by Brett Eastman | Apr 21, 2019 | Programs
After producing the âPurpose Driven Lifeâ video series for Rick Warren, we discovered that aligning with his weekend teaching series was a really big idea. There is a powerful impact in aligning and developing curriculum in order to catalyze your community into reaching the community for Christ. As a result, over 30,000 churches have posted a 40-day campaign in their church of one kind or another. The results from these campaigns were exponential and helped to launch a whole new way of doing church.
After all, these strategies are not solely connection strategies, but additionally are strategies to be able to reach community and to make disciples in the process. We’ve been blessed to consult and produce for churches their first curriculum series that have consistently launched groups for their ministries up to 52 weeks a year.
Watch this short video of Brett introducing the
Fall Campaign Curriculum and Consulting Package
What we know, at this stage in the game, is that most pastors have either a napkin filled with notes about their plans, or in some cases, itâs a part of a three-year master plan that they have already outlined last year.
No matter what side of the scale you are on, this simple idea has the opportunity and upside of transforming, not only your Fall season, but how you will do church in the future. I can guarantee you this, especially after implementing this strategy multiple times in some of the largest and fastest growing churches in America and witnessing exponential results of Kingdom work in various ministries. Now, we are rolling this Fall Campaign Curriculum and Consulting Package out for churches of all stages and sizes for a limited time, so be sure to contact us today to get started!
Continue reading to explore the details of this exciting new seasonal offer.
As we mentioned above, alignment campaigns, such as the 40-Day series, are extremely popular and effective among congregations. This is why right now is the perfect time for you to evaluate what you’re going to do in the Fall.
Lifetogether is excited to come alongside your ministry to partner with wherever you’re going this Fall. We’ll produce video curriculum PLUS a full-color print curriculum companion guide. Our team of experts will also create a consulting packet, so that your leaders have resources to reach your community for Christ. We’ll develop promotional materials, such as video weekend previews, branding, and more assets for you to be ready to produce your very first, or next, Fall video series.
We offer a variety of classic or unique formats for your video curriculum production. One option is our primary format, the classic “talking head,” with companion print. We’ve produced a range of topics as well, from testimonies, leadership training, worship or daily video devotions. We also offer our Town Hall format, one of our most popular features that is the next generation of church video production, with settings ranging from a simple cafe edition or even a full stage “in the round” production. Again, we’ll produce a full-color, companion study guide publication, featuring over 200 photos in a magazine style but with yearbook-like value, that we guarantee will create congregational buzz and can be made available as resources for your small groups.
We’ve consulted some of the largest and fastest growing churches across the country. From our partnerships, we’ve developed the 5 major features of consulting, that we will incorporate and offer in our Fall Package.
We’ll consult your church in…
1. Ministering to the needs of your congregation by connecting up to of 75% and more of your entire congregation into community
2. Motivating your congregation to gather groups of friends and functionally start small groups up to 52 weeks a year.
3. Motivating disciples who make disciples.
4. Modeling and training your team on how to produce video curriculum video up to 52 weeks a year for any type of series
5. Multiplying the evangelistic impact of your church community
We offer both 6 and 12-month packages, and are extending a discount to a handful of churches who are willing and able to secure a partnership over the next 30 to 60 days. If youâre interested, this is an excellent offering for those churches who know theyâre going to produce a Fall campaign, but would like to explore a more cost effective approach and to do more planning as this season approaches.
Check out our other programs as well to decide the perfect next step for your ministry!
by Brett Eastman | Apr 6, 2019 | Main Blog, Programs
Lifetogether has partnered with over 500 of the largest and fastest growing churches across the nation. Emerging from our partnerships, we are launching a brand new model of curriculum and strategies for video-driven experiences in small groups. Weâve learned the irreplaceable value of community leveraging print and video curriculum in reaching people for Christ.
Thus, we are excited to introduce the Conversation Strategy, which catalyzes personal transformation and evangelism, all while incorporating the life, leadership and legacy of your churchâs ministry and Senior pastor. This is guaranteed to transform how church is done in the future and to exponentially connect your small groups. Here, we outline the 10 features of the innovative Conversation Strategy.Â
Here’s Brett detailing the Conversation Strategy process!
