Support Ministry Team subgroup: Communications Team

Last meeting: March 27, 2008

Attendees:

Steve Hale

Elizabeth Hensel

LeAnne McFadden

Staff: Jan Sommerfeld

Excused:

Mark Des Rochers

Carrie Kiekhaefer

Welcome & prayer

Important items of information:

• FELC ministries guide. The team reviewed copies of the recently published “First English Lutheran Church Ministries Guide,” and agreed that the booklet is a good resource and looks great – thank you to Carrie for designing the cover! Everyone was encouraged to recommend others to read this guidebook, which lists many ways to get connected and to serve others in our journey in discipleship. The booklet is available in the Gathering Areas and on the Web.

2008 goals. Among our goals this year are:

• Green movement. Determine ways to encourage members to think “green” and to support the “greening” our facilities, which is being undertaken by the Property Oversight Committee. The team will collaborate with the committee on ways to communicate how to conserve energy and ways members can help.
• Web site. Steve explained the Web 2.0 concept, which is the interactive component of Web sites. The current RSS Feeds is one example of how our Web site has incorporated this technology, but there are more opportunities for the church to take advantage of social networking. More and more companies and organizations are using the message boards to promote their activities. It’s a safe way to make connections because individuals must receive permission to be included in the group. There is a group of FELC members who have established a social network in Facebook. In fact, Mo included information on the recent chili cook-off event at the North Site in his profile. Steve suggested that the FELC Facebook group be promoted to members via announcements, newsletters and the Web.
• Large-print publications/hearing-assist devices. The team agreed that large-print publications should continue to be published. Jan will continue to monitor the usage of the hearing-assist devices to make sure the church has a sufficient number of over-the-ear styles to accommodate the needs of members.
• New endowment brochure status. LeAnne’s timeline for the first draft is early May, with a final draft targeted for summer.

• Online giving/payment transactions: The team discussed where on the Home Page to put the link for online giving and online payments.
• Podcasts/online forms/testimonials. Jan will be working on incorporating audio files of sermons onto the Web site, along with online forms, the first two weeks in April. She will be working with Steve Hale on the technical side of the project, including the scripts associated with the online forms. She also will be consulting with Steve, John Doherty and other sound board technicians on establishing a protocol for transporting the MP3 files to the office. She also will be figuring out how to retrieve sound files from the Downtown Site. The procedure for capturing member testimonials still has to be hammered out, since some type of audio equipment and editing software will come into play.

Next meeting: 7 p.m. Thursday, May 1