Category: Back Office

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Your Coffee Shop

Thomas called me last Wednesday: “Hey, how about I meet you at your Starbucks?” Because he knows that is always my jam. I can be found at other coffee shops, but this one is only about four blocks from my office making it easy for me to get to any time of the day.

Now, I am not a guy that can work regularly in a coffee shop. I actually need a quiet work space to be creative. I meet people at coffee shops. Here are a few reasons why:

Your Third Place

Starbucks actually thinks of itself as your third place. You have a home and you have work. Both these are comfortable and personal. Starbucks is the other place you can feel comfortable that isn’t too personal. They want to be that place you can meet people for any reason without it being weird.

Many times I am meeting people who have never had coffee with a pastor. It kinda makes people nervous! They have no idea what awkward questions I might ask or what task I may ask them to do. I might peer into their soul and learn their darkest secret. I can really freak some people out! But, meeting at Starbucks sets the tone. I ask questions like, “How did you get to show up at church on Sunday?” or “How did you get to Chico?” If they want to talk about deeper stuff, they can use those questions to get there.

It is Good to be Known

Maybe it is just my Starbucks, but the manager is an amazing community person and she really takes care of me. I’m not exactly sure how she found out I am a pastor because that is not something I lead with. I found out she knew who I was and what church I am from when she saw on Facebook that we were hosting a traveling winter shelter. She offered free coffee for the overnight monitors! She has also figured out who my wife and kids are, even though we are rarely in there together.

Meeting the Ladies

Everyone is hyper-aware of the problems that can come from hosting a meeting with a lady in your office. No matter what size church, there’s a good chance you two will be lone. Bad news!

So, I always meet at Starbucks or some other coffee shop. I’ve had people actually question my judgement on this. “What if someone sees you out and gets the wrong impression?” I guess it is possible.

I always answer back, “You think someone might get the wrong impression about me meeting a lady at the closest coffee shop to the church in a very public and busy Starbucks and think that I have elicit intentions?! Most people think I am smarter than that.”

This is a lot easier than always trying to make sure the building isn’t empty. And, frankly, I’m not much on the counseling pastor side anyway. If what needs to be said can’t be said over a table in the cafe of a Starbucks, then this lady needs to find a paid therapist or a lady in the church.

I Can Leave

I have been trapped in my own office. People come in, drink my office and sit on my couch as if the only reason I came to the office today is to receive visitors. Actually, I came to work. Anyone sitting on my couch is keeping me from working. So, make an appointment and meet me at Starbucks.

I have had meetings at Starbucks go hours. That works because my refills are free! But, there are times when a meeting is really over in 20 minutes. When the time is right, I can get up and walk away! I don’t have to kick someone out of my office. I don’t have to say, “Lock up on your way out.” I wrap it up and go home!

What if the Guy is a No Show?

I always have a book. I never wait on anyone because I always have stuff to read! I drink drip coffee, so a large one costs me $2.30 to rent a table in a nice establishment for as long as I want to sit there. Or until they close, I guess. Good money spent!

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What to Do with a Connection Card

After the Sunday service, what happens to the Connection Cards? Most of your Connection Cards will be dropped in an offering plate. Some will be handed directly to you and some may even be left on a pew. Your usher team (or whomever is responsible for securing the offering) needs to know just how important those cards are to you! If not, they may be locked away in a safe or stashed some place secure! Let your team know where you will look for those cards on Monday morning!

When you get your hands on this week’s Connection Cards, they should be sorted and reshuffled and resorted a few more times times.

 First and Second Time Guests

Those people that self-identify on a Connection Card as being first or second time guests should get the first priority. These cards may or may not have a complete set of information, but you can use whatever is given to you. If you were given a physical address, you should send a handwritten card in an envelop along with a small token of appreciation for the card. I send out a $5 Starbucks card. These should go in Monday’s post.

If the card contains a phone number call it. If the call is answered or it goes to voicemail, the conversation starter is the same: “Hey, I am Ron — the pastor from East Ave Church. I wanted to personally thank you for attending with us this weekend and for trusting us with your Connection Card. If you have any questions about the church or even the Christian faith, I would love the chance to answer them. And, by the way, this is a good number to reach me.”

