i know this will be a surprise to some of you but every now and then i can talk a little too much. this is especially true when i am excited about something. it appears that my extended talking has reared its ugly head during the announcements at the beginning of tapestry each week. you see the problem is that i want our guests to understand the things that make tapestry special and therefore i explain the little things that go on within tapestry. for example:
- i explain that we want people to talk during the message. it’s not considered an interruption to bring something up. instead it is consider another way that GOD speaks to us.
- i explain that if you need a bible please take one of the ones on the chairs as a gift.
- i explain that it is fine to get up and grab more food or coffee during the evening.
these things can take a while but i just want to make sure that new guests understand what is going on and feel welcome with us. the problem is that we have been having new guests every week and explaining all this can take awhile. i get excited about it but everyone else thinks “come on! we’ve heard this 50 times before.”
this week was really bad. we didn’t start the music until around 6:30 p.m. when we supposedly start around 6 p.m. (i say supposed because we always talk till around 6:10 pm). it was so bad that pam mentioned something to me about putting some of this stuff into writing for people just to be able to read. it appears that others were thinking the same thing as pam because a couple of people mentioned it to her – sounds like a mutiny to me 😉
well i think it is a great idea. we typically just have a half sheet of paper as a bulletin with the scripture for the night on the front and announcements on the back. i’m thinking about going to a full sheet of paper folded in half. i figure i will put a different quote concerning worship and faith on the front each week, while placing the stuff i would normally tell our guests on the back. this leaves the middle for scripture and announcements. here’s what it would basically look like.
thoughts?
help me out here people. we need to shut me up while also making sure that our guests know generally what is going on. let’s face it people, we tend to do things a little differently, so our guests need a little info.
SIDE NOTE – if someone wanted to start producing and printing these each week i would gladly pass this off.
I like it Robert. I’ve actually been meaning to mention something about this to you for awhile.
A couple suggestions:
If you are our guest thanks for joining us today. – That’s an odd heading.
Rearrange from most important to least. For me, that’d be 1) Guest Card, 2) Don’t be a Sponge, 3) Grab a Bible, 4) Get some food, 5) How to give, 6) Become a member
good thoughts adam. i will adjust that.
I agree with Adam. I think it would be good to just be short and sweet.
I’d say Adam covered anything I thought of, but if I can think of anything else I’ll post it.
Overall, I like it. I think the word “sponge” can be eliminated completely–only because reading it (or skimming it) may invoke the “moocher” connotation in the reader’s mind. If it’s read like that it could be interpreted as unfriendly language.
I think “spectator” conveys your intended meaning all on its own.
For instance, the heading could read:
-You are more than a spectator here.
I like it. It will be good to cut that out of announcements. Are we going to have this as part of our “bulletin” now, every week?
I think we could either do that or make it some type of permanent handout. Similar to the old Tapestry Facts sheet – which we are pretty much out of. However if we do a permanent handout, we might consider having someone to be dedicated to making sure any new people get this at the beginning of the service.