by Jonathon Mitchell
You just downloaded your first MarriedPeople Larger Group Experience from the Strategy Pack Holy smokes, there’s a lot of stuff in here! We’ve been putting on Large Group environments for a few years with MarriedPeople. The first thing that I liked about the curriculum was that it fit with the overall Orange Strategy that two combined influences (Church + Family) make a greater impact than just two influences. One of the things that we’ve learned from Orange is that what happens at home is more important than what happens at church. This includes marriages, and we realized we couldn’t ignore this incredibly important relationship, anymore.
So, if you’re ready to launch a Larger Group event, here’s a quick overall run-through of how we plan out our Large Group Night Out Events.
1 Month Out
- Schedule our host couple and send them their script
- Schedule our teacher for the evening (Watch the teaching video and make the call—can this be pulled off live with excellence or would showing the video be better for our couples?)
- Coordinate with our food/snack people. Give them the theme of the evening and turn them loose (remember, think guy-friendly—one of our last Night Out events was a campfire theme including beef jerky, s’mores, and buffalo flavored popcorn).
- Schedule our tech team members (lights, sound, Computer Graphics)
- Announcement from weekend service stage 4-weeks out—usually showing the promo video
- Bulletin, email and announcement screen graphics with event details
- Include details about the Large Group gathering in MarriedPeople Monthly
3 Weeks Out
- A post on social media promoting the event.
2 Weeks Out
- Create the schedule in Planning Center (or scheduling spreadsheet)—scheduling hosts, teachers, tech.
- Another social media post—both from church and personally.
- Second announcement from stage telling them what they’ll experience that night. (Let them know the night is guy-friendly a.ka. no mush.)
- Schedule Pre-Production meeting with Hosts/Teachers/Tech
Week Of
- Assemble the computer graphics in our worship presentation software (ProPresenter, Easyworship, Media Shout, etc.)
- Social Media posts and reminders
Day Of
- Morning of: Social Media reminders
- 2 Hours to Event: Set up crew sets up
- 1.5 Hours to Event: Pizza for set up crew, hosts, teacher, and tech delivered
- 1 Hour to Event: Pre-Production run-through of Planning Center (or schedule spreadsheet)
Our Night Out Events happen on Saturday nights every quarter, but yours can be on whatever night works best for the married couples in your community.
Making great events starts with great prep-work. Giving couples the opportunity to be out of the house, to laugh, be around other couples and ultimately to connect with one another is a big deal.
But don’t be intimidated by the idea, with a little prep work and all the resources MarriedPeople provides, youll be able to help couples connect with a fun night out that will have a big impact. You can do this!
Jonathon Mitchell has served as an Executive Pastor, and lives with his wife and two kids in Missouri.
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