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Welcome to Tragedy Into Triumph!

Tragedy into Triumph is an event that can change your church and community!

What started in 2009 as a gathering of 350 people has grown into a gathering in Ohio of close to 6,000 people over the course of the event, as well as a television footprint

in over 30,000 lives. It is not a conference, and it is not a revival. In fact, it is only being offered to our Nazarene churches in the USA/Canada Region for the sole purpose of

connecting the power of Christ with a person’s real life.

We Overcome By The Blood of the Lamb and

Word of Our Testimony Rev. 12:11

Each night a different, recognizable speaker, from a different walks of life, shares his or her story of how God changed their Tragedy Into Triumph. On behalf of churches in

various parts of the USA/Canada region who will be joining in this outreach event, we say…Thank You! We are praying that God uses this event through your church to make

an eternal difference in people’s lives as they find triumph over their own tragedies through Jesus Christ.

We have divided this process into two basic steps to make this easier as you plan for

March 13-16, 2016 event. Keep in mind that this guide is based on 4 weeks of promotion and advertising; however, the earlier you begin preparation the greater the

event will be in the life of your church. Please be sure to read the entire planning guide so that you have all the information that you need to make this event successful.

You know your church and its ministries best so please feel free to tailor this guide in a manner that best suits you. We want to help make this “your” event so use what

works for your situation.

>> You can find digital copies of much of this material, PowerPoint slides and graphics at www.tn2tsimulcast.org/resources

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Step 1 - Planning

You need your people to serve to make this event a success! At least two weeks before the event (2/28), we recommend having a joint meeting with all your teams so that you can pray together and be properly trained. This meeting can be scheduled at a time that is best for your church. *(See the resource section for a sample agenda for this meeting) As much as possible strive to secure the following Teams: Promotion Setup & Tear Down Technology Hospitality Child Care Altar Each team should have a coach. Your coaches are the people in your church whom you can count on. Individuals whom you know will work hard to ensure your event success, and those who can lead others. Coaches should be responsible for: Recruiting People for Their Teams Informing People of Meeting Times Ensuring their area is thoroughly organized and covered A Word to Coaches

Don’t expect your pastor or church staff to do everything for your area. If you are choosing to be a coach for your area, then ensure that you take the initiative and own your space. Don’t give tasks back to your pastor or staff to do. They need you to effectively manage and facilitate your team for the event to be a success. The size of these teams are strictly based on the size of your congregation. A team may only consist of the coach and that is okay as long as the area is getting covered. We understand that each church size is different, so if it is not possible for you to have coaches or teams based on the size of your con-gregation, then use the planning in this step to ensure that you have those areas competently addressed. It is okay if one person serves as a coach in multiple areas. You can still have a success-ful event even if you can’t fill all of these slots; just ensure that each area is covered, and that you have an effective plan in place for that area.

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Promotion Team

Type of Coach Needed: Depending on the size of your congregation, promotion should be coached by a mem-ber of the church staff, office secretary, or the Senior Pastor. There is much work to do prior to the event. Therefore to facilitate this correctly, this position must be assumed by someone who can work during the day. Responsible for All printing of flyers ahead of the event All coordination of promotional areas including church sign/website/Facebook, etc. All facilitation of any handouts/flyers/altar cards during the event We recommend distributing information each night to attendees about your church and its ministries. Announce Your Participation in this event in your Sunday Morning Services. Do not wait! Announce it now, and announce it each week until the event arrives. Use the person in your church that is the best at giving announcements, so that people clearly understand and become excited about the event. We understand that you may not have all of your plans in place right now! That is okay! Your church needs to build excitement and word of mouth is going to be your best advertising tool! Sample Announcement >> (Powerpoint Slide can be downloaded at: www.tn2tsimulcast.org/resources) Today we would like to take a minute to tell you about Tragedy Into Triumph. A proven way to reach out to our community through a simulcast broadcast. March 13-16 at 7pm, we will be participating in this live event with other Nazarene Churches around the USA/Canada Region. Through this event we will have access to exclusive live feeds of some incredible people, who will share their story of how God changed their lives from Tragedy Into Triumph. These incredible people are: Daryl Strawberry – Major League Baseball Champion and All Star – Will be talking about Addiction Taya Kyle – American Sniper Chris Kyle’s Wife – Will be talking about the Loss of her husband Scott Rigsby – Double Amputee Ironman Record Holder – Will be talking about Adversity Abbey Johnson – Former Planned Parenthood Director Now Christian – Will be talking about Abortion Make your plans now to join us, and help us spread the word. You can help spread the word by putting the event on your Facebook page, taking a flyer with you to pass out to a friend or neighbor, and by personally inviting someone to attend.

