Customer Reviews

The First Thirty Seconds : A Guide to Hospitality for Greeters and Ushers

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am on staff at our church in the area of First Impressions, so I oversee various teams which include our ushers and greeters. I have been looking for some time for a book that I could potentially give to these teams as a means to support them and provide some guidance about why their ministries are important and how they can serve most effectively. There are a number of books available, but I have found them all to be very disappointing. Most of them are unnecessarily dense and inextricably tied to a particular worship format (presumably from high-church, liturgical, mainline denominations) that does not apply to our situation. Joan Hershey's book "The First :30 Seconds" is the best of the bunch.

This book can easily be read in one sitting, so it is very digestible, especially for serving teams who may not be populated by voracious readers. The guidance that is offered is simple and practical, though not trivial. There remains a certain bias towards liturgy that makes it an imperfect fit for our worship style, but that bias is much less cumbersome than other similar books.

For how short the book is, I wish it were a dollar or two cheaper. And this isn't going to radically transform our usher and greeter teams. However, as a helpful reminder about the value of what they do and some tips for serving our guests more effectively, I think this book will serve our teams well. I expect to purchase a few copies to pass around, and I recommend the book for that purpose. For a more exhaustive and inspirational description of the huge value of these teams, I'd recommend even more highly Mark Waltz's "First Impressions."