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  • 2 Lessons The Church Can Learn From Lone Star Texas Grill

2 Lessons The Church Can Learn From Lone Star Texas Grill

February 6, 2011 — 3 Comments

We recently went out with another couple and decided to meet up at Lone Star Texas Grill (Ancaster). After a 20-minute wait we were finally seated and ordered our food. It was a great night but two amazing things happened to make my experience at Lone Star memorable.

The first was that the host showed up to our table with an iPad. My eyes lit up. She had my attention. They were using the iPad to collect our email addresses and in exchange for a free appetizer coupon valid for a future visit. Since it was so cool to see the restaurant embrace technology I decided to sign up. Here’s the email that was waiting in my inbox when I got home:

Lone Star Texas Grill

I see a place for something like this in our churches. I envision “hosts” in the main foyer, walking around with iPads (or at a welcome booth) and having guests fill in their info and in exchange send them a free iTunes song or album. Thoughts?

The second thing that made my experience memorable was that our waitress informed us that if anyone was willing to stand up and sing the verse and chorus to a song (they even offered to print off the lyrics) they would give that person their meal for free. I thought this was the opportunity of a lifetime for Priscilla to debut her solo career …but she declined. So did the other couple. I wanted to get my meal for free but then Pris said that she’d rather pay for my meal than put up with the embarrassment of hearing me sing in public (I’ve since then recovered and realized that performing in public and leading worship are two very different things).

After all four of us turned down the offer to get a free meal, I asked the waitress how many people actually took them up on the offer. To my amazement, only two people out of hundreds actually stood up in public and sang for a free meal. Props to them!

Then I thought, if people are not willing to do this stuff in public, imagine how they would feel at church when the first thing we do is stand up and sing some songs. I know music is a universal language and everyone can relate to it, yet I wonder if we make them squirm in their seats when they walk in for the first time and we invite them to stand and sing.

Thoughts on this?

In Life
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  • http://twitter.com/Buehlerish Trevor Buehler

    Perhaps I’m a sucker for technology, but I would attend a restaurant more often, just so I can watch them use their iPad… is that wrong? : P

    I think if my meal was worth $50 or more, I would sing for it to be free. I think it’s a little different from a church experience as of course we’re not all focused on the visitor and how good of a singer they are. But perhaps if music isn’t their thing, our music can quickly turn people off of church. Although I think more often than not, it has the opposite effect. IMO.

    • http://jonmanna.com Jon Manna

      Trev, thanks for sharing.

      I’d sing for way less than $50 ;)