Guest Services

Managing A Tension In Guest Services

By Casey Ross / Director of Ministry Services / Browns Bridge Community Church There is a tension in Guest Services. It's not a problem that needs to be solved. It's a tension we have to learn to manage. Our Guest Services teams (Parking Team, Host Team, Usher Team, Information Team) welcome, inform, and serve every guest who comes onto our campus and into our buildings on Sundays. We place our volunteers at strategic locations from the parking lots to the hallways to the aisles in the auditorium so they can interact with as many guests as possible. We don't want anyone to not be influenced in some way by one of our Guest Services volunteers. And here is where the tension happens every Sunday. Not every guest wants to be welcomed, informed, and served by our Guest Services volunteers. Some people want to be left alone. Some people want to remain anonymous. Some people need their space. It's important we realize this about people. So how do we manage this tension? Here are some of the ways we try: We teach our Guest Services volunteers to look for nonverbal signals that a guest needs assistance. At Browns Bridge, we've learned guests who need help often look up...maybe they're taking everything in, maybe they're looking for signage, or maybe they're asking God for help. We make all Guest Services volunteers very easy to identify so a guest knows who to approach for help. At Browns Bridge, we require all Guest Services volunteers to wear the same t-shirt we provide to them. We instruct our Guest Services volunteers to not go "over the top" in how they welcome people. For instance, we don't want them hugging or high-fiving every guest who walks by you. We typically do not approach a guest. Instead, we let the guest approach us. It's a tension we have to manage. I'm sure there are times we do not go far enough in helping a guest. And I am sure there are times we go too far in helping a guest. But most of the time we want to live in the middle of the tension where we welcome, inform, and serve every guest in just the right way for them. This tension within Guest Services exists where you are. How are you managing it?

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We Are Family

By Mike Hartley / Director of Guest Services / North Point Community Church Guest Services at the North Point Campus requires around 1,200 volunteers that serve on 68 teams.  We like to think of ourselves as a community of families. The word “Family” is much more descriptive of the vision we have for these dedicated servants of hospitality. Any functional family needs a strong, caring leader with good communication skills. Each family has its own style and personality, and it usually reflects the character of the shepherding parents.  Each Sunday, our family of Volunteers display a common bond and purpose with one another for the greater glory of serving Him.  The Team Leaders, or “parents”, provide regular reminders before each date of service through an email, a phone call, or in person.  At times this might include some corrective coaching, but it is always done in love and in a positive way. When our families of Volunteers come together on Sunday, they share life experiences, pray together and clarify the daily activities.  This will include covering the order of service and encouraging the family to be sensitive to how others see our church and reminding them to experience North Point through the eyes of our guests. The Team Leader will follow up the day by sending everyone a recap of needs shared within the family.  This makes for strong and supportive relationships, and often leads to unexpected acts of kindness and service to one another in ways not normally expected in a team setting but always present in a strong family. When it comes to welcoming, informing, and serving our guests, we think of it as a family affair. In doing so, we add dimension and unity to what otherwise might simply be a duty to church and a work to be accomplished.

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