Schedule of Events
Food & Fellowship:
- West Community Room
Worship Center:
- Welcome & Introductions
- General Evacuation Guidelines
Team Breakouts:
- Ushers - Worship Center
- Greeters & Coffee - East Community Room
- Parkers - Phase 2 Lobby
- SMT & MMT - West Community Room
Building Tour w/ Team:
Dismiss
Table of Contents:
Evacuation Guidelines & Map: P. 2-7
Usher Agenda: P. 8
- New Usher Positions & Responsibilities - P. 9
- Verbiage & Examples - P. 10
- Volunteer Guidelines - P. 9-13
General Evacuation Guidelines: Frontlines Team
- Use your position to reassure and command others as needed, keeping them calm by remaining calm and confident
- Be prepared to calm parents and others, directing them to adult worship staging areas. Parents will follow the same check-out procedures at the Children’s Staging Area (Blue Rally Point)
- Become well acquainted with all fire extinguishers and exit locations in your assigned area
- Be EXACT and BRIEF in your radio communication to streamline critical information flow
- Be aware of media: report to Team Lead immediately if request from media is made.
- Remember to RACE:
- R- Rescue anyone in imminent danger if it is reasonably safe to do so
- A- Alarm – activate the alarm for confirmed fire/smoke/sparks
- C- Confine & Compartmentalize – close doors to hallways, office, common areas
- E- Evacuate according to plan, updating Front Lines Coordinator with critical information
Front Lines Usher/Greeter Locations (to be assigned to volunteers by captains each week)
PHASE 2: Worship Center & Lobby
- Level 1 Ushers:
- East & West Outside Exit Doors – receive personnel from worship center and community rooms. Verbal commands as needed to maintain flow and direct to Orange Rally Point, and not to pick up children, they are being cared for by children’s ministry teams
- East & West Inner-Lobby Doors – receive personnel from worship center through doorways. Verbal commands as needed to maintain flow and direct to Orange Rally Point, and not to pick up children, they are being cared for by children’s ministry teams
- Level 2 Ushers:
- 2nd Floor Upper & Lower Balcony– Direct personnel to nearest stair well, east or west. Quickly identify and resolve opposing traffic patterns. Direct evacuee’s to Orange Rally Point and not to pick up children, they are being cared for by children’s ministry teams
- 2nd Floor Upper & Lower Balcony– Direct personnel to nearest stair well, east or west. Quickly identify and resolve opposing traffic patterns. Direct evacuee’s to Orange Rally Point and not to pick up children, they are being cared for by children’s ministry teams
- 2nd Floor East Exit Doors – Direct personnel from each stair case through lobby doors. Quickly identify any blockages in traffic down each of the three stair cases. Notify Front Line Coordinator of special assistance needs/disabled visitors prior to church service or as soon as need is identified. Direct evacuee’s to Orange Rally Point and not to pick up children, they are being cared for by children’s ministry teams
- 2nd Floor West Exit Doors – Direct personnel from each stair case through lobby doors and to Western stairwell through hallway (to the right as you exit western-most stairwell). Notify Front Line Coordinator of special assistance needs/disabled visitors prior to church service or as soon as need is identified. This section will exit through down-stairs Phase 3 area toward the Level 1 Greeters. Direct evacuee’s to Orange Rally Point and not to pick up children, they are being cared for by children’s ministry teams
Greeters:
- 2nd Floor Sky-bridge –GreeterCaptain/Team Lead position! Assist DPD office in directing on-coming evacuee’s to emergency stairwell near bathrooms and down stairwell near elevator. Do not allow elevator use or anyone to cross Sky-bridge! Call Team Lead for Stairwell Evacuation needs. Direct evacuee’s to Orange Rally Point and not to pick up children, they are being cared for by children’s ministry teams
- Level 1 Greeters:
- Infant Area-East Doors/Lobby – ensure ease of exit for cribs/Infant room workers. Identify problems with congestion or potential issues with parents and report to SMT member. NO PARENTS IN! Infant area will be evacuating to Blue Rally Point. Direct oncoming evacuee’s from West exit to exit through sliding doors
- Phase 2 Lobby Greeters – Immediately move to sliding doors, open these doors and standby to direct people exiting West doors of worship center through sliding doors. Direct evacuee’s to Orange Rally Point and not to pick up children, they are being cared for by children’s ministry teams
- Level 2 Greeters:
- Upstairs East Door Greeters: Go to Exit doors downstairs near alley and prepare to direct evacuee’s to Orange Rally Point and not to pick up children, they are being cared for by children’s ministry teams
- Upstairs West Door Greeters: Go to West Upstairs Exit and assist Usher in evacuating people through down-stairs Phase 3 area toward the Level 1 Greeters. Direct evacuee’s to Orange Rally Point and not to pick up children, they are being cared for by children’s ministry teams.
