“Survey says!!!”

In 1976, Richard Dawson became the first host of the popular game show “Family Feud” which is still broadcast today. The premise of Family Feud is that two contestant families try to guess the most frequent responses to some mundane and sometimes zany questions posed in a survey to 100 “typical” Americans.

The contestants try to “buzz in” first to give their spontaneous and sometimes embarrassing guesses. After 35 years, with some fits and starts and a number of minor celebrity hosts, today Steve Harvey is the host who declares “survey says!” to reveal the results.

St. Paul’s Vision Journeycommittee recently concluded an informal, unscientific survey of our fellow parishioners in which we asked two questions:

1) What do you love most about St. Paul’s Episcopal Maumee and would seek to preserve for future generations?, and

2) What motivates you to be a member and energizes you?

A number if our fellow parishioners responded with heartfelt and articulate responses. Thank you all for providing your feedback. Our goal was to give us all an opportunity to explore and share the many blessings that God has already given us!

Unlike Family Feud, there was no buzzer to press to be the first to answer spontaneously, but I wondered as I compiled the results:

“Could the ‘average parishioner’ guess the most common responses?”

Here is what the “average parishioner” who responded looked like:

Average years attending – 28 years (2 to 84)

Typical service attended – All were represented with 8 & 9:15 services leading

Here are excerpts and themes that you provided in answering each question, in no particular order:

What do you love most about St. Paul’s Episcopal Maumee and would seek to preserve for future generations?

I believe we have a terrific congregation—in terms of ages, families, interests, programs. And we have a terrific rector.

Worship service – The beauty of our traditional liturgy & music…participation by parishioners…true worship, not entertainment… historic pipe organ… It means so much more for me to pray with fellow parishioners who value our communion…