Monthly Archive for March, 2007

Newsletter Article to my Ministry Partners for EASTER

Published
by
Kerry Mackey
on March 29, 2007
in Communication
. 0 Comments

Here is a copy of the article that is going to the 1,100+ ministry partners serve with my team for Easter.

Just a thought for your team.
_____________________

Welcome everyone to the Easter addition of the Membership Team Newsletter. I can’t tell you how excited I am about the coming days as we prepare to throw a celebration of our risen Lord. For me, Easter is the celebration of all celebrations in the Christian faith. And when I think about all the persons from within the community who will be here for the first time to hear the Gospel, I get even more excited.

As ministry partners you are the on the frontlines of living on purpose and without you we would not exist. As we prepare for Easter you may have noticed in the past couple additions of our Membership Newsletter no doubt the theme, “Above & Beyond” adorns every page. That is our membership team theme for 2007 as we strive to go above and beyond in everything we do as a team.

As you know our purpose as a membership team is to, “make the most of every opportunity as we assist persons to “B.E.L.O.N.G.” to Christ and the church family”.

In preparation for our community-wide Easter celebration next week let’s all read Luke 6:27-38 together as we prepare our hearts. Join your 1,100 team members as we read together in preparation for serving this Easter.

Here are a few thoughts the Lord has shown me personally:
· Love your enemies
· Respond with the energies of prayer
· Help and give without expecting a return
· Live generously
· Be easy on people
· Give away your life
· Generosity begets generosity

I can’t tell you how much I love and appreciate your commitment to Christ and His church. Your service to Him is a testimony to your calling as ministers of the gospel.

Blessings!

Pastor Kerry

© Kerry R. Mackey, All Rights Reserved

2 days left on "TAKE OUR SURVEY"

Published
by
Kerry Mackey
on March 29, 2007
in B.E.L.O.N.G.
. 0 Comments

Just wanted to remind us all that we have 2 days left on, “TAKE OUR SURVEY“. We’ve had over 300 people take our survey so far and we can wait to compile the results.

Our intent is to compile the data over the weekend and begin posting the results early next week on what the trends are in the areas of communication, connection, consistency, and classification.

As always our prayer is to provide you with the latest information available to help you and your church, “make the most of every opportunity as you assist persons in B.E.L.O.N.G.ing to Christ and the church family“.

© Kerry R. Mackey, All Rights Reserved

19 Days and we are ADDING to Easter

Published
by
Kerry Mackey
on March 18, 2007
in Communication
. 0 Comments

This is the reason that planning in advance gives you flexibility for success. So I am setting with our senior pastor and a few others between services this morning when we decided that a few things will be added for Easter. No worries…a good plan always provides space for changes on the fly. That’s what makes a good plan… a good plan.

Remember those check list’s you been downloading as templates, well they are the reason that I’m not worried. Since our team has planned in advance we can pull off these additional ideas with no problem. And you can too! Having a plan and working that plan lends itself to allow for changing winds.

A great friend of mine Mike Wierick who is the Executive Pastor at Fielder Road in Arlington, Texas reminds me frequently to pray for a “wind from elsewhere” to blow across our churches. This was one of those moments with the wind from elsewhere began to blow, so we are going with it. Does it require more work? Well sure it does, but when the wind begins to blow, hoist your sails, catch the wave and ride it.

So what did we add? A couple of things you may want to consider yourselves if you haven’t already.

1. Community Prayer Breakfast - Thursday, April 5th - we’ve decided to invite every Community Leader in the city to our church for a prayer breakfast in preparation for Good Friday. Nothing big…just a FREE breakfast, community fellowship and prayer for our community.

2. Staff Prayer Walk - we are going to pull our entire staff together the week of April 2nd to begin prayer walking our campus. Praying over the parking lots where people will park, paths where they will walk, seats where they will sit, the patio area where they will mingle, rooms where our kids will meet, baptismal pools, and the platforms from which the gospel will be shared.

