First Quarter 2003 Update

We would like to update you on the accomplishments for the first quarter 2003 and our plans for second quarter 2003. The Education Team did an outstanding job teaching the "Very Basic Computer Class" from January through April as our in-house offering. There were about 60 students who attended the 17 sessions of this class. The "Computer Art" class was also taught for the Art Ministry for a total of 28 students. The demand for this "Very Basic Computer" class continues to be high, so we will offer another series of daytime/nighttime classes starting May 13, 2003 and running through the first week of June. This May classes are already full with a waiting list of 12 students. We will offer this class in the fall to teach the people on this waiting list. We also offered the "Computer Cafe" to allow students to practice their skills on Friday afternoons. I am tracking the attendance of this weekly lab; these labs were lightly attended possibly due to the Friday afternoon schedule. We moved the date of this "Computer Cafe" to Sunday morning between services to make it more accessible to the congregation. I will keep you informed of the positive or negative results of this change. The Outreach offerings of donating computers has taken a different approach with positive results. We have become a refurbishing/repair shop for the Linwood Presbyterian Church. They bring us the donated computer they have received and we refurbish these computers for them. We have done six computers for them. The item I will track is the one-for-one offering to St. Vincent. Our donation of a one-for-one offering to Sister Berta was withheld due to a needed process to maintain our records of what was given. I have the Documentation Team focusing on developing this process and I am confident that we will be able to resume the one-for-one offerings to our strategic partners.

First Quarter 2003 Accomplishments

The Education Team established the practice, tutoring, and assistance Friday afternoon weekly sessions. The Ed team trained the new members as teacher and lab assistants to meet student demand. The Computer Ministry members hosted the table in Friendship Hall each Sunday in January to promote awareness and recruit volunteers. We provided six computers to Linwood Presbyterian Church. Research and Development worked with the Documentation team to document our needed standards and procedures by producing a Computer Ministry manual.

Second Quarter 2003 Plans

Submitted by Tony Liu

Second Quarter 2003 Update


This is an update on our accomplishments second quarter of this year and our plans for the third quarter. The Education Team did an outstanding job teaching the "Very Basic Computer Class" from May 12 to June 4. There were 15 Students taught by our rotating team of teachers assisted by 8 teaching assistants "Chimes" in the Tuesday day time class. The Wednesday night time class had 13 Students taught by our team of teachers assisted by 13 Chimes. The key is the ratio students to teachers/chimes; we continue to get praise from the students on how much they appreciate the special attention they receive from the teachers and chimes. Also, I understand the student waiting list will fill the upcoming Fall classes. Members from the Computer Ministry hosted the "Computer Cafe" offered between the Sunday Services the months of May and June. The original purpose of this "Cafe" was to allow the students the opportunity to practice what what they learned from the "Very Basic Computer" class. We noticed that members of the congregation that were not taking this class have been coming to this cafe just to use the computers in Rm. 355 . I think additional attendance is positive that the Computer Cafe is a valuable offering in many ways. We are currently evaluating the best way to offer this "Computer Cafe" this fall.br The Outreach offerings to provide computers to our strategic partners continues to be done. We delivered computers to Sister Berta at Saint Vincents and churches of the Presbyterian Urban network. We also provide monitors to a community service organization for projects they provide. The specific offerings we provided are listed under the Second Quarter accomplishments.
The Documentation team completed the Quality Assurance, Inventory numbering, and equipment logging procedures to capture the important information of the computer offerings for our outreach program. This finished the last stage the Computer Ministry started two years ago and a major accomplishment. To maintain the highest quality creating these offerings, Clint Brown lead the team to finished the Quality Assurance instructions and documentation. Rick Housh will put this information in a common place for all members of the Computer Ministry to get.

Second Quarter 2003 Accomplishments

The Education team taught the "Very Basic Computer" class and offer the "Computer Cafe" in Rm. 355 of the main church. The Installation and Support teams created the student computers as part of the upgrade of the equipment in Rm. 355. The Documentation team established the Quality Assurance process for the outreach offerings. The Hardware, Software, and Documentation team prepared and delivered one-for-one offerings for:
-Sister Berta's Project Outreach giving her 5 computers.
-Presbyterian Urban Work - inner City Alliance giving them 4 computers.
1 computer for the Kansas and Missouri Safety Council
1 computer for Grandview Park
2 monitors for Linwood Presbyterian Church
29 monitors donated for community recycling identified by John Osborne, Software Team leader
Ken Smith reported Computer Ministry needs to the task force led by Mike Stratinger regarding the future of the 99th and Mission Road Outreach Center.

