Blog

Convenient for Who?

07.03.2013.
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by Mark Waltz, Pastor of Connections and MultiSite

This is an ink pen. Its base is wrapped with a hair tie. Can you see what's bound in the hair tie? Yes. That's human hair. Hair that was held by the tie before it was wound around this pen. 

Convenient, I suppose. Finished with it in your hair, just wrap it around the pen you're using until you need it in your hair again. To each his – or her – own. 

Unless the person using the hair tie is a restaurant server and she hands her pen to her customer to sign their bill. 

That customer was me. Convenient for her. Disgusting for me. I dropped - maybe I threw - the pen on the table and asked my wife, Laura, for hand sanitizer and a pen. Gross.

It's easy to live in Convenience World. We don't intend to impede on anyone else. We just don't think. 

This was just a pen. But, think about the conveniences we hang on to, maybe insist on, without thinking how it impacts someone else. Say...your church guest or your neighbor.

  • It's convenient to park in the main lot closest to the door. You're serving after all! And you must be on time (It would have been inconvenient to leave earlier.). However that convenient parking spot could have been a guest's easy to find spot.
  • It's convenient to find my friends and catch up. But if that's all I do, I miss the opportunity to welcome and engage someone new to our church.
  • It's convenient to rush out of my neighborhood and just wave to my neighbors. But I may be missing relationship and a chance to communicate care with my time.
  • It's convenient to ignore the turn signal on the car next to me and not slow down to let the driver in front of me. But, it might be a small way to defer, to care, to be second.
How is your convenience creating a not-so-great experience for someone else?

Not everyone can see a hair on a pen and turn it into a great lesson about making your church better. Get more real-world, practical tips and improve the experience of all your guests, from the parking lot to the auditorium. Come to Mark's First Impressions One-Day Workshop on April 12. You can also sign up for Kem Meyer's Less Clutter. Less Noise. Workshop or the brand new Kids' Ministry: From Leading to Legos Workshop with Ted Bryant. Register by March 12 to get the early bird discount for you and your team!

Guest Services Training Now Available on Video

06.09.2012.
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 by Mark Waltz, Pastor of Connections & MultiSite


We recently completed a teaching video that apparently many have asked for over the past few years. This is not the complete six-hour Guest Services/First Impressions training that I teach, but it is packed with many of the best practices from that workshop.

WiredChurches is now making this training tool available for other churches. My hope is that these short training videos can be used as stand-alone resources to train your teams or used to supplement your local training program. Here's a brief synopsis of each element:

  • Section 1: People Matter (Time: 21:30)
    • How do you meet people right where they are? 
    • How do you prepare before you serve so your serve is genuine?
    • How can your own experiences prepare you to communicate authentic value and care for others?
  • Section 2: Your Serve Matters (Time: 30:46)
    • How do you navigate the tension between the values of experiencing community with teammates and welcoming new guests?
    • What if you threw out team labels for the sake of one single focus?
    • What rules will kill your serve to new guests? 
    • How do you create your own best practices?
  • Section 3: Team Matters (Time: 35:20)
    • What does empowerment really look like?
    • What's the trick to recruitment?
    • How do you develop community on your team when the task has to be done?
    • How do stories impact the power of your team's serve?

Order your downloadable video here.

To hear more from Mark and get more of the inside scoop from Granger's leaders, register and bring your team to ReInnovate Conference 2013 on October 15-16.

The Power of First Impressions

27.07.2012.
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It can be so easy to forget the power of a first impression. 

Think back to your last job interview, or maybe even your first date: how much time did you invest in making sure your first impression communicated the right message?

First impressions matter! 

We recently hosted men and women for our Summer Coaching Networks who came from all over the country to learn from Mark Waltz, GCC's Pastor of Connection and Multi-Site.

First Impressions ResourcesHere's just a few highlights from the first hour of the session:    

  • With vision, you need to know where you are so that you know where you can go
  • Analogy of being in a shopping mall and planning which stores you want to visit
  • You can’t get where you want to go until you are honest about where you are. What steps are going to be required, how do you take them, and where are they going to lead.
  • You can’t be any other place than where you are because you’ve taken the steps you’ve taken

What one or two words comes to mind when you see these images:

  • Starbucks
  • BMV
  • The person to your right
  • Last hotel stay
  • US Postal Service
  • Your local church
  • Last movie preview you watched
  • A Walmart store

As a true test of first impressions and associations, imagine a photo of a boarded up, run down home. What do you think of? A quick survey of the room, none of the answers were about the structure we were looking at – all of them were judgments about the people (homeowners) we have never seen or met. 

Your first impressions – or associations – with these images matter. 

If you missed this session, get tuned in from more info on the upcoming Fall Coaching Networks sessions.