Stillspeaking Boot Camp
Updated Spring 2006
Insert date
Insert Location

00:00 People arrive (Have coffee, etc. setup - 00.60)

• Welcome and expression of thanks to hosts
• Housekeeping (Restrooms - overview of event, etc.)

00:10 Begin with prayer (Insert name of one who will pray)

• Introductions -- Participants give their name, congregation and city, and the name of one person who came as a result of the campaign. They write the name down and put in a box at the front of the room. Make it OK for people who have no name to call out. 15 minutes

00:25 Bible Study on Isaiah 56, Luke 15, Luke 16:1-8, and John 10:14-16. Ask readers to read from a Bible each of these texts. Each reading except the Luke 15 passage should be read twice, the second time by a second reader. Discuss the message that is conveyed when we put these passages together. Consider Playing the Luke 15 passages from the Ron-in-the- Box DVD (Come to the party section.)

Focus questions:

• Who are the lost and needful people in your community?
• Aren’t we all lost and needful at times?
• Is our leadership focus clear enough, and sense of call strong enough to reach out?
• In what ways are these terms uncomfortable? Why?
• How do people outside the church know that your church offers a spiritual home for hope and healing?
• In what ways does your worship and ministry welcome people to God’s party?

01:10 Leadership or Management. Which are we? (30 minutes)
PowerPoint slides 2-13

• Overall Objectives of the campaign
• Leadership without easy answers
• Helping our people deal with the shame of telling people who we are
• Living in the costs and joys of discipleship
• Creating expectation for discomfort
• Why some people feel the ad is talking about them - even though it’s not
• How the campaign grows organically out of "who we are."
• Outcomes of the campaign to date

01:40 UCC Heritage (15 minutes, Ron in a Box, Chapter 1)
Core values emerge from your history and culture. In the United Church of Christ we often celebrate our autonomy and differences, but have you taken time to consider the ways our history binds us together - as if by genetic code? Even those of us who are new to the United Church of Christ are either consciously or unconsciously attracted by those traits. What are they? Compare and contrast leadership versus management approaches with each innovation. In what ways does it take both?

• What light and truth needs to break forth into the world today?
• How is God still speaking in your life?

01:55 Break (15 minutes) unless near lunch.
If near lunch, just push on with an in-place stretch break or singing.

02:10 Creating an Identity Brand (30 minutes, Ron in a Box, Chapter 4 and Power Point)
This is also a branding campaign. The more you use "the brand," the more impact your message will have in the marketplace. The public "learns" through the constant and repetitive use of brand phrases, colors, and symbols. Stillspeaking churches that used the brand consistently and found creative ways to connect to it saw the greatest impact from the commercial.

• What is distinctive about your church’s brand? Is it consistent with our denominational identity?
• How are you connecting to the brand?
• How does the symbol of a comma complement the traditional United Church of Christ logo?
• Strategies to strengthen the connection with this rollout.
• Where do you see your church reflected in the United Church of Christ personality profile?

02:40 Testimonies of the People - Promises Made . . . Promises Kept (30 minutes)

• If serving lunch, make it a working meal - Please take a plate and return
• Prayer: Ask God’s blessing on our lives and our work
• Leader invites moments of recognition and testimony. . .
  1. Recognize new opt-in churches. Have new share name and church
  2. Previously trained participants to give testimony about TSI
     • Pre-select
     • Leave room for spontaneous responses
     • Leave room for 10 minutes without presentation

03:10 What’s Next (15 minutes)

• Show the Ejector ad
• Show the bouncer ad
• Discuss FAQs
• Discuss upcoming strategies

03:25 Becoming a Welcoming Church (30 minutes, Ron in a Box, Chapter 6)
You won’t magically turn your church into a welcoming church overnight. However, with organization and planning you can make it feel that way to visitors and seekers. What you are planting today will eventually transform your congregation into a welcoming place . . . expect it to take time. Take about 30 minutes to explore these questions.

• Does your church actively invite others into its worship and ministry?
• Do visitors feel welcome in your church?
• Learning from the success of Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ, are there things you can do better to be a visible witness and active presence of God’s radical and all-inclusive welcome?
• How to track progress.

03:55 Exchange Ideas (30 minutes)

• Break into groups to share (20 minutes)
  1. What you are doing about identity at your church, and hear from others
  2. Ways your church can continue to support Stillspeaking – It's as Easy as 1-2-3.
  3. Ideas about how to make a big splash for All Saints Celebrations
• Brain Storming: Each group shares the best of the best stories / ideas with the entire group -- in each of the three categories (10 minutes)

04:25 Practicing with equipment and software (20 minutes)

• This is a lot of material. What do I tell my church?
• What equipment do I need and how do I use it?

4:45 Time of commitment, Communion, Pass the Peace /Laying on of Hands, and Send Forth with Vigor

5:00 Party! Fun and Shameless Commerce

Items to cut to squeeze down to 4 hours

• Cut religion and culture to 10 minutes and use PowerPoint only (Save 10 minutes)
• Remove practicing with equipment - do it during the social time at the end (Save 20 minutes)
• Cut testimonies of the people to 20 minutes (Save 20 minutes)
• Shorten Leadership and Management (Save 5 minutes)

The 15 minute upbeat presentation for my congregation - make festive, keep it short - stay around for questions.

• Give everyone who comes a comma pins. Have red and black bracelets for all the kids. Include with each a business sized card with a list of things you can say when someone asks you about your pin.
• Show the commercial.
• Tell them where it will air . . . and on which programs - if we have it.
• Tell them that we went to see NBC and CBS and how we were re-buffed.
• Say something about your contest to invite people. By all means have one!
• Enlist business types to help promote and track results
• Enlist sophisticated club types who know how to be on the lookout for visitors, help them make connections, and make them feel welcomed.
• Combine in a packet for those who want them . . .
  • Where the commercial will air, if available
  • FAQs
  • Theological reflections
  • Answers people can use when asked not only about the pin, but the commercial
• Take questions
• Make it 15 minutes of fun! Leave them wanting more.