First Baptist Church Bryan

Communications Review Guidelines for All Communications Final Report

Submitted by: Judith Robbins, Chair Linda Berkline (Property) Sandy Griffin Dan Kennedy (Finance) Barbara Reed Jimmy Sasser (Personnel) Matt Taylor Darren Wilkinson Mike Wright (Media expert)

September 1, 2013
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PRIOR TO READING THIS REPORT

PLEASE TAKE NOTE

The Transition Team is appreciative of the work of the temporary committees and their associated working groups. All reports and suggestions are being made available to the church body and have been forwarded to appropriate committees and staff members for review.
Encouraged by the Transition Team some recommendations within the routine church-authorized service of our staff and lay leadership are being enacted.

Any major recommendations rising to the level of church approval will not be performed without first being presented to the church in an announced business meeting. Please accept the content of this report as counsel from members of our church asked to provide thorough consider to the matter assigned. They have each offered their considered suggestion for the betterment of our church. We are grateful to their dedicated and heartfelt labor on our behalf.

COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES AND PRACTICES FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH BRYAN BRYAN, TX

I) Information shall be made available to members through current methods of communication including, but not limited to electronic and/or paper distribution. A) Technologies, tools, and mechanisms of communication within church: 1) Church newsletter (emailed PDF format, print) 2) Printed bulletin distributed at service 3) Worship center TV stage screen ads at beginning of worship services 4) Mention at the end of the service 5) Announcement sheet for Adult Bible Fellowships 6) Emails to all of church/groups within the church 7) Church website banner 8) Website ministry page 9) Website calendar 10) FBC Bryan Facebook page 11) Facebook events where separate page is created by promoting group 12) Twitter feed account 13) Text messaging 14) Direct (Phone, face-to-face) 15) Small Group(s) 16) Meetings (i.e. communicating to a select group of people face-to-face) B) Church leadership shall determine appropriate channel(s) best for the target audience(s) and how information shall be most effectively communicated to that audience. C) Additional information about any ministries, programs, or activities of the Church shall be provided upon request from the appropriate source(s) (e.g., ministerial staff, committee, deacons, etc.) II) Identify the audience(s) these communication channels engage most effectively with. A) Church leaders shall consider at minimum the following factors likely to influence the efficiency of information communication for church membership: 1) If information is targeting one age grouping primarily, than consideration of whether members of that age group have a higher likelihood to regularly attend either the 9:00 am or 10:25 am worship service shall be given in order to efficiently deliver announcements or screen ads. 2) If information is intended for entire church body, than consideration must be given as to nature of information, the need for advance notice of calendar events to allow membership to plan attendance, and the most efficient means of broad distribution of information (e.g., email, pulpit announcement, etc.) 3) If information is of sensitive nature and should be controlled in its dissemination, then consideration as to the use of hard copy distribution 3

versus electronic distribution should be given to curb such information being shared with community members not also members of FBC Bryan. B) Church staff and lay leadership may consider any factors or concerns pertinent to the issue at hand during their consideration of how best to communicate information and events to the church membership. Guidance provided in Part II, Items i-iii is not to be interpreted as exhaustive in nature. III) Categorize the event. A) Church events can be categorized as following: 1) by type (e.g. training, church service, outreach); 2) by primary audience (i.e. church members, church members and local community); 3) by broad audience (e.g. men, women, everyone at church, local community, parents, Sunday School leaders, etc.); 4) by importance this category is to help members of the church if they need to decide between two overlapping or simultaneously occurring events; 5) by frequency of occurrence (e.g. weekly church, quarterly, annually), and; 6) by necessity or mandate (e.g., child protection training is essential for anyone working with minors). B) As necessity arises, other categorizations for church calendared events may be created or categories discarded once demonstrated to be no longer useful for church communication and operation. IV) Mechanism for placing/scheduling event/item on the Church calendar and into the appropriate church communication channels A) Early in the planning process for an event, a calendar request should be submitted to the Church office for consideration for placement on the Church Calendar. Calendar requests are reviewed on Mondays at 8:30 a.m. in a calendar coordinating meeting with the following team members present: 1) Minister of Education/Administration 2) Associate Pastor/Business Manager 3) Facilities Manager 4) Membership/Publications Assistant 5) Church Host. B) If approved, the event is placed on the Church Resource Calendar. No publicity of an event shall be made prior to approval for placement on the Church Calendar. All requests shall be made to the Membership/Publications Assistant in the Church Office. C) Request that the minister assigned to the target area review the communication strategy, providing assistance in getting information into appropriate communication channel(s). D) Ministerial Staff Planning 1) Ministerial staff will meet Mondays at 10:00 a.m. and identify/review communication items that need to be addressed that week and for the next few (2-3) weeks.

