Today was a very productive day for me here in the Big Apple. I spent the day working out of The Journey offices in Times Square. I participated in various meetings and planning sessions. It's amazing what these guys do!

Here are a couple of my BIG learnings from today:

1. You have to add staff for growth. If a church plans to grow it has to be prepared for it. You don't grow and then add staff. That is an old model that just doesn't work anymore. The Biblical principle is this: God won't give you what you're not prepared to handle.

Right now we have a great staff but I think we need a student pastor. We have gobs (how is that for a good southern word) of students already, but if we plan to grow that ministry and created stability for it we are going to need to add a student pastor (part time for now). Our student ministry has great potential for growth.

Some will say, "We can't hire a youth pastor because we can't afford to." The truth is that we can't wait until we can afford to hire a student pastor. If we wait until we can afford to hire a student pastor we will never be able to. This is the kind of move that has to be made in faith. Hire, strategize, mobilze and then you will realize growth.

2. Church growth is not a money problem, it is an idea problem. A church is not limited by it's financial resources when it comes to reaching people. It is limited by its lack of ideas. It is also limited by a failure to act. I have learned at Rocky River, Epic Adventures, other ministries and even in business, that you have to make bold moves if you want to take big leaps forward.

Email me your thoughts at jimmy@jimmybritt.com