1. CONVERSATION STARTER
Our recommendation is that your pastor produces single, video clips that are between 7 and 12 minutes long, serving as a great small group addition of their weekend sermon. Simply, write your weekend discussion questions based on this content and create a simple design template. You could shoot this in the back of the room with the worship center stage behind him, you could have him sit on a barstool on the stage, or shoot it outside near a grassy area in an outdoor setting. Your Senior pastor can simply sit center stage and interact over the weekend message. Even more so, our vision is to create video content that could be used in a secondary format, such as able to send out via social media or downloadable on your website.
2. CONVERSATION CURRICULUM
This is an asset to not just to continue the weekend service conversation, but to launch small groups for your community. Essentially, you want to produce a library of curriculum, or the video âtraining wheelsâ, to provide the platform for your congregation to gather with some of their friends and discuss the pre-recorded content. Conversation curriculum is great for those churches with a strong evangelism mission. Even better, after creating the curriculum, these groups can subsequently meet anywhere since the material is already on hand.
 3. CONVERSATION GROUPS
Conversation groups can be launched not just at the start of new semesters or new series but even launched 52 weeks a year. Theyâre aligned with the weekend service and allow for a more interactive setting. Ultimately, you are moving the inspiration from the weekend message to application to launching groups. If your pastor is willing to join you in a small group of people on a Thursday or Friday preceding the weekend service, you could create a âmodelâ or âsmall group experienceâ hosted by none other than your senior pastor. This can be produced using Facebook Live, where people could watch it anytime and anywhere, and subsequently launch groups after the Sr. Pastor preaches the weekend service. This format is what we call the âTown Hallâ and can be shot with any type of camera, GoPro, etc. or could be something far more professionally published.Â
4. CONVERSATION TEACHING
This next step is an incredible asset whose time has finally come. Ed Stetzer stated that 78% of people would be interested in having a spiritual conversation with someone they know and trust. The challenge is to empower and vision for your congregation in order to bring people, who may be at different stages of their spiritual walk, into community. We recommend producing teaching that is more experiential and engaging that complements the teachings you already have prepared. After all, millennials want a conversation, not just a sermon; they want to interact, not just be instructed. Again, conversational teaching is creative in interactive formats and settings, and can be filmed on your iPhone, GoPro, or even streamed on Facebook Live.
5. CONVERSATION WORSHIP
Here, weâre not just talking about the guy standing on the platform and worshiping and singing songs. The obstacle in church worship most of the time is the âwatching instead of worshipâ. But, with Conversation Worship you can turn any small venue, such as a living room, cafĂŠ, etc., into a place of worship for people to engage more and be able to sit in the middle of a jam session-like feel. In the majority of our partnerships, this format has proven to be highly effective and exponential. Take this a step further, you can even stream the session online and engage even more people, creating a platform that extends beyond corporate worship and is far more community oriented.
 6. CONVERSATION SERVICE
This is an emerging, breakthrough idea that is not only launching groups 52 weeks a year, but will quickly become the next generation of weekend services. As we’ve mentioned before, the Conversation Service takes the best of a weekend service and the best of a small group to create arguably the most groundbreaking model of how to do church yet. This format is a little more complex in its production, but can be one of most powerful new ways to reach younger people and engage with people who are not as interested in the current form of weekend services. It is designed to be a more engaging, interactive church service, that launches groups not just locally, but regionally nationally, and globally. For more information, check out our webpage giving the full breakdown of Conversation Services.
 7. CONVERSATION FACEBOOK
Facebook Live and the use of digital media has revolutionized church engagement. This platform is easy to add to your existing productions and media formats. Now is the time to incorporate new ways of leveraging social media. We recommend having one or two representatives on the sidelines fielding and answering questions via social media comments. Other volunteers can help monitor the feed as well and invite others to view the stream. Conversation Facebook is an additional way to engage your audience and is great for multi-site campuses. We challenge you to do a pilot of Conversation Facebook on one of your weekday services or meetings, and we guarantee that the results will connect north of 75% of your adult attendance to small groups as well.
