Church Visit, "Special Event Services/Radical Hospitality," South Charleston UMC

South Charleston UMC, like many, offered special services in view of Veterans Day. They honored servicemen and women, sang great songs, performed a cantata, and told some great stories. They even had a Teddy Roosevelt impersonator. The church was packed. “Special Event” type services can be highly strategic. Quality of worship is launched to a whole new level. Your church gains a bigger vision of what they can do. The community gets introduced to you all over again. Just make sure your hospitality is raring to go. New people will come. Be ready on the welcome and follow up side. Whether or not people come back or not is determined best by things we probably wouldn’t naturally think. It’s not the preaching and music. It’s 1.) The welcome and first impressions that they receive in the first 10” on your campus; and 2.) The number of positive “touches” they feel in your assimilation and follow up process. From the time they park the car till when they first sit down, most have already made up their mind. Doing the expected and polite doesn’t count as “Radical Hospitality.” How can we go over-the-top for Christ? We aren’t ultimately introducing them to us. We are introducing them to the overwhelming love of God. May we never forget who we represent.