PHASE 3: Common Areas
- Level 1 Greeters:
- Center of lobby directing towards main exits
- Sliding exit doors near fire place: Open doors and direct people through. Direct evacuees to Orange Rally Point and not to pick up children, they are being cared for by children’s ministry teams.
- Proceed to Orange Rally point after all evacuees have passed through.
- Level 2 Greeters:
- Multi-purpose room – evacuate through center stairs towards main exit or outside exits.
- Center area toward elevator – evacuate towards main staircase and emergency exits at north and south end of upper levels. Direct evacuees to Orange Rally Point and not to pick up children, they are being cared for by children’s ministry teams.
- Proceed to Orange Rally point after all evacuees have passed through.
Coffee Team:
- Assist Greeters where needed, opening doors, directing people, helping infants.
- Assist Infants-ensure ease of exit for cribs/Infant room workers. Identify problems with congestion or potential issues with parents and report to SMT member. NO PARENTS IN! Infant area will be evacuating to Blue Rally Point. Direct oncoming evacuee’s from West exit to exit through sliding doors
Parking Team:
- Report assigned area in parking lot
- Assist in communicating that parent’s cannot check their children out until All-Clear is given. They MAY stay with their children if proper identification is confirmed (tag match with child)
- Manage parking lot: no vehicle traffic/exiting until after All Clear is given. Direct people to rally points; tell them not to go to their vehicles.
All Calls:
- All Call to Watermark Response Teams
- Will come from: Church Incident Command (CIC) to designated teams
- To: Radios programmed to receive All Calls ( Certain Frontlines and Childcare Directors)
- Team Leads/Captains will communicate information to their teams
- All Call will momentarily override attempts for outbound communication
- AFTER ALL CALL, WAIT 5 SECONDS BEFORE COMMUNICATING TO TEAM! (Unless emergency dictates you must communicate to Incident Command immediately)
- Stay on your channel!
- Report updates to Front Lines Coordinator
- Front Lines Coordinator will receive updated information and communicate to CIC on Channel 1
Critical Information Flow
Usher Agenda:
- Usher Positions
- Lower
- Upper
- Verbiage
- Volunteer Guidelines (attached)
- Evacuation Detail/Questions
- Building Tour
- Dismiss
Coach & Captains List:
AM Ushers:
Coach: Jason Haggard
Captain WK 1: Bryce Erickson
Captain WK 2: Mike Titmas & Drew Adams
Captain WK 3: Jay Kreusch
Captain WK 4: John Lehmann & Calvin Turner
PM Ushers:
Coach:
Captain WK 1: John Hill
Captain WK 2: David Newcombe
Captain WK 3: Dale Vernon
Captain WK 4: Daniel Schwarz
Usher Positions Updated:
Sentry is a person overseeing the doorway passage upstairs or downstairs guiding guest to seats or communicating with the Seater as to how many seats are needed for the guest(s).
Seater is a person working an isle -- spotting seats and working in conjunction with another Seater or Sentry to help organize the flow of traffic.
Lower Sanctuary Ushering Placement:
- 1st Usher (Seater) stationed at base of lower bowl identifying open seats in an aisle.
- 2nd Usher (Sentry/Seater) stationed at top of bowl
- Welcome guests and asking if they need help finding and number of seats needed.
