My Easter Mistakes

Feb 14, 2024

What went right?
What went wrong?
What was confusing?

Our ministry teams thrive on the feedback from these three questions. Over the years, I have learned that every program and event that a local church conducts, deserves honest evaluation. I have also learned the first person to go through these questions is me.

I am the pastor, the point leader.

If I expect others to evaluate, then I must lead in that area, as well.

Here is my Easter “eval” on the mistake side.

Auditorium Chaos

We ran two services on Easter morning. As the first one was dismissing, the second was arriving. I knew the car parking would be a problem, and had two guys to watch over that transition. Unfortunately, they were two of the same guys I had assigned to help setup chairs when needed. About the time we were starting the opening song, dozens of folks were still pouring into our main adult meeting. The was no place to sit, no chairs being set out and no one to help! I was in the front, leading music and watching a disaster unfold before my eyes.

Lesson Learned: Assign someone to oversee a specific place. I had no single usher or helper for my “space”. I had foreseen some of the other potential problems of the event and had folks watching and fixing them. Unfortunately, they could not solve two problems at the same time.

Some kids missed the “egg hunt”.

Poor timing and management on my part caused some of our littlest and most precious kids to not make it out to our egg hunt after our second service. Note: (To all my theological skeptics who have no place for such foolishness, let me quickly reply why we have a Easter Egg Hunt in the first place. #1 What is important to the families I am trying to reach, is important to me. #2 It doesn’t violate the scriptures. #3 It is fun for everyone.)

Lesson Learned: When conducting huge events, don’t “tack on” new portions without assigning a point leader. We failed because I never assigned one person to oversee: preparation, setup, movement of children/parents, emcee, etc…

Workers and Parents Wearing Two Hats

Easter is one of those “parent/kid centric” holidays. It is natural for families to be together, do events together, take pictures together, etc…, especially if they have little kids. Some of my best team members have little kids. They were busy serving and did not get to participate properly. This made me sad.

Lesson Learned: Again, it is a problem having folks in two places at once. I just don’t know what to do about this one. Thankfully, our team evaluation meetings are coming. They have great insight and are good at spotting the confusing problems and working out solutions. I know that all of us (ministry teams), are smarter that one of us (me). I am sure we will come up with a solution.

My Conclusion

Here are three things I have learned:

I need to train better and more specifically. Taking time to walk through each area and pretend you are a guest is essential.
I need to listen to feedback better. Had I been listening better, I would shave foreseen some of these problem better. As I look back over the weeks of preparation I can now remember questions and comments that I brushed off.
I must place myself in others shoes. I must always remember that what is important to my workers and guests needs to be important to me.

I trust this evaluation will be helpful to you. I am sure you had some Easter problems as well.

Please comment below on your biggest mess up.

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