"First-Timers Welcome, Second-Timers More So"
Dennis Marquardt appreciates first-time visitors in the church, but it's the second-timers who get the red-carpet treatment.
"We try to make first-timers feel welcome," says Marquardt, pastor of the Assembly of God Christian Center near Vergennes, Vermont. "We send them a letter the next week with information about the church. But so many people will come one time just out of curiosity or because they're passing through that we feel it's wasted energy to follow up each of them."
As soon as visitors come a second time, however, the church springs into action. One of the three elders invites them over for a meal that week.
"When a person comes a second time, that shows a definite interest," says Marquardt.
"We planted this church with nine people 41/2 years ago, and we knew the best evangelism was personal, not a program. We've had this treatment for second-timers from the beginning. Now as people have been saved and brought into the church, they just assume this hospitality is what every church is supposed to do. Our members are taking the initiative to invite newcomers over."
The only problem is that as the church has grown to more than 100 on Sunday morning, keeping up with all the second-timers is more difficult.
So recently, the previously informal routine was given a bit of structure. Bevie Jo Marquardt, Dennis's wife, was elected to oversee the hospitality and make sure no one is overlooked.
"We feel our energy needs to be spent on people with a hunger and thirst for what the church can provide," says Marquardt. "This approach has worked for us."
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