Suggested Books & Resources

A couple of the questions I receive most often are, “What book would you suggest for…?” or “Where do you get your…?”

Thankfully, the “…” in those sentences isn’t “this odd rash” or “capri pants,” but rather, stuff having to do squarely with the Connections aspect of my role. If you’re looking for resources on guest services, covenant membership, or leadership, you’ll find what I’m reading and who I’m working with below.

This list is ever-evolving, so if you have a suggestion for an additional resource, leave a comment and I’ll check it out!

Other Guest Services Blogs

• Bob Adams: Guest Experience Design (also see Bob’s book list)
• Greg Atkinson: GregAtkinson.com
• Jason Young: Jason Young Live

Products / Resources

• A-Frame sidewalk signs: Signicade.
• First Time Guest bags / branded gifts: Promo Direct. (see First Time Guest Bags: An Intro)
• First Time Guest tents: KDKanopy. (see Danny Recommends post)
• Folding chairs (the most comfortable ever): Mitylite.
• Ink pens: 4Imprint
• Lanyard / name tag printer: Fargo DTC4500e (see Danny Recommends post)
• Offering buckets: Container & Packaging Supply.
• Pipe & drape / stanchions: Georgia Expo. (see Danny Recommends post)
• Portable pub tables: Mitylite.
• Table skirts / toppers: Premier Table Linens. (see Danny Recommends post)

Books

All of these are on my shelf and are titles I’d recommend, but if you have a limited budget, check out the starred (*) books first. One quick note to appease the FCC folks: if you order a book from one of the links below, I may receive a small affiliate commission from Amazon. We’re talkin’ really small, like enough to buy maybe 3-4 more books per year. Still, if that annoys you, feel free to bypass these links.

on Guest Services (church- and ministry-specific)

• Becoming a Welcoming Church, Thom Rainer
• Beyond the First Visit: The Complete Guide to Connecting Guests to Your Church, Gary McIntosh
• Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City (chapter 23), Tim Keller
• The Church of Facebook: How the Hyperconnected are Redefining Community, Jesse Rice
• *The Come Back Effect: How Hospitality Can Compel Your Church’s Guests to Return, Jason Young and Jonathan Malm
• Deep and Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend, Andy Stanley
• *First Impressions: Creating Wow Experiences in Your Church, Mark Waltz
• *Fusion: Turning First-Time Guests into Fully Engaged Members of Your Church, Nelson Searcy
• The Five Star Church: Serving God and His People with Excellence, Stan Toler & Alan Nelson
• The Hospitality Commands: Building Loving Christian Community, Alexander Strauch
• *How to Wow Your Church Guests: 101 Ways to Make a Meaningful First Impression, Mark Waltz
• Jim and Casper Go To Church: Frank Conversations About Faith, Church, and Well-Meaning Christians, Jim Henderson & Matt Casper
• The Most Loving Place in Town: A Modern Day Parable for the Church, Ken Blanchard & Phil Hodges
• *People Are the Mission: How Churches Can Welcome Guests Without Compromising the Gospel, Danny Franks 🙂
• *Secrets of a Secret Shopper: Reaching and Keeping Church Guests, Greg Atkinson
• The Simplest Way to Change the World: Biblical Hospitality as a Way of Life, Dustin Willis & Brandon Clements
• Unwelcome: 50 Ways Churches Drive Away First-Time Visitors, Jonathan Malm
• Welcoming the Stranger: a Public Theology of Worship & Evangelism, Patrick Keifert
• Why Church Buildings Matter: the Story of Your Space, Tim Cool

on Guest Services (real world stuff)

