Why do something if you aren't successful? Seriously. . . Why? If it is not successful you should quit it right now. Do us all a big favor and just stop whatever is falling short. Pat yourself on the back and say good try or it has run its course and then move on.
Now for the hardest part because quitting is only the second hardest part. How do you measure whether or not something is successful? That is the hardest part of any event or activity. You can justify anything as being successful. Believe me I am very good at it, but that doesn't make it successful.
Last night, my team and I put together a Family Fun Night. There are many different ways to measure if we were successful. How many visitors came? How many of our target came? How many connections were made by staff? Was there any type of buzz that followed it? Are people asking to do it again? How many people became a Christ-follower? Those measures and questions are all valid but not why I called last night a success. No one became a Christ-follower to my knowledge. No one called me today and asked to do it again next week. So why was it a success? We had 73% of the number of kids attend the event that came to church that morning. Imagine if you had 73% of your Sunday morning attendance show up to a Family Fun Night. The second reason it was a success was because it had as many dads show up to the event as moms. Anytime you get dads involved you are doing something.
What was Family Fun Night? We rented out Run, Jump-N-Play, a local indoor inflatable fun center. We encouraged dads to bring their sons and beat them at joust. We encouraged play and community. We offered a safe place to invite visitors. We charged $10 a kid and adults were free.
So there you have it. A church sponsored event that I don't think I even said the name Jesus. I didn't even pray for the pizza that we ran out of and in my book it was a SUCCESS!
March 3, 2008
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2 Responses to "Ministry Monday: A Successful Event"I went to a conference a year ago and someone said something at one of the breakouts. I don't remember anything else except for this comment (I don't remember much from the conference for that matter). This is paraphrased to the hilt:
"One way a church can be successful is to create environments and events where families can be together and build memories as a family."
I really liked that.. a lot. I had been putting on a Daddy Daughter Dance for several years that was highly attended and very successful. It was a lot of work and there were times that I considered whether it was worth doing. After hearing that quote, I realized that I wasn't going to consider getting rid of the dance. How much more do little girls need time with their daddy's? If I can create an experience where dads and their little girls connect and build memories that both will keep forever... then mission accomplished!
Good post Matt!
wow
we just had nerf warz o8, a paintball style event with obstacles etc. with nerf guns and 52 boys out of a possible 85 came.
they were talking it up the next day. it is important. i really like that quote that kenny wrote and i am very convicted that i do not bring the family together.!
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