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?

Together, we stood firm against cultural forces that undermined the precious things God cares about in people’s lives.

But now? Now that we’re advancing from the margins, now that spiritual hunger is rising again… well, here we go again.

We’re back to the old game.

The “come to us, we’re the real Christians” game

Because of actors like Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool, breaking the fourth wall has gone the next level in movies because of the way it makes the audience an “insider” with the cast. Two people who served us in Florence Italy broke that wall with us in a way that suggests 3 tips for doing the same with first time guests.

It was a rough beginning to an otherwise creepy subterranean tour in Rome. Though the it was more than fascinating, for us, it was one and done.

It reminded me of something about how guests experience our churches and the one thing that will guarantee a guest won’t return. Here’s what it is…and how to prevent it.

There is something specific I am calling all Sherpas and their teams to do at their churches beginning the first weekend after Easter and the 2 to 3 weekends after that. It will sharpen and enhance the capacity of your teams to not only welcome guests, but create great return experiences for the ones who came on Easter. I learned it on my recent Italy trip so you know it's a good one!

By now, most of you have heard that after years of offering a 4-week assimilation program called Next Steps, we launched a 1 week version of this program called First Step that concludes by inviting people to serve on a ministry team.

But what you may not have heard is that the results were less than what we wanted to see for the first 7 months.

My New Year Encouragement to you in 3 words: Clear, Focus, & Fill. Here’s how.

One chapter in Chip and Dan Heath's book The Power of Moments blew my mind.

They discuss why time seems to go faster as you get older.

Here's what they said (and why it's a great thing to be mindful of this Christmas).