Welcoming Environments

“What are you doing to create an environment that says to people, We KNEW you were coming and we were EXPECTING you!”

                 

This is a quote from a post by Scott Hodge.  He does a great job of relating a bad experience at a restaurant and seeing what we can learn about being churches that are truly welcoming.  One thing I have commented on is that coffee ministers to our sense of smell. (See First Impressions & Coffee) but Scott takes it to a different level when he says this:

“There’s no reason that churches should smell like Ben-gay and mothballs.  So we use Henri Bendel Scentports scattered throughout our auditorium using a scent called Firewood - which is a mix of birch, cedar, sandalwood with a slight hint of tobacco.  This fits the wood-beamed architecture of our auditorium perfectly.  (On a side note - please leave the flowery smelling potpourri at home.  And DON’T spray Lysol before starting a service.  That makes the room smell like someone just threw up minutes before people arrived.)”

Someone spilt one of those cheep flowery scent canisters in the office last week and it was smelling like the bathroom on a Greyhound Bus!!!!

Read the full post here.

First Impressions & Coffee

                    

This past week I had another church contact me about our philosophy of coffee at Hope.  They had visited last week and saw that we had three coffee bars located throughout our campus serving free coffee. (Picture above of Hope’s South Foyer Coffee Bar) I told them that yes, it was free, but we have some jars out to accept any donations folks might want to give.  We serve over 350 gallons a weekend and have over 150 volunteers to pull this ministry off.  It is a huge priority and commitment for us.  Here is what I emailed this church as to why we do the coffee at Hope:

1. OUR MISSION:  Bottom line is that our mission is to be a church for the unchurched. Therefore, we are looking for ways to have the environment as positive as possible for folks who walk in our facility. We know that some people are entering the building with some preconceived ideas about church and can be coming in with some real painful experiences in their past. We want them to walk in and be touched by the positive experience.
2. CORE VALUE:  We want to achieve the unexpected. That is one of our core values here at Hope. We want them to walk away telling others what a great place Hope is. The first week they might not go back to work and tell others about the sermon — hopefully they will!! — but they might go and tell their friends about the coffee. “Man, you will not believe this but I went to church this weekend. Yes, I went to church, but the cool thing was this coffee bar. Right there in the lobby they had this coffee bar with all kinds of flavors — Dark Blend, Hazelnut, Vanilla, even a Southern Pecan! And to top it all off, you could take the coffee into the sanctuary!!!” (We have lids for the coffee that we encourage people to use. This cuts down on the spills.)
3. MINISTRY TO THE SENSES:  We are touching the senses. They drive in and see our Coneheads (parking lot attendants) welcoming them with a smile. They see how clean and inviting our facility is. They are touched by the friendliness of our greeters at the door. They walk in the door and immediately smell the freshly brewed coffee. They step up to the coffee kiosk and pour a cup of coffee and taste how good it is. They enter into the sanctuary and hear some great music and a message from God’s Word.
4. COFFEE CULTURE:  Coffee says many things in our culture today. Look at the impact of Starbucks. Here is what they say, “Starbucks Coffee Company provides an uplifting experience that enriches people’s lives one moment, one human being, one extraordinary cup of coffee at a time.” It is about the experience. It speaks of community. It helps people feel comfortable in an environment.
5. VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY:  What a great place to have people serve. Some of my best greeters are there making the coffee and interacting with folks who come up for a cup.

Those are some of my thoughts in why we do coffee at Hope.  Anyone have other ideas? 

 

By the way, we proudly use Memphis roasted Ugly Mug Coffee.  Click on the bag to learn more.

Christmas Eve at Hope - WOW!

Just finished our 9th Christmas Eve Service at Hope Church and what a wonderful last few days it was. I just heard that we had 18,000 people come through our doors!!!

Having the chance to share Christ with all those folks in our new sanctuary was just amazing. Everyone from Craig preaching all services to Bruce leading the worship to the hundreds of volunteers really made all these services work. I am worn out but joyful over this season and for the opportunity to minister at this incredible place.

Volunteer Evangelist

I just received this brief article from Group Publishing, and it points to the importance of the positive buzz that can come from your excited volunteers.  We need to tap into that excitement and encourage them to be evangelists for recruiting other volunteers.  Also, check out an earlier post on the Power of the People.

