First Impressions from ridgestone backstage

First Impressions
When you have a first time guest come to one of your weekend services what should you do? Should you point them out to everyone you meet and let your people know they are first time guest? How about making them stand up in the middle of the service and having them wave at everyone? Better yet you could let them know what your doctrine is and that if they don’t quickly change their ways something bad is going to happen to them.
Sadly many churches make these mistakes. They make their first time guest so uncomfortable that they are looking for the exit door as soon as possible. When my wife and I were visiting churches (long before Ridge Stone) we were made to feel this way many times. There was a church (left unnamed) that we could not wait to escape from. It was weird and we knew that we did not want to waste anymore of our Sunday there. We wanted to leave as soon as possible.
There is a fine line between letting them know that you are glad they are there and giving them the space they need to check your church out.
So what do we do with first time guest at the stone?
1.) We don’t ask them is this is their first time visiting RSC. We let our greeters know that they should not ask this question. The reason is because people who are NOT first time guest feel awkward telling you no. Many people don’t want to be pointed out as first time guest. Don’t ask people if it is their first time at your church. Instead of doing this talk to them and allow them to opportunity to let you know first. If you are patient you will find out through a laid back conversation. Find a more creative way to find out instead of asking that question. More than likely, that question will only turn people off to your church.
2.) Take them to the information desk. Once we find out that they are first time guest a greeter takes them to the information area. He or she will let them know that this is the place to get information and that we a gift for them. One of the information desk volunteers also talks to them and welcomes them to the church.
3.) Have them fill out an information card. Before we did this we were having a lot of difficulty getting people to fill out communication cards. We used to make time (maybe 30 seconds) and try to get people to fill them out during the worship service. The band would jam while people filled out the cards. The problem is that hardly anyone filled it out. So what we do know is take first time guest over to the information area and have them fill them out before we give them the gift bag. This way we get the communication cards to the first time guest right away and we get it back from them right away.4.) If they have kids we walk the family back to the children’s area. If they have kids ranging from newborn to 5th grade we take them back to the kids area. We have a desk for first time guest families. From that point our Family Pastor or a volunteer will take them back and show them the kid’s area. This is important because we do not allow kids in the service that are over 3 months old. It also gives the parents an opportunity to take a tour of where child will be during the service.
5.) We walk them to the worship service. We (a greeter) walk them in to the service and hand them off to an usher. From that point the usher takes them and shows them to a seat.
6.) We don’t forget they are leaving. This is where many churches drop the ball. First impressions don’t end when the service is over. Make sure you have your greeters and pastors saying goodbye to people. It is great to remember your first time guest as they are leaving the service. Make sure you let them know that you were glad they were there. Many people have a ton of questions after the service and that is a great time to answer them. Make sure you have greeters available after the service not just before.
7.) Email. We send a generic thank you email on Monday and we mail a hand written thank you card the same day.
Make sure you let them know that you greatly appreciate the fact that they visited and you want to see them back. Remember there is a balance between the two. You don’t want to be too overbearing but you also want to show them how much you appreciate them taking the time to visit. We have had many people comment on how they felt that people actually cared that they were there. That’s what you want to hear.