One aspect of a pastor’s job is to ensure that the weekend services lead people to a closer relationship with God in a clear and compelling way. It is so easy to fall into a rut or let the services become predictable and less than engaging. A while back, my good friend, Bob Bouwer, from Faith Church in Dyer, told me about a process that he uses with his campus pastors to help them reflect on the previous weekend’s services. They have a 30 minute stand up meeting every week to evaluate the services. In that meeting they cover what he refers to as the 4 M’s.

1) Music – How was the music? Was it up to standards? Vocally, instrumentally? Did we really lead people to worship? If there was a special song, how was it received?

2) Message – How was the teaching? How well did we deliver the Big Idea? Were we on time? Over time? Was there a clear application and next steps? Was there anything distracting about what was communicated? Is there any way that you would handle that topic differently if you were to talk about it again?

3) Moment – Where was the key “moment” in the service? We hope that every service has people experiencing a full-range of emotions from laughing to crying that results in life-change. Did we achieve that? And what would you identify as the key moment in the service? Where did we peak emotionally or spiritually with people?

4) Mess-Up – Where did we blow it? What simply did not go as planned? Was it the sound? Lighting? The talk? The music? This is where we are brutally honest and say what didn’t work and what we can do to ensure it won’t happen again.