- If yes, signal how many seats to lower Seater, and communicate with guest either verbally or non-verbally the direction you want them to go.
- At end of 2nd Song
- Sentry will place the “Resume Seating Sign” in middle of well and communicate with our guest the appropriate time to sit. (Meet & Greet)
- If someone looks put off, please take the time to stand next to them and explain the policy. REMEMBER not everyone knows this policy so we need to inform as much as possible.
- If someone who is elderly or handicap comes in, please seat them on the back row or in the sound booth.
- Seater: stationed at lower bowl
- Move up to cover the stair wells and close stanchions. Open them after Meet & Greet.
- Help Sentry with crowd control if needed.
Upper Sanctuary Ushering Placement: (4-6 total)
- 2 Ushers on each Wing, working the stair isles, helping people find seats or asking guests to move in to create more room. This is very important during 2nd service since our seats fill up quickly!
- 1 Usher in the Balcony (when needed), 2 if we have a busy day and the bowl/wins are full.
- If there are no seats left in the wings the Ushers then need to have 1 person move to the door entry and direct people to the balcony. The other person will go assist in balcony area to find seats.
- If we fill up the entire auditorium, please station one person outside the doors to let guest & greeters know, as well as walk the groups down to the overflow rooms. Just communicate to our greeters so we don’t frustrate our guests by making them walk all over the building
Verbiage: Communication is key- yes it is true, both verbal and non-verbal communication will either set you up for success or distress! Here are a few ways to clearly communicate quickly & effectively, but remember some people may need to be heard (listened to) first before we speak.
a.Eye contact allows people to know you are addressing them specifically.
b.Tone, we can be firm and compassionate at the same time.
c.Set people up for success:
-Don’t assume they know the policy so be ready to explain.
-The answer we give should not be “no”, this does not communicate or inform the person of our policy and does not set you or the other person up for success. When conversing take the time out to tell the person of WM’s policy. We preserve the worship time to limit distractions and also do not allow people to sit during a video due to the limited lighting.
Examples:
1.The answer is not “no you can’tgo rejoin your friends/family, etc…the answer is Yes, but please…help us limit distractions to the worship service by
- Waiting in the Well Area until the Meet & Greet
- Sit Upstairs where seating is always available
- Overflow room
2.Make sure to inform the person of when we allow seating and remember we do not seat during announcements. An easy way to communicate this is by approaching the person and saying “Thank you for your patience, we will let you during the Meet & Greet but it may be a 10 minute wait as we listen to announcements or prayer but please feel free to worship standing or you have time to grab some coffee.”
Hand Signals:
Be as discrete as possible so as not to distract those worshiping.
Remember not to point but Usher with an open hand.
Usher Training Manual:
The way to the top with people is by serving them extravagantly and sacrificially.
When someone goes out of their way to help you it makes all the difference in the world!
People expect good service from leaders. They are surprised when we serve them sacrificially
Welcome to the Frontlines Ushering Team and thank you for serving the body! This manual is designed to prepare you for ushering, answer any questions you may have as well as to communicate the heart behind Watermark policies. Please let us know if you have any further questions or concerns.
First we are here to serve the body and have fun doing it!
Basic Information:
- Please arrive on time for the week that you serve
- 9:00 volunteers arrive at 8:30 and in position at 8:45.
- 11:00 volunteers arrive at 10:30 and in position at 10:45.
- 5:30 volunteers arrive at 5:00 and in position 5:15.
- Check-in at the Frontlines Closet located on the 2nd floor between the East & West Entrance to the Worship center.
- To check in please enter the last 4 digits of you number on the touch screen computer.
- Then check your name off the Usher list located on the counter, and then find your nametag in the box.
- You will then grab a radio with greentape on the top.
- Get an earpiece and make sure you clean it off with an alcohol wipe.
- The radio should be on channel 4.
- Check to make sure your equipment works by pressing the grey button, hold for one second then talk. Someone will respond
- Check in with your team Captain & the group, they normally meet in the Worship Center on the East side. You all will go over the order of service, find your positions, and pray with each other before serving.
