Now that we are completely electronic what do we
do when the lights go out? This is a
question that every church that has a weekend attendance over 200 needs to be
thinking about. Do you cancel
church? I personally think an acoustic
set with the band would be a nice change.
What to do about check in… YIKES we can’t print labels we don’t even
have access to the rosters.
The answer to this question can be deceptively simple. You
will definitely need a "plan B". The most important thing is
the children's safety. With that being your number one priority then
check in and pick up becomes the first hurdles. The check in process can
be accomplished by pulling the blank name tags out of the check in stations and
tearing them apart. You will then need some receipt tags similar to what
is used for coat checking. Clear Media our recommended solution provider
can help you with this. http://www.clearmediagroup.com I asked
them for a quote for tags that can be used for this purpose. They are 1 1/8 inch in diameter with unique
numbers on each tag. They look very
similar to poker chips. Or so I have
heard. ;) The cost associated will be about:
1000 tags @ .52 per tag
2500 tags @ .47 per tag
5000 tags @ .39 per tag
The prices for these tags are a bit high and Clear Media offers less
expensive tags that could be used. Other
churches that I have worked with keep their old check in process as a backup. If they were using nametags that had
removable tags on them I always recommend that they keep those as a “plan B”
option.
A very large church in Grapevine Texas that I attend used the poker
chip model for Fellowship One. This method is very secure. The number on the tag is written on the name
tag prior to the children arriving. The
parents will then write a child’s name on a name tag and then keep the
token. The token will be turned in when
the child is picked up at the classroom.
Manual rosters will have to be kept in each classroom which will then be
posted to Fellowship One the following week.
Sounds simple enough right? Now
all you have to figure out is what to do with the kids with no lights, sound,
media, etc…
(And if you were wondering why I picked a typical weekend attendance of 200 for this blog entry it is because when you run under 200 people you probably know every single one of your 20 kids that are checking in by name.)