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Janet arrived early at a church to attend her cousin's baby shower. She didn't see signs directing her to the shower, so she asked a man where the family was. "Follow me," the man said. The man directed Janet to the front row of the chapel where she found herself in the middle of a funeral.

At another church across town, Betty, a piano instructor, was starting her annual recital when four giggling bridesmaids burst into the room, carrying white crepe-paper bells and a ladder. As her star student played on, Betty argued with the girls about who had reserved the room first.

Scheduling activities in a church is a never-ending job. With the right tools and a few simple rules, however, your calendar keeper can keep everything under control.

Connie Mullins, office manager of the 400-member Grace Brethren Church in Waterloo, Iowa, schedules church events on a desk-type calendar (available at office-supply stores for less than $10). People call the church office to schedule activities such as meetings, programs, baby showers, and weddings. A staff member checks the calendar to see if the time and date are available, then logs in the event.

"We don't do a lot of changing; a reservation is there to stay unless the activity is canceled," Mullins says. She and other staffers use a first-come, first-serve policy to decide who gets an opening. Pastors or organization leaders are allowed to modify the calendar when necessary.

Suggestion: If your church makes a lot of changes in its schedule, consider using an erasable calendar.

Once a month, Grace Church publishes the schedule of events in the church's newsletter and on the church's Web site. Tip: If you post your calendar on a Web page, make sure the information is current. Nothing signals a dead church quicker than an outdated calendar.

A monthly calendar is great, but Larry David McCormick, pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in North Bergen, New Jersey, finds he also needs to view church activities on a weekly or daily basis. McCormick tried using personal organizers, such as a Day-Timer or Franklin Planner, but wasn't completely satisfied. "You have to adapt your life to an organizer and carry around the binder wherever you go," he says. "And if you need to change an appointment, you have to scratch out the old one and write in the new."

McCormick was happier with an electronic organizer: a Palm III from 3Com (800-881-7256), a kind of hand-held computer. Church activities are recorded on the Palm III, which McCormick carries with him. He can make changes to the organizer, then transfer those changes to his desktop computer at the end of the day without having to re-key anything.

The Palm III has a stylus that allows McCormick to enter information with a modified version of his own handwriting. It includes software that allows one-button synchronization between the Palm III and a PC. McCormick uses the Palm III to track his personal schedule as well as church events. "It helps me to respond quicker," he says. "If I am visiting a family, and the couple tells me that their daughter would like to get married on the third weekend in June, I can look up the date while I am visiting. I don't have to play phone tag to give someone a simple answer."

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