INVITE A STRANGER!

The Christmas holidays are fast approaching, and with them come TWO of our best recruitment opportunities of the season! Our holiday musical programs at RUMC always draw some of our largest attendance of the year. In addition to your participation in these wonderful concerts, I would ask each of you to do one more thing to help recruit new members to our choir: invite a stranger to join us! Here are two ways you can do that.

1) After our concerts, when people are milling around in the narthex or heading back to their cars, we always have audience members tell us what a nice job we did and how much they enjoyed the program. After thanking them, try saying "Why don't you come sing with us?" and see where it leads. You never know... you might find yourself talking to a singer who is looking for a choir!

2) Here's a sure-fire way. On the 18th, MOS is hosting its annual "Messiah Sing-along" in our Sanctuary. I hope you are planning to be there, because life is too short to pass up a chance to sing "Messiah." So, there you are in a room full of choristers, most of whom do not attend services at RUMC, and some of whom are there for the first time. Folks, recruitment opportunities just don't get any better than this! Every stranger you see is a potential recruit. Talk to those around you and tell them what a teriffic music program we have here at RUMC. Then invite them to join our wonderful Sanctuary Choir. Give them one of the Interest Cards from the pew rack to fill out or to call the office.

Personal invitations have proven to be among the most effective recruitment tools of all. This takes almost no effort on your part, and it can pay huge dividends if we are able to get even one or two new singers to join our choir.