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We will have more information over the weeks ahead, but we wanted you to have the information so that you can begin to help us promote this event. We are going to have a special time of prayer to-day asking God to bless us as we prepare to reach our community through this event. Additional Announcement Themes: 2nd Announcement: Repeat Content of First Announcement/Feature Daryl Strawberry Story* 3rd Announcement: Highlight Dates and Times/Feature Taya Kyle Story* 4th Announcement: Highlight Dates & Times/Feature Scott Rigsby & Abbey Johnson Story* >>*Stories can be found in the resource section at the end of this kit.

Additional Promotion Ideas

During Announcements have everyone pull out their cellphone and send a personal text to someone inviting them to come to a specific night that might interest them. You can do this every week! Have people send out links through email to those in their contact list to www.tragedyintotriumph.com and your church’s website page promoting the event. Encourage your congregation to post information and link to Tragedy Into Triumph’s Facebook page on their Facebook page as often as they will. (https://www.facebook.com/Tragedy-Into-Triumph-217299531693337/) If you have additional money, purchase advertising on Facebook. Facebook ad-vertising is extremely effective and fairly inexpensive. You can set up your advertisement to only ap-pear on the pages of those who live within a certain distance from your church. You can specialize the advertisement to include people who like the movie American Sniper, who like MLB Baseball, etc. You can dictate whether you want to pay per click to your website or pay per appearance on the indi-vidual’s Facebook page. You can also set a budget amount that you wish to spend. You can find all the information here: https://www.facebook.com/business/products/ads/ Use the Press Release in the resource section, and send it to your local newspaper, radio stations, and television stations in your area. Often news media outlets will include your Press Release for free as they are constantly looking for filler material. If you do not do this often, you will be surprised at how kind they will be to you. Ask them to at least include the event on their community billboards. Press releases should be sent about two weeks before the event. Ask radio stations about free or their best “rate” for advertising. (Occasionally you can get ads for $5) Send a flyer to other churches encouraging them to be involved and invite their friends and family who don’t know Christ to come as well. Ask local businesses to donate a few giveaways that you can give out each night.

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Print 8.5” x 11” posters from the resource area on the website and encourage your people to ask businesses that they frequent or have relationships with to display the poster. If you have people in your church that are Rotary, or Lions Club, have them bring flyers and announce at meetings. Have your older church members start a phone-a-thon and call your church’s responsibility list to invite them to the event. Have high school students take flyers to school. Reach out to your local high school and invite the baseball coach and baseball team to hear Daryl Strawberry. Have a prize that you will give one person on the team as a promotion. Put up flyers in your local YMCA and ask for giveaways for the night that Scott Rigsby will be featured. Reach out to local Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers to encourage them to bring those receiving services to hear Abbey Johnson’s story. Take Flyers to hand out in local bars. For those in your church that are spiritually strong enough, lead a team to visit local bars to share about the event. You may be surprised how receptive they are! Put Flyers in local movie theaters for those that might have seen the movie American Sniper. Optional: -Purchase yard signs from our website and have people in your church place in their yard to generate intrigue about the event. -Purchase T-shirts from our website so that it starts to create some buzz in your area. -Purchase larger 11” x 17” posters from our website for larger displays in businesses that you have relationships with. >> Additional Promotional Ideas Can Be Found in the Resource Section Always Remember… You don’t need lots of money to promote this event! Word of mouth is your best advertising tool! When your people get excited they will get others excited. People always respond to passion so encourage your people to help you advertise each week leading up the event, by sharing the event in any conversations they have. Prompt your people to get at least one different person there each night that could benefit from the topic! It is our recommendation that you become as aggressive as possible in advertising this event. If people don’t know about the event they will not come!

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Setup & Tear Down Team

Type of Coach Needed: Someone who works hard and holds people accountable. Responsible for - Setup of Chairs if needed - Any platform changes you are making to better facilitate the simulcast - Cleanliness of Facility before each night - Cleanliness of Restrooms during event - Church should be clean and ready for people no later than 1 hour before event begins. - Any additional facilities needs you might have. As new people may be coming to your church it is important to give the best first impression. Thus, one vital component is to have your facility clean and orderly.

