For Christmas I got the best laptop bag ever. Seriously, I loved it. Yet by March, the bag was falling apart, and I was left with a sad face.

Thankfully, the person who gave me this bag bought it at Zappos!

The on-line IM service was great, but as the bag was ripped Id have to call into the office and talk to a live person.

More often than not, this causes me angst. If I can do business over email or IM, Id rather, especially when dealing with a major company. But I called Zappos.

As soon as the customer service representative picked up, I knew this would not be an ordinary phone call with a multi-national company.

Thanks for calling Zappos! This is [Jane]. How can I WOW you today?

That phrase How can I wow you today? caught me off guard. I chuckled and started telling her my story. Not only did they overnight me a new bag, I also didnt have to send the old one back.

Needless today, I waswowed.

The WOW Factor

I began thinking about kids ministry. When was the last time any of us walked up to a parent or child and (figuratively or literally) asked them How can I wow you today?

How many of us actually went followed through on the promise to do so?

It could be that we make a practice out of wowing our customers week-in and week-out as they walk our halls and enter our environments.

However, when we take a step back and take a 10,000 view of the landscape, we realize that our signs maybe confusing, our welcome center is cluttered and insufficiently staffed, or our slides are littered with mis-spelled word and were using a font that only a sharp-shooter could see from his scope.

Wowing means that we go above and beyond expectations.

We dont just point people in the right direction, we walk with them to their destination.

We let that last child into the room even if theyre two minutes late, after all getting a family of 6 to church is hard work!

We send a goody-bag to the hospital for the precious third-graders tenth round of chemo not just the first.

Making WOW part of your Kidmin

This week, take a look around your hallways, evaluate your parent and volunteer care structures, and re-read your policies. Ask yourself:

1. Where are we currently wowing people? How do we know that?

2. Where could we improve? How can we be generous to our parents and kids, wowing them each time they walk through our environments?

3. What are five small things that are inexpensive (or FREE!) that we could do this month to build WOW? Make a plan, and follow through!

Do the work. Wowing people makes them feel like you care. And you do care otherwise youd be in a different line of work, be sure people know that.

Do you have a WOW story?

Id love to hear about the WOW-factor in your ministry. Comment below!

Dan Scott serves as the elementary director at Ada Bible Church, which is outside of Grand Rapids, MI. He establishes the vision for programming including curriculum, volunteer care, and environment. Dan enjoys sharing ideas and encouragement from his life and ministry. He has a busy speaking and writing schedule and was recently named one of Children’s Ministry Magazines’ 20 leaders to watch. Dan and his wife Jenna have four kids: Liam, Ellison, Addison, and Taye.visit Dan at danscottblog.com