facility management

How to Prepare the Church Facility for an Event

Hosting a special event at your church requires a few extra steps than Sunday services.  As you start the planning process, include these steps to prepare the church facility for the event.  #1 – Reserve the room(s) Each ministry department likely hosts a few events throughout the year. The last thing you want to do is double-book rooms or even the entire church facility. If you don’t already have a room reservation system, now is the time to look into putting one in place. You need to make sure the facilities team knows what you need for this event in plenty of time for them to support your efforts. #2 – Gather event details The facilities team will need several essential details as they plan to support this event:  #3 – Allocate time for setup and tear down Don’t just reserve the rooms for the time of the event. Depending on how extensive the décor and setup are, you may need to reserve those areas for the day (or more) before the event. Also, allow sufficient time after the event to restage the rooms for weekly services and clean the church facility. #4 – Arrange for staff to be present You might need someone available to run the sound, video, and lighting. You may also need facilities staff to let you into the building on an early Saturday morning or to lock up the church afterward. Also, consider whether you’ll have members of your church security team at the event.  #5 – Ensure proper climate control This is something to discuss with your facilities team when you ask to reserve room(s). Depending on how they manage the central heat and air, they’ll need to arrange to have the areas of the facility you’ll use property heated or air-conditioned. They might recommend using certain rooms that are covered by the same HVAC unit to save on energy costs. #6 – Conduct a church facility walkthrough Especially if this event will attract first-time guests, you want to make sure you’re making a good first impression. Walk through your church facility starting in the parking lot: Approach the church building: Walk inside the building: If you’re providing childcare at this event, walk through the children’s areas: Work with those responsible for each area (facilities, children’s ministry, etc.) to freshen up the church as needed. You might arrange a volunteer church beautification day a week before the event to spruce up areas that need extra attention. Special events are a great way to disciple your congregation and attract new people to the church. With intentional planning and working together as a team, you can pull off excellent events that draw people closer to Christ.

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Church Facilities First Impressions: 5 Areas to Spruce Up At Church

We don’t always view church facility maintenance as part of ministry but consider how a first-time guest sees your property. Does this new Mom see grime or stained carpet in the nursery? Will a teenager see outdated graphics and technology? Can Dad see a well-kept lawn or are weeds predominant? How church facilities appear to newcomers can make an impact on whether they return. If you’ve ever sold a home, you likely recall the realtor doing an initial walk-through of your house. Afterward, you probably had a list of touch-up painting, de-cluttering, and extremely detailed cleaning to complete. Minor smudges we’ve overlooked for years stand out to someone new walking around the property.  Our church facilities can feel the same way as our homes. We get comfortable and familiar with our surroundings. Before you know it, you can’t see the little handprints in the toddlers’ room or the chipped tiles in the foyer. Maybe there are a few more cracks in the sidewalk than last year or a couple of new potholes in the parking lot.  God doesn’t judge by our outward appearance, but unfortunately, man does. We only get one chance to make great first impressions, so it might be time for a property tune-up. Walk around your church property, inside and out, looking for those areas that could use sprucing up. Area #1: Parking lot & walkways Area #2: Main entrance Area #3: Walls Area #4: Floors Area #5: Childcare rooms I could keep going with this list, but I think you get the idea. As people visit your church for the first time each week, it’s important to view your church through the eyes of someone new.  If you were attending for the first time, what first impression would the facility make on you? We tend to focus on greeting people and making them feel welcome – and rightly so. However, let’s also remember the visual impact we’re making on people. How we care for our church property is a matter of stewardship and caring for those who attend.