If the card contains an email address, you should write on Monday morning. Your email will say much of the same stuff.

Thank you for being our guest on Sunday! We are always honored when someone trusts us with their Sunday morning. I hope you will come join us again soon.

By the way, if you have yet to visit us online, you can find more information about the church at our website, www.EastAveChurch.org. You can see how active we are at our facebook page, www.facebook.com/eastavechurch.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Pastor Ron

I Raised My Hand Checkbox

If someone checks the “I Raised My Hand” box (or a box indicating that they have made a decision to follow Jesus on Sunday) it is imperative that you meet with them right away!

Never let a decision for Jesus linger. These opportunities don’t come up often. Meet them for coffee and learn their story. Find out who he or she is and where he or she is coming from. Then, you can invite this person to make the next step — whatever that may be! The next step you offer will change depending on what is shared.

Prayer Requests

When people use your Connection Cards to give you prayer requests, acknowledge the request in some way. That can be in a phone call, text message or email. It really doesn’t matter. What matters is that they know they were heard and that you care.

If you have a prayer team set up, you should compile all the requests into an email and send it out.

Of course, you should also pray for the requests as well!

Sign Ups

If they are solicited signups through check boxes or written statements, the people should be informed you got the information — again by email text of phone call. It is not enough to stick them on a list.

Everything Else

The last time you sift through the cards look for anything that doesn’t fit in any other category. Make sure everything written on the card gets dealt with early in the week if you can!

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Work Mondays

I know. All pastors are supposed to take Monday off, especially if you are the only full-time paid staff. Your weekends are exhausting. It takes a lot of energy to lead a small army of volunteers to get the campus ready for Sunday: prepare the printed material, write a sermon and coordinate the music, coordinate tech crew, schedule greeters and ushers, hospitality and children’s classroom teachers. You need a day off.

Work Mondays anyway.

All morning on Sunday, people are handing you bits of information, introducing you to guests, opening a window into what is going on in their lives and neighborhoods. A pastor’s job is to act on all of this information. A key leader was missing because his mother fell over the weekend. One of your regular attenders is in the hospital. The toilet handle in the second stall of the women’s room is singing. You’re out of 9 volt batteries.

There are three big reasons for working Mondays:

Memory: You can’t remember everything you will need to do if you walk into the office 48 hours later after a sabbath day of rest. Your brain should dump and take the day off as well! No matter how much you write down, you won’t recall it all. And you will feel like an idiot asking an usher to drive down to the Piggly Wiggly for the most expensive two pack of 9 volt batteries on the planet. The best way to retain as much of your week’s agenda is to get to it right away.

Shipping: Some stuff only comes through the post, so getting that stuff ordered early in the week is imperative — especially since anything you need guaranteed to be here in two days will always take three. If what you ordered also needs to be installed, the earlier in the week you get it the more likely it will be in place and ready for service next Sunday. Sometimes what you order the first time doesn’t work, won’t fit or is already broke. Starting early in the week will give you a chance to order twice if you need it!

Communication: Your new guests need to be contacted as early as possible. Thank you cards for your volunteers that went beyond their regular duties can be a huge boost, especially written on Monday! Those that missed church because they are sick should get a reach out from you. Perhaps they need some hot meals delivered to the family? All of the usefulness of a church body shouldn’t wait until Tuesday.

It may sound a bit aggressive to get an early jump on the week. It is. Your church doesn’t need you to be passive. “Passive leader” is an oxymoron. So, get out there and get a good jump on the week!

Take Tuesday off.

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Get a Database

Church management systems are all over the web these days. Everyone wants to help you manage your information. And you should let them! A church office handles a ton of sensitive information these days.

Even in small churches all that personal data needs to be shared. It used to be that a church would print a directory every year with home phone numbers and addresses and a stack of them would sit in every church’s foyer. Now that seems like a violation of trust. Anyone can walk into church and pick up mobile numbers, email addresses? I think not!

