City-Wide Evangelistic Festival Manual How to Effectively Prepare an Evangelistic Festival for Your City NFC 2011 This Manual may not be reproduced or used without permission (except for use in a NFC Campaign)
TABLE OF CONTENTS OVERVIEW OF CITY-WIDE FESTIVAL MANUAL.. 2 1. Organization (of Leaders)... 2 2. Goal. 3 3. Prayer Committee. 3 4. Publicity Committee. 4 5. Program Committee.. 5 6. Personnel Committee... 5 7. Follow-up Committee... 6 8. Facilities Committee. 6 9. Finance Committee 6 ORGANIZATION OF LEADERS... 7 Senior Pastors 8 The Role of the Pastors.. 9 Selecting Senior Pastors... 10 GOAL.. 11 Establishing a Goal for Your Festival.12 FINANCE COMMITTEE. 16 Preparing the Budget. 17 New Fire s Budget Payment Policy... 19 PRAYER COMMITTEE... 21 The Biblical Call for the Prayer Committee. 21 Prayer Goal 23 Prayer Calendar. 24 PUBLICITY COMMITTEE... 26 Developing Your Publicity Goal... 26 Guidelines for each Publicity Project 27 Publicity Goals for our Festival. 29 Publicity Checklist. 30
Publicity Calendar... 33 PROGRAM COMMITTEE... 34 From the Manual Overview.. 35 Program Committee Guidelines 36 Creating a Schedule for New Fire... 36 Selecting a Venue for our Festivals... 37 Guidelines for Arranging the Meeting Grounds 37 Music Performance Guidelines. 37 Translator Guidelines 38 Sample Schedule for an Evangelistic Festival... 39-40 Program Goals for Our Festival. 41-42 Program Checklist. 43-44 Program Calendar.. 45 FOLLOW-UP COMMITTEE... 46 Follow-up: An Overview.. 47 Follow-up Defined..48 Expectations of the Follow-up Committee Chairman.... 49 Follow-up Committee Contract. 52 Follow-up Meetings... 52 Follow-up Training Meetings... 53-54 Festival Follow-up Meetings... 54 Post-Festival Follow-up Meetings..... 54 Follow-up Calendar... 55-56 Follow-up Reporting. 57
OVERVIEW OF CITY-WIDE FESTIVAL MANUAL New Fire for Christ We believe God is going to use our evangelistic festival together to help bring spiritual awakening to your city! The New Fire for Christ Team s ministry offers you the chance to: 1) Motivate and train Christians to win others to Christ, and 2) present the gospel clearly to many people in your city. We have learned that the secret of success in this festival is diligent preparation. And as part of our agreement for us to minister with you, we ask you to agree to carefully read and commit to use this manual, including the following 7 non-negotiable essentials to prepare for an effective evangelistic festival. This festival does not belong to us, or even you it belongs to the Lord. He deserves the very best we can give! Organization (of Leaders): In order for our Team to effectively plan and coordinate an evangelistic festival with you, you must first mobilize the following three categories of leaders: 1. The Senior Pastors of the largest churches in your city, representative of the major denominations present in your city. These pastors must be committed wholeheartedly to participating fully in the festival. 2. A Festival Chairman: The Chairman will be the chief liaison between our Team and the third category: 3. An Executive Committee: 7 Committee Chairmen/Chairwomen (for the sake of brevity, we will use Chairman throughout the manual) - one Chairman for each of our 7 festival committees: a. Prayer b. Publicity c. Program d. Personnel e. Follow-up f. Facilities g. Finances Prayer Chairman Publicity Chairman NFC S FESTIVAL DIRECTOR Personnel Chairman FESTIVAL CHAIRMAN Program Arrangements Chairman Facilities Chairman SENIOR PASTORS & BISHOPS Follow-up Chairman Festival Communication Structure Finance Chairman 2
We have found that the wholehearted devotion of these leaders will truly decide the effectiveness of our festival. Do you want to have the most effective festival possible? Then take the time to: 1. Get the Senior Pastors of the largest churches on-board and fully committed to the festival let them guide you as to the selection of the Festival and Committee Chairmen. 2. Find and mobilize the most faithful and mature Christian leaders who have the full confidence of the Senior Pastors to fill the above leadership positions for our festival. Festival Committees Time Commitment: Involvement with each committee requires a significant time commitment from each member, especially from the chairmen. This time commitment will increase as we draw closer to the date of our festival. Specifically: At least 3-4 months before the festival, committees need to meet every other week. 2 months before the festival, committees need to meet every week. This is vital in order for the chairmen to maintain healthy communication with their committees, and to ensure that the many details of organizing a festival do not fall onto the shoulders of only one or a few people. 2. Goal: The enclosed guidelines will help you to create a written goal for our festival with you. We ask you to do this and submit your proposed goal to us for consultation and approval at least 3-4 months before the festival. 3. Prayer Committee: You need to plan several major prayer strategies, including at least one special city-wide prayer event. Choose from the following city-wide events for believers to fervently seek God to work in supernatural ways. An all-day or all-night of prayer A half-day or half-night of prayer A day of prayer and fasting A 24, 48, or 72 hour prayer chain Usually we hold an Unleashing God s Power Through Prayer Event during the festival, to be sponsored by all churches who will participate, to unite Christians in ongoing prayer for spiritual awakening. Dr. Boyd (and possibly others, including pastors you recommend) will speak on prayer and lead prayer in small groups during this event. Often the Unleashing God s Power Through Prayer event (for all Christians in a large, central location) is held on the first day of our team s visit to the city. This event should always be included in a festival unless the New Fire Team and your Executive Committee agree otherwise. 3
