Loved

Had a going-away shindig last night at church. Jennifer, the girls, and I were given food, prayer, kind words, a ridiculously generous and thoughtful money tree, and a chance to reflect on how blessed we’ve been by our Henderson family over the years.

Being a part of a church family isn’t always easy. But it’s always good.

Teachwell—The What, Why, and How

Gearing up this month for a cool event we’re doing for the second time at Henderson: teachwell.

We’ve branded it as “a fun, engaging, helpful workshop designed to help you become the best Bible class teacher you can be.”

Teachwell grew out of an awareness that our church was asking people (around 70 of them every quarter) to teach our Bible classes without ever training them to do it. Sort of a “throw you in and hope you can swim” approach.

Not good.

Enter teachwell. It’s a half-day workshop offered free to our members; we provide notebooks, childcare, snacks—the whole deal. And participation has been great. Last year we had over 100 of our members attend. This year, we’re shooting for more.

It’s a work in progress, to be sure. We’re still working out the kinks and tweaking it as needed. But it’s exceeded our expectations.

So, without further adieu, here are 5 reasons I think teachwell has been successful:

1. It has a clearly-defined purpose.
   While the idea was still freshly conceived, we asked “What 3 adjectives would we like people to use to describe their experience at teachwell?” The answer: fun, engaging, helpful.
   Then, we settled on what the win would be: to develop the teachers we have and create the teachers we need.
   
   
2. It’s easy to register.
   The Sunday we announce it, we let people register by putting a “T” on the back of an attendance card an pass it in—an “act now” opportunity for those of us who tend to forget to do things (like register) later. After that, we provide multiple ways to register: a facebook event page, a form on our website, and calling the church office.
   It’s not hard to register. It’s hard not to.
   
   
3. It’s easy to attend.
   We make it a half-day (not a full day) and we provide free on-site childcare.
   
   
4. We do an autopsy.
   Evaluation is the key to improvement. Attendees fill out feedback surveys before they leave, and we conduct post-event interviews with key people to get their perspective on what went well and what could be improved. Here’s what we came up with last year.
   Then we ask ourselves these questions: Was it fun? Was it helpful? Was it engaging? Was it worth giving up a Saturday morning for? Did at least 50% of our current teachers attend? Were at least 20% of the attendees pre-teachers? How can we improve for next year?
   
   
5. We go the extra mile.
   Extra touches give a finished, “this is legit” vibe to the workshop. Things like a well-crafted logo, a cool venue, full-color custom-designed notebooks, well-produced videos introducing each session, quality snacks, and helpful giveaways all create an environment that piques peoples’ interest, adds value, and keeps them coming back.

Like I said, we haven’t gotten it perfect yet, but we’re excited about what this workshop is becoming. I bet your folks would be excited about something similar.

Oh—and if you’re one of our Henderson peeps, check out the facebook page and save your spot!

(Here’s the video we put together for last year:)