Yesterday I was able to go to the opening day Cardinals game in St. Louis with my dad. While we were there, I noticed some things in relation to the church, and like usual, I blog them. I Know I’m sick. Here are some things I noticed at the game in relation to the church.
1. Great service goes a LONG way. It’s amazing how quickly your attitude can change with good or bad service. It was COLD at the game. Like, Wyoming cold. By far the coldest baseball game I’ve been too. It snowed at one point. But I digress. I was cold, so I wanted to get some hot chocolate. I stood in line for several minutes at one concession stand only to find out they didn’t serve hot chocolate. I walked our entire level to the 4th concession stand before I finally found one selling hot chocolate. The line was LONG, I was FREEZING and I was already perturbed at having to find the 4th concession stand for something warm. I got to the front, and the lady behind the counter was MORE than friendly and accomodating. It’s AMAZING how great service can change your tude. A church that doesn’t make First Impressions a priority is borderline moronic. People will decide within the first few minutes whether they are coming back to your church. It BETTER be a priority! If you don’t have your BEST people meeting and greeting, your’e done for! Your greeters, ushers and first impressions teams are the ones setting the stage for the rest of the guests experience.
2. Keep people engaged. I noticed that there isn’t a silent moment at a ball game. In between batters there is music. In between innings there are games or videos on the big screen. In between pitches the organ plays a ballgame song or leads in a fan chant. EVERYTHING is orchestrated, scripted and done with the intention of engaging the fan. NOW, I know there is an intentional place in church for silence, BUT there is literally not a moment of silence at a ballgame and I think that is done on purpose. If silence is un-planned, uncomfortable, and awkward in church, people will dis-engage. If transitions aren’t smooth and the service isn’t planned or orechestrated well, people WILL notice AND it hinders engagement. YES the Holy Spirit should have free reign in our services, BUT to neglect in planning everything down to the smallest transition is POOR stewardship of the opportunity GOD gave you to engage people for Jesus each Sunday. People who refuse to plan down to the smallest moments of the service are probably lazy and looking for an excuse to not work. Excellence honors God. Giving our best IS Biblical and should be pursued.
3. It’s all about the experience. EVERYTHING at the ball game is an experience. EVERYTHIGN! From the mascot…the pre-game…the mid-inning entertainment…the freebies…the service…EVERYTHING. Part of what makes going to the ballpark so memorable is NOT the game itself, but the WHOLE experience. (This might be 2b instead of 3) There is as much planning and organizing of the event as there is for the team to play. If you had a simple baseball field with no extra stuff. No mid inning fun. No entertainment. No music. No mascots. Who is going to show up at the baseball game? ONLY true baseball fans. The casual fan or the family looking for a fun outing WILL NOT show up. If you do church without putting some SERIOUS thought into the ENTIRE experience…the Kids ministry…the music… the lightsing…the seating…the parking…the transitions…the sound system…the greeters…the ushers…WHATEVER!! Who is going to show up at church? JUST the committed Christians. The “causual” attender WILL NOT show up. The un-churched or de-churched person “seeking” a church home WILL NOT show up. It’s ALL about the experience!
4. It’s DEPENDANT upon the content! Like I said, it was COLD! REAL cold. But my dad and I, being true (or dumb) Cardinal fans, stuck it out for the entire game. We had a two run lead TWICE and blew it. We hit a homer in the 7th inning to go up two runs. We had them down to the 9th inning with two outs and two strikes, AND WE BLEW IT! They scored four runs in the 9th and we lost. That’s ok for one game, but if that continues…Look in the stands of the teams who have NO CONTENT and what do you see? No fans…or at least a lot less. There are a few who will stick with it, but even the most die hard of fans at some point won’t go the game, EVEN for the great experience, if there is NO CONTENT! Church, we might have the BEST expereince in the world BUT IF WE DON’T HAVE CONTENT WE DON’T HAVE A CHURCH! Paul urged Timothy “PREACH THE WORD”. You’ll lose even the committed ones without content. A great experience with no Jesus is just…another experience. EVERTHING, the service, keeping engaged, the experience is dependant on the content. We must preach CHRIST… Him crucified, risen and coming again. We must preach CHRIST and our giving our ALL to Him as commanded in Scripture.
The first three things are attractive. They help “catch” people. The last thing…is retractive. It helps to keep what is caught, AND God’s Word helps foster the transformation in lives that people need.
Observing and thinking out loud,
Jeff
