Growth Group

Meeting Minutes of 3/8/10

Members present: Rick Angell, Stan Jordan, Elinor Redmond, Kendra Palmer, Sue Ross, John McCall, Dave Allen.
Absent: Jim Kupel

Stan opened the meeting at 5:30 p.m.with a prayer.

1. Web volunteer sign up (Elinor) - LotsaHelpingHands is a free web-site which provides a way for volunteers to sign up for activities that fit their desires and calendars. Elinor has created a location for us on that site: FCC Volunteers (http://www.lotsahelpinghands.com/c/621960/). Initially we will pilot sign-up for Greeters at the back church entrance and the office entrance. We plan to have an official designation Greeters can affix to their nametags so that people recognize the purpose of their presence. Elinor will be the coordinator and Dave will be her back up. This will be a pilot program so that we can see if it is something useful for other areas of church life. Elinor will try to provide phone sign-up for those unable to use the web. She may need help if the demand is too great.

Actions: Elinor will contact Sandy Hansen about the project and see if she wants to try scheduling Front Door Greeters in this way.

Elinor will write a descriptive e-mail to circulate among members of the Growth Group to be corrected/added to.

Rich will forward said e-mail to the Usher Captains, with instruction to pass it along to the Ushers on their team either through e-mail or telephone.

Elinor will put the contents of said e-mail in the Beacon.

2. Welcome Cards (Elinor) - Elinor presented the idea of creating a postcard size invitation to worship at our church, welcoming all and giving the times and basic church contact information. The cards would be located by exit doors. The target audience is members of groups using the church (nursery school parents, members of AA, students of yoga, etc.) so they have an easy way to know when worship services occur.

Action: John will send a draft to the group before the next meeting.

Kendra will send John a postcard template.

3. Usher Meeting (Rich) - The next meeting will be Sunday, April 18th. We reviewed Dave’s notes from the last Ushers’ meeting. He will put together a card of ‘best practices’ for ushers. Stan reported on his church visits: he particularly noticed that smiling, very pleasant ushers create a great first impression. John remarked that he sees the cluster of ushers blocking the center aisle as folks enter the sanctuary as imposing. We wondered if splitting the group and standing to the side would help. We discussed the value of having an Usher at the front side door to give out bulletins and seat those who wished to be escorted. We discussed having an usher in the balcony vs. having a small pile of bulletins for congregants. These are good topics for the Ushers’ meeting.

Action: Rich will organize the meeting. He will put together a card of ‘best practices’ for ushers.

4. Status of Parish Hosts (John/Rich) - There has been one great Parish Host/Guest match. All other guests have declined the opportunity when it is offered, either by John or by Rich. Rich has had two very positive telephone conversations with Guest families. Both have been most complimentary about our church yet do not want to have a PH. We speculated that the idea might seem too much of an obligation to newcomers. Kendra reminded the group of discussion at the last meeting of presenting the program differently, in a casual introduction. Sue thought the PH might make the call. John suggested that would feel like too much pressure. An alternative idea is to have 1 or 2 PHs available each Sunday to be matched up with newcomers as needed. John and the ushers would make the connection. Kendra wondered if people who come alone to church are more receptive to the Parish Host relationship.

Action: (I am fuzzy on this. I know we want PHs ‘at the ready’ to try this out). Elinor will set up the web-site for sign-up.

5. Hospitality Moment - Stan will provide the next tip on Sunday, March 28th (Palm Sunday). Dave is keeping track of the topics.

6. Other - Stan asked Dave about the project gathering information about small groups in the church. Dave has been ‘on hold’ as the purpose was to be a resource for the PH program. We do still need to have a comprehensive listing of the small groups in our church.

7. Agenda Items for next meeting:
• Friendship pads (& nametags)
• Update: Web signup, welcome cards, PH program
• Friends Sunday
• Tags – greeters
• Hospitality moment

Next meeting: Monday, April 12, 2010 at 5:30 in the Laity Room.

Respectfully submitted,
Elinor Redmond