Why I Started a Blog About Hospitality

Some people are born with a gift for hospitality. I’m not sure I was born with it — but I was raised in it.

Growing up in the 1970s, my family owned a small business, and from an early age I absorbed the culture of that store like a sponge. The customer is always right. Treat everyone with respect. Value every person who walks through the door. Those weren’t just business principles — they became the way I saw people.

That foundation followed me everywhere.

In the mid 1990s, I made a major career pivot and began serving churches as a Business Manager. Over the next 30 years, across four different churches, I kept finding myself in the same role — leading Guest Services. It turned out that everything I had learned about treating customers well translated beautifully into how we welcome church members and first-time guests.

My first Guest Services experience was humble by any measure. A small church of about 100 people, a rolling desk in the foyer, and a stack of brochures. But something about that simple act of showing up to greet people lit a fire in me.

That fire grew.

Over the years, I went from that little rolling desk to writing volunteer training manuals, managing scheduling software for over 100 volunteers, and overseeing three large guest greeting stations for a church of 1,000 in attendance. The scale changed — but the mission never did.

Along the way, I discovered what actually makes great customer service work. It isn’t a system, a script, or a greeter with a big smile. It’s hospitality — genuine, intentional, other-centered hospitality.

I began writing training materials for our Guest Services ministry, then moved into speaking and training others on how to create a WOW experience for guests. The more I taught it, the more passionate I became. And the more passionate I became, the more I realized the need extended far beyond the church walls.

We live in a rude world. Common courtesy feels increasingly uncommon. And I kept thinking — what if intentional hospitality could be the interruption that changes that?

That question became a blog.

The Interruption Blog is about exactly that — how hospitality can be the change our culture desperately needs. There’s also a Church Edition dedicated to helping congregations create truly memorable experiences for every guest who walks through their doors.

Will it change the world? Maybe not. But I believe that when we choose to be intentionally hospitable — in our homes, our workplaces, our neighborhoods, our churches — we change the space we occupy. And that’s worth writing about.

Hospitality is the interruption we need. Let’s see what happens.

The challenge: Start right now practicing hospitality in easy and simple ways.

Ask yourself: how can I make the space I occupy fun and light and easy wherever I am .