviews is one of the first things he sees. An honest two-sentence review from you might be the thing that gets this into the hands of a leader who really needs it.
Download it. Use it. And if it helps, tell somebody else.
β° Grab the free Kindle version before midnightβ
Get a FREE Copy of Our New Book! π
Ready to get your team in sync? Head to Amazon and get the Kindle version of Ministry Sync Handbook: Ten Decisions That Get Your Church Rowing in the Same Direction for FREE during launch week (deal ends July 3rd β³). All I ask is that, if it helps you at all, leave a review to help other pastors find this resource. π
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