Fruitage from Longwood Orlando lecture

LECTURE FEEDBACK REPORT
Elise Moore ID 20189 2/10/2009 6:00-6:50 pm & 2/12/2009 7.30pm GOD IS ON THE JOB 1ST LONGWOOD & ORLANDO FL University of Central Florida & RDV Sportsplex, Baseline Rm

Metaphysical ideas that inspired your lecture planning.

Ø The lecture group was very inclusive and open as they prayed about this activity. This led to important contributions from regular church attendees (non-members) and a more thorough search for new venues.

Ø Encouraged by Elise to approach neighbors and community members “who are spiritually minded” we asked a business professional from the financial industry to introduce our “international Christian speaker”. He readily agreed and stayed throughout the entire lecture (and pitched in to set up more chairs when we ran out of seats!). Speaking with him a few weeks later, he continues to say how much he got out of the lecture and what an honor it was to do the introduction.

Healings (before, during, and after the lecture).

Ø We had a strong desire to hold a talk at one of the classes at the University of Central Florida. This was well received the previous year.

Two members had been trying to communicate with the professor of a Religion and Medicine class since early Fall. We set up everything for the public lecture and did not release the lecturer from the two dates. Five weeks before the lecture date, with fliers and invitations set to go to print, the professor contacted our liaisons about the email from 3-months prior! The professor was very interested in having another talk about Christian Science in her class. Unfortunately, the class only met on the night we had scheduled our public lecture. With 20 minutes to go until the end of the business day contact was made with the venue to change the room to a different date (which had not been available initially) and to determine if our radio and print advertising could be revised. The answers were all YES!

Next, we needed to contact the Board of Lectureship regarding announcements in the CSPS periodicals. They immediately contacted the publisher and the response was, “Today was the day it (the copy) was supposed to go to the printer but was delayed until tomorrow.” The change was complete!

Ø During the talk:
· At the prep meeting on spiritual healing, the lecturer spoke about seeing or identifying individuals through the qualities and spiritual attributes they reflect. At the lecture we had a woman who was unable to control her coughing and stepped outside the room, but could still hear the lecture message. A couple hostesses quietly prayed with the ideas from the prep meeting. As they held to the spiritual qualities reflected by the woman (poise, dominion, patience, beauty, calmness, e.g.) the coughing stilled and she returned to the room.

Ø Following the talk:
· One individual told of a very quick healing she had by applying the truths that were shared by the lecturer. This person fell while taking an evening walk and injured her knee. She prayed with the idea that “God hadn’t fallen and therefore she hadn’t fallen – that God wasn’t hurt so she couldn’t be hurt!” She was immediately able to get up and walk and by morning she was completely free.
· Another person told of how she had diligently studied notes she had taken from both the metaphysical meeting and the public talk and was able to resolve a difficult financial situation with a family member.
· Someone else shared that during the week following the lectures she had experienced three very quick healings – two grandsons were healed of the symptoms of the flu and she, herself, was instantaneously healed of severe burns on her fingers when she picked up a pan top that had been sitting on a red hot burner. She, too, worked with the idea that “God had not been burned and therefore, as God’s reflection or image she had not been burned – that God could not be in pain, and therefore, she could not be in pain.” When her son asked if she was injured, she was able to reply, “I was healed!”
· A church member shared, “I am grateful for Elise’s example of starting a discussion (lecture) of Christian Science with a strong lead-in from the Bible. Yesterday when the Jehovah’s Witness came to my door I was able to welcome them in and felt prepared to listen and exchange with two dear men. We shared many Biblical passages/insights. The one man acknowledged that I knew my Bible well. There at my table by the door was a paperback Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures boldly on the front jacket. I shared how Mrs. Eddy loved the Bible so much that Science & Health is permeated with references to it, and, as a matter of fact, devoted two full chapters to an in-depth study of Genesis and the Apocalypse. As our respectful conversation concluded I accepted their publication even though they would not accept the copy of Science & Health offered to them. BUT they DID accept The Christian Science Monitor as a daily newspaper. Under the masthead it gives the website (http://www.csmonitor.com/ ) and that resource could lead them to investigate further. One man did know of Christian Science/Mary Baker Eddy and said he would look her up again in one of his reference books. I encouraged him to use authorized resources for information on her. He agreed and said that many people had misconceptions of his faith, too, by what others had written that were not factual. Anyway, it was a good conversation and I felt any preconceived notions they had were well addressed.
· Upon greeting a hostess-friend at the lecture, a class-taught Christian Scientist shared that her husband had been hospitalized earlier in the day as the result of a serious industrial accident. The Christian Science practitioner on the case told her that she was planning to attend the lecture that evening. As it worked out, the hospital staff suggested that the woman leave her husband’s side to take a dinner break and return later for a conference. This allowed time for the Christian Scientist to attend most of the lecture. After being uplifted by the message of the talk, she returned to the hospital with her Bible to study the quotations from Psalms and Ephesians shared by the lecturer. She says that she also stayed steadfast with “Be still and know that I am God”; “Wait patiently for divine Love to move upon the still waters”; and, “God is All-in-All”, while her husband underwent plastic surgery the following day. Now one week after the lecture she is happy to report that dire predictions were overcome and that he is being released from the hospital this weekend. She is extremely grateful to our Father-Mother God.
· In an instance of response to the marketing for the lecture, a call came from a computer student at the nearby Maitland campus of Seminole Community College asking if there would be another talk as she saw the bulletin after the scheduled date of the lecture. She was told that there will be two talks in the weeks coming up and will be sent information by mail as well as by email. She was willing to travel a short distance to attend these talks. She also expressed sincere interest in attending a church service as she is a single mom of four and is searching for a church home.

