Category Archives: Guest Follow-up

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Free Video Pastor Coaching Group

Just an idea I'm testing...

I’ve been silent for quite some time on this blog.  It’s been quite a journey over the last 9 months, a journey mostly covered in sheetrock dust.

My family, with all 7 kids, lived in a 3 bed, 1 full bath parsonage of about 1100 sq. ft. for the last 15 years.  (OK, we didn’t have 7 kids 15 years ago, but…)  Last fall, we bought a 4,300 sq ft home (6 bed, 3 full/2 half bath), and started a remodel process that took us about 6 months to complete.  I’ll tell the whole story sometime… it’s a story full of answered prayers, and God’s amazing faithfulness.  If you want pictures of our very own “fixer-upper,” I would point you toward this video tour I put on Facebook early in April of 2018.

But for now, I’m coming back to the blog.

I’m focusing in for a time on a new idea that I’m testing.  I love

  • pastors
  • local churches
  • coaching
  • providing resources that save time and energy

I want to do a better job sharing things that I’ve learned over the years.  So I’m here today to announce:

Limited Space Free Pastor Coaching Group

This temporary coaching program will:

  • be 1-3 months long (depending on how it goes)
  • be entirely on your own time
  • enable you to ask quick questions & receive 5 minute answers and feedback on issues you care about
  • Use the video messaging app Marco Polo
  • ONLY INVOLVE 15 PASTORS at once.  I’m afraid I can’t handle more than that.

So what kind of issues will I be talking about?  Well, it depends on what questions you ask, but I’m happy to share ideas on:

  • leadership issues
  • administrative tools and techniques
  • outreach
  • work/life balance
  • pastoral emotional health
  • pastoral care
  • preaching
  • habits and systems

 

So, if you want to try it out, here’s how you join up:

  1. Click this link.
  2. Install the MarcoPolo app on your mobile phone.
  3. You might have to come back here and click that link on #1 again… not sure.
  4. Watch the welcome video, then think of a question you’d like some coaching on.

 

I’ll be watching to see how this comes together, and I’ll cut it off after 15 guys join.  I’ll check out your video questions, think it over, and then record a response.

I have no idea how this will work.  🙂 But hey, that’s the joy of trying stuff… just to find out what happens.

Looking forward to chatting with you!

 

 

 

 

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Church Revitalization Coaching Session #4

Preparing for Guests & Getting Them to Come Back

Hey there, church leader!  Thanks for being a part of Church Revitalization Coaching!

This month, we’re talking about how to get ready for guests at your church… and how to help them feel welcome and get as many as possible of them to come back again and again!

Below is the video and file downloads for this month:

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A Pastor’s After-Easter Action Plan

The songs have been sung, the message has been preached, the celebration is over… and the pastor is tired.  I know.  You definitely need to take some time off this week.  But here’s a short list of actions you should take to make sure that your efforts leading up to Easter Sunday don’t go to waste.

A Place to Start for Small Church Pastors

1. Follow up on spiritual decisions.

If someone came to know Jesus, that’s of paramount importance.  Check in with them, confirm their decision, share your joy, communicate your availability, answer questions.

2. Take care of the administrative details.

This is the “unsexy” part of your week, I know.

  • Entering guest cards into the database…
  • writing follow-up letters…
  • communicating “thanks” to your team…

Those kinds of things may not feel like exciting things to do on an emotionally exhausted “morning after Easter,” but paying attention to these kinds of details is exactly what will put you in a good place for the future.  If you have recruited administrative help, this is a good time to make a list of tasks they need to take on.

3. Keep the conversation going with guests.

Use information you’ve captured with your guest card to communicate a couple times with guests from Sunday.

  • Send them a personal thank you note (we do ours hand-written, with a little gift card to a local restaurant inside).
  • If someone asked for info on a particular next step on your guest card, then that could be a next step they’re motivated to take.  Follow up on that.
  • Find a way to “wow” guests with your love.  After all, “By this shall all men know you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  John 13:35

4. Clearly communicate a general next step.

In today’s world, it’s doubtful that people are suddenly 100% committed to coming every Sunday from “now ‘til Jesus comes.”

Lifetime commitment to your church is probably a tough sell after one Sunday.  It’s like a store owner asking you to only shop at that store after your first visit.  Probably not gonna happen.  It’s better to communicate a specific next step people can take if they were attracted by what you offered on Easter.

Being a pastor who really is intentional about discipleship means you’ve got to communicate the next step on your discipleship pathway.

It’s probably best not to have 6 next steps.  Simplicity and clarity mean you need to decide about 1 next step you want new guests to take.  Is it:

  • Come to a membership class?
  • Show up at a relationship-building event?
  • Download our discipleship tool?
  • Come to your church dinner next week?
  • Volunteer at your outreach event to kids?
  • Attend the start of your new series next Sunday?