• 7 Tenets of Taxi Terry: How Every Employee Can Create and Deliver the Ultimate Customer Experience, Scott McKain
• The Amazement Revolution: Seven Customer Service Strategies to Create Amazing Customer (and Employee) Experiences, Shep Hyken
• Be Amazing or Go Home: Seven Customer Service Habits that Create Confidence with Everyone, Shep Hyken
• *Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service, Theodore Kinni
• Broken Windows, Broken Business: How the Smallest Remedies Reap the Biggest Rewards, Michael Levine
• Chocolates on the Pillow Aren’t Enough: Reinventing the Customer Experience, Jonathan Tisch
• Culture of Yes: Practices and Principles of Great Hospitality, Micah Solomon
• The Customer Rules: The 39 Essential Rules for Delivering Sensational Service, Lee Cockerell
• Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service, Performance Research Associates
• Eat Mor Chikin, Inspire More People: Doing Business the Chick-fil-A Way, Truett Cathy
• The Experience: The 5 Principles of Disney Service and Relationship Excellence, Bruce Loeffler & Brian T. Church
• The Heart of Hospitality: Great Hotel and Restaurant Leaders Share Their Secrets, Micah Solomon
• The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World: Over 600 Secrets of the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom, Susan Veness
• Inside the Magic Kingdom: Seven Keys to Disney’s Success, Tom Connellan
• Legendary Service: The Key is to Care, Ken Blanchard, Kathy Cuff, & Vicki Halsey
• Never Forget a Name or Face, Dominic O’Brien
• The New Gold Standard: 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience Courtesy of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Joseph Michelli
• It’s Not About the Coffee: Lessons on Putting People First from a Life at Starbucks, Howard Behar
• The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence: A Handbook for Implementing Great Service in Your Organization, Robert Spector & Patrick McCarthy
• One Minute Service: Keys to Providing Great Service Like Disney World, Bruce Loeffler
• Outstanding! 47 Ways to Make Your Organization Exceptional, John G. Miller
• The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact, Chip Heath and Dan Heath
• *Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service, Ken Blanchard & Sheldon Bowles
• Secret Service: Hidden Systems that Deliver Unforgettable Customer Service, John DiJulius III
• The Service Culture Handbook: A Step-By-Step Guide to Getting Your Employees Obsessed with Customer Service, Jeff Toister
• Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business, Danny Meyer
• Sprinkles: Creating Awesome Experiences Through Innovative Service, Chip Bell
• The Thank You Economy, Gary Vaynerchuk
• *The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary, Joseph Michelli
• Treat Your Customers: Thirty Lessons on Service and Sales That I Learned at My Family’s Dairy Queen Store, Bob Miglani
• Tribal Knowledge: Business Wisdom Brewed from the Grounds of Starbucks Corporate Culture, John Moore
• Up the Loyalty Ladder: Turning Sometime Customers into Full-Time Advocates of Your Business, Murray Raphel
• Your Customer is the Star: How to Make Millennials, Boomers and Everyone Else Love Your Business, Micah Solomon

on Membership (philosophical / theological)

• Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry, (chapter 18), John Piper
• *Church Membership: How the World Knows Who Represents Jesus, Jonathan Leeman
• *The Deliberate Church: Building Your Ministry on the Gospel, Mark Dever & Paul Alexander
• Membership Matters: Insights from Effective Churches on New Member Classes and Assimilation, Chuck Lawless
• Simple Church: Returning to God’s Process for Making Disciples, Thom Rainer & Eric Geiger
• What is a Healthy Church Member? Thabiti Anyabwile

on Membership (for potential church members)

• Finding a Church You Can Love and Loving the Church You’ve Found, Kevin & Sherry Harney
• I Am A Church Member: Discovering the Attitude That Makes the Difference, Thom Rainer
• To Be Or Not To Be a Church Member, That is the Question! Wayne Mack
• Watermark: An Explanation of Baptism, Bob Franquiz
• *Why Church Matters: Discovering Your Place in the Family of God, Joshua Harris (previously published as Stop Dating the Church)
• *Why We Love the Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion, Kevin DeYoung & Ted Kluck

on Volunteer Culture

• Creating a Volunteer-Friendly Church Culture, Marlene Wilson
• *Connect: How to Double Your Number of Volunteers, Nelson Searcy
• Disney U: How Disney University Develops the World’s Most Engaged, Loyal, and Customer-Centric Employees, Doug Lipp
• Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results, Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul, and John Christensen
• Judgment on the Front Line: How Smart Companies Win By Trusting Their People, Chris DeRose & Noel Tichy
• Leading Not Normal Volunteers: A Not Normal Guide for Leading Your Incredible, Quirky Team, Sue Miller & Adam Duckworth
• The Other 80 Percent: Turning Your Church’s Spectators Into Active Participants, Scott Thumma & Warren Bird
• The Power of Approachability: How to Become an Effective, Engaging Communicator One Conversation at a Time, Scott Ginsberg
• Rock Solid Volunteers: How to Keep Your Ministry Team Engaged, Larry Fowler
• Servanthood as Worship: The Privilege of Life in a Local Church, Nate Palmer
• *Simply Strategic Volunteers: Empowering People for Ministry, Tony Morgan & Tim Stevens
• Sticky Teams: Keeping Your Leadership Team and Staff on the Same Page, Larry Osborne
• Strengths Finder 2.0, Tom Rath
• Volunteering: A Guide to Serving in the Body of Christ, Leith Anderson & Jill Fox
• The Volunteer Project: Stop Recruiting. Start Retaining. Darren Kizer, Christine Kreisher, Steph Whitacre
• *The Volunteer Revolution: Unleashing the Power of Everybody, Bill Hybels
• What You Do Best in the Body of Christ: Discover Your Spiritual Gifts, Personal Style, and God-Given Passion, Bruce Bugbee
• Your Volunteers: From Come and See to Come and Serve, Chris Mavity

