Lessons Learned From A Gator Game

Yesterday I had a 'Top 10' moment in life. I went to my first University of Florida football game.

It was their first game back at The Swamp since winning the BCS National Championship in January.

I went to the game with my father-in-law. We received tickets to the game from Carrie's sister. They were in the Touchdown Terrace which is in the north end zone. Our seats were incredible!

Being my first college football game, I really had no idea what to expect. When I thought about the game in the days leading up to it, I would get anxious. It would be a lot of new experiences, like the crowd...the parking...the crowd...finding the seats...the campus...the crowd (there were about 90,000 people at the game!).

Have you thought about some of the thoughts going through the mind of those going to your church or ministry for the first time? Think about that in relation to what made my experience so great.

• First was the personal invitation. When my father-in-law called to invite me to the game I couldn't believe it.

• Kimmie, my sister-in-law, is awesome!! She took care of all the details. We knew exactly where to go to park (at her boyfriend's place for free!) and meet her. She waited behind on us instead of going with her boyfriend and other friends for some pre-game fun so that we would know exactly where to go.

• To make sure I got the full experience (her dad has been to games before), Kimmie walked us around to see some of the fun hot spots around the stadium. She introduced us to several people along the way.

• She took us to the spot where her friends were all at and introduced us to everyone. They gave us a bottle of water and made us feel welcome.

• David, Kimmie's boyfriend, made sure we knew exactly where to go for our seats. They were great seats...did I mention that! We had an indoor air conditioned area with food and drinks and the seats were covered.

Do your visitors have that type of experience? What about those who come to your program (sports or whatever) for the first time? Every now and then we need a check up to make sure we are making the best first impression.