3. Easter Egg Hunt/Roll - now that might not sound like a big deal, but when you are talking about 5,000+ kids, parents, grand parents, neighbors, and did I mention we are inviting the community too. All right in the middle of 13 services. WOW what a weekend it will be.

4. Easter Pictures - that’s right we’re going to provide a FREE photo shoot for anyone and everyone who attends the Easter Egg Hunt/Roll. We will then give them their photos the following weekend when they return. See there…it is a pull back to the church for the following weekend.

5. Monday Night Men - an idea we are working out this week is a Monday Night Men’s Leadership gathering with a guest speaker. What a great way to pull a group of guys back the night following Easter. You know what I mean, getting a guest speaker who is potentially sports related to draw them back for a talk on sports, leadership, being a man, etc…

6. New Series of Messages - Easter is always a great time to launch a new teaching series, so we’ll begin that as well. Looks like it will be around 5 weeks and will be on, “What Matters Most!”

Just a few thoughts…ENJOY!

© Kerry R. Mackey, All Rights Reserved

After hour Easter Phone Message

Published
by
Kerry Mackey
on March 16, 2007
in Communication
. 0 Comments

Ever thought through what your after hour automated message machine should say when someone calls the church office in preparation for Easter. Here is an idea, of course you’ll need to determine the specifics for your phone system. If you need assistance I’m sure your local phone carrier will help.

We will start our message on Monday, March 19th.

Here is a basic sample:

Hello and thank you for calling. You have reached the (YOUR CHURCH) 2007 Easter services information line. If you would like information about services at our (Your church) Campus press 1. If you would like information about services at our (Additional Church) Campus please press 2.

Our Easter service(s) at (YOUR CHURCH) will be held on (DATE)(TIME). The service times are as follows:

For (DAY), (DATE) we will offer (#) service (s) at (TIME).

For (DAY), (DATE) we will offer (#) service(s) at (TIME).

Children’s programs for birth through 6th grade will be available all service(S)
(DATE) & (TIME).

Our Special Stars, children’s programs for age two through 12 will be available (DATE)(TIME).

Junior High and High School youth are invited to celebrate any of the Easter services with their parents.

ASL Interpretation will be available (DATE)(TIME).

We will resume our normal weekend services on (DATE) (TIME).

Thank you again for calling and we hope you have a joyous Easter!

This information with directions to our campuses is available online at (YOUR WEB ADDRESS)

Additional Messages:

Regular Weekend Service Time Forward Message:

To listen to the regular weekend service times please press 1.

To listen to the 2007 holiday service times please press 2.

To return to the main menu please press #.

Holiday Service Time Forward Message:

To listen to the 2007 holiday service times for the (YOUR CHURCH) Campus please press 1.

To listen to the 2007 holiday service times for the (ADDITIONAL CHURCH) Campus please press 2.

To repeat this message please press *.

To return to the main menu please press #.

© Kerry R. Mackey, All Rights Reserved

20 Days Out and all is well…with my soul.

Published
by
Kerry Mackey
on March 16, 2007
in Communication
. 0 Comments

We are 20 days out from our first Easter Service, so this is the time we do several things. How are you coming on your preparation.

1. Post all service times to the community and congregation.

  • Newspapers
  • Billboards
  • Movie theaters
  • Emails
  • Websites
  • You Tube video
  • Blogs
  • Pod cast
  • Text messages
  • Personal business card size invites
  • Small Group newsletters
  • Bulletin theme

2. Confirm with all departments they are on task.

  • Communications - community and congregation
  • Operations - setup, security, food, shuttles, take down
  • Worship Team - main campus, regional campuses, sunrise services
  • Children’s Team - 10 of 13 services
  • Youth Team - no services so that youth can w0rship with their parents/friends
  • ASL interpretation - 3 of 13 services
  • I.T. - database for 20,000+ responses that we know are coming
  • Follow-up Team - salvation’s, next steps, care and concern, etc…
  • Campus Ministry Team - traffic, greeters, ushers, etc…
  • Finance Team - budget confirmed
  • Pastoral Care - emergency plan
  • Audio/Visual - all services, all locations
  • Decorations - main campus and sunrise services
  • Baptism - 8 of 13 services staffed
  • Bookstore - open 10 of 13 services

