Have you ever worked long and hard, all day, only to discover at the end of your day you really accomplished nothing? Yes, it is true you can have activity without productivity. The more that I work with Pastors and Christian leaders, the more I see that the majority of their time is spent putting out fires instead of expanding their ministry.  If this has been your mode of operating, I encourage you to no longer operate in firefighter mode but to know that expanding your reach is your number one priority.

If your serious about expanding your ministry each day you should invest time in activities that expand your reach. The amount of time that you will need to invest depends on the goals of your organization.  I recommend that you devote 2-4 hours each day on activities that will expand your ministry.  I know that this may be hard for you to grasp at first however; this is what it takes if you’re serious. Without people to serve your ministry has no reason to exist. First, I want to list some of the tasks you absolutely should not do during your dedicated EYR time:

• Check voicemails
• Plan or book travel
• File
• Run errands
• Balance your checkbook
• Talk to staff members
• Engage in idle chat
• Plan meetings
• Respond to low-priority e-mail
• Surf the internet
• Pay bills
• Take or make personal phone calls
• Watch television
• Explore new apps

Sample EYR activities to consider focusing on, depending on your niche, your unique grace, and your expansion plan include:

• Building strategic alliances
• Teaching
• Writing (sermons, articles, newsletter, blog)
• Speaking
• Recording videos and audio spots
• Social media (if applicable)
• Website updates
• Networking
• Creating systems
• Sending out cards
• Education
• Creating products
• Business development
• Hosting events

Expanding Your Reach Assignment

1. Make a list of all the tasks that you perform in a typical week. Be specific.
2. Identify activities that do not expose new people to your mission. Prepare to eliminate or delay them.
3. Schedule 2 hours each day during which you focus on activities that expand your reach. (minimally, 10 hours a week)

Are you ready to expand your reach but not quite sure which expansion activities fit your audience or your message? Join Janice at her Road to Expansion Live Event where you will have access to one-on-one help and so much more. Click here to register today!

Ready to expand your reach in 2012? Join Janice in Atlanta on January 27th at Road to Expansion Live Event. Click here to sign up!

Consider the ant. One of the tiniest creatures on planet earth; they are masters of massive expansion.  Having no ears to hear, ants rely heavily on their ability to feel the ground beneath them and the vibrations around them before making a move. No move is made suddenly, everything is carefully planned.

Ants also leverage the power of their team. Rather than offloading a heavy mass on an individual ant, ants look for every possible way to divide activities into small chunks that can be easily accomplished by a few.

As a Christian leader desirous of expanding the reach of your ministry you cannot miss this powerful positioning strategy of the ant.  Ants seek to modify the environments they inhabitat. With singleness of focus, drive, and relentless pursuit ants move toward change or they don’t move at all. Amazing!

As you plan to expand your reach, take with you these three lessons from the ant:

1. Embrace the power of “the small”. Resist the temptation to go after the giant leaps forward. Not only do they require heavy-lifting, but the bigger the project the more pieces and greater is the chance for error.  Small steps in the right direction will lead you toward your goal quicker than it seems.
2. Silence the noise. Make it a practice to not be moved by what you hear, rather feel the vibration then carefully choose your next step. When the voices of your competition, colleagues, and naysayers are a non-factor  your ability to feel what’s best for your ministry’s expansion becomes crystal clear.
3. Modify don’t blend. You are a Christian leader on an assignment to allow God to transform lives through your ministry (whatever it may be) don’t settle for being just another church, business, or leader—seek to modify every environment you occupy!   When you leave a place or when those you are called to serve leave your place everything should change.

If you're ready to reach the masses with your message but not quite sure how, click here to download your FREE Ministry Marketing Makeover Kit.

I had a major breakthrough this week! Finally, [I’m pretty sure God had been trying to get me to see this for quite some time now], I realized that the expansion of one’s ministry is truly a life-long journey of character development and spiritual maturity.  As 2011 comes to a close and I reflect on my personal expansion journey I would characterize it as nothing short of a costly roller coaster ride. The highs have been really HIGH and the lows; well let’s just say they have been baritone low.  In the midst of it all there has been but one constant—and that is God and His unrestricted availability.   He has never shunned me from His presence or denied me His guidance. Yet I haven’t always made the most of this divine access.  For some retarded reason, I thought it brave to try things my way  and mistakenly  thought it admirable to be deemed the one who “cracked the code” the one who “figured out the hard stuff”.  But, let me tell you. The expense (monetarily and spiritually) of this mode of operating can be quite daunting.  And trust me whatever the prize, it’s not worth it!

