Maximizing your launch to gain momentum

Unfiltered: Real Church Planting Conversations

As church planters prepare in the last few weeks before launch, what should the church’s grand opening day look like? Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee share their thoughts of what worked and what didn’t work during their experiences.

0:22 This topic is an extension of a previous Unfiltered podcast titled “30 days to launch.”

0:59 Danny discusses the importance of a church planter being in a healthy frame of mind, getting enough sleep and eating well in the stressful days leading up to launch.

2:19 Lee asks Danny to walk us through what his grand opening day was like, with details.

2:46 Danny talks about launching on a Saturday night and what it looked like to be renting space from an existing church.

3:54 Danny shares how his excitement of launch day caused him to do some unnecessary tasks.

4:12 A warning from Danny to church planters to make the grand opening fun and exciting for their launch team and advice on how to handle it when something goes wrong.

6:01 Danny asks Lee to share about launching two different churches and the difference between their grand openings.

6:13 Launching a church in a movie theater and the fun things Lee incorporated into that grand opening.

6:55 Lee discusses the success of having all volunteers wearing matching t-shirts.

7:25 How helpful a visual can be for visitors to see that there’s a group of people committed to the church can be a powerful thing.

8:06 Lee’s last minute call to have two services for his church’s grand opening.

8:49 Lee advocates that it’s okay to finish a grand opening service early.

9:24 Invite people to join the journey of a growing a new church together.

9:39 Lee reveals a great giveaway his church did that helped with marketing.

10:30 The one thing that Lee’s church did that was unnecessary for the grand opening.

10:46 Lee shares what he did differently and what he did again for his second church planting launch.

11:56 Danny stresses the importance of capturing the grand opening through video and photos.

12:42 The importance of having something to create a “pause” after the service, to keep attendees around instead of leaving immediately.

12:51 The essential training needed for the launch team to engage with attendees after the service.

13:28 Preparing your volunteers and leaders how to handle and respond to sticky situations when things go wrong.

14:28 Lee reminisces about what they did when the air conditioning went out in Orlando in September.

15:02 A reminder from Lee that trouble will occur when you’re trying to bring Jesus to a dark world.

15:25 What happened to all those fans?

15:28 The rental building has a reoccurring problem!

15:55 Lee hopes there have been some helpful tips discussed for church planters that are in preparation mode for their grand opening.