The hustle of church is intense. There is always something to be created for someone – videos, stickers, brochures, marketing plans, announcements, songs, set lists. It can be tiring just writing all these things out. In the middle of all of the chaos, there’s something we should always remember to do in order to make sure we are creating MOMENTUM in our creative departments and not just PRODUCTS: EVALUATE! Evaluate everything we do. After a project take stock.
- Did it meet the goal?
- Did we create a good experience?
- Did we make our communicators job easier?
- Did we shorten the gap for a first time visitor?
- Did they feel welcome?
- Was each service all that we intended for it to be?
- Did we communicate the story in the absolute best way possible?
Evaluating the effectiveness of a project helps us refine for the next time. Looking back provides us the ability to look forward and be even better in the future. Doing this after each major – or even minor – project helps us make sure we are not just creating stuff, but that we are intentionally creating to tell an amazing story, communicate properly, and manage the momentum of our organization. We are not always going to hit home runs…especially if we are swinging for home runs. Often, we might strike out and THAT’S OK! We will strike out from time to time trying to do our absolute best.
It is so important to Be prepared. Be Intentional. Be flexible. Be Reliable.
The services we are creating, or have created, for this weekend matter. If they did not meet your goals, get better – but never forget that God is bigger than our sermons, programming, and songs. We are responsible for stewarding our resources, effort, and work. HE is responsible for it impacting people’s hearts and changing their lives.
What are some questions you ask when you are evaluating your process?
“Evaluating the effectiveness of a project helps us refine for the next time. Looking back provides us the ability to look forward and be even better in the future.”
WOW!!!
Love those sentences.
We debrief everything in Student Ministry. Every service, every event, every camp, every trip… everything.
– For services we use Planning Center Online’s live feature so that tracks our time. One of the things we do is print off the service with times and go over that.
– We have 3 main areas for our services that we debrief: pre, during, and post
PRE: were our teams on time (band, production, staff/interns, volunteers). Was the atmosphere set and conducive to building relationships with students. Did we open doors on time. Was check in smooth.
DURING: Did we start on time. We look over each element (games, welcome, music, lighting, videos, talks, transitions)
POST: How did teardown go. How did small groups go. What was the atmosphere like.
this isn’t everything but the bulk of it. I keep all of my debrief notes in Evernote so I can reference them when needed. Whenever i’m not leading worship, mixing, speaking I am engaged with everything that happens in our theater venue so I always have an Evernote note open on my phone and taking notes and observations… otherwise I would forget it all.
I also think it’s important to celebrate the wins in these types of meetings and debrief sessions.
peace!
Two questions we constantly ask are:
1-How do you define a win? (What is the goal)
2-Are we trying to do too much that we may be pushing what God wants to do to side?