At Granger Community Church the goal is that every guest who walks in the door will get this above all: You matter to God. Of course it’s much easier to share when those guests first realize that they matter to Granger Community Church—right where they are.

Executive Pastor Mark Waltz shares insights gleaned from his ministry experience, from his “previous life” in retail management and from his observations of the churches he has visited over the years. He notes that the first impression philosophy of Granger Community Church brings with it a lofty, but not unattainable, goal: “If our guests can’t say, ‘Wow! I’m impressed!’ within their first 10 minutes on campus, then we have failed.” Somewhere between parking the car and checking their kids into the Children’s Center, says Waltz, those 10 minutes pass. “Ten minutes of opportunity for us to make an impact, to create a reason for our guests to at least think to themselves, ‘This is not what I expected’—in a good way, of course.”

They may discover their “wow” moment in the restroom. (Seriously, when was the last time you visited a public restroom you could describe as pristine?) They may find it in the fact that they are neither pounced on nor left to flounder when they walk through the lobby, not knowing exactly where to go or how to get there. They may smell it in the aroma of their favorite cappuccino wafting through an inviting café area. No matter how your guests find that “wow” experience—before the music starts, before the “real message” of the service is delivered—they will have received a clear message already. They are valued.

Excerpt taken from Mark Waltz’s Blog.