After The Win

Recently, we had a major event at our church. We hosted a men's conference that was planned for several months. The anticipation of the conference was so palpable in the atmosphere. It consumed our minds as to how to make it the best we could. We spent resources to market it and to promote to the best of our ability. Finally, we got to the days prior to the conference and the last minute details seemed to be too numerous to count. The conference day arrived and it was great. We had to adjust on the fly but who doesn't. Sunday came and the speaker gave his final address and then we took him to the airport dropped him off and that was it. Conference done. People saved and changed, budgets met, a big win for our church.

On the drive back home from the airport, I was talking to one of our deacons and a very big question came up. What's next? We sat in silence for a little bit and then something amazing happened. My deacon, who is the best one I have ever seen, said "this is what will make us or break us." My mind raced as I processed this statement.

So often, we get hung up in the preliminaries and planning that we forget to plan after the win happens. Thankfully, we did plan out after the conference. For us, we knew that this was a spring board for us to launch our men's ministry. But for many people, they lose the momentum because they failed to plan after the win.

After the win there are some vital things that must happen. Here are a few.

1. CELEBRATE. You and your church just completed a monumental challenge and walked away with energy and vigor that is difficult to manufacture. It is pure raw energy. Let the people see you smile and hear you give praises and accolades to those who were involved. One of the worst things to do is not to celebrate because you take on the worker bee mentality. It is just back to making more honey and then making more honey. Celebrate the win.

2. DON'T CELEBRATE TOO LONG. How long is too long? Celebration varies some situations call for longer and others for shorter. With this conference and previous conferences we have done, we celebrated and heard testimonies for a week or so, but we began to teach and talk on what we were going to do with the results from the conference as it applied to us. We wanted our congregation to see that the events have purpose but the end result was helping people not having an event. So, now we are navigating the nuts and bolts stage of men's ministry and how it will be the most effective. We are allowing the church to walk that journey with us and be a part of the process.

3. ARTICULATE THE RESULTS AND WHAT YOU WANT TO DO WITH THEM. If people can see that what has been done had purpose and is being acted upon, they will rally behind it. They may not even understand all the details. They are just happy to see that their time, talents, and treasure went to benefit people and the church as a whole.

It sounds simple right? Celebrate the win, don't hang out on it for so long you can't see the need to do anything else, and let people see why it was done in the first place. It may sound simple but many leaders will try to make things happen and they many times will succeed but they fail to bring their congregations along with them or place themselves in the position as dictator and the do what I say do individual. This never allows the purpose to gel in the hearts of the people. If the purpose fails to gel the actions of the people will be sluggish and they many times will come away with a feeling of being used instead of being valued. Be intentional in your words. Your praise means more than you know and your vague or sarcastic criticisms penetrate deeper than you may think as well.

Above all build relationships. Build the community. You are not about events you are about people. Be genuine.