Joann Edwards

Network Volunteer Thursdays

This Thursday marks a turning point for Network Volunteer Thursdays. We invite parents with children at home to volunteer their time in the offices (working on a variety of ministry projects) while we provide supervised care and fun for the kids.

This week we're adding a twist! We're going to run through the Big Idea Team tool from the weekend together (9-9:30am). We're excited to bring in this time of sharing and reflection into our time together.

Everyone's welcome! Join us.

Volunteer Thursdays Expanding!

Over the past 2-3 summers, we've invited Keystone parents with kids to volunteer around the offices Thursday mornings during the summer. Childcare, fun and games are available for the kids, and parents help our Network Services staff with a variety of tasks to get ready for the weekend.

Its so much fun, and become so popular that we've decided to offer the childcare option year around! And we're expanding to offer the service to any/all Keystone leader or volunteer in any ministry area.

• Do you volunteer in the children's ministry and wish you had a chance to get in and re-stock or clean and organize your area?
• Looking for a chance to get online and research music, pull together chord sheets, or find mp3s?
• Are you a stay-at-home parent with some skills repairing or painting? We've got maintenance projects waiting for you!
• Do you schedule tech team and need time and access to a computer to get next months schedule or meeting lined up?

Everyone's welcome! Thursdays 9-noon.

And that's not all! New this fall, we're adding the Big Idea to the morning. We'll take a 1/2 hour (9-9:30) and take a run through the Big Idea team tool from the previous weekends talk. Another great way to learn and grow together. Take a step with us! Questions? Email Joann Edwards joanne@keystonecc.org.

Operations Focus - Communication Part 2

Revisions to our existing communication policies are underway. The church communication group I've been meeting with is interested in reviewing a draft which will be ready by the end of next week. Wiki Girl, Melissa Shelley has agreed to join the Keystone group review process. YEAH! We've narrowed our focus to

1. Communication standards for use by volunteers and staff in the creation of print and web based materials
2. Communication process (how and to whom) information is communicated between
   1. Leaders, sites and staff and Network Services
   2. Network Services and the community/visitors
   3. Network Services and invested/core attendees

The technology/web review has taken on a slightly different look. We've been looking into replacement computers and through discussions with vendors, we have concluded that a systems review by an outside consultant may be warranted. We are doing an initial meet/review with him next week.

So things are moving along, please consider joining us! Just email.

Bring the Kids Along Thursdays

Thursday mornings in the summer at Keystone ROCK. We're in our third summer of "'Bring the Kids to Keystone" Thursdays and it's a blast.

• We have great sitters who keep the kids jumping with crafts, movies, adventures outside & more
• Parents are free to use their talents helping in and around the offices in support of all kinds of ministries/events and activities at Keystone

Yesterday we had 5 volunteers, and they busted through a TON of work! Everything from:

• Unpacking supplies
• Printing/creating and sorting children's materials for lessons coming up in July
• Updating the database
• Doing background checks
• Folding/assembling Big Idea materials for this series
• Pricing books and arranging the book table at Spaulding
• And setting up supplies/materials for shipping to Eastside

Join us! It's not only a riot, its a great way to serve God! Thursdays (except July 3) 9am-noon. Questions? Email us...

Summer Operations Focus - Communication

Keystone's spring leadership retreat helped us (staff) focus on various HOT BUTTONS... Different staff have taken lead with the 4 main chunks of operational planning. I'm working on communication. Any of you interested in joining me? Jane Beal (my communication partner in planning) and I have been talking through some of the details with some of you informally, and we're ready to have our first "official" meet-up. Here are the main things we're going to work through...

• Step 1: Review (current) and Revise Communication Plans/Systems for...
  • Leadership & Staff
  • Sites
  • Attending friends
  • Guests/Visitors

• Step 2: Systems Review
  
  • Database/records
  • Technology (web, software/hardware)
  • Collaborative workspaces

• Step 3: Integration of Communication Plans and Systems (TRAINING)

I know you're as excited as I am to get working on these challenges! Please consider joining us. In fact, I've been meeting with a group of church communicators (see our blog) on the 3rd Tuesday of every month for lunch. Everyone's welcome, just shoot me an email and I'll fill you in with the details.

Summer Serve/Groups

If you are a team leader at Keystone, now is the time to be thinking about summer serve opportunities. We're planning to promote summer serve/group opportunities soon, and it would be awesome if we could include an easy/fun summer way to connect folks with your teams. Email me or your staff contact with your number one fun summer serve opportunity!

And summer is also a great time to think about short term groups! Looking for a reason to get together around the grill? Meet friends and take the weekend message up a notch by hosting a BIG IDEA group at your home this summer.  Email Jane Beal and let her know you're interested today.

Beta Testing of our Database

Hey Keystone Database users.... We're beta testing a new version of our database. At first glance, its looking cleaner and easier to use, but its in the testing phase, so not all features and reports are available. Additionally, some folks are having trouble logging in. Here is an updated link that should work. Thanks for your patience! Questions? Email us at network@keystonecc.org. Thanks!

Behind the Scenes - Recording Donations Part 2

The next step in the recording of donations is actually entering the information into our database. This is done by a rotating group of volunteers who come into the office during the week. They take the deposit information gathered over the weekend and create "transactions" in the database that record on individual/family records:

1. The $$
2. The specifics of your donation: general fund, care fund, capital campaign or other
3. The site where the donation was made/intended for (Sat/Sun Spaulding or Eastside)
4. The tax deductible status

The keys here being VOLUNTEERS who work HARD to be ACCURATE. If you have any questions regarding your donation statement PLEASE contact us at network@keystonecc.org. We'll look into it immediately.

Behind the Scenes - Recording Donations Part 1

Ok, all of our volunteers and leaders at Keystone are awesome, but seriously the folks who work within Network Services behind the scenes are really in the trenches, building the systems that keep an organic, ever changing place like Keystone working... They are truly gifts from God and a huge blessing to us all...

And this is the first in a series of post we're planning to highlighting their work. This week I'd like to feature our Weekend Count Teams... That's counting money, donations, checks and cash that our friends trust us with to continue encouraging friends in their spiritual journey with Christ. It works this way at Keystone...

1. We don't pass an offering plate, and we don't expect visitors just checking us out to make a donation from day one...(no guilt trips offered up here)
2. We're confident that as people experience life change and grow in their relationship with Christ that they will give and give generously (and you do)
3. We have offering pots located around our buildings for donors to use. A large number of you also use online banking so many checks arrive in the mail each week.
4. Each venue has a team of counters, (2 people per weekend, work one time each month) these folks are trusted with counting the weekly offering and recording your donations (its the first step in recording gifts for tax purposes).
5. They record donations, copy checks, create a deposit and get it to the bank...every weekend.

And here's the really cool thing... These folks are not professional (or paid) financial wizards. They are all volunteers. The rest of the week they may be lawyers, business people, blue color and white color, working or stay-at-home mom's and dads... regular folks who did such a good job last calendar year (they processed over 150 deposits and thousands individual transactions) that we only received three year end calls with questions about tax statements...ONLY 3. Awesome! Thank you Count Teams!

ps. you can access your giving statements online, safely and securely.. Contact Network Services at network@keystonecc.org for details on how...