4. Publicity Committee: Develop a written Publicity strategy (using the following elements) and e-mail/send it to our New Fire Team for consultation and approval at least 2 months before the festival. Your plan needs to include all of the following: The 5-Friend Commitment : (each Christian is challenged in a church to write down the names of 5 non-believing friends they will pray for, invite to the festival, and follow-up after the festival) Thousands of posters and flyers (the poster designs must be pre-approved use our posters or send us copies of posters you want to use at least 2 months before the festival for our revision/approval). Strategically placed banners throughout the city A well-planned media (radio and newspaper) strategy Special publicity projects Publicity in churches during the 2 months before the outreach. Often providing transportation in less-developed countries, such as buses can be important in ensuring maximum attendance. [See full Manual for details]. 5. Program Committee: A Festival with New Fire is usually five - six nights long, and ends on a Sunday night (which will typically yield the largest crowds). Please do not exceed six nights, since our Team s policy is to observe a Sabbath day off every seventh day. (If you want any shorter or longer than a 5 or 6-night festival, you must clear this with us months in advance. In these cases, we can possibly use a guest preacher on night 7 [e.g. of a 12-night festival], (if New Fire approves this). You can conduct many different kinds of meetings throughout the day: The Main Event (the Big Meeting ): The Big Meeting should always be scheduled at the best time of day for maximum attendance, without regard to whatever other meetings may be added. Drawing from the gifts and talents of your people, prepare a top-quality program for each of these large group events that includes an emcee, special music, etc. Children s Programs Pastors/Christian Leaders Training Evening Training Meetings The Program Committee will spend time developing strategies for the following: 1. Selecting a Festival Location 2. Selecting the Program Participants 3. Taking care of all the physical arrangements, working with the Facilities Committee 4
6. Personnel Committee: The personnel committee is responsible for ushers, helping the Follow-Up Committee as they recruit counselors and for security for the festival. 7. Follow-up Committee: The Follow-up Committee should be composed of Christians from all participating churches in your city. These will supervise the follow-up counselors several hundred should be recruited from the churches to be follow-up counselors. These will be disbursed throughout the crowd, each having special shirts and/or name tags designating them as counselors, and cards to record the names of those who receive Christ after the invitation is given. Because the task of follow-up is resoundingly important, please take care to appoint one of your most faithful, enthusiastic leaders as the Committee Chairman. Follow-up responsibilities extend beyond the end of the Festival week, and require much time of each of the participants, as the counselors are sent throughout the city in the days following the festival to disciple new believers (We will train them how to do this). But in the end, we believe that an evangelistic festival, effectively followed up, will yield more lasting evangelistic fruit than your city has seen in many years! Each Follow-up Committee member and counselor needs to make the following time and activity commitments: Pre-Festival Training: Plan a weekly training meeting for all Follow-up Counselors, to begin 4 weeks before the start of the festival. The meeting is conducted by the Committee Chairman. During these meetings, discipleship materials are to be distributed to the counselors for training. Festival Responsibilities: The Follow-up Counselors will meet before each main festival event to receive training from New Fire s Festival Director. When Dr. Boyd gives the invitation to receive Christ, the follow-up counselors will walk forward along with those coming to receive Christ, in order to write down their contact information. (If the crowd is too large and can t move, the counselors will be asked to take names of those around them who receive Christ). Afterward, the Follow-up Counselor will meet briefly with New Fire s Festival Director. The Most Important Responsibility: To personally visit every new believer within 1-5 days at the new believer s home, in order to invite that new believer into a Bible Study, to be led by members of the Follow-up Committee and counselors. Post-Festival Meetings: Also, plan for the Follow-up/Discipleship Committee and counselors to meet weekly for the next 8 weeks after the festival, to ensure that excellent follow-up and discipleship is done. Reporting: The Follow-up Committee Chairman will submit a report via email to New Fire every two weeks for the first two months after our festival. After that, he will submit one report every four weeks for two more months. The members of the Follow-up Committee must therefore report on their progress weekly to the Chairman, so we can receive a thorough report on follow-up. 5
For Developing Countries: Effective reporting is a condition to our full financial contribution toward this festival. New Fire will release the final percentage of the final festival budget after reporting is completed. 8. Facilities Committee: For each venue, prepare adequate lighting (including generators when electricity is unavailable), stage, PA system, big screens, field for 20,000 30,000 per night (or whatever is the projected attendance), camera, and stand for the camera. The Facilities Committee will work with the Program Committee on location and other physical arrangements. 9. Finance Committee: You agree to: a) Prepare a festival budget to be approved by us. b) Agree to and be responsible for raising 10% of the total festival budget before we arrive (i.e. if the festival budget agreed upon is $10,000, then the churches would be responsible for raising $1,000 and New Fire will provide $9,000). We need your people to also give generously so they will have ownership of this festival. This is appropriate, since it is your churches and Christian organizations which will receive the benefits! Remember: The Festival Budget is to focus on getting the most people in your city to meetings (for example, money for posters, flyers, banners, radio, buses to bring people to the Festival), not on hospitality and networking-centered entertainment before or when we come! (For a complete set of guidelines regarding finances, please turn to the Financial Policies Section of our festival manual. Agreement on finances is essential before we can move forward with the rest of festival preparations!) Translators In non-english speaking countries, please provide a highly competent translator to be with Bob Boyd during the day and evenings (not just during evangelistic meetings, so he can communicate with pastors, church leaders, etc.). In addition, one skilled translator is required for each of Dr. Boyd s staff who will have speaking roles (e.g. Children s programs, Follow-up Training, other Training Seminars). Please extend to them the same courtesy and professionalism that you would extend to Dr. Boyd! 6
