How to Involve and Inform Local Churches

A. Motivation: Benefits of Using These Guidelines.

    1. You will be able to inform local churches of your ministry.

    2. You will be able to involve local churches in prayer and financial support.

    3. You will help impart a vision to the local community on what God is doing on your campus or
        ministry location.

    4. You will maintain a positive, healthy relationship with local churches.

B. Overview of Your Materials and Responsibilities

    1. The next several pages contain three main items that are designed to help you accomplish your
        objectives. (Remember: This is your Lecture Series.)

        a. Responsibility description that highlights the main aspects of your job.

        b. An organizational chart to show lines of communication between the believers working on
            the project.

        c. Helpful guidelines with specific details and ideas for doing the best job possible.

            These items contain ideas that have been used with success around the globe. Many have
            come from the ministries of Josh McDowell, Andre' Kole and the Paragon Experience, as
            well as from Rusty's own speaking ministry. We hope they will help you to glorify our Lord
            though this outreach.

    2. Paul wrote, "Let all things be done properly and in an orderly manner" (I Corinthians 14:40).

        a. The Responsibility Description (RD) shows the purpose and scope of your job and lists
            your main responsibilities. It may seem somewhat cold and impersonal at first glance; but
            remember that its purpose is to briefly explain your job. Please understand that we (and,
            we hope, all involved in this ministry) love you and care for you as a person. We merely use
            this written material as a simple and accurate means of communication.

            Most of the RD is self-explanatory. One aspect that is sometimes new to some is the
            "Authority" line under each item. This is a simple way of communicating how you should act
            on a given task. There are three main types of authority for our purposes:

                1) "Act" – This means you can act on the item without checking with your "supervisor"
                    first.

                2) "Act and inform" – This means you can act without checking with your supervisor, but
                    you should inform him/her of the action after you have done it.

                3) "Act after approval" – This means you should submit your plan of action to your
                    supervisor and wait for his/her approval before acting on  that item.

        b. The Organizational Chart shows how those involved relate to and communicate with each
            other. Most of your communication regarding the work of the lecture series should be with
            the person immediately above you or those immediately below you on the chart. This can
            help keep confusion to a minimum.

            1) The chart is not intended to convey positions of superiority or inferiority but simply
                working relationships. Everyone's job is significant. This is a team effort!

            2) Remember that the best leader is a servant. If ever anyone qualified to be the "man at the
                top" it was Jesus. Yet He turned the organizational chart upside down when He said,
                "Whoever wishes to become first among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes
                to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be
                served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:43-45).

        c. The Guidelines are intended to help you carry out your responsibilities You will want to use
            them to develop a strategy for your area of responsibility that is personalized to your
            ministry location. Go over your strategy with your supervisor to get his or her input and
            feedback.

        d. You probably will not be able to do your job without helpers. Consult your supervisor and
            the Lecture Series Personnel Coordinator for assistants. Once you have your helpers,
            consider them as teammates. Practice "Growth Delegation": Delegate responsibility not just
            to get the job done, but to help that person grow and develop in their job skills and their
            walk with God.

        e. Continue to emphasize "Relational Thinking" rather than "Terminal Thinking." Relational
            Thinking considers every activity in light of how it contributes to the overall objective.
            Terminal Thinking sees activities only as ends in themselves.

        f. Our overall objective is to glorify God by reaching people for Christ and building committed
            multiplying disciplers to help reach the world. If you can evaluate everything you do in light
            of your objectives, your motivation and effectiveness will most often increase. Your
            committee members need you to help remind them of this.

        g. Besides your encouragement, several items will help your team members see how they fit
            into the overall team. You should give them each:

            1) A copy of Rusty's letter, so they can see his heart-desire to be a co-laborer with them.

            2) A list of the benefits for their tasks.

            3) A copy of this "Overview of Your Material" (Section B).

            4) A written responsibility description.

            5) A copy of the organizational chart.

            6) A clear statement of your committee's objectives, their individual objectives and how
                both help accomplish the overall objective.