- Find a sub on weeks you can’t serve, this helps us not be undermanned!
Worship Center Terminology:
- Lower Sanctuary, also called the Bowl
- Upper Sanctuary, or Upstairs
- Sound Booth – located on each side of the sound booth.
- Seating on Side of Sanctuary are called the Wings
- Upper Balcony – Upper section of the upstairs with a middle view of stage (nose bleeds)
- Lower Balcony - Lower section of the upstairs with direct middle view of stage
- Community/Overflow Rooms East (right side facing stage) & West (left side facing stage)
- Entry Way or Wells
Usher Positions:
- The Sentry is a person overseeing the doorway passage upstairs or downstairs guiding guest to seats or communicating with the Seater as to how many seats are needed for the guest(s).
- The Seater is a person working an isle -- spotting seats and working in conjunction with another Seater or Sentry to help organize the flow of traffic.
Usher Responsibilities before & after service:
Before Service
- You need to stay at your post for the entire hour, unless your Captain/Coach relieves you. At least 4 downstairs and 2-3 upstairs.
- Make sure you get a radio & earpiece if you are working a door up or down stairs.
- Rope off the handicap area using either the ropes located in the FL closet. It is easiest to wrap the circle end around the handle of the chair and tie/place the knotted end through the cup holder on the chair in front.
- We rope off a section (2 rows) on the lower or upper balcony on East side for Frontlines volunteers to sit.
- Upstairs Handicap- We have a stack of extra chairs but please let this only be used for someone with a disability or baby & their family.
After Service
- After 1st service we go through the rows and pick up any trash, WM News, etc that was left behind. Any items like a Bible, jacket, or plastic cup can be taken to the Welcome Center to be put in the Lost & Found.
- When you are finished serving please clean your earpiece off for the next person, wrap it up and place it neatly back in the box.
- For the radios, turn off the volume button and place back in the charger. Make sure to put it all the way back where the batteries rub together and the orange charge light comes on. This is very important; otherwise the batteries will go dead, no bueno!
- PM Service- Make sure ropes get picked up and placed in FL closet; there are tacks on the wall for all 6 ropes.
Usher Responsibilities During Service:
- Usher (seaters) stationed at the bottom of the stairs during worship so no one walks down from the balcony into the lower sanctuary
- Communicate with the Greeters to let them know when the lower sanctuary is full and we need to shut doors OR when we need to ask people coming upstairs to enter the upstairs West side b/c the East side is getting full.
- We have a “no entry” policy for the lower sanctuary after the 2nd song. Once we have shut the doors for service/worship we do not let anyone in to sit until the Meet & Greet. However, the greeters may let people who have already sat down & left for whatever reason to come stand in the well-way until the appropriate time, just keep holding…this can last up to 20 minutes.
- Upstairs doors will remain open for access throughout the service. At the end of the songs, either you or the greeter needs to shut opposite doors (inside/outside) to minimize the light and air flow.
- Remember to close stanchions and have 1 Usher post in between the stair well ready to inform those that do not know our policy that they need to wait until Meet & Greet.
Key Ushering Rules:
- Always help people find seats with as little distraction as possible, and please do not walk in front of the lower bowl by the stage.
- Continue to ask everyone to move in to the middle to make room for others.
- Do not seat anyone up or downstairs when we are playing a video or during the Welcome/Announcements. Hold them in the hallway; inform them to listen/watch from there and we will seat them as soon as the speaker/video is finished. This helps limit distractions and allows everyone to hear what is being said.
- There is NO seating in the lower sanctuary after the 2nd worship song until meet and greet. For Holidays & Special Events we will be less strict, so please seat at appropriate times if possible.
- If/when there is a infant/child crying or making a lot of noise please approach the parents and let them know we have a separate room for them to listen to the service where the kids are able to move around and make noise. The East Community room is best.
- If someone seems to be getting frustrated or upset please take the extra time to do all you can to understand the deeper root, remember we are here to serve, love, and encourage, and teach.
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