Five Oaks "Survival" Manual - The Communication Card (Part 2)

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In the last post I showed a typical week of comments and information gleaned from the Communication Cards. Now let me list just a few of the key reasons we ask everyone to fill it out every week.

  • Guests will fill it out if they see everyone fill it out. We get a great rate of return on these from guests and we are then able to communicate next steps with them.
  • If everyone has a program, everyone can indicate for themselves if they have made a first-time decision. We use these cards as our "altar call."
  • We are able to keep our database squeaky clean. That means we save hundreds of dollars each year in postage.
  • It's a quick and easy one-step way for someone to communicate with us (sign up for things, ask for more information, indicate decisions, give us prayer requests, etc.)
  • We are able to pray for our congregation and get the pulse of how our people are struggling. All requests are prayed for by the Elders and most are prayed for also by the prayer team.
  • When someone makes a first-time decision to follow Christ, we are able to follow up with them.
  • We have a constant stream of feedback that helps us continuously improve.

Five Oaks "Survival" Manual - The Communication Card (Part 1)

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As you know, we ask everyone to fill out a Communication Card every week in our worship services. There are lots of reasons why and I'll cover them in the next post, but I thought it might be helpful to show you the content a typical report I receive from all the information on the cards from one of our recent weekends. I've omitted names and this does not include over 35 prayer requests we received and prayed through that week.

GUEST INFORMATION - Several first-time and returning guests gave us their contact information. This was a low week with only six first-time guests filling out cards. But the key to getting guests to fill this out is seeing everyone do it. When they fill it out, we send a letter welcoming them and explaining next steps for getting connected. We also send a self-addressed comment card for feedback.

DATABASE UPDATE - I guess we had a program announcement about database updates and about a hundred people gave us their updated information. 

COMMENTS, REQUESTS, DECISIONS

I am making a first time decision to follow Christ as my Lord and Savior. - None indicated this week but we've had 178 in all our ministries combined since September.

I’m renewing my commitment to Christ. - Five people indicated they were renewing their commitment to Christ.

I would like to learn more about - We had several people inquire about different ministries.

My decision today                                        

  • To become a member - Two people
  • To volunteer maybe helping elderly with their house, mow lawn, yard work, paint? 
  • 101 – May 22 - One person
  • Garden Plot - One person wondering if we still have any available
  • Griefshare - One person       
  • Men’s Study - Five guys and one asked - do you have any men’s groups for a man that’s in a blended family? Or just a men’s group? What happens if I have to work on Saturday?
  • Strength Finder Class - One person

Comments:

  • So good seeing the kids sing! 
  • What do you mean about my wallet?
  • Thank you for this message of truth. I really saw God’s love in Pastor Henry’s voice and especially needed the part about enjoying the ride instead of holding onto my wrongs. God bless you!  
  • Love the new worship program format. So cool! Nice change. 
  • I enjoy this church very much. The teachings are always uplifting as well as showing us how to be aware. I don’t feel judged or like I have to be in some special club. It’s just God and me and us praising together. Thank you.  
  • Wonderful message. I wish I could get a CD of it. I’ll call and see.  
  • I’d like to see a message series taking a deeper look into basic Christian ideas (Holy Spirit, heaven/hell, devil/angels, baptism, communion, etc.). I think many Christians and non-Christians have skewed beliefs about these concepts and would benefit from teaching based on historical and linguistic (Bible) facts.
  • Great message today! 
  • Give the gospel every week! I love it. If there is anything I can do to help contact people who indicated new commitments please let me know. 
  • Great song selection today! Thank you! 
  • Please make the ushers aware that it is very difficult to hear the service when they are talking in front of the TV. This week excluded cause of the pics being taken. 
  • Short pens under chairs. Great sermon, love the verse by verse preaching. More! 
  • Camera flashing on worship center front wall during Henry’s preaching. 
  • Thanks for the Mother’s Day photo! Great idea! 
  • Could there be something included in the worship program to take notes? I miss that. Thanks. 
  • I like the line we used to have, “children attending today” on our old cards. 
  • We need recycling bins for the public.