July 2022

As part of introducing a new process for “Calendaring & Budgeting”… we conducted an internal listening tour with FPC’s Staff Team to take a temperature check and collaboratively construct organizational objectives for 2023: Theme & Priority.

The listening tour was structured around the “I Like, I Wish, I Wonder” feedback model for synthesis.

Staff Survey Results.

I like… I wish… I wonder…

I like…

  1. I like community in small groups (midweek, Sundays, small groups through the week, rooted alpha groups, other community groups).

  2. I like prayer (invitation to prayer, worship and prayer nights, prayer times in groups, prayer corner, prayer retreat in rooted, prayer in alpha day away etc).

  3. I like that we are talking about doing something new, different, and possibly more effective/efficient.

  4. I like that First Prez is very thoughtful and grace filled when it comes to caring for ourselves and others.

  5. I like the feel of Christmas and  Easter services.

  6. I like how the staff pulled together to put on the HIM Youth Camp.

  7. I like that more than 400 of FPC attendees went to HIM ‘22.

  8. I like how the church unified around the Raise the Sails movement of generosity.

  9. I like how we are moving towards the presence of the Spirit in our worship.

  10. I like how we want to learn more about the Holy Spirit and prayer.

  11. I like the promise of the healthy youth staff who are performing well and new staff is on its way.

  12. I like the potential of Hakuhia being a new movement of discipleship, evangelism and creation care.

  13. I like the addition of great staff.

  14. I like that First Prez is presently in a healthy financial position.

  15. I like our connection to gospel and the application into our daily lives.

  16. I like that we acknowledge when we fall short and commit to keep transforming.  

  17. I like anything that connects us to our triune God, our neighbors, and opportunities to flourish with each other as well as help others.

  18. I like how our church is emphasizing more and more the issue of discipleship and encouraging small groups.

  19. I like how we are making efforts to utilize our land for the good of the community.

  20. I like the passion our staff has to serve our church and the world beyond the church walls.

  21. I like how we have regular altar calls.

  22. I like how we open up baptism to people during Easter.

  23. I love the elders with whom I serve.

  24. I love how more than a few men have caught fire for discipleship and are multiplying discipleship groups.

  25. I like how we pivoted to online services in one of the most challenging times in the last 40 years.

  26. I like that we pursue excellence - the Lord deserves our excellence, and we seem to be in alignment in aiming for this.

  27. I like that we value thoughtfulness - we try to thoughtfully problem-solve, plan and implement.

  28. I like that we care for each other - we care for people.

  29. I like that God has blessed us with resources.

  30. I like what is happening at The Vine on Sundays and Wednesdays and that the experience is valued by those who are attending.

  31. I like that Jenny and Carolyn Grossnickle are pioneering some important efforts that will help us know the community in which The Vine is planted (no pun intended) and discern God's call more clearly.

  32. I like seeing the choir back.

  33. I like seeing young families and little kids at church.

  34. I like HeBrews.

  35. I like that we worship as a staff team on Tuesday mornings.

  36. I like that the church feels like a family - different ages, from newborns to 100 years.

  37. I like that so many people in the church do really care for each other and follow up and make sure one another are okay.

  38. I like HEbrews coffee bar.

  39. I like that we have worship at team meetings.

  40. I like  that we set aside time on Tuesdays for staff lunch.

  41. I like that we have SMT cohorts.

  42. I like that everyone strives to do their best in what they're doing.

  43. I like that we have a chance to share about our personal lives during team meeting.

  44. I like that we have the Pilina restoration days.

  45. I like that the Middle and High school worship at the 10am.

  46. I like that we have Ohana Sundays.

  47. That online church is here to stay because we’re able to reach more people.

  48. That as a staff we’re committed to protecting our quiet times with the Lord.

  49. That we’re financially supporting other ministries through our church budget.

  50. That older members of our congregation have adapted to using the website and other online resources to get info they need instead of relying on printed materials.

