Six Essentials for a Family Experience

May. 13, 2010 10 Comments Posted under: Live Orange, Love Worship

This “Lion King” principle of creating experiences for families helps engage the imaginations of mothers, fathers, sons and daughters…

As I was talking today to a church that was getting ready to launch their very first Family Experience, he asked me what I felt were the most important things to be aware of as they prepare for the big day.  So, here are my top 6 things to strategically plan for as you launch a Family Experience:

Casting

(This is #1 for a big reason friends…)  Audition and choose your casting wisely. Children and parents will identify and develop relationships with everyone in your cast — from your comic and credible host to your characters.  If you have difficulty finding quality talent in your church, consider reaching out to your local theater groups or even your High School drama teams to promote your vision and audition process.

Find the right Media.

Kids (and adults) crave what they consume.  Your video bumpers, music bumpers, worship music….it all can amplify your message and should be designed for smooth segment transitions.  They all should work together to help enrich the experience.  Even something as seemingly small as a countdown video before your production starts can increase anticipation and excitement.  (Who can resist counting down from 10?!)

Tell lots of people.

Don’t just promote to your congregation, promote to your community.  Cast a vision of what this event is for.  What kind of extra “draw” can you create around the event?  Will you do a give away?  What will help increase the excitement for your launch?  How will you get the word out?  Consider creating tickets to hand out — it elevates the importance of your “free” event!

Worship.

You didn’t think I would leave this one out now, did you?  No way. Vocal talent and energy is really important in this environment.  Keep your song selections energetic, relevant and narrow the variety of styles for a broader appeal.

Set the Stage.

I’ve seen super simple concepts to two story mega-sets.  You can go all out or “bare bones”.  Just be creative.

Elevate the position of kids in the room.

Where do kids WANT to sit?  In the front, of course! Create a fun space right in front of the stage for your K-5th graders.  This is a place where Kids bring their Parents….so the kids get the best seats in the house (without chairs please!). The bonus will be that your cast can feed off of the energy of the kids seated right in front of them.

So those are the 6 big rocks according to Impulsive Joy.  And as a bonus principle:  KEEP IT FUN!  You can also connect with ORANGE to find out more about the strategy for connecting families and encouraging an everyday faith at home.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 13th, 2010 at 3:01 am and is filed under Live Orange, Love Worship. You can leave a comment and follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

  • http://www.somethinggenuine.org Casey Osborne

    Great blog Joy! I’ll second the casting vision…keep the standard and expectations high. I think I would also add that it’s important to find a time that is considered “prime time” for your people and schedule the family experience then. I’ve seen several examples of moving the FX out of prime time and it dies very quickly. If it’s really that important, it should be given the best time slot (whatever that means the “old” people have to do to adjust!)

    On the media side…I found a GREAT program that we use for sound effects…it’s called Sports Sounds Pro (http://www.sportssoundspro.com/). You can get by with the free trial, but I highly recommend buying it. We use an old retired laptop that is dedicated to SFX (sounds don’t require a super computer). The program is very easy to use and works perfectly for smooth transition music and sound effects. We keep this separate from our video comp running Media Shout.

  • Joy Bowen

    Thanks for passing on the recommendation for Sports Sound Pro! I’ll have to check that out. :-)

    Yes, making the case for a “prime time” spot is great advice! Definitely a must. Thanks Casey!

  • Nolan Hing

    Thanks Joy!
    Your advice is an awesome help! We’re so excited for the starting up of our family experience! So now my next question is, what have you found to be the most prime time to hold the family experience?

  • Joy Bowen

    Hey Nolan! I’m glad this post was helpful….!

    Prime Time slots may vary depending on your demographic. For example, here in Texas, Sports games and practices rule the weekend. So I would never advise a church to never compete with a practice schedule or weekend baseball, soccer and football games.

    If you are running a monthly or quarterly Family Experience, you could create more of a “Family Fun event” with bounce houses, activity centers and then end the night on a high note with the FX production. Friday or Saturday nights seem to be the biggest Prime Time Slot for this approach. You definitely need to promote well to the community and create a draw with a huge fun give away!

    Another prime time slot, of course, for your monthly FX, would be to integrate it into your Sunday experience. There are a few options for prime time on Sunday:
    1. FX replaces of one of their children’s program slots. (for example, 252 Basics at 9:00 am / FX at 10:30). The downside to this would be that your 10:30 kiddos miss out on their Small Group experience once a month.
    2. FX in the Worship Center instead of a traditional church service.
    3. FX in between worship service slots. (9 am services / 10:15 FX / 11:30 service)
    4. If space is not an issue: Run your FX in a separate location during both services. This way, kids can attend a Small Group one hour while parents are in big church. and then go to FX together the other hour and vice versa.

