Planning To Fail?

Author

Jacob Schmelzer
August 03, 2023

We’re at youth camp this week and God is moving powerfully in the next generation!

This gives me so much hope for the future.

And on that note…

I have a question for you pastor:

Do you have a plan for growth?

Benjamin Franklin said, “If You Fail to Plan, You Are Planning to Fail.”

No plan is a plan…a plan to fail.

While that might sound harsh, we both know it’s true!

It’s amazing to me how many times I chat with pastors and I hear the same old tired excuses…

“Our city is different.”

“That won’t work here.”

“We’re not tech savvy.”

“We don’t have enough money.”

On and on it goes.

There’s NO plan for growth. Just excuses and scarcity thinking.

Now I’m not throwing stones! I know it’s hard.

But at the end of the day all you need to go from where you are to where you want to go is a step by step plan.

We’ve helped churches grow from as little as 8 people to over 100.

We’ve helped churches grow from 100 to 200 and beyond.

And we’ve helped churches of 500 grow over 1,000.

Step by step.

If you want help breaking your current church growth barrier and seeing your God-given vision come to pass let’s make it happen!

You’ll have a proven plan for reaching more people, recruiting volunteers, increasing generosity, and making disciples.

Talk soon,

Pastor Jake

PS - We’ve got room to help a few more churches this month but open enrollment will end soon as we approach the fall. Then it will be an application process. If you’d like to chat before joining UpLevel Leader please click here and fill out the form and one of our team will be in touch!

Will You Support The Leader Letter?

If you’re reading this you probably know I send a newsletter almost every day (at least 350 per year. And if you didn’t know…I write them myself! It’s the equivalent of writing 10-15 books per year. I get dozens of replies and responses from pastors that share how this daily email encourages them. Right now it goes out to over 33,000 pastors/church-leaders!

But, it’s definitely a time-consuming and challenging task! I spend at least an hour a day on average studying, writing, and managing this newsletter. Over the past few months I’ve considered doing less or stopping the newsletter altogether. Then I get a response from someone and it encourages me to keep going. Here’s where you come in.

I want to focus on writing great content, sharing it with more pastors, and LESS time on creating paid offers and selling. To do that I need your help.

Will you consider supporting the Leader Letter on a monthly or yearly basis?

Only $8/month or $80/year to keep these daily emails hitting your inbox!

To thank you for supporting the Leader Letter you’ll receive some awesome gifts when you sign up:

  • 20 Ways To Grow Your Church (Full Course)

  • How To Create A Culture Of Contagious Discipleship (Workshop)

  • How To Build A Winning Team Of Volunteers and Leaders (Workshop)

  • Big Day Strategy Guide (eBook)

How We’re Helping Churches/Businesses Get The Employee Retention Tax Credit (avg. $18,000 per employee)

Right now I’m helping churches get connected with a firm that assists them determine their eligibility for the ERC tax credit. The average check to the church we’ve seen is $18,000 per employee. Incredible right? It’s already been a HUGE blessing to hundreds of churches across the US. But there is a TON of misinformation, misunderstanding, and even scams out there so getting the right help is important. If you’d like more information please click here.

Free Resources

Here’s a couple of cool FREE resources I’ve come across that I wanted to share with you!

The Pour Over: Politically neutral, Christ-first, news source.

The biggest news of the day, summarized in a way you'll actually understand and enjoy, paired with brief Christian perspectives.

Eat God’s Way: FREE Newsletter

Daily encouragement to ditch the Standard American Diet, get healthier & happier, and save money on groceries... without giving up the foods you love or spending all day in the kitchen!

Click here to get it. (page might take a few seconds to load)

Telling better stories means being a better communicator and inspiring people to change and grow!

Recommended Tools:

Here are some of the best tools I use for business and ministry!

1) Email Newsletter Software - Beehiiv

Want to start your own newsletter? For church communication, leadership development, discipleship, or something else? Beehiiv is my go-to tool. I use it everyday and it works great. Totally FREE up to 2500 subscribers!

2) Group Software - Skool

Skool is hands down the simplest, easiest, and BEST group software available right now. I use it for UpLevel Leader coaching and it’s fantastic. Community. Classroom. Calendar.