4 Must-Have Steps to Starting Strong in the New Year

The 2012 Los Angeles Angels looked stacked going into spring training. The prior year the team had won 86 games and finished five games out of the playoff race. Tired of finishing out of the playoff hunt, owner Artie Moreno loaded up for 2012, signing future hall-of-famer Albert Pujols and the free agent market’s top pitcher, C.J. Wilson. A pennant and a World Series seemed to be a foregone conclusion.

Then April came. And it was bad. The team lost 15 of its first 23 games. The Angels rebounded to win nearly 60 percent of its remaining games, but it wasn’t enough. They finished third in their division.

Bad starts are simply too tough for most baseball teams to overcome.
The same is true for churches.

Start Well, End Well

Good years for your church—those that impact your community for years to come—follow good starts. Yeah, comebacks happen. Teams that are bad in April sometimes win in October. But it’s rare. Don’t make the exception the rule.

When churches start off strong, they gather momentum. They build on their success.
If you’re like most church leaders, about now you’re looking around at the year that’s coming to a close and taking stock. You’ve had some successes. You’ve had some failures. It’s likely your church isn’t where you hoped you would be a year ago. You don’t want to be saying that again this time next year.

That’s why I wrote Start Strong: Must-Have Goals for Your Best Year Yet. It’s all about your church’s critical first 100 days of the year. It’s a step-by-step plan to start strong and keep the momentum going all year long.
It centers around a four-part plan:

1. Get away

Take some time during your first 100 days to just relax. If you’re like most church leaders, you’ve just exited one of the busiest times of your year. Start your year off by setting some good personal and family habits. You’ll feast off those habits all year long.

2. Evaluate

Take a look back at what’s worked and what hasn’t over the past year. Involve other people in this process.

3. Plan

You need goals but not just any goals. You need God-inspired goals that are specific, measurable, assignable, relevant, and time-related. These SMART goals will lead to actions that will move your church forward.

4. Do

Then you have to do something significant. The first 100 days of the year provide an amazing opportunity to start new work, leverage holidays, and explore critical pieces of technology that will help your church take the next step in engaging your community.

While your first 100 days are critical to a successful year, they won’t matter a bit if you can’t keep your momentum going into the next 265. The book ends by highlighting practical ideas for how to build upon a successful start.  

Up and At ‘Em!

Most importantly, this ebook includes a special workbook designed to help you put the ideas you learn into action. So print off the workbook, take one morning early in the year, and work through it carefully.     

You don’t want regrets this time next year. Your best year yet starts soon.

Are you ready?