Technology Team

Type of Coach Needed: The best technology person in your church even if he or she is only 12. Responsible for -Formulate a Plan for displaying the event -Setup the Screen if it’s not setup already -Testing of Equipment/Internet Speed (A High Speed Internet Connection is Required) -Ensuring Your Computer Can Display on Screen or Television -Technology team should be onsite no later than one hour before event begins to ensure connection -It is not required, but we recommend a backup solution in place as well. An easy backup solution is a 4G LTE Hotspot. They can be purchased at local cellular phone company stores, or perhaps some-one in your church has one already. If your local internet connection fails, your computer can con-nect to the Hotspot through WiFi and you can broadcast the event that way. If you look at our fo-rums on the website, there is additional information on how to implement a backup solution. If you do not have a 4G LTE Hotspot, that is still not a problem as you can use someone’s smartphone to activate a WiFi hotspot on their smartphone. Have your people talk to their cellular carries as there may be additional charges. Nevertheless, it is always wise to have a backup plan just in case your main church internet connection fails. >>Refer to FAQ or online FORUM for additional help * A link will be emailed before the test broadcast dates to ensure proper authentication. Test dates are: February 23 and March 8 @ 8 PM.

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Hospitality Team

Type of Coach Needed: The friendliest most engaging person in your church. Responsible for - Greeting People when they enter the building and when they exit - Helping people find seats if needed - Showing people where restrooms are - Knowing Information that is pertinent to your location - Handing out information each night about your church - Arriving by 6:15 each night - A parking team should your church need one to assist people in parking their cars - Any other hospitality items that are specific to your church If you church has a café or offers coffee or water, you want friendly face(s) there to help serve.

Child Care Team

A Note about Child Care: This team is not required for this event, but it will surely make it easier for everyone who comes to listen to the speakers and participate in the event. Your event can be a success even if you can’t pro-vide child care. If you plan not to provide child care please note that “No Child Care is Provided” on all of your promotional material. Remember you are wanting people to have a favorable view of your church and for them to feel that you care for them and their children. If you plan on offering child care please have the right people in place. It would be better to not offer child care than to offer something that doesn’t provide proper supervision. If your church can afford it, we think it is best to invite someone in children’s ministry from the out-side who can engage the children who come to the event in fun and in spiritual formation. Secure someone special who has a talent or a gift for capturing the attention of children. You can use this as a great event for kids as well that is so high interest and so much fun each night that they are begging mom and dad to come back the following night. Whatever you decide, just remember that if you are going to offer child care you must make it fun and can still make it productive in ministry! Even if you can’t provide care for all the children through 5th grade, it is still nice to be offer a Nursery. Just remember that if you only offer Nursery through a specific age, that you should place that information on any promotional material you use.

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Type of Coach Needed: One who loves children and families with children. Responsible for - Children’s Check In per your church’s policies - Proper Care and Supervision - Proper room for kids to be kids based on the size of your expected crowd for the event - Fun Activities - A lesson focused on their decision to find Christ - A snack should you choose to offer one - Any other child care items that are specific to your church

Altar Team

Type of Coach Needed: One who is loves seeing people find salvation in Jesus Christ. Responsible for

- Praying with anyone who comes to the altar - Knowing how to lead someone to Jesus Christ >> Steps are on the altar card in resource section Altar Team Directions: Ensure Cards are filled out with contact information as that is your link to the person! You fill it out or ask the person to complete the card if they are more comfortable doing so Try to Match Up Gender Try to Match Up Age Do not Be over bearing at the Altar Place Hand on the person if you feel comfortable Pray for them Quietly Began Discussions with them as you notice them finishing Remember You don’t have all the answers You are there to support them in their decision Be a voice of Reason and Hope from God Make sure your name is on card Share your Story Briefly Pray with them before you part ways Listen to Them...Make Eye Contact…Repeat Key Phrases Make Sure your name is on the card

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Share your Story Briefly Pray with them before you part ways Listen to Them...Make Eye Contact…Repeat Back Key Phrases Get Pastor if needed

Remember #1-Your Story is great part of your witness #2-Earn the right to be heard by listening #3-You are Presenting the person of Christ…Jesus is alive. #4-Stress the Love and the Grace of God #5-Keep it Simple…you don’t have to prove the Gospel (1 Corinthians 2:1-2) Questions to aid you in leading them to Christ: -When did you receive Christ as your Savior? -If you were to die tonight would you go to heaven? -If you were to stand before God and He were to say, Why should I accept you into heaven... what would you say? -Every altar team member is responsible for following up with the individuals they pray with at the altar. We recommend sending a letter to the individual within two weeks of the event. >>A Sample letter is in the resource section.

