February 2006

News & Updates - Team & Performer News: Outreach Events Welcomes New Speakers: Olympic Athletes Derek Parra & Eric Bernotas; 2006 National Outreach Convention Super Early Bird Registration

Featured Event Idea - Utilizing Volunteers

Real Stories - Case Study: New Year's Comedy Sunday - New Life Church

Performer Profile - Comedian Willie Brown & his Friend "Woody"

Special Promotions - 500 FREE Impact Cards

Effective Resources - Event Planning Guide

Joke of the Month - Featuring Willie Brown

Welcome Olympic Athletes...

Outreach Events has added two new speakers on the roster...

Derek Parra - Speed Skating

• 2006 U.S. Olympic Athlete

• 2002 Olympic Gold Medallist– 1500 meters
• 2002 Olympic Silver Medallist– 5000 meters
• World Record Holder – 1500 meters
• 1998 Olympian

• First Mexican-American in Olympic history to ever compete in, and medal in the Winter Games.
• Derek’s autobiography, ‘Reflections in the Ice’ won the 2004 Benjamin Franklin Award for best   biography/autobiography/memoir of the year.
• Appointed member of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports

Eric Bernotas - Skeleton

• 2006 U.S. Olympic Team Member
• 3-Time World Cup Medallist
• Current World Rank – 4
• 3-Time U.S. National Champion

• Eric has been singled out by Sports Illustrated, ESPN the Magazine and the US Olympic Committee as ‘One to Watch’ at the 2006 Olympic Games.
• Eric took his first skeleton run in January of 2002 – four years later he has qualified for the Olympic Team and is currently ranked 4th in the world.

• No stranger to adversity, Eric has dealt with alcoholism and Tourette’s syndrome en route to his Olympic dream.

Call 866-400-2036 for more information on booking one of these athletes for your next event!

_________________________________________________________________________________

Super Early Bird registration is now available for the 2006 National Outreach Convention...

Register by April 30th and save up to $80 per person!

Event Planning Tip: Utilizing Volunteers

A capable group of volunteers can help you pull off a fantastic event.  You don’t have to do it all yourself…in fact, you shouldn’t!  This list should give you a good idea of the ministry tasks to be delegated to your volunteers.  The number of people you’ll need for each ministry will vary according to the size of your event. 

Before the Event

Promotions:

• Printing (1-2 people): get programs, tickets, fliers, mailers, posters, door hangers, etc. ordered, designed, printed and ready for distribution. Outreach has many tools available, ask your Event Coordinator.

• Media (1-2 people): work with local newspaper, radio, and TV to get the word out about your Event. See the Promoting Your Event section for further details.

• Distribution: Rally the troops to distribute promotional items such as: fliers, door hangers, posters, and mailers. Distribute to neighborhoods, businesses, friends, and at other Events.

Budget Boosters:

• Ticket Sales: (3-5 people) Sell tickets before and after church services and other activities. Have a church contact available at the office for advance ticket sales.  

• Donations for Sponsorship, Auction, Raffle or Door Prizes: Send out ministry leaders, volunteers or youth to canvass community businesses for donations. Swap advertising space in your program for financial contributions or mention a note of thanks.

Set-up:

• The size of your event will determine your number of volunteers. Consider needs for tables, chairs, stage and roped off areas.

Food Preparation: 

• Volunteers needed for food purchase & preparation or catering arrangements. Number of volunteers will vary.

The Night of the Event

Parking (as needed)

Sound/Lights (2-4 trained volunteers): 

• These volunteers must be well versed in running the technical aspects of the program & should have someone technically competent overseeing.  Must arrive early for set-up and sound checks.

Video/Audio Recording (as needed)

• If you decide to record your performance (permission required), recruit 2 or more experienced volunteers to manage taping.

Food Servers (as needed)

Greeters (2 to 8):

• Friendly greeters will welcome, distribute door prize forms, direct guests to ticket tables, information tables, or the main entrance.

Ushers (6-8):

• Ushers take tickets, distribute programs and door prize forms, and direct guests to their seats.

Ticket Sales Table (4-6 people):

• You may want to have 1-2 people in charge of collecting money/making change, while the others sell tickets.

Information & Product Tables (2-4 people):

• Near your ticket sales table, you may want to set up a table to sell comedy books, videos, and other materials. 

• You can make information on your church available at this table, with booklets outlining your church mission, times for services, Bible studies, children’s activities, and other church events.

