This morning, I had the privilege of attending NorthStar Church in Kennesaw, GA. Led by its wonderful senior pastor Mike Linch, this is one of my favorite churches in America. Today was their second service since reopening last week. I was very interested in what I could learn about the re-gathering process and see if I could glean some insights which would help other churches. I learned far more than I bargained for.
My Objectives For The Morning
- Approach my morning experience as if I were a visitor looking for a church home.
- Approach my morning experience as if I were a visitor looking for a church home in the context of a global pandemic.
- Evaluate my experience in light of NorthStar’s mission statement – We exist to help people FIND THEIR WAY HOME.
Pre-Departure
I received two emails from the church prior to my Sunday morning visit. The first email provided clear communication of all areas – recommended arrival time, parking location, where to expect to engage people, what entrances would be utilized, what spaces were off-limits, bathroom instructions including number of attendees allowed at a given time, mask instructions, seating and social engagement arrangements, and exiting instructions. No detail was left out. GREAT job!
I also received a second reminder email Saturday evening. Nice touch. My thoughts are with many churches seeing 60-75% registered attendance actually showing up, this is a proactive way to lessen that gap and add an extra-mile item. During these times, you cannot overcommunicate enough as you help people find their way home.
Parking Lot
I arrived 18 minutes prior to service because I wanted to feel like a regular visitor or attender. I was immediately greeted by three people waving with signs. There was also a plethora of people at the welcome tents and entrance areas.
Initial observation – NorthStar Church has a very, very high volunteer and servant culture. Simply outstanding and would give me the sense something special was happening at the church!
Welcome Tent
As I walked to the welcome tent, I was met by a very nice lady who greeted me and guided me to the check-in area. In an extremely calm and soothing fashion she asked me if I had been sick in the last two weeks. This was not off-putting and in fact, almost apologetic. Nice job!
The table was very well organized allowing me to be checked in a thorough fashion. Also, getting a couple of NorthStar masks is an upgrade over the standard bookmarks, bumper stickers, and car magnets you normally receive. This may be strictly a personal preference but I received keepsakes and marketing materials this morning which actually help me and improve the quality of my life.
What I liked about my experience at the registration tent was I felt a “Brian, we’re glad you’re here and we’ve been expecting you”-type of feel. “We even have a special seat just for you.” I do not have a solution yet but if there is a way to create a similar experience in the future when registrations will not be required, it would position all churches to establish an even greater sense of biblical community.
Entering The Sanctuary
I had a number indicating an assigned seat and was walked efficiently and nicely to my seat. While there, Mike Linch worked the room. This no longer happens at many churches. If I am a visitor, this would be a MAJOR reason I would return. COVID has caused people to remember their need for a shepherd. I fear shepherds who stay in the green room will now have sheep who stay in their living or bedrooms.
Another thing I noticed about Mike was he told a couple seated behind me, “We went to work to get you back to your normal seat.” This indicated several things to me:
- People’s opinions are valued at NorthStar Church.
- People are noticed at NorthStar Church.
- People matter at NorthStar Church.
- The staff wants the people of NorthStar Church to feel like they are at home.
- People return to NorthStar Church… and they arrive early. More on that in the next point.
The person sitting beside me said. “Good morning.” This was nice because they were seated three chairs away. Once again, this is an example of the friendliness of NorthStar Church. The people are always a reflection of the leader.
New Attendance Patterns
In pre-COVID worship services, I noticed 20% of the people arrived and were seated prior to the start of the service with 80% of the attendance arriving after the music started. Most of these arrived during the second song.
Today, I noticed 80% of the people were there prior to the start of the service with 20% of the attendance arriving after the music started. Some of this attendance shift could be no children’s check-in. However, I feel most of this new migration pattern is because of the excitement of being back in church, people planning for potential delays (similar to security at the airport in a post-911 world), and the committed core are self-identifying themselves.
Service Up To The Sermon
The church’s updated pre-service video showed clips from the previous week’s reopening service with people wearing masks. Many people may miss this but kudos to the team at NorthStar. This shows they were not lazy and simply played old videos. The production team worked hard and updated ALL communications to reflect the current state of a worship experience. It is always the little things which demonstrate the overall excellence of a ministry.
