In this episode, Zach and I discuss how his church plant in Newtown, Connecticut follows up on their visitors and the importance of it.

Often more established churches slack in this area because whether or not they follow up on guests they'll still have people show up next Sunday.

A church plant doesn't have that luxury. New people are the only people at a new church and follow-up is essential.

I hope this episode is a help to you and will reignite a fire within you to value and steward well the visitors God brings to your church.

If there's anything I can help you with don't hesitate to email me at dillon@gospellightmarion.com

In this episode, I had the privilege to host a friend of mine, Pastor Gabriel Ruhl.

Pastor Ruhl is the new pastor of Pleasant Valley Baptist Church in Chico, CA. This past summer he was installed as the pastor following his father who pastored the church for several years.

Pastor Ruhl has been in full-time ministry for 21 years and has served as an assistant pastor at Lancaster Baptist Church with Pastor Paul Chappell.

Through his time in ministry, Pastor Ruhl has overseen and been hands-on with the follow-up and disciple plans and processes of the churches he's served at. I believe he has some great insight that will help your ministry improve in this area of follow-up so you can see more visitors and see those visitors come back again.

If I can be of help to you, shoot me an email at dmccurdy@gospellightmarion.com

In this episode, we'll be discussing the visitor process. What to do when a visitor shows up at your church.

This is super important! We need to have a plan and execute that plan every time someone new shows up to your church.

I believe churches struggle to get new people and to get those new people to come back when they don't have a plan in place.

The 5 things you need in your plan are:

1. A welcome team

2. Information collection

3. A gift for the guest

4. Guidance for your visitor

5. Make a good impression

If you have a plan and implement it I believe God will bring you more visitors and you'll more of them come back again.

In the next few episodes, we'll be talking about Visitor Followup, Event Followup, and Outreach Followup. I'm super excited to be talking about these topics and I hope you'll join me and find some help along the way.

If I can help you with anything don't hesitate to email me at dmccurdy@gospellightmarion.com

Ben White and I talk about the taking and usage of photos in our churches. Unfortunately, churches have been notorious for having terrible, cheesy, plagiarized, and tacky designs. 

Ben saw this need at his own church and did something about it. 

He gives us some techniques, equipment, and ways to get others in your church involved in this endeavor. 

If taking your own photos at your church or even having someone else do it for you seems far-fetched right now there are some resources we talk about in this episode that can help you.

Ben has taken much of his faith-based pictures and made them available on a website called Unsplash https://unsplash.com/@benwhitephotography

I hope this episode is a help to you. If you have any questions or there's anything I can help you out with personally my email is dmccurdy@gospellightmarion.com

Books Mentioned:

The Wisdom Pyramid

Done - Cary Schmidt

Everyone Communicates. Few Connect

The Power in Preaching

Dangerous Calling

Podcasts Mentioned: 

Business Wars

For Ministry Leaders

For the Gospel

Leading in the Gospel

Unbelievable?

Other Resources Mentioned: 

Unsplash

Lightstock

My friend Josh Cox joins us in this episode to discuss visitor follow-up. Josh is the pastor of Keystone Church in Durham, North Carolina. Keystone was started just five years ago and one of the main growth points for this church has been its emphasis on follow-up and how they treat their guests.

We talk about some of the practical things they do for follow-up as well as some things that need to be fixed. 

I hope this episode is a help to you and your church in this vital area of Follow-Up.

We'll be doing a few more episodes on this topic so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss them

Books Mentioned:

Larry Osborne - Sticky Church

Nick Newman - Bridge the Gap

I'm so excited to have Amir Shahbaz Bhatti joining us on The Small Church Marketing Podcast today. 

Amir is a national pastor from Pakistan and he has some incredible insights to share about ministry in Pakistan. 

We'll also be hearing a word of encouragement from Amir for all of us who are ministering in our churches. 

I know you're going to be blessed by what Amir has to say, so let's jump right in!

You can find Amir on Facebook here.

In this episode, we sit down with my good friend Ryan Ruppel. Ryan and I had the privilege to work together for just over 3 years at First Baptist Church in Bridgeport, Michigan. 

Ryan and I jumped into a Trunk or Treat event at our church head first and it was definitely trial by fire. We were planning on 40-100, and that was a liberal number, and ended up with around 350-400 people showing up. It was awesome! 

We'll discuss some of the things they do at their church, the benefits, member involvement, long-term results, and just having a good time. 

Thanks for joining us for this conversation. I hope it's a help to you.

dmccurdy@gospellightmarion.com

Books Mentioned:

Atomic Habits

The Power of Habit

In this episode, we'll be looking at all the ways you have available to promote this event to your community. Hang on tight and grab something to take some notes with 'cause you might need it.

We'll be going over Facebook Ads, Facebook Events, Landing pages, print, banners, EDDM, and more.

Promotion Plan

• Advertising
  • Start advertising to your community 4-5 weeks out.
  • Facebook Event
    • Do a drawing for those who share the event on Facebook
    • Post in the Facebook event every day leading up to the trunk or treat.
      • Post about what’s going on, do a couple of live videos and post about all that you’ll have available for them.
  • Landing page on your website
  • Sign Up Sheet
    • If you don’t have a website or a way to do a landing page use your church database’s form or make a google form with the link to it.
  • Post in local Facebook groups
  • Submit an event to online community event boards
  • Print flyers/invite cards
  • Print posters and take them to bulletin boards at businesses
  • Print posters and ask church people to put them up at their job
  • Facebook Ads
  • Email people you already have contacts for
  • Text people you already have contacts for
  • Send flyers home with kids in junior church/bus ministry
  • EDDM
  • Banners
    • In front of the church, people in the church put them up 

If there's anything I can help you with in regards to this stuff shoot me an email at dmccurdy@gospellightmarion.com