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Tuesday, February 24, 2009

What Do Guests At Your Church Experience?

This is a post from one of my favorite leadership pastors.....

from Nelson Searcy - Renegade Pastor - Church Leader Insights - Church Growth and Evangelism by nsearcy

If you have read Fusion or listened to the Assimilation Seminar, you know that we send out a brief, 30-second survey to each of our First Time Guests every Sunday. It provides good feedback to leadership and helps to reinforce a positive Sunday experience to the guest. And from time to time, these surveys remind me of why we take such care in how we treat the new people God sends our way each week.
Here’s a response I received this week from a first timer at The Journey last Sunday:
What did you notice first?How happy the band was! It was great.
What did you like best?The message. I liked how the pastor moved quickly and really analyzed text, bringing in lots of examples. Having us write along was great too! I’ve never seen that before. It kept me with him; it felt like being in class, but better!
Overall Impression?Loved the message itself. It was great. Also, when I’ve went to new churches in the past, everyone makes such a big deal about you being new (meaning well, no doubt), and I’ve felt like I had to explain WHY I was new. Also, I felt a pressure to promise I’d be back and/or to say that I liked the service after. I didn’t feel that on Sunday; I just felt close to the Word. I felt welcomed but in a very relaxed, not forced way. No one was “in my face” and that’s one of the main reasons I can’t wait to come back next week. : )
How can we pray for you?I’m about to make a big decision with regard to an amazing opportunity to go to Ecuador this summer. I’m just not sure what I should do. I see SURE reasons that I should and SURE reasons that I shouldn’t. I’m confused! The opportunity came out of nowhere, so I didn’t have a chance to think about it before the offer was on the table. Thanks for praying about it.
This young lady’s responses confirmed a lot of what I shared a while back in a series of posts about “What First Time Guests Want” - here are the links:
What First Time Guests Want #1
What First Time Guests Want #2
What First Time Guests Want #3
If this is what First Time Guests want, what are they getting at your church?

Sunday, February 15, 2009

What a Blessing!!!

For those of you who don't know it I turned 30 on Friday. My wife let me know that we were going to have a get together on Sunday with some friends and family. Boy was I surprised...here's what happened today.
We started the day off with 2 new songs to learn and 3 we knew. It went okay....and those of you who lead worship know what I mean. Nothing completely broke down. Every song and transition minus one (false start on the wrong song) went pretty well. I just was not overjoyed with how I lead today and how the band connected. We don't practice which has no doubt caught up with us and that will change soon.
Anyways at the end of the service Brien a worship leader at my church disappears and my wife walks up. She cues a video of embarrassing pictures of my childhood which makes the crowd erupt with laughter. Fun times, then Lisa says some nice words and Brien walks in with my dream guitar. I could not believe it. All of my friends and family had united coordinated by my wife and bought me a Gibson Songwriter Deluxe. Amazing!!!! I am still on cloud 9 about it. I played it tonight for a few hours and loved every minute of it.
God used all of my family and friends to encourage me in the ministry He called me to. You know, sometimes when worship does not go how you plan and you feel discouraged about what God has you doing, it's important to look back on the times when He has encouraged you in his worship. That was today for me.