At Your Service: Taking the Next Step in Guest Services

By Audley Castro

We live in a service-oriented generation where people increasingly demand excellence in service. To keep up with this demand, thriving organizations from all professional sectors spend lavishly on training and developing their front-end teams to deliver positive first impressions. For example, Walt Disney World, the multibillion-dollar company, prides itself on its 70% customer return rate. The church’s value should also be to reach, serve, and keep lives for the kingdom of God.

Whether you are a pastor concerned about the growth of your congregation and the flourishing of people’s lives; a business owner looking for an innovative approach for caring for your clients, or an individual hoping to find practical ways to sharpen your customer service skills, “At Your Service: Taking the Next Step in Guest Services” is an ideal tool for you.

includes questions for reflection and supplementary training resources for additional study.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781546248132

Audley Castro

AUDLEY CASTRO is an internationally recognized pastor, author, and conference speaker. He travels extensively, empowering believers to maximize their gifts and to become visibly active within their local church. Castro has taught in several colleges, seminaries and serves on various branding organizations.

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© 2018 Audley Castro. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 10/12/2018

ISBN: 978-1-5462-4814-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-4812-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-4813-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018907436

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Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®). Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Website

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Preface

1     Introduction To Guest Services

2     The Approach

3     Valet & Parking Services

4     Greeting

5     Ushering

6     Altar Working

7     Follow-Up

8     Home Bible Studies

9     The Next Step

Bibliography

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

To the Lord Jesus Christ, for saving our lives and giving us the opportunity to write about things which pertain to the Kingdom.

To Clinton Taylor, for the major contribution made towards the content of this book, and his persistence in encouraging me to take the next step in bringing this document to publication.

To Kereisha Biggs, the dedicated student who assisted with typing and editing portions of the book. Her service and willingness to help are greatly appreciated. Someday, she will be published.

To the unseen editors who worked tirelessly to make good better and better the best it can be.

To my wife, Karen and daughters, Rhea and Aarien, whose support and encouragement throughout the development of this book is worth more than I can express on paper.

To the thousands of guests who continually attend our church and are always willing to cooperate with our team as we regularly explore new ways of improving our services to them.

Finally, to the gifted staffs and members of the Apostolic Pentecostal Church of Pickering (APC), who for over twenty years have given us much to write about. Their willingness to be trained, courage to try different guest services approaches, and weekly contribution to the operation of the church will be remembered by the Lord.

PREFACE

I have the privilege of pastoring a growing church, the Apostolic Pentecostal Church of Pickering (APC). For over twenty years, we have had and continue to have a steady stream of guests in our services each week. On one hand, many of our guests have become members; on the other hand, a number of guests never returned after they visited.

As part of my commitment to expand and increase our membership, I would call each guest weekly to thank them for visiting and survey their experience. I soon discovered that while most people loved the worship and the preaching, they did not always feel welcome.

It frustrated me to know that even one person—guest or member—had an experience that was less than courteous, enthusiastic and professional. My frustration and pastoral concern for the sustained growth of our church led