5-page paper synthesizing the 3-5 ideas from the readings that made the greatest impact on you, and how those ideas apply to yo

Implementing the Project at Church B

On Tuesday, January 10, 2012, I received a call from Pastor B in response to my Invitation Letter to Pastors.⁰ Church B had an attendance of about thirty and had experienced continual decline over the past years. Pastor B had served as the pastor for six years, but also worked a full-time secular job. The previous pastor had served the church for approximately forty years. Although predominantly an older, white congregation, Pastor B is from Samoa and is in his 50s. This neighborhood church is located on a busy street, has adequate parking and educational buildings for their eighty-seat sanctuary. The church had recently started a Sunday afternoon Hispanic service, pastored by a Hispanic pastor.

On Tuesday, January 17, 2012, Pastor B and I met to discuss the details regarding implementing the project. On Sunday, January 29, 2012, I spoke at a combined service for Church B and the Hispanic congregation with the assistance of an interpreter. The Hispanic congregation received forty-five new members that Sunday. The Hispanic congregation attendance was double the attendance at Church B. The “Getting to Know You … (a little better) Cards” were distributed to all attendees. However, only Church B would participate in the program. Due to the combination of program participants and non-participants, the first service was a bit confusing.

Church B started the project on Sunday, February 26, 2012. Nametags were available; thirty-two people attended the service and people responded positively to wearing nametags. Chris Carrigan, my associate, helped this church each week by printing the nametags, keeping attendance records, and mailing the follow-up letters because the pastor worked full-time outside of the church and secretarial help was not available. The church could not find a volunteer to help coordinate the weekly office work.

I attended Church B on Sunday, March 4, 2012, to assist in distributing the nametags and explaining the program and the purpose of the “Welcome Cards.”⁰ Due to a lack of volunteers, Chris or I tried to be at the church most Sundays to ensure the effectiveness of the project. Sunday, March 19 and 26, 2012, Chris and I attended the morning worship at Church B as well as enjoyed lunch with the pastor after the service.

On Friday, April 20, 2012, Chris and I met with Pastor B to discuss the project. Everything was going well. When I attended the church on Sunday, June 24, 2012, some congregants expressed hesitation about using the nametags because they already knew each other. All four churches in the project required more “hand-holding” than I anticipated. However, Church B required additional support due to the lack of staff and volunteers.

Implementing Project at Church C

Thursday, January 19, 2012, I met with Pastor C to discuss the project. Pastor C had responded positively to my project inquiry letter. We discussed the details of the project and he excitedly agreed to participate in the project. The church is located on the corner of two busy streets and near some businesses. The sanctuary seats approximately 150 people, but their parking area does not provide adequate space for their sanctuary capacity. In addition, they have limited educational buildings. This predominantly white congregation has existed for fifty years. The current pastor is white, in his 50s, and has served the church for ten years. Under Pastor C, the church experienced a record average attendance of 130 people; however, attendance had a period of non-growth for the last couple of years.

The weekend of March 4, I met with Pastor C to explain the use of the “Getting to Know You … (a little better) Cards.” On Sunday morning, the pastor explained and distributed the cards. On Tuesday, March 6, 2012, Chris Carrigan worked with the church staff to train them on how to input the data from the cards onto the electronic spreadsheet. He taught them how to print nametags and how to do the proper follow-up.

Chris Carrigan and I helped launch the project at Church C on Sunday, April 1, 2012. People only expressed slight resistance to the use of the nametags. With 145 people in attendance, the initial process created some confusion. Nevertheless, people expressed enthusiasm at being able to greet each person by name during the greeting portion of the service. As a very organized church, Church C staffed the project with adequate assistance, both on Sundays and for the office work during the week. The pastor willingly made some staffing adjustments to facilitate the process.

On Thursday, April 19, 2012, Chris Carrigan and I met Pastor C for lunch and discussed the progress of the project. On Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 13, 2012, the church had a lovely service and implemented the project in an efficient manner. A minister friend who visited the service that Sunday commented that when he called the church for service time information after normal business hours on the weekend, a person answered the phone and provided the information he needed. On Sunday, June 3, 2012, I attended the church service. Again, my observation was that the project was going well.

On Father’s Day, Sunday, June 17, 2012, the church recognized all the fathers with appreciation and a small gift. Pastor C, Chris, and I met on Tuesday, July 3, 2012, to discuss the progress of the project. Pastor C felt the project was going well. They had painted the church and were planning to open some vacant land they owned in order to provide additional parking.

Implementing Project at Church D

As presbyter of the Desert Section in the Southern California District Council of the Assemblies of God (SCDC), I provide general oversight to all of the churches in the section. In particular, District Affiliated (DA) churches report to the presbyter. A DA church is one that is supervised by their District office. The District Superintendent appoints their pastor and board while a General Council (GC) church elects its own pastor and board. While I was away, the pastor of a DA church resigned. Consequently, I became the interim pastor of Church D in August 2011. Since I was not present at that time, Chris Carrigan became the executive pastor and another pastor joined the board. Guest speakers filled the pulpit until I returned home.

Church D, located in a rural area about one mile from the main highway, averaged between thirty and forty people each week. This white congregation has always had a white pastor. The sanctuary seats approximately 100 people and the church has adequate parking for their facility. However, they lack educational rooms and their 4,000 square foot facility did not have air conditioning, which poses a problem in a desert climate. The average attendance for July 2012 was twenty-eight. The church had been in a non-growth period in attendance, but recent months indicate a decline.

Chris Carrigan began to implement the project at Church D in August 2012. In accordance with the basic project plan, he distributed the “Getting to Know You … (a little better) Cards” and entered the data into the electronic spreadsheet. He printed nametags and recorded the attendance for each service. The church installed a sign on the main highway to point first-time guests to the church. They also designated special parking for handicap and first-time guests.

On Sunday, September 16, 2012, I attended Church D for the first time as the interim pastor. Some people expressed resistance to using nametags, so I took time to more fully explain the project. Chris Carrigan and I met on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 to organize the church office so that the project could operate more efficiently.

On Sunday, September 23, 2012, Church D implemented the project process with greater ease. I encouraged people to greet as many people as possible during the “Friendship Time.” Previous to the service, I had given one person a $10 gift card to Starbucks with the instructions to give the gift card to the seventh person who shook his hand.

I participated in Sunday services on October 14, 2012 and noted that the project was working smoothly. I preached at the church on Sunday, October 21, 2012, and monitored the progress of the project. However, this was the last Sunday the church participated in the project.