The Hospitality Culture

Summit Church, you were paid one of the highest compliments last weekend that I can think of in terms of first impressions.  As many of you know, we hosted the Re:Sound worship event at the Brier Creek Campus last Friday night.  At that event, a pastor from another church observed our First Impressions Team (many of whom were serving for the very first time that evening).  Here’s what he said (completely paraphrased because (a) I wasn’t there and (b) I don’t remember the retelling all that well)…

Your people just get it.  They get the importance of guest services.  You’ve opened this place up and made everyone feel like a part of the family.  I wish the people at [our church] understood guest services like the Summit does.

Listen: I don’t say that to blow warm sunshine up our collective hineys*.  Nor do I say it to pridefully point at the things we do right.  You know as well as I do that there are plenty of Sundays where we drop the ball, guests don’t feel welcomed, and people don’t feel like part of the family.

The reason I bring it up is that little by little, slowly but surely, hospitality is becoming part of who we are.  And the reason behind the hospitality is that we want to remove all barriers that would keep people from hearing the gospel.  Satan can use an unfriendly greeter, a dirty nursery, or a confusing parking lot to keep people from focusing in on the message at hand.  

You guys get it!  And I’m proud to be a part of your team.

*I’ve never written out the word “hineys,” but spell check doesn’t like it.