A church's 2 first impressions

I work with churches all day long. I know that just about every mission statement I have ever read for a church involves some type of phrasing like "reaching others for Christ." Now, I don't want to get into a semantic war, but the gist of these statements, is that the church wants to connect with the people outside of the church. I am convinced that there are two major areas of connection to the outside world where churches drop the ball all the time. Here they are:

• Phone - It's a cool little contraption that lets people outside the church call the people inside the church.

First of all, if your church doesn't have a phone, go get one. By not having one, you're basically saying,"People on the outside aren't worth $9.99 a month" Because if you are on the inside, you know all the cell phone numbers of the staff.

Secondly, If you have one, make sure you have a good voicemail system. If you have to listen to a 5 min diatribe about all the service times and ministries before you can leave a message for somebody, we will just hang up.

Thirdly, If you do have a phone and you answer it, please act like you enjoy working there. It's my opinion that most church receptionists that answer the phone have missed their calling at becoming a Funeral Director. Also, if you answer the phone, please know what you are doing, otherwise, let it go to voicemail. For example, I called the other day, the receptionist answered. I asked if a certain minister was in. She said he was out to lunch. I asked if he had voicemail. She said, "I don't know, I just answer the phones."

• Website - It a cool little page that pops up on your computer screen that gives people on the outside of your church information on how to get inside your church.

Now, I'm not going to get into what your website should look like or how big it should be, but here is the important part. It's real simple: Make sure you have information on your website that helps connect the people on the outside to the people on the inside. Things like:

• Church phone number.


• email addresses for the staff.


• address for the church.


• Church service times.

The Glamour shot pictures of the senior pastor and his family sure is nice, but not important.
The rotating animated cross is very impressive, but not important. The Amazing Grace mp3 playing in the background is moving, but not important

So before you go and add all those little extras, make sure you have connected the people on the outside to the people on the inside. If a church can tackle these two areas of their church, they are well on their way towards accomplishing their mission. Any thoughts? Have I left out anything?

The end of the road, but not the journey.

First of all, God gets all the credit. God has once again come through for the Taylor family. In March of this year, I was offered a job at Outreach, Inc. I get to work on an amazing team that oversees the National Outreach Convention. The details are crazy, but I can only point to God and say, "He's the one responsible for me getting this job." It was a crazy, frustrating, exciting, wonderful, horrible 6 months. In the past 6 months, Heather and I have encountered family members battling cancer, losing our dog to cancer, unexpected bills, unemployment, job interviews, the joy of a newborn in the house, sleep deprivation, new workout routines, checking out new churches with our family, budget cuts, holidays with family, new friendships, craziness, depression, laughter, and the incredibly frustrating world of "JUST NOT KNOWING." And God walked with us every step of the way. In a lot of ways I felt like Forrest Gump(sans beard). This blog is going to try and chronicle those highlights and share what I(we) learned along the way.

What is the craziest thing you have gone(going) through in the past 6 months?