What's Your Excuse?

Every week at Good Shepherd we get a number of first time visitors. We tend to average about 4-5 households who are visiting our church for the first time. Wanna know why? Wanna know what their excuse for visiting was? We give everyone a chance to sign in when we pass the notebooks each week. If they are in our general area, and if they took the time to give us their reason for attending, here's what the results are:
Found us on the Net - 3% This isn't a significant number, but it's important to know that some people do look at the net for their community services. Have you seen our website lately? It could use an update. We're looking for creative people who can design the layout. We're not really looking for programmers but rather for the graphic types. Can you help? Contact Rev Kev to offer your help.
Attended an Activity - 4% Again, a small number, but it does indicate that activities like VBS bring exposure. I've always said that if we can get someone in the church for the first time, they might just come back. Someone just this Sunday came to church because the day before they had been at the garage sales that the Northland Mother's of Multiples hosted in our Gathering Place. How cool is that?
Little Lambs Preschool and PDO - 5% This number is quite a bit smaller than I would have guessed. Bear in mind that only about 50% of first time visitors actually record why they visited. I suspect this number is higher in reality.
Location - 15% You still can't beat that real estate maxim "Location, Location, Location" for a leading inroad to our church. North Oak is a busy street and our visibility is important to attracting visitors. What does this say about landscaping? Signage?
Personal Invitation - 73% This just goes to prove you can't beat good old word of mouth. When you talk about your church, worship, small group, PDO and Preschool, activity, Biggest Loser, or whatever, you generate an interest with others. It was once said that evangelism is simply one hungry person telling another hungry person where to get fed. Have you helped someone find out how to feed their soul lately? It's simple and no one gets hurt.

Returning visitors By the way, of those who have returned for a third time or more, the percentages remain approximately the same. This means that friends inviting friends makes the biggest impact in the life of this church.