You’re probably wondering what does this have to do with expanding the reach of your ministry. As I train leaders like you and dare walk out this expansion process I realize that our ability to lead and grow a healthy ministry depends largely on our continuous commitment to our own personal and spiritual development—to this there is no end.  Many of the roadblocks and challenges we as leaders face in our public ministry are a manifestation of unaddressed private matters.  My mentor would say, “when there is struggle on the outside there almost always exists struggle on the inside”.

As you reflect on your progress in 2011 and finalize your plans for 2012 be sure your expectations are in line with your actions. No tool, strategy, or even ROCK-solid expansion plan will bring you to your destination or help you receive your desired results if God’s plan for you is to endure an exercise in character development.

Remember, expanding your reach has NOTHING to do with you, but everything to do with God working through you to reach others.  The moment you accept your ministry expansion as a journey toward spiritual maturity everything changes!

Expanding Your Reach is not optional but mandatory. If you're ready to reach the masses with your message click here to download your FREE Ministry Marketing Makeover Kit.

Expanding Your Reach Assignment

1. God has called you to be of service in a huge way. What is your mission?
2. What is the message that you’re sending out via online marketing, word of mouth, or print? Is it self-serving?
3. If your message is self-serving create a plan of action so that your message can be in alignment with your mission.

Expanding Your Reach is not optional but mandatory. If you're ready to reach the masses with your message click here to download your FREE Ministry Marketing Makeover Kit.

A quote that really opened my eyes was from a Christian business leader, Dani Johnson. She said that excuses were none thing more than well thought out lies. That really got me to thinking.  The more I seem to work with Christian leaders and Pastors there are 7 major excuses that I have heard why they aren’t expanding their reach.

The major excuses that Pastors and Christian Leaders tell themselves are:

1. I have no desire to be big. Expanding your reach is not for big businesses and mega churches.  It is not for those that desire for fame and fortune. Expanding is mandatory for every believer. God has blessed you with certain gifts that are to be used for his glory and to build up His kingdom.

2. “It’s a good idea, but I’m not quite ready yet.” Have you ever said that when faced with an opportunity to expand your ministry or help someone experience God through you? When you get ready for the sake of getting ready, you put yourself in a place of paralysis.  Fear sets in and others miss out on experiencing God through you.  The amazing thing about God is that he has already equipped you with everything that you need. You were born equipped and ready!

3. It costs too much! The true cost of expansion is the commitment to God. When you’re committed to God and His ways, avenues will open up. Sometimes it may cost you to expand such as purchasing business cards, getting help from others, etc. But remember we serve a God of abundance.

4. I’m not as good as….In Romans 12:6 it states that God has blessed each of us with different gifts that are to be used to impact the world. Comparing yourself, your business, and your gifts to others is time wasted. What you’re really saying is “God I don’t like who you’ve made me to be. I’m inadequate. Can you give me what you gave them?”

5. If its God will, then He will it happen. That is the most passive and lazy approach to expansion that you can ever take. The Bible teaches that the steps of a good man or woman are ordered and he delights in his way. If you’re not moving to expansion or your destiny then none thing is going to happen. You have to take action.

6. It’s too complicated. Expanding your reach is simple. It’s taking things that you already do, consistently, on purpose, and striving to a desired goal.

7. If I do dare to be great and do things in a huge way, I’m going to lose everybody I love. This lie is the biggest deception that the enemy has made us believe. If you’re a pleaser then this lie is the one that is hindering you from moving forward in a great way. The truth is that this lie is rooted in selfishness. It’s rooted in your desire to be liked and accepted by those around you. The truth is expansion has none thing to do with you. When you’re focused on you instead of those who you’re called to serve, you’re being selfish and hindering God from blessing others through you.

The truth is that there are people waiting to experience God through you. And they can’t experience Him if you continue to make excuses and stay in a place of paralysis.

Expansion in Action

1. Based on the 7 excuses, which excuses have you been given as to why you aren’t letting others experience God through you?
2. What is the underlining reason for your inaction? Fear? Not knowing what steps to take?
3. Now that you are aware of your excuses, what steps are you going to take to overcome them?

Regardless of what excuses you’ve been telling yourself and others, I want to help you overcome them. I would like to personally invite you to join me on October 2st at my live event “Road to Expansion.” Click here to learn more.

Your Video Assignment

Your assignment this week is simple and straightforward. I want you to ask yourself the following three questions. Give your answers some thought. Then write them down.

1. What are 3 goals that will really stretch you in 2012? Remember that we serve a God who can do the impossible.
2. Are you currently in a place where you are holding your tongue or procrastinating on taking any action because of the fear of offending your team? Pastor? Family?If so, how is this hindering you from serving those you are called to serve?
3. Practice the 3 P’s.  Pray consistently. Plan. Possess.

