What do you do for follow-up?
I’ve often heard that the person who’s in charge of a conversation is the one asking the questions. Not only do I find that true interpersonally, but I find it true among our tribe of Sherpas.
And right now, there’s a question that I think is taking charge of a very important conversation — one that’s incredibly relevant these days:
“What do you do for follow-up?”
What do you do for first-time guests? Second-time guests? Third-time guests?
How do you follow up uniquely with each of them?
This question is becoming so common that I want to acknowledge you as Sherpas as haven taken charge of this conversation — by compelling me to answer it in a way that I hope is helpful for all of us.
The Research That Changed the Game
Before I share my recommendations, I want to point out something Jason Mitchell discovered at LCBC Church, a multisite church outside Philadelphia.
Jason found that a guest is 280% more likely to be at your church a year from now if they get 10 personal contacts within their first 16 weeks.
That means 10 personal moments — a conversation, a follow-up, a warm interaction — with someone from your church in their first four months.
If that’s true, then this question of how we follow up with visitors might be one of the most important ones we can ask.
Here’s what I recommend, based on the best practices I’m seeing.
1. Don’t Do It by Visit — Do It by Group
Instead of developing separate strategies for first-time, second-time, and third-time visitors, we do follow-up by group.
Why?
Because tracking which visit a person is on requires that they identify themselves in ways they may not want to. It takes energy and asks them to jump through attendance-taking hoops — and sometimes we save a dime only to lose a dollar doing that.
For instance, currently at my church we group people strategically:
People who’ve identified themselves to us for the first time
People who’ve been here from 3 months to a year but haven’t come to our One Program
People who were just baptized
Then we create follow-up plans for each group — not based on visit count.
For example, we track when someone identifies themselves, usually through our One Place or children’s check-in. Once they do, we initiate automated follow-up (in our case a text within a few hours). It welcomes them and invites them to fill out a guest experience survey. Then we send an email with some information they may want to know about the church, along with some info about our One Program for when they are ready to make our church their home.
We also track the dates when their profile was created. I particularly like tracking those in the 3- to 12-month window via a report. These folks get monthly emails from me until their 12th month, inviting them to our One Program until they fall off that list by attending it.
Why not invite them to our One Program immediately? Because we currently have moved to a one week program where our ask is to serve on a ministry team and we’ve learned that guests aren’t always ready for that yet. It’s kinda like meeting the parents on the first date….right ask, wrong timing.
They’ll come to our One Program if asked, but they’re more likely to be receptive after three months. At that point, they’re likely considering your church their home — and a significant ask like ours will land well and create an affirmative response at this point.
That monthly follow-up continues until the 12-month mark. It’s a rolling group: people enter at month 3, exit at month 12. The emails come from me or our campus pastors at our younger campuses — not from “the church” — so they can reply with questions and requests. And they do.
2. Ramp Up the Connection
Follow-up should increase in personal touch over time — starting with email, moving to more personalized texts, and eventually phone calls when special opportunities to schedule meet ups and observations arise.
Here’s how that works for us:
Email: Goes out the Tuesday after their visit.
Text: Within a few hours of being identified — automated, but personalized and from me or their Campus Pastor
Pro tip: Always end the text with a question. Questions like:
“How did you find our church?”
“How long have you been attending?”
That creates a conversation. Shoot for a long text stream. Go for Engagement.
And these really work. I once got a text from a woman who replied:
“I’d love to talk about this, but I just arrived at the hospital — I’m giving birth to our first child.”
That’s how personal and timely a text can be!
Another example: I got a reply from a man who said,
“I’m a recently divorced church leader from another large church in the area. I’m starting a new life with my adult kids and just wondering — is there anything for someone like me?”
That led to a back-and-forth email exchange. I invited him to our One Program and met him there. He had a meaningful conversation with a ministry leader and found a new place to belong.
That journey started with a grouped email, not a form or a cold system. And it continued because we elevated the connection gradually.