            If copies of these are not provided for you, photocopy them. In some cases, you may need
            to write them yourself, which will be a good learning experience. It is best to assemble the
            material in some sort of binder cover before you give it to the committee member. This
            conveys your desire to be sharp and do a good job as well as your concern for them.

    3. In order for you and your co-workers to be really motivated in your work, it is important to
        have a vision for how Rusty can be used on your campus. One of the best ways to do this is
        to circulate copies of his evangelistic articles among your volunteers. The Lecture Series
        Coordinator should have access to these. Take the initiative to get them and expose your
        committee members to them, perhaps at a committee meeting. Consider it your responsibility
        to "keep the vision before them."

    4. Be sure that individually and as a group, you bathe everything you do in prayer. A well-
        organized effort without constant dependence upon the Lord can have greatly diminished
        effectiveness.

    5. A priority for you and everyone involved in this project should be to continue to develop your
        personal relationship with God. Never let activity keep you from seeking the Lord often
        through prayer and Bible study. Our desire is that this be a growing experience for you that
        you are built up  (not burned out) through your involvement. Strive mightily to keep this
        perspective in your personal life and to impart it to those with whom you work.


Church Coordinator

Responsibility Description

    "Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from
    the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve."
    (Colossians 3:23-24)

    "Serve the Lord with gladness." (Psalm 100:2)

    I. Purpose: To inform and involve local churches in the Lecture Series.

    II. Scope: Churches in your community.

    III. Responsibilities:

        A. Determine churches to be contacted.

            Authority: Act after approval.

        B. Determine the level of involvement with which you will challenge each church.

            Authority: Act after approval.

        C. Establish a strategy or guidelines for contacting the churches.

            Authority: Act and inform.

        D. Implement the strategy.

            Authority: Act after approval.

        E. Submit on completion a written report and evaluation of your job (see enclosed form).
            Submit this to the Publicity Coordinator.

            Authority: Act.

    IV. Working Relationships:

        A. Report to the Publicity Coordinator.

        B. Work closely with other committee heads.

        C. Recruit committee members as needed through the Publicity Coordinator and Lecture
            Series Personnel Coordinator.

Organizational Chart and Lines of Communication

C. Directions: Guidelines for Working with Local Churches

    1. Make a list of local churches. You should start by listing churches attended by students and
        staff or Christian workers.

    2. Determine the level of involvement with which you will challenge each church. For example,
        do you want to ask for prayer support or financial support, or do you want only to invite them
        to hear Rusty?

    3. Work with the Prayer Coordinator on churches you will be contacting for prayer. Work with
        the Lecture Series Fund-Raising Coordinator on churches you will be contacting for financial
        support. You will not want to duplicate efforts or swamp church leaders with calls from
        Lecture Series  workers.

    4. Establish a strategy or guidelines for contacting the churches. A few suggestions are listed:

        a. Contact the pastor through students or involved laymen in the church. When contacting the
            pastor, be sure to give the pastor Rusty's press packet. Explain your program and then
            outline the type of involvement you desire (e.g., prayer, financial, invited guests).

        b. If you have 25 or more churches to contact, then consider using a direct mail approach. At
            the end of this section are sample letters for your  convenience.

        c. You should place handbills in as many church bulletins as possible at least one week before
            Rusty speaks on campus. Use handbills that have all the local information. (Consider using
            “Successful and Satisfied,” "The Other Side of Life” or “The Resurrection advertising in the
            churches. “Dynamic Sex” advertising might be to hot for some churches.) You should
            request a pulpit announcement for the same day that the bulletin inserts appear.

        d. Put up a poster in each church that has all the local information on it (time, dates, location,
            and sponsor). Consider using “Successful and Satisfied,” "The Other Side of Life" or “The
            Resurrection advertising in the churches. “Dynamic Sex” advertising might be to hot for
            some churches

        e. Have student teams speak in churches several weeks before Rusty's arrival.

        f. Encourage laypersons to invite other laypersons. This is an excellent opportunity to expose
            those who would not normally attend church.