If you need help sharing your significance with the world around you join me and other Christian leaders for the Road To Expansion LIVE event here in Atlanta October 21, 2011. I will share with you the exact process I walk through with Pastors and leaders like you, who were born to change the world around them. Find out more by visiting www.RoadtoExpansion.com

Are you feeling overwhelmed with your ministry marketing? It’s great to have goals and high expectations for yourself and your team. We all need to set benchmarks; the problems start when we start to become paralyzed by the sheer volume of what we’ve set out to do.

You may not have realized it, but having a multitude of goals can actually cause us to get less done than if we only had one or two? Why is that? When our To-Do List becomes overwhelming our brains only have two avenues of escape

•   Inaction: That’s when become figurative “deer in the headlights” and we’re on a collision course with unpleasant consequences (loss of funding, disappointing others, etc.)

•   Random Action: That’s when we’re a “rabbit on the run” not looking where we’re going and landing in pitfalls that could have been avoided easily. This type of reaction takes its toll not only on you, but your entire staff as they attempt to make deliver on your instructions.

So how do visionary leaders, like you, avoid sliding into either of these activities? How can you keep yourself and your team motivated? Let’s explore four effective ways to achieve your vision:

1. Refresh. Stop everything that you are doing. Take a deep breath. Take a break.

Taking a day off (or even a few hours) to clear your mind will ultimately help your establish priorities. Take the time to discover what your true priorities are. I have found that most often when we are overwhelmed and unsure of exactly what to do, we start operating in what I call “survival mode.”

We engage in activities that have no clear strategic results.  Action that is not-purposeful is just as bad as inaction. It takes just as much time and energy to do something random than it does to do something right. And when you do the right things you get the right results.

2. Reboot. Now that you have taken time to refresh your mind and your body. It will be a good idea to reboot your marketing systems.

You know kind of like the way you reboot your computer when it runs slow or get stuck and won't do anything at all. I don't know about you, but I quite frequently press CTRL+ ALT+ DELETE To jump start my computer after I have overload it by running multiple programs at once?  Do you know why you do this?

Rebooting your systems clears out all the "gunk" and glitches in the system and allows your computer to get a new start. And if you (the brains of the operation) are feeling stuck then chances are your ministry marketing systems are stuck as well.

Rather than forcing things that to work (you know, pressing the ESC key twenty times when we get frustrated) take a moment and reboot all your marketing programs and systems. It’ll give your programs a fresh start and reinvigorate everyone who is working with you too.

3. Regroup. Let's get organized again.

Most ministries lack the clear organization and focus they need to get the results they expect. Because of this lack of organization ministry marketing is often performed on an ad hoc basis, or worst yet,  as a mere after-thought .

Remember random actions produce random results and cannot random generally be cannot be duplicated. Now is the time to gather the critical components of your ministry marketing:

- Goals
- The plan
- Processes/programs your are using within the plan
- The steps you'll need to take to complete those processes

The key to success is to make sure that all of these elements are all in one place that is easily accessible to your team at all times. Then Review, Rank, Prioritize.  Review, Rank, and Prioritize your ministry marketing goals.

Now you are ready for our fourth and final step.

4. Re-open. One at a time

Re-open only those programs that are critical to the goal you want to achieve right now. Today. Not next week, not next month -- Today.  We often get overwhelmed because we cast BIG visions, Develop BIG plans, and set BIG goals. Then we set out to achieve it all in one BIG step.

That is an insane expectation! And if you are feeling a little crazy right now, this is probably why. Rather than trying to tackle everything at once focus on ONE thing at a time.

- What would you like to achieve within the next 30 days?
- What steps do you need to take to achieve that goal?
- Who will you need to help you make this a reality?

Whew! We covered a lot of material today. Now let’s break it into chunks so that the ideas and lessons that we discussed can actually do some good.

Here’s your ministry marketing assignment:

1. Take a look at your schedule and determine right now which day this week you are going to REFRESH.

a. Write it on your calendar.
b. Send messages to your team letting them know that you are taking a planning day (or a couple of hours whichever your schedule permits).
c. Decide where you will go and how long you will be there.
i. *Be sure it is a place where you can truly refresh…don’t leave one place of chaos and jump into another 

2. Identify the systems/ programs you have running that need to be halted and restarted.

a. Get organized right away.
b.Take a look at what you are currently working on.
c.How can you reorganize it and get it all in one place so that you can operate more efficiently?

3. Okay, now you are ready to try again

a. What will you engage in right now?
b. Why this project or program?
c. Be sure to share with your team next steps and any deviation from the original plan (the last things you want to do is have your team go one way and you another)

Are you feeling overwhelmed in your ministry but are ready to expand? Click here to schedule your F.R.E.E. Ministry Marketing Breakthrough Session with Janice. You can share you vision and ask key questions.

