I saw that Ben was recommending Beyond the First Visit by Gary McIntosh and I decided to pick it up. I really enjoyed it. The book is basically about how to connect people to your church once they’ve visited. I found some of the ideas dated, but there was enough fresh stuff that caused to take notes and think through our processes.

Some Pastors I talk to, speak as though planning is unspiritual. The Bible says, “The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but deliverance is of the LORD.” (Proverbs 21:31) The issue is, God brings about His purpose, but He is looking to partner with us in the battle. The idea of connecting people is one that we are improving at, but historically haven’t been great at. So we are working on it.

This book gave me some great ideas that I’m going to share with our staff so we can improve some areas of our ministry and see more people connect to Jesus and the local church.