VIEW SUNDAY THROUGH FRESH EYES

Sometimes the best way to get off of dead center is to get a new idea and give it a shot.  Sometimes the best way to get a new idea is to get out of the  box and watch how someone else gets the job done.  The Baptist Youth Mission has worked with hundreds of churches and has been able to condense many of those ideas into some new techniques that still do the same job as ordered by Christ in the Great Commission.  Maybe your church is caught in a loop and needs to freshen up some of its ways.  Maybe you are a church planter and looking to really impact a community.  Maybe you are a worker and just looking for a spark to get your programs reignited.  Whatever your case, you would benefit greatly from coming out to the Sinclair Baptist Church on a Sunday and observing a group of extremely dedicated volunteers conduct a very effective ministry in a small town setting.  You will get great ideas from the signage, hospitality crew, refreshments, children’s ministry, AV presentations, fellowship system, decorations and much, much more.

The gtk Tour

How do new people “get to know” (gtk) your ministry? At Sinclair Baptist we have developed a “gtk tour” that runs every couple of Sundays. We recruit new folks to come to the early service so they can “tour” during the second service. After an introductory video the participants all don clipboards with a core value identifier sheet (Core Value Clipper.pdf) and cruise the facility observing and recording instances of the core values of the ministry. When they reconvene they compare notes and take a  survey on volunteer positions (Volunteer Signup Form.pdf) within the ministry. During the week, contacts are made by the staff to match the right people to the right volunteer positions. Guests from other ministries also take the tour and see the integration of the Sunday programs with the mission of the church.

Second Voice (click here for samples, photos, and documents)

The Second Voice is a production style, Sunday afternoon program we conduct about 3-4 times a year. It is for parents and their kids only. The target age is elementary school.  Teenagers and adults help with the production elements and the craft time afterwords.  The main auditorium is rearranged with kids on the floor on carpet squares and parents in a large semi-circle only about 2 chairs deep. This allows an intimate teaching environment for the kids and parents to experience together the fun, the songs and the primary lesson.  The teaching time is aimed at both kids and parents and has a lot of camp-style interactions.  It is highly focused on one  one simple truth and supported heavily with a strong musical involvement. An example of some themes would be: Don’t Give In—Run From Sin, My Word Come From My Heart, Do the Task—Before They Ask. The goal of the Second Voice is to help parents with the raising of their kids.  This direct intervention into areas where parents and kids struggle (respect, laziness, mouth issues, etc...) is highly effective in positioning the church as a relevant, applicable and essential for families.

Talk Time

Observation Sunday also includes a time for you and your attendees to talk with the leadership and appropriate staff at the church. Provisions can be made for you to come early on Saturday or even stay overnight on Sunday so there is ample time to debrief and learn as much as possible.