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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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My Spectacular Failure in Food Pantries

And what I learned from it...

Lexi was an enthusiastic new attender of our church.  She was about 35.  She, her husband & several kids all lined up and nearly filled a pew — back when a full pew was a rarity in our church.  She invited others.  She seemed hungry for the Word of God.  She even seemed eager to put the Word into practice.  I still remember when she called me one Sunday afternoon after I preached on reconciliation, and told me she’d called her dad and asked his forgiveness.  They had not spoken in years.

She had enthusiasm and ideas.  One Sunday, she came up to me and asked if she could start a food pantry ministry.  I was all for it!  We live in an economically poor area where 34% of households are under $20k/yr income.  People called the church all the time asking for food or other help.

She started working.  She named the ministry “Love Thy Neighbor Food Pantry.”  She set up a simple, free website.  She called grocery stores and got managers to donate food.  She called furniture manufacturers and got a lumber donation to build shelves.  We hauled the wood to the church.

I was flying high.  This was the kind of people-helping, city-blessing ministry I’d dreamed about starting when I was a pastoral student in college!

A Sudden Change

About 3 weeks of this kind of work, one Sunday she didn’t show up for worship.  I called, and she said she wasn’t feeling well.  The next week, she was gone again, and this time she didn’t answer my calls.  I checked with a mutual friend, and what I found out floored me.

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Why Your Pastor is Tempted to Quit

And how you can help...

“Pastor.”  The word may have lost some of its respect over the years, with high-profile scandals, Hollywood hit jobs, and TV cariacatures.  But the title still conjures up good things in many American minds.  A 2011 study by Rasmussen says 70% of Americans view pastors favorably.

But pastors, honestly, through all of their healing, restoring & guiding work, can live with a lot secret pain.

According to a survey by the New York Times in 2010,

  • about 1,500 pastors per month leave the ministry due to burnout, conflict or moral failure.
  • 45% of pastors say they’ve experienced enough burnout or depression to feel the need to take significant time away from ministry
  • 57% of pastors report that they would leave ministry if they thought there was somewhere else to go
  • 75% report severe stress causing anguish, worry, bewilderment, anger, depression, fear, and alienation.
  • 80% of pastors say they have insufficient time with their spouse.
  • 33% say that being in ministry is a hazard to their families.

“Not my pastor.”

No, I hope not.  But some pastor friends of mine have reached these points.

I recently surveyed pastor across several denominations and asked them what was most frustrating in their ministry.  I gave them multiple options to choose from, as well as the ability to write their own answers.  Here’s what they told me about their greatest challenges:

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Can Thanksgiving Make You Happier & Healthier?

4 Surprising Benefits of Giving Thanks...

Tomorrow across America, families will gather, turkey will be eaten, football will be watched, holiday shopping will start… and in places, gratitude will be expressed.  Zig Ziglar famously said, “Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions.”  Sounds nice… but is it really true?

Researchers are discovering that Zig really wasn’t that far off!  Here are 4 benefits of being thankful that surprised me:

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A Pastor’s Thanksgiving List

10 Things I'm Thankful for this week

It’s that time of year, where our hearts turn toward things we are thankful for.  Thanksgving is far too important a habit to only do once per year.  Zig Ziglar was right: “Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.”

Sounds like something we ought to cultivate year-round!  So here’s my list of 10 things I’m thankful for as a pastor:

1. Thank you, Lord, for saving me, and for your sanctifying work in my heart.

The day I feel like I’ve arrived is the day I stop leading people deeper into Christ.  Don’t ever let me get over the shock of the Gospel, or the hunger for more holiness.

2. Thank you, Lord, for calling me into the work of a pastor.

It’s a privilege to help the Great Shepherd care for His sheep.  Thanks for inviting me to participate in leading your people.  Don’t let me use them, resent them, or mislead them.  Let me be patient with them like you are with me.

3. Thank you, Lord, for my wife.

Darrell and Elizabeth Stetler

My wife Elizabeth and I

She could have done anything.  She could have had a safe house and life in a small town.  She could have lived where the helicopter doesn’t circle.  But she was willing to live in an exemplary way, in the “fishbowl” of a pastor’s home, and serve God’s people in that way.   Thank you for her unselfish commitment to the Kingdom… and me.

4. Thank you, Lord, for my family.

20151122_100932

Grace, Darrell III, Heath, Caleb, Gideon and Will

They take the benefits and sacrifices with grace and sweetness.  Please help me be faithful to them, and to pastor the little church in my home first.

5. Thank you, Lord, for my spiritual heritage.

V. O. Agan and Darrell Stetler II

Granddaddy Agan – a great man and preacher

Four Stetler Generations - Kenneth Stetler, Darrell Stetler Sr, Darrell Stetler II, Darrell Stetler III

Four Stetler Generations

I remember today that I stand on the shoulders of those before me.  Thank you for their prayers, their example, their faithfulness.  Thank you for the stores of wisdom and prayer that are there for me to draw on.

6. Thank you, Lord, for my successes… & failures.

My successes keep me trusting that I’m making a difference.  Thank you for giving me enough hits to have the courage to keep swinging the bat.

My failures keep me humble, and learning.  Thanks for helping me not be destroyed by them.  Thank you that I’m not always right.  When I fall, help me learn to pick up something while I’m down there.

7. Thank you, Lord, for the volunteers who serve with me.

They lift the load in so many ways.  Bless them today, and make their reward great.  Let them feel my gratitude and Your smile.

8. Thank you, Lord for the people who willingly follow.

It’s such a blessing to have some who gladly do right.  Sorry I sometimes forget them in the rush to go after those who stray.  Thank you that everyone is not wandering or resisting… that some let me do my worth with joy & not heaviness of heart.

9. Thank you, Lord, that my self-worth is not wrapped up in what people think of me.

I rest in what you see.  I rest in your definition of success.  They don’t have to like me… or my preaching… or vote for me… or give in the offering… or support my latest idea… for my ministry to be acceptable in your sight.

10. Thank you, Lord for strengthening my resolve.

When I think that I can’t go on, you step in and strengthen me.  I’m grateful.

 

What things are you most thankful for?  Share in the comments or on my Facebook page.

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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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The Pain Points of Pastors – Survey

Help me help you!

In the next few days, I’ll be posting a couple posts on the toughest things about being a pastor.  I’m doing a survey of all my readers who are pastors, to see what you say are the toughest things about your job.

If you’ve already taken the survey, thank you!

I’m working through the results now — and look forward to sharing them!  In the survey I asked a question… Maybe you can relate to some of these answers:

survey edited screenshot

Can you relate to the pain of any of those answers??  I certainly can!

What are YOUR greatest pain points?

If you haven’t taken the 8-question survey yet, please CLICK HERE.  I’d love to have YOUR INPUT!

 

What I’m doing with the results:  Creating Resources

One of the top 5 “pain points” was “not being able to follow up on guests.”  I can relate — for years, I felt the frustration of this one!

But about 3 years ago, I got frustrated enough to start designing a system that didn’t allow people to fall through the cracks.

  • It took months of designing and tweaking
  • Over 100 hours of labor to get it all together
  • Now, it’s humming along nicely
  • I have equipped volunteers to help
  • We have had 12 guests in the past 4 weeks
  • No one fell through the cracks.

I’m going to teach you how to build the system (and save you TONS of time in the process) on my webinar Friday and Saturday.  There are 3 time slots for you convenience… I plan to give away as many of my secrets as possible. 🙂

Register for the Webinar

 

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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?