How do you fill all your Christmas ministry roles?🎄

[Krista Kutz]

Merry Christmas, MSP Community!

Sending warm wishes as you prepare for your holiday services!

I'd love to hear about your current scheduling process for Christmas, whether it's running the auto-scheduler, asking volunteers to self-sign up in the Web Terminal, or another method in MSP: How have you been filling volunteer roles during the holiday season? 

At our parish, we ask volunteers to sign themselves up for holiday services in a special Live Schedule Post. There are still empty slots, so I sent a reminder Announcement with a link to the holiday schedule to all volunteers, added a little poem this time, and 9 more volunteers signed up last night! Thought you'd enjoy:

‘Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the church,
Our volunteer roles await your calendar search.
With hearts full of joy and hospitality to share,
Sign up today—help us celebrate and prepare!

If your church has tips for recruiting more volunteers to sign up for Christmas, we'd love to hear them!

Merry Christmas and happy scheduling,
Krista  

Krista M. Kutz, MDiv
Rotunda Software

[sophie6965]

I would love to know also. We do a volunteer since it is a special day. But unfortunately, people do not alway volunteer 

Sophie

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[M E]

I did the auto scheduler as this was the first year using the program. People have been filling in if they are not scheduled where needed through the app. 

I'm going to send out another request and use your poem. Love it.

MaryEllen 

Bradenton, FL 

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[M E]

I love the configured announcements, is there one for a reminder to sign up??

Thank you,

MaryEllen

On Tue, Dec 17, 2024 at 9:37 AM Krista Kutz <kri...@rotundasoftware.com> wrote:

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[Krista Kutz]

Hello everyone!

MaryEllen, so glad to hear about your experience using the auto-scheduler and how much you love the preconfigured announcements, too! Great question about a reminder email to sign up. Although there isn't an email template just for a "reminder to sign up", you could create one and save it in MSP as a template for future use! 

Here's a quick article about saving a new template: 
https://rotundasoftware.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/203073794-Save-MSP-emails-for-future-use

If it's helpful, happy to share a simple draft that I sent to volunteers (with the poem), feel free to copy anything that's helpful. Note: below are the tokens I used, but you'll want to customize your tokens in your email so they link to the specific schedule post & available positions (dates/services) you want volunteers to sign up for. Feel free to reach out to support if you need help with tokens!

Warm holiday wishes to all,
Krista

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Sample reminder email email:

Dear {{FirstName}},

‘Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the church,

Our volunteer roles await your calendar search.

With hearts full of joy and hospitality to share,

Sign up today—help us celebrate and prepare!

We're still looking to fill volunteer roles on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Please click below to sign up:

{{LiveSchedulePost:Christmas Masses}}

{{AllAvailablePositions}}

Thank you for sharing your time and gifts with our parish community.

Warmly,

Your Name

P.S. Remember you can check your ministry schedule anytime by logging into the Web Terminal here:

{{WebTerminalHomePageLink}}

Username: {{WebTerminalUsername}}

Password: {{WebTerminalPassword}}

[Cathy Jenney]

Hello! How do you make it a volunteer schedule for Xmas?

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/using-ministry-scheduler-pro/9b7bdfd7-30c3-4031-969e-4ac145d645da%40edison.

[Krista Kutz]

Hi everyone,

Cathy, thanks for your question; happy to help!

For anyone working on filling your Christmas schedule, a great way to invite volunteers to sign up is by using a Live Schedule Post just for your holiday services.

Here’s how it works:

1. Create a Live Schedule Post for your special services, and give it a specific title such as as "Christmas Services".
2. Send your volunteers an Announcement with a {{token}} to the new Live Schedule Post you created for Christmas.
3. Volunteers can click the post in the email to view and sign up for open positions online.

This approach keeps things simple and makes it easy for volunteers to see exactly where help is needed for the holidays.

For step-by-step instructions, check out this article:
https://rotundasoftware.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/217603358-How-do-I-email-my-volunteers-so-they-can-sign-up-for-special-services

Do other schedulers in this group use Live Schedule Posts for their Christmas services, and what tips would you share?

Wishing you smooth scheduling and a Merry Christmas!

Warmly,

Krista

Krista M. Kutz, MDiv
Rotunda Software

[sophie6965]

I dont use the auto scheduler, though I may start next year. I use the pre-assignment, and holy days or special services are not included in the pre-assignment list.

Thus leaves the Holy Days as volunteer day.

Sophie

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/using-ministry-scheduler-pro/CAF3ZU7GoNO0%3D2e%2BHv_CZTX3nhr_fzYt7wJZtVm6aM2StHDsi5Q%40mail.gmail.com.

[richard...@gmail.com]

We kinda cheat.

