Pastor, are you missing the Sunday morning buzz in your church lobby? People laughing, drinking coffee, chatting over coffee, spilling coffee. Don't wait for isolation to come to end; host an online lobby experience for your church this Sunday. Aside from them spilling coffee on their own carpet, they’ll thank you for being so thoughtful.
People are missing face-to-face conversations and hearing each other’s voices. You miss hearing your name called across the foyer. Hosting a pre-service experience can be one of the most pastoral things you do during Coronavirus.
Shepherding An Online Lobby
Sunday morning onsite made it impossible to personally connect with more than a handful of people. Zoom now helps you see and engage dozens of people. And since their names show up in their profile there is no more need for awkward name guessing.
And yes, pastor, with all you have going on don’t delegate hosting this segment of your online experience. Especially in this time of crisis your people want an assurance that comes from connecting with you. That’s the “why” of your foyer experience.
Craig McKibbon at Evangel in Toronto posted about his Sunday pre-service last Saturday night and we scrambled to set up a lobby experience at Bethel in Barrhead by the next morning. Eleven families showed up which represented about 32 people in total. They got their foyer fix.
Host Functions
Plan for a 25-30 minute timeline prior to the service broadcast.
If you’re married, enlist your spouse’s help as a co-host. If not, a volunteer host helps manage the engagement.
Welcome people as they arrive.
Post instructions for engagement in the chat sidebar.
Control the engagement – muting/unmuting mics, introducing people to each other, welcoming first-time guests (to Zoom and to your church), etc.
The pre-service Zoom meeting is a great place to help people get familiar with the interactive features on your broadcast – chat, Connect Card, etc.
Ask the question of the day. Keep the question light. “What did you have for breakfast?” “Does your spouse snore?” Invite people to answer by putting up their hand or responding in the chat section.
“Spotlight” people using the “manage participants” function. This allows for person-to-person engagement.
If someone has a concern or prayer need they can respond privately to you in the chat section.
Safety Features
Before going online set your Zoom controls so that only you as the host can Screen Share. Go to Screen Share - select Advanced Sharing Options - Who Can Share – select host only.
Turn the “File Transfer” to OFF.
Do a walk through before your first lobby experience. Have volunteers or your staff Zoom in for a rehearsal.
If you schedule repeats of the Sunday experience set up a lobby experience between services to catch people coming and going.
Start promoting your lobby experience through all your channels.
You are ready to be up and running for this Sunday. Have fun, smile at the screen and get ready to high five.
Thanks to Brett Esslinger and Randy Young at WECA, Edmonton and Craig McKibbon at Evangel, Toronto for sharing their pre-service experiences.
Bob Jones is the founder of REVwords.com, an author, blogger, and coach with 39 years of pastoral experience. Bob is also an Advance Coach with the ABNWT Resource Centre. You can connect with Bob here.