Recently I had the opportunity to spend a few minutes casting vision for our "Guest Services" team at Ridge Church. I got to talk about our organizational culture and how it impacts guest services. One of our cultural values as a leadership team is "FUN". In relationship to this value we often ask the the question, "How are we creating memorable experiences?" The reality is, most people don't expect to have fun at church, so when they do it's memorable. AND, fun also increases productivity. Dale Carnegie said it this way, "People rarely succeed in what they are doing unless they are having fun."
Two recent examples where fun elements became memorable:
1) Guest Services: Usually our guest services team are the ones greeting people in the parking lots, checking people in, answering questions, and creating a warm and inviting environment for guests. So for the Guest Services Training our GS director brought in a "stand in crew" to greet the normal team as they entered for the training. They dressed crazy, parked cars on curbs, sent people the wrong direction, and did virtually everything wrong. It was fun...it was memorable!
2) Student Ministry: Our student ministry set up a harlem shakes video on youtube that now has over 400 hits [and still climbing]. All of a sudden church wasn't simply endurable it was enjoyable. Every middle school and high school kid at our church is proudly inviting their friends to "their" church this week. It was fun...it was memorable.
