I (Patrick) wanted everyone at Lifehouse to have access to this discipleship tool, not so they could read a devotional I wrote, but so they could take bold next steps offered in this resource. This is an action-filled, hands-on, practical tool to help Jesus-followers take next steps in their personal relationship with Jesus.
Here's how we covered our cost?
-Lifehouse paid for and ordered enough devotionals for everyone in our church,
-announced that they would be available on Introduction Week,
-gave them out to everyone at service that morning and ask them to sign their devotional,
-ask them for $12 donation to cover cost per book, but if they couldn't afford it, to keep devotional,
-we also asked people who were able to give more to cover cost of those who couldn't afford it,
-we recovered 70% of our cost.
We believe that people are our greatest resource, and we want to invest in their growth and discipleship more than anything else (buildings, equipment, salaries, etc).
So, we saw our cost as an investment into personal discipleship!
What to do?
-announce Campaing launch and challenge people to prepare for it,
-make devotionals available for purchase 1 week in advance of Introductory Week (but ask people to bring them with them the following week),
-pass out devotionals during Introductory Week One sermon to every person in attendance,
-ask people to make a donation to cover cost of devotional, but if they can't afford, ask people to give additional monies to cover that cost,
-make them available over the next several weeks of the Campaign.
-if your church doesn't recup all their cost, see it as an investment into the personal growth and discipleship of every person in the church.