  51. That we have a deep bench in our preaching team.

  52. I love corporate worship, both worship in song and word. 

  53. I like the feeling of community I experience on Sundays (being all together and seeing our youth and children). 

  54. I like the varied content of services taken from the perspective of the preacher for the week. 

  55. I like that our sermons are scripturally based.

  56. I like that sometimes we are challenged to look at the scripture from a different perspective.

  57. I like how the church family has been supportive of the ministry I am apart of.

  58. I like how service starts off with youth and adults in worship.

  59. I love how the youth feels more apart of the bigger Church.

I wish…

  1. I wish I had more time with my kids.

  2. I wish I had more energy.

  3. I wish I had more time to be in the world among non-christians than most of my week being with christians inside the church.

  4. I wish there was more communication across departments/events on a main calendar.

  5. I wish that we didn't operate so much in our own silos.

  6. I wish we removed barriers to support each other in ministry.

  7. I wish we had more Staff unity.

  8. I wish we were more aligned in purpose.

  9. I wish we had a more focused vision.

  10. I wish there was more community of staff where we want to hang out with one another and support one another.

  11. I wish we had more community gatherings.

  12. I wish we had a sermon series on discipleship.

  13. I wish we had more teaching videos for small groups.

  14. I wish we would come up with a common game plan for how to use all our rooms for community and discipleship in this current season where KB no longer serves meals.

  15. I wish I could figure out a way to be more involved in my community outside of FPC.

  16. I wish we could have shorter meetings.

  17. I wish staff was discipled as how we wish to disciple the congregation. 

  18. I wish staff were more interdependent with each so that the organization becomes more effective and efficient. 

  19. I wish we could take some of the lessons learned in the early church in helping people to avoid diluting their energy trying to accomplish what the Bible describes as "serving word and serving tables". 

  20. I wish we could organize our resources in a way to avoid duplicating efforts, avoid duplicating processes.

  21. I wish we could improve our management skills and processes, i.e. decompose vision to tasks, prioritize / assign / deconflict tasks, resource efforts, monitor progress, adjust.

  22. I wish we could have a stronger focus on equipping people to interate their faith in Jesus and their work (I sense God calling us to take these spiritual resources into the community).

  23. I wish we would evaluate our working relationship with Ko'olau Ballrooms because it doesn't feel right.

  24. I wish we could reimagine our Tuesday meeting because everyone is tired.

  25. I wish it didn't seem like everyone is burning out.

  26. I wish I had a small group that worked for me.

  27. I wish working for the church weren't so stressful.

  28. I wish it felt inspiring to work at the church.

  29. I wish we could do more of the fun things that we used to do (dancing through the decades, Christmas dance for the whole congregation, etc).

  30. I wish our services were more welcoming to young families.

  31. I wish we could figure out a better system and for working with and communicating with KB.

  32. I wish we handled charging for parking differently.

  33. I wish more staff team were visible and present on Sunday mornings.

  34. I wish we could spend more time together as a team "for fun".

  35. I wish we had more church wide gatherings for all ages and stages.

  36. I wish we can somehow create a more welcoming atmosphere at the Front Desk and waterfall lobby on Sunday mornings and weekdays.

  37. I wish we could have the Admin team be in the office every weekday during business hours, and Sunday mornings.

  38. I wish the building would be open every day during business hours.

  39. I wish staff could use the offices any time during the work week.

  40. I wish we could record announcements (but keep prayers live) to hold people’s attention and keep announcements short, fast-paced, and fun!

  41. I wish we could use social media better to connect with Christians and non-Christians.

  42. I wish we could have a stronger presence for our prayer ministry to stress the importance of prayer.

  43. I wish we did more to encourage people to pray and learn more about prayer.

  44. I wish as staff we could discuss our "silos."  We often talk about them, but they are not identified and yet in some ways we are encouraged to create more silos. 