Volunteer ‘Evangelists’

Amy Dolan

Recently I read Creating Customer Evangelists by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba. The authors describe how great companies have found success by creating customer evangelists.

What if volunteers in your ministry loved the experience so much that they told all their friends—who then wanted to serve? Volunteer evangelists hear the buzz about your ministry, sign up, then pass on their awesome experience to friends and encourage them to sign up too. The friends trust your volunteer and want to share in this amazing experience. And a volunteer evangelist is born.

Create Buzz
If you want volunteers to talk about your ministry, you’ve got to create a great volunteer experience. Here are two key components:
• Give volunteers a voice. Volunteers need to be heard. Ask weekly about their experiences and how to improve. Let them know when their suggestion or request makes a difference.
• Honor your volunteers. Invest in them through training and recognition. Empower volunteers to do their very best, and when they’re successful, celebrate them like crazy!

Identify Volunteer Evangelists
Find your ministry’s biggest fans and enlist their help by asking them to share what they love about your ministry. Here are suggestions for finding people with the greatest impact.
• I’ve done it. Key volunteer evangelists are already recruiting and talking up your ministry. Ask them to tell friends, family, and colleagues about your program. No fancy presentation necessary: The volunteer’s role is simply to share great experiences.
• My kids love it. Parents with kids who’ve had a great experience on your team will be very quick to tell other parents. Encourage parents to think about other parents who might be interested in serving.
• I love what you do. Other leaders who support your ministry make great cheerleaders. Ask these leaders to consider serving once in your ministry. Then ask them to share their experience with the people in their ministries.

This article is adapted from Children’s Ministry Magazine, the leading resource for those who minister to children. The complete article is available to CVC members in our Idea Depot.

FedEx Delivers Christmas

Thanks to one of our dear friends , Lisa, who works for FedEx, Laurie’s Multi-National Ministry kids will have a very fun Christmas.  Laurie received a check for $2100 from this Memphis based company.  FedEx made this check out  to Target so she could go and buy Christmas presents for the refuge and immigrant children with whom she works. 

I had the wonderful privilege of going with her to purchase the gifts.  What a blast it was!!!!  As you can see, we filled up three shopping carts full of presents, and we did not even spend the whole wad!!  Target was gracious enough to put the balance on a gift card so that we can strategize and then come back tomorrow to finish our gift buying. 

I could not believe all the toy choices.  I was completely out of touch with all the options out there and somewhat overwhelmed.  We had fun, but we found ourselves being very self conscious of what it looked like for us to be stuffing carts with all these toys.  While standing in line with our overflowing carts, I heard someone say, “Their kids must have been very good this year.”  Well, they have.  Laurie has had a great year with these Children, but life is usually pretty lean for these families.  They struggle to pay the bills much less give many gifts at this holiday season. 

For more about Multi-National Ministries click here. 

1000 Awesome Vounteers

My head continues to spin from last night’s Volunteer Appreciation/Christmas Eve Signup/Training Dinner. (Catchy name ugh?) We had over 800 RSVPs and then over 1000 showed up!!  As you can see from this picture of Craig (Hope’s Senior Pastor), it was a packed gym.  You could feel the excitement in the air as we prepare to enter into a new phase of ministry here at Hope.  We will hold our Christmas Eve services (9 total) in our new sanctuary on December 22-24. 

Last night was a little crazy as we served all these folks — the kitchen crew was awesome.  When Jennifer (our cooking Queen!) heard that we had 800 RSVPs, she wisely planned for 1000.  The menu included delicious soups (seafood gumbo, chicken tortilla and vegetable beef), a wonderful caesar salad and a great assortment of desserts.

