SCHEDULE

The basic schedule this year for Serving the City as ONE  is in four sections

  1. Interest Meetings and Church sign-ups
  2. Publicity and enlistment
  3. Project Brochures and sign-ups
  4. The serving day schedule

Interest Meetings and Church sign-ups

Two Serving the City letters are sent to area churches, one in late November or early December and a follow up letter the second week of January. The letters give the basic information on when on Serving the City and the Interest meetings.

An email is sent out in December and January to those who have participated before with the same information.

Interest Meetings are held on three different nights in late January or early February. Each hub will sponsor an interest meeting. At the meeting the basic information about Serving the City is presented, a written summary sheet is passed out, resources are made available such as a publicity DVD, STC posters, and STC stationary.

Publicity and enlistment

Publicity begins as soon as a church knows they would like to participate. Late January and all of February and March is the publicity time frame. For the first year you are involved it will take many different approaches to involving your congregations. We will be glad to provide you with some ideas of how other churches have publicized the service day. We will provide several resources without cost for you.

  1. A publicity DVD that has scenes accompanied by music from the year before that runs about between to three minutes.
  2. STC posters are colorful and available in January on church walls.
  3. Brightly color stationary is available to any church who would like to mail out the brochures to members during the sign up month.

Additional information on publicity can be provided from your hub coordinators

Enlistment

If your church is involved with a hub the only leadership you will need is a director and a person to provide all the publicity. Volunteers may be needed to pass out or place in your worship center the STC brochures. We do ask participating churches in the hub to publicize the need for project team leaders. With the number of projects offered by the hub churches it is unlikely that they can provide all the leadership for each project. On the sign-up brochure and online is a place for people to volunteer to be a project team leader. Please encourage members to consider volunteering.

If your church is planning its own projects you will need a basic organization to publicize, plan the projects, secure the materials, enlist your team leaders, and some churches provide lunch. If you need assistance in planning and enlisting for your projects we can provide you help and information.

We plan to begin other hub sites in the future. If you would like to be considered for a hub site contact Mike Pearce at 256-428-9448 or mike@fbchsv.org.

Project Brochures and Sign-ups

This year all the hub brochures will be available for all the Sundays in March. (7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th) We have a month long time frame for sign-ups because we know how many are not in church each Sunday. And considering that spring break for the schools will impact attendance on two Sundays in March it is important to have the brochures available each Sunday. Printed brochures are available in late February. An email will be sent out to each church that has already committed to being a part of the effort. It is each churches responsibility to contact the hub coordinators and pick up the number of brochures you will need for your church. We recommend that you place a brochure in your members hands at least twice. The first one is usually misplaced so a second one is helpful. Many churches pass out the brochures to their bible study groups and in their worship centers. The brochures are free so be sure to ask for the number you need. Each hub will have a different list and different color brochure.

VERY IMPORTANT! - On the last sign up Sunday be sure to collect all the filled out brochures. The brochures are due at your hub site the next day, Monday, March 29th. Please be timely with this. The volunteers at your hub site have a tremendous amount of work to do after they receive the brochures. You do need to know that we will not turn away any volunteers if possible even if they are late. You do need to know that there will be a very limited number of projects to choose from if you do not sign up ahead of time. Please help us have the major bulk of the sign-ups to make sure each project makes and team leaders are enlisted. Some projects may be canceled if there are not enough sign ups in the first three days after the last Sunday to sign up.

Once the brochures are in we form all the teams for the projects, enlist a team leader, each team leader will call and/or email each member of his/her team the week before the serve day. Each member will be given all the information they need about the project. Members of the may be asked to provide some kind of tool or other item needed for the project. The team leader will give the time and place where the project is located and maps if necessary.

Please inform your church members that they are encouraged to sign up online at www.servingthecityonline.com. Each of the hand written brochure data must be entered by volunteers. The online form automatically moves the data to an Excel worksheet and saves a lot of volunteer time.

The Serving Day Schedule - Saturday, April 17, 2010

We encourage participants to come to their hub sites for the opening session. Each hub site will offer a light breakfast at 7:30 that morning. The opening session will begin at 7:45 with a welcome from the host leader, and introduction to the day, and then last minute details about Serving the City projects. You will be able to have all your last minute questions answered at that session. You also will pick and pay for the Serving the City t-shirt that you ordered. There will be a limited number of extra shirts for sale as they least. The shirts are $5.

After reminding all about our mission and then prayer will be offered for all the wonderful things that God will send our way that day. After the prayer you will meet with your project leaders in different parts of the room for last minute instructions, maps, and other information. If you are a walk-in without having previously signed up there will be a leader there to help you find a project that you can help with. You may not be able to work on the project of your choice due to projects being filled. Most teams will be on their way to the work site by 8:15.

Some hubs may offer lunch at the church some won’t. Be clear on plans for your team for lunch. Many projects will be finished before lunch. Please know that it is not necessary to come back to the hub church after you are finished. If you have tools or material to return please do so before the hub closes.

Each team leader will be given the cell phone for the leaders of the hub in case any problems arise. The hub leaders can get more materials or other items needed for the work site. If your project ends early call the hub leaders and see if there is a project that needs more workers. This help if we underestimated the number needed for the project.

CELEBRATION SERVICE

Your hub site may have a Celebration Service planned for the next day, Sunday evening. You will receive a flyer on the service at the breakfast if that hub is planning one. We encourage you to attend the hub’s service. You will see pictures and video of the day’s activities and you will hear some wonderful stories about how God was involved with the day. It is a great service and a wonderful end to Christians serving their community.

The week after the service day each hub leader will be evaluating and making plans for the next year. Evaluation forms are available to each team and project leader. Please fill out that form and send it back to the hub leader. There will be an evaluation form online that you can send back.

If you have any questions about the schedule for Serving the City please go to the contacts information page  - Click Here