Solutions to IGNITE your church’s fullest impact
…even amidst uncertainty

Your church was meant to flourish. So let hope flow like a river…

The omnipresent COVID crisis had tentacles reaching into our global, local, organizational, and personal lives. It created unprecedented uncertainty and fear. It exposed ineffective ministry models, declining funding, and tired leadership.

  • Is your church’s ministry model adapting or only partially functional post-pandemic?
  • Are you struggling to keep ministry funding coming in during this new post-pandemic reality?
  • Do you have new, agile leadership ready to adapt and guide your church out of this crisis?
  • Are you prepared to adjust the most critical aspects of how your church operates?

You can leverage these negative challenges toward positive change. You can seize this unprecedented opportunity to reset the right things in the right ways for the right impact. Don’t let these times happen to your church! Let your church happen to these times.

Durable churches always seize unprecedented opportunities to reset for positive change. AND YOU CAN do it with…

New Ideas

When your team is chin-deep in the quicksand of a crisis; when you get the adrenaline-rushed sense that you must strategically recalibrate during real-time chaos or else, but you don’t know how, you need the positive turbulence of fresh, outside thinking. We provide compelling new ideas for unique progress.

FRESH WISDOM

When you’re tired of having a slumber party with fear and uncertainty, when the thick fog of complexity is keeping you from seeing a clear path toward true impact, we bring the wake-up call. We bring the fresh wind that leads to breakthrough understanding and applied discernment for real results.

BOLD THEOLOGY

In today’s world, plenty of solutions are available but few are aligned properly with God’s Word. We have unique expertise that combines the disciplines of leadership, theology, and business—blending empathy, character, futuring, and innovation for the best solutions.

Innovation

The hyper-attractional ministry model we used pre-COVID is ineffective for our new post-pandemic reality. Big services in big buildings aren’t the only way to move you into your fullest future. And the needs of the world around us are only continuing to deepen. So what to do? 

If you’re thinking, “We have no idea how to shift our church to ‘do’ church in a post-pandemic world,” NeoSparks can help. 

NeoSparks will help you find a ministry model that fits your church in this new season. We’ll enable you to shape ministry that leverages your scale in smaller, more incarnational ways to help people grow in Christ and really be the church. In short, we’ll help you bring real value and transformation to the lives of those Jesus has called you to serve and impact. Not only that, we’ll help you understand how to stay flexible in your strategies and structures to adapt to whatever the future brings so that you can always bring your best to bear.

FUNDRAISING

You can no longer rely on “passing the plate” in a weekly large gathering to fuel real ministry. But, if you’re like most churches in this season, your church’s funding is rapidly declining; you’re afraid you may need to cut staff which means cutting ministry and losing impact; and, worst of all, you’re just not sure what the right way is to rebuild your ministry funding model to survive and thrive. If that’s you, you’re not alone. NeoSparks is here to help.

Your church needs a new funding model if she is to not just survive but maintain and grow church staff for fresh and sustainable ministry and increasing impact for the Cause of Christ.

NeoSparks can help you reconfigure your funding model to best inspire Spirit-led generosity to fuel your best staff, ministry, and impact.

SUCCESSION

The unique season your church is wading through may have surfaced a difficult realization: the senior leadership you had pre-COVID may not have the skills you need to lead your church through this crisis into a new post-pandemic reality.

You need a new, agile senior leader who can adapt and guide our church out of this crisis. NeoSparks can help.

NeoSparks will help you CLARIFY who you are and what you need, IDENTIFY the specific kind of leader who can best move you forward with grace and impact, RECRUIT a proven leader who precisely fits your profile and your church’s culture and season, and ON-RAMP that new leader in a way that helps the leader to best integrate onto your team and accelerates all of leadership into your best future.

Marcus is a brilliant innovator who brings a theologically-solid mindset and Harvard-honed deep thinking to solve complex problems. He has successfully led both turnaround and new-initiative situations throughout our multisite church. It was a joy to serve alongside him and under his servant-leadership for nearly a decade as a part of Willow Creek Community Church of Crystal Lake’s Leadership Advisory Council. Marcus and NeoSparks can help your church flourish.”

Doug Murphy
Dean of Operations & Strategic Educational Initiatives
Moody Bible Institute

Process

Assess

First, NeoSparks will guide you through a rigorously empathetic, insightful process of defining your challenge, understanding your history, and culture, and grasping your core desire to lay the groundwork that will spark the best possible solution set for your specific situation.

ideate

Second, NeoSparks will walk your team through a proven, collaborative, creative process that will spark the most innovative and effective solution(s) that can immediately ignite in your unique culture and strategic situation.

ignite

Third, NeoSparks will provide you with specific, practical, step-by-step coaching on implementing the recommendations of your customized NeoSparks’ Report so that you decisively execute your most compelling solution(s) to find fast and lasting traction for your best impact in your new reality.

Other Areas of Expertise

Stewardship
planning

Team
Building

Change
Management

Church
Planting

Culture
Architecture

Multisite
Expansion

Strategy
(Re)Formation

Deep
Teaching

The NeoSparks advantage

NeoSparks Consulting was born out of the thoughtful leadership, creative problem-solving, and deep experience of Marcus Bieschke. With a unique background in leadership, theology, and business, Marcus holds a Masters of Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, a Doctorate in Strategic Leadership from Regent University’s School of Global Leadership and Entrepreneurship, and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School with specialization in Innovation, Negotiation, Launching New Ventures, and Leadership Development. Beyond that, Marcus has worked in high-capacity, deep-impact leadership roles for some of the United States’ largest church and parachurch organizations.

