Now that we have transitioned from a quarterly 7-week "First Step Experience" to an ongoing revolving 4-week experience called "Next Steps", I have wanted to see a greater number of guests coming into that connection environment than ever before. This has been a greater challenge than I anticipated. 

Last weekend there was a breakthrough: we did 3 things different that resulted in exponential attendance at our other 2 campuses and a 40% increase in our attendance at our broadcast campus in Anaheim

My 30th wedding anniversary was last year. I know I don't look old enough to have done anything for 30 years (just roll with it), but this milestone snuck up on me.

Our dinner out to celebrate taught me something that blew my mind, something that our teams should try to give guests whenever possible.

We do. 

This isn't a "Neener, Neener", but I do have to say I think it is super cool to have a person like Julie Liem in this role in my church. I absolutely love working with her, and not just because we grew up in the youth group at Eastside together. At our church, the Director of Volunteers two vital things.

There is an episode of "Friends" where Monica and Phoebe are desperately trying to recreate Phoebe's grandmother's cookie recipe. It is beyond words. 

This scene from America's favorite friends shows us that sometimes the most elegant and powerful realities boil down to a simple recipe.

You may have been wondering where I've been the last few months....

• The beach?
• A Witness Protection Program?
• Unemployed?

Actually, none of these. Where I have been is on an interesting journey that has revolved around these two activities:

A process is a set of interrelated activities that interact to achieve a result.

In this post I want to reveal a volunteer placement process from the pages of the New Testament and to share the 2 factors exposed there that must be present if a process is going to be healthy.

Incredible people, great discussions, productive strategizing, specific prayers, and delicious food. Great investment of all our time together. We had leaders from Oregon, Nevada, and California present. Can't wait to stay in touch with these fellow Sherpas in the season ahead.

Processes in ministry—not something we naturally enjoy thinking about. We would rather take them for granted, but that's exactly what a good process does. A good process becomes something you can take for granted. Processes are essential to the health of any church and they are the spine of any assimilation ministry.

My solution to improving connection with our guests at church is to lead them to a "Connection Experience" led by a a front man or woman who can win others over, and does not have the drive to "teach doctrine" or conduct a Chatechism of any kind (though this will happen by default if the environment is designed well).

You see, just like it takes more than a good driver to back in a long trailer into a obstacle ridden campsite, it takes someone different than a good Bible teacher to lead people through an experience that connects them well to their new church.

What kind of person does it take?

Have you ever taken a "free" vacation to a time share resort? You go because you feel the need for a break, have the need for a deal, and are willing to pay the price which is sitting through a presentation and a pitch for a few hours-one that could result in your buying-in to the "resort lifestyle". If you are like me, you have been willing to pay that price as long as they a willing to hear a "No" at they end of it. 

Despite our aversion to this experience, this is unintentionally how we treat guests when they want to become part of our church.

In my opinion we are in the midst of a massive cultural and marketing trend-reversal. The trend used to be customization..."Have it Your Way". You could create your own unique version of food, decor, music playlists, or even create your own ending to a fictional novel you are reading. That was all trending as the information overload that came with customization was only swelling--not cresting and then crashing on top of our overwhelmed heads. 

Now the trend is simplification.

Been thinking a lot about connecting people and how to do it over this past week after Easter. You know what I was mostly thinking? I was thinking about how grateful I am that we have been able to form solutions for what I consider to be the top three mistakes that most ministries make when it comes to assimilating new people to our churches. These were mistakes we were making and when we made some courageous steps toward new ways of doing things, we stumbled on to some real solutions that took us to new levels of connection.

He lived in the British Isles in the late fourth century and early fifth century, at a time when the church had already begun its descent into bureaucracy and institutionalism. As a de-churched grandson of a deacon, he led the wild life of a teenager without a personal faith in God at all.

Signing up for things and showing up for things seems rare, even antiquated. I am amazed by how many wedding invitations get no responses or RSVPs these days. Church events get most of their sign ups the day before.

Here is another idea to communicate well with guests that resulted in something we didn't anticipate: people actually signing up and showing up for an event!

This idea is based on our biggest assimilation learning from 2015. This idea...

📈 Almost doubled the amount of connection cards we received from guests.

🐣 Lowered the average age of those who attend our First Step events by 20+ years.

🎉 Began lowering the average age of those who signed up to volunteer by about the same.

🚀 Helped increased the attendance of our 7 week First Step Experience by 38% this Winter.

I am embarrassed to tell you what it is because it is so painfully obvious and we missed it for the first 2.5 years at our new facility.

When we think of fishing, most of us think of all the energy, activity, and equipment necessary to to attract and catch a fish. When we are fishing for men, as Jesus called us to, we tend to pour our focus into parallel activities: attraction, invitation, decisions...everything until they are "hooked".

But when we take a closer look at fishing, we see that a different and more individual kind of attention takes place after a fish is caught.

At the Catalyst conference last year, Charles Duhigg spoke on The Power of Habit: Why we do what we do in life and in business. His message was so powerful that our entire team read the book together and discussed it for 6 months. 

Our takeaway produced an idea that I can't get out of my head, every time I get an email or text.

Most of us want our guests to grow more connected to our church by "liking" its facebook page, following us on twitter, and sharing posts with their friends. Few of us have a way to systematically encourage that. I fell into one that has worked well at Eastside where I serve.

I am coming up for air with some clarity regarding 5 ideas about how we communicate with Guests. These tangible and specific ideas are now time-tested in my assimilation process and could make a big difference in whether guests at your church become meaningfully connected or not.