Let me begin by saying I take 0% credit for anything I am about to write.  These were not my ideas.  I am writing them down for two reasons.  The first is so that I can remember them and use them at my church.  The second is so other pastors or church leaders can use them as well.

Context: I was leading a youth retreat in N.Myrtle Beach S.C.  We always take the group to Barefoot Church on Sunday Morning.  It is a modern church with cool music, sound biblical preaching, and on the cutting edge in the use of technology.  The morning we went we were invited to their Vision Night.  They were serving a meal.  Now from my experience if you want people to come to a church business meeting you call it something cool and serve food.  So that is what I was thinking, so i did not take the youth back that evening for Vision Night, but myself and another leader from our group went.  These are the things they did to turn a business meeting into something great.

1.  Invite Everyone:  Church members of course.  People from the community.  Anyone you have info on.  Why?  Create excitement.  Some people are looking for something to get involved with.  Yes visitors and kids at a business meeting imaging that!
2. Free Gift:  Everyone who came was promised a free gift.  You had to be at Vision Night to receive the free gift.
3. Greeting:  We arrived at 5:30pm.  The first greeter we met outside in the parking lot was the pastor of Barefoot Church.  He was excited to see us.  He was a parking lot greeter, outside, talking to people.  (assume sarcastic tone)  What a novel idea, the pastor greeting people.  Now there were others as well but you could tell the greeters instructions were for the pastor to greet every person first.
4. Good Food:  Under a large tent serving what looked like 400 plus we had our choice of 2 of 3 items.  Hot dogs, hamburgers and a boneless chicken breast.  All the fixen’s of course with coolers and tubs of iced down sodas and bottled water.  It was good and we were full.
5. The Kids:  The doors opened at 6:30 as promised as we walked in I received a card with church info on it and a red ticket which i could exchange for my gift at the end of the meeting.  I noticed the kids were were getting a bag as they walked in.  Coloring sheets and crayons!  So cool.  Now you and I both know that compared to an iPad coloring pages will not hold their attention for more than a few minutes, but that showed
   they were thinking about the kids coming.  It was cool.
6. Worship:   Time to start lights went down, band started and we had worship for 30 minutes.  This was the best business meeting i had ever been to.  The band and singers lead us in a celebratory time of praise and worship.  They took up an offering as well.  The pastor explained they they had spent a lot of money on the gifts we were receiving.  In no way was he asking people to pay for them.  He said,”What better investment than to invest in our own people.”  ….yes i gave…i figured being a visitor I had eaten their food and was going to get a gift from them..I did not want my being there to be an expense to their church.
7. The Message:  The vision for the church was cast in the form of a message. Pastor Clay gave a challenge to everyone there.  His sub points were
   1. Everyone Matters
   2. Each Person has a Purpose
   3. Systematic training kids and youth into leaders
   4. Barefoot Church is a church that changes
8. The Reveal:  There were three things the pastor revealed
   1. Theme:  “Live You!”  Previous to that night they had already painted the theme on two outdoor walls and it was already being used on a lot of their literature and web site
   2. Symbol:  Again already in use.  The pastor explained the meaning of the symbol and then showed a video clip of a young girl drawing the symbol with sidewalk chalk during a children’s event.  They use the symbol to share Christ and their church.
   3. Shareable Video:  

      Everyone was encouraged to share it on all social media.

9. The Gift:  Outside lines formed.  When you turned in your ticket you received a NICE t-shirt with the symbol,  theme and church name.  The shirt felt “Under Amor-ish.”  In a bag we received nice window stickers, card explaining the symbol and theme.  business cards with church info on it.

Every person left excited and EQUIPPED to tell others about Jesus and their church.  Everyone was on the same page in understanding the Theme for the Year “LIVE YOU.”

Planning planning planning had gone into this night.  As a pastor, I know how important good planning with good people is.  This was done right.  It was great and I was privileged to be a part of it.