Lasting Impressions (Revised): From Visiting to Belonging Paperback – January 15, 2013

We have been taking a hard look at our Assimilation Pathway here at our church. As part of that I picked up several books that were recommended to me. That is how I came across Mark Waltz book, another pastor from another church recommended it.I think that the subtitle of this book, "From Visiting to Belonging" says it all. When you have visitor's to your church how do you help them go from being a visitor to being someone who feels as though they belong. How do you help them feel loved, cared for, wanted, etc. How can they feel as though they belong to your family.Waltz takes you through the simple process of re-thinking how your church appears to a visitor. What language do you use and will a visitor understand that language? What programs do you offer and are they relevant and meeting felt needs or not? Worse yet do you have maybe to many programs and you are overwhelming people with too many choices and so the choice they make is, "No Thanks."I think that Mark made a great contribution to we pastors who need to get a little bit of perspective that sales people have that we don't have. I'm not saying and either is he that we need to be 'salesmen,' but we need to have that mindset of asking, how inviting is our church? How does our landscape look? How does our bulletin look? Are we hitting the mark with meeting felt needs or just throwing together more and more and more and finding out that people are so overwhelmed that they shut down.Thanks Mark for giving us some good material to help us wrestle with how to help visitors.

Mark has done a great job of turning the tables on those of us that serve within the church and helping us to be mindful on how we are approaching those that are visiting our churches and meeting them right where they are at."These people don't want to be assimilated. Initially they may not care about our membership covenants, our small groups, or our Sunday school classes. What they do care about is whether we can help them address the issues right in front of them - the stuff that's affecting their quality of life, their sense of purpose and fulfillment"It's about the relationships and allowing Christ to work in their lives.I would highly recommend this book for anyone that desires to help those that cross our path's every Sunday morning so that we can meet them right where they are at!

Mark Waltz's lil book is full of great truths and is an easy read for Pastors or Church leaders looking for ways to make lasting impressions - Kingdom impressions - on those who would seek Christ inside or outside of their congregations. Are you looking to move people from just being casually connected to your church to being full devoted followers of Christ? It's easy to tell Mark has intentionally and intelligently thought through ways to engage individuals and culture for the Kingdom of God. It's not the final word, but "Last Impressions" made an impression on this Pastor and I think you should most definitely check it out.

Mark took a practical approach to this work. Not too much theological jargon, but enough to give weight where it was needed. When he did delve into theology, he was ready with an appropriate illustration.It is relevant to all church situations. He doesn't give cookie cutter answers, he challenges some of the traditional assumptions. He even pushes us a little bit to look ourselves in the mirror and to question some of our presuppositions.He was loving in his approach. He wanted to challenge, encourage, and spur his readers onto rethinking how they do church and connect people - he did so in love. He lovingly says, "It's all about relationships..."

Helpful, thoughtful, and reflective of First Impressions, smaller, and volunteering. I will be using several of his recommendations!I chose this book based on an online review of some of the best books about church assimilation. This was the first one listed and I don't regret it!

This is a very good book but it was not what I thought I was getting. This book is truly on moving people from visitor status to membership. And the ideas are right on. I bought it for my welcome team. It is not the book for them. Mark Waltz has other books for welcoming people. I do recommend the book and the ideas are spot on.

good read

This book is definitely thought provoking at times and it is good to read something that reminds you of what you already know. At times I felt it was repetitive our it was difficult to determine the authors flew off thought. It gets lost in the stories sometimes. But I do recommend if you are having difficulties plugging people in to your church.

An excellent book. He doesn't say he is right and you should do as he says, but take what is relevant to your situation and make it your own.

great book