Good Shepherd; Pastoring Archives

Good Shepherd; Pastoring

Talbot Davis November 28, 2011 at 7:54 am 0

Yesterday, Ron Dozier brought Fashion Statement to a close with a message called "Hand Me Downs."

It's been an eventful seven weeks: we prepared 193,000 meals for Fed Up Sunday, collected 1310 shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child, and had a surge of worship attendance while drilling down into the meat of Colossians 3:1-12.

The bulk of the series and the metaphor on which it was built came from the last verse of that section of Scripture: Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

The virtues there are not accessories or add-ons; they are the natural consequence of a life that is surrendered to and vulnerable before the God who "re-clothes" us in Christ -- the same Christ is all and is in all (Colossians 3:11).

So by way of review, here are the "one point sermons" from the series:

Your ethnicity is NOT your identity. Your Savior is.

Pity watches what compassion does.

Kindness is what you do for people who can't do for you.

Pride is self-esteem at the expense of others. Humility is self-awareness at the foot of the cross.

Gentleness is your power under God's control.

Patience fills the space between what you expect and what you experience.

What's next as we embrace Advent?

Christmas Lights. More on that later this week.

Good Shepherd; Pastoring

Welcoming Well

Talbot Davis November 25, 2008 at 9:46 am 0

I have found that in church life, the more you prepare to receive guests, the more guests you will receive.

It even happened back at Mt. Carmel Church in Monroe, NC, a congregation I served from 1990-1999. Once we put a plan in place that all first time guests would get an applie pie delivered to their homes on the afternoon of their visit, well, we immediately started getting more first time visitors! I also wrote all of our first time guests the same kind of hand-written note that I talked about in yesterday's post. Not nearly the same volume as here in Charlotte, but they got pretty much the same note.

So here's our process for welcoming well at Good Shepherd. It starts early . . .

We ask long-timers to park in the Peak Fitness/Papa John's parking lot, saving the best parking spaces for newcomers.
We have greeters at every door, hopefully with a smile on their face and a name tag in their hand. Several times a year, those greeters will wear T-shirts promoting the series going on inside the church (Storyline & Heroes this year).
We don't single first time guests out during the worship. Praise the Lord!
If our first time guests complete and turn in their connection card (along with everyone else who does it), they will have a Good Shepherd coffee mug delivered to their home on Sunday afternoon by one of our volunteer "muggers."
Those same guests receive a hand written note from me (again, see yesterday's post).
On the next Saturday, I make a follow up phone call, thanking them for coming and inviting them back on Sunday (which by this time is tomorrow!).
If they come back a second time and fill out their connection card, they receive another phone call, this one from Ron Dozier, our Pastor of Missions & Community Impact.
As guests continue to come, they receive another hand written welcome note, this one written by one of our note writing volunteers.
Email invitations to attend our First Step membership exploration class.

Now, the process does not always work out as I've described it. Sometimes we drop the ball. Other times our guests continue to attend but don't complete their connection cards.

But we have a process and we have a plan.

Because what you plan for more often than not ends up happening.

Good Shepherd; Pastoring

Hand Written Note Stuff

Talbot Davis November 24, 2008 at 12:12 pm 0

Writing notes or letters by hand is fast becoming a lost art form. Almost a relic, like, well, like this letter signed by Abraham Lincoln.

Except I do what I can to make sure that in our church culture at least, hand written notes become a recovered art form.

That's why I send a hand written note to every first time guest at Good Shepherd. The notes usually say pretty much the same thing -- including a line about how "we'd love to have you worship at Good Shepherd again this next Sunday" -- but I write them all out by hand, including the address on the enveloope. I typically write between five and ten such notes each Sunday night.

It's time consuming. It's labor intensive. My hand even gets tired. I've had I've had other pastors tell me that I should delegate that ministry to others.

No, no, no. That misses the point entirely.

In sending hand written notes to our guests, we are saying that our large church can in fact feel small. We are communicating that what appears to be impersonal is actually quite personal. And I hope and pray such notes tell the people of Good Shepherd that I as a pastor am approachable and available.

If I were to give new pastors a "tool kit" of things they need to start out in ministry -- well, a box of blank notes would be at the top of the list.

How do I know it's worth it?

When a Good Shepherd friend of mine told me that he still has the note I sent him after his first visit . . . and that was over five years ago.

Good Shepherd; Pastoring

Talbot Davis

The Heart of the Matter

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