2) In such meetings, staff will determine and map what is on the front of the Sunday bulletin, website banners, Facebook posts, Sunday screens, and spoken announcements during and at the end of a service. 3) Staff shall consider the promotion of various events on the Church calendar according to these criteria: (a) Desire to promote the events without making church members feel overwhelmed or obligated to come to everything. (b) Events desiring prioritization while not being identified as critical for attendance. (c) Events relevance to all members. (d) All factors will be considered when determining communication channel(s) to use in promotion of various Church events/items. E) The Ministerial Staff and Ministry Assistants will receive from the Minister of Education/Administration an email outline of the coming week's publication following staff meetings on Mondays. The Ministerial Staff and their Assistants will provide information for the various publications early in the week. The submissions for these publications will then be due by Tuesday at noon. Church leaders may also submit information to be included and should observe the deadlines below: 1) Wednesday Prayer Reminder, Prayer Concerns of the Church: Items for Prayer Concerns of the Church should be submitted by Tuesday noon. Updates regarding members in the hospital, deaths, births should be submitted as soon as they are known. 2) The monthly newsletter is to be distributed on the fourth Thursday of the each month and will promote information for the next month. There is a hard deadline of Tuesday noon on all items for inclusion in the newsletter. 3) Sunday Bulletin and Sunday School Announcement Sheet: Items are to be submitted by Tuesday noon when possible. At times when a committee or group working on an item cannot have the exact wording until after a Wednesday meeting, the publication secretary should be notified that the information is coming and approximate space requirements for the article. 4) Sunday Service Screens: Items should be submitted to the Music Assistant by Tuesday at Noon. 5) Bulletin board in classroom(s), hallway(s): Leaders may post attractive posters in appropriate classrooms and in hallways. 6) Facebook Page: Items for the Facebook page shall be submitted one week in advance of the posting date. 7) Website: Items for a ministry area web page shall be submitted a week in advance of the posting date. Request for a web page banner should be submitted prior to 10:00 a.m. on Monday for consideration in the Ministerial Staff Meeting. 8) Public Media: Submissions to local newspaper, TV, cable advertising, etc., should be submitted to the office at least one week prior to the publication deadline of the public media being used. Items should include full information regarding initial deadline, proofing, and source of funds to pay for the advertising if it is not a community service listing. 5

V) In the event of a crisis, it shall be the responsibility of the Senior Pastor or an appointed senior staff minister to speak on behalf of the church. Where possible, it is preferred that the Church shall receive communication prior to distribution of information to public media. The Church Crisis Communication plan should be observed in relating to the media in a crisis situation. VI) Training A) Training should be provided for church ministerial staff and support staff for the implementation of current technology. B) Consideration should be given to providing training for church members on the current technology. VII) Live streaming business meetings and other events. A) Feasibility study of live streaming business meetings to church members should be conducted. Study should give consideration to costs, personnel requirements, and advantages/shortcoming. VIII) Recommendation for additional personnel. A) The need for additional personnel to facilitate effective, efficient church communication should be addressed. There may be a need for two (2) positions: Media Director and Communications Director or Director of Media/Communications with an Assistant Director. (Personnel committee may address this issue.) B) Job description for personnel should include duties relating to rapidly changing technology as related to church communication and effective use of church website.