Everyone knows that the meet n greet is the most important time of the church service, you get to actually talk to the people sitting around you instead of awkwardly staring at them from the corner of your eye or the weird turn and look during the service. For the youth it is the perfect time to send that last text message before using the cell phone gets you the death stare from the deacons or the piano player's husband. Some people utilize the meet n greet time to sneak into to church late, because well, they were late so they sneak in, which is the last good chance to come in, because everyone hates walking in on prayer or worship, especially at a Baptist church because all the back row seats are taken. So the meet n greet is the best chance to greet that first time visitor and get them to come back, so we need to pimp it out and here are my suggestions.1. There needs to always (and I mean always) be an explosion.
This may seem silly, but think about the flocks of people that have watched the Bourne series over and over again (and yes I admit I have seen all three of those movies about 100 times a piece) because of the awesome explosions. The pastor could be fighting demons at the start of the welcome by blasting there brains out with sweet guns while falling down a flight of stairs only to land in a mini cooper and then weave his way through the church body to launch himself out just in the nick of time as his car explodes in fury. (if you could pull that off, I would be mucho impressed and would then come to your church for all time) Think of the people that would be scared crapless and willing to come back for more, I mean why do the movies make so much money? Explosions. What gets people coming back to church? Explosions.
2. Incorporate hip lingo.
SO if the pastor drops sweet phrases such as "off the hook" or "fo sheezy fo cheezy" and then blasts Ludacris through the church speakers people would be begging to come to your church, in this instance though the conflict of dirty pop culture and old school religion plus the mass amounts of people trying to come to your church, would probably result in an explosion, which would be awesome (see point one)
3. Shake with the Left hand.
This just throws everything into a giant mess, people don't know how to handle it. Maybe put your right hand in a cast and force people to shake with the left hand, it makes it much more interesting and fun
4. Maybe have a bounce around
Having a giant bounce around in the middle of the sanctuary would be a great way to get people to come back to church, such as the deacon throwing an elbow drop on a first time visitor and then welcoming them to church. Who doesn't bond in those giant overpriced moon bounces? Also, it would give all those kids who aren't quite young enough for nursery but not quite old enough for church something to do during the service.
5. ALWAYS, and I mean always introduce yourself as Scott Speedman
Scott Speedman is the shiz. Enough said.
So those are the ways to get people back to church for that pivotal second Sunday, but really greet the visitors and show them the Love of Christ.
How can we reach people when we aren't even nice to them?
