Category: Guest Services

We know Jesus’ analogy of the extra mile: “…if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.” (Matthew 5:41, ESV) The context for this statement came from the Roman army’s practice...

Recently I listened to a podcast episode that focused on the regional dialects of North Carolina, and how certain towns have very certain pronunciations. (Word to the wise: Beaufort, North Carolina and Beaufort, South Carolina...

Through the years, I’ve been asked a variation of this question: Should a church’s guest services team function more organically or more according to a specified plan? In other words, should we just “let hospitality...

Towards the end of each year, I recap some of my favorite posts and some of my favorite books of the previous twelve months. (The book list will come next week, just in time for...

You know I’m a huge believer in the art of the follow-up phone call for first-time guests. If you don’t know that, here’s a whole series of articles. (In the words of the Ghost of...

In my experience, there are two teams that will have the greatest impact on whether a first-time family chooses to return to our churches: the Guest Services Team – those who take care of the...

This weekend, somewhere around 100,000 evangelical churches will gather for a Sunday service … and that’s just in the United States. Out of these, a fair-sized chunk will gather with a specific purpose in mind....

I’m a huge believer in making things easy for our first-time guests: less hoops. Fewer barriers. Minimal confusion. I think many of us would do well to “begin with the end in mind” … to...

A few weeks ago we assigned a group of volunteers some homework: This Sunday, take ten minutes to stop serving and simply observe: what would a guest encounter that adds to or takes away from...

We’ve talked before about the challenges of leading a Guest Services Team in a building that seems to have been designed in spite of our guests, not because of them. Whether you’re in a renovated...