Operations 102 Communications, Class 8

Operations 102—Communications 1.Strategy: The Culture of Your Church. 2.Strategy: Parsing the Preaching Pastor 3.Web 4.Hardware & IT 5.Productivity Tools 6.Multisite & Cutting Edge Issues 7.Advertising 8.Policy & Practice 9.Multi-Site, continued 10.Communications Team

Today’s Topic Let’s look at communications polices and practices in a local church. This week we will talk with Concord Church of Dallas, a thriving church of 6,000 in worship. Staff and volunteer teams need to deal with editing rights and quality control of the website. How does a local church design or redesign a new logo? We need to explore how these churches use consultants and vendors in their communications departments.

Today’s Topic, cont. Every Sunday there are issues of copyright in print, music and video. With creative types abounding, how does a church handle Intellectual Property issues and Work for Hire agreements. With pastors and directors, issues of personal use of computers, printers & copiers need to be considered. What is the role of the church to prevent pornography viewing on its computers?

Kason Branch Kason Branch began his career with AT&T as a member of the prestigious AT&T Leadership Development Program. He is the Chief Operating Officer of Concord Church in Dallas under the leadership of Sr. Pastor Bryan Carter. He is responsible for leading a staff of 40 full-time employees as well as providing leadership to church-wide initiatives such as capital campaigns and facility expansion. Under his leadership is the Ministry Operations of the church as well as the Operations Support, which includes: Finance, Human Resources, Facilities Management, Security, Multimedia, and Marketing.

Communications Policy & Practice at Concord Church

External Communications Policy  All outside media contacts, television, radio or print media should be routed directly to the Chief Operating Officer and/or Director of Marketing. No action, appointments or discussions should be planned or given until they have an opportunity to evaluate the contact. The receptionist is provided with written appropriate verbiage.

Marketing Policy  Website editing and quality control is done by the Director of Marketing after approval for major changes has been given by the Chief Operating Officer.  Ministry logos are requested by Ministry Leaders and approved by their staff leader. That leader submits a request to the Director of Marketing for design to begin. The DOM then works one on one with the ministry leader for logo approval.  Copyright infringement is prevented by obtaining a yearly CLLI license that allows us to use certain videos and songs in our weekly services and webcasts.

Computer Systems Policy  Designated Use Employees must understand that there will be no tolerance for accessing pornographic or morally questionable Internet sites, including any other information or images incongruous with a Christian lifestyle. Failure to comply with this policy will subject the employee to disciplinary action up to, and including, dismissal.  Personal Software The use of personal software is not allowed. Valid software licenses are required for all software loaded onto the Church computer network. If there is a software package an employee desires to have available on the network, the employee should notify the IT, and if approved, it will be purchased from church funds and installed by the IT Department.  Home Computer Use Computer software purchased by Concord Church is owned by the Church. Church documents, spreadsheets, or data cannot be loaded on any computer not owned by Concord Church without prior approval. All Church computer data and information belongs to the Church, and should not be copied or given to any person.  Audits All computers owned by Concord Church will be subject to periodic inspection for compliance with these guidelines. Failure to comply with these guidelines could result in immediate termination.

Computer Systems Policy  Purchases All purchases and installation of computer-related technology that affect the computer network of Concord Church must be reviewed and approved through the Chief Operating Officer and the Chief Financial Officer. This includes desktop computers, laptop computers, printers, mice, keyboards, scanners, PDA devices, and any other device that directly attaches to a computer or the network. This also includes software. Every device that attaches to a computer or the network requires support and maintenance. The IT Department can provide information and recommendations about various products and software before purchasing.  Helpdesk If an employee experiences problems with a computer or related equipment, and requires assistance, they should call the Help Desk at with a description of the problem Computer Privacy Statement  Network and internet access are provided as tools for Concord Church. Concord reserves the rights to monitor, inspect, copy, review, and store, at any time and without prior notice, any and all materials, files, information, software, communications, and other content transmitted, received, or stored in connection with this usage. All such information, content, and files, shall be and remain the property of Concord Church, and you should not have any expectation of privacy regarding those materials. The Chief Financial Officer may review files and intercept communications for any reason for purposes of maintaining system integrity and ensuring that users are abiding with this policy.

Communications Strategy

Example

Q & A Send Questions via Chat to Tami

Chapter 8, “Yes, You Can” Cracking Your Church’s Culture Code by Sam Chand Opening lines of communication to talk about the things people have longed to discuss builds trust for the future.  What is required of leadership to make this happen?  How do we initiate this in our environments? The conundrum of leadership is this: people want improvement, but they resist change.  Are we providing compelling vision and clear pathways to our staff and congregation to achieve the desired outcomes? All change is a critique of the past and we need to be sensitive and wise as we talk about the past our people treasure.  How do we build on the previous vision and strategies even if/when they appear to be contrary to new vision and strategy? Jon Wright