First Time Guests want to get information about your church when they are ready to receive it – not when you want to give it to them. So the question to ask yourself is: Are you making information about your church readily available to your guests? Examples of this include: – Putting out easy to find brochures about key areas … Read More
First Time Guests Want to “Fit In” With Everyone Else
On Tuesday I said that an unchurched first time guest wants at least three things… 1. To fit in with everyone else attending 2. To be anonymous 3. To get more information as they are ready Let’s talk about #1 today. A first time guest wants to fit in with everyone else attending. This means that you want to: Avoid … Read More
“Hey, Are You A First Time Guest?!”
Is anyone at your church asking attenders if they are first time guests? If so, could I kindly encourage you to have them stop asap? In my Assimilation Seminar, I encourage you to have a Guest Table where you offer first time guests a free gift. For example, we currently offer first-timers a free copy of the book One Month … Read More
Members Reception Today
Today I’m hosting a brief reception for members after each of our services. It will be a 30 minute reception where I cast vision for the fall and provide key updates to our members. The basic purpose for this is similar to the Newcomers Reception (which I wrote about here) but the focus is on members. Since last year I’ve … Read More
Have You Called Your Office Lately?
Here’s a great exercise… call your church office with a basic question like “what time are your services?” Or better yet, have a have friend do it. Then, sit back and see what happens. Are you able to reach a live person? If so, is the greeting friendly? Do they know how to transfer a call? Does the person answering … Read More
Are Your Big Givers Members?
Just before our last membership class at The Journey, a question came to me: How many of our Top 100 givers are members? I felt like God had prompted this question, so I asked our financial team to give me a list of everyone who is a Top 100 giver but not yet a member. When I got the list, … Read More
Where There’s Slack There’s Lack – Part 3 of 8
SYSTEM #3: THE ASSIMILATION SYSTEM It’s Wednesday again! Time to take another step in our weekly Wednesday blog series, “Where There’s Slack There’s Lack.” Hopefully, you’ve been keeping up with us in this series and have been giving some real attention to whether there is slack (and therefore lack) in your church systems. If you missed the series’ first post … Read More
I love to meet new people
Today I’m teaching live at our Jersey City location, by video in Brooklyn and Kerrick is teaching live in Manhattan. But here’s what’s cool: We are holding newcomer receptions in all three locations! By the time the day is out, I will have met 100 newcomers to our church. Very cool. I love to meet new people….they are the lifeblood … Read More
Spend the Extra Two Seconds – Saturday with Seth
A great reminder from Seth Godin: Two Seconds “Sometimes, busy people need to remind themselves (and us) how busy they are by shaving off the last two seconds of what would otherwise be a pleasant interaction. At a restaurant yesterday, the maitre’d, who is paid to be busy, looked up our name in the reservations book and then said, “over … Read More
How to Wow!
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that we had a meeting where we asked this question: How do we WOW people when they first walk into our church? My first answer is always that the Gospel is WOW enough! At the same time, I believe we should do all we can to welcome people in such a way that … Read More