Just Gotta Stop

One thing we're really trying to work on at NMC is being a "host church."

This idea can be summed up by this (my own words, not necessarily anybody else).
Disney, Starbucks, Cruise Lines, and Nostrum's go out of their way to let customers know that people are their number 1 priority. For these companies, a temporary sale is what's at stake. How much more should the church be taking time and going to special measures to show people what a priority they are when it's eternity at stake?

I've seen many really wrestling through this. Lot's of ideas...

... more greeters
... better visitor follow up
... coffee house for people to hang out
... parking lot attendants to help people
... a ramped up prayer ministry

All great ideas. Love 'em.

Sunday Night, I was meeting together with our Junior class Small Group adult leadership team. Dana, a very successful business man and cancer survivor shared with us. "I think I got this host thing figured out." I was intrigued. "You just gotta stop."
Huh?
He shared how on Sunday, rather than being so focused on getting to his next destination, he took some time between services to stop and look around. He took some time to move conversations past "how you doin... fine."

Gets me thinking.

Kind of reminds me of what Corey Mann said he does at Granger Community Church on weekend services. He's found a spot where, if he stands, people will seek him out and talk to him. He simply is taking time to stop and make himself available.

Brad was a student here, then an intern, and now he is working as the Youth Leader at New Life Fellowship, our sister church in Topeka. He told me that after he went to Peru with our IMPACT team in the Summer of 2005, he made a commitment to meet one new person every Sunday morning. And he has stayed true to that commitment. He simply walks up to someone and says, "I don't think we've ever met. I'm Brad." He takes some time to get to the person. He just takes time to stop and get to know someone.

Ouch! That hits a little too close to home for me. He was talking about our time at a church building when we come to worship. I'm talking about life. In the words of the one and only Ferris Bueller...
"Life moves pretty fast sometimes. If you don't stop and look around every once in a while, you might miss something."