I’m Steve Lawes
Certified Church Consultant
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Certified Church Consultant
Schedule your FREE, no obligation, thirty (30) minute Zoom initial consultation.
Church in Decline? Plateaud?
Helping Churches Thrive
Utilizing a process we call “Virtual Church Consulting” we work with you through a series of steps to help pinpoint problems and offer solutions. This all online church consulting method is effective and affordable.
Internet Impact (Learn about your digital footprint)
Community Statistics (Learn about your community)
Church Health Survey (Learn about your church)
Effective Outreach Ideas (Learn how to reach your community)
Internet Impact
Your website is the “digital foyer” for the church. It is the first impression for almost everyone that visits your church.
Community Statistics
Demographic information is helpful in getting an overview of what is happening in your community.
Church Health Survey
A church health survey/assessment is a helpful tool that will give you information on the overall health of your church.
Effective Outreach Ideas
An outreach strategy is a specific set of tactics intended to ultimately attract new people to your church.
Church Consulting & Coaching
We offer a wide range of Church Consulting and Ministry Coaching Services. Our desire is to help pastors and churches thrive so that they are able to fulfill the calling that God has on them for their community.
Church Marketing
Think of church marketing as a tool to help people who are in need of what your church offers to be able to connect with you. We are not trying to sell something people don’t need. We are trying to connect them with the One who changes everything. Click on this link to read more about developing a Church Marketing Strategy.
Church Revitalization
Church Revitalization is the process of leading a dying or declining church back to a healthy place so that it can continue to carry out the calling and purpose that God has for it. Steve Lawes is certified in Church Revitalization with Church Answers.
Ministry and Pastoral Coaching
We offer a wide variety of Coaching Services for pastors and churches. For more information go to Church Encourager.
Disciplship Training
Partnering with the Jesus Moment Bible Institute and Seminary we are able to offer a wide variety of Discipleship Training opportunites for pastors and churches.
Meet Steve Lawes
Steve Lawes is a Certified Church Consultant. He has been the lead Pastor of Keys Vineyard Church in Big Pine Key since 1992. He has a Bachelors Degree in Bible and Theology from Berean University and Masters and PhD Degrees from Atlantic Coast Theological Seminary. He lead the Cuba Missions Team for Vineyard Missions from 1995-2005 and traveled to Cuba more than twenty times helping to plant churches and build up local leaders. He served as the South Florida Area Leader for the Association of Vineyard Churches for ten years. He also founded the Jesus Moment Bible Institute and Seminary in 2014 which has a student enrollment of over 1800. He has written three devotional books, Daily Psalt Intake, Daily Sage Intake and Daily Strength Training which are now out of print but are currently available as free e-books.
Free Ebook - Nine Point Church Consulting Strategy
Recent Posts from Church Consultant
Using the ARDA on Church Consultant
In this series of articles on Church Consultant I will walk you through a step-by-step process to gather information to create your own Community Insight Report. The information provided should be helpful to anyone involved in church consulting or to pastors and churches who are trying to learn more about their community.
The Arda (Association of Religious Data Archives) contains a wealth of demographic and psychographic information that is useful for churches in gathering relevant information about their communities. It is also free which makes it an extremely useful tool.
Click on the following link (which will open in a new window) to go the Arda website. You should end up on a page that looks similar to the screen shot below.
The first thing you want to do is navigate to the Congregational Resource Center.
Go ahead and click on the What does my community look like?
You should get a drop down set of questions and you want to click on What types of people live near my congregation?
For demonstration purposes I will be using my own church and zip code which is 33043. Enter in your Zip Code or City and then click on the red GO button. You should end up with a screen that looks similar to the screen shot below.
You should see a map of your local area. If your church doesn’t show up on the map, don’t worry about it. You want to click on the map to the closest thing to your church.