5. Do a review with your team.

I wrote about this in my post “The Easiest Way to Continually Improve Your Outreach.” Check that post out.  The best way to make sure all the lessons of this Easter get learned and captured is a quick review of:

  • What went right
  • What went wrong
  • What we can improve next time
  • Who’s responsible for it

6. Thank God & your team.

You didn’t do this Easter alone.  Even if it was a bit less than you hoped for, people labored to make it happen, and it wasn’t a waste in the eyes of Heaven.  So spend some time thanking God in faith for what he’s doing, and how he’s going to continue that work.

Then make a few phone calls or write a few thank you notes to people who made the weekend happen.

Here’s to small church pastors, who labor faithfully… thanks for what you do for God’s Kingdom!

I’m going to make a checklist for this post, and give it away.  What other steps should I include after Easter?  Tell me in the comments below.

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How to Not Waste Your Christmas Crowd

Every pastor knows that Easter and Christmas are two Sundays that are most likely to attract the unchurched and the de-churched to attend. You probably have given thought to your Christmas or Advent services already, since we’re just a few weeks away.

Between now and Christmas, you’ll probably

  • brainstorm ideas
  • decorate the Sanctuary
  • rehearse special music or programs
  • recruit prayer warriors
  • pray God does something great

But have you built systems to capture what God does?  Or will your guests who walk through your door that Sunday… walk back out until next Christmas?  What can you do to keep from wasting the big day?  Here are four ideas you need to think about in advance:

1. Capture their information.

As I’ve written before, one of the biggest regrets I have about some of my early outreach efforts, was that I didn’t know the power of harvesting information.  Without the ability to continue the conversation, those one-time guests… slip through your fingers.  One of the best ways to show concern and care is to get someone’s info and keep the conversation going.  When you get someone’s info, you’re practicing what Seth Godin calls Permission Marketing.  It’s the permission to continue the conversation, to build trust.  Whether it’s a pastoral visit, a text, a phone call, or a personal note, you’re working on the relationship.

And if you’re going to keep working on it, the core of a guest follow-up strategy is your connection card.

Connection Card front 2013 FINAL

If you want an editable copy of this, email me at darrell@newstartdiscipleship.com, and I’ll send you a Canva link. 🙂 

2. Give them something to come back for.

I know that God has to draw them to Jesus… but He may want to use your plan to do it!  So plan to give them every reason to come back!

  • Start a new series after the New Year.  Announce it on Christmas.
  • Have promotional materials available for that next series.
  • Schedule a church dinner for the launch week (If you’re a small church pastor.)
  • Do a 30-day Church Attendance Challenge.

This is going to take pre-planning.  Look over the graphic designs (paid and free) on CreationSwap.com.  Get someone to design a postcard or series graphic for you on Fiverr.  Get it printed up in advance with GotPrint.com or VistaPrint.com.

3. Follow up on them intentionally.

What kind of contact do you have with your 1st time guests through the week after they visit?  For many churches, the basic plan is, “Give them a generic pencil, and tell them we hope they come back soon.”

You’re going to need a more intentional, on-purpose plan.  

And what if they pray for salvation? You need a discipleship pathway that’s ready-to-go. 

In fact, I’d recommend checking out the free discipleship tools from NewStart Discipleship. If you’re not sure how to go about disciple-making, you can get some free discipleship training here, or you can download my 35 page free guide by dropping your email right here:

Download How to Build a Clear Discipleship Pathway FREE

    I HATE spam. I’ll never share your email! Unsubscribe at any time.

    4. Have something ready for those who decide to follow Jesus.

    This is something I used to do badly. But not these days. I’ve gotten way more intentional about being ready for new Christians.

    Think about giving them:

    It doesn’t have to be perfect.  But you should have a plan!

    If you want to download my secret tool for giving to a brand-new believer, drop your email here and I’ll send it over for free: 

    Get my SECRET TOOL for brand new believers!

      I HATE spam. I’ll never share your email! Unsubscribe at any time.

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      Free Training Video for Fantastic Church Greeters

      A guy came to our church a few years ago, after having visited several other churches in a search for a place to attend.  He told about entering one church with his family, a few minutes late.  People turned around and stared through the glass doors, but not one person welcomed them.  Not one person got up and came back to the foyer to open a door for them.  They felt unwelcome — so they left.  The next Sunday, they came to our church.  They’ve been here ever since.

      I probably don’t have to convince you that greeters are important.

      But we’ve all seen people at the back doors who really weren’t … up to it.  They weren’t smiling.  They weren’t attentive.  They weren’t thoughtful.  They just handed you a program as you went past.

      So what makes a great church greeter?  What sends a greeter from “person who hands out the programs” to “person who hosts the party in the foyer?”  Personality?  Natural charisma?  Experience?

