13. Holding a Wednesday night service.
Easter is such a strategic opportunity that we don’t want to miss anyone. Some people will go out of town for the weekend. We offer a Wednesday night Easter service to catch them beforehand. People invite friends from work and some of them receive Christ. Even if the crowd is small, it’s worth it.
14. Attend multiple services.
To take full advantage of this once-a-year opportunity, we ask everyone to attend more than one service. “This is the most important weekend on God’s calendar, so it ought to be the most important weekend on ours. Bring friends to at least one service, and serve during at least one service,” we say. Some people attend four or five.
15. Training a new team.
The excitement of a big day brings the opportunity to launch new ministry teams. I’ve gone old school recently. Instead of asking people to raise their hand to receive Christ, I invite them to come forward. This year, we’re launching an “Aftercare Team.” Their job will be to begin follow up immediately following decisions at each service.
16. An incentive two weeks later.
During our Easter services, we’ll invite people back to meet Bethany Hamilton. Bethany’s movie, Soul Surfer, came out last year. People in our beach culture are dying to meet her. She’ll draw a lot of people to church who wouldn’t normally darken the doors. Some will be Easter returnees. We’re believing that that weekend will be one more step on the fruitful life path of many new believers.