3. Enlist additional ministry partners to serve

  • Thousands of volunteers (you set your number) come together each year to make Easter at a great celebration. Play a part in what God does this year by volunteering your time. Look for the sign-up in the bulletin this weekend!
  • Volunteers are needed in Traffic Control, Greeting, Ushering, Campus Cleaning, Health Care, and at the Information Table (membership required). (Choose your own areas of need.)
  • Volunteer Orientation Breakfast (select a time/date), we’ll be hosting a Volunteer Orientation Breakfast for everyone who would like to serve.
    If you are unable to make it to the orientation, we’d still love to have you on the team! Show up 45 minutes before the service begins and sign-in at our volunteer station across from (you set location). We’ll find a place for you!

List of our 13 service times:

Thursday, April 5 - 7:00 p.m.
Friday, April 6 -12:00 Noon, *7:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 7 - 2:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m., *6:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 8 - 7:00 a.m. sunrise, 9:00 a.m., *11:15 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 8 - 6:30 a.m. offsite sunrise service
*ASL interpreted

© Kerry R. Mackey, All Rights Reserved

Ready, Set, Resurrection!

Published
by
Kerry Mackey
on March 13, 2007
in Street to the Seat
. 0 Comments

REAL, TRUE, LIVING HOPE is available – Jesus has risen indeed! No question, hands down, this is the BEST NEWS ever! And it shows, when Easter arrives – we dress our best, we prepare the best, and we can’t wait to invite our friends to experience Saddleback.

I love how the church responds to this momentous occasion – we mark it on our calendars, we set up family feasts, we train and equip new volunteers, ushers, greeters, teammates and we plan, literally right after Christmas, how we will use this “excuse” to introduce people to Jesus. The amount of time, sacrifice and resources to do all of these services are incredible and our team steps up - BIG time!

Not only that, think about the fruit of all our labor – God uses us to create the environment for the Holy Spirit to touch lives. It’s amazing how many people respond to the Gospel during the Easter season- this is the point isn’t it?

EASTER is a snapshot of what being a follower of Jesus is all about right?

Great. Wonderful. “High fives” to everyone.

What if it was Easter … every day?

Can you imagine if this same sense of urgency, dedication, sacrifice and invitational fervor could be tapped into…. regularly?

Yes – let’s celebrate.
Yes – let’s be excited.
Yes – let’s link arms with God and serve people with ridiculous grace.
Yes – let’s “start” praying for people to invite - but I believe Christ wants us to be “ready, set, resurrection” minded every day [Luke 9.23]. Do you think that’s what God might have intended [2 Cor 5.17; Gal 2.20]? I think so.

© Erin Kerr, All Rights Reserved

WELCOME to Pastors.com and MINISTRY TOOLBOX

Published
by
Kerry Mackey
on March 6, 2007
in Street to the Seat
. 1 Comment

For those of you joining us today from the article on Ministry Toolbox from http://www.pastors.com/ , WELCOME to Street to the Seat (StS). We are glad to be of service to you and your congregations. As I mentioned in the article I have a passion for helping persons to belong and it is my prayer that StS will be just that kind of tool for you. A tool from which you can link to, find helpful articles, sample tools, insights and learning’s that will help you assist more people to “BELONG” to Christ and the local church.

Get Blog Updates by subscribing to StS. Enter your email address in the box provided in the upper right hand corner of our blog and click, “Subscribe me!“.

I’ve been thinking about StS for some 10+ years; however, it has only been in the past couple of years that a ministry partner of mine encouraged me to begin writing about my thoughts. So here we are taking an adventure together in helping each other learn about belonging and ways unchurched and non-believers act and react to what we do in the area of “campus ministries” or as some call it, “first impressions”.

