Week 2 (thru Oct. 3)

• Get going on your planning. Remember, your activity doesn't have to be huge, with speakers and rallies and demonstrations and solar-powered bands...it can be as simple as ringing a church bell 350 times that day, or getting 350 congregants together to write to their congressional representatives about global warming.
• Be sure the church staff is up-to-speed with your plans, if you aren't part of the church staff. Give them the links to learn about 350, and urge them to find ways to plug in.
• Start getting the word out to your congregation in your newsletter or worship bulletin, via posters and flyers, using Facebook and Twitter posts, and so on. Again, do what you can, and go for maximum impact and speed, not perfect design or fully-described details. Communicate that something REALLY BIG and EXCITING is coming on Oct. 24th.
• Post a note on our website, sharing your plans with other procrastinators like yourself. 

Week 3 (thru Oct. 10):

• Build excitement through additional publicity in your church or in the community. 
• Keep on refining your action plan. Send out a press release (by email) to your local newspaper(s) and television station(s) about your plans.

Week 4 (thru Oct. 17):

• Send out an email blast to your congregation with the full details. Urge everyone to spread the word all week to their personal networks of friends, family, coworkers, etc. 
• Pass out small flyers with details of your action, the 350.org website, and a simple prayer for creation to everyone in worship. 
• Late in the week, make a follow-up phone call to the newspaper(s) and television station(s) to see if they have assigned a reporter to cover your event. If not, reiterate your plans and remind them that this is a global event with a local component.
• Finish up your planning, and be sure you have updated your action on the 350.org website so that others might join you. 
• Write a letter to the editor of the newspaper about 350 day, your local action, and your thoughts about the connection between faith and the environment.

Final Week (thru Oct. 24, International Day of Climate Action):

• Do another email / Facebook / Twitter blast, reminding everyone of the details. 
• Confirm last-minute location details -- anything from making sure the bathrooms are ready to getting necessary signage in place. 
• Relax! It's all going to be GREAT, so enjoy yourself. 
• Do your action on October 24th, as planned.

Bonus Week (thru Oct. 31):

• Celebrate your congregation's action in worship on Oct. 25th. 
• Post a video of your event on YouTube, your church's website, etc. 
• Read through stories of other actions that took place around the world on the 350.org website. 
• Talk with the youth in the congregation at youth group events about the event, and what they'd like to do next to keep this issue in front of the congregation during the coming months. 

It may seem a bit overwhelming to be able to pull something off in just over a month, but trust me, it's definitely doable if you a) commit yourself to it; b) pull in a small team of others to work with you; and c) trust that whatever you do will be used by God in ways you can only begin to imagine! Now, go back up to Week 1, and get started!

~ by Tim Gossett