Organization (of Leaders) If someone aspires to be an elder, he desires an honorable position (1 Timothy 3:1) How to Identify and Mobilize The Leaders for our Festival 7
Senior Pastors I pray that they may be one that the world may know you have sent Me (John 17:21) In our experience, the most successful festivals all have one thing in common: they have united support and participation from that city s key Senior Pastors: Illustration 1: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: Bishop Mgullu Kilimba was a visionary and influential Christian leader in Tanzania s capital city of over 3 million people. Through his hard work and through his congregation, many great preparations were made. But Bishop Kilimba was also a very humble Christian he knew that without the participation of other Bishops, his festival would not be as successful as it could be. So Bishop Kilimba worked hard to enlist the help of many pastors and bishops in Dar es Salaam. He found Anglicans, Pentecostals, Assemblies of God, and other denominations to help. In particular, one of the men who agreed to participate was Bishop Kokobe the Bishop of the largest church in Dar es Salaam. Bishop Kokobe mobilized his entire congregation of over 6,000; he also helped Bishop Kilimba to mobilize the pastors of more than 100 churches in Dar! Because Bishop Kilimba went beyond his group of churches, and brought together many other Bishops, we saw attendance of 6,000-8,000 each night of our festival, with a total attendance of about 50,000. And the response! More than 1,800 men and women (including many Muslims) came forward to receive Christ. Since then, we have learned that over 600 of these new believers are growing in brand new house churches and existing churches! 18 new churches were planted as a result of this festival! We thank God for that festival, and for the whole-hearted participation of Dar s key Senior Pastors! Illustration 2: Madurai, India: In India s southern state of Tamil Nadu lies the city of Madurai, which houses one of Hinduism s most precious temples. The demonic influence in this city is strong we could see it in the eyes of the city s residents. For our festival to reach people in this city, we needed spiritual breakthrough, and much support from the Christians. Thankfully, two bishops of the largest churches in the city supported us, and through their influence, many Christian men and women invited their friends to our Festival meetings. Between 15,000 and 20,000 heard the gospel during our festival, and we saw over 1,200 pray to receive Christ! 8
In many ways, this festival will be won or lost even before it begins! As one of the leaders of this festival, your first crucial step is to mobilize your city s Senior Pastors to participate with you. Jesus recognized the importance of unity when He prayed that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be one in us so that the world may believe that you have sent Me. (John 17:21) It is imperative, therefore, to assemble Bishops and Pastors in your city who represent as many Christian denominations as possible. This will be your first area of great challenge, since our Enemy is opposed to unity among believers! But rejoice in this challenge, because God s will is unity in your city to succeed here is to invite His richest blessing on this festival! The Role of the Pastors Planning: The pastors of your city are responsible, along with the Festival Chairman, for overseeing the efforts of all the Festival Committees. (See the Communication Structure, below) Their input is absolutely vital! They will evaluate the Festival s progress, provide accountability and support for the different Committee Chairmen, and direct their suggestions to the Festival Chairman for use in his regular Festival Committee meetings. This line of communication will ensure 1) the most efficient communication between all leaders, and 2) that the Festival Chairman can maintain his status as the official coordinator of this festival. NFC S CAMPAIGN DIRECTOR In order to facilitate this communication, plan to meet according to the schedule outlined in the Communication Expectations portion of this Manual. Specifically: Prayer Chairman Publicity Chairman Campaign Chairman Program/Physical Arrangements Senior Pastors/ Bishops Follow-up Chairman Finance Chairman 1. Four months before the festival: Bi-weekly meetings Campaign Communication Structure with all participating pastors and the Festival Chairman 2. Two months before the festival: Weekly meetings with all participating pastors and the Festival Chairman Mobilizing their Congregation: There is perhaps no role more vital for pastors than that of effectively mobilizing their congregation to pray for, attend, and invite their neighbors to our festival! This is the true measure of participation for every pastor who wants to be involved. Pastors should expect to: 1. Announce the festival in their church every week for at least one month leading up to the festival 2. Schedule and conduct prayer meetings with their congregation according to the strategies set forth by the Prayer Committee 3. Raise funds (when appropriate) through their congregation for the festival 4. Mobilize a Follow-up Team to join the Festival s Follow-up Committee 5. Assist the Festival Chairman as often as they can 9
