Posted on 08/20/2013 6:53:49 AM PDT by xzins
You have no doubt heard of mystery shoppers who visit department stores and secretly evaluate customer service.
Now, there is a new wrinkle to this old concept: Pastors are using it to improve people's experiences at their churches.
"Even the American Medical Association recommends to their member doctor to have secret patient shoppers," Thomas Harrison said. Harrison is the founder of Secret Church Shopper, a firm that travels to churches across the country to secretly evaluate worship experiences.
"I never know when the phone rings if it is New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, or some other place," he said. "I have the most interesting questions people ask me."
Interesting Discoveries
Harrison also finds interesting things while visiting churches with as few as 100 members to as many as 10,000. He listed some of those interesting evaluations in a recent interview with CBN News.
"I've noticed poison sumac growing in the flower beds, next to the main entrance, four foot tall," he said.
"Churches are cluttered. They have collections of materials in various places and there seems to be no order," he continued. "And if you think about it, we do that at our home, too."
"There have been occasions, honestly, where I have entered the worship facility excited and no one has spoken to me," he added.
And if you think it couldn't get worse, Harrison said he's "seen all sorts of bug infestations."
Harrison's attention to detail is only exceeded by his heart for helping churches improve and reach more people with the gospel.
CBN News followed him on a recent secret visit to Mason City Christian Church in Central Illinois. Pastor Joe Briseno had invited him.
"I'm really excited about what Mr. Harrison and the ministry has that he and I want to share it with a lot of people. But I have to keep that to myself," Briseno told CBN News.
You've Been Punked!
Briseno is also a bit nervous about what his church members will think when they find out.
"It's almost like you have been punked. I think there will be a good reception," he said. "I have been working with my leaders here at the church, kind of preparing them, without them knowing."
When Briseno first came to lead the Mason City congregation, it was meeting in a small church building and hovered at about 200 members.
It quickly grew to 400 members and relocated to a larger new facility, but the congregation has hovered at 400 for the last few years.
"Since we have moved into this larger building, we have begun to attract people from surrounding towns and villages around here. Some drive 30 miles. Some drive 40 miles," Briseno said.
"We have also noticed in our church that we have had people come," Briseno continued. "They will stay for a while, but then they will leave. And we will try to reach out to them, so there has been, for lack of a better word, a little bit of a revolving door."
Hurting Prospective Members
With that in mind, Harrison always pays close attention to how church members greet and treat guests. After all these years, one story still stands out.
"During the fellowship time where everyone is shaking hands, a woman behind me leans over past me to shake the hand of the woman in front of me, and in the process doesn't say hello, you're in my way, or anything," he recalled. "So I feel abandoned and while everyone else is shaking hands, I'm just standing here. And prior to that I had been bumped from my seat two times."
Harrison urges churches to make reaching people who are new to the church experience a top priority. So after every visit, he delivers a 30- to 50-page report to help the church improve. It's based on The Five Star Church, a book dedicated to Christian excellence.
"The same God who called us also made us. And there are occasions when our body does not function the way God intended or designed. And we have to go to a doctor or to a physical therapist," Harrison said.
"And the same God who heals us, also provides these occupations," he continued. "So, it is all about diagnosis. It is a snapshot of what is happening in this congregation at this time."
Pastor Briseno said he hopes that snapshot will help his members make a difference.
"All of us have pastors, we have blind spots," Briseno told CBN News after the service Harrison evaluated. "And no matter how much research we do or how much we seek to improve what we are doing for the glory of God, and the effectiveness of His kingdom, I think that there are areas we all can improve on."
I guess you look Argentinian.
Since you let them scream at you, complaining, YOU are to blame. You obviously answer them too, otherwise they wouldn't keep going back to you.
You know what to do to stop them. You don't do it though. It's not your job as an usher, which is NOT a lowly job, to have to listen to that. You COULD tell them to take it to the priest. Maybe one day you will.
Our ushers are great. One old guy has been doing the usher-thing since 1955. He IS really old.
If churches are club houses, which most are, this is a very appropriate activity.
How do you define worship, and in what sense is a typical church service ‘worship’?
Sins absolved while you wait.
