12Stone® Church has already added an additional Saturday night six o'clock worship service to make room for their increase of newcomers this season. The service began in January and will continue through Easter. They have had several hundred 12Stone regular attenders commit to changing to this service—freeing up seats at their regular 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 6:00 p.m. Sunday worship times. They plan to evaluate this new Saturday night worship after Easter to decide whether or not to keep it. (I'm guessing they will.)

To prepare for the new Saturday night service, church leaders held a campaign asking not only for 300 volunteers to change their worship time but also for additional volunteers to help in Hospitality and Children’s Ministry. The goal was to make sure the new service matched the Sunday morning worship experience.

Adding services is nothing new to 12Stone. At Christmas the church offered twenty-two worship services over their four campuses not counting their Online Campus services. They are serious about having a seat in worship for newcomers they don’t want to turn away anyone.

Tanya Sullivan, the Director of Hospitality, has trained twenty new team members who are already working at the new service. Her team leader for Sunday night has also volunteered to lead these twenty new volunteers. One area Tanya oversees is the Sunday morning Brew Team, which consists of ninety people brewing coffee and hosting at four free coffee stations around the church.

And hospitality is not just about coffee. The main campus has a worship center that seats twenty-six hundred people, with two additional rooms where the church can host up to six hundred people for service overflow, special events, and trainings.

Until newcomers are seated for worship, the hospitality goal is that each person be already welcomed by volunteers in the parking lot, by greeters outside, and by door openers. There is also, a Guest Services area where all newcomers receive a gift bag with a coffee cup, a complimentary Starbucks® coffee coupon from their full service Café, a Bold Crossings sermon CD, and information on how to get connected at 12Stone.

In addition to the ninety peole that serve on the Brew Team, Tanya’s Hospitality Team consists of five volunteer leaders and seventy-five additional team members. "Everyone has a genuine heart for service," she says. The team members are responsible for hospitality events, and their duties include set up, hosting, and cleanup. Her team plans and implements food and beverage for numerous events like Membership Classes, Lunch and Learns, Baby Dedications, and Leadership Development. Every Sunday, they serve a meal for those who have volunteered during all three worship services—over a hundred people.

With a church the size of 12Stone, Tanya can’t possibly be at all the events they host, so she has created tools for her busy volunteer leaders to use to keep things organized. See the links below for her Event Detail Planning Sheet and Hospitality Event Setup Sheet.

When asked about her gifts and calling to hospitality she replied:

I have always enjoyed planning and hosting events since I can remember. I started with a college internship at an event-planning firm, and each job that has followed has involved planning events and hosting guests. God gave me a serving heart for hospitality, and I thoroughly enjoy entertaining guests to provide them with the best possible experience. Coming to 12Stone was a perfect fit for me, and I am privileged to lead a wonderful group of volunteers who have the same serving heart toward others.

Tanya has been with the church for five years and came from a hospitality, restaurant, and catering background. She and her family attended 12Stone before she started working there. 12Stone employees, including Senior Pastor Kevin Myers, used to come to the restaurant where she worked and encouraged her to apply for the job opening in an effort to bring her level of hospitality service to 12Stone events.

For more information about 12Stone Church, go to www.12Stone.com