Latest posts

4 Ways to Highlight First-Time Guest Surveys

We’ve talked before about our First-Time Guest surveys: the four questions that go out to every guest who gives us their contact information. Those surveys are a way to keep our finger on the pulse...

Danny Recommends: First-Time Guest Tents & Supplies

Every so often we dip our toes into a series called Danny Recommends:, posts that tip you off to the stuff that I…you know. The recommendations might be products for use in your ministry, resources that will...

A Reflection for Easter

Easter weekend is upon us. If you work at or serve in a church, you are facing additional services, additional guests, additional go go go over the next few days. The temptation at Easter is...

6 Ways to Undervalue Your Guest Services Team

Too often, we view a Guest Services team as a “nice to have” ministry: if we have the personnel or the budget or the attention to give to it, great. But if hospitality should be...

Top Ten Quotes: Building Spiritual Habits in the Home

When I first picked up Building Spiritual Habits in the Home: Small Steps You Can Take Today, I did so based on two assumptions: I’m happy to report that I was right on Assumption #1,...

Q&A: How Can We Eliminate “Visitors”?

Q: Do you have any tips on helping our lead pastors eliminate the use of the word “visitors”? [Submitted in a recent session of Confab] A: (Yes, I know. That’s an intentionally misleading title. No...

What Helps Them?

in the world of guest services, our goal is to be proactive, not reactive. That means that we never want a guest to feel the need to ask a question, look for a volunteer, or...

Introducing DIOCESE

Before you read the following post, take note that the original publication date was April 1. That’s April Fools Day, for the pranksters among us. Carry on. For too long, the evangelical world has been...

Not For Us.

Not long ago I read Dave Browning’s book Deliberate Simplicity: How the Church Does More by Doing Less. In it, he tells the story of his church paving the parking lot. It was the early...

Q&A: How Do I Transition a Volunteer Off of My Team?

Q: We expect that our volunteers will actually show up. So how do I transition someone off of my team after they consistently stop showing up? [from a recent One-Day Workshop] A: If there is...