I am still on a HIGH from the time I shared recently with the wonderful Pastors of the North Georgia Missionary Baptist Convention. How refreshing it was to be amongst leaders committed to changing the world through the Word of God and open to learning the most effective ways to do so. While my time was amazing—once I got there—the road to Euharlee, Georgia was very long! It was during my trek up I-75 that I had this amazing discovery. There are no shortcuts! None. Not in life. Not in business. Not in ministry. And definitely not to Euharlee, Georgia! I am convinced that there are ZERO shortcuts along the road to success.

Now you may disagree with my statement—but my experience has taught me every success requires a sacrifice. Every victory will cost you something. I’ll be the first to admit that in my own life I sometimes forget this truth and I anxiously try to hurry God’s process along. I find myself believing that if I read the right book (even the Bible), study at the feet of the best teachers, hire the industry’s top rated mentors and even pray fervently and consistently—all I desire will just appear. Hahaha—not so. The truth is -- reading, studying, and praying though admirable activities are only the beginning; true success requires more. Failure to apply the knowledge, practice the principles and DO THE WORK—will leave you with NO results. In all areas of our lives and ministry, we must to do the work to reap the rewards-- both spiritually and practically.

If you are saying to yourself—I will do the work! I have done the work. I am still doing the work—why am I not receiving the results?” then I want to encourage you to trust in the Lord and have faith in the process. My travels this weekend taught me there are three essential ingredients to success in everything:

1. A proven process – you will never get to Euharlee, GA (or wherever you’re headed) without a map that details your path,

2. Faith - unwavering trust in God to get you safely to your destination despite what you encounter along the way,

3. Patience - you must remain committed to the journey even when the destination seems far, far away.

It is my prayer that you will embrace these principles and enjoy the journey. Until next week, be blessed.

Do you have a vision but are struggling with the road map to make it happen? Click here to download my F.R.E.E. Ministry Marketing Makeover Kit.

“I need more____________” You fill in the blank. Members. Clients. Money. We’ve all experience this at some point in the marketing of our ministries—the point of panic because what you need is greater than what you possess. So what do you do?

Let me tell you first tell what not to do. Don’t panic. Often when faced with difficult situations, impossible deadlines, and urgent needs--we respond from a place of panic and rather than resolving a problem we create a whirlwind of new ones.

Instead, pause a moment. Say a prayer—I usually ask for insight and wisdom. Then step back and take a focused look at your current situation.  Be mindful, you are not looking for “what to do” so to speak—rather you’re looking to see what’s going on (or not going on). In crunch time, every move counts so you want to be sure your ministry marketing next steps a precise and purposeful.

Here’s where I see many great leaders get stuck with their ministry marketing efforts—they try to fix everything at once! Getting out of a tough situation doesn’t necessarily require a massive overhaul (actually that will create even more havoc than you need right now). Tiny steps toward a BIG goal will get out of a tight situation quicker and with a lot less stress.

So here’s what we need to do:

1. Get clear on the real challenge you are facing. On the surface it may seem as if you need more members or more income coming in. But a deeper look may reveal what you really need a better system for engaging the members you have (or in business a process for keep clients engaged longer).

2. Identify what caused you to be in this situation. Ask yourself, “How did I get here?” Often times if we go straight to the root cause of a challenge, we can correct it almost instantly. Are members leaving? Are there few members joining? Are the visitors not staying? Notice these are all different challenges and must be addressed in separate ways.

3. Pick one challenge to work on. Though the temptation may be to fix everything NOW, this is the impossible.  Attempting to do so is the worse move you can make at this time. In desperate times, deliberate action is required. Ask yourself of the challenges identified; what if corrected now would produce the most ideal situation for my ministry. Work on that one first.

4. Carefully, plan your next step. Random action will only produce random, unpredictable and unable to be duplicated results. What you need at this point is momentum. Tiny strategic steps toward your goal are the best way to achieve this. If you are unsure of your ministry’s BEST next step, now is the time to seek the help or advice of an expert. Any misstep can set you back further than you already are—so please seek help.

5. Follow your plan thru to the end. Now here’s the exciting part! You will recover from this place of discomfort (we always do). But, it will be because of your faith, focus, diligence, and relentless pursuit of your goal. As success happens—keep moving forward! Victory during the battle does not mean the war is over---don’t sabotage your efforts by quitting midway through your plan.

I hope this article helps you to move your ministry marketing efforts from a place of desperation to one faith-filled yet deliberate action. Remember the bible is very clear “faith without works is dead” since you’re working anyway, why not focus your efforts on the work that will move you forward.

Do you need more money, clients, or members in your ministry and not sure on what steps to take next? Click here to download your F.R.E.E. Ministry Marketing Makeover Kit.