Bank Robbers and Hospitality
March 21, 2007 The Journal Record said, “Security cameras captured the image of a bank robber casing another Oklahoma City bank (The Spirit Bank on N. May) Monday just minutes before he committed the crime up the street (at Chase Bank also on N. May), law enforcement authorities said.”
This past Friday I stopped by Spirit Banks on North May to see Trevor Kelly who is a member of New Covenant. Trevor serves on the Pastor-Parish Relations Team of our church and is president of the Bank. When I walked in the front door of the bank the Tellers at the same time said, “Welcome to Spirit Bank, can we help you.” I told Trevor that the hospitality of the bank employees was impressive. He said that the friendliness and hospitality of the Tellers is what makes the bank successful.
He said that as a matter of fact in March a bank robber entered the bank and was so flustered by the friendliness of the Tellers that he turned around and walked out. Trevor said that the robber came back two more times and each time the hospitality of the employees put off his robbery intentions. The power of friendliness and hospitality is amazing. The second time he came back the Tellers were suspicious of his intentions and they circulated his picture throughout the Spirit Bank network. The third time he showed up they called the police. Just before the police arrived the robber left and went down the street and robbed the Chase Bank.
Today, in the first service the Kessler family joined our church. They said that when they moved to Edmond they visited several churches. In the other churches they visited no one recognized that they were visiting or greeted them. When they came to New Covenant they were so warmly greeted and welcomed that the hospitality of the church was the deciding factor in their joining our church!
In Dan Glover and Claudia Lavy’s book “Deeping Your Effectiveness” they say that high impact hospitality is what breaks down the barriers of a skeptical culture and visitors who may be cynical of the church.
Our Outreach Team and Greeters do a great job of welcoming our visitors. They are always in need of more volunteers. Pray about becoming apart of our outreach ministry by volunteering some of your time on Sunday as a greeter!
One more thing. High impact hospitality at the church level has to be very intentional. We can't assume that this will automatically happen. I so appreciate New Covenant's vision regarding outreach. Please keep our outreach ministry in your prayers.
Posted by: Adrian | May 21, 2007 at 11:14 AM