June 2005

Featured Event Idea - Father's Day Live and Lounge

Real Stories - Case Study:"Comedy & Desert Night"

Performer Profile - Panic Squad

Special Promotions - 500 FREE Impact Cards

Effective Resources - Event Planning Guide

Event Planning Tip of the Month - Effective Visitor Follow-Up

News & Updates - Team & Performer News

Joke of the Month - Featuring Panic Squad

Father's Day Live and Lounge

Father's Day is a holiday we recognize each year in the United States and like Christmas, we wonder how we will celebrate the day a little differently. Some families have created a tradition, others are re-inventing the day as their families change and grow. For a handful of new ideas on how to spend this Father's Day, please read on...

Father's Day is Sunday, June 19th this year and below are a few ideas for that cool guy you call "Dad". Whether you decide to "live it up" or just "lounge", below are a few quick ideas to help get that creative ball rolling:

Ideas

Baseball Bash:
If the word sports and your dad usually come out in the same sentence, this idea might be a great way to ease your dad's sports craving. Take dad to lunch at a local sports bar in your area for his favorite tasty burger. Before he receives his food, meet up with your server in private and have them bring out an envelope with the tickets inside. Have the manager capture the moment with your camera as dad opens up an envelope with tickets to go see his favorite baseball team play. For those on a budget, take dad to a local park and play a game of baseball. Top it off with your own BBQ cuisine!

Wash, Wax and Video:
Dad typically is trying to save money when and where he can. Have someone in the family offer to take his ride to the car wash or hand wash it for him while mom or siblings make him breakfast. Video tape the experience and give him the tape when he needs something to brighten up his day!

Concert Crave:
For the father who is a die-hard rock fan, book concert tickets in advance to see his favorite band play. Go out to dinner before the concert and then surprise him with tickets at the end of the meal. If funds are slim, find out what bands are playing in your local coffee shops and wrap the evening up with a warm cappuccino.

Sunday Stroll:
Whether your dad is the low-key type or simply has a health condition, an easy activity to get him out and about is a nice Sunday Scenic Drive to a location he's never been. Stop for lunch on the way and make sure to bring a camera so dad can take pictures of his favorite places. Stop in at a Farmer's Market and have dad pick out some cool items for his home. On the way home, give dad a letter telling him how much you appreciate him as a dad, then have someone capture his expression after he finishes reading.

Case Study:

"Comedy & Desert Night "

Event Basics

Customer Interviewed: Pastor Cameron English

Organization Name: Lake Forest Community Church

Event Name: Comedy and Desert Night

Event Type: Outreach to the local community

Event Dates & Time: Saturday, January 29, 2005 at 7:30pm.

Event Location: Community Services District Gymnasium, El Dorado Hills, CA.

Location Profile:
Semi rural area in El Dorado Hills, California. A transplant community of people from the Bay area. Population continues to double every couple years. Consists of a combined demographic of upper middle class working professionals.

Attendee Type: 85% were not regular church attendees.

Price per Attendee: Children $7.00 Adults $10.00

Total Attendees: 500 plus

Behind the Scenes Efforts

Publicity Tools Used:

• Radio Station: Two radio stations were used: KLOVE and PHISH. The church ad went out advertising the event. They combined live sound bytes from their featured comedian.
  
• Sponsors:  Sponsors were gathered up in the community consisting of small business owners. The sponsors came as featured guests and brought friends and familiy with them.
  
• Banners: Placed four 5x15 banners around the church area.
  
• Raffle: Had a friend from a car dealership sponsor the event. A raffle was organized where the person with the winning ticket would have the opportunity to make a difficult basketball shot. If they made the shot, they won the car! Unfortunately, no one made the shot.
  
• Posters: over a 100 posters were created and displayed all over the surrounding church area.
  
• Local Newspapers: advertisements in three different local newspapers.
  
• Sunday Service: Six-weeks prior, the event was announced in each Sunday service bulletin.

Team Efforts Included:
Church members and volunteers of friends and family.