Roles during the Festival: The Pastors of your city must have important and public roles during each festival event. Their roles should include, but not be limited to: 1. Sitting on the stage every evening (please clearly communicate this and the following expectations to the senior pastors) 2. Offering prayers during the meeting, or encouraging words 3. Introducing Dr. Boyd, or any of the musical performers 4. Leading worship 5. Attending and assisting in Follow-up meetings Selecting Senior Pastors 1. Begin by listing the names and contact information of all the key Senior Pastors in your city: a. Use the Church Participation List on pg. of the manual b. When you have finished this, please email a copy to NFC. Include a summary page about your own relationship with your city s pastors. 2. Endeavor to have a team of 5-10 key Senior Pastors 4 months before the festival begins. Please ensure that this team: a. Represents the largest churches in your city b. Spans across many denominations, not just your own! c. Continues to GROW! 3. The Goal for Senior Pastor involvement: a. All Senior Pastors are personally invited to participate b. As many Senior Pastors as possible are involved in leadership 10
Goal Establishing a Goal for Your Festival 11
Establishing a Goal for Your Festival When you have gathered a number of your city s Senior Pastors to participate with you, your first important step is to determine an accurate goal for this festival. In developing your goal, you are to ask and answer the following questions: 1. How many churches will participate in this festival? 2. What kind of attendance can we expect? 3. What kinds of audiences (children, refugees, other groups) will we reach? 4. How many people who come to Christ will become growing disciples? 5. What church growth do we expect to see? We can help you develop a realistic, yet faith-stretching goal for this festival! Please complete this worksheet (do this with the Senior Pastors who have already agreed to help you), and submit your goals to New Fire for our review. This will be our standard with which we will ultimately measure the success of this festival. 1. Estimating Festival Attendance Experience has shown that good attendance in festivals is mostly determined by the # of believers who are actively participating. (Specifically, the # of churches partnering in the festival and the size of those churches, coupled with prayer and hard work for months in advance, will determine the attendance.) This doesn t diminish the importance of great publicity, or the strategic placement of the festival grounds, but without church participation, even the best publicity will yield disappointing results for all of us! Therefore, the first step in estimating festival attendance is to state your goal for church participation: a. Church Participation (To complete this step, you must first complete the Church Participation List worksheet): To state your goal for Church participation: i. Add together the congregations of all churches (in other words, the total # of people in their churches, combined) that you know will participate in this festival... 12
ii. iii. Add together the congregations of all the churches who are not yet participating, but you believe will participate... Add the above two numbers together. THIS WILL BE YOUR CHURCH PARTICIPATION GOAL.... b. Festival Attendance: In our experience (and the experience of many great evangelists over the years), festival attendance will often be approximately 2.5 times the number of Christians participating in the festival. To determine Festival Attendance, multiply your church participation goal by 2.5... Other Audiences: In any festival, we will have many opportunities to speak to many other audiences other than the evening meeting. These meetings, which may be for children, refugees, Christian leaders, prisons, etc., often have attendance of 100-300 each. (For example: If you expect to conduct a children s program before each evening event, include that attendance in this section.) To determine Other Audiences, take the number of other meetings you hope to have, and multiply that number by the average expected attendance.... 2. Your Discipleship Goal for This Festival: For a moment, let s suppose that 500 men and women will pray to receive Christ during this festival. How will you be ready to follow up these people to make them growing disciples? Specifically, ask yourself how many out of 500 would you estimate could become disciples with good follow-up? 50? 150? Even more? Write down your goals for the number of disciples you hope to make through this festival.... 3. Church Growth/New Churches Goal One of the ultimate measures of a festival s success is determining how church growth is impacted as a result. 13
Specifically, our Team has often seen home Bible studies, which were formed through diligent follow-up, grow into new house churches within the cities where we have worked! The emerging of new Bible studies, leading to house churches, combined with exceptional church growth in general, is a great goal to have for this festival. How many House churches do you want to form through this festival?... By how many people to you want your churches to grow as a result of this festival?... When you have completed the above worksheet, please submit each estimate to New Fire for review. We want to help you reach as many people as possible for Jesus Christ! In our commitment to help you reach your city, we have created this Festival Manual for your use throughout this festival. We believe that, through following this Manual, you can meet and even exceed all the expectations you have for this festival s attendance, participation, and overall success! Please read the entire Festival Manual, sign and date the attached Festival Contract and Financial Policies sheet, and mail them, or better, email them, along with your goals, to New Fire. Our contact information is: New Fire for Christ PO Box 6171 Norfolk, VA 23508 USA Email: info@newfireforchrist.org The above goals reflect the best estimates of the participating Senior Pastors up to this point, and are submitted as accurate to the best of our knowledge. In order to achieve these goals, we will read and follow all the guidelines listed in New Fire s Festival Manual. 14
Signature, Festival Chairman Signature, Presiding Senior Pastor Date Signed Date Signed 15
Finance Committee 16
