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Welcome back to the unSeminary podcast. You’re in for a treat today and will want to lean in. We have Jason Young from North Point Ministries from the Greater Atlanta area chatting with us today.

Jason’s work at North Point is focused on elevating the dignity of a guest by creating the most welcoming environment where a guest feels seen and understood. He’s with us today to talk about how to create welcoming guest services and get guests coming back to your church again and again.

• Trust your staff with opportunities and the guest wins. // Jason’s manager at North Point trusts him with many responsibilities and gives him the opportunities to make decisions on his own. This is the primary way North Point builds its leaders, by giving them opportunities to lead. In turn, Jason does this with the rest of his staff and volunteers. One way to build leadership is to trust your staff totally that they will make the best choices and do their work well. The guest will win if the leader trusts the staff and the staff works in an environment where they feel respected and trusted.
• Get rid of okay. // Create things that are worth coming back to. Someone will only bring a friend if there is something worthy to bring a friend to. Have conversations with the guests and ask what made them come today. You can study the demographics of your community, but ultimately they don’t communicate the feelings, expectations, and preferences guests have when they come to your church. Talking directly to the guests and observing their behavior lets you target an experience for them. Why did they come to the church today? Did they have a crisis and need help? Are they visiting with family or friends? Are they looking for a new church? Take time to listen to the guest and train your team to do the same thing.
• Focus on your volunteers. // To create the best guest experience, you need to prioritize your volunteers. Instead of “recruiting” volunteers, you invite and select them. Don’t grab a few and throw them into the bunch, telling them to smile and do their thing. It’s about personally investing in them, making them feel in the know and giving them the space to make decisions. Put your trust in your volunteers and staff from day one.
• Serving versus hospitality. // Jason wrote The Come Back Effect: How Hospitality Can Compel Your Church’s Guests to Return to help churches get to that point where if a guest wants to return, that church can be the life-changing piece which God uses for that guest. Serving is task-oriented, hospitality is feeling-oriented, and they are two separate things. If people feel a certain way, they come back. They don’t back because you collected the offering with such great form. They compare you with the experiences they had during the week and are looking for a place they feel cared for. Jason hopes his book can coach you into creating or tweaking the best hospitality service possible at your church.

You can contact Jason at www.jasonyounglive.com or learn more about his book at www.thecomebackeffect.com.

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Lightning Round

Helpful Tech Tools // Goodreads, Pocket, Qwilr

Ministries Following // Life.Church, Danny Franks

Influential Book // Treating People Well: The Extraordinary Power of Civility at Work and in Life by Lea Berman and Jeremy Bernard, Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday, It’s My Pleasure: The Impact of Extraordinary Talent and a Compelling Culture by Dee Ann Turner

Inspiring Leader // Bob Iger

What you do for fun // Hanging with family, working outside, watching movies

Contact // jasonyounglive.com