About the Event

Event Purpose:
The purpose was to make Christian families feel comfortable and not feel like they had to comprise their values in order to have a good time.

Event Content Included:
Pastor Cameron English as the emcee, Dana Daniels performed while dozens of custom cheesecakes were served to guests.

Decorations:
Special table linens, balloons and white chairs were rented out from an outside vendor.

Capturing Visitor Information:
The raffle tickets had attendee information on them. That information was taken and added into a database.

About the Comedy Performance

Performer: Dana Daniels

Type: 45-50 minute performance.

Response To Performer:
"People loved him, absolutely loved him. I got an overwhelming response via email requesting that we have another event just like this." - Pastor Cameron English

Results

Total Visitors:
120 were current church members and the rest were first time visitors.

Overall Response To The Entire Event:
"Thrilled, I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. The event definitely paid for itself.” - Pastor Gary Brown

New Attendees Retained:
Several new visitors have attended since the event, but the number is not always accurate as visitor’s come and go.

Additional Comments

Biggest Concerns Heading Into The Event:
”That we wouldn’t do it with excellence, that we would not present the evening well enough or communicate our message the we wanted to our new audience.” – Pastor Cameron English

How These Concerns Were Addressed & Resolved:
“We formed a task committee and met every single Wednesday for two months prior to the event. It worked very well and delegated out nicely.” – Pastor Cameron English

How This Compares With Past Events:
”I came from a church of 4,000 and have experienced the energy of an effective event. I think that this experience was comparable.”- Pastor Cameron English

Would You Do This Event Again?
“We are-annually!”- Pastor Cameron English

What Would You Do Differently Next Time?
“Our church is still new and our staff is slowly growing. We had difficulty figuring out how to best handle the RSVP phone calls with the amount of advertising we did. We decided to use our cell phones as the conduit and that did not work as well as we thought it would.”-Pastor Cameron English

What Would You Say To People Planning A Similar Event?
“Get creative, sell it like it’s the best thing in the world, because-it is.”- Pastor Cameron English

Panic Squad

Where are you from, and what was it like growing up there?

Andrew - Lynden, Washington
Cliff - Abbotsford, British Colombia
Scott - North Vancouver, British Colombia

PS - We love that we're within an hour from the ocean in a very mountain-filled, wooded area. There are amazing ski hills all around us.

When and how did you become interested in being a comedian?

Andrew - All of us have been class clowns with a bend toward theatre and comedy and decided to use it for the right reasons. I personally could not get a part in my high school plays because I could never stick to the script and ended up doing improve. It's been very neat though, to go back to high school and perform for my teachers. They now say, 'Its good to see that you found a place for your gifts'. It's funny, now they call them 'gifts', but at the time they were a distraction for them!

How did you become a Christian?

Andrew- I was raised in the church...in a Christian home and had great role models as parents. Christianity was who we were, not something we decided to adopt. In college was when I started improving and felt like I had an impact on an audience. God wires each of us differently, thats why I do comedy not math. We each have the courage to follow God's leading in our life and to follow His plans, that's when we really start living.

Cliff- I had a rough first couple years in high school, I wasn't one to jump into things. At times I didn't feel that I fit. I wasn't quite the right size for sports and in high school, that's where the draw was. I would frequently eat lunch in the basement on campus to avoid other kids. One day, auditions were held in that basement for performing arts and I tried out. I made it and finally found something I was good at. My sophmore year in high school was when I decided to do improve. I ended up becoming a Christian at camp at the age of 11 after watching a "Passion Play". That was the first time that I understaood that the love and sacrifce of Jesus Christ was specifically for him. Its been so neat for me to be able to use my love for drama and improv to serve others in Christ.

Scott-
It started in Trinity Western University. I grew up in a home where Christianity was more of a moral grounding point rather than a true faith. After my first year in college, my world was shattered and when I came back the following year I decided to make Jesus my focus. My first years living in the dorms with other men who were discovering there own faith helped me sharpen my own.

How do you see the Lord impacting your comedy?

