Have you ever heard the expression, “You get out of it what you put into it.” Nowhere is this more true than in the unique dynamic between a host church and those who regularly provide special teaching/preaching from outside of it. A successful partnership is the result of much earlier and more comprehensive details than just when it is “go time” wherever you platform them.

Though definitely not the expert in this area, I am blessed to serve in about 12-15 churches a year of all shapes and sizes….and my love for it is only eclipsed by preaching in the home church that I’m privileged to pastor. What an honor to be entrusted with the physical pulpit and online platform of these sister churches on a semi-regular basis! An honor that I work to steward well as Einstein’s proverbial “man of value” that keeps improving as the guest by investing the consistent study, prayer, passion, and empathy required for such a noble task. It is especially touching to see how each one, in their own way, sacrificially bends over backwards to make my ministry in the Word to their congregation and community as hurdle-free as possible.

Every pastor that I have ever met truly longs to be a generous, thoughtful host, but is not always clear on how to do so. Hence, the heart behind this list post. While I and other traveling friends I consulted with for this post are not in any way attempting to be prima donnas, here are a few practical takeaways that transcend any local church setting and will bless your next speaker (missionary, evangelist, special emphasis, etc.) to have the clarity and liberty needed to effectively serve your flock:

  1. Consolidate the point of contact/communication down to one leading voice as the host to provide consistency and clarity. (Darren Carlson puts it this way, “Develop a protocol for hosting outside speakers. Assign someone to the speaker who has gifts for service and administration. Express love for your speaker by funneling all communication through one or two people.”)
  2. There is no reason to over-leverage your church budget to provide frivolous luxuries; it is far more about pragmatic excellence and thoughtful consideration. (Any speaker worth their salt doesn’t want to ever be a burden, but it is a zero-sum game…they will have to-at the expense of other needs-absorb whatever specifics of “setting up shop” that we hosts overlook/ignore.)
  3. Be upfront with your expectations in tone, timeframe, and target audience. (Guest instructors do not have the luxury of time and influence equity to “figure it out on the fly” anymore than necessary so specifics like normal length of sermon, current sermon series/emphases, preaching style, and cultural differences are so, so key.)
  4. Coordinate on how the leadership in your church can best promote the event and prepare the people, room, multimedia, etc. to be most ready/receptive to what God longs to do through them. (They will not push this on you but, they do this on the regular and would likely know best practices…if you will ask them.)
  5. This may feel random, but avoid the predictable franchises to share fellowship/meals; take them-with their dietary restrictions/preferences in mind-to the local hole-in-the-wall places that allow them to taste the local vibe and culture of your context. (This little tweak provides low-hanging fruit in connecting with your people.)
  6. Make one of your top priorities in the mundane aspects of hosting a clean, private, and quiet suite in which they can sleep…most hotels are a predictable competition between the speaker trying to get to bed very early while the rest of the world is staying up late with their weekend festivities. (In my experience, a free-standing space that does not share walls is best or a top floor room as-far from the elevator as possible.)
  7. Use their expertise as much as possible, but also intentionally provide the speaker plenty of down time to prepare beforehand and regroup between sessions with “green room” space/time. (Much of this is determined by whether they are an introvert or extrovert…the introverts who recharge in solitude will likely require more to be at their best.)
  8. To balance the previous point, structure time to give your people and especially your leadership team more intimate access to the guest speaker through meet-and-greets, Q and A’s, and more intimate dinners. (This will likely produce a longer “shelf life” to their influence upon your church’s future culture and trajectory.)
  9. Don’t forget to over-communicate, not just before they arrive but afterwards (Often the speaker feels like they are on their own once the church building begins to fill ups…for example, where are they supposed to be during a church-wide meal/fellowship and who is running interference with those who may monopolize their time?)
  10. Avoid any vocal clutter and unnecessary elements in the gatherings to give the speaker as much of your normal service time to not only cover His content but to also build repertoire with the audience. (As a lead pastor, I notice that I am regularly tempted to add more “filler” commentary on the Sunday’s that I am not preaching either to justify my presence or to impress the guest preacher.)
  11. Then there’s the financial part…the goal is to not offset all of the cost of traveling including travel, dining, lodging, parking at airport, etc. (The amount you are planning to give is likely not as net-positive when you consider all of these overhead costs.) Three additional thoughts on this unnecessarily sensitive part of the whole interaction
    • Be up front on your intentions to cover travel expenses and give an honorarium; the guest speaker should never have to initiate on this front.
    • If you are not sure what amount to give above expenses, I would-from all the research I have done for our local church’s “love offerings”-recommend 1.5% of the senior pastor’s annual salary for a typical weekend of content…could be more or less depending upon how many services/sessions in which they serve. (This allows for the proportionate giving so clearly taught in Scripture that provides access to guest teachers/preachers for churches of every economic strata as we all share the responsibility of pulpit ministry in the larger body of Christ.)
    • How you handle this area says more than we often realize to the intangible sacrifices made by the speaker’s family to either travel with them or share them for the weekend…that largely determines the longterm viability of any and every itinerate ministry. (Being sweetly flexible if an urgent family need comes up and dictating a “thank you” directly to the spouse and kids is next-level!)
  12. A general guideline gleaned from another that I am growing to appreciate is, “Always go the extra mile” and be “solution-oriented” with your hospitality. (Almost everybody does the standard level of warmth and excellence; it the ones that do the extra ten percent that truly fortify the very soul of the speaker on unexpected needs/burdens-no matter how small or cursory in your view.)
  13. And probably the most meaningful to me at least…take an authentic interest in their personal lives/larger ministry outside of the few hours at yours and showcase what you learn as you introduce them to your church family. (This is a bridge that the local leadership of the church can alone provide both helps the speaker feel seen/loved as much more than a “talking head” and allows your church to develop greater sense of connection/context with their content.)

The Apostle John, who knew a thing or to about itinerate ministry in much tougher contexts than ours, reminds us of how important this commitment to hosts the servants of Jesus truly is, “If thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well” (3 Jn. 6). He goes on in verse 8 to say that to do everything possible to help them, for when we do, we help the truth in its onward march! Helping life-giving, transformative truth march forward in our people’s lives-that’s a big deal worthy of our study and improvement!

This list is honestly not to indirectly put out prerequisites for my own traveling schedule as I love to serve in churches of all sizes and abilities. As a lead pastor myself, I am working to implement these same principles on the other side of the relationship to empower our guest speakers to better be able to serve our church and community. Will you join me? This is ultimately not to pamper the guest influencer but to “bring them forward” or encourage them on their journey to not just minister in your local context but-because of your graciously thorough hospitality-long to do it again in others long after yours?

Photo by Dave Photoz on Unsplash