I have four small children.  Whenever I leave the house, there is usually someone trying to cling to me as I walk out the door.  When I drive off, more often than not, one of my kids is waving to me through the glass door.  Unfortunately, because of glare, I can’t see them waving.  This, of course, was a problem because occasionally I would drive off and not wave back…leaving the child in tears.  So now, when I leave I try to remind myself to wave at the window regardless of whether someone is there or not.  The bottom line is that I don’t want the last impression I leave to be one where I don’t seem to care.

I’ve been thinking about this and I believe the same principle holds true for pastors.  We must be intentional about how we leave people.  Nelson Searcy once told me that at his church they not only have greeters but they also have good-byers.  That’s right!  They’ve got people who are responsible for saying good-bye as people leave just so the last impression is one of friendliness.

We spend a lot of time on first impressions, and those are certainly important, but we need to remember that last impressions last a long time too.