StS is here to help not only my own church, but pastors and church leaders around the world to address the needs of persons on a faith journey in taking next steps. Areas of interest such as the disconnect between messaging and the message, the divide between acquaintance and personal relationship, and the inconsistency of familiarity with the need to belong.

I submit to you there are four core concepts for StS that will help us bridge the gap.

1. Communication

It is crucial to develop a plan for the community and one for the congregation so we will address the balance of oral, print, broadcast, and digital media.

2. Connection

What draws a person to the church and what keeps them coming back! This one will surprise you. Starbucks has made the “third place” famous in their industry. Why shouldn’t the church be the third place? Here we will look at a complete array of touch points, target audiences, and take aways.

3. Consistency

Having ministry partners (volunteers) who provide a consistent face for traffic personnel, greeters, ushers, first aid, ministry connections, information centers and other areas are vital. It can make or break you. So relationships, reliability, and retention are significance areas for consideration.

4. Classification

Everyone wants to “belong” to something. They want to have the classification even when they don’t know what it is. People tell me all they time they “belong” to my church even when they don’t know why we do what we do, aren’t active in a small group, do not serve in a ministry, don’t tithe, and don’t attend worship on a consistent basis. So where is the belonging? Why should they belong to your church? What’s the big deal?

Street to the Seat will hopefully help you identify where you are and where you might improve. We are here to serve you, so let us know how we can help.

Begin by TAKING OUR SURVEY. Results will be posted beginning April 1st.

Welcome and thank you for reading and learning with us.

© Kerry R. Mackey, All Rights Reserved

Easter Planning Check List

Published
by
Kerry Mackey
on March 4, 2007
in Communication
. 0 Comments

Easter Planning Check List
2007

East Planning Team

  • Team meetings scheduled 12 weeks in advance
  • Weekly meeting location confirmed
  • Team Leader invites to meetings confirmed
  • Weekly Team Leader reminders sent
  • Weekly updates with individual teams
  • Prayer focus
  • Post Easter debrief scheduled

Finance Team

  • Budgets submitted to Easter Team Leader
  • Budgets approved by the Finance Team
  • Follow-up meeting with team set
  • Budgets confirmed by individual teams
  • Post Easter Budget accountability meeting scheduled

Pastoral Team

  • Pastoral Service Time Assignments
  • Pastoral Care Staff on standby for emergencies
  • Contact List completed
  • Follow-up Email confirmation sent
  • Assignments posted in green rooms and with Campus Ministries

Operations Team

  • Calendar Requests submitted and rooms reserved
  • Facilities Team confirmed for setup and take down
  • Sunrise Service setup teams enlisted
  • Security Team confirmed and supply requests met
  • Bus Shuttles confirmed for Sunday morning services
  • Maintenance Team confirmed advance preparation
  • Food Service scheduled and food ordered
  • Equipment Rental secured

Campus Ministry Team

  • Enlistment & Training events scheduled
  • Traffic enlisted, trained, and scheduled
  • Greeters enlisted, trained, and scheduled
  • Ushers enlisted, trained, and scheduled
  • First Aid enlisted, trained, and scheduled
  • Campus Cleaning enlisted, trained, and scheduled
  • Information Center enlisted, trained, and scheduled
  • Bulletin count determine and crews ready to assemble
  • Patio setup assignments made and confirmed with ministries
  • Additional radios and supplies ordered
  • Reserve rooms for volunteer check in

Worship Team

  • Venues confirmed for all services
  • Number of services set (day, time, location)
  • Easter Theme confirmed
  • Musicians enlisted
  • Bands scheduled
  • Choirs and Singers, enlisted and assigned
  • ASL Interpretation services confirmed
  • Staging in main room set
  • Sunrise worship team enlisted
  • Off site worship team enlisted
  • Reserve lower campus green room for volunteers