Conversations members had with newcomers.



Information about how people found out about your lecture (interviews, ads, personal invitations).

Ø Postings on Facebook
Ø Postings on free web sites (especially those focused on neighborhoods near our church and venue)
Ø Tag-line after local broadcast of Sentinel Radio
Ø CSPS print and on-line
Ø CSDirectory.com calendar of events
Ø Local community events listings on television
Ø Free advertising in newspapers
Ø Personal invitations (the most effective, by far!)
Ø Fliers and post-card sized invitations

Creative ideas, fresh insights, or things you learned.

Ø This was a very active, public venue so in order to stand out, hosts/hostesses were stationed throughout the parking area, entrances, and corridors wearing tags with the name of the talk, “GOD is On the Job!” The design complemented our fliers and invitations. We also used some magnetic nametags with programmable LED scrolls. These read, “GOD is on the Job! As me how.” They were definite ‘eye-catchers!

Ø Elise uses her web site to share resources and this was a terrific help! For example, sources to buy banners, how to create a calendar of events, samples of invitations, press releases, and so on. Please encourage more lecturers to do this.

Ø Several people commented on how freeing it was to approach neighbors, friends, and colleagues from a different standpoint. Instead of inviting someone based on a known need or physical challenge, Elise emphasized extending an invitation based on the recognition of someone’s principle-based life, their practice and/or search for a spiritually-based life.

Ø Provide paper for participants to take notes.

Ø Elise insisted that we offer a calendar of events as a hand-out. Not only was this a practical step for attendees, it was a reminder to all of us how active the message of Christian Science is throughout the country!

Ø Another handout was a bookmark showing all the times of church and Sunday School services, Reading Room hours, Sentinel Radio broadcast, and web addresses for local, regional, and national resources about Christian Science.

Ø After the talk, be sure to make available copies of some of the lecturer’s published articles. These were highly sought after!

Ø Consider having a few resources available in other languages that may be prevalent in the community. We provided a few Spanish editions of Science & Health, Heralds, and calendars of events.

Resources you found helpful from the Board of Lectureship (Web pages, Lecture/Publicity Consultant, Lecture prep meeting).

Ø Everyone commented on how much they enjoyed the opportunity to work with the lecturer at a face-to-face meeting the week of the talk.

Ø Having the web site and calendar of events was terrific. Students at our classroom talk were directed to http://www.spirituality.com/ in order to be prepared.

Ø It was interesting to work with a lecturer who firmly challenged us to approach this activity with new perspectives; to break out of the routine that “binds”. This stimulated thought and activity.

Ø Elise was very specific with needs to be addressed daily from a metaphysical basis. Having the entire church family praying about these needs, nudging folks with reminders, and sharing insights and inspiration with each other at our planning meetings was vital to the success of the talks.

Information about total number of attendees and newcomers.

Ø 168, including an estimated 25 newcomers

Anything else you want to share.

Ø For communities with Christian Science nursing facilities nearby, please consider ways to include them. The Administrator and Head Nurse from a nearby Christian Science Nursing Facility arranged a wheelchair transport service to bring 6 patients and 2 nurse staff members to the lecture. The vehicle available was not able to carry everyone and a wheelchair, so the Administrator drove the others.

The cost of the van was not budgeted but paid for by the nursing department. Until they are able to purchase a van, the facility has asked if churches sponsoring the lecture might consider including the cost of this wheelchair transport service in their lecture budget. The cost for the appropriate size of van would be approx $350.

The practicality of holding a lecture at the facility is quite costly and everyone said, “they loved getting out and meeting others and of course, having a presence at the public lecture presentation. It was the churches' gracious, loving sense of inclusion that rounded out this activity. The experience of these patients proved the importance for these dear ones to take an active part in church activity. They had not attended a lecture in two years.”

Ø Arrangements were made for a classroom talk at University of Central Florida. Twenty-nine students in this Religion and Medicine class prepared for the talk by going on-line to http://www.spirituality.com/ and reading the Chapter Recapitulation in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. Elise Moore spoke about an hour and then opened it up for a lively Q & A session that lasted 45 minutes to an hour. Please see the attached summaries provided by representatives attending the classroom talk from each church.

Prior to this talk, members signed up to take one hour on the day of the talk to provide specific metaphysical prayer in support of the activity and receptivity of the message.

Ø Don’t limit organizational and planning meetings to a committee or small group of members. Open up participation from your entire church family.