Here are some of the highlights from the evening:

1. The food!
2. Seeing the volunteers lined up to sign up for the Christmas Eve services as greeters, info hosts, elf crew (bathroom clean-up duty), outside coneheads (parking crew), inside coneheads (ushers), fire extinguisher team (safety first for the candlelighting), children’s ministry, etc….
3. Craig’s great words of encouragement to all these faithful volunteers.  His talk focused on a recent vacation he took with his family to Disney World.   He reflected on what we can learn about serving others from Disney’s commitment to all their guests.  (See previous post on Disney and a great read Be Our Guest)  He cast the vision with excellence as usual.  In speaking of the “Disney Magic” he pointed us to the even more magical message that we communicate here — the life-changing message of Christ.
4. The training sessions we had with the various teams went well.
5. The tours of the new lobby and sanctuary was a real treat for these volunteers.
6. Seeing the tour groups standing on the stage and praying for God’s work in this new sacred space.

What a great evening. 

Available for the Extra Mile

Last Sunday I was walking through our foyer and saw one of our greeters talking with a woman and her two children.  He motioned me over for an introduction.  She was visiting from out of state and looking for a church similar to the one she attends back home.  Relocation to Memphis seemed to be in her future, and she was in search mode.  Our greeter had seen her “I’m new and lost” look and had gone up to her and asked if he could help her out.  He then took it upon himself to show her around and introduce her to some of the staff.

Now for the what ifs:

• What if he had not been attentive to the reality that she was a visitor?
• What if he had not engaged with her and realized that she wanted to know more than where the worship center was?
• What if her first impression of Hope was a cold reception and a terrible vibe?
• What if we do not respond to her requests on her comment card (which she DID fill out)?

We have a responsibility to show the love of Christ to whomever walks into our doors.  Are we going to miss some opportunities?  Yes, we are way too human.  But hopefully, most of the time someone will step up and give people a great experience of what life in this church is all about.

Serve Through Mistakes

A couple of months ago, my wife and I were on the road and decided to stop and grab a quick sandwich at a Quiznos.  We ordered two small sandwiches but when they came through the toaster we noticed that they had made a couple of regulars.  We told the manager who was working the register that we had not ordered the larger size.  What I expected him to say was, “I am so sorry.  Here take these for the price of the smalls.  It was our mistake.”  What he did say was, “Well, you can pay for the two regulars or I can take one and cut it in two and sell it to you as two smalls.”  I asked what they would do with the other regular sandwich.  He said —- I promise — “We will probably eat it.”  I was SHOCKED!!!  He went on to say, “Yes, we will eat it or throw it away.”  Now, that is some awesome customer service.  (NOTE:  These comments in no way reflect on all the Quiznos locations — just this one.  I love their sandwiches and have had wonderful experiences elsewhere.)

Fast forward to last week.  I was in a Starbucks when the barista came around the counter and said, “Anyone want a free latte?  We made it by mistake and want someone to enjoy it.”  What a difference.  Their mistake and how they responded to it makes me want to come back again and again.  I don’t even like coffee!!!

First Impressions Workshop

Had a great time last week in Indiana. I was able to visit the beautiful campus of the University of Notre Dame and get an up-close and personal look at “Touchdown Jesus” Check it out…

But I guess the real purpose of being there was to do some personal study and learn from the folks at Granger Community Church. I had a wonderful time there and highly recommend attending one of their many workshops that they offer throughout the year. WiredChurches.com

I attended their “First Impressions” workshop led by Mark Waltz and Shelley Arredondo. They did an excellent job of passionately communicating the importance of creating “Wow!” experiences for the guest who come through our doors on any given Sunday.

One quick take-away —- Your competition is not another church. Your competition is anywhere that people have experienced excellence. Mark said that he is looking forward to the day when the business world starts saying, “You need to look at the local church and how they care for people.” We need to lead the way in creating “Wow!” experiences for people.

Also, check out Mark’s book, “First Impressions”. It is a great, practical read published by Group Pub.

Learning from Disney

Disney World and Church can have a lot in common —- that is if we want to learn from one of the best customer service organizations in the world. At Hope Church we have talked about how to learn from organizations who really know how to serve people well and Disney comes up consistently. In fact we have even talked about taking some staff and key leaders on a study tour to the Magic Kingdom. They actually have “behind the scenes” tours that you can take. Check this one out:

Backstage Magic Tour

Anyway, the reason Disney came to my mind is that I was reading a post from Gary Lamb on his recent trip to Disney World with his family. They had a great time, and he came away with some insights of how to be more effective at church. See what you think.

Disney and the Church