Planning an event: Friday v.s. Saturday

We love the weekend.  Most people consider Friday the beginning of the weekend.  Once Friday comes, there is a dropping of the shoulders and starting to relax.  With that being said though, we are starting to see the weekend merge into the week for a bunch of folks.  This is regarding work schedules.  You have some many people working the weekends.  However, people still look forward to Friday & Saturday.  Yes, Sunday too.

The thing I’ve been pondering is which evening is better to host an event on.  Do you host it on Friday or Saturday evening?  Will one evening draw more than the other?  I have been going through the pros & cons of hosting an event on either evening.  I’m really drawn to Friday for one reason.  There is normally no church on Saturday mornings.  I’m not trying to keep people out all night on Saturday and can’t make it to Sunday morning service due to being out to an event hosted by me.

Then there is Saturday.  You have all day to prepare for your evening and not be rushed.  This is assuming you don’t work on Saturday.  I like lounging all day on Saturday anticipating my evening.  You get ready for the evening listening to your favorite albums.  There is plenty of time to drop the children off at the babysitter.  Where on Friday you’ll be rushed.  See, Friday v.s. Saturday?

It Must Be a Duck by Derrick Sier

…..It Must Be a Duck.

When examining a duck, one could take the characteristics, personality traits, habits, blood samples, genetic breakdown, feather composition, voice analysis, dietary needs and numerous other historically proven and scientific methods to prove whether a duck is actually a duck. They could even tell you what kind of duck it is. But for the lay-eye, a quick look and novice inspection suffices most individuals. Stay with me….read the rest…..

When I was younger, my dad used this phrase when trying to point out something obvious to me: “If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck….” he would say, then he would gesture for me to complete the phrase with “…it must be a duck.” In this simple way, he dissected many of my situations so I could see them more clearly. In doing so, he allowed me to see how it was the obvious things about the “duck’ I was missing and not so much the small things I chose to focus on.

Using this same thought process, when planning an event, it is very important to keep the “obvious” things in mind. (I believe this should be Christ in any “Christian event.) Now, I don’t say this without understanding the importance of the small things, but quit often are the obvious things taken for granted and more attention is focused on the small things; things that would simply cease to exist if the obvious things weren’t maintained. The equivalent would be a car owner failing to maintain his motor because he decided to focus more on his exterior – now he has a car that looks good, but remains in his driveway because it doesn’t run. In this case, it looks like a duck, but doesn’t talk or walk like a duck.

Let me stop beating around the bush. Christians, if you want your event to be a Christian event, it should not only look like a Christian event, but it should walk and talk like a Christian event. From an event coordinator’s perspective, we could use a poetry night as an example. If you are trying to promote the poetry night as a Christian event, your motive and/or purpose will dictate the type of poetry you have, the discussion that takes place, the artists you promote, the people you invite, the promotion/marketing method you choose, the location of the event, the music you play (if you have music at all), the humor you promote, the public interaction you allow and the atmosphere you establish. How you handle ALL of these things will dictate whether or not your event walks, talks and looks the way you desire it to walk, talk and look as a Christian event. (Some of you may be thinking: What does a Christian event look like? – Maybe I should write on this as well….)

Please don’t forget about the big picture. It is important to remember that the way your event walks and talks should enhance how you want your event to look instead of taking away from it. Sure, it’s good to consider and improve the knicks & knacks of your event, but not at the overall expense of your purpose for hosting the event. Before the event is put on, know why you are putting on the event and govern your actions accordingly. Then, not only will people be able to identify your event by how it walks and talks, but they will be reassured of their assumptions when they look into the characteristics, personality, composition, etc. (see first paragraph) of your event and find the duck they thought they saw instead of a dog in disguise.

When planning an event: Be Focused. Be Direct. Be Convinced. Be Confident. Be Truthful. Your event will be better for it. Your audience will appreciate you more.

Quack Quack!

Derrick Sier is President of Jesus First Productions.

Create Not Re-Create by Derrick Sier

Unconventional socializing has become a growing need in the Christian community. People have begun to seek out places where they can let their hair down, kick off their shoes (or dress up –depends who you ask), laugh, eat, dance, listen to music/poetry and encounter other Christians outside the walls of the church. Trying to meet this dire need is fairly easy in concept, however quite difficult in application. Matter of fact, in attempting to do so, several venues have arose only to temporarily provide an alternative and then quickly fade away. What happened?

One of the pastors at my church told me of an experience he had while traveling with a popular gospel artist. He was fortunate enough to sit in on a meeting that included this artist and several others that were a part of his particular record label. They were watching a video of another gospel artist. The video had the artist landing in a helicopter in the back yard of a huge house; he then steps out the helicopter with a fur jacket and wearing tons of jewelry, in which he walks over to a pool where others (the majority were women dressed in “edgy” trendy clothes) were dancing. To top it off, their message wasn’t even about Christ, but instead, how much they’ve acquired and how much fun they were having doing it. The group stopped the video and the artist my pastor was traveling with said, ”How far will we go in order to beat the world at their own game?”

Too often, Christians try to beat the world at its own game. And while trying to prove to the world that we can do what they do better, we become them in the process. The message of hope and the Gospel of Christ becomes lost in the distracting clothing we mask as self-expression, our music becomes laced with secular vibes because of our yielding stance and unwillingness to break away, compromising dance moves penetrate our physical and mental purity, border-line poetry taints the actual message it contains and sub-satisfactory theater with soft-ministry ends up having no effect on its viewers at all. Don’t get me wrong, the heart behind these ideas and desires is wonderful, but the application is where we fail. It is vital to provide alternatives that accommodate and highlight our uniqueness as Christians instead of mirroring the world.

So, why can’t Christians create instead of re-creating a lasting and successful event for the body of Christ? Why do we offer events and opportunities for fellowship that sink as fast as they rise? We know it’s not lack of participants because people pack these places/events when they first start out. And we know Christians want to do things because we spend our money to support other events/activities. We know it’s not money because churches are getting bigger and the saints of God are prospering in a time of supposed lack. We know it’s not a lack of interest because one of the main ministry tools used by the church is the arts. So what is it? (I may have to write on this individual topic next month.)

We serve the giver of every good and perfect gift – the God that request we sing him a new song. We must look to him with a heart that is for his people and believe he will give us what his people need. And the body of Christ NEEDS an outlet of expression outside the walls of the church; a way to enjoy ourselves as well as a way to let God know how we feel, a way to tell the world that we are still here – that we (God) are the standard and a way to stand on our own when it comes to entertainment and socializing.

Event coordinators, commit yourselves to the standard. Do not compromise in what you provide the body of Christ. Be rooted in the cause and destroy all ulterior motives outside the will of God. Do this and success and longevity will be the fruit of your events. Besides, Christ said, “If I be lifted up, I’ll draw all men unto me….”, this is the concept that all of our efforts should build on. Why? Because if we lift Christ and people come, our mission is accomplished.

Derrick Sier is President of Jesus First Productions.

5 Elements to a Great Event by Derrick Sier