Grow & Maintain a Healthy Location

Our purpose is to help the people serving local churches learn from each other and belong. Welcome people, share what you know, and give others room to contribute. These rhythms help you prepare well and care for the community without carrying it all yourself.

This SOP guides the initial staff-and-high-level-volunteer rollout. Businesses can create profiles and submit resources for Location review without becoming Location members. Backrow’s team reviews new Locations and moderator assignments.

1. Choose a Region That Connects People

• Propose a metro area or neighboring cities with enough churches and leaders to build meaningful relationships. Do not create one Location per church or fragment nearby people into tiny groups.
• Describe the region, nearby towns, typical meetup travel time, existing connections, and a launch plan. A 30–60-minute journey is a useful starting point, not a universal boundary.
• Backrow’s team reviews regional fit, overlap with existing Locations, moderator readiness, and an initial event plan before opening a Location. A proposal is not a live community.

2. Invite the Right People for This Phase

• Initial Location invitations are for church staff and high-level volunteers. Confirm their organization and responsibility before approving membership; a profile job or signup answer is self-reported, not proof of eligibility.
• Vendors, integrators, podcasts, and companies may create business accounts and publish profiles without prior approval. They cannot join Locations or create Teams. Direct them to submit useful resources or business listings for Location review; listing approval does not grant membership or private conversation access.
• Do not bulk-import people, create accounts for them, share directories, or send automated invitations without consent. Members create their own accounts and request to join.

3. Be a Connector, Not a Gatekeeper

• Reach out personally to eligible church staff and high-level volunteers in your area. Explain who the group is for, what it offers, and that joining is optional. One thoughtful invitation and a respectful follow-up are better than repeated unsolicited messages.
• With their permission, introduce people with shared interests across organizations. Welcome all relevant specialties: audio, video, lighting, IT, production leadership, and team culture.
• Welcome each approved member, invite them to introduce themselves, and help them find one useful conversation. Ask open questions and make room for quieter people.

4. Keep a Simple Weekly Rhythm

• Check pending join requests and moderation concerns at least weekly. Review eligibility and profile basics; respond with care rather than silently leaving requests unresolved.
• Start or highlight one useful conversation each week. Answer unanswered questions, thank contributors, and invite a range of perspectives without making posting compulsory.
• Watch for cliques, unanswered posts, sales pressure, and conversations dominated by one church or specialty. Connect people across those boundaries.

5. Plan at Least One Event Every Quarter

• Every active Location should plan and host at least one event per quarter. Keep it approachable: coffee, a roundtable, a production-area tour, or a practical workshop.
• Pick an accessible venue and time, name an organizer, publish an event with a clear agenda, and share its Backrow event link. Explain capacity, cost (if any), accessibility, and RSVP expectations.
• Personally invite eligible members, welcome newcomers, and follow up with useful takeaways. Obtain consent before posting photos. If an event falls through, reschedule and ask the Moderator Club for help.

6. Moderate for Trust and Safety

• Model curiosity, kindness, and practical help. Disagreement is welcome; harassment, discrimination, doxxing, spam, and unsolicited sales pitches are not.
• For ordinary disagreement, clarify the issue and invite a respectful reset. For harmful content, preserve only the minimum necessary context, remove or report it using moderation controls, and explain the action privately when safe.
• Escalate repeated misconduct, membership removal, or sensitive incidents to a Location Admin or Backrow’s team. Do not promise confidentiality you cannot provide; do not post private contact details or identifying incident stories in the Moderator Club.
• For immediate threats or emergencies, contact appropriate local emergency services. Backrow moderators are not an emergency-response service.

7. Approve Resources Fairly and Promptly

• Approve useful resources, including integrator and vendor listings, unless there is a specific reason not to. The goal is to build a helpful community, not to favor a familiar company, preferred brand, friend, or sponsor.
• Apply the same standards to every submission. Specific reasons to decline include unsafe or misleading content, spam, harassment, copyright or privacy violations, broken links, and content unrelated to the community. Explain what needs to change; an unfamiliar provider or competing product is not a reason to decline.
• Record a specific, helpful reason for every decline. If there is a conflict of interest, ask another reviewer or Backrow’s team to handle the decision. Sponsorship and owner-submitted claims never buy approval or special treatment.
• Check resource submissions at least weekly. Backrow’s team can inspect declined resources and submissions waiting seven days or more in Resource Oversight, follow up, and reconsider a decline. Older submissions may show their original submission date when a resubmission date was not recorded.
• Location Moderators and Admins approve their Location library. Global public resources still need separate Backrow team approval. Approving an integrator listing does not approve an account or grant Location membership, chat access, or verified ownership.

8. Review Health, Not Just Headcount

• Each month, review whether new members are welcomed, questions receive help, different churches participate, and meaningful connections are forming. Keep any tracking minimal and avoid unnecessary personal data.
• Each quarter, share your event outcome, next event date, useful lessons, and support needs in the Moderator Club. These are operating expectations, not automated activity scores.
• Ask for a co-moderator or handover before burning out. Backrow’s team approves staff assignments. If a Location is no longer healthy or sustainable, discuss a reset, regional merge, or pause with Backrow’s team.

9. Keep Partners and Sponsorship Community-First

• Direct businesses to create their own account and submit Location resources for review. Sponsorship inquiries use the separate private interest queue. Do not promise exclusivity, sales leads, member access, or a launch date.
• Sponsorship must be transparent and cannot buy membership approval, moderator powers, access to private data, or freedom from moderation. Any future partner participation needs separately reviewed guidelines.
• No payments or automated outreach are collected or sent by the current interest form. Backrow’s team reviews interest and decides the next steps.