So, what is a church contact?  A church contact is someone who serves as a point of contact between their church and outside conservative political groups and activity.

They can help distribute critical and timely information, such as non-partisan voter guides, legisla¬tive alerts, legislative scorecards, leadership training, as well as other seasonal political information.  By initiating voter registration drives, petition drives, and offering time-sensitive information, church contacts can help mobilize a large bloc of conservatives to influence the political and legislative process.

The Primary Goals of a Church Contact Are: 

1) Identify fellow conservatives in your church

Review a list of the members of your church (via a church directory) and identify those that you know to be conservatives.  Use this information to create a database of identified conservatives for your church.

2) Register individuals in your church to vote

As mentioned earlier, most churches are little better than the general public when it comes to levels of voter registration.  This makes voter registration a critical function of the church contact, since it’s impossible to be effective in the political system without being registered to vote.  Cross-reference the list of identified conservatives in your church with the county voter registration list to determine who needs to be registered.

3) Keep fellow church members informed.

The more informed conservatives are the more effective they can be.  Church contacts should work to provide information about lobbying opportunities, political candidates, ballot issues, petitions, opportunities to get involved in a local political party, as well as how they may be able to participate in other activities you may be planning.

Keep a calendar of important political dates for your area, such as party primaries, general elections, county council or school board meetings, political party meetings, or meetings of other conservative political organizations.

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Remember, politics is cyclical.  Based on which elections are approaching, or what’s happening in Congress, your state legislature or local government, the type of activities a church contact should focus on will vary.

Related entries:

• Why conservatives should organize in churches
• Five grassroots tools you can use for local precinct organization
• Organizing the precincts

(You can find tips like this and much more in my “Grassroots 101: Grassroots Training Series”.)

If you want more conservative political success, you need more conservative voters. The question is, how do you go about finding them in the most effective manner?  One of the answers to that question is churches.

Hunt where the ducks are:

If you want to shoot ducks, you hunt where the ducks are.  It's the same principle with politics and organization.

The church is one of the most important elements in building a successful conservative grassroots organization simply because it’s the place where the greatest numbers of conservatives congregate on a regular basis.

Sadly, people in most churches are little better than others when it comes to the basics of citizenship, such as registering and actually voting on Election Day.  On average, only about half are actually registered, and about half of those that are will cast a ballot in most elections.  Not a recipe for political success.  Given that the average race is usually won or lost by about five percent, the possibilities are obvious.

Tremendous latent potential

Just imagine the impact if every church in your community had a contact person who worked to inform their fellow members and get them involved in the local political system.  What kind of difference do you think that would make?

There are hundreds of thousands of churches all across the country that bring their members together every Sunday, and they can have a tremendous impact when they are informed and motivated.  For example, on Election Day in 1994 (the famous “Republican Revolution”) one out of every three voters casting a ballot was a self-identified born-again Christian that attended church four or more times a month.

More organization in churches means more conservative success.  The goal however is not to make churches into an annex of a political party, but rather to educate and encourage conservatives in those churches who share your values to become better citizens and advocates for their values in the public arena.

The key to church organization is a church contact person.  I’ll have more on church contacts next time.

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Related entries:

• Five grassroots tools you can use for local precinct organization
• Organizing the precincts
• Why conservatives should focus on precinct organization

(You can find tips like this and much more in my “Grassroots 101: Grassroots Training Series)

Here’s a handy list of the most basic tools you should have at your disposal if you’re going to try and build an organization at the precinct level that can truly have an impact on the things you care about.

A list of all registered voters in the precinct. 

It’s hard to identify and organize if you don’t know who the registered voters are, (or aren’t).  You can get this from your local election (or voter registration) board.

Blank voter registration forms. 

For all those new people you’re going to register.  Because if people aren’t registered, they can’t vote…and don’t count.

A map of the precinct. 

Having a map makes it easier to get an idea of who is where and how to get to them.  You should be able to get this from your local planning commission or voter registration office, (or they will know where).  Try to get one with street lines and names overlaid on it.

