Batons, Facebook and Target

...and a leader that has hit it out of the park on all three.

I was invited to the celebration lunch for the Women's Ministry leaders yesterday. Two other guys were supposed to be there but they weren't able to come (I've launched an investigation of their excuses). I was the only man with about 25 women. That always makes me nervous, and I've come to the conclusion that it's biologically based. But in spite of being jumpy, I had a great time.

Jenna Friedman, who has run our Women's Ministry for this last year, passed the leadership baton to her successor, Dee Meyers. When Jenna took on Women's Ministry for this ministry year, she set out to find her successor from day one because she knew her husband (Brian) was going to be transferred this summer. It was fun to see this hand-off and to reflect on how Jenna had done something every good leader strives for--to develop and unleash leaders.

I also reflected on how Jenna exemplified two other leadership traits we've been trying to grow in at Five Oaks. For one, the use of social media for connecting people in ministry. She and her team are using Facebook and SoChurch so effectively to get the word out about what the ministry offers.

I also reflected on how we've been trying for a couple years now to develop more of what we call "targeted experiences" for our congregation. A targeted experience is a class or mininistry that targets a need or passion or interest of a group of people (usually not a large group). Too often we measure ministry success by large numbers coming out to an event. But what we need are more and more smaller groups of people that are serving, learning or building friendships around a common area of need, passion or interest. Again, Jenna and her team hit it out of the park this year.

So, way to go Jenna. Your legacy at Five Oaks will go beyond Women's Ministry. You've been a great example to us as a leader.

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

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.