Child Care (as needed):

• Be sure to have nursery care available for children under age 4.

Help with raffle/door prizes (1-2 people):

• Will help draw names and distribute door prizes. Your door prize forms will be your means for follow-up.  Be sure to hang on to the completed forms!

Master of Ceremonies:

• Hire a comedian or ask your Senior Pastor or other pastoral staff to act as the emcee or host, introducing the evening and/or each comedy act.

Clean-up (all volunteers!):

• Ask your volunteer staff to all stay after the event for clean up and tear down.  When everyone pitches in, it’ll go faster, and you’ll have a chance to thank the group as a whole for their hard work!

After the Event

Follow-up (volunteers as needed):

• Compile: gather all door prize forms and contact information for all visitors who attended.  Make note of how they heard of the event—this is a great reference tool for future Event promotion. Also, if your guest came with a friend from church, you may want that person to follow up.

• Letters:  Send out personal notes to each visitor, thanking them for attending the Comedy event, and inviting them to services, Bible studies, or other activities at your church.

• Calls:  Bring in some volunteers to call through the list of visitors, making sure they received the letter, and encouraging them to visit your church again. Be ready to answer any questions they may have.

• Visits:  You may want to send volunteers on personal visits to some of your new visitors. Bring along further materials on your church and spend some time getting to know them. Building relationships with your visitors is important.

Case Study: New Year's Day Event

Event Basics:

• Customer Interviewed: Rev. Tim Brown
• Organization Name: New Life Church: Fairfield, CA
• Event Name: New Year’s Comedy Sunday
• Event Type: Comedy event to kick off the new year
• Event Dates & Time: Sunday, January 1st, 2006
• Event Location: Fairfield High School Gym, Fairfield, CA
• Location Profile: We currently host 3 services using this public school location.
• Attendee Type: Sunday gathering and invited friends.
• Price per Attendee: No Charge.
• Total Attendees: 301 (As numbers indicate, combining our 3 services and events falling on holidays caused a drop in attendance which began to grow again after January 1st-- Dec. 11: 856, Dec. 25: 524, Jan. 1: 301, Jan. 8: 643, Jan. 15: 603, Jan. 22: 635 )

Behind the Scenes Efforts:

• Publicity Tools Used: In-house publications & Direct Mail using Outreach Marketing products.
• Tickets: None.
• Team Efforts Included: Targeting our purpose and audience for the event, prayer ministry, advertising & communications, event preparation, event set up, event follow-up.

About the Event:

• Event Purpose: Kick off the new year with a laugh—using comedy as a tool to bring us together and as an opportunity to invite guests.
• Event Content Included: Sunday worship, communion, intermission, comedy event. Youth (Jr. High through High School) joined with the main service for this event.
• Decorations: Adjusted platform set up with stage lighting and audio systems.
• Capturing Visitor Information: Use of “1st Impressions” team, welcome table, intermission and information captured using “Care Card” that all attendees fill out.

About the Comedy Performance:

• Performer: Ruben Quintana
• Type: Comedy: life experience and cultural dynamics
• Response to Performer: The audience had a great connection with both the “person” as well as the comedy.

Results

• Total Visitors: Perhaps 40 or more: visitor cards collected that Sunday: 16
• Overall Response to the Entire Event: A great day of fun—many stayed to visit with Ruben personally after the event.
• New Attendees Retained: Guests are in a multi-step follow-up process that we use as a part of our “1st Impressions” approach. *Final numbers are still in process.

Additional Comments

• Biggest Concerns Heading into the Event: Being sure that the Outreach team would understand our direction as a church targeted to seekers and be in tune with our cultural diversity.
• How These Concerns Were Addressed & Resolved: Outreach has a great pre-event process and tools to get important information so that we are working as a team.
• How This Compares with Past Events: I was not on staff until this year, although we have had a comedy event at least once a year. New Life Church is less than 10 years old—was recently featured in Thom Rainer’s Book “BreakOut Churches;” we follow the Purpose Driven format and are targeted to “seekers.” My overall sense is that the event was well prepared and that Ruben was effective in our setting.
• Would You Do This Event Again? Yes, we have currently scheduled a comedy event for next year.
• What Would You Do Differently Next Time? Clear more time around this event, provide our people with practical, “hands on” tools and skills to invite friends and guests to the event. (These will include a teaching on how to pray for events, how to invite guests, and basics on connecting
  with people who are far from God. We are in the process of developing these materials this year….)
• What Would You Say to People Planning a Similar Event? Through Outreach, events can be tailored to target your audience and needs. Further, Outreach provides the support in staffing, a variety of resources and products to allow your event to have a lasting, positive impact.

