What do they really think-those people we call on? Do they associate church visitation teams with the assorted cultists who go door knocking and pamphlet peddling? How many people are glad to see us, and how many feel we're invading their privacy?

They're normally civil, perhaps even polite-but pastors and lay volunteers wonder, What do they say after we've left? And more important, What effect, if any, did this visit have?

To find out, LEADERSHIP surveyed nearly seven hundred people who had been contacted in the past year by the calling programs of three diverse congregations: Galilee Baptist Church in Denver, Colorado; Bismarck Reformed Church in Bismarck, North Dakota; and Big Valley Grace Community Church in Modesto, California.

Each of these churches has weekly visitation based on the Evangelism Explosion method. The program, which trains lay people to give a brief, systematic presentation of the gospel, is used by many churches, including these three, to follow up on first-time visitors ...