Church Secretary - 7 Commandments to Bulletins That Pop!

Here's a short and sweet video that will help you keep your church publications sizzling... not to mention, keep members reading them!

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Discover How To Take Back Control Of Your Time, Get
Organized, Eliminate Office Clutter And Get More Done!
~ http://www.ChurchSecretaryEssentials.com/bt101 ~


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Pursuing Purpose. Fulfilling Destiny. CALLED TO ASSIST.

I will come down and speak with you there, and I will
take of the Spirit that is on you and put the Spirit on
them. They will help you carry the burden of the people
so that you will not have to carry it alone.
[Numbers 11:17, NIV]

5 Step Formula for Getting Projects Done

Every day there seem to be 100 things that need to be done all at the same time. With so many people needing to be touched with the love of God in our world today, our churches are always busy with various projects... whether outreach to the community, special events for members, children's services... (the list can go on and on).

Our pastors are always in need of our encouragement, support and, probably more importantly, our commitment to getting our jobs done with excellence.

With so many projects going at the same time, getting a handle on them can be difficult. Here's my 5 step formula for getting projects done.

1. Begin with the end in mind
Begin each project with the end in mind. Picturing what you want your end result to be will help you create a clear cut action-plan for completing the project.

2. Set project goals and milestones with deadlines
Every project should have goals. Some are large, while others will be small. Each goal or milestone should include a deadline for completion. For example, if you are planning an outreach concert, one of your major goals would be to secure your venue... and you definitely need a deadlien for that.

3. Write everything down
Don't forget the importance of writing everything down. Trying to do things by memory is a recipe for disaster. There will be something that you won't remember. For every project I start I use an extensive checklist (a sample of the checklist I use when working on our yearly youth conference is inlcuded with my Basic Training 101 book and my Basic Forms Pak).

4. Organize and de-clutter
This is pretty self explanatory. When my office is organized, it just seems to lower my stress levels. I don't feel so "wound up" all the time. One thing that I use to keep my projects organized is a simple 2" binder. I call it my 2008 Proejcts Binder. It is divided into sections with tabs and my sections inlcude Items to Do Today, Women's Conferencd 2008, Letters Needing Response, New Speaking Requests, plus a few others. This helps me keep all of my current projects completely organized.

5. Have periodic check-ups
Every so often, depending on the scale of the project, you should evaluate your progress. If you are keeping a to-do list, this will be much easier. Scheduling weekly or bi-weekly planning meetings will help you and even your co-workers stay on target with your projects as well.

©2008 Church Secretary Essentials / Pensational Print Media Group

NOTE: You're welcome to use or "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete, unaltered and includes this blurb with it: Tamala M. Huntley, "The Church Secretary Coach," is the author of the revolutionary manual, "Basic Training 101: Effectively Managing Multiple Projects... A Super Easy Guide to Getting More Done, Reducing Office Clutter and Producing More With Less Stress." To learn more about her book and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at http://www.ChurchSecretaryEssentials.com

Use Your Voicemail to Save Time

Some people may think this is not the best idea, however I save myself time by giving instructions on my voicemail. My outgoing message may be kind of long, but there is always the option to hit the "*" key and bypass it. In the message, I tell people they can leave a message, visit our website, or send me an email. I provide our website address as well as my email address.

Now, I have empowered them to find information on our website (mostly speaking engagement requests) and I have answered their questions without spending too much time on the phone and they get the immediate response they want.

You do want to be mindful of the length of your outgoing message,but this is one of the quickest and easiest ways I have found to eliminate some of the phone messages I get every day.

Create Time for Your Pastor

A good assistant focuses on saving and creating time. How do you create time? By streamlining and eliminating work that your pastor would normally do. Imagine receiving a stack of letters requesting everything under the sun. As the pastor you must read each of them and decide how to proceed. Doesn't sound like fun, huh?

Now imagine this same stack of letters with the important points highlighted so that you only have to skim through in order to get the main points. Go even further and imagine post-it notes on each letter with a very brief summary of what is being requested. Lastly, eliminate the stack and picture the letters in folders labeled to indicate what requires an immediate response and what can wait. Changes like these are minimal and quite simple, but add them up and over the course of a year, you will have saved your pastor countless hours of work. This is how you create time for your pastor.

A Time Saving Way to "Gently" Remind People To Respond

A very good way to get remind people to respond to a message that you send or meeting request is to FLAG your message with a FOLLOW-UP date and time. You can easily do this in Outlook before you hit send. Now the recipient has a reminder without you having to call or send another email to remind them.