Attendance Books

About a month ago, our church made the switch from "visitor cards" to "attendance books" We used to put a visitor card inside of the bulletin and ask everyone (the members filled out one side and the visitors fill out the other side). That had been our method of tracking who was at church and who wasn't for the past three years (or longer). But on Sunday, March 25th, we made the switch! Following the lead of churches like Otter Creek and Richardson East, we made the move to begin using attendance books. The result has been absolutely incredible! We've seen a 800% increase in the amount of guests who fill out the book over the card! We've seen a 2000% increase in the amount of members who use the books! It is incredible. Now this tracking this simple data does not take the place of shepherding, community in life groups, or discipleship, but it does provide us with some information about patterns. For example, if the week before Easter is consistently poorly attended and the week after is well attended, then maybe we shouldn't make the big announcement or kick off the new series on the week before Easter. Or maybe the young families all leave town on Presidents weekend, or perhaps someone says, "have you seen the Smith family? I haven't seen them in weeks..." We now have the ability to that information thanks to this simple change.

I decided that this change would best be communicated via a video. So I came up with an idea and commissioned my two ministerial homies, Stephen Bailey and Matt McBryde to run with it.

This is the first video we presented to the church on Sunday, March 25th. Matt did a great job acting! (it was his idea to play all three parts and it worked out awesome!) Stephen's voice over was perfect too.

Check it out here.

Then of course we had to top that one so I offered up the idea of a Mac/PC parody. Again, the guys nailed it and the church loved it.

Check it out here.

I'm hoping we can do 1 to 2 more in the future. I'm working on an idea of a play on those Sonic Commercials with the two guys in the car. Those crack me up.

If anyone else has ideas, I'd love to hear them.

My Center Child

My 17 year old beautiful daughter Laura told me a while back that she no longer will referred to as the "middle" child (Emily 10, John 21) but rather the "center" child. This has less to do with her age as it relates to her siblings and much more to do with her incredible* personality. (*by incredible I mean gregarious, compassionate, non-low maintenance, not-given-to-consistent-moods, sweet, funny, friendly, 'non inside voices', perky, and Christlike) So it is only fitting that Laura is going to be one of the stars of her high school (Faith Christian School - the best Christian School I've ever experienced!) musical, Fiddler on the Roof! I am so proud of her and excited to see her shine! I've included a poster below and tickets can be purchased by clicking here or calling the school (see below)


Laura has a sizable role. She is the (get this) middle/"center" daughter. It is kind of a stretch for her as Hodel is the daughter of a strict, religious father! Ha! I'm sure she'll do fine! I invite anyone in the area (or out of the area for that matter!) to come watch my lovely Laura!

^{For more information: www.fcschool.org, or phone: 817-442-9144}