Last meeting: Oct. 9, 2007

 

Attendees:

Gary Akgulian

Jeff Diehl

Lance Schmidt

Dale Hershfield

Jen Wageman

Staff: Pastor Detweiler

Jan Sommerfeld

 

Excused:

Bob Heil

Rich Flamang

Collin Goldschmidt

 

FELC communications update

Welcome/Connection Center update

·         Bob Heil forwarded information to Lance regarding the kiosk. The unit, including computer hardware, would cost $5,000 per site. It was decided to install one unit this year. We need to create someone to host the center in addition to a welcome host.

Volunteer fair update

·         A big thank-you to team members who created the display booth and served as hosts on Sunday.

New Member Sunday on Oct. 7.

·         Lance recapped New Member Sunday: 13 Families representing 36 new members. We added 52 families and 147 new members. How do we measure involvement in church, other than worship attendance and participation in educational programs? We should track participation in our programs so we can help people grow spiritually and evaluate retention. The team would like staff to work with ministry teams to track the attendance in educational programs, including “Learning Time,” Bethel Bible Series and confirmation; and outreach programs. In short, we want to find out how many people are participating in the programming we’re offering. For the rest of this year the numbers could be base-lined for the fourth quarter. The team would like to more effective tracking to begin in 2008, perhaps with support from the church database.

New Member Sessions

There is an emphasis on spiritual gifts during the sessions which could use some tweaking. The ministry team presentations were well received. The process is good, but the stewardship presentation was lacking. The proposal: Schedule New Member Sessions during Wednesday LIFT activities. Childcare will be available. Possible dates are Jan. 9, 16 and 23, with installation and welcome dinner at the North Site on Jan. 27. We talked about dividing the team members among the three New Member Sessions. The team would like to meet with staff to discuss the roles and expectations of the guides. Recruiting the guides is a challenge. A subgroup to hammer out details for the roles and expectations for New Member guides. Volunteers: Jen, Lance and Collin.

Addressing our welcoming structure at the 10:30 a.m. service.

Pastor Detweiler noted: the trend is that most new members attend the 10:30 a.m. service at the Downtown Site. Most of them are young couples with children. It’s more traditional than the 8 a.m. service. Plus, name tags aren’t accessible by people coming into the church. One suggestion was to include name tags in bulletins and pews. We’ll need to see if the tags will fit in the pews and if it’s feasible. It was noted that dark-colored markers should be available next to the tags.

 

Ministry team planning

The team discussed the 2008 budget. Should we be piloting the Connection Center at the Downtown Site? How do we fit the unit in the budget? It might make sense to install one center a year. Perhaps the unit is mobile it could be moved from one site to another. We should put a sign on the coffee tables that Fair Trade coffee is served. Jan should also track Web site trackers. I can look into a Web tracker. Jan will e-mail Lance what the Yellow Pages will be for 2008. We could make a case that the Connection Center should be funded by all ministry teams. Lance and Jeff will make a presentation at the next ministry team meeting regarding the Connection Center. Include Lance’s article in the Nov. newsletter.

Keep It/Start It/Stop It

Keep It: What programs/goals should we keep working on?

·         Connection centers, accessible name tags,

·         Supporting role of Welcome Hosts

·         Promote the use of name tags

·         New Member Guides — although we need more guides and maybe need to rejuvenate the program in 2008, is it truly “lay lead?” New Member dinners probably will be coordinated by Sherrill Moard.

 

Start It: What programs/goals should we start working on?

We need to recruit welcome hosts for the 10:30 a.m. service. A musical group for that service would be ideal. Include any reminders on "big" events where you are fairly certain things will go well such as the Nov. 11 celebration or share information (no pressure) on a small group opportunity.

Take 30 seconds each service (even though we often do this) and promote an event.  This should not be a pastor.  That information would be available at the Connection Center.
One simple annual member survey sent along with the newsletters. 

Visitor Engagement Training — how to spot visitors and direct them to appropriate resources. The key is to offer training for welcome hosts, such as enrichment activities.

 

Stop It: What programs/goals should we discontinue? 

 

Promotional suggestions:

·         Create simple posters with the FELC name, logo and Web site address and have a Temple Talk requesting members to take a few to post at local destinations.

·         Put pod casts on the Web site. Jan noted that plans are under way to incorporate multimedia elements on the Web site in 2008.

·         Web site hits. Since our domain name changed, our Web tracking system does not work. Jan is working on the issue in order to gauge Web traffic.

 

2007 meeting schedule