  45. I wish we could encourage our church to "do life together" without separating them by age category. 

  46. I wish we could get back to some congregational events. 

  47. I wish we had a better way to know where people are in their spiritual walk. 

  48. I wish we had courses to add to Alpha and Rooted, that specifically taught scripture. 

  49. I wish we could support and offer deeper learning to small groups.

  50. I wish we planned more ways to accomplish discipleship.

  51. I wish our staff infrastructure was better organized. 

  52. I wish more staff worked from their offices so we could interact more.

  53. I wish that on communion Sundays our children were in service the entire time and could learn naturally about communion. 

  54. I wish we did things consistently.

I wonder…

  1. I wonder how I could draw better boundaries for sabbath, evenings, and weekends with family.

  2. I wonder how the pastoral and ELT staff could move forward with clarity of purpose and direction for the next year.

  3. I wonder how we can better serve those in the marketplace as they are missionaries for God in their vocation and in the world.

  4. I wonder if everyone on team will be open to doing something new.

  5. I wonder if everyone on team is ready to learn new processes for doing things.

  6. I wonder if our new processes will be a very productive use of our staff’s time.

  7. I wonder if everyone would be known, valued, and cared for if each person was in a life group (that knew how to listen to each other and point each other to our Creator).

  8. I wonder what life could be like, and what kind of people we would be, if we weren't living in a hurried state and slowed down to learn how to open our eyes, ears, mind and soul to all God wants to show each of us. 

  9. I wonder if we could make prayer a theme for next year.

  10. I wonder how we could increase congregational passion and awareness for creation care.

  11. I wonder how we could increase Bible literacy.

  12. I wonder who we are not serving well as a church. 

  13. I wonder what are the undercurrents that we are battling that create challenges in truly being unified in being message bearers and living out our commitment to God.

  14. I wonder what might it take so all thrive.

  15. I wonder what it would be like if we structured our values as a family (and treated each other as sons and daughters verses employees).

  16. I wonder what community and discipleship will mean when most folks want to watch church online and not come in person.

  17. I wonder if we can sell/hand over much of our land to a conservation organization to utilize it so it does not consume too much attention from our leaders.

  18. I wonder how we can have a greater impact on our island.

  19. I wonder how willing we are to change. 

  20. I wonder if there are people we trust who could help us develop a more comprehensive view of our organization's culture.

  21. I wonder if in the coming year we could work smarter, not necessarily harder, and desilo our ministries.

  22. I wonder if we are missing opportunities for creative collaboration because of the way our meetings are structured.

  23. I wonder how we can grow to trust one another more, and have more communication, and a greater willingness to share leadership with one another.

  24. I wonder if we'll ever get back to the way things were before the pandemic.

  25. I wonder if what we're currently doing is working.

  26. I wonder if we should try doing things differently.

  27. I wonder if we need to pray more.

  28. I wonder if we could have an automated gate  instead of the locks.

  29. I wonder if prayer and small groups should be our priorities for next year.

  30. I wonder why it's hard to find volunteers.

  31. I wonder if the congregation know who the staff team are and each person's roles.

  32. I wonder why we don't have a lot of young families on Sunday.

  33. I wonder what it's like to be a first time visitor on Sunday.

  34. I wonder that First Prez is "known for", what comes to mind when people think about First Prez.

  35. I wonder what comes to mind when people think about The Vine.

  36. I wonder if everone on SMT feels they can be honest during team discussions.

  37. I wonder why more hikers don't attend church on Sunday.

  38. I wonder how many people who come to Koolau for events end up coming to church.

  39. I wonder why a majority of our participation on Sunday mornings is online.

  40. If we could have paid tech people who can set up and take down equipment every Sunday.

  41. If we would re-evaluate Rooted and see if it’s still meeting the needs of the congregation.

  42. If we could have a paid part-time photographer/videographer on staff.

  43. If we could serve a simple breakfast/lunch on Sundays as a way of encouraging people to hang out on campus more.

  44. If each ministry’s leadership team could have access to a list of the email of their specific target audience in the church, so they could stay in contact with these people directly keeping them informed of meaningful opportunities.

  45. I wonder if we could change the order of Sunday worship once or twice a month, so that the services are less predictable.

  46. If we would promote worship nights at the Vine as mid-week services to give people who work on Sundays a chance to experience a live worship service.

