Ushers are the unsung heroes of church services. They function as combination greeters/problem solvers, focused 100% on being helpful. At least that’s the ideal…
I was off one weekend, and was able to attend the grand opening of a new church building as a guest. The church was large and well-known, and the new building was beautiful. As my family and I entered the auditorium, ushers were guiding people towards open seating. I was a church music director at the time, and wanted to sit near the band, who were set up on one side of the stage.
We started moving in that direction, and a frowning user placed himself in our path. “No,” he said, “Sit there.” I briefly explained why we wanted to sit closer to the band. The usher interrupted, quickly and forcefully: “NO! You WILL sit in THIS row!” He was on a mission, and was going to fulfill it – no matter what. Unfortunately, making us sit in that row was not his mission – representing the church well to guests was…
The problem? A lack of clarity. He might have been a great guy in “real life,” the seats might have been reserved, etc… However, he was unclear on the main purpose of his role, which was definitely not simply getting posteriors into certain chairs. Tomorrow, I’ll give some specific examples of how to help ushers succeed by clarifying “the win.”
Hmmm - well, let's see...
I'm a Christian, a husband, a dad, a son, a pastor, a consultant, a musician, a writer, and bits and pieces of a bunch of other things. My work life has followed three main phases - business to teaching to church. I was the Weekend Services Pastor for nine years at Northview Church, an awesome church in the Indianapolis suburbs. I used to work for Willow Creek, another awesome church in the Chicago area. Plus I've written for various magazines and websites, and other freelancy sorts of things... My life mission is to help the church be as excellent as it can be.
Oh yeah - the name's Greg. Greg Wallace. But not the race car driver or the major league pitcher or the British celebrity chef. Just the creative worship guy. Hi.
It's my hope that these ideas, musings, rants, raves, etc... will inspire you. They're just my opinions - but again, I hope that they'll help to inspire you. Because the church really, really needs inspired creative types. If you're a creative type (and most people are, deep-down), ask God for help. Then take any ideas that are useful to you - borrow them, nab them, use them, adapt them - and make them into something greater...
You can head over to my Instagram site for an abundance of shorter posts: creativeworshipideas. If you're looking for consulting - especially on weekend services, team leadership or multi-site strategies - I'd love to help. Just message me here, and I'll be in touch - Greg
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