Nside the Suncoast (Part 2)

Back BS (before Sophie) I started a series of posts talking about some of the internal workings of your church Suncoast. It has been a while so if you missed the first part check it out HERE.

Today, I will let you "Nside" a "typical" week around the church.

Monday: Both Rita and I are in the office on Mondays. Rita updates the website, does the message video and podcast for the website, does all of our assimilation like prayer cards, first time guest notes, second time letters and one month out letters. I 90% of the time have also given her my message for that week by then so she also does the PowerPoint which we then put into Media Shout. I am usually doing administrative type things on Monday's. Attendance, offering reports, checking in with our book keeper about bills coming up this week, checking in how Sunday went with staff and volunteers live or through e-mail... Steve and I usually touch base on Monday's about songs for this coming Sunday and any "special" songs we might want to do for the current series coming up.

Tuesday: Crystal and I are both in the office on Tuesdays. Crystal only works "in the office" one day a week so she tries to get everything lined up for that Sunday's children's ministry on Tuesdays. Printing, planning, scheduling, buying supplies, checking in with volunteers and all that. We also have our staff meetings on Tuesday's twice a month from 12:30 - 2pm. I am usually starting to get ideas and line things up for creating the Sunday service. Videos, illustrations, hand outs, graphics, all the "creative elements" that go into a Sunday at the Suncoast all have to be found, bought, or created from scratch... and I still do most of them for now.

Wednesday: is my quiet day. No one usually comes in the office on Wednesdays so it has become my message day for the following week. It takes me about 6 - 8 hours to do each message on average. I also seem to have more lunch appointments on Wednesdays??? Steve also sends out the music and mp3's of that Sunday's songs to the band and by that time has also worked to see who we have and who we need for the music. Rita also sends the Need to Know (NTK) e-mail on Wednesdays and picks up programs from the printer if we are in a new series.

Thursday: Rita is back in the office with me and gives me the finished PowerPoint and the NTK video for the Communication Card time in the service. By closing time on Thursday our goal is to have the service put to bed, everything that has been created put into Media Shout (the software we use on Sundays), service scripts created and printed, all our volunteers line up, bags and trailer packed and ready to roll for Sunday. Rita also has some volunteers come in and fold programs on Thursdays.

Friday: I am doing my mind map (kind of like notes for my message that I use to preach it) and that takes about 2 -3 hours on average. Anything that didn't get wrapped up from Thursday gets done for Sunday, and during our NEXT Group semesters I am writing curriculum and posting it online for our leaders.

Sunday: We (the staff) arrive from 7:00am - 7:30am with the volunteer set up crews and start unloading the trailer and setting up the school into what you experience each Sunday. It takes about 9 - 10 people about 2 hours to get everything 100% ready to go for the service. Band practice happens at 9:15am. Team meetings happen at 10am. Doors open, church happens, and then we tear it all down and put it back into the trailer by 1pm. We usually eat some lunch and I am on the couch by 2:30pm to unwind and get ready to do it all over again.

Not listed are all the "ministry" type things that happen at the Suncoast with all the staff. Those "interruptions" are where the real life of the church happens to me.

I usually put in about a 45 to 50 hour work week and that is kind of what goes on from one Sunday to the next.