MURFREESBORO, TN — A welcome card submitted by first-time visitor Diane Kowalski, 41, on October 12 of last year was successfully retrieved, processed, and acted upon this past Tuesday, when outreach volunteer Gerald Fitch, 67, called Diane to let her know Harvest Community Church is glad she stopped by.

Diane, who joined Cornerstone Fellowship in November, was confirmed baptized there in January, and now leads the women's Tuesday morning Bible study, thanked Gerald for reaching out and said she remembered the visit fondly.

“We have a very intentional follow-up process,” said Pastor Doug Hennig, 53, who estimated the church contacts visitors “usually within the week, maybe two.” When informed of the four-month gap, Hennig described it as “more of a targeted long-game strategy.”

“The card sat under a coffee maker for an undetermined period, which we believe was a factor.”

Gerald Fitch, who inherited the welcome card box from the previous outreach coordinator in September, said he found a stack of approximately thirty cards rubber-banded together behind the hospitality table and “figured somebody ought to get to those.” He described the call with Diane as “real pleasant” and said she gave him a few suggestions for Harvest Community’s visitor experience, which he wrote down on the back of another welcome card.

The church’s welcome card system has been paper-based since 1994. A motion to digitize it was tabled in 2019 and has not been re-raised.

At press time, Gerald had moved on to the next card in the stack and left a voicemail for a man named Scott who visited during a 2024 Christmas Eve service, wishing him a warm welcome and a blessed holiday season.