 

For Christmas, we only want the “good” lectors to be able to serve, so I create another private ministry called “Special Event Lector”  not visible to anyone except those that my co leader and I select.  These positions are not auto-scheduled and we call individuals and ask if they are available.  If they agree to do it I manually put them in.  The regular lector ministry schedule is missing these Christmas positions. 

 

Not ideal, but that’s what we do.  We were doing the same thing before we started using MSP, so its historical.  Perhaps we’ll grow out of that in the future.

 

BTW we make heavy use of pre-assignments.  It also works for people who want to “rotate” thru (almost) all the time slots each month.

 

-Richard Brehove

St. Margaret Mary, Lomita. CA

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/using-ministry-scheduler-pro/2a63e15c-cfa0-4c0a-bb4d-e20fa2733710%40edison.

[richard...@gmail.com]

Krista

I stole this poem for my email.  Thank you very much!!  Good email!

 

-Richard Brehove

 

From: using-ministry...@googlegroups.com <using-ministry...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Krista Kutz
Sent: Tuesday, December 17, 2024 10:25
To: Using Ministry Scheduler Pro <using-ministry...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [Using MSP] How do you fill all your Christmas ministry roles?🎄

 

Hello everyone!

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/using-ministry-scheduler-pro/8e530e5d-9b32-4ecd-bfb8-098879f1340fn%40googlegroups.com.

[enwi...@gmail.com]

What a wonderful post and discussion!  The poem is so inviting. Thank you!

We used to ask volunteers to sign up, with one of our long time worship hosts constantly running around trying to get volunteers. I would post a special holiday schedule with all our special holiday services, including a Winter Solace service that happens on the solstice. Our pastor made pleas every Sunday in December until he decided he no longer wanted to beg. 

Now we auto-fill Christmastime services when we create a new schedule post that covers Advent season up until the day before Ash Wednesday. I use a modified "Update your Availability" email template that informs volunteers that we will auto-fill the Christmas Eve services. The message includes how to set service preferences to the special services, as well as how to add Christmas time to their  "not available" dates if they do not wish to be assigned. And of course I encourage volunteers to email me their preferences if they are unsure how to modify their profiles.  I chuckle the day after the schedule goes live and volunteers receive their assignments when I see all the sub requests that bloom in Web Forms. This is our third year of auto-filling, and I sense our congregation is getting used to the process. There are still gaps in the schedule, but those last minute empty slots will be filled eventually.

I recommend using the Service Resources function to provide special instructions for ushers, greeters,  communion bread bakers, and communion set-up volunteers. I connect these resources to the special services and send out the instructions a few days prior to the services so the instructions are fresh in the volunteers' minds. It's a little detail that is hard to get staff to edit, but it's worth it for our volunteers' comfort towards serving at these special services. 

Finally, I try to remember that all will be well and Christmas will come even if I have forgotten a minor detail. Then on Christmas Eve I take a deep breath and reflect on the beauty and joy of the season.

Have a blessed Christmas, friends.

Emily Wixson

Madison Christian Community

Madison, WI

[M E]

i want to print out Dec. 21-22 how do I do that?

Thanks,

MaryEllen

Bradenton

On Tue, Dec 17, 2024 at 9:37 AM Krista Kutz <kri...@rotundasoftware.com> wrote:

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[Krista Kutz]

Happy Friday before Christmas!

MaryEllen, thanks for reaching out about printing your schedule! What you'll want to do is:

1. Open your schedule inside of MSP.
2. Go to the File menu and select "Export Schedule..."

3. A dialog will open where you can choose your layout, date range (i.e. Dec 21-22), etc.
4. Once you choose your settings, click the "Export Schedule" button in the lower right corner of the dialog, and save it to your computer. You can then print these from your word processing program.

Also, here are some quick tutorials on how to print schedules for a specific weekend:

• Short video on printing and posting schedules
• Step-by-step instructions on printing a sign-in sheet

I hope this helps!

Wishing everyone a wonderful Fourth Weekend of Advent!

Krista

Krista M. Kutz, MDiv
Rotunda Software

[M E]

Thank you so very much. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Peace,

MaryEllen

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/using-ministry-scheduler-pro/c350a00b-ec30-4805-abae-8d451de33733n%40googlegroups.com.

[richard...@gmail.com]

I do this each week to print out a sign-in sheet – we don’t use the kiosk feature.  Very easy to do on the Web Admin page with a Schedule Post with a sign in sheet layout.   – simply change the date range, download, make any required minor edits, and print.

 

Thanks for a great product! 