Finance Committee and Financial Policies Please review the following policies regarding finances for our festival together. When you have read and understood these policies, please sign the copy that says New Fire Copy. Keep the other copy for your own reference throughout this festival. Much of the following information applies to Developing Countries only. For Western countries (e.g. N. America and W. Europe, and E. Europe unless it is arranged otherwise), the host committee and churches are responsible for: 1. 100% of local festival (and publicity) expenses 2. Our team s transportation, lodging, and food expenses 3. A per-day charge to help pay a small part of our evangelistic team s daily operating expenses. A detailed budget, itemizing all expenses should be prepared, submitted to New Fire at least 3-4 months in advance, and must be approved by New Fire in advance of spending money toward this festival (see the attached Example Festival Budget). To Review: The Festival Budget should be designed to bring the maximum number of people in your city to our meetings, NOT to provide great hospitality or entertainment to the leaders you re networking with. Preparing the Budget: Details for Developing Countries In developing countries only, our Team raises the funds necessary to cover the travel, food and lodging expenses for Dr. Boyd and his staff. It is a privilege to do this, and it is a gift to you! Please bear this in mind, as the Festival Budget you are preparing represents only a fraction of the total expense for conducting this festival. Why do we mention this? Because we believe the financial burden for this Festival must be shared by all who participate in the preparations. We will commit to raise whatever funds you cannot contribute toward the Festival Budget, but we require that you agree to provide 10% of the Festival Budget funds yourself. Our agreement to serve you in this festival is based on our mutual agreement concerning this Festival Budget, and the amount that you will agree to raise yourselves. Remember: The Festival Budget represents the MAXIMUM amount to be spent on this Festival. You are responsible for expenses that exceed the Festival Budget. A detailed budget, itemizing all expenses should be prepared, submitted to New Fire at least 3-4 months in advance, and must be approved by New Fire in advance of spending money toward this festival (see the attached Example Festival Budget). To Review: The Festival Budget should be designed to bring the maximum number of people in your city to our meetings, NOT to provide great hospitality or entertainment to the leaders you re networking with. 17
Upon New Fire s approval, you can include a full-time Festival assistant into the Festival Budget. The budget will provide $20/day, not to exceed a maximum amount to be determined by New Fire. These funds can be allocated for the Festival Chairman if the Festival Chairman is not a Senior Pastor (it is impossible to expect full-time festival work from a Senior Pastor). If the Festival Chairman is a Senior Pastor, these funds can be allocated for a full-time assistant to the Chairman. These funds can be allocated on the following two conditions: 1. The full-time assistant comes highly recommended by others, and 2. New Fire approves this expense to be included in the budget (For Developing Countries) These are New Fire s guidelines for the following Budget items: Transportation: Taxis: The festival budget shall NOT include taxi services for the leaders of this festival. You are financially responsible for your own transportation to all meetings and other festival preparation events. Additionally, the Budget shall NOT include funds for transporting Committee members (e.g. bus fare, taxis) to prayer meetings, training meetings, or any other Festival-related meetings or events. Fuel/Auto Maintenance: You are allowed to reimburse fuel expenses for this festival, not to exceed the maximum amount allowed in the Festival Budget. Fuel will be based on usage toward this festival include a travel log (stating km driven for each meeting or event) with your fuel reimbursement. Additionally, you may reimburse $.10/km for auto maintenance, up to 400km of festival-related driving, as part of the Transportation Maximum Amount allowed in the budget. Communication/Cell Phones: The festival budget shall NOT include funds for cell phone communication between the leaders of this festival. New Fire will allocate funds only for the Festival Chairman and the Committee Chairman. These funds are limited to the following: Phone: Minutes/Week Internet: Minutes/Week Maximum Amount Allowed for Festival Festival Chairman 120 60 $200 Committee Chairmen 60 each 20 each $100 each (To reimburse any phone/internet minutes, a detailed log must be kept of phone and internet usage.) Promotion/Networking: Meals/Entertainment: Networking with Senior Pastors is an important part of this festival. However, the Festival Budget will limit to a minimum (less than 7% of the total budget) the amount of funds to be spent on meals or other entertainment items when networking with Pastors. 18
The Festival Budget must clearly state how much will be allocated to meals/entertainment, and will not exceed that amount. Meetings: Similarly, the Festival Budget must clearly state how much will be allocated to food and administrative items (printing, paper, etc.), and will not exceed that amount (should be less than 7% of the total budget) Physical Arrangements: Stage/Platform: The Festival Budget shall NOT include funds for a brand new stage. In our experience, there are used stages available in most cities. Save money in our Budget by locating a used platform, and renting or purchasing it, using some funds to appropriately redecorate. You must apply with New Fire for an exception to this rule. New Fire s Budget Payment Policy (This Section for Developing Countries) New Fire will agree to contribute up to 50% of the Festival Budget before our Team arrives to your city. Pre-Festival Budget contributions will not exceed 50% of the Budget under any circumstances. It is before the festival that New Fire expects you to have raised 10% of the funds toward the festival budget, and have applied these funds toward festival expenses. Additional funds (beyond 50%) will not be contributed toward the budget until your 10% has been raised and spent. Within the first few days of our arrival (do not