TimeLine

4 Weeks Prior Make announcement #1 in all Worship Services Pray for the event at the close of the announcement Post on Website or Facebook Select Coaches for Teams and review their responsibilities with them Begin To Advertise Put on Church Sign if you have one Ask your church to take flyers to businesses, family, and friends. Ask them to begin to pray that God will show them who they should invite to this event. Optional: Have Yard Signs Available to place around town

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TimeLine

3 Weeks Prior Make announcement #1 in all Worship Services Pray for the event at the close of the announcement Post on Website or Facebook Select Coaches for Teams and review their responsibilities with them Begin To Advertise Put on Church Sign if you have one Ask your church to take flyers to businesses, family, and friends. Ask them to begin to pray that God will show them who they should invite to this event. Optional: Have Yard Signs Available to place around town

2 Weeks Prior

Make Announcement #3 in all Worship Services Encourage your church to text someone and invite them in during Worship Services Remind Teams about the scheduled Team Planning Meeting that day Use One of the Promotion Ideas Listed in the Promotion Section Play Carrollton Video In Service or for your countdown Continue to encourage your church to take flyers Announce Prayer Service the following Sunday Night Optional: Continue to make yard signs and t-shirts available.

1 Week Prior

Make Announcement #4 in all Worship Services Participate in Test Broadcast March 8 @ 10 PM Gather for Prayer Service that Evening Begin 1 For 7 Prayer Initiative Distribute one flyer per Worship attendee. Ask them to personally invite someone with the flyer dur-ing the next week.

Each Night

The service stream begins promptly at 7 pm. We will be covering announcements and welcomes to all of the different locations participating in the simulcast first. As closely as possible, we will adhere to the following schedule:

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7:00 PM Service Begins 7:10 PM Worship 7:30 PM Speaker 8:10 PM Altar Call 8:30 PM Service Ends *All times based on Eastern Standard Time Your church is free to have their own welcome and worship or to worship with the music provided by Carrollton. Similarly, your church has the option of participating in the altar call through the simulcast or to be led by your pastor. We leave those options completely up to you. We want this event to be larger than any of our churches yet still uniquely your churches’ event. Please feel free to have a free give away, or some promotional item for your attendees to make the event part of your community.

Ensure that at the close of each night you announce the following night’s speaker.

Finances

We are hopeful that this is event is a great $225 investment. We also know that there are always ad-ditional considerations that a church must include to conduct an excellent event. We wanted to help you find possible ways to recoup some of your cost for hosting this event should you choose to do so. Please use any of these suggestions that work for your context and community. 1. Order extra t-shirts to sell at your location or wrist-bands. Nothing will drive home the point that this event is significant more than your church branded quality merchandise that bears the Tragedy Into Triumph logo. 2. Ask businesses to sponsor the event. We ask businesses to sponsor our event and then let them setup a display table in our church foyer. 3. Take offering every night at the same time that we take the offering. 5. Ask one or two of your people from your congregation to cover the cost of the event. 6. Offer Coffee/Water or Concessions for purchase for the event if it is in keeping with your churches facility use policy. *We do not recommend charging for people to attend. One of the foundational tenants of Tragedy Into Triumph is that it will always be free for people to attend so that money is never an obstacle to someone finding Christ.

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Step 2 - Prayer

We believe that prayer is the key to a successful event (Luke 11:9)

We recommend: 1. Your church should have a focused evening service of prayer. We recommend two Sunday nights prior to the event, your church should have a focused time of prayer preparing for God to use your congregation during Tragedy Into Triumph. This event will be led by the pastor(s) and will feature time at the altar and testimonies of how God is already using Tragedy Into Triumph in your community. Have your people share about the conversations they have had and the people they have invited. 2. Your people should be encouraged to pray for seven days leading up the event. There is a sample prayer card in the resource section that can be used as a guide for your church. You can also down-load the card from the website. The card is called “1 for 7” – One person praying for 7 days.

We Pray for the Following: That the community will know That those who need to be at our church will be there That God will give us wisdom as we invite others That Christ will change lives including ours For the people in our church as they work and invite others The speakers and worship leaders to be Spirit Led Strength and protection from the Enemy

Final Thoughts

The more planning and preparation you invest into this event the better it will be. We don’t presume that we have covered everything, but we do hope that we have given you enough detail to consider and plan so that the event can be successful in your location.

We want to hear from you! If there are things we have missed or further questions that you have please post your questions in the forum on the website so that everyone can benefit from the answers. If you need immediate assistance do not hesitate to contact us at contact@tn2tsimulcast.org or toll free at 1-844-868-3272. We want to help you anyway we can! Thanks for partnering with us, and may God receive all the glo-ry and honor for our endeavors together!