The church had great diversity on stage. For instance, of the six band members, three were female. In my 42 years of attending church, I have to admit I had never seen a female drummer before! NorthStar did a wonderful job of reflecting the community in which it serves. Also, this diversified approach to the Sunday morning presentation is attractive to those who don’t know Christ and are looking for a church. NorthStar is proactively removing potential hurdles to their journey of those hoping to find their way home.
During the announcements, pictures of recent baptisms were especially important and effective. Many churches today have abandoned evangelism and life-change for two-week visions of masks, signage, hand sanitizer, and disinfectant spray. Once again, NorthStar’s mission is to help people find their way home. It was good to see this mantra remain primary while other issues rightfully remained secondary.
They also created a sense of urgency by giving the latest Barna study of one-in-five churches will close over the next year. So many churches have a primary communication of maintenance and survival that the urgency to advance mission and vision has been eclipsed. This sense of urgency was enhanced in a positive way by reminding everyone both of today’s services have filled up and no seats remained. So make sure to sign-up for next week beginning today at 1:00 PM.
Sermon
There was a wonderful common thread throughout the morning of an authentic and genuine excitement to see everyone again.
Many churches are making a mistake of speaking to the online audience and treating those in attendance as afterthoughts. Mike did a wonderful job of speaking directly to the online audience (in fact, calling many by name) while simultaneously being truly excited to see those in attendance. You cannot have a mission statement like Help People FIND THEIR WAY HOME and be more excited about People WHO ARE NOT THERE.
Mike’s message was from Psalm 23. This concluded a series called PANIC. He immediately connected with the audience by saying, “I’ve needed this series.” During the message, Mike did the following:
- Provided Reassurance – “You can face the future confidently because God is watching over you.”
- Elevated Their Thinking – Smart pastors respect their audience. He reminded us while there is a physical world, there is also a spiritual world we cannot see.
- Taught Us – Grace has us on a growth journey and is working in us.
- Personalized The Journey – Mike used a young man named Jeff as a person whom he has watched grow from a 14-year-old teenager into a Godly man with teenagers himself.
- Challenged Us – “He’s working for us to look more like Jesus. I shouldn’t look like I did five years ago.”
- Gave Us Hope – “Heaven is waiting for me.”
- Leveraged The Value of His Team – Creative Director Stephanie Ford added tremendous credibility to the message because of being in approximately 100 funerals with Mike. She also provided the message’s bottom line by saying if you have a family member who knows Christ, “The day you die is sweeter than the day you were born.”
- Called For A Decision – Mike gave people an opportunity to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior
- Provided Clear Next Steps For Those Who Accepted Christ – “Lock eyes on Him and walk towards Him.”
- Invited People Into A Discipleship Plan – Mike gave instructions for how to get started with NorthStar’s daily devotionals.
- Honored Those In Attendance – Once again, the common thread of a genuine excitement over seeing everyone was how the message concluded, “YOU CAN MAKE IT!… We are honored you were here.” Allow me to respond, we were honored to be there my friend!
Post Message
It was unique how the service concluded. Mike welcomed those online by name during the service. But as the audience exited section by section, he spoke to many of those in-person by name from the platform on their way out. Just a great personal touch.
Things NorthStar Church Did Which Were Extraordinary
The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is just a little extra. The following are several small things NorthStar Church did which made a huge difference:
- Saturday evening email reminder
- NorthStar masks
- Welcoming me by name at the tent. This is easy to do with modern check-in processes.
- Escorting me to my seat.
- A pastor who speaks to people prior to the service.
- Updated welcome video showing people with masks
- From the tent to the singing to announcements to Mike’s message and dismissal, a true celebration of being back together was in the forefront.
- Speaking to people from the platform as they left.
Culture
It has been said that culture is merely the length and shadow of a single person. In other words, the leader. The staff and congregation have truly become a reflection of Mike Linch. They are as friendly a group of people as you will ever meet.
Church Staff
Also, you can’t make a Sunday morning experience like this happen without a great team. From communications, to volunteer coordinator, to the host team, to maintenance, to production, NorthStar’s team is at an elite level.
Overall Experience
Simply an outstanding Sunday morning!!!
Bottom line – if I was a visitor I would be back! Something tells me, I would also find my way home.
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