A complete strategy for how Idlewild plans, produces, and distributes communications — from submission to delivery, across every channel and ministry level.
Why this exists.
The Communications Ministry exists to — partnering to design, display, and distribute promotional material that helps people connect with what God is doing in and through this church.
This playbook is not a wall of rules. It is a shared agreement — a way to protect the quality of our work, honor the capacity of our team, and serve ministries well. It exists so that every ministry knows what to expect when they bring us a need, and our team knows how to honor every request with consistency and care.
“Big moments get full support, and small events get the right support.
Not every event needs a full campaign. Not every project deserves a poster. The system makes sure the right level of effort lands on the right work — every time.
The three pillars
This playbook is a planning tool, not a gatekeeping tool. The criteria, lead times, and tier definitions exist so that good work can be done predictably — not so that ministries get told "no." When something is genuinely vision-critical, leadership has authority to elevate it beyond the standard criteria. The system serves ministry, not the other way around.
Two kinds of requests.
Every request that comes through Communications is either an Event or a Project. Knowing which one you're submitting is the single most important thing you can clarify up front — because it changes the timeline, the deliverables, and the people involved.
An Event
- VBS · Easter · Christmas Eve services
- Camp · Mission trips · Retreats
- Sermon series launches
- Conferences · Worship nights
- Membership classes · Baptism services
- Classified by Event Level (1–4)
- Comms package determined by level
- Multiple key dates: Event Date, Launch Date, Due Date
- Often includes registration logic
A Project
- Hospital list rebrand
- Department signage refresh
- One-off video for a sermon illustration
- Brochure for ongoing ministry
- Bulletin or one-page handout
- Classified by Project Tier (1–4)
- Tier driven by the deliverable type
- One key date: Due Date
- No registration logic
A quick test
If you're not sure which one you're submitting, ask: "Is there a date on the calendar that this is for?" If yes, it's an event. If the deliverable would still need to exist if no specific date were attached, it's a project.
Event classification.
Levels 1 – 4
Every event at Idlewild belongs to one of four levels. Level assignment determines lead time requirements, asset packages, revision rounds, and approval pathways. Classification is done by the Communications team in partnership with ministry leadership.
Events are classified using four factors: Participants, Cost, Service Providers, and Volunteers. An event must meet the criteria of 3 of 4 factors to qualify for a level. If only 2 or fewer factors are met, the event is relegated to the next level down.
| Factor | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Participants | All Church | 500+ | 100 – 500 | <100 |
| Cost | — | $30,000+ | $2,500 – $30,000 | <$2,500 |
| Service Providers | — | 3 / 5 | 2 / 5 | 2 / 5 |
| Volunteers | — | 100+ | 25 – 100 | <25 |
The Leadership Team may elevate an event to a higher tier for exceptional vision importance, even when the factor criteria are not met. This protects strategic priorities that don't fit cleanly into the matrix and ensures that vision-critical events get the support they need.
Until the ministry-plan system is fully locked (October 1, 2026), levels are entered manually on the request form. After October 1, levels populate automatically from the ministry-plan spreadsheet.
Lead time & revisions by level
Project tiers 1 — 4.
Projects don't get classified by audience or strategic weight — they get classified by what's being made. The deliverable determines the tier. The tier determines the lead time. All four tiers are listed together below.
Pick the deliverable, and the system tells you the tier. Tier 1 represents the most complex, time-intensive production work. Tier 4 represents the lightest lift. Each row below shows what kinds of deliverables fall into each tier, organized by category. Color-coded category headers make it easier to scan and find your deliverable type.
Most complex production
Lead time · 6 weeksStandard production
Lead time · 4 weeksMedium-light production
Lead time · 3 weeksLight production
Lead time · 2 weeksTwo weeks is the absolute minimum lead time for any custom production work. Anything shorter than two weeks is not a request — it is an exception, and exceptions go through Pastor Andrew or the Creative PM. If a ministry needs something inside two weeks, the path is: (1) use an approved template if one exists, or (2) escalate to leadership for an override.
