fresh & practical ideas for your journey to the summit
The Energy Curve: Why Your Church's Most Important Connection Isn't the First One
The church rolls out the red carpet on Sunday morning… then quietly rolls it back up. By the time someone is considering baptism, plugging into a volunteer role, or trying to find a small group, the intentionality that dazzled them on week one has thinned to a trickle. That's not hospitality. It’s actually a bait-and-switch.
Why Spiritually Attuned Guest Teams Beat Hype Every Time
Learn how your church’s greeter and hospitality teams can move beyond energy and into Spirit-led presence. This Secret Sunday Guest Review tells the whole story.
Our Churches Need Walls and Gates
There’s a real tension between a strong church culture and healthy assimilation. You see, a strong church culture is a double-edged sword — and if you don’t understand both edges, there’s a real danger.
The only 2 things to concern yourself with this Easter
This Easter, the only thing that matters is getting people connected to God and each other. In a guest’s journey, your efforts as a Sherpa to lead them there should be focused and unencumbered. Here are the only two things you need to be focused on.
The Lazy River Effect on your church’s engagement pathway
Your guests are experiencing your church like a lazy river — not like a backyard pool. And believe it or not, the difference will make or break their experience.
Turning first-time guests from Christmas into third-time guests in January
Third-time visits from people are gold in terms of developing a long term connection to your church. Wondering how to turn your first time guest from this Christmas into third time guests in January? Here’s how.
Do this to see your Christmas guests return in 2021
Christmas at your church will be different this year. Despite the difference, I believe you could see Christmas guests return in January not just in spite of COVID but because of COVID. Are you ready for that possibility? You just need to identify at least one new way to engage guests by answering these questions.
How to engage your guests using "The Power of Place"
In this post, I am going to create a short photo scrapbook from a location in Israel to demonstrate something I call The Power of Place which I believe can make or break your engagement efforts with people at church.
A challenge from the Christmas story and a tip on video for connecting well with your holiday guests
Christmas is next week and this is the last post of the decade for me. What do I want you to know? Just 2 things as we move into a whole new decade in 2020.
Your First Impressions Checklist for Christmas
Most of the focus at Christmas revolves around what happens in the auditorium, not around it. Yet it’s where the “common areas” surrounding your auditorium/sanctuary are that most of your guests will decide if your church is one they will be returning to or not. That’s why we all need a first impressions checklist for Christmas.
You can't connect people like this.
Most people know the Pantheon as an architectural masterpiece. What most people don't know is that the Pantheon has been a church since 609 AD. While we waited for their Pentecost service, I noticed that they were letting people into the Pantheon 10 at a time. What I didn't know was that the church was already full. That’s when I discovered one of the biggest enemies of connection for all the guests at our churches.
5 low-prep last minute ways to WOW your guests this Easter
There’s a person on our staff team at church who helps volunteers provide WOW experiences for guests during our Easter services each year. Her name is Shelly Hall, she oversees Guest Services and she is the most dedicated, hospitable, above and beyond WOW-Factor provider I know. When I asked her in passing this week what she and her team were planning to do for guests this Easter, this is what she told me.
If those serving guests at your church did this one thing...
My 30th wedding anniversary was last year. I know I don't look old enough to have done anything for 30 years (just roll with it), but this milestone snuck up on me.
Our dinner out to celebrate taught me something that blew my mind, something that our teams should try to give guests whenever possible.