Don't disrupt the wildlife or they'll become dependent on you instead of their innate wiring to survive.

You've heard something like this at the beach, the forrest, and definitely in Alaska and the other pure wilderness places on earth.

And you agree with the logic every time, don't you. 

Don't feed the birds or they'll keep coming back. Don't feed the bears or they'll learn to tear your house apart. Don't feed the squirrels or you'll never be rid of them.

I'd suggest I see churches break this rule ALL. THE. TIME.

By the way, stay until the end to see the magic trick to be healthier, wealthier, and wiser.

• We can't grow if we don't do an event to feed their interest every single week. 
• We can't say "come back" without a "you don't wanna miss it" or they won't come back. Even though everything we do is mediocre we have to say "you don't wanna miss it" even though we hate the sermon, series, event, and worship night ourselves.
• How will they know what's going on if we don't do announcements on a video, AND during the welcome, AND at the end, AND in an email, AND handout litter in their seats?
• We have to do a weekly all-church email or people will forget about us.
• Do a daily checkin with the adult staff to "make sure" they're "on the same page" and then be totally shocked when they take no ownership and need handholding for the dumbest stuff.

I hear this in business too...

• Pepper them with 4 emails a week or they'll forget you and won't buy. 
• Post 6 times a day or the algorithm will have you going broke.
• Use every social platform or you'll miss potential clients.

IT'S ALL CRAP!

• I haven't emailed you on this list in over 2 weeks and my open rate, click-through, and retention rates will be exactly the same. Always are. For years.
• If you don't email your church, they'll still remember you. Especially when you let them breathe for a week.
• If you go without announcements (especially on a terrible flow-killing video), they'll be more open to receiving them the following week since it'll be fresh.
• If you don't post on social media for a few days, you'll miss exactly ZERO people you need to reach. 
• If you don't have TikTok or Facebook, life will go on except you'll be happier.

ALL of this is proven for REGULAR people. 

But those who live in fear of missing out, fear of their church not growing 10% a week (you're on drugs, bro), fear of not making $10,000 a week, fear of not being seen for a weekend ... all those people are in prison by this insanity. 

• I'm at the beach with my family for a week now. We decided to take this trip to Florida 90 minutes before we left. Literally. 
• I was at the lake in Tennessee two weeks ago with my family and parents. 
• I worked exactly 25 hours a week for a decade at Elevation. And I built no less than 11 campuses and oversaw dozens of people across multiple states and quantifiably, verifiably instigated over $35M in revenue to the church and that continues 4 years after I'm gone. I can show you the math. AKA I was wicked-productive. I was in the gym at the office at 10am at least 3 days a week. Sure I was at the office longer on some days but I wasn't "working" in a traditional sense like some of you on a dadgum hamster wheel.
• I had NO plans for income the day we graduated from Elevation Church (4 years ago today). And we had a "huge" savings account of $4000.
• I wanted to change industries 7 months ago and God said I had to keep coaching church leaders. Even the ones who want to argue with me while they're still not growing. Imagine how nuts that is. 
• I'm so sporadic on social media. I'm mostly on IG and should be more active on YouTube. I deleted TikTok. I have Twitter (X) but have more followers than posts and I haven't logged in for months. 
  Yet I gain 10-15 new followers a week on IG. 
• I've had to take down my free call option on my website until 2025. I'm full on coaching clients AT LEAST until 2025.

The point: Stop making life hard. 

CHURCHES: You're training the wildlife to depend on you for building their faith while teaching them events and emails = church. You're so wrong. 

PEOPLE: Your hamster wheel earns you less money AND less fruit AND less fulfillment AND DEFINITELY less freedom than my lifestyle. 

What's that lifestyle?

What's the thread to pull on for churches and individual success?

It's really hard.

Super secret.

But I suppose I'll share it. 

1. Honor God. Fear God. Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness.
2. Add value. To people, to others, even to your own life. Pro tip: being responsive is one of the easiest things to do that brings some of the highest returns.
3. Settle The #&$% Down and trust God, be patient, and take a lap around the block without your phone.

See? Hard. Magic.
Probably can't be done. 

But if you're one of the confident, smart, humble, teachable, bold listeners who is tired of the hamster wheel, tired of having to feed the wildlife, and tired of seeing such sad returns in comparison to other winners, maybe you can do this crazy thing.

>>>

The sass was free in this one. You have to spend your money and attention on more meaningful things like trying to be God or keep up with the Jones. Let it go.

I'm full on coaching and free calls. But I'll come visit you and change your mindset in 3 days if you want to level up. My last visit was to Columbia, SC last week and that pastor said "this was absolutely revolutionary" and had me on retainer 3 days later. I kid you not. But he's a serious builder, not a dabbler. You can be too. I have space for 5 more trips through December.
Get on it now, don't wait!