In The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself, John Jantsch writes about a business consultant—Scott Ginsberg. There is one truly remarkable thing about Ginsberg. He wears a name tag. Every day. All day. All night. He has done so for more than nine years now, and he intends to keep doing so for the rest of his life. He is so committed to wearing a name tag that he has had one tattooed to his chest—just in case you meet him at a pool party.

He’s not crazy. Okay, maybe he’s a little crazy. But he has a sound reason for his obsession with wearing a name tag. He wants people to approach him. And it works!

How can pastoral leaders glean something from Ginsberg’s strategy for improving parish hospitality? Can we use name tags in more creative ways to make ourselves more approachable to parishioners and visitors?

Some parishes do provide name tags for ushers and hospitality ministers. Most, however, do not. And even fewer ask key parish leaders to wear name tags. So here’s my suggestion. Make a list of everyone you think of as a leader in your parish. That would certainly include all paid staff members and the parish council members. For me, it would also include all committee chairpeople, catechists, school teachers, and liturgical ministers (lectors, Communion ministers, etc.) Draw the line wherever you like, however.

Next make a list of times and places folks in leadership would be expected to wear name tags. For example, during business hours, during school hours, at parish functions, at Sunday liturgy. Again, draw the line where you like. I think Sunday liturgy would be the bare minimum requirement because that is where we are most likely to encounter strangers.

Finally, decide what kind of nametags you are going to use. Scott Ginsberg, who is the nametag expert, wears the plain, paper, peelable kind and handwrites his name. If you decide to invest in permanent name tags, make sure the first name is at least 48-point type so it is readable at a distance.
 
This is 48-point type.
 

And, of course, tattoos are optional.

Do you have any more suggestions to share? How are you using nametags in your parish? What other ways are you making yourself more approachable to parishioners and visitors?

For a busy parish pastor, a blog has the potential of becoming your most effective and time-efficient tool for evangelization.

A pastor’s fantasy

Think of it this way. Suppose that after Mass next Sunday, you are shaking hands and saying goodbye to parishioners as they leave. A new person greets you and says, “Father, I’m thinking of becoming Catholic. Can you tell me what I would need to do?” Now suppose the rest of your Sunday is completely free. And suppose you are not exhausted from the killer week of meetings, weddings, and funerals you just completed. (Hey, this is a fantasy. Bear with me.) If you had all the time and energy in the world, you could spend the next couple of hours just chatting with the seeker that the Holy Spirit sent to you at that moment.

But you don’t have all the time and energy in the world. You’ve got the next Mass or the emergency finance council meeting or lunch scheduled with the capital campaign chairperson (and largest contributor to the parish). And even if you have nothing else scheduled, you’ve been looking forward to your first free Sunday afternoon in a month to just kick back and watch the game.

Now imagine there are ten such seekers and imagine there are ten more next Sunday and ten more the Sunday after that. Because in a medium-sized parish with three Masses on a weekend, that’s the potential. You can’t possibly meet, individually, with each and every one of those seekers. But they can “meet” you—if you are blogging.

When you put yourself out there on a blog, people get to know you as a person. Even if you are blogging about what you had for dinner, over time, people will discover your level of integrity, what you are passionate about, what you know about, and what you think is important in life. And they will also encounter you as a person of faith—which is what they are seeking in the first place.

No time to blog

But doesn’t blogging take time? Precious time that you don’t have to spare? Yes to the first question, no to the second. Evangelization is the number one job for parishes. Take out your calendar and add up the number of hours you are evangelizing this week. Then add up the number of seekers your evangelization efforts are touching this week. What do you think? Are you spending enough time on job one? Are you reaching enough people? If so, maybe you don’t need to blog. But most pastors are caught up in a lot of “smaller” jobs related to just keeping the parish afloat.

What if you could carve out one hour a week for evangelization and touch hundreds or maybe thousands of seekers? That’s what I’m suggesting. Write two short posts a week. Spend 30 minutes on each. And get yourself out there in the blogosphere as the evangelizer-in-chief for your parish.

And really—if you think you are too busy to blog, check out this guy! You can’t possibly have more on your plate than he does.

What to blog about?

I think what stops most pastors from blogging is not the time it takes. It’s writer’s block. What in the world would people be interested in that you would have to say? Okay, you’re going to have to imagine with me again. Or better yet, remember.

Remember back before you were a priest. Maybe remember all the way back to childhood. What did you think of priests? Weren’t you wildly curious about what kind of people they were? What they did? Why they became a priest? Did they pray all the time? Do they talk directly to God? And does God answer? Just because you have come to realize that priests are flesh-and-blood people like the rest of us doesn’t mean the rest of the world has. Seekers in particular, who are not likely to know any priests personally, are fascinated with the whole idea of “priest.” So draw back the curtain a little, and let them peak inside. You can blog about anything. It doesn’t have to be about faith or the church. In fact, it’s probably better if some of your posts are more “secular.” Here is a short list of some ideas to blog about, but don’t limit yourself to these:

• The last movie you saw
• The last book you read
• A joke someone told at the priests’ retreat
• A Scripture passage you are struggling with as you try to write this Sunday’s homily
• A great meal you had at a parishioner’s house
• What the bishop said to you the last time you spoke with him
• How you pray
• Your best (and worst) golf score
• What you would do if you weren’t a priest
• A list of hopes you have for the parish in the coming year
• Pictures from your last vacation
• The last time you blessed a car and what you think of blessing cars
• The hobby you wish you had more time for
• Your favorite musician / your least favorite musician
• How you will be spending the next holiday
• Saint of the day and why that saint is important to you
• What the upcoming Jewish, Muslim, or Buddhist holy day means and how Catholics should think of it

Guidelines

When I said you could blog about anything, I meant anything within reason. The U.S. Bishops have recently posted some very helpful guidelines on social media that you should read before you start blogging.

