Strategic Process
The Welcome team is
the most immediate focus we have for the strategic Process. We are also focusing on helping other
committees and teams understand how they fit into the process and how they can
help others understand the process. We
have had several meetings with different people to help form the new Welcome
team.
One comment from the
meetings that I want to share is:
“We all need to be doing this. We all need to be treating
everyone who is in the building like they are an expected Guest.” This statement gets
to the heart of what the change is all about.
We all need to be involved in this.
We all need to be looking at everything we do from the point of view of
someone who does not have Christ in their life.
The other day my boys,
Nick and Sam, were helping me get ready for the final mission trip
meeting. We were in fellowship hall and
I asked them to look around and tell me if they thought the room was ready for
very important guests. We discussed the need to be ready at all times for
people to come as guest to Holy Cross. We discussed how important the little
things are in putting forward our best “face”.
They then proceeded to rearrange the tables and chairs, to put away
unused tables. To remove the blue boards from the back wall and to generally
make sure the whole room was ready for guest.
They asked if we should paint the walls since they are marked up. I laughed and said that was the right way to
think but that we did not have the time to do that.
We all need to make sure
we are ready to receive guests each week.
So go ahead walk a few more steps so that our guest parking spots are
open. Take a moment and pull that weed
in the sidewalk crack. Make sure you
take the trash to the dumpster after you use the building. It is the little things that make the
different. In a book I just finished on visitors it was pointed out that most
visitors have made up their mind on whether they are coming back or not in the
first 7 minutes. From the time they enter the parking lot the clock starts
ticking. If they cannot find a parking
spot or they are confused about where to go we start making a negative
impression on them. That is one of the
reasons I am putting up new signs.
Hopefully the new sign welcoming them and directing them for parking
will go up in July.
On Saturday June 29th
Pastor Schack and I held a Holy Cross 101 course. We had a great exchange with the 2 potential
new members. What I want to share are 2
stories that came out of the meeting.
Both stories show the important role that you can play in making people
feel wanted and connected.
Story #1:
Lisa came to Holy
Cross for the first time on a Sunday Morning.
She park in back and entered by the Sunday school wing. She walked in the door and was confused and
not sure where to go. Fortunately
someone made her feel welcome. She
cannot remember the ladies name but Lisa told us how this wonderful greeter
(unofficial greeter that we all need to be) welcomed her and showed her around
the building. She was shown where the nursery is and taken upstairs to the
Worship Center and made to feel wanted.
Story # 2
Michelle is the
daughter of members and has been coming on and off since she was a child. But she never felt connected. Then one day Gerry Rechek invited her son
Brock to go to Sunday school. After this
he came back and invited Michelle to sit with him during the “Story” lesson in
fellowship hall. This got her started on
the Story and got her hooked. She is
planning to join us and gives full credit to being invited to grow through the
story.
I tell you these
stories so we can see where the process is working. We have a ways to go but it is getting better
every day. Now the challenge is to start
connecting with those outside the church.