    Wondering if others out there have some ideas about what has worked out best for them in the past? :-)

  • http://christinekreisher.tumblr.com/ Christine Kreisher

    Six More Essentials for a Family Experience
    1.) Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to cast vision to parents. Let them know that you believe that what happens at home is more important than what happens at church. Explain that the strategy behind the family experience is to partner with them to shape the faith and character of their children. It’s designed to be a catalyst for what happens at home.
    2.) Issue a “family challenge” at each production. Give families practical ways to live out the virtue at home. One of the best ways to do this is to utilize the application tool recommended in the 252basics FX production notes. Make sure parents know what to do when they walk away.
    3.) Pre-Show and Post-Show are just as important as THE SHOW! Pre-Show: bring families up on stage to compete against one another for prizes. Check out http://www.nbc.com/minute-to-win-it. Post-Show: Create an environment where families can stay for awhile and hang out with other families.(Snack bars, moon bounces, games, etc.)
    4.) Got any Pastor “Ham’s” on your staff? In other words, if your pastor is open to playing a part in your family experience then, by all means, get them on stage. Our pastors have participated in “The Word” segment, pre-show “slime time” activities, Rapid Response; one of our pastors even wore a kilt and played the part of Scottish Rapper, Shamus McFamous. Your congregation loves it because it makes them “real” and it communicates that the lead pastor believes in and values your family experience too.
    5.) Start slow: One excellent production, strategically placed on the church calendar is far better than a weekly production done poorly. It can also serve as a great vision casting tool for future productions.
    6.) Evaluate & Celebrate!!! After each family experience, gather your team leaders and use an evaluation tool such as, “The Six Thinking Hats” http://www.debonoconsulting.com/Six_Thinking_Hats.asp to objectively evaluate your event. This is an excellent resource that guides thought processes in one direction and also ensures that all voices are heard. Finally, don’t forget to schedule a party with your volunteers to celebrate all that God has done through them.

  • Joy Bowen

    Hey Christine! Great wisdom here! Thanks for sharing your expertise! I just glanced at the Six Thinking Hats — looks very cool.

    And I’m all about a good party! You bring up a good point actually. Sometimes we fail to celebrate. We’re so quick to move on to the “next thing”. But celebrating well is a key component to creating community and honoring those who invest in the vision of ministry.

  • http://cccconline.org Daniel

    Wow, I’ve been so encouraged by everyone’s advice!

    CAST VISION – I’d have to definitely second Christine on the importance of casting vision. Our monthly FX is currently our only platform to really push the family strategy so we have to be intentional about capitalizing on this time with our parents.

    SWITCH IT UP – One principle we learned early on is to be predictable yet unpredictable. Parents and kids like the familiar – I think it loosens them up and makes them more comfortable. Yet, don’t be afraid to switch it up every now and then! For our final FX of the year we’re having a huge ice cream party (which means we have to shorten or cut certain elements) but we’ve created a buzz and now no one wants to miss the big end of the year bash! We also changed the name of the FX from FamJam to FinalJam…just for fun!

    PURPOSE BEYOND – We obviously spend a lot of energy pouring into our FX to help create lasting memories for our families. But our idea of a win is when families take what they’ve learned and put it into action. Dan Scott says, “It’s great to have a slammin’ event, but the event becomes a catalyst for family growth only when we keep the end in mind. It must have a purpose beyond the event.” So think of ways you can incorporate ideas into your FX that will spur energy and move families to action! Then follow up, follow up, follow up! Speaking of…

    CAPTURE AND SHARE STORIES – One of my favorite things to do at an FX is to make the time to allow a parent to share how partnering with the church has helped them and their family. It could be as simple as a funny anecdote about a mom and her son while doing a GodTime card to a family that decided to volunteer at a homeless shelter together one weekend. These stories make this all the more real for parents, easing the pressure of feeling like they can’t do everything and encouraging them to just do SOMETHING more.

    I was reading something last night that was talking about how what I do in ministry rarely has tangible results (I think it was Dan Scott’s too…can you tell I’m a fan?) When you’re working to build relationships that’ll encourage faith formation….that doesn’t always produce something you can chart on a graph! I think that’s why we sometimes work hard on our environments and creating events like an FX, because seeing people come and have a great time is in a way validating our hard work. But the truth is, our effectiveness should never be measured by product but rather by story. We only know our true results until we hear stories of lives changed. So find ways to capture those stories and share them with your folks!

    Hope this helps! :)

    Peace, d

  • Joy Bowen

    Great advice Daniel. Thank you for posting these thoughts as I’m sure they will be very helpful for lots of folks!

  • Brooke Elias

    Aloha,
    I have a question for you, I am the Director of our new monthly FX. Which we are calling KIDZ WORLD LIVE. Yes I am the one working with Nolan, we are so very excited for our first performance. which is coming up very soon, Aug. 1st. I know you have been coaching Nolan and he then relays questions and answers back to me.
    Anyway I am getting a little stuck.. I think and imagine really big and we have a lack of Volunteers, I am really not to sure what to do.. Time is running out and we surely need sound, and lights and things. Our cast is all together and great but the other departments have like 1-2 if not none.. Could you please give me advise. Also for the sign in table what do you normally have there,(as far as sign in info sheets) does it hold up a line coming in? is this something for us to send info or call them?

    I am keeping faith that our awesome father will get us through no matter what.

    Thanks for any help.
    P.S. Any recommendations for free sound effect sites?

  • joybow

    Aloha Brooke!

    I'm excited for your launch! Let me just encourage you….many churches put on a more “bare bones” production and have a great time! Check out how this church is doing a great job with a simple production: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUDgzvav68E
    We have a few media pieces that can take care of the Media Time segment and the WORD segment so that you need fewer volunteers. I would be happy to connect with you or Nolan about where to find them.
    I don't know of any free sound effects sites. I typically purchase my sound effects on iTunes when possible. I'm not sure about your sign in sheet question. Can you connect with me by email or phone to discuss?