One honest caveat. Given the demands and the multitude of projects and events the team is carrying at any given time, exceptions are rare — and the creative team may have to tell you "no." When that happens, it isn't a judgment on the importance of your event. It's a function of capacity. The system exists so that "yes" can mean a real yes.
To protect both ministry and team capacity, ministries are capped on the number of active concurrent projects they can have in production at once. This forces healthy self-prioritization and keeps quality high. Limits are set per ministry and reviewed quarterly.
Lead times at a glance.
Two tables — one for events, one for projects — together on one page. This is the page to bookmark.
Events
| Level | Lead Time | Revisions |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | 4 months (16 weeks) | Unlimited |
| Level 2 | 3 months (12 weeks) | Unlimited |
| Level 3 | 6 weeks | 2 rounds |
| Level 4 | 3 weeks | 1 round |
Projects
| Tier | Lead Time | Revisions |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | 6 weeks | Unlimited |
| Tier 2 | 4 weeks | Unlimited |
| Tier 3 | 3 weeks | 2 rounds |
| Tier 4 | 2 weeks | 1 round |
For events that have a public launch (registration opening, promotion going live), lead time counts back from the Launch Date, not the day of the event. See Section 07 for how Event Date, Launch Date, and Due Date relate.
Event level packages.
Each event level comes with a defined package of comms deliverables. Higher levels get more channels, more polish, and more ongoing support. Projects don't have packages — they have one specific deliverable.
| Asset | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand & Creative | ||||
| Event Graphic | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Custom Sermon / Series Art Kit | ✓ | ✓* | — | — |
| Stories / Testimonies (written or filmed) | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Video & Platform | ||||
| Promotional Video (long-form, 90s+) | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Promotional Video (short-form, 30–60s) | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
| Platform Promo (stage announcement / pre-service) | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
| Service / Walk-In Slides | ✓ | ✓ | ✓* | — |
| Email & Direct | ||||
| Email Campaign — Multi-send | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
| Email — Single Send (in church-wide rotation) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| SMS / Text Send | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
| Postcard / Direct Mail | ✓* | — | — | — |
| Social & Digital | ||||
| Social — Church Page (campaign / multi-post series) | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
| Social — Ministry Page (post or carousel) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓* |
| Website Event Page (idlewild.org/event) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| App Featured Card | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
| Print & In-Building | ||||
| Snap Frames / Hallway Posters | ✓ | ✓ | ✓* | — |
| Yard Signs / Outdoor Signage | ✓ | ✓* | — | — |
| Lobby Installation / Welcome-Center Display | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Room Signs / Wayfinding | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Flyer / One-Pager / Handout | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Merch & Volunteer | ||||
| Branded Merch / Apparel | ✓* | — | — | — |
| Volunteer Lanyards / T-Shirts | ✓ | ✓* | — | — |
| Photo / Selfie Station | ✓* | — | — | — |
* As applicable based on the specific event. The package is the maximum the level qualifies for — not a guarantee that every Level-1 or Level-2 event needs every asset. The Creative PM scopes each event individually.
Three dates that matter.
For events, we track three different dates — and confusing them is the single biggest source of timeline misalignment between ministries and Communications. This section makes the distinctions plain.
Ministries provide their copy, photos, and decisions at the time of submission — there is no separate "ministry deadline" baked into the timeline. The Due Date in this system is the day the Communications team delivers finished assets back to the ministry for review and approval, before the public Launch Date.
Due Date applies to launch-phase promotional materials. Day-of-event physical materials (signage, lanyards, printed handouts, room signs) have a separate production deadline tied to Event Date, scoped during project planning. Long lead-time events like camp do not need every asset finished by Launch Date.
Registration matters
Many of our largest events live or die on registration. When registration is part of the event, the Launch Date is functionally the most important date in the project — because that's the day the ministry needs traffic going to the registration page.
Registration is its own animal. Not all events have it, and the events that do don't all need the same lead time for registration to be ready. The form will ask whether registration is part of your event — if yes, it asks for the Registration Open Date as a separate field, in addition to Event Date and Launch Date.