And here are five reasons you don’t need a social media policy!

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Are you already blogging? Good for you! Post a link in the comments because your example will help the rest of us learn.

Do you have questions about getting started? I can help. Post a comment or send me an e-mail.

“Good architecture should help a company with its mission.”

You might expect that line to have appeared in Architectural Digest and to have been spoken by someone like famous designer Cesar Pelli. In fact, it appeared in the June 2010 issue of Inc., and it was Robert Wood Johnson IV—the owner of the New York Jets football team—who said it. He said it from his office in the Jets’ new “120,000-square-foot shrine to athletic and corporate excellence.”

When I read the words like “mission” and “shrine,” and my little Catholic heart starts to perk up. Aren’t we the people who do mission? Don’t we have the corner on the shrine market? I re-read the article a little more closely.

When Johnson bought the Jets in 2000, they were clearly a second-class team in a first-class town. He did a lot of things you’d expect someone to do who wants to win football games. He hired a feisty new head coach. He drafted a hot young rookie quarterback. But Johnson considers the biggest contributor to the Jets recent success to be the “shrine” where all the employees work. How does his company headquarters help support the Jets’ mission?

A mission to win

The mission is clear: Win football games. So right in the front lobby, through which every employee, including the players, have to enter stands the Jets’ only Super Bowl trophy (from 1969). It is a not-subtle reminder of the team’s legacy and also a challenge for their future.

Next, the facility includes an enclosed, football-field-size fieldhouse with a 95 foot clearance to allow for punting practice. Most of the offices in the building have an outer glass wall that looks out over the four outdoor practice fields. The primary field faces the same solar direction as the Jets’ home stadium, and the office building surrounds it on three sides to mimic the effects of playing in the stadium.

Add to that many dozens of TVs throughout the facility all broadcasting ESPN or the NFL Football Network.

You cannot work in this place and not get the point. But just in case anyone has missed it, all the employees are given free season passes to the Jets games.

Questions for parish design

All this has me wondering, do we put the same kind of passion and focus into building or renovating our worship spaces?

• When people walk in the front door, is there something akin to the Jets’ Super Bowl trophy that immediately communicates our mission?
• Is the space generous enough to accommodate everything we have to do in our liturgies? Perhaps we don’t need 120,000 square feet, but do we have space for catechumenate dismissal, child care, hospitality before and after Mass, and other Sunday activities?
• Is the worship space built to accommodate the lesser-used, but still vital parish rituals, in the same way the Jets have accommodated their punters? In other words, can rituals like the Rite of Acceptance or Easter Vigil be celebrated in a way that looks like the space was designed for these events as well as Sunday Mass?
• As worshipers assemble for Mass, find their pews, and prepare to celebrate, what do they see? Just as the Jets employees are looking out their windows at their mission every day, what is it in our worship spaces that visually remind worshipers of our mission?
• Finally, is what we do in our worship spaces so compelling that people feel blessed to be there—just as the lucky season ticket holders do in the Jets organization?

Good architecture should help a company with its mission. It should also help Catholic parishes with theirs.

What is your worship space like? In what ways does it support your parish mission? Please send your pictures and your comments.

Is your parish ready for Mother’s Day? I don’t mean do you have flowers ordered or songs prepared or intercessions and blessings written. I mean do you have evangelizers ready to greet all the strangers who will be worshiping in your parish this Sunday?

What does a parish evangelizer look like? He or she looks something like a greeter, but with a stronger presence. Here are a few characteristics I’d hope for in an effective evangelizer.

• Doesn’t wait for strangers to appear at the door; seeks out visitors in the parking lot, entryway and pews

• Doesn’t stop at “good morning”; asks inviting questions such as name? first time here? how are you celebrating Mother’s day?
• Doesn’t leave visitors stranded after Mass; greets guests again (using their name), and introduces them to other parishioners
• Doesn’t chat too long with her friends; today is a day to chat with visitors
• Doesn’t let guests sit in the back of church (unless they are more comfortable); has reserved seats closer to the front for visitors
• Doesn’t keep coffee and doughnuts a secret; even if you know the visitor is going out from brunch, it’s still nice to be invited to the parish hall for coffee
• Doesn’t hide his own excitement about being a parishioner; invites the guest to come back again next week

Because I travel a lot, I visit a lot of different parishes. Honestly, I’ve never seen a parish that had a team of evangelizers that would do these things. In fact, I very often don’t even get a “hello” from the official greeters at the door because they are talking with their friends. But I never give up hoping. I think if we all keep focused on reaching out to others, we can all grow into a more “evangelizing” mode on Sundays.

What do you think? Does your parish have folks who do these kinds of things? Could it have? What characteristics would you add?