Sample Letters to Local Pastor

Letter # 1

Dear (Title, Last Name),

Warm greetings. The Christian students at (university name) have arranged for Rusty Wright, an internationally known author and Christian lecturer, to speak on our campus November 14, 15 and 16. We wanted to let you know about this outreach, as his visit might be useful to your ministry.

Rusty holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford Universities, respectively. He is a syndicated columnist and has presented Christ on six continents to university students, professors, executives, diplomats, and professional athletes and on secular TV talk shows. Often from 10-15% of those present have indicated that they trusted Christ as Savior through his lectures.

We are really excited. Over 100 Christian students are involved in making Rusty's visit a strategic part of reaching this campus with the gospel. In addition to posters, newspaper ads and banners, they have planned a mass distribution of 15,000 flyers. We are anticipating attendance here to reach (numerical goal).

Rusty will be speaking every night on a different topic, each of which is extremely relevant to the Christian faith. His topics include success, dating, love and sex. His ultimate purpose is to present the claims of Jesus Christ and give a clear explanation of how anyone may know Him personally.

Several pastors have requested to have Rusty speak in their churches. However, because of time limitations, this has not been possible. For this reason, we are making a special effort to invite churches to come hear him and join us in prayer for our campus. We hope this would not only be a blessing to church members but also that it might help pastors accomplish their objectives as they seek to help their members grow in faith and to inspire them to share Christ with others.

Students involved with (Christian organization) at (campus) are members of churches throughout this area. You may have students in your church who are helping in preparation for this lecture series. These students will be available to inform you of future details and to assist you in any way possible to get the
word to your church members. They also have posters and other materials available for your use.

Please feel free to contact us personally if you have any questions or thoughts about Rusty's time with us. We are thankful for you and your church and know that God is working to see His will accomplished through it.

Sincerely in Christ,




P.S. Please feel free to contact our Campus Director, (name), at (telephone) if you have additional questions.

Letter # 2

Dear (Title, Last Name),

Since our previous letter informing you of the coming event of Rusty Wright to (campus), we have felt a real desire to see churches involved and taking ad-vantage of such a dynamic Christian speaker. We are praying that God is preparing the students for spiritual consideration and, more specifically, preparing their hearts for Jesus Christ. We would like for you and your church members to feel welcome and excited about attending the nightly sessions. If you are interested and desire to make this opportunity available to your members, we would like to assist you in getting the word out.

To help ease your work and planning load, we offer for your consideration and possible use this suggested schedule of informing your congregation:

• October 28 Announcement in church bulletin

• November 4 Bulletin announcement and verbal announcement during church service

• November 11 Bulletin insert and verbal announcement

The enclosed bulletin insert is a sample of what you could put in each bulletin. On the back of this insert will be printed a local schedule, and we would provide the inserts at no cost to you.

The following is a sample bulletin announcement:

Rusty Wright, a dynamic Christian speaker, will be at (campus) November 14-16. His topics include
“How to Be Successful and Satisfied,” “The Dating Game,” and “Dynamic Sex: Unlocking the Secret to Love.” These outreach meetings are sponsored by (Christian organization) and will be held each evening at 7:00 p.m. in Johnson Hall.

We will be contacting you personally by phone within the next week to see if you would like to have bulletin inserts for November 11, and the specific number you would need. We would be most grateful if you would inform your secretary in the event that you are not in the office when we call. Students will be available to stuff bulletins and would be happy to assist if you need help in this area.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions concerning Rusty Wright or the ministry of (Christian organization). You may contact our Campus Director, (name) at (telephone). We want to be a
servant to the church and do what we can to help meet your needs.

Sincerely,

 

Church Coordinator

Checklist

(Work with the Publicity Coordinator to plan out "target dates" for each responsibility. Then check them off as you complete them.)

 

Lecture Series Job Report and Evaluation Form

(Please complete this and give to your supervisor soon after the Lecture Series is over. Your input can be very valuable to your fellow believers and your local ministry.)

Your Name                                                                                     Job Title

Today's Date                                                                                     Campus


Description of Your Job

1. Briefly describe your responsibilities.




Evaluation

2. What things went well with your job?




3. What things did not go well?




Recommendations

4. Any suggestions for improvement?