So this past Sabbath Christina and I attended Saddleback Church’s Saturday service. Over the next few days I wanted to share some observations with y’all. Most things at Saddleback we could never duplicate because most our churches don’t have the resources. There are however some small things, little touches that any church and any church member could do well with little or no money. So enjoy my observations…and even a couple critiques that I will mention that affirmed the way we do things.
So today we start with things I observed about the greeters:
Christina and I arrived at the Saddleback campus and it is a campus! I had been there before for a conference, but was interested to see if things that happened at the conference were stepped up a notch than the week in and week out activities of the church. Would they still be as friendly? Would there still be a large number of volunteers? Would they still do their worship with excellence? The answer to all three of these questions, was a resounding “yes”!
Before Christina and I sat down we had been greeted four times by volunteers. I want to share some things about this greeting that may help us and other churches with their process:
Greeters were positioned at their spots and they didn’t move from those spots! Why did this matter? Because many churches I go into, a person never gets greeted or gets a side-glance greeting b/c greeters are so busy having conversations. These people were not there to have conversations! They were there to smile and welcome people. So I like that they stay at their posts. At the top of the steps from the parking lot. In the volunteer booth area. At the doors to enter the foyer, and then the individual giving you the bulletin at the door to the sanctuary. I counted only about 14 greeters this is very few considering more than 2000 folk pass by them for even their smallest service. How does it work then? Because they are strategically positioned and they hold their spots. People can’t enter that church without passing a volunteer greeter.
Greeters were there to greet not to have conversations. I mentioned this above but I want to expand on it. The greeters basic purpose was to smile and say, “we are glad you are here.” In fact the first lady said, “I am glad you are here.” I thought her stating that in the singular pronoun “I”, rather than the “we” added a very personal touch. And on the way out there were several individuals that we passed by as we exited the sanctuary, again strategically positioned, that said, “we are glad you came, have a safe drive home” or “thank you for coming have a great evening!” And everyone smiled a lot!
Only one set of greeters gave out a bulletin and no one was missed because they were positioned right at the doors where everyone had to pass through and get one if they so desired. Also this was nice because the other greetings were casual and it didn’t feel like folk were saying “hi” only to get a bulletin into our hand.
All of the things above any church can do. If you are a small church you probably only have one or two entrances, which means you don’t need a ton of greeters. If you’re a larger church this is even more important because there is no way the pastor can say “hi” or personally welcome each individual. We just need to help our greeters understand the importance of greeting! That the worship service actually starts with the greeting! I felt appreciated and that is a good thing, especially at church:)
Tomorrow I’ll share with you what I noticed about Saddleback’s Patio (basically their outdoor foyer).
The North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists has come out with a new initiative, “REACH North America” I believe the foci of this initiative are spot on, that said I am concerned. I am concerned because while the language is new and well focused, I worry that the methods are going to be the “same ‘ole same ‘ole”. Why do I have this worry? Because the first major event related to REACH is a Net Evangelism event. This event is taking place in the Fall of 2011 and already I have received a number of things in the mail (both snail mail and e-mail) promoting this event. It seems this is the major thrust of the NAD’s strategy for this year. I believe in evangelism, I have no problem with Net events, but I am challenged by the reality that our rate of growth has been in decline for the last couple of decades and yet we seem to be going back to the same well over and over again. In the mid to late 90’s and into the early ’00’s we had numerous Net events. I personally was blessed by two of these events tremendously, Net ’96 and Net ’98, that said my blessing doesn’t negate the reality that these were the major evangelistic events of the last couple decades and yet here we are in 2010 trying to figure out how to stem the decline of our church in North America. So we are in decline even though we had Net Events throughout the last two decades, and what are we pushing with great might this year again? Another Net event! The definition of stupidity according to Albert Einstein is, “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” Please hear me, I am not saying Net events should be eliminated, I just believe if we think a Net event is going to play a major role in stemming our decreased growth, and I hope I am wrong, but I am afraid we’re just being “stupid.” I believe Seth Godin’s counsel is key here, “If it’s a new problem, perhaps it demands a new approach. If it’s an old problem, it certainly does.” Folks after 15-20 years of this struggle to reach North America the problem is an old problem, it definitely demands a new approach not the same ‘ole same ‘ole!
If I ever wrote a book about church, I believe one of the chapters would be centered around the idea of how we need to fire every pastor, including me, and start all over! I think at times we as Pastors have forgotten why we are called, “to reach the lost for Jesus.” We think we are pastors to write good sermons, to visit sick people, to solve petty issues of floor color and musical styles. Maybe we have no idea why we are pastors? Which is why we should all be fired or quit and go from there. I once read, or heard, can’t remember which now, that James White’s philosophy (one of the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist church) on hiring ministers was that an individual would first have to show that they could raise up a church that could sustain them in ministry, and then the denomination would hire these individuals. I love this idea! It would force us as pastors to REACH the lost! I love this idea so much that when I was nearing the end of graduate school at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, MI., I suggested the idea to my wife Christina. I asked her what she would think of us choosing a place to live based on the need for a church to be planted and availability for her to have a job. Then we would raise-up, through God’s power, a church. And once it was established we would then see if the local Seventh-day Adventist conference was interested in coming along side and partnering with us. Since at the time I had a conference that was already ready to pay me to pastor, and she had just supported me through graduate school, the idea didn’t sit so well with her 🙂 (I still present it every now and then and I think she is softening to it). I still love the idea, not because I want to quit my job or because I don’t like to get paid for what I do. I like the idea because I would then be reminded daily of why I am a pastor, to reach the lost for Jesus Christ. I pray that I don’t ever forget that is my reason for being a pastor and if I do forget, someone please fire me!!!!