 

-Richard Brehove

St. Margaret Mary Church, Lomita

 

From: using-ministry...@googlegroups.com <using-ministry...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of M E
Sent: Friday, December 20, 2024 11:02
To: using-ministry...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [Using MSP] How do you fill all your Christmas ministry roles?🎄

 

Thank you so very much. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

 

Peace,

MaryEllen

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/using-ministry-scheduler-pro/CAAZ6e85hHb4UF3zC%2B79Oe68vZFbPG6yciygOPwC50NzUqnAQ0Q%40mail.gmail.com.

[Cathy Jenney]

How do I schedule a volunteer for just one Sunday out of the month. He is in the choir so he cannot serve the remaining weeks of the month.

Thank you and Merry Christmas! 🎄 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/using-ministry-scheduler-pro/02f301db531f%24b43b2c30%241cb18490%24%40gmail.com.

[Jeff Thomas]

Emily,

In your post, you said:

how to set service preferences to the special services

Color me intrigued. I've not heard of this configuration. Can you explain further, please?

[richard...@gmail.com]

I am in the choir and also a lector. So I can’t schedule myself for both at the same service.  (tried that once – not a good idea).

Our choir takes a break during the summer months.  The rest of the year when choir is active I can’t serve at the afternoon services, so I have a Can’t Serve entry for afternoon services between September and June repeating each year.  Yes, that means sometimes I go to two services per day – the morning to Lector and the afternoon to be in the choir – as MSP does not know that I am in choir.  (our choir is every week).  I could enter a Cant Serve entry for all services between those dates, but I still want to Lector when I can.

 

In your case, I think you could enter four “Cant Serve” entries in his profile that exclude all but the one week he is available.  That seems to be the most straightforward.  Preassignments might be another option.

 

Merry Christmas

-Richard Brehove

St. Margaret Mary Church, Lomita, CA

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/using-ministry-scheduler-pro/CAF3ZU7FwXqyr%2B6XJCwK9DUG6Zg5cM4PbjVuLfcrD3jS%3DxyLB9A%40mail.gmail.com.

[enwi...@gmail.com]

Hi Jeff,

Sorry I took a while to answer your request for information. It's been a busy holiday.

Volunteers can find the Service Preference options in their MY PROFILE directly under MINISTRIES. Our special holiday services are all designate "yearly," so these services fall into the drop-down list of services by month.

When I send the email about updating availability dates in early November, I ask volunteers to include the holiday services they wish to be assigned in their SERVICE PREFERENCES. If they do not wish to be assigned for a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day service, I ask them to include those dates in their unavailable dates. Volunteers also have the option to email me with their preferences. Then before I run auto-fill (in mid November), I filter my volunteer list by service preferences and manually assign volunteers to service(s) they request. 

This doesn't fill all our holiday service positions, but at least it comes close to assigning volunteers to services they wish to attend. One volunteer told me she forgot to make Christmas Day an unavailable date, and instead of requesting a substitute when assigned, she served on Christmas Day and loved the service.

I'm sure there are more efficient ways of doing this, but this process works for me.

Thanks for asking.

Emily Wixson

Madison Christian Community

Madison, WI

[Krista Kutz]

Hello MSP Community!

I was reading through past Google Group posts and found myself SO grateful for this thread about Christmas—it’s full of tips we’re actually re-using right now to prepare for Holy Week and Easter! Thank you again, Emily, for sharing your process for collecting "holiday service preferences".

At my church, we're now adding each special, yearly service to MSP and sending an email this weekend asking all volunteers to list their preferred Holy Week services directly in their profile. (I'm happy to share the email text or a screenshot if anyone's interested!) From there, we’ll use that info to fill Holy Week/Easter positions.

I'm curious...

• Does your church recruit volunteers specifically for the Passion readings on Palm Sunday/Good Friday and the additional Easter Vigil readings?
• I remember reading that some parishes, like Richard's, have created an additional ministry called "Special Event Lector" to help fill these assignments. Do you also note in MSP which part of Passion or which Scripture passage each person is proclaiming on these holy days?

Looking forward to hearing your tips on keeping these special readings organized!

Lenten Blessings,

Krista

Krista M. Kutz, MDiv

[richard...@gmail.com]

Yes, thank you for these threads.  I’m learning a lot!

 

Yes, with lectors they know which reading they are going to do beforehand, either lector 1 or 2.  With special services such as the long narration of Holy Thursday and Good Friday, I have subdivisions called Narrator and Voice, just so that when I print it out it shows what the volunteer is assigned to.  And these individuals are selected by myself and my co-leader and are called on the phone as the schedule is being created to make sure they are available and willing to proclaim.  All this is manually scheduled.

 

Thanks for all the info I’m getting!

-Richard Brehove

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Lomita, CA

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/using-ministry-scheduler-pro/6dc87e49-49e2-4662-8b30-6164d64faa26n%40googlegroups.com.