At oneChurch.tv, the goal is that every guest who walks in the door will get this above all: You matter to God. Of course it’s much easier to share when those guests first realize that they matter to oneChurch—right where they are.
If our guests can’t say, ‘Wow! I’m impressed!’ within their first 10 minutes on campus, then we have failed. Somewhere between parking the car and checking their kids into our Children’s environments, those 10 minutes pass. 10 minutes of opportunity for us to make an impact, to create a reason for our guests to at least think to themselves, ‘This is not what I expected’—in a good way, of course.
They may discover their “wow” moment in the fact that they are neither pounced on nor left to flounder when they walk through the lobby, not knowing exactly where to go or how to get there. They may smell it in the aroma of popcorn, donuts, or coffee wafting through an inviting café area. No matter how your guests find that “wow” experience—before the music starts, before the “message” of the service is delivered—they will have received a clear message already. They are valued. Because the sermon--the message--starts in the parking lot.