8. CONVERSATION CAMPAIGN
The Conversation Campaign takes the opportunity to first introduce the conversation format, then to flow into the full Conversation Strategy. One example of a great, proven campaign is utilizing our âTown Hallâ production format. This unique approach brings out the best from the teachers, engages people more, and models the types of interactions your small groups can have during the study. By spending only 30 minutes to an hour on the curriculum and service, your ministry can get an exponential response that can further be shared on social media. This format allows for more interaction instead of simply a talking head on a stage.
 9. CONVERSATION CAMPUS
Now that weâve outlined producing Conversation Curriculum, which launches Conversation Groups, which in turn builds to Conversation ServicesâŚitâs time to launch a Conversation Campus. This is similar to a microsite or small venue multisite, but is more video-driven, and volunteer led, with an average congregation of 10 to 100 people (more than a small group but smaller than weekend campus). This is essentially a video venue where you can recruit people off the online experience. The Conversation Campus is the next generation of exponential church models.
10. CONVERSATION CHURCH
By launching Conversation Groups in small venues, your ministry could have the potential to launch a Conversation Church. By mobilizing the network, or âsix degrees of separationâ, of your congregation, you can revolutionize your ministry and expand your ministry from local to national. Our vision is to present the Gospel in a simple and transferable way, and we believe launching a Conversation Church is THE NEW weekend service format that will leverage your community to reach community for Christ.
by Brett Eastman | Mar 3, 2019 | Main Blog
I hope your church is gearing up for your best Easter ever–a  time of celebration, a time of renewed connection to God, and a time when more people than ever before are visiting your church.
IT’S NOT TOO LATE!
We’re just a few days away, but it’s not too late to begin planning for how you can move out of Easter and connect more people than you ever thought possible. The way you get the most out of Easter after it’s over depends on some of the choices you make now. Â
Over the years we have produced a series of video and print curriculum packages for some of the largest and fastest-growing churches in the country, what we’ve learned that fall is the best time to launch a series, followed by the new year season but the spring is definitely right behind.
Producing your own in-house video teaching is by far the most effective way to connect the largest number of people, recruit the largest number of leaders and assimilate the largest number of infrequent attenders after Easter.
For most churches, the only other question is which type of series to produce. We always start with whatever you are currently planning on teaching. But beyond that, here are several series we have helped to produce for churches that have connected 75-100% of their congregation after Easter.
RELATIONSHIP / MARRIAGE SERIES:
A relationship series or a marriage series is a great way to connect people leading up to the summer and can even pave the way for good things in the fall.
WOMEN’S / MOTHER’S DAY SERIES:
(with Kay Warren) Mother’s Day is a great time to launch new groups, especially targeting women, and Father’s Day could be a great opportunity to try something new with your men’s ministry.
STEWARDSHIP SERIES:
Stewardship series can also be successful in a spring push. We’ve worked with a number of churches to create custom finance and stewardship series, and we’ve also developed a more “plug and play” four-week series with topics on time, talent, treasure, and trust.
DOING LIFE TOGETHER SERIES:
(with pastor Clay Peck) Another one that’s become really popular is a four to six-part semi-custom series called “Doing Life Together” that we’ve designed to launch lots of new groups and get people involved for the first time.
Whether you want us to come alongside and handle all the production or you just want some coaching along the way, we’re here to help.
We also have a semi-custom option where we make all of our resources, tools, templates, and scripts available for you to work with, and of course you always have the option of coming to California for the video shoot, it’s a great spring getaway and a nice break after the winter and the busyness of Easter prep!
Any combination of these options is a great way to maximize your Easter and spring season, and we’d love to help out. Â Contact us today!
by Brett Eastman | Feb 15, 2019 | Main Blog
Town Hall teaching is one of our exciting breakthroughs and most popular teaching formats. Above is a video medley of some of our exciting partnerships that have utilized the innovative Town Hall format.
Pastors thrive on the energy and engagement of their audience, so weâve created a new breakthrough format that brings the people to the pastor during a live video shoot! This unique approach brings out the best from the teachers, engages people more, and models the type of interactions your small group members can have with each other during the study. Clearly, this is our most popular format because of the heartfelt sharing and the hilarious interaction with the pastor. Small groups just love it!