      Those might help, but I think the real difference maker is one word:  TRAINING.

      See, if you’re not clear about what’s expected, people don’t know how to WIN.

      If you’d never played baseball before, when you hit the ball and someone yells “RUN!” — they’d have to teach you that what you’re really trying to do is get all the way around to home plate!  Good training clarifies what it means to win.

      So at our church, we have a training document (2 actually).  I just sat down with a new greeter 2 weeks ago, and did training with them.  After I did it, I thought “This would be great to share with my readers!”

      So here you go: a free video (less than 15 minutes) that will help clarify what it means to WIN for your greeters at your church:

      Greeter Training Video from Darrell Stetler II on Vimeo.

      By the way, this video is part of the Small Church Pastor Coaching Program.

      I’ve released hours of video training for pastors… including a complete guest follow-up system, and HOW to implement it.

      7 STeps to Build a Killer Guest Follow-Up System - webinar

      In this webinar, you’ll discover:

        • how my failure in a key outreach event changed our guest followup forever.
        • how to effectively collect info from first time guests
        • how to consistently stay in touch with people
        • tips for convincing your congregation to start a guest followup system
        • how to help people see your church as friendly
        • how to do all this without significantly increasing your work load!

      Check out Small Church Pastor Coaching Program here.

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      Do You Have These 4 Things Ready for Christmas Outreach?

      How to get the info you need to continue the conversation...

      Some time ago, I told the story of how I completely blew our first Trunk-or-Treat outreach event.  It was a smashing success… except I didn’t collect anyone’s information!

      Here’s how to make sure you cover your bases & so people don’t slip through the cracks in your upcoming Christmas service:

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      How to Build a Killer Guest Follow-Up System – before Christmas!

      And without significantly increasing your workload!

      Below, you can watch my free webinar! 

      Here’s what you’ll discover:

      • 7 specific action steps you can take to create a great guest follow up system
      • how my failure in a key outreach event changed our guest followup forever
      • ideas for giving gifts to guests
      • how to effectively collect info from first time guests
      • how to consistently stay in touch with people for the first few weeks they attend
      • tips for convincing your congregation to start a guest followup system
      • how to help people see your church as friendly
      • how to do all this without significantly increasing your work load!

      A special bonus, just for Showing Up, is this 31 question resource, “31 Questions About Getting Ready for Company” that will help you evaluate if your church is ready to welcome new people.

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      How I Completely Blew a Big Outreach Event

      And the 3 simple decisions you need to avoid it!

      Four years ago, my children’s leader came to me with an idea for an outreach event: A trunk-or-treat with a Gospel emphasis.  (Honestly, I had never been a fan of Trunk-or-Treat!) She called it “Candy Thru the Bible.”  Each trunk/station was a Bible story with a candy that went along with the story.  She shared her plans, and I was impressed.  We decided to go for it.

      Trunk or Treat Candy Thru the Bible

      We got started planning.  We didn’t really think it seemed like very many kids walked our street trick-or-treating, so we planned for 120 kids.  Our volunteers were amazing & creative with their trunks… people donated candy… we bought candy… 

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      4 Reasons You Should Give a Gift to Guests

      And ideas for what to give...

      This week, a guest walked into our church for the 3rd time in 4 weeks.  Due to the crowd, I had been unable to meet her face to face for the first 2 times she had attended.  I greeted her, and she began to tell me of a friend in jail, asking if I could visit.  I reached for my pen, to write down the name, but didn’t have it.

      With a big smile, she reached into her purse, and said, “No problem, I’ve got one — because I got THIS in the mail this week!”  She pulled out this:

      A pen from discountmugs.com

      Our 2nd week guest gift

      Our 2nd week gift pen from discountmugs.com

      Our 2nd week gift pen from discountmugs.com

      I smiled really big, and said, “Great! I’m glad you got it!”  We finished the conversation and I walked away, glad that the system I built was working.

      IS IT REALLY OK TO GIVE GIFTS?

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      4 Ways You Must Think Differently About Guests To Keep Them

      A few years ago, I pulled up in front of a “Babies-R-Us” store.  My wife was expecting our first child.  It was the first time I had been to this kind of store, since my style runs more toward electronics stores, and sporting goods.  As I turned into an aisle to find a parking space, I noticed that the spaces closest to the entrance ones had a pink sign that said, “Reserved For Expectant Mothers.”  Cool.

       

      I felt welcomed, expected, valued.  I felt like they were glad I was there, and wanted me to come back.  I knew they wanted my money.  But when they were looking out for me, there was an emotional connection.  It made me less suspicious of their efforts to sell me small pink things.

      They had thought about me long before I got there.

      I recently chatted with a man who came to our church as a guest.  He said his family had been searching for a church for several weeks, and he mentioned one that was closer to their house than ours.  They entered the main entrance, a few minutes late.