HUGENS || Head Usher

On Saturday, May 24, Emmaus will host a flea market.

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Head Usher

Arrival: Arrive 30 minutes before the service (10:00 for most services). The assigned ushers/greeters will have received a postcard telling them to arrive 15 minutes before the service (no instructions enclosed). Use your assigned helpers to help prepare the sanctuary for worship with the help of the following guidelines. As necessary, recruit additional persons to help with the offering. Please wear your name tag.
Lights: Turn on all lights, using the upper switches and the lower dimmers.
Vertical Blinds: Open the blinds
Ventilation: Check the thermostats. If the "comfort" is "off", press the "two hour comfort" pad. The "comfort" arrow will blink when the thermostat is correctly set.
Bible: Open the Bible on the lectern to the first lesson. Mark the second lesson with the red book marker in the Bible. Place a small glass of water in both lecterns.
Candles: There are brass candle lighters in the sacristy. Matches and extra wicks are in the left drawer of the sink cabinet. You may light the candles yourself or ask one of the young people of the church to do it. Enter to light the candles when the first hymn begins and enter to extinguish them as the last hymn begins.
Hymnals and Offering Plates: Distribute the hymnals evenly throughout the sanctuary so that everyone has access to a hymnal. Place four offering plates in the rear row for use later in the service.
Baptism: If a baptism is scheduled, check with Bill to see how he would like to have things arranged.
Greeting: Greet worshipers as they enter and give them a bulletin. If someone appears to be new and/or seeking guidance, engage them in conversation to see how you can help.
During the Service: Once the minister enters the sanctuary, have the ushers/greeters take their seats. Close the doors to the sanctuary and remain by the doors to assist with latecomers. Do not allow entry to the sanctuary during prayers or readings. After these items are complete, allow entry to the sanctuary. When the children are excused to go to church school, hold the door for them. When the minister begins the sermon, you may be seated (you will probably find that a seat in the back of the sanctuary is most convenient.)
Attendance: Late in the service, count the number of adults attending worship. Record the attendance number and other requested information in the large red register in the office after the service.
Collecting the Offering: When the organist begins to play the offertory, the head usher and the ushers/greeters proceed down the center aisle to collect the offering. One usher will carry two offering plates and stay in the middle aisle. He/she will start an offering plate on each side of the aisle. Another usher will go to the left with one offering plate and give it to the choir. He/she will then offer that plate to the far side of the sanctuary and will collect the plate from the center section and return it via the next aisle. The third usher will take one offering plate to the far right of the sanctuary and offer it to that section of the sanctuary. He/she will also collect the plate from the center section and return it via the next aisle. After the offering is collected, the ushers/greeters will proceed down the aisle to the altar with the offering when the Doxology begins. (On the first Sunday of the month (communion Sunday), the Doxology is not played, and the offering is not taken forward.)
Assembling the Offering: After the offering is blessed, take it to the workroom in the back of the office to prepare it for the collector. Count all currency and loose change and record the results as "loose offering" in the red register book. Place all envelopes and loose offering in one of the baskets and leave it on the table in the workroom for the collector. There should be a plate containing offering from the church school. Record the church school amount and the attendance in the red register. Place the church school attendance sheet in the Christian Ed mail box. Return the offering plates to the cabinet.
Clean-up: Remove used bulletins from the seats and hymnals and straighten the hymnals under the chairs. Bring remaining bulletins to the secretary's office. Return the visitor's book to the office.