Check out our website for the different ways we can do a Town Hall teaching, featuring video and print curriculum production.
Take a look at 3 of our feature Town Hall productions with some of the fastest and largest growing churches in America down below.
Fellowship Monrovia
Throughout “Disobediant God”, Albert Tate delivers a fresh perspective, not only on familiar Biblical stories, but also on life experiences that are common to everyone. This is a book for people that don’t realize they need it. It is a book for people who no longer have God as the focus of their life. So, how do we rid ourselves from them all and focus our desires on a relationship with God?
Rock Church
“All In” with the Rock Church and Miles McPherson included every component of what we do best, including a town hall video shoot, live worship production, microsite strategy, full-color customized print curriculum, video testimonies, video promos, coaching, and more. The curriculum is a 6-week study about discovering the ways the Lord wants to use each of us and all of us together to accomplish great things for Him. The beautiful aspect of a Town Hall production, though, is that the journey with your small groups will reach much further than 6 weeks, as your congregation continues to engage with the material years beyond the study.
Victory World Church
Take a look at a recent project, “One”, we produced for Pastor Dennis & Colleen Rouse at Victory World Church in Norcross, GA.
This production embodies the very essence of what a conversation service is and what it means for people as they come into a setting where they can engage and share in open dialogues as a means for connection. As they gathered in the round to discuss the controversial topic: Racial Reconciliation, people began the healing process.
by Brett Eastman | Jul 3, 2018 | Main Blog, Partnerships, Programs
If you’re like most of the churches in America, you probably have plans to preach a topical series over the next 12 to 24 months on one or more of these topics:
⢠Relationships
⢠Marriage
⢠Parenting
⢠Family
The topics of relationships, marriage, parenting and family are some of the best subjects to welcome people back to church, assimilate people into your body, build momentum coming into the Fall or New Year and connect the largest number of people into groups. The result is a greater impact and ability to reach your community for Christ.
While the need for a sermon series like these may be on your mind as a pastor, chances are you already have a handful of these under your belt (or in your filing cabinet) and you could really just use a few fresh ideas on how to approach these important topics. As you may know, we’ve produced dozens of these types of series for some leading ministries and many of the largest and fastest growing churches in America. Here are a few great examples.
Family Matters by Ken Forman at Cathedral of Faith
Doing Life Together by Clay Peck in Colorado
Make Room for Neighbors by Randy Frazee and Max Lucado
If you would like to explore some of the many existing campaigns that are now available to churches of any size, we have more than a dozen like those above that are currently available through our online store. You can order them “off the shelf” or we can produce a custom edition–personalized for your church–from nearly any series you like.
A Whole New Approach to Planning Your Next Sermon Series
Chances are, you may be looking for fresh ideas on an upcoming Parenting or Relationship Series or any number of dozens of other sermon series categories. You’re not alone. We’ve discovered after working with hundreds of churches and consulting with many more, that there is a need for a whole new planning process for pastors and staff who are looking for fresh ideas, new approaches, creative weekend programming, graphic designs, and biblically-sound outlines for their upcoming sermon series.
We’ve identified hundreds–soon to be thousands–of the best sermon series from our favorite pastors in some of the leading churches around the country. We’ve handpicked our favorite sermon series and message outlines on dozens of topics and have created a whole new resource platform. It’s a simple tool and unique 7 Step Process that has helped transform how we partner with churches.
We can’t wait to show it to you!
It is our hope that this new platform will not only help you find ideas for an amazing sermon series over the next 12 months, but that we might also help you develop a small group curriculum and alignment campaign that will ensure that you will connect your entire congregation into community this year.
So, if you and your team are interested in hearing more about how we can create a plan to help you develop a Fall or New Year series on relationships, marriage, or family â or any other topic, contact us right away and we will send you more information and a private conference call invitation.
We’re Here to Help!
Your church may have 500 members or 15,000.
You may be spoiled with a full video production team or may just have an usher in back holding an iPhone.
No matter where you’re at, or whatever your budget, we can help you make full use of your equipment and staff by partnering with us in our new consulting program. We can offer you and your team the greatest value for any budget.
Give us a call or connect with us here so we can help you plan your next sermon series or campaign.
