The 5 Step Meeting

Last night was exciting because I got to eat tacos.  Actually, it was really exciting because I got to meet with our family ministry leaders.  Lisa Scata our Director of Children’s Ministry and I held a Family Ministry Leadership Gathering where we wanted to talk to our team about our expectations for the year ahead.  It wasn’t the most creative meeting but that’s okay because it was effective.  I believe the reason it was effective is because we incorporated these five steps.  We…:

1. Prayed – Never start a meeting without prayer…seriously everyone needs to be reminded.
2. Fed Them – We gave them food (which is the reason most people will come) because we wanted them thinking on a full stomach.  To meet on an empty stomach, can be a distraction.  It’s hard to focus and concentrate when your stomach is growling.
3. Stretched Their Brains – Even though the meeting wasn’t creative, we had them do a creative exercise.  We wanted to get them thinking outside the box, so that our discussion would be outside the box.  It’s just like in any workout if you don’t stretch beforehand you are at risk of slowing down progress.
4. Fed Them Again – This time we fed them spiritually, with vision, mission and values.  We painted a picture of what we wanted ministry for kids and teenagers to look like.  We wanted to fill them up with ideas, dreams and goals that could pour out of them and into their team.
5. Sent Them Off – We gave them our expectations of leadership, of their teams and of the ministry.  We commissioned them with a simple task: Pour into your team, show them value and love. Then we sent them off with prayer.

That’s it, those are the five steps we took.  Are they the five steps everyone should build into their meetings?  Probably not.  But, the point is that we came up with a simple and clear plan.  Too many times I’ve gone into complex meetings and they’ve destroyed momentum.  Even if it has an agenda, if the meeting is too complex you’ll lose people along the way.  So, next time you plan a meeting keep it simple, clear, engaging and oh yeah, feed them.

What steps would you add, replace or subtract from this meeting format?