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At the beginning of every flight, the crew takes a few minutes to give safety instructions. For most of us, it’s a throw away moment. We’ve flown enough that we already know how to buckle those tricky airplane safety belts and understand that our seat will float if the plane goes crashing into the sea.  So we simply tune out, or enjoy those last few precious moments with our electronic devices.

That changed for me on a recent American Airlines flight.  They’ve produced a new safety instruction video that actually caught my attention. Take a look.

This video does a couple of things well beyond the good production value.  It starts by thanking fliers.  It doesn’t just go into the safety briefing, but instead takes a few seconds to do some customer service.  It makes you feel closer to the American brand.  Plus it uses real American Airlines employees.  Videos like this typically feature flight attendants and pilots, but this shows the other folks, like baggage handlers and mechanics, who are vital parts of the airline as well.  You get to see the entire family.  It’s not stock photography or actors.

Watching this again, I can’t help but think about the throw away moments we have during every weekend service.  All churches get into routines. Instead of getting innovative, we plug the same elements in at the same time during a service. It makes sense—it would take a lot of work to be creative with every element of every service. But I think it’s important to consider the cost of our minimal effort.

The visitors’ welcome is a prime example.  Most churches use a standard greeting for visitors every week without ever mixing it up. But how many times can we say the exact same thing and still sound sincere? And what message does an insincere greeting send to a visitor?

Let’s re-imagine that moment. What if, instead of just welcoming visitors, we used those few seconds to cast a vision for the congregation? What if we took that opportunity to tell people—either for the first time or the hundredth time—what our church is striving to be? That’s more than a throw away moment. That becomes an opportunity to energize visitors and members alike, and sets a tone for the rest of the service. And it certainly offers a better first impression than an insincere “We’re glad you’re worshiping with us.”

Complacency is the killer of creativity.  There’s a missed opportunity when we’re doing something just for the sake of doing it.  The visitors’ welcome is just one example.  I’d guess that there are many other parts of your service where you could better communicate your message than the way you’re doing now.  What are some throw away moments that your church could re-imagine?