Joann Edwards

Judy Sharp Says Thanks All

Judy Sharp would like to thank everyone for their love & support, meals and care during her recent illness and recovery. Bless you Judy!

Sharing Stories

Our Network Services volunteer group includes Thursday mornings (when we provide childcare) and moms AND dads can come in to spend the morning volunteering around Keystone serving a variety of ministries while their little ones are looked after. Network Services volunteers also include a BUNCH of you who volunteer from home or stop in other days of the week in areas such as graphic design and promotions, web-wiki updating, database updating, stuffing and mailing, shopping.

One of the biggest things I've learned about you recently is that, even though many of you are quiet, behind-the-scenes kind of people, is that everyone (including me) needs to have a place (safe and welcoming) to share stories.

It's the piece we've added to our time together on Thursday mornings that's really put it into perspective for me. Even though our Thursday group is very task oriented and dedicated to processing all kinds of materials, to a person, we've welcomed making the time to share. And we've experienced God... in a dramatic way over just two weeks of prayer. Ask any Network Services staff (Carol, Sue or me) or a Thursday volunteer you know. We'll share AND invite you to join us. It's really not about the work (it gets done) its about the story.

Interested in (or maybe you already have a group and you're wondering how to incorporate story telling/sharing into it? Here are a couple things you can do:

1. Use the Big Idea materials as a starting place. It's what we do on Thursdays
2. Ask Good Questions like these
   
   1. How did you start coming to Keystone?
   2. Was church part of your life growing up?
   3. Who have been the most influential people in your life?
   4. What do you do for a living? Why did you choose that career path?
   5. What are some of the most memorable experiences you've had in life?
   6. When did Jesus first become real for you?

Next time: Learning to Listen

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.

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...

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...