FAQ: What’s in a Host Kit?

Share via:

FAQ: What’s in a Host Kit?

I get questions. In fact, I get a LOT of questions. Sometimes they come directly to me via email or a comment here on the blog. Other times they come to me via a Facebook post or some other indirect route.

Here’s one I get fairly often, even frequently. I get you’ve asked or wondered a version of this one:

What do you put inside the kit that you give new Hosts?

Ever wondered that?

First a little backstory:

One of the most important strategies we use to launch new groups is something that we call the “if you’ve got a couple friends” strategy. We use the “if you’ve got a couple friends” strategy in the weeks leading up to the launch of a church-wide campaign and we’ve begun using it at other times as well.

The “if you’ve got a couple friends” strategy is really the latest iteration of what was originally referred to as the HOST strategy (if you’ve been following my blog for long you’ve no doubt read about that).

The essence of the strategy is that in the weeks leading up to launch of a church-wide campaign, really as we’re promoting the weekend message series that’s about to begin, we begin to use this line over and over:

“If you’ve got a couple friends you’d like to do the ____________ study with, we’ve put together a kit that has everything in it you’ll need. And we’ve priced it very affordably. Stop off at Groups Central right after the service and pick one up.”

Note: If you’re wondering how we help new Hosts get off to a great start, you can read all about that right here. And if you’d like to read about the origin of the strategy you can read all about that right here.

So…what’s in the Host Kit they pick up at Groups Central?

Easy. We just include the essentials:

Instructions to stream the video or the DVD (we use right now media and our groups are streaming most video content now).
3 study guides
A thumb drive with (1) a set of short (3 to 4 minutes) videos that coach a great start for your new group, and (2) a set of PDFs that give new group tips in print form.
A few invitations branded with the series artwork (think Hallmark kids birthday invites that allow the new host to write down when and where the group will meet along with their phone number.

It’s so simple. And we price it very affordably (for example, we priced our Transformed host kit at $25 and the retail value was $65).

We’ve talked about including some fun extras (and have in the past), but our current version works so well we’ll be reluctant to change.

And that’s it! Easy. Peasy. Lemon squeezy.

If you’re not yet using this strategy you’re missing out on a great organic way to launch new groups!

FAQ: What’s in a Host Kit?

What do you put inside the kit that you give new Hosts?

So…what’s in the Host Kit they pick up at Groups Central?

Further Reading: