In a recent article for his own blog, Eric Geiger writes: “As you encourage your church members to bring friends on Easter weekend, think as much about the Monday morning after Easter. You will hopefully have a list of all the guests who attended for the first time. By God’s grace, you will have a list of people who expressed a desire to know Christ personally. What will you do with these people? What will you have invited the people to do next?
“I encourage you to have one ‘next step’ that you clearly communicate to the people who come to your Easter services. Instead of bombarding people during your announcement time with a plethora of things to do, offer them one opportunity to get more connected. You may choose to promo the teaching series you launch or to lovingly nudge people to a ‘newcomers luncheon.’ Whatever the next step is, align all leaders and teams around it. Ensure your first-impression people know this one thing, as well as those who check in the kids and those who interact with guests.
“Craft your letter or e-mail to guests in a way that points to this one thing. Focus your assimilation energy in one direction for the greatest impact.
“Assimilation and transformation are not the same thing. They are both important, but don’t confuse the two. Don’t get so focused on the important details of assimilation that you forget about transformation. Transformation will not occur because you decide to unveil a great opening illustration or fresh bulletin design on Easter. There is nothing wrong with those things, but transformation only occurs through Christ.
“Ironically, there is a temptation on Easter weekend, of all weekends, to declare or preach something other than the risen Christ. Many pastors feel this pressure to say something new, something different on Easter. Some have told me, ‘I feel like I am preaching the same message every Easter and that I need to say something different.’ This would be a devastating mistake.” (Click here to read the full article.)