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6 Comments For This Post

1. Nick Says:
   September 24th, 2008 at 11:40 am

   One thing that always made me feel welcomed and comfortable in a group was when the youth pastor would ask me to stand up during the group time and single me out as a visitor.

   Just kidding.

2. Tim Schmoyer Says:
   September 24th, 2008 at 11:41 am

   @ Nick: Oh seriously, something NOT to do! lol

3. Eric Says:
   September 24th, 2008 at 1:20 pm

   Tim - to further your 2nd point, I learned a small trick from a y.min. seminar/training I’ve shared with my student and adult leadership teams every year to help engage in conversation with new visitors. Basically: get to know where they are F.R.O.M. and ask questions along these lines (almost always guaranteed to springboard into other questions and keep the convo flowing)

   F = Family: what is their family like? Do they have any brothers? Sisters? Pets? Are they the oldest? Youngest? Middle?

   R = Recreation: what do they like to do in their spare time? Are they involved in any sports? Band? Movies? Video games?

   O = Occupation/School: what do they enjoy in school? Favorite class/least favorite class? When do they plan to graduate?

   M = Most Memorable Moment: Tell me your favorite memory from _________ (last summer, last school year, last week, etc).

   It’s simple, memorable, and non-threatening to visitors and opens the door to learning about that student and helping them feel welcome.

   I’ve had students come back and tell me how effective this has been in getting to know new people who visit - especially when they are unfamiliar and they aren’t sure how to connect with them or what to say. It’s been a great tool for us to use to remind students and adults of how important this is in our ministry!

4. Tim Schmoyer Says:
   September 24th, 2008 at 1:27 pm

   @ Eric: Dude, that’s excellent. I am so gonna use that!

5. Steve Baker Says:
   September 24th, 2008 at 3:58 pm

   Tim,

   Your videos look really good. What are the compression settings you are using? Thanks!
   Steve

6. Tim Schmoyer Says:
   September 24th, 2008 at 4:34 pm

   @ Steve Baker: Really? It looks kinda grainy to me. I think it’s mostly due to the lighting, though. Not much else I can do about that since I already have a desk lamp shining directly in my face.

   The quality is also better, though, because I’m not using YouTube, which has horrible video quality compared to the rest of the market.

   The compression is set to what Blip.tv recommends, except I think I’m at 2,000 k/bits instead.

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