on Leadership, Productivity, & Personal Growth

• Awe: Why It Matters For Everything We Think, Say, and Do, Paul David Tripp
• Biblical Eldership: An Urgent Call to Restore Biblical Church Leadership, Alexander Strauch
• Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Malcolm Gladwell
• Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, Jim Collins
• *The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, Atul Gawande
• Communicating for a Change: Seven Keys to Irresistible Communication, Andy Stanley & Lane Jones
• Courageous Leadership: Field-Tested Strategy for the 360º Leader, Bill Hybels
• Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book About a (Really) Big Problem, Kevin DeYoung
• Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration, Ed Catmull
• Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry, Paul David Tripp
• Dare to Serve: How to Drive Superior Results by Serving Others, Cheryl Bachelder
• Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work, Chip Heath and Dan Heath
• Designed to Lead: The Church and Leadership Development, Eric Geiger and Kevin Peck
• Disciplines of a Godly Man, R. Kent Hughes
• The Four Dimensions of Extraordinary Leadership: The Power of Leading from Your Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength, Jenni Catron
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, Patrick Lencioni
• The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness: The Path to True Christian Joy, Tim Keller
• *Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity, David Allen
• God Dreams: 12 Vision Templates for Finding and Focusing Your Church’s Future, Will Mancini & Warren Bird
• The Heart of a Leader: Insights on the Art of Influence, Ken Blanchard
• The Heart of a Servant Leader: Letters from Jack Miller, C. John Miller
• How To Lead When You’re Not In Charge: Leveraging Influence When You Lack Authority, Clay Scroggins
• Influencer: The Power to Change Anything, Kerry Patterson et al
• Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change, Paul David Tripp
• Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God’s Will, Kevin DeYoung
• Killing Cockroaches: And Other Scattered Musings on Leadership, Tony Morgan
• *Leadership Axioms: Powerful Leadership Proverbs, Bill Hybels
• Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box, The Arbinger Institute
• Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t, Simon Sinek
• Leading on Empty: Refilling Your Tank and Renewing Your Passion, Wayne Cordeiro
• The Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the Leadership-Powered Company, Ram Charan, et al
• Less Chaos, Less Noise: Effective Communication for an Effective Church, Kem Meyer
• Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, Chip Heath and Dan Heath
• Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality, Scott Belsky
• Making Vision Stick, Andy Stanley
• Manage Your Day to Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, & Sharpen Your Creative Mind, Jocelyn K. Glei, ed.
• Mentoring 101: What Every Leader Needs to Know, John Maxwell
• The Minister as Shepherd: The Privileges and Responsibilities of Pastoral Leadership, Charles Jefferson
• Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, Liz Wiseman
• The Next Generation Leader: Five Essentials for Those Who Will Shape the Future, Andy Stanley
• The One Minute Manager, Ken Blanchard
• The On-Time, On-Target Manager: How a “Last Minute Manager” Conquered Procrastination, Ken Blanchard & Steve Gottry
• *A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World, Paul Miller
• The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less, Barry Schwartz
• The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want To Be, Andy Stanley
• The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability in Work and in Life, John G. Miller
• Rescuing Ambition, Dave Harvey
• Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager: Increasing Effectiveness Through Situational Self-Leadership, Ken Blanchard, et al
• Simply Strategic Growth: Attracting a Crowd to Your Church, Tim Stevens & Tony Morgan
• *Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, Simon Sinek
• Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, Chip Heath & Dan Heath
• Swanson’s (Un)Written Rules of Management, William Swanson
• Time Bandits: Putting First Things First, Stuart Briscoe
• The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, Malcolm Gladwell
• *Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, Seth Godin
• The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb: Searching for Jesus’ Path of Power in a Church that has Abandoned It, Jamin Goggin and Kyle Strobel
• The Zappos Experience: 5 Principles to Inspire, Engage, and WOW, Joseph Michelli