Sure, it may sound ironic that the pastor of a church that meets in a $20m, former golf club in the Hawaiian Islands would point to humility as a key to success. But Pastor Dan Chun’s accessibility, modesty and authenticity have served him well, and seen a congregation of 175 people on Sunday reach over 1,400.
I first heard of Dan’s church, First Presbyterian of Honolulu, when it purchased the former Ko’olau Golf Club, a move that had to come to accommodate a burgeoning congregation. Dan says, ‘We came to the club and became the church because if we remained in our church we would have become a club.’ You too will be inspired by Dan’s hard work, dedication, and humility.
Watch the Full Program:
Rather Listen? Click Here for the Mp3.
Synopsis
Remove the Barriers
Quoting Rick Warren, Dan says removing the barriers to health are what stimulate growth, which is what the Church does naturally when left alone. Dan continually looks at what keeps people from attending church, and finds ways to address these.
Invest in Leaders
Every year Dan takes his leadership team to a conference, weekend seminar, or retreat to hear what others are doing and to hear what the Lord is saying to his congregation. Dan says the key to handling the kind of growth First Pres has experienced is in investing in the leaders being raised up in the congregation.
Each January Dan stops one of the Sunday services and hands out a survey to each person in attendance. The 10-minute exercise yields important results, allowing the staff to access people’s interests, challenges, and complaints. Dan says it’s helped him take the pulse of the congregation better than anything else.
About Dan Chun
Pastor Dan Chun has been the Senior Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu since 1994. Dan received his M.A. from University of Southern California in Cinema Production from the School of Performing Arts, M.Div. and D.Min. degrees from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a B.S. in Communications from Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon. Dan has spoken all over the United States with Promise Keepers and in other countries like England, Thailand, China and Singapore. He and his wife, Pam, have three children.
Books Dan Recommends
Inside Steve’s Brain – Leander Kahney
The War for Late Night – Bill Carter
The Great Divorce – C. S. Lewis
What Dan’s Watching and Listening To
The Word of Promise – Audio Bible
Various Sermons – Tim Keller
Restaurant Impossible – Food Network TV show
Downton Abbey – PBS TV show
Sponsors I Mentioned
Church Post – If you are looking to improve your church’s communications you’ve got to check out this great email platform. I’ve found it easy-to-use, reliable, and John, Debra and Kim are great to work with.
Wistia - If you’re still hosting your videos at YouTube or another ‘free’ video sharing site you know the drawbacks. Wistia helps me put out great looking videos and see who’s watching for how long. The Wistia staff is easy to work with and very professional.
The Grow My Church Store- Everything from mugs to pens to fridge magnets, this is a promotional products store aimed at helping churches become closer communities, more hospitable, and welcoming. I started this store and shop there often because I couldn’t find anywhere else to go for these products.