The problem is we are not of like mind.
I ask at churches I visit, “what did you hear in the sermon today.” I ask, “what have you read in the Bible this past week?” I have never seen so many people exit to get their second cup of coffee.
There’s nothing wrong with being friendly to newcomers.
This is somewhat off the point.
I used to have a problem with the singers, both the choir and lay people at Mass. They were SO off-key sometimes, it drove me nuts.
We had an organist whom I liked. He was fabulous. I went to the pew near him so I could be very close to the music and sing with him.
I spoke to him once about the horrible off-key folks. He laughed. He said that it didn't bother him and they should be allowed to sing as they are...and God should hear them. After all, he said, God made those AWFUL voices and He SHOULD have to listen to them.
After that I was never bothered with off-key singers. Sometimes I roll my eyes at God, saying to myself, O Lord, that was a BAD one. :o)
In spirit and truth, glorifying God in the presence of God.
There are more than a few people out there genuinely deserving of help. And God helps us when we help them.
I'm not talking about the jag-offs with ObamaPhones demanding more and more. I'm talking about people with genuine needs.
A few years ago, my wife and I took in six kids from a single father (his wife had abandoned the marriage) who was being railroaded on a false sexual contact with a minor charge. We didn't know how long it was going to be and it was a challenge. But it turned out that six weeks was all he needed to get custody of his children back and get the bogus charges dismissed from yet another worthless judge trying to make a name for himself.
I don't know how our family friend would've solved that problem on his own.
There have been other times that people have helped us with needs not quite so dramatic. We've never been blessed with a fat bank account, but we have been blessed with health and other resources to assist others from time to time.
The emergent church is about the seeker only. The Baptist church, for example, is about the salvation of the Lost and the Christian education of the saved. (see the difference?)
Here is my advice- if you want to get taken advantaged of and lied to, if that is your thing, go to a seeker friendly- emergent church. They will welcome you and your money, and you will never be able to participate, because you are the audience and they are the special chosen. Look for Rick Warren’s definition of WHO is good enough to make it into the group of “good enough” to be o payroll. THAT has a lot to do with WHO will deny the Word of God, who loves money, who will not make the Pastor feel guilty about his huge house and travel perks, and lack of interaction with the people.
THAT is my secret shopper update for today.
“A joyful noise unto the Lord” means different things to different people :)
Ain't THAT the truth!!
I appreciate the update.
However, there’s nothing wrong with being friendly to newcomers visiting your church.
What parts of the church service involve glorifying God?
I think we worship God by obeying Him during our daily lives. We also do some things in a church service, such as the Lord’s Supper, which are done to honor God. But it seems to me that the church service is really about preparing people to live lives that honor God by our good deeds, rather than ‘worship’ Him during the service.
People who go to church to meet God are missing the point, IMHO. Too many go to have an emotional experience that makes them feel worshipful, rather than to contemplate what God has done and what He wants to do in our lives.
I like the throne room scenes of worshipping God in the book of Revelation.
. I’m talking about people with genuine needs.
Too many times we want to help people for our glory. Tough times have shaped me. I am most thankful in looking back, no one helped me and I had to turn to God.
If you open the cocoon of a butterfly you think you are helping it but in reality you destroy it. It has to exercise its muscles in working its way out of the cocoon to have the strength to fly.
Go with fear and trembling in helping anyone. You assume he would not have made it without your help. Maybe yes and maybe no. But, I thank you for the story and testimony and will assume I don’t have the whole story in your few words and will trust your heart was right. Mine usually is not.
People who come to a church and are ignored will be at another church the next week.
It may violate your highly developed sensibilities but that is the way life works.
There’s nothing wrong with being friendly to newcomers.
But what is the purpose of the church? I ask with all sincerity because what I read in the Bible, what I think, and what I observe in churches are out of sync.
That is because that is just about as big as a church can get. One pastor can only do so much.
Around three hundred you look to spin off a "daughter" church you should have picked out a place and found a pastor for the new church at that point.
The Church is the body of Christ, so it’s purpose is to represent Christ to both believers and non-believers, the former for pastoral care, and the latter for proclamation of the gospel.
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