Guest Services Game Changer

Last night I watched the women’s NCAA basketball game where Brittney Griner from Baylor dunked the ball for two points! Yes, I said dunk! (Sic’em Bears!) This was her first dunk of the season and it was a game changer! After that trip down the court the entire team was different. They were fired up and playing like champions! It only took one move to change the entire flow of the game.

Making a game-changing move in ministry can produce the same effect. It’s those moves that can take a team from good to great, from showing up and serving at the same location to serving as a team that can’t wait to link arms and make Jesus famous. One game changer I have seen in guest services this past year is moving from a “positional volunteer” approach to a “do whatever it takes to serve the guest in front of you” approach.

We experienced our game changing moment when team members were given the freedom to leave their “position” or “post” to serve the person in front of them. Walking them to the environment they are looking for, children’s ministry or the worship center, instead of pointing in that direction. Finding the answers to their questions or walking them to the help center to get the answer. This sounds so simple, but it was an epiphany to many team members! They saw themselves as volunteers who did their job well. They were lacking the big picture vision. It was as if volunteers had an imaginary invisible fence around the area they served and if they took three giant steps away they would get shocked. Giving them the freedom to move has brought new meaning to the role volunteers play on the guest services team. They have moved from volunteers to team members, from opening the door and saying hello to greeting each guest and helping them feel like they are part of a community.

Yeah, it’s been that kind of game changer. Team members are fired up and serving like the spiritual champions they are!

To God be the glory!!

Environmental impact

Each environment has a specific purpose for the overall guest services experience. As people flow from one environment to the next we want the same message to be heard, they matter to God and they are valued here.

The key to a successful Sunday morning experience is the ability for each volunteer to seamlessly transition people from one environment to the next.

How is this accomplished?

• Friendliness
• Knowledge
• Servant Attitude

Volunteers must be approachable and friendly! They should have a passion for the vision and a general knowledge of what the church offers on Sunday (children's ministry, middle school/high school, how to get connected to groups, etc). Their attitude is one of service, "whatever it takes" mentality! As a leader, it's important to give volunteers the freedom to leave their "post." Walking a family to the children's area or a couple to the Worship Center while sharing the vision of the church or answering questions about the church is invaluable!

More is more

When it comes to (fill in your ministry area here) ministry, there is always one thing needed most, VOLUNTEERS! The church is and will always be a volunteer run organization. Each volunteer is a moment of truth for the "big C" church! I am so thankful for the faces I see on a weekly basis serving God by serving His people. But to be honest, there is always room for more! The more volunteers you have, the more opportunities you have to pour out of Jesus Christ and to fully serve each family member and guest.

When it comes to Guest Services, there are several areas to focus on, all of them equally important in caring for church family members and for guests;

• Parking Team
• Greeters (Parking lot greeters, door greeters, worship center greeters)
• Host Team (greeting, ushering and offering)
• Help Center (info booth)
• Volunteer Central (volunteers taking care of volunteers, vision-information-prayer)

Do you have other teams you focus on to make sure your guests are cared for?

One Chance

We have all heard the saying "you only get one chance to make a first impression." True, but when it pertains to guests arriving on your campus I believe it must be a weekly strategy. Maybe we should tweek it to say you get one chance weekly to make an impression. Good, bad, first, second (and so on), isn't as important as what's happening this week!!

With that in mind, we start with;

• What worked well last week?
• What do we need to stop doing?
• What will we change this week to make our impression count?
• What's our strategy for implementation?

Every week matters, every area matters, because people matter!! Every week people decide in the first 2 minutes whether or not to return to your church, we must make this a high priority!

Honor your guests

I went to college at the University of Toledo. At least half of the people I tell that to come back with, "Holy Toledo!" I started wondering where that phrase originated. The theories were endless, but one really stuck out to me. One theory is that the phrase came about because there was such a high concentration of churches on one boulevard. If that were the case, we could say that about any city!

There are sooooo many options for people looking for a church home. That is why I believe we must HONOR a persons decision to attend our church. They could have gone to any number of churches, but there are right there in front of you! What are you going to do to make them feel honored and cared for?

I look at it like I am inviting them into my home. How would I treat a guest in my own home?

I would

• give them good directions!!
• make sure the house is spotless
• meet and greet them outside
• walk them in
• show them around
• give them the best seat of the house

That's a good place to start! What are you doing to honor your guests?

It's time to go home

Do you ever feel nervous when you invite people to church? Oh, I do! I pray the parking team is ready and smiling and more interested in helping people find a spot than anything else. Then I move onto the parking greeters, I pray they are outside when it's cold or holding umbrellas when it's raining, always with a happy heart and a hearty hello! Next, the door greeters. I pray they are opening the door before a guest even thinks about reaching their arm out to grab the door handle, and walking guests where they need to go, not pointing with quick directions, until they have reached their destination. I pray they worship the entire time they are here! Through the music and the message!

I guess I feel like I am inviting them to MY house, and I want everything to be just right!

If you stopped by my house, I would totally greet you outside (with an umbrella if it was raining), I would smile and hug you because I would be so glad you were there! Then I would show you around the house, point out points of interest, and give you the best seat in the house! Church and home are the same, right? (Well, except for the hug, could be awkward!)

I think they could be. We could think of each person on our campus as someone we have invited to our HOME. I think about it like this;

Honor their decision to attend your church

One chance weekly to make an impression

More is more

Environmental impact

I will unpack each one of those statements.....stay tuned!

I make a mean iced caramel latte

Not mean as in "growly," but mean as in "goooooooood", just to clear any confusion!

Over the past couple of months I have found myself learning a lot, like a whole lot! We recently opened the World Cafe at West Ridge Church. The cafe itself is full of learning opportunities! Purchasing products, entering products into a POS system (point of sale, not anything else), merchandising, creating recipe's and making coffee drinks, training volunteers, etc. but my favorite lesson is all about the people. It's always about people! We are not in the coffee house business, we are in the people business and we just happen to use coffee as a vehicle.