For projects, only the Due Date applies
Projects don't have a Launch Date or an Event Date — they have a Due Date. The Due Date is the day Communications delivers the finished project to the ministry. The submission form for projects asks only this one date.
Communication rhythms.
When and how Idlewild communicates with the congregation. Saturdays and Sundays are reserved for in-person worship — no outbound communication is sent on weekends. Other days are scheduled with intent.
The weekly cadence
Subscribed audiences are different
Recurring distribution to leaders and groups who have actively opted in (e.g., discussion-group leaders receiving weekly questions) is its own category. Those audiences expect the cadence and have signed up for it. Subscribed sends are not subject to the same blackout rules as broad-audience promotion, but they still flow through Communications oversight.
Email & text are permanent — social can be undone
An email or text that has been sent cannot be unsent. A social post can be taken down. This shapes how aggressively we review email and text before send. The bar is higher because the consequence of an error is harder to reverse.
Blackout dates
During a blackout: nothing goes out except from the Communications team or with explicit Communications approval. Ministries can still plan sends during these windows, but execution waits.
Canva Enterprise & the template library.
A long-term strategy for getting ministries access to controlled, on-brand template editing — without compromising the brand or overwhelming Communications with every recurring graphic.
Canva Enterprise is the platform we're moving toward to enable ministries to update recurring materials directly. The Communications team will design the templates. Branding, type, and layout will be locked. Ministries will only be able to edit the variable content — the date, the speaker name, the room number, the headline — within the bounds we've set.
The two-stage approval framework
Access to template editing is not automatic. Ministry users go through a two-stage approval before they can edit on their own:
Stage 1 — Person approval. Has this person demonstrated they understand the brand and can be trusted with template access? Approval is given by the Creative Project Manager.
Stage 2 — Product approval. Each template a person can edit is approved separately. Just because someone is trusted with bulletins doesn't mean they're trusted with sermon series art.
Not every gifted person sings on platform — even when they want to. Why? Because singing on platform requires a specific kind of preparation, vetting, and fit. Template access is the same. We're not gatekeeping — we're stewarding the brand. The framework exists to keep the right work in the right hands.
Recurring items handled this way
Once a template exists for a recurring item, the ministry takes ownership of weekly or monthly updates. The ministry tells us if a week is skipped. Communications is no longer in the loop for every individual instance — we're in the loop for the build, the major refresh, and any rebrand.
Request & approval workflow.
How a request actually moves from a need to a delivered asset. Five steps, no detours. All requests go through the form — no side-door, back-door, or hallway-conversation requests.
The submission form: two paths.
One form, two paths — Event or Project. The first question on the form is the path selection. Every downstream field adapts.
What you'll be asked
Step 0 — Event or Project?
Two large, clear buttons. Pick one to begin. The form will not let you continue until you've selected.
Step 1 — Submitter, ministry & point of contact
Your name, your email, and your ministry (selected from a dropdown). You'll also identify the point of contact for this request — the person who will receive proofs, give feedback, and approve final assets. Defaults to you; toggle to enter a different name and email if someone else is making the decisions.
Step 2 — Path-specific details
Event path: Event name, description, level (manually selected until Oct 1), Event Date, Launch Date, Due Date, registration toggle, and a checklist to select the assets you need from your level's package (see Section 06).
Project path: Project name, description, deliverable type (auto-populates the tier), Due Date.
Step 3 — Synopsis & the ask
A short synopsis of what you need and why. The PM uses this to triage and assign.
Step 4 — Review & submit
Read your answers, edit if needed, and submit. The form pushes the request directly into Monday.com.
What was inside this playbook
Eleven sections, organized so all event-related material lives together and all project-related material lives together. Use this as a quick reference back to any section.
- 01Why This Exists · Three PillarsUpdated
- 02Two Kinds of Requests
- 03Event Classification · Levels 1–4Rebuilt
- 04Project Tiers 1–4Updated
- 05Lead Times at a Glance
- 06Event Level PackagesRestyled
- 07Three Dates That Matter
- 08Communication RhythmsFeatured
- 09Canva Template StrategyIllustrated
- 10Request & Approval Workflow
- 11The Submission Form: Two Paths