5LQ Episode 518: Danny Franks – A Book Breakdown of Will Guidara’s “Unreasonable Hospitality”

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Dan Iten are joined by Danny Franks, the Connections Pastor at the Summit Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, as they discuss the book, “Unreasonable Hospitality” by Will Guidara. The book tells the story of Will Guidara, a New York restaurateur, and his experience running the number-one restaurant in the world. The podcast explores the book’s main points, such as the importance of exceptional service and authentic connections, and how they apply to leadership and first impressions within the church. BEST QUOTES “They really focused on the service and what happened in the dining room versus what happened in the kitchen. As church leaders, we can really learn a lot about that as we learn to set up the table for guests as they enter our building.” – Danny Franks “It’s important for us to understand that in the context of the church, we need to be aware of where the culture has shifted and to adjust accordingly. Not to water down what we do, if anything, to distill down what we do to serve better.” – Todd Adkins “No matter what industry you’re in, service is ultimately important.” – Todd Adkins “When you do your job in color, it means that you make people feel great about the job that you’re doing for them. You’re doing it to make an authentic connection, which is hospitality.” – Danny Franks “There are certain fads that come and go with the church world, but taking care of humans, that’s not ever going to go away. That’s something that we need to continue to think about as we try to make people feel welcome and ready to worship the Lord coming into a Sunday service.” – Danny Franks “Repetition is extremely important. Whether it’s our vision and values, or any of those things, you can’t assume that somebody understands why you’re doing it.” – Todd Adkins “A lot of leadership is shifting from being intuitive to intentional, and that’s where you get the gains.” – Todd Adkins “Being in the local church, my primary role is built around creating a culture that takes outsiders and makes them insiders.” – Danny Franks “I think a lot of times, especially in the climate that we’re in too many people have too few expectations for churches, and they just kind of show up expecting to be disappointed if they show up at all.” – Danny Franks Yes, it’s a clear command from Scripture that we must show hospitality. But it’s not supposed to point to itself. It’s got a point beyond itself as a signpost straight to the Gospel. We can’t get that wrong.” – Danny Franks “If we are continually failing, in the implicit or explicit promises that we made to people, and we’re not even measuring up to their low expectations for us, we might not ever get a chance to point them to the gospel.” – Danny Franks RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect by Will Guidara All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir by Beth Moore Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business by Danny Meyer Inside the Magic Kingdom: Seven Keys to Disney’s Success by Tom Connellan The Gospel Comes with a House Key: Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in Our Post-Christian World by Rosaria Butterfield