Project Levels

FAST-FIRE PROJECT
Schedule consult for pricing
Sometimes you just don’t have time to find the most promising solution to your most pressing problem. The Fast-Fire Project brings 1 full month of Marcus’ expert, focused assessment and input on your key issue to spark new, surefire ideas for immediate implementation.
DELIVERABLES
  • 50 hours of focused work
  • Weekly phone and Zoom connects
  • The “Fast-Fire Report”—a written proposal including a detailed assessment of the key issue, challenge, or tension, 3-5 practical solution recommendations, and specific coaching on how to implement those solutions in your unique culture, context, and season
CROSSHAIRS PROJECT
Schedule consult for pricing
If you’re going to hit the bullseye on solving your more complex issue, you need to intentionally concentrate the best thinking and energies possible. The Crosshairs Project lets Marcus bring up to 3 full months of sniper-like focus—through careful assessment, diligent research, and specific recommendations of practical solutions—to help you hit your mission’s more elusive targets.
DELIVERABLES
  • 100 hours of focused work
  • Weekly phone and Zoom connects and 1-2 on-site visits
  • The “Crosshairs Report”—a written proposal including a detailed assessment of the key issue/challenge/tension, 3-5 practical solution recommendations, & specific coaching on how to implement those solutions in your unique culture, context, and season
DEEP-DIVE PROJECT
Schedule consult for pricing
Breakthrough solutions exist, but you can’t see them while standing in the whirlwind of daily pressures. The Deep-Dive Project enables Marcus to bring up to 6 full months of concentrated attention to assess your most complex challenge, do external best-practice research, confer with other outside ministry/industry experts, discern the most viable solutions for your culture, context, and season, and present you with the most compelling solution for true breakthrough.
DELIVERABLES
  • 300 hours of focused work
  • Weekly or biweekly phone and Zoom connects and 3-4 in-person, on-site meetings with relevant influencers, leaders, and teams
  • The “Deep-Dive Report”—a written proposal including a detailed assessment of the key issue/challenge/tension, relevant research findings, key expert principles, and 3-5 practical solution recommendations with deep emphasis on the most compelling option
  • Relevant team trainings
  • Coaching for senior leaders on how to execute chosen solution(s) in your unique culture, context, and season

“Having served alongside Marcus in church ministry for over 9 years, he is by far one of the strongest leaders and pastors I have ever worked with. His genuine care for God’s people and passion to push Kingdom breakthrough is unparalleled. Marcus not only catalyzes ministry innovation for tomorrow but has a deep understanding and experience on how to begin fueling it today.”

Dr. Dave Smith
Lead Pastor, Willow Creek Community Church, Crystal Lake
Executive Team Member, Willow Creek Community Church
Strat-Ops Consultant, Intentional Churches

“Marcus’ character fuels his ability to lead others through change in areas of ministry strategy, adaptation to surrounding needs, and innovation. His influence brings a strong sense of trust around sensitive topics such as finances, donor care, and shepherding through a crisis. He has led me further than any other leader I have had the privilege to work with.”

Nat Bodmer
Pastor Of Operations/Civic Engagement
Willow Creek Community Church, Crystal Lake

“Marcus’ visionary leadership is unparalleled in both the not-for profit/church sector as well as the marketplace. His ability to lead an organization and its leaders to first understand where they are and where they are going strategically, and then help them construct a framework for achieving that strategy and vision, is unlike any leader I have worked with.”

Don Greetham
Vice President of Finance
Sunset Logistics, LLC

“Marcus displays a highly unique set of leadership gifts. His PASSION for ministry innovation and strategy, his ability to be PRESENT with his staff, congregations, and community, his love and focus on PEOPLE, and his drive for personal growth and PERFORMANCE are among his strongest leadership attributes. A verse that I have seen Marcus live out consistently over the past 10 years is Ezra 7:10, ‘For Ezra had set apart in his heart to STUDY the law of the Lord, to PRACTICE it [to do it], and to TEACH its statutes to all of Israel.’ As someone who loves to Study, Practice, and Teach, Marcus has thrived in his ability to engage as an Innovator (discovering new models, ministries, strategies), Fund Raising (nurturing new owners, resources, fuel), and Succession (growing new leaders and vision). I have no doubt that his unique gifting and experience will help your church find deeper levels of impact for Christ.”

Dave Meyer
President
CFM Insurance, Inc.

“I was on a church staff under Marcus’ leadership during a pivotal and transitional moment in its history that required not only innovative, out of the box thinking, but strategic, on-the-ground problem-solving. Marcus’ leadership is very unique in its seamless combination of the two. He does this by creating an environment that encourages ‘blue sky’ thinking and provides the practical tools to bring these ideas into reality.”

Nuree Kim
Creative Director
ThreeThird Creative

FREE PDF DOWNLOAD

7 Things Your Church Can Do Right Now to Be Your Best After COVID-19

Like it or not, ministry in a post-COVID-19 world is going to be different than ever before. These 7 practical, actionable items could be the difference between an active, effective ministry and a failing, irrelevant one.

NeoSparks Consulting - Things Your Church Can Do Right Now to Be Your Best After COVID-19