Started in the living room of Pastor Robert Morris in 2000, Gateway Church has grown from a group of 30 into one of the fastest growing and largest churches in America. With nearly 30,000 people attending weekend services at their various locations Dallas / Ft. Worth, it’s the fourth largest church in the U.S.

Gateway’s ministry is supported by 750 full-time staff who work in seven different administrative buildings in Texas. Brett Huckins, Executive Director, Technology, leads a team of 50 in Gateway’s new Tech Building. “We didn’t have a receptionist, and we thought it’d be a good opportunity to try out Envoy’s visitor registration service,” he said. Envoy has been such a success that they’ve now rolled it out to all of their buildings.

Boosts Gateway’s tech-forward image

Technology is a priority for Gateway Church; from support during weekly sermons, to a robust social media presence, to live streaming for parishioners who can’t attend in person, it’s an important way to communicate. Gateway believes that God is about people—and technology is a way to bring the Gateway community together.

More than 6,000 people have visited Gateway’s offices in the past year, including vendors and people coming for counseling or appointments with pastors. In the past, most of the offices had no check-in system—or, where there was a front desk, the receptionist had to manually type in their information and print off a badge.

Envoy offers a practical solution that streamlines registration and check-in, but it also helps solidify Gateway’s modern image. “Envoy is one of the things I’m most proud to have in our lobbies. It adds to the fact that we’re a tech-forward church and organization,” said Huckins.

Envoy is one of the things I’m most proud to have in our lobbies. It adds to the fact that we’re a tech-forward church and organization.

Delivers more personalized and integrated guest experience

With so many visitors moving through so many offices, it’s hard to deliver a consistent and personal experience. But Huckins says Envoy helps—especially with the registration feature.

When people are invited to Gateway for a meeting, their host can send a registration email. This not only requests any information that might be needed in advance, it’s also an opportunity to provide information that will help their visit go more smoothly.

“For example, the Tech Building can be confusing to find and people often don’t know where to go,” said Huckins. “Our registration emails automatically include information about where to park, and how to get from the lot to our building. It’s great because we don’t have to remember to add the information every single time, and it helps us deliver a higher standard of customer service.”

Envoy’s integration with Okta, a security and identity management application, helps keep Gateway’s staff information up-to-date. “It’s so efficient to use cloud services that integrate with each other,” Huckins explained. “When we add a new employee in Active Directory, Okta automatically creates a Box account, a Slack account, an Envoy account, and others—that’s the beauty of using it.”

Plus, the smaller details add up. From great customer support to the slideshow feature on the welcome screen, Huckins says everyone is singing Envoy’s praises. “People love it, from the guests to the employees who manage it. Many of them comment on how cool it is.”

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