Sometimes the next level is a phone call — especially when someone asks a doctrinal or social question that’s too complex for text or email. I’ll offer to call by text or email, and we’ll have a real, personal conversation when they accept the invitation to a phone call.
3. Don’t Forget the Hallways
The last best practice? Initiate real-life conversations in the common areas of your church.
You might say “duh,” but these moments count as personal connections — and they’re some of the most powerful.
Let’s say you’re tracking toward those 10 personal contacts in 16 weeks. A typical breakdown might look like:
5 texts
3 hallway conversations
2 phone calls (often connected to volunteer placement, answering in-depth questions, or pastoral care)
One of the people I admire most in this area is our lead pastor, Gene Apple. Between sermons, he’s not hiding in a green room — he’s walking the halls. He has a route that lets him cover indoor common areas and outdoor gathering spaces. He meets people. Prays with people. It’s real.
These conversations count. They matter.
Bonus Tip: Remember Their Names
When someone replies — like that mom giving birth or the divorced dad seeking a new start — write their names down. I forget them easily, so I keep notes on my phone with a reminder or their story to trigger my memory.
Then when you see them in the hallway, you can say, “Hey, Sarah!” or “Good to see you again, Justin.” That’s gold. That kind of personal touch is exactly what Jason Mitchell’s research is about.
And if it seems appropriate (and not creepy), ask for a selfie. Save it in your notes. Your brain (and your guests) will thank you for remembering them.
Final Thought: Get Them to the Table
The biggest follow-up move you can make is getting someone to sit at a table in your One Program.
That’s where personal conversations happen naturally. And when someone joins a ministry team or small group, they’ve given you permission to follow up more — by email, text, or phone.
So here’s the recap:
Don’t do follow-up by visit — do it by group.
Ramp up your connection — email → text → phone.
Initiate hallway conversations every chance you get.
Because if they have 10 personal contacts in 16 weeks, they’re 280% more likely to still be in your church a year from now.
And that’s what we Sherpas are here for.
Want some in-depth personal time with me on this topic and more?
There are two conferences I will be at in September that I would love for you to be able to take advantage of. We can even grab coffee at a location TBD while you're there!
One better: I can get you huge discounts (up to half off the cost) because I am speaking at the conference. Here they are and how to get my discount. Register this week if you can.
1. First Impression Conference-Sept 9-11 Kansa City MO.
This is one of the only conferences uniquely targeted at our tribe! It's for Guest Service and Assimilation leaders and I will be a Keynote speaker, breakout leader and on the discussion panel.
Click here for the discount code (just $97 for a ticket and it includes a FREE pre-conference ticket and lifetime access to the main room sessions to share them with your team).
2. SPIRE Sept 23-25 Louisville KY
This one is for church leaders of all stripes, but with a 6 hour "Pre-Con" that includes lunch on Tuesday the 23rd led by me. It will be a workshop with around 30 other Guest Service and Assimilation leaders from around the country from all sized churches. With lots of discussion, tools, resources and networking, I will lead the Pre-Con entitled: "From guest to Disciple: How to intentionally design the 3 journeys every guest must make to become a follower of Jesus"
You can even just pay for and attend only the Pre-Con instead of the whole conference if that's what you want. Here is our code to get HALF OFF!
Just use promo code Greg2025 at check out using the links below:
I hope you can take advantage of these opportunities. Let me know if you're coming and let's arrange some coffee and a good chat.
Can you count how many personal touch points (communications) your guest receive in their first 16 weeks at your church? Break them down by kind (texts, emails, phone calls, hall/lobby conversations).
Subtract the automated emails and texts (they don’t count as personal touch points until you are replying back and forth as a result). Are they spaced well? Are the timed correctly?
How could you create and enhance strategic face to face conversations in the auditorium, halls and lobby to get 10+ robust and engaging conversations within their first 16 weeks of coming to your church? Prayer, Q and A and networking counts by the way…