  47. I wonder if in 2023 we could use as our theme Prayer.  There are so many areas of prayer and we could teach about all aspects of prayer. 

  48. I wonder if the staff could pray more together for what is going on in our world and our church rather than just praying for ourselves on Tuesdays.

  49. I wonder if there is a way to have more fun together as a staff.

  50. I wonder if Sundays could be better organized among the staff to provide support to our congregation and be among them after services, talking to them. 

  51. I wish there would be a schedule of rotating staff to The Vine so that besides Tim and Jenny others of us could get to know the people attending there.

  52. I wonder why we begin things in staff meetings, but never finish.  We prayed downstairs against the evil one, but having "poked" the bear as Gary says, we brush ourselves off and think we won't be bothered again.  That has not proven true.

  53. I wonder if there is something more we can do with the youth.

  54. I wonder if we are pulling out the best from our youth and their potential.

WHAT COMES TO MIND WHEN YOU PRAY FOR OUR CHURCH?

  1. Sent.

  2. Change (progression with culture/demographics).

  3. Consumerism.

  4. More of a desire to seek and experience His presence. Increase in worship passion. Protection from the Evil one and his minions. Increase of discernment to seek His will for us individually and the church. Financial stability. Be responsible in creation care. Unity in church and staff. Alignment in church and staff.

  5. Unity that runs deep not just polite tolerance.

  6. Peace and rest for our staff. Wisdom for all our leaders. Healing for many in our church. Anointing for God's power in being witnesses of His kingdom in our everyday world.

  7. New Wineskins - I think the Lord is waiting for us to invite Him to change our wine skins.  Could He be nudging us, filling us and our church family with the "new wine" and allowing us to experience some of the "bursting", showing us the power of the "new wine" and the thirst of the world for the "new wine".

  8. I think the "soil" upon which we are growing our ministries is as varied as the soils in Jesus' parable. Even on the good, rich soil, I think we are not thinking as a farmer who is interested in not only sustainable agriculture but want to pour back into the soil nutrients to enhance it. Each of us are cultivating our respective fields but not considering how we might need to rotate what we're growing in a more coordinated way. We may be in danger of simply extracting the resources from our plot of ground without really deciding what crops we are called to grow. (That metaphor may be too obscure - but there you go.)

  9. Just a desire to pray more with others or have a prayer groups covering each ministry.

  10. Sadly, I often have a heavy heart when I pray for our church.

  11. Family, worship, prayer

  12. At the moment: unity. But before the overturning of Roe vs Wade, it was "inject new life" (don't know exactly what that means).

  13. Gratefulness for what God is doing in the church.  Desire to have more people learn about Jesus through the church.  Longing to be united in His love, His will and His way.  Thankfulness that we are in our location and that God has blessed us.

  14. Change is the first. I think there will be good change. I also been praying about community. This whole summer I really feel like God has been pulling on community.

WHAT DAY OF THE WEEK IS YOUR FAVORITE "WORK DAY", AND WHY?

  1. Wednesday - Monday hard post Sunday, Tuesday takes up all the energy and time

  2. Wednesday - it’s a catch-up day, no set meetings, day to schedule meetings

  3. Wednesday - it’s the only day that is not structured

  4. Sunday - to worship and be with our people /to catch up with their lives

  5. Sunday - seeing people coming together as a community.

  6. Sunday - "serving the Word / serving the table"

  7. Sunday - because that's where the people, the worship of God and ministry all come together

  8. Sunday - because we're all working together

  9. Sundays - because I get to do corporate worship (and then Tuesdays because no matter how stressful it might be at times, we are all together)

  10. Thursday - my most productive day (maybe because it has less meetings/usually no evening meetings)

  11. Maybe Monday? Because I know I need to get things done right away (a sense of accomplishment) knowing that I'll be in meetings on Tuesdays.

  12. Tuesday!!!! Just kidding!!! Probably Monday. But also Friday. Wednesday's have been fun as well.

  13. I don't know what day of the week it is, it changes, but I do have TWO favorite things about my work week.