A Spike during Summer Slump

All pastors prepare themselves for the summer slump. Attendance can drop to nearly half the normal. Last year, we didn't go above 40 all summer. This year, we've been pleased with the 50's. But, last Sunday, we actually had 86!!

Where did all of those people come from? Most of our typical attenders were actually there. Plus, we had 2 new families visit us. Both said they have a home church. Nearly every week, we've had visitors from other churches. It's seems like many people like to visit other churches during the summer. Maybe they feel no one will ask them where they were? Who knows?

Next week (sorry to say I'm dreading it), we are having basketball camp. We partnered with 3 other churches and are using a program by Upward. So far, we have over 26 registered (paid for!!). This has been quite a surprise to us, because we didn't get a chance to advertise in the way we wanted to. I put the registration form on the website. That helped. We've had over 7 download the registration form from the website. I'd suggest this is a must from now on, for us. BUT, we were surprised to find that no one has paid for registration over the internet using credit card (we used Paypal). Maybe people are still worried about internet safety? Maybe people would rather hand the money to us, wanting to see us in person or something? I don't know. I'm not sure we will continue offering payment by credit card via the internet. Anyway, it costs us 3% of the transaction to do it. At least, with paypal, there's no long-term commitment. We only pay when there's actually a transaction.

We like trying out all of these things, though. It's worth trying to see what people like or don't like. What makes things convenient for people or not.