What does it really mean to make someone feel seen when they walk through the doors of your church? In this episode, Craig sits down with Monica, the Serve Team Director at Stone Oak Bible Church, to talk about the art and heart of biblical hospitality.

Monica shares her experience of moving to San Antonio and visiting churches where she felt invisible, and how that shaped her passion for ensuring no one feels that way at Stone Oak. They dig into the difference between volunteering out of obligation versus out of a love for Christ, and why getting that order backwards leads straight to burnout.

Monica also lays out her practical top tips for being a genuinely welcoming church member on a Sunday morning, and they're not what you might expect. From checking your heart in the car on the way in, to being real about a hard morning, to spending just three minutes looking for an unfamiliar face in the lobby, these are simple, actionable things every believer can do.

They also tackle the things we need to stop doing, like holy huddles, closed-circle body language, and leading with a connect card before you've even learned someone's name.

This episode is for anyone who wants to love their neighbor well, starting with the person standing awkwardly in the lobby next Sunday.

Topics covered:

• Monica's background, from Lubbock to California to San Antonio
• What the Serve Team actually does and why it exists
• The difference between doing and being in our faith
• Monica's top tips for a welcoming Sunday morning
• Why "is this your first time?" is a dangerous question
• The seven-minute window that makes or breaks a first impression
• How to approach Connect cards without feeling like the AT&T guy at Costco

Stone Oak Bible Church is located in San Antonio, Texas. Find us at stoneoakbible.com