Third Quarter 2003 Plans

Submitted by Tony Liu

Third Quarter 2003 Update


This is an update on our accomplishments third quarter of this year and our plans for the rest of the year. The Education Team conducted 10 sessions of "Very Basic Computer" class including both daytime and evening schedules with a total of 24 students. The student waiting list continues to grow, and our next series of classes is fully enrolled. The Education Team met during August and revised the class curriculum. The class was increased from four to five weekly sessions and new handouts were developed for each session. Al Biggs, Hoyl Lockett and Jim Stewart joined the core set of Teachers on the Education Team.
The HW/SW/RD teams created ten One-for-One computer offerings with delivery of these ten computers to Sister Berta of St. Vincent. We are still in the process of contacting the folks at the Linwood Presbyterian to offer our four One-for-One computer offerings to them.
The plans for the balance of 2003 is to prepare for 2004 and expand the Outreach of the Computer Ministry. The Computer Ministry organization skill set has meet my expectations. The members of the ministry have the skills to accomplish the offerings in the most efficient manner. This means that we are exploring new ways to expand the horizon of our outreach and range of the offerings we can provide. For example, we are in the process of providing a One-for-One offering to a Church in Mission, Texas. I find this exciting because this expands the horizon and reach of the Computer Ministry to be outside of Kansas City and still maintain the zero cost offering goal.

Third Quarter 2003 Accomplishments

The Education, Support, Hardware, Software, Research & Development, and Installation teams completed the upgrade of computers and teaching materials for the Fall offerings in within Rm. 355. Tom Housh led the Education Team to prepare the Rm. 355 Fall offerings. Ken Smith led the the Hardware and Software teams to create the outreach offerings to our strategic partners.

Fourth Quarter 2003 Plans


Submitted by Tony Liu

Fourth Quarter 2003 Update


This is an update on the accomplishments fourth quarter of this year and our plans for the first quarter of 2004. The Computer Ministry met the goals we established for 2003. We taught a total of 102 Students in 36 sessions of the "Very Basic Computer Class". We delivered our outreach quota for computer offerings to our strategic partners at St. Vincent, Grandview Park, Linwood, and Westport Presbyterian Churches. Most importantly, the members of the Computer Ministry have the skills, experience, talent, and desire to continue this ministry into 2004. We have been working diligently to complete God's vision for the Computer Ministry, which we started May of 2001. The organization's skill set and the teams to staff the ministry are established thus completing the fifth stage of the Computer Ministry. We are entering the sixth and final stage of this Ministry's development. This final stage will focus on teaching other organizations how to build a Computer Ministry. We call this the "Fish" project after the proverb that if people can learn how to fish they can feed themselves for life. In other words, if we can train others how to create a Computer Ministry, they can help satisfy the demand for computers within the community.

4th Quarter 2003 Accomplishments

The Outreach team maintained the Grandview Park Presbyterian Church's after school children's computer lab offering. The Outreach team delivered the one for one offerings to St. Vincent's, Grandview Park and Linwood Presbyterian Churches. The Installation and Support Team completed the upgrade of the computers, network, and desks/facility in Rm. 355 for the Education Team. The Education Team conducted 10 sessions of "Very Basic Computer" class during the quarter, including both daytime and evening schedules, with a total of 23 students. The class consisted of five daytime or five evening sessions weekly. Student handouts were provided for each session. The student waiting list was almost completely fulfilled, and only a few potential students were waiting until the next series of classes to enroll. The Education Team continued to refine the class curricula. The Education Team met in December to refine the teaching materials based on class feedback. Promotional messages were placed in the Good News newsletter and the Sunday Bulletins, offering the classes in January and seeking volunteers for the Education Team. So far, there has been good interest from potential students. There have been no calls to the Outreach Ministry office from potential volunteers. The Research and Development Team identified time saving techniques to deliver our offerings quicker to our Strategic Partners. The R&D Team trained the HW and SW Teams to use these time saving techniques.

1st Quarter 2004 Plans


Submitted by Tony Liu