Meet Comedian Willie Brown and his friend "Woody"...

Q: Where are you from, and what was it like growing up there?
A: I was born and raised in New Haven, Connecticut. Growing up there was fun for me because we lived in a neighborhood with lots of kids. So we always had plenty of children to play with. New Haven is really a blue collar town, but it has a New York City mentality. We had a lot of influence from New York as far as our music, dress, language, and hip culture was concerned. Some people who live in New Haven even try to make people believe they’re actually from New York, but I know different.

Q: When and how did you become interested in being a standup comedian?
A: I started out doing ventriloquism at the age of thirteen. I was inspired by Jay Johnson from the tv show “Soap”. He played the character Chuck and Bob. He along with Willie Tyler and Lester have been the two people who made me want to get into this art form. As I continued to pursue the art of ventriloquism I started getting opportunities to perform in comedy clubs in the Washington, D.C. area. I worked at the Comedy Café, Garvins, The Comedy Connection of Greenbelt, and The D.C. Improv. I came up with comedians like Wanda Sykes, Dave Chappelle, Chris Thomas and bunch of others.

Q: How did you become a Christian?
A: I was born into a Christian family. My parents were both Baptist and so were their parents. They grew up in the church. So when I was born the tradition continued. At age 12 my dad told me that I should get baptized and accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior and I did. I was baptized at Christian Tabernacle Baptist Church in Hamden, CT.

Q: What's your favorite thing about being a comedian?
A: The ability to help people to laugh. That’s got to be the greatest reward from being a comedian, next to the fact that you don’t have to punch a clock every morning. But I do work hard nonetheless.

Q: What are some of your current struggles and triumphs?
A: My current struggles are just getting simple things done like my website, and marketing. It takes time and focus to do these things and often I’m busy performing. When I get back home I’m usually tired so I sit around until it’s time to hit the road again. I love traveling, but it’s gotten more stressful since 9/11. It’s not as easy as it use to be. So you don’t get as much sleep as you use to because you have to be at the airport so early In the morning. My triumphs have been the ability to conform my material to meet Christian standards. I use to work in the clubs so in the past I would say things that were not totally appropriate for a Christian audience. So I’m really proud of my transformation. I would say another triumph for me is the fact that I’m able to have a career in comedy and be a single parent to a fifteen year old son. Now that’s a triumph! Amen! Praise God!

Q: How do you see the Lord moving through your Comedy?
A: The Lord sends his spirit down to me when I’m performing and it just moves me in areas that I would never even think of. The holy spirit just takes over and it amazes me how my material takes a perfect twist at times. God is the ultimate comedian. I see the Lord continuing to use my comedy as a healing medicine providing hope for those who are hopeless, and joy to those who are unhappy.

Q: Where do you see yourself in the next ten years?
A: I see myself continuing to do comedy, but also producing films, tv shows, and helping younger comedians get into the business.

Q: What's your favorite Bible verse and why?
A: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippines 4:13. That’s a very strong verse. It really says a lot. It gives the believer a promise that you can accomplish all things through Jesus Christ, your savior, the one who provides all of your needs and strength. I can rest on that one. It’s comforting to know that I can do all things through my Lord. It doesn’t say that I can do all things by myself. I think people need to know that. But you can do all things through Jesus Christ.

Q: What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
A: I read, work out in the gym, email my friends.

Q: What's you're all time favorite gig?
A: I’ve had many really good gigs. But I would have to say performing at the Gospel Komedy Slamm with Lamont Bonman at the West Angeles Church of God and Christ Theater. Those shows are always great. The crowds are hype and waiting to be entertained. I love it!

Q: Anything else you'd like to share?
A: I just thank God for Outreach and the beautiful people over there. I thank Him for the direction that your organization is going in and for making me a part of it. I thank God for taking my talent and using it to build up His Kingdom. I thank Him for blessing me and delivering me even when I wasn’t worthy of it. I thank Him for giving me the gift of laughter so that I could spread it to others. Amen.

Monthly Website Promotion

500 FREE ImpactCards when you book an event through Outreach Events!

Featured Tool

The Outreach Event Planning Guide gives you everything you need to organize an effective outreach event. The 96 page guide features planning schedule, discussion guides, budget and fundraising ideas, preparation checklists, follow-up guidelines and more!