The Gift Of Gift Cards
by Linda Warren
(Daleville, IN)
Gift Card Emphasis
Our church began preparing for appreciation month the last week of September when we sent out emails and notes asking for donations towards gift cards.
Individual Gift Card Donors Recruited
The first week of October we put in the bulletin an insert on what each individual could do to show their pastor and wife appreciation (I think I got this from your web page).
Pastor Appreciation Poem Featured
Mid-month we put a poem for pastor on the front of the bulletin used for pastor appreciation Sunday.
Pastor Appreciation PowerPoint Presentation
A PowerPoint presentation was used, spelling out P-A-S-T-O-R. By using the word PASTOR as an acrostic we put beside each letter one of the pastor's character qualities that impressed us or one of the pastor's attribute that blessed us, such as P - protective, A - Attentive, etc.
Gift Cards Tied To Each Letter In Pastor
As each letter in the word "pastor" came up emphasizing a specific quality of our pastor's ministry, we tied it to the gift cards donated by individuals. So there was a specific restaurant gift card tied to the specific letter of the word Pastor that was featured.
For example, with the
P slide we gave them a
gift card to Ponderosa,
A - featured an
Applebees gift card,
S - a Subway gift card,
T - was a
gift card to Texas Roadhouse,
O -
Olive Garden gift card, and
R - Cullive
Rs. (note the position of the R in the Cullivers gift card.) This is their favorite restaurant. It would have fit in if we had done the word PREACHER but we decided we couldn't afford it (LOL).
We determined the amount per restaurant according to the menu of the specific restarant, so some were $25.00 and some were $15.00. In addition to the gift certificates we also included discount coupons.
Potluck Dinner Featured Pastor's Favorite Recipes
Our pastor appreciation celebration was followed by a pitch-in dinner following the morning service. We encouraged people to bring pastor's favorite dishes but since he likes all food that wasn't hard to do.
The Pastor and his wife really seemed surprised. If we could change one thing we would have someone else preach that day to give him the day off.