expect this the first day), New Fire will contribute additional funds, not to exceed a total of 70% of the overall Festival Budget. We will contribute funds at this stage only after the following requirements have been met: 1. We receive receipts showing you have spent all of New Fire s previous 50% contribution 2. We receive receipts showing you have spent all of your 5% contribution At the end of the Festival, New Fire will contribute additional funds (the remaining 10%), not to exceed the percentage agreed upon at the beginning of the Festival. New Fire will contribute these funds upon receiving: 1. A complete and accurate account of all expenses 2. Records and receipts of all expenses accrued during festival preparations 3. All travel logs 4. All phone and internet usage logs 5. All outstanding bills for payment (1/2 the remaining funds will be contributed upon receiving #1-5 above) 6. Regular reports for 2 months following the festival (the last ½ will be contributed upon receiving these reports) 19
I have read and understood the policies outlined in this document, and agree to abide by these guidelines throughout our Festival preparation. We agree to contribute $ ( Ksh or whatever) toward the budget of this festival. Signature, Festival Chairman Signature, Finance Chairman Date Signed Date Signed 20
Prayer Committee 21
The Biblical Call for the Prayer Committee We at New Fire for Christ are excited that God has chosen you for the tremendous challenge and responsibility of leading the prayer for your evangelistic festival. I believe there is nothing more important than the work you will be doing. We can have great publicity all across the city. We can see hundreds or thousands of people come to hear the gospel. Dr. Boyd can give the best messages he s ever given and follow-up can be well organized. All this, and yet nothing of eternal significance will happen if God doesn t work in people s lives. And the way He works is through prayer! By praying and organizing others to pray, you will be laying the foundation for everything God will do in our outreach together. Therefore, we ask you in all seriousness: Do you want to see God do something great in your life? Do you want to see Him work in supernatural power in the lives of men and women across your city? If so, we want to challenge you to do one thing: Give yourselves with all your heart to pray. Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you know not. (Jeremiah 33: 3) God has promised to work in a great and supernatural way even beyond what we can know or imagine! when we call to Him. Jeremiah is telling us that it is fervent, persistent prayer, which keeps seeking God until there is an answer, which results in God releasing His supernatural power. Billy Graham has said there are three secrets to his evangelistic festivals: The first secret is prayer. The second secret is prayer. The third secret is prayer! Only through fervent prayer will God draw many hundreds of thousands of men and women to himself and change the face of your city. Therefore, no committee is more important than the Prayer Committee. Perhaps you are already praying for your city. But how can you give yourselves in a new and greater way to prayer? First, use the guidelines below to develop a comprehensive prayer strategy for your evangelistic outreach and organize many opportunities for you and others in your city to pray. Prayer Strategies: As a Prayer Committee, your work will focus on developing prayer movements for our festival through each of the following three strategies: 1. The 5-Friend Commitment: A church-wide strategy where individuals commit to pray for and invite 5 of their unsaved friends to our festival meetings. 2. Church Prayer Meetings: That each participating church will make our festival the top priority in their prayer meetings during the two months leading up to our festival. 3. Special Prayer Events: One or more events which unite your city in prayer in the weeks before our festival. 22
Prayer Goal Before you begin to make arrangements, spend time considering what your goal is for prayer in your city. Using the Festival Goals sheet developed by your Festival Chairman, consider the following: 1. How many churches you expect will be involved in this festival 2. How many people are in each participating congregation 3. Where the members of your Prayer Committee have the most influence (e.g. which pastors, congregations) Now, prayerfully consider your goals, and complete the following Prayer Goal. When you have completed it, submit it to your Festival Chairman, for New Fire approval. Our Prayer Goal for this Festival: For the Five-Friend Commitment that churches will involve their congregations, and that men and women in our city will participate in this commitment. For Church Prayer, that churches will hold weekly prayer meetings for this festival. We will ask these churches to begin praying 8 weeks in advance. For our Special Prayer Event, we will conduct the Prayer Event. This will happen on (place date here). We expect to have churches participate (check one of the following two options): ð All churches will meet together in one place for this special event. ð All churches will meet at the same time, but in their own separate churches. 23
Prayer Calendar Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Week 16 Week 9 Week 8 BI-WEEKLY MEETINGS WITH PRAYER COMMITTEE 5-Friend Commitment Meeting w/ Pastors Week 7 Week 6 5-Friend Commitment: 1 st Announcement 5-Friend Commitment Sign-Up (& Prayer Triplets) Prayer Event Decision Report to NFC Week 5 Prayer Event Announcement Prayer Event Poster Created Week 4 5-Friend Commitment Sign-Up Prayer Event Posters Created for Prayer Event & Distributed Week 3 Festival Announcement Posters for Prayer Event 24
Publicity Committee 25