I called my buddy, Jerry. I asked him, “Do you have a database for your church?”

Jerry says, “Sure. I keep track of everything in an Excel file.”

That’s not a database! Spread sheets and lists on Word documents are certainly valuable, but doing anything with the information is rather challenging. You can find individual email addresses and phone numbers, but you cannot reliably share them across your church leadership. Databases not only help you share information with people who need to know, it does it in a secure way. With any online database you can give tiered permissions for people to access what they need without ringing your cell to get it. It also locks users out of data they don’t need.

That is just the beginning. A good database will help you send group emails, track giving and print giving statements, create groups for communication, share a calendar, track attendance, host a check-in system for your kid’s classrooms, schedule volunteers and so much more!

It may not be apparent now, but no matter how big or small your church is, you need this.

There are several out there right now. We have tried out many of them, but can only recommend one for churches of any size:

http://Planning.center

There are so many reasons to love Planing Center! The first reason is that your worship leader might have already got you started! The site started out focused on the tasks your musicians need, but have moved on to cover every area of ministry. It is broken up into small, sharp tools that all work on the same back end database. Every module starts with a fully functional 30 day free trial and pricing after that is tiered to match your needs. Many of the options may remain free if you are a small church, but will begin to cost money as you grow. Add modules as you find the need!

The People Module

No matter how big your church is, the People Module is always free! Business wise, this is a great move for both you and them! You can take that Excel spread sheet, format it and upload your entire treasure of information into their database. The People Module allows you to make family groups, track birthdays, anniversaries, membership status and the like. You can create lists and easily export these lists to MailChimp.com for quick and visually appealing emails.

The rest of the modules work from this one, so this is a good place to start! Get your current Rolodex into the People Module. Then, start using it to log your first and second time guests! Start sharing this information with the poeple in your church that should know who has visited!

Giving Module

I know you probably are already using QuickBooks to run your treasury system. That is awesome for tracking the bank deposits, your budget and checking account. It lacks the sophistication of the Giving Module. To begin with, every time someone gives and it is recorded by the Giving Module, it sends a thank you email as confirmation of the gift. Folks that give can easily look at what they have given at any time during the year because they can have access to their own information. And at the end of the year, you can easily print out giving statements for your donors tax return without having to have access to your QuickBooks or the bank information.

The best part about the Giving Module is that it pairs up with Stripe.com to give you an awesome online/text-to-give feature at the lowest possible price! If you have ever checked into online giving, the sticker shock might have turned you away. However, it is important to help poeple under 50 years old give as faithfully as they mean to be. Planning Center does just that! There is no monthly fee at all! Each donation will incur a fee of $0.30 and 2.3%. A one time gift of $100 given electronically will cost $2.60. It is an awesome tool for stewardship!

Check out our Text-to-Give instructional video!

Services Module

This module is the beginning of Planning Center! It is designed to help you plan your weekend services. This covers everything from scheduling musicians to disseminating chord charts and set lists. We also use it for scheduling our children’s workers as well.

Everything Else

Yeah, we now use all the top level modules. Groups helps us keep our small groups, affinity groups and project participants straight. We use Registration on the occasion we have something to register for, like our Kids Sports Camp (our version of VBS).  Resources helps us schedule events on our campus, along with assigning assets like tables and coffee pots. We can actually host more than one event a day if we know what is available.

At our rate now, we are saving almost 50% a year over our last database solution. That is money best spent elsewhere on ministry!

Secure

If you have ever looked into free internet resources like Facebook and YouTube, you know that “free” isn’t without cost. Your information is being sold. YOU are being sold by the service provider to pay for the “free” resources. Planning Center is not like that. Your data is yours alone. It will not be shared with anyone else.

 

The Best Part

Did I mention that this is all month-to-month?! You can actually upgrade or downsize any module at any time. You can quit anytime because there is no annual contract. Your stuff is easily exported when the next big thing comes along.

I also did not mention that is beautiful! The graphs, family pages and layout of everything is very pleasing to look at and a pleasure to work with!

You absolutely have no excuse. Get this running before next Sunday! It will take you under an hour to get started!