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church facility management

The Church Facility Management Conference You Can’t Miss

Keeping the church buildings and grounds clean, safe, and well-maintained isn’t easy. It’s also one of those roles that doesn’t get much attention unless something goes wrong. How many “comments” would you hear if the A/C died during a Texas summer?!. Thankfully, the team at Smart Church Solutions knows all about properly maintaining church facilities. They’re hosting a virtual conference on church facility management that you simply can’t miss. Here are a few details about the upcoming Virtual Church Facility Management Conference: Who is Smart Church Solutions? If you’re not familiar with them yet, Smart Church Solutions is an incredible resource for church facility managers. They provide consulting to church leaders on church facility stewardship along with eSPACE, their facility management software. eSPACE helps you schedule events, manage work orders, track assets, coordinate preventative maintenance, and more. They also offer several free resources and eBooks to support church leaders as they seek to be faithful stewards of the facilities God entrusted to them. What can you expect to learn from the Virtual Church Facility Management Conference? Detailed cleaning and maintenance recommendations, budgeting tips, managing facilities and technology, and more are just a few topics they’ll cover at the conference. Speakers include: Tim Cool, Founder of Smart Church Solutions Nathan Parr, Facility Specialist at Smart Church Solutions Thom Rainer, Founder & CEO of Church Answers Colby May, Founder of LIT Consulting David Fletcher, Founder of XPastor …and more! This is a virtual (online) conference, so there’s no travel or lodging expenses to deal with. The conference sessions will be live on September 14-15. Recorded sessions will be made available to those who register. However, you’ll want to tune in live for Q&A during each session. What are the details? Date: September 14-15 Where: At your computer How to Register: Click here to register today Cost: $50 (receive 20$ off with the code “VELOCITY”) The team at Smart Church Solutions are top-notch professionals with a passion for serving the local church. If you have any responsibility for maintaining church facilities, this is an excellent opportunity to learn from the best at a very reasonable price.

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5 Church Administration Time-Saving Tools

Time. It’s the most precious commodity yet the one we have the least of. That’s why saving time is a constant goal for church leaders with busy schedules. One way to save time is by streamlining church administration tasks.  When you work behind-the-scenes in the church office, you’ve got plenty of plates spinning. Coordinating events, fixing a website issue, plus a ton of other tasks are all in a day’s work. While I can’t trim your to-do list, I can recommend the following tools to make your job a bit easier. #1 – Project Management Software Asana, Basecamp, Trello, Monday, ClickUp, are a few of the excellent project management tools available. Most have a free or trial version you can use to see which one works best for you and your team. Complete the form below to receive a free Project Management Tools Overview guide (including information on the top software vendors): #2 – Expense Tracking App Keeping track of receipts for an expense report can be a pain. Instead of shuffling through your purse or wallet for that last receipt, use an app on your phone. Quickly snap a picture of a receipt immediately after making a purchase. Assign the appropriate expense code(s) and have a collection of electronic receipts ready for your next expense report. Staff members who forget receipts and finance team members responsible for collecting accurate data will all appreciate the convenience of an app. Two of the top contenders in this category are Divvy and Zoho Expense. #3 – Church Management System (ChMS) As a church grows, you need an easy way to maintain up-to-date records regarding church members and visitors. Contact information, family relationships, baptism dates, and more are a few examples of data you can use to minister to your congregation. A robust church management system enables your team to maintain accurate information, create follow-up workflows, keep tithe records, and more. There are many options available when it comes to ChMS tools. A few examples include Planning Center, Rock RMS, Fellowship One, Breeze, ACS, Elexio, ShelbyNext, Faith Teams, and TouchPoint. #4 – Facility Management Software From facility maintenance requests to tracking who reserved a room, facility management software can help your team stay on top of things. Smart Church Solutions has an excellent tool called eSPACE. Within this software, you can manage inventory, manage work orders, reserve facility rooms and resources, schedule preventative maintenance, and more. #5 – The Church Operations Toolkit At the risk of sounding self-promotional, the Church Operations Toolkit can save your church time and money. Within the Toolkit are templates, how-to guides, expert interviews, and resources to make church administration and operations tasks easier. Instead of spending hours searching online for a template, simply log into the Church Operations Toolkit and download one in minutes. There’s no magic formula to knocking out your to-do list (if only!). However, these are a few tools to make being productive a bit easier. Oh, and if you’re like me and consider coffee a productivity tool…Can I get an amen? 🙂

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