Publicity Committee Publicity is one of the great keys to an effective festival. Your committee is the link between the churches and your city in many ways. Throughout these festival preparations, you will need to: 1. Maintain great relationships with the pastors in your city. Much of the publicity will be done on Sundays, so it is necessary that you have as much support and participation from pastors as possible (to facilitate communication with pastors, consult with your Festival Chairman) 2. Maintain great relationships with your City s merchants and vendors: Our Festival Budget is not unlimited, so it is up to you to find the best prices possible for the thousands of posters, banners, and flyers, not to mention radio, TV and other media. BEFORE YOU MAKE PUBLICITY DECISIONS, you must consult with the Festival Chairman in order to determine the following: o o o o The Dates of the Festival: When the festival starts, and when it ends All the Events of the Festival Week: There will be much more than the evenings filled. We will have children s programs, and even some training programs, according to the agreement made between BBEA and the Festival Chairman Who is coming from the New Fire Team: Dr. Boyd is not traveling alone! Every New Fire staff person who is coming to minister needs to be publicized. Your Publicity Budget: The Festival Committees are responsible for expenses that exceed our original budget. Please communicate with your Festival Chairman to determine your Publicity budget. Remember, only begin printing publicity materials after BBEA has reached an agreement with your Festival Chairman as to all the activities and to the budget of this festival. Developing Your Publicity Goal Develop a written Publicity goal (using the following elements) and e-mail/send it to our BBEA Team for consultation and approval at least 3 months before the festival. Your plan needs to include all of the following: The 5-Friend Commitment : (The Publicity Chairman and the Prayer Chairman should consult together with the Festival Chairman about this) Thousands of posters and flyers (the poster designs must be pre-approved use our posters or send us copies of posters you want to use at least 2 months before the festival for our revision/approval). Strategically placed banners throughout the city A well-planned media (radio and newspaper) strategy 26
Special publicity projects Publicity in churches during the 2 months before the outreach. Often providing transportation in less-developed countries, such as buses can be important in ensuring maximum attendance. [See full Manual for details]. Guidelines for Each Publicity Project (Within your Publicity Committee, create separate sub-committees to handle the decision-making for each of these projects): Once you have created goals for each of your publicity projects, follow the guidelines below in order to achieve the best results. 1. The Five-Friend Commitment: Attached in the Publicity section are two documents describing the Five-Friend Commitment. This is the most important church-based publicity strategy you will do! Consult with the Prayer Chairman to determine the best strategy for involving all participating churches. 2. Posters: You are to print a minimum of 200-400 posters for every neighborhood of 10,000 or more people. The goal of posters is to saturate the city with news of this festival that every street corner, market, light post, etc. will have news of our Festival. (In the Posters goal, state the number of posters you will be printing for this festival) 8 Weeks Before the Festival: Determine a design for the posters and flyers. Consult with the Festival Chairman to receive any photos of our New Fire Team to place on the posters. 5-6 Weeks Before the Festival: Posters are printed and ready for distribution and hanging (Any other printed materials, such as flyers, should follow this same timeline) 4 Weeks Before the Festival: Posters are hung in the city. 1-3 Weeks Before the Festival: Regular check-up on poster sites. Maintain posters, and replace ones that are torn down or damaged. The Week of the Festival: Use remaining posters in all the places near the meeting grounds, to give all who come a feeling of expectation. The Week After the Festival: If your city requires it, take the time to remove the posters from their locations we want to be witnesses to the city in this way! 3. Flyers: Follow the Poster Strategy Above (In the Goals section, state how many flyers you will print) In addition to Festival Flyers, you should develop other flyers: a. To announce the Prayer Event: Consult with the Prayer Committee to determine the date, time, place, etc. b. To invite Christians to seminars and follow-up training 4. Banners/Billboard: Banners and Billboards must be created in the busiest sections of your city (street corners, large marketplaces, etc.), to get the biggest impact for each piece you create. These must be professionally done using high-quality materials. 12 Weeks before the Festival: With your Publicity Strategy, include those strategic locations where you will hang/paint these banners and billboards 5-8 Weeks before: Using the correct Festival information, hire professionals to create these billboards and banners 27
4 Weeks before: Set up these Banners and Billboards around the city. 1 Week before: Re-Do the Billboard closest to the meeting grounds. Make sure that this one is spectacular! 5. Media: Television and Radio are essential ingredients for an effective publicity strategy. Television and Radio ads should begin 3 weeks before our festival, and run all the way until our last festival night together. 6. Transportation: This is a publicity strategy that must be approved by New Fire before you do it. To determine if a transportation/busing strategy will work in your city. 12 Weeks before the Festival: With your Publicity Strategy, determine which (if any) strategic groups of people are living around your city, but cannot get to the festival meetings on their own. Examples include: Refugees Somewhat distant villages with strong church support Orphanages Any other particularly needy groups 8-10 Weeks Before: New Fire will respond to your request for transportation. Please do not begin to spend money on transportation strategies until we have approved it. Follow the Poster Timeline for these outer areas if New Fire approves a Transportation Strategy. Publicity Goals for our Festival When you have completed the following Goals sheet, submit them to your Festival Chairman and to New Fire for review. Our goal is to work together with you in publicity, so that you can achieve the best results out of your hard work these next months! Five-Friend Commitment: (#) churches will involve their congregations, and that men and women in our city will participate in this commitment. Posters: We will print (#) posters for this festival. These posters will be placed in (#) neighborhoods in our city. Flyers: We will print (#) flyers for this festival. Banners/Billboards: We will use (#) billboard advertisements for this festival. We will make (#) banner advertisements for this festival. 28
