This Easter, the only thing that matters is getting people connected to God and each other. In a guest’s journey, your efforts as a Sherpa to lead them there should be focused and unencumbered. Here are the only two things you need to be focused on.

I am looking at this coming Easter through the lens of something that didn’t happen at our Christmas services for the first time ever. Here is what I learned and the 2 questions I am asking myself that will inform how we plan Easter and all holiday services moving forward.

Third-time visits from people are gold in terms of developing a long term connection to your church. Wondering how to turn your first time guest from this Christmas into third time guests in January? Here’s how.

Christmas at your church will be different this year. Despite the difference, I believe you could see Christmas guests return in January not just in spite of COVID but because of COVID. Are you ready for that possibility? You just need to identify at least one new way to engage guests by answering these questions.

Christmas is next week and this is the last post of the decade for me. What do I want you to know? Just 2 things as we move into a whole new decade in 2020.

At my church, 18% of all the guest cards we receive in a year come from our Christmas services. That is why we’ve come up with a special and strategic way to follow up on Christmas guests, campus wide, a way that we don’t use with guests at any other time of year.

I'm one of those guys who believes that God has already brought to your church all the volunteers you need for everything he wants to do at your Christmas services this year. Here are 4 ways to staff your ministry teams with plenty of volunteers this Christmas, with a checklist for each one.

Most of the focus at Christmas revolves around what happens in the auditorium, not around it. Yet it’s where the “common areas” surrounding your auditorium/sanctuary are that most of your guests will decide if your church is one they will be returning to or not. That’s why we all need a first impressions checklist for Christmas.

Know for sure: people’s spiritual journeys will begin at your church this Christmas. No kidding. Just watch this 4 minute video of the Hernandez’s story to see how a simple assimilation strategy will help you bring your unchurched guests all the way to the summit of full connection with God and your church.

Most people know the Pantheon as an architectural masterpiece. What most people don't know is that the Pantheon has been a church since 609 AD. While we waited for their Pentecost service, I noticed that they were letting people into the Pantheon 10 at a time. What I didn't know was that the church was already full. That’s when I discovered one of the biggest enemies of connection for all the guests at our churches.

What we learned at our last Christmas services could double the amount of guests who make themselves known to you this Easter. It could also double the amount of guests we ultimately connect with through our assimilation strategy.

Believe it or not, it already has!

The 6+ minute video below is one I recorded for some of our volunteer champs who wanted me to give them some ideas for increasing the amount of volunteers placed, especially after recent volunteer sign up efforts. If that's you, and you could use more volunteers this Christmas or in the early part of next year, take a moment and listen to this.

But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. -Psalm 3:3

I am familiar with this verse and have sung it in church and at camp growing up. I have always thought when it says that God is the "lifter of my head" that it was saying God is the lifter if my mood, or that he lifts me out of discouragement. He certainly does that, but recently I found that King David was probably saying something different.