Andrew - When the audience says, 'thank you, I really need to laugh this week'. A big part of our faith is the joy and the life we receive from it. To impact someones life with laughter and refresh them is a great honor in itself.

What's your favorite thing about being a comedian?

Andrew - In short, to be able to be ourselves and make people laugh.

What are some of your current career struggles and triumphs?

PS - Immigration laws. Traveling between Canada and USA was a trial. Realizing that improv is our love and our passion and that the money will follow.

Are you where you thought you would be both professionally and personally five years ago?

PS - Way beyond what we expected. If you were a youth group who gave us gas money, we would come because we were taking every opportunity to further our experience serving God. We have now been performing full-time for four years now.

Are there any new artistic ventures you are currently pursuing in your career?

PS - While being on the road the majority of the time, we are starting to write and film short funny videos and working on more improv resources for publication later on down the road.

What is your favorite Bible verse?


Andrew - Ephesians 3:20-21: " Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (NIV)

Colossians 3:23-24: "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an iinheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." (NIV)

Scott - John 15:1-2: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardner. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will even more fruitful." (NIV)




Cliff - 2 Timothy 1:7: "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." (NIV)




What do you enjoy doing in your free time as a group?

Catch a movie. While we are being entertained we are also conducting our own research. Observing how people react is very much a part of what we do. We try to relate to where people are at through different types of media.

What's you're all-time favorite gig?

Scott - A College-age crowd. Or, or throw me a rockin’ family audience anyday!

Cliff - We do this Ladies Conference in Alberta called Freshwind.  It’s unbelievable!  The energy and the enthusiasm of a group of ladies when they get together is unrivaled.  I suppose that’s why women go to the bathroom in groups… it’s just too much fun!

Monthly Website Promotion

When you schedule an Outreach Comedy Event* through July 31st , 2005 ask to receive your 500 FREE Impact Cards


*Booking minimum $1,000 required. Offer good on new Events only. Offer good through July 31st, 2005. Not valid with any other offer. Must mention offer to Event Coordinator at time of first contact. Promotion and prizes sponsored by Outreach Comedy.

Event Planning Guide!

Features:

-3 Ring Binder. 96 pages.

-1 CD ROM with worksheets and forms.

The Event Planning Guide gives your everything you need to organize an effective Outreach Event. Based on the 3 P's of Event planning: Pray, Plan and Promote, the 96-page guide features planning schedules, discussion guides, budget and fundraising ideas, preparation checklists, follow-up guidelines and more! If you find this eNewsletter helpful, you'll LOVE the Event Planning Guide!

Yours FREE* when you book an Outreach Event, or $24.99 from the Outreach Catalog. Call 800-991-6011 to order it directly!

*Limit one per customer.

Effective Visitor Follow-Up

Use your registrations, contact cards or door prize entries to follow-up with your guests within 2 weeks of your Event. Personally mail, email, call or visit your guests. The personal touch is what counts here - guests look for personal connections in a church they'll eventually call home. Recruit volunteers to lighten the volume, or match cards up with appropriate ministries for personal follow-up.

• Welcome: Let your guests know that you're glad they could come. Make a personal connection if possible. If calling or visiting, ask if they were able to meet anyone from the church.
• Information: Inform them of ministries, Events, or other information they might find interesting. If calling of visiting, ask if they have any questions about the church.
• Invitation: Invite guests to attend your next Event, normal church services, small group or ministry that might interest them. Call to follow-up any written notes.
• Personal Significance: Keep your tone warm, genuine, and welcoming instead of repetitive or monotonous. Space calls out if that will help you, and handwrite any notes. Keep your contact as personal as possible. LISTEN (if calling or visiting), and focus on their needs. These are small ways you can affirm your guest is wanted, special and significant (not just another number to call or letter to mail).

Note: If team members or volunteers assisted in visitor follow-up, check in on these activities 2 weeks after the Event, and again one month later.

Adapted from the Outreach Event Planning Guide, pg. 90.

Featuring:
Panic Squad




"We do improv. Email us and we'll give you guys a fresh-baked joke!" Visit www.panicsquad.com.