Radio: We will advertise this festival on (#) radio stations for (#) weeks Television: We will advertise this festival on (#) TV stations for (#) weeks. Transportation: We desire to provide busing for the following communities outside our city (please list below): Other Publicity Projects: In addition to the above projects, we will also do the following (please list below): 29
Publicity Checklist In order to reach your goals, follow the checklist below throughout your preparations. Your Festival Chairman will follow this checklist with you, and report to New Fire on your Committee s progress. The checklist below is based on the guidelines found in the Publicity Committee section for each Publicity strategy. For each section to be completed, you must check every sub-section found within. Information for Festival Festival Dates: Festival Events (List below these events are to be printed on your posters and flyers): Who is Coming from the New Fire Team (List Below our team needs to be Five Friend Commitment Pastors received How to do 5-Friend Commitment sheet # of Pastors Involved: Announcement made in Churches & people have signed up # of People Involved in your City: Pastors Have Agreed to Continue Announcing 5-Friend Commitment 30
Posters Design for Posters Submitted to New Fire (contains accurate information about events and people) Flyers Design Approved Posters Are Printed and Ready for Hanging Posters are hung in each neighborhood 1 st Poster Checkup 2 nd Poster Checkup Remaining Posters Hung around the Festival Site (Post-Festival) Posters are Cleared Design for Flyers Submitted to New Fire (contains accurate information about events and people) Design Approved Flyers Are Printed and Ready for Distribution Flyers are distributed Banners & Billboards Billboards Rented for use for our festival Professionals Hired for designing billboards & banners Banners and Billboards are set up around the city (One Week before Festival) Main Festival Billboard is touched up Television & Radio Radio Air Time is purchased for each radio station Television Air Time is purchased for each TV station Radio and TV ads begin to air 31
Transportation Transportation Strategy Submitted to Festival Chairman and New Fire Transportation Strategy Approved (If the strategy is not approved, then stop here) Buses hired for the festival nights (#) buses hired (#) Festival nights Time for bus pickup: Location for bus pickup (list locations below): 32
Publicity Calendar Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Week 16 Week 13 (Festival Week) Week 12 BI-WEEKLY PUBLICITY MEETINGS Publicity Sub- Committees Formed Week 11 Week 10 Week 9 Week 8 Poster Design Completed Submitted to NFC Publicity Plan Determined Sent to NFC NFC Decision for Transportation Strategy Week 7 Consult with Banners and Billboard Designers 33
Program Committee 34
Program Committee The Program Committee is responsible for the Program details and all Physical Arrangements for our Festival. You have an important job, requiring a great deal of effective communication between your committee, your Festival Chairman, and New Fire. We are here to help reach your city for Christ, and it is a privilege for us to work long hours with you during these preparations. Please remember this throughout your preparations our physical distance from you does not mean that we shouldn t be involved with your decision making! Why are the Program arrangements so important to us? Because our time spent with you is valuable we must be prepared for everything! Therefore, we must be in complete agreement about all the events, all the messages in short, all activities you wish for us to engage in. Your effective work as a Program Committee will ensure that there are little to no surprises when our Team arrives in your city! From the Manual Overview A Festival with New Fire is usually six nights long, and ends on a Sunday night (which will typically yield the largest crowds). Please do not exceed six nights, since our Team s policy is to observe a Sabbath every seventh day. (If you want any shorter or longer than a 6-night festival, you must clear this with us months in advance. In these cases, we can possibly use a guest preacher on night 7 [e.g. of a 12-night festival], if New Fire approves this.) You can conduct many different kinds of meetings throughout the day: Children s Programs: Usually set in the early afternoon, you can conduct these programs on the meeting grounds, directly before the main evening event. Pastors/Christian Leaders Training: These are often done in the morning, and are conducted by Dr. Boyd and others on New Fire staff. We want to serve you while we are with you through these training times however, our Team must have significant planning and prayer time together as well - Dr. Boyd needs the afternoon to prepare for the evening meeting. Therefore, please do not schedule training sessions until you have consulted with New Fire. Evening Training Meetings: The big meeting should always be scheduled at the best time for maximum attendance, without regard to whatever other meetings may be added. In many countries, this is 7-10pm (with lights supplied). In others, a late afternoon meeting is better. Only if the big meeting is best scheduled to end by 7-8pm, you may sometimes schedule evening training meetings afterwards (not every night, but as approved by New Fire). The Main Event (the Big Meeting ): The big meeting should always be scheduled at the best time for maximum attendance, without regard to whatever other meetings may be added. Drawing from the gifts and talents of your people, prepare a top-quality program for each of these large group events that includes an emcee, special music, etc. For each venue, prepare adequate lighting (including generators when electricity is unavailable), room, sound, and, when possible, photography and recording equipment for the largest events. 35