Communication & I.T. Team

  • Community Strategy in place
  • Congregation Strategy set
  • Easter Theme confirmed
  • Oral strategy - small group conversations
  • Print strategy - bulletins, invites, posters, card distribution, newspaper, etc.
  • Broadcast strategy - sunrise events, radio, free T.V., etc.
  • Digital Strategy - website, e-vites, text messages, blogs, podcast, etc.
  • Phone system voice over completed and set
  • Regional Campus strategy confirmed and in process

Audio/Visual Team

  • Sound technicians enlisted and scheduled all venues
  • Staging confirmed for venues and outdoor services
  • Equipment rental completed
  • Video walls ordered and set for construction
  • Sunrise Service team ready
  • Cameras ordered
  • Lights ordered
  • Outdoor speakers ordered
  • Regional Campus strategy confirmed and in process
  • Setup of all venues, sites, and regional campuses confirmed

Decoration Team

  • Floral design for campus determined
  • Venue look/feel confirmed
  • Flowers ordered and being shipped
  • Setup / Take down team in place
  • Doves for sunrise service ordered.

Baptism Team

  • Pastoral Service Time Assignments confirmed
  • Reserve the baptismal pool - heated
  • Contact List completed
  • Follow-up Email to Pastors sent
  • Supplies confirmed for the baptism computer cart
  • Ministry Partner Team enlist, training, & assignment confirmed
  • Assignments posted in green rooms and with Campus Ministry

Bookstore Team

  • Pavilion schedule confirmed
  • Resources fully stocked

Follow-Up Team

  • Follow-up Team in place
  • I.T. Team contacted for data entry during services
  • Fresh Start Team kits ordered
  • Fresh Start Team ministry partners enlisted and scheduled
  • Follow-up supplies ordered and ready for week following
  • Ministry Partners enlisted to send out letters the following week

Children’s Team

  • Schedule confirmed
  • Rooms reserved
  • Special Needs Team and schedule completed

Youth Team

  • Schedule confirmed
  • Rooms reserved
  • Special Needs Team and schedule completed

© Kerry R. Mackey, All Rights Reserved

Easter Planning Thoughts

Published
by
Kerry Mackey
on March 3, 2007
in Communication
. 0 Comments

As a private pilot I am required to go through a “pre-flight checklist” prior to every flight. We need to follow the same example as we prepare our congregations for one of the biggest days of celebration in Christianity.

Here is a list of the teams I pull together for Easter:

  • Easter Planning Team - 2o plus leaders from each area.
  • Finance Team - help determine the budget
  • Pastoral Team - pastoral service time assignments, locations, and responsibilities
  • Operations Team- Calendar Requests, Facilities, Security, Bus Shuttles, Maintenance, Food Service, Setup/Take down, equipment rental
  • Campus Ministry Team - traffic, greeters, ushers, first aid, bulletin stuffers, information center, patio setup, campus cleaning
  • Worship Team - Bands, singers, choirs, staging, Easter theme, number of services, location of services
  • Communication & I.T. Team - community & congregation communications, oral, print, broadcast, and digital media
  • Audio/Visual Team - sound technicians, staging and equipment, video walls for sunrise services, additional microphones, cameras, lights, speakers, etc…
  • Decoration Team - decoration of the campus and all worship services and/or venues including outdoor sunrise services in multiple locations in the city
  • Baptism Team - providing baptisms at all services
  • Bookstore Team - providing access to the resource pavilion
  • Follow-Up Team - Fresh Start with God Team (new believer kit distribution), response card team for decisions.
  • Children’s Team - for all preschool and children programs
  • Youth Team - for all junior & senior high ministries

Within these 14 teams there are approximately 100 check boxes to be completed in preparation to launch the first of our 13 Easter services over a 4 day period.

Stay tuned…I’ll post our checklist form in the next few days as a sample.

© Kerry R. Mackey, All Rights Reserved