I will click on Vineyard Community Church. You also need to enter a radius in miles. If you are in an urban setting you probably want to stick to 5 miles or less. Since I am in a rural area I am going to use a 15 mile radius. It is fairly common to drive 15 miles for people who live in my area. Once you have clicked on the map and entered a radius, click the Profile button.
If everything has gone according to plan you should be looking at a map like the one above. In our next article we are going to be clicking on the color-coded maps of your community and start building our community profile.
Steve Lawes is a Certified Church Consultant and a Church Encourager.
Pastor Burnout Increasing as Stress and Isolation Rise
Pastor Burnout is increasing according to a very interesting article at Barna.com recently titled “Pastors Share Top Reasons They’ve Considered Quitting Ministry in the Past Year“. According to recent data that Barna collected there has been a significant increase in the number of pastors who have seriously considered quitting the ministry over the previous year. In January of 2021 29% of pastors had seriously considered quitting, but in March of 2022 that percentage has jumped to 42%.
That means that four out of every ten pastors are taking a hard look at what they do and why they do it and wondering if it is worth it. What are some of the factors that are behind the increase in pastoral burnout?
According to more polling by Barna, here are the main reasons:
All of the reasons listed are important, but look closely at the top two factors:
- The immense stress of the job 56%
- I feel lonely and isolated 43%
These two factors, stress and isolation are some of the main reasons that it is important for pastors to have a source of encouragement and support that is unfortunately not always found in the church they are serving. Here at Church Consultant, our hope and prayer is that before any pastor walks away from their calling that they would take time to examine all of the factors involved so that they make healthy decisions over time and don’t just react to the immediate pressures. If you are part of the 42% who are seriously considering quitting we invite you to set up a free thirty minute zoom call with us so we can pray and perhaps help encourage you through this season. Click here to schedule your Free 30 Minute Zoom Call.
Church Consultant Website
We are getting ready to launch our new Church Consultant website. Please be patient as we are getting all the behind the scenes work done before we officially launch. We are looking forward to offering you great services from our experienced church consultant, Pastor Steve Lawes. Pastor Steve is a certified church consultant and coach. He is also the founder of the Jesus Moment Bible Institute and Seminary and the Church Encourager platform where he writes articles about church health and church growth. Mark this page and check back soon to see all of our church consulting services.
Testimonials
“Steve and his team at Keys Vineyard Church have built a church that has done an inspiring job reaching their community. Steve is a treasure trove of experience and has continued to prioritize learning and growth throughout his more than 30 years of ministry in a way few pastors have. You’ll get a lot out of connecting with him!”
“I watched first hand as Steve experienced the devastation of hurricane Irma in his town of Big Pine Key, Florida. The town was destroyed, the church building rendered unusable and the staff impacted personally. I watched a leader rise to the need of his community and minister in a situation that not very many could. He has a powerful voice of experience and wisdom earned the hard way.”
“Steve Lawes is a valuable coach/ mentor. I’ve watched Steve over the last thirty years build a substantial outward focused church with disciples who do what Jesus did. He has inspired leaders of churches with simple/tested ideas to develop leaders and grow churches.
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“Steve Lawes is an outstanding coach. He is authentic, creative, and personable. He has more cutting edge ideas than any pastor I know in regard to evangelism and meeting the needs of people in his community.”
Interested in Becoming a Church Consultant?
We are pleased to be partnering with the Jesus Moment Bible Institute and Seminary to be able to offer Free Church Consulting Training. Even if you are not looking to become a certified church consultant, the free church consultant training will be beneficial for your personal ministry.
One of the greatest questions Jesus asked was “Do You Want to Get Well?”
I t would seem that the answer was obvious. But getting well for the man who had been not well for a very long time meant that he would have to do something different. It is not easy to change, but it always starts with a first step.
Take that first step now by sceduling your no obligation, free thirty (30) minute Zoom meeting with us today. You have nothing to lose and it may be your first step to a new and healthy way of doing and being the church.
Don’t Wait Any Longer. Take The First Step Toward Getting Well Today!
