Often we taut how beneficial long term planning is for a successful ministry event. But you can pull together a retreat on a short timeline and inject lots of spiritual energy into your attendees and church. There are a few keys you'll need to focus on...     Continue Reading | Leave Comment

It is that time again when everyone starts heading back to school. All of the family vacations are coming to an end and the routine of doing homework and afterschool sport practices start back up. For many, this is a stressful time. Students have lost a sense of schedule and are not ready for the day-to-day routine. I remember the last week of summer vacation when I was younger. It was the most dreaded week for me because I loved being outside and didn't want to go back to being cooped up in a classroom...     Continue Reading | Leave Comment

There's a difference between cheap and affordable. When something gets cheap the trade off for spending less is a lower value. Sometimes in the case of do I want wheaties or bran flakes when I'm picking out my cereal at the grocery store... well that's easy, I'll take the store brand and save $1 plus get four more ounces in the box. But I didn't really choose the cheap option in this instance. I choose the option that I felt had higher value...     Continue Reading | Leave Comment

A good website will show you all sorts of details about a property and help you decide if it is a good fit or not for your next event. However, nothing beats going and walking around the property with the staff. Put your senses to work. Is their noise from construction? Is there a weird smell? How comfortable is the bed? Stay overnight and test how friendly is the staff at the front desk? How warm is the shower...     Continue Reading | Leave Comment

I had a finance professor who drilled the benefits of doing Cost-Value-Profit-Analysies for events or programs. Its pretty much a budget but you also take into account changes in volume. A CVPA helps you identify several items like: how many people you need to attend to break even and if you have enough income to off-set the cost of some optional expenses. For example a CVPA could help you determine that with 300 attendees you can afford to give ten people a schalorship.....     Continue Reading | Leave Comment

Where you're going to go can change your attendees from thinking... been there, done that, to "This is going to be awesome!...     Continue Reading | View Comments (2)

One of the most understated facts about a Christian Conference Center are all the other ministries that are supported or benefit from the operation of the facility. Denominational properties are especially supportive of initiatives for youth ministry, training for leaders, and missions. Often times the property may simply provide some little things like housing for a missionary who is home to raise funds. Things that are often overlooked are things like the ability to market events or the collective knowledge and lessons learned by a property and shared with other ministries. For example, a conference center maintenance team that goes out to help a church re-build after a flood or a place to train pastors who are going out to plant churches. Our network shares staff and buying power so we can provide better services to groups without driving up the rates. One of the biggest plusses in bringing an event to a Christian property is we are in ministry just like you...     Continue Reading | Leave Comment

Choose a property that will offer your group facilities & guest services that enhance the mission of the event...     Continue Reading | Leave Comment

In most instances, the apparent difference to the event planner is the price structure, most Christian Conference Centers work on package plans (per person price for the entire retreat), whereas Hotels charge a rate per room, meeting room, and meals...     Continue Reading | Leave Comment

We're trying to cut costs this year.  Our group has always gone to a hotel for our events, some people on our planning team have suggested a Christian Conference Center.  What is the difference and how would a Christian Conference Center be a better choice for our group...     Continue Reading | Leave Comment

Regardless of the state of the economy, churches and ministries often waiver on whether to go on retreat or not, because they’re wondering something to the tune of, "Is it worth it?"  So as a planner how do you ensure that your retreat is value packed and shows your ministry a Return on its Investment...     Continue Reading | Leave Comment