A political events calendar. 

Keep track of dates of party primaries, general elections, special elections, school board, local council and local political party meetings that you should keep people informed about.

Copies of church directories. 

Having membership lists from conservative churches will allow you to cross-reference them with voter registration lists.  That way, you know which registered voters go to conservative churches…and which members aren’t yet registered to vote, (so you can get them registered).

This is just a basic list.  But that’s the point.  It’s “basic”.  Don’t get too distracted by anything that would keep you from focusing on the basics.

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Related entries:

• Organizing the precincts
• Why conservatives should focus on precinct organization
• The four rules to winning an election

As I've mentioned previously, the best way to impact politics is to organize at the precinct level.  And the best way to organize is to put someone in charge.  In terms of precinct organizing, that means a "precinct captain".

So what is a precinct captain?  Put simply, a precinct captain is someone who serves as a point of contact between the people in their local neighborhood and outside conservative political groups and activities.

By distributing petitions, getting political information to conservative neighbors, making get-out-the-vote phone calls on or before an Election Day, a precinct captain can mobilize a large bloc of people to influence political and legisla­tive activities.

It is also important to understand that many of the activities of a precinct captain are seasonal. Depending on what elections are approaching or what's happening in Congress, your state legislature or local council, your focus and activity levels will vary.

The primary goals of a precinct captain

1: Identify ten other conservative activists

In order to put the meat on the bones of any organization, you need people.  Which means you should try to identify others who are willing to help.  Try to identify at least ten.  This is the primary job of a precinct aptain.  These will be the people who are the most interested in what you are doing.

The goal is to be able to quickly line up volunteers when a major project comes up and help is needed.  Keep in mind that different people enjoy doing different things.  Make note of what they're willing to do and use hem accordingly.  There will be many different things to do and plenty of work to go around. 

2: Identify as many other conservative voters in the precinct as possible

A good goal is to find enough pro-family voters to equal 10% of the total number of registered voters in the precinct.  This would normally be done in conjunction with your organization's leadership (if any) as part of a "voter identification" project.

3: Inform and mobilize precinct volunteers

This could include distributing voter education materials on candidates or ballot issues, making sure identified conservative voters actually vote on Election Day, or lobbying your local school board, council or legislature.  In addition, it's important to help identified conservatives to get involved in a local political party - preferably the Republican Party.

4: Stay informed

Keep up to date on current and future projects, activities and opportunities for activism.  And pass the information on to others.

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When you've done this,  you've got an organizational infrastructure that can be activated and make a difference when it's needed.

Recent Entries: 

• Why conservatives should focus on precinct organization
• The four rules to winning an election
• A menu of effective grassroots activities

(You can find tips like this and much more in my "Grassroots 101: Grassroots
Training Series)

It’s a truism in politics to say that “all politics is local”, but truisms are truisms because they’re usually true.  In this case it’s right on the money.  And the precinct is the most “local” organizational unit in American politics.

Put simply, a "precinct" is essentially your neighborhood.  It’s a geographic area with specific boundaries, (usually defined by your state), that surrounds the place where you go to vote.  The name of your precinct is listed on your voter registration card.

There are more than 203,000 precincts in the United States, each with an average of about 1,000 registered voters. Politically, they represent the building blocks that comprise all other political districts in America, (whether local council, state legislature or congress).  And precincts are where the voters are – which means that’s where the power is in our political system.

Political influence goes to those who are the most organized at the precinct (or neighborhood) level.  And good grassroots organization emphasizes the important role that precincts play and the idea that all politics is local by focusing on individuals who are willing to identify and organize others in their own neighborhoods.

That goes for campaigns, grassroots lobbying efforts and gaining influence in the Republican Party.

It's another case of "think globally, act locally".

Related entries:

• The four rules to winning an election
• A menu of effective grassroots activities
• Three venues for conservative grassroots organization

(You can find tips like this and much more in my “Grassroots 101: Grassroots Training Series”.)