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Did you know WiredChurches hosts workshops twice a year, led by world-class leaders in a variety of fields? And did you know they are a quick, affordable way to strengthen and inspire entire teams of people in one day? And did you also know we have a fresh batch of them coming next month?

It’s true! Now you know. Here’s what we have coming up in April—click the thumbnails for more information on each one:


Learn how to make great first impressions with the guests (old and new)
who walk in the doors of your church.


Have your message be heard loud and clear in every deliverable—
through what people read, touch or click.


From birth through fifth grade, a healthy kids’ ministry can have an enormous
impact on the children and families in our communities.


Go behind the scenes with Granger’s creative and production arts teams
to experience a download of Granger’s creative process and structure.

The First Impressions, Communications and Kids’ Ministry Workshops are one-day events that run from 9 a.m.–4 p.m. on Fridays. The Arts All-Access is a Saturday workshop, from 10 a.m.–6:10 p.m. Lunch will be provided for all workshops. So come with your team on Friday and stay for Saturday’s All-Access event, which includes attending a Saturday evening service. All events are held on the Granger Community Church Campus at Granger Commons near South Bend, IN, just 90 miles east of Chicago and five miles east of the University of Notre Dame.

by Mark Waltz, Pastor of Connections and MultiSite

Excellent guest service—whether in a local church, community non-profit, retail business or service industry—is really the compilation of lived-out best practices. Those benchmark behaviors that may be simple and common sense, but they are set as standards of practice by everyone in the organization.

Best practices can be produced in a board room.

  • Respond to questions within 48 hours.
  • Answer the phone before the fourth ring.
  • Do what you do with excellence.

It can happen: best practices can come from the board room. But not most of them.

Most best practices come about in the moment. A one-time occurrence implemented by one team member that gets discovered and, because of its impact on communicating value, is repeated as a norm throughout the entire team. That’s what happened with our guest services four-point report.

A couple years ago our volunteer usher leaders began to email each other following each weekend of services. By Monday afternoon an email was circulating, celebrating highlights and asking questions about how to solve a challenge that had popped up. The email created conversation that birthed an ongoing best-practice-making machine. The Four-Point Email was born. It’s this simple:

Continue reading on Mark’s blog...

Have you heard about our One-Day Workshops? These are intense and focused, interactive learning environments that your whole team can take advantage of. Get away for one day and join us at Granger Commons on Friday, April 25 to learn more about First Impressions, Communications and Kids’ Ministry. Then stay with your team for the Arts All-Access workshop on Saturday, April 26 where you’ll go behind the scenes and attend the Saturday night service.

I just received a question from Kyle—a friend who serves at a neighboring church in our area:

Do our greeters wear name tags or only those serving at our Guest Services center?

I've had dozens of conversations with churches asking a similar question, but much to my own surprise, I don't think I've addressed it in writing 'til now. Thanks for the prompt, Kyle! 

My amazing, inspiring bride, Laura

To Tag or Not to Tag

At Granger Community we want to remove all the barriers we can to build bridges that quickly connect people. Name tags are one small way we do that. In a quick list format, here's what we've learned and practice: 

  • Name tags on our guest services team members help guests recognize: "This is someone I can approach for help." That's everyone on every guest services team: traffic team, guest services center, greeters, ushers, children's check-in team, campus guides, cafe and bookstore team.
  • We don't ask guests to wear name tags. Some of them want to be anonymous. Remembering names is our job.
Continue reading on Mark Waltz's Blog...

Was this helpful? Want more great insight? Mark offers an interactive, contextualized coaching experience for Guest Experience & Connections leaders from all over the country. Interested? Get more information here. Apply here. Check out other coaching networks for your team here.

Click the graphic below to see the full postcard (at a size that's easier on the eyes):

Fall 2013 Coaching Postcard

Get more information, and register for a coaching experience that could change the trajectory of your ministry at WiredChurches.com.

 

by Mark Waltz, Pastor of Connections and MultiSite

I'm very excited about saying "YES"!

I've had several people ask me in workshops, email and Twitter if I'd consider coaching them - for more than a day or two. 

The answer is "YES"!

Again this fall I'm offering a four-month journey with leaders whose responsibilities are focused on connections, volunteer involvement, group relationships, and spiritual growth. If you are a senior pastor or a pastor/director responsible for adult connections or assimilation ministries - I'm inviting you to apply for this coaching journey.

This fourth network (since 2010) allows a journey different from a single day of training or a couple phone conversations. I love the partnership with churches and their teams who are willing and ready to push against the walls of comfort and convenience to take sacrificial steps to reach people for Christ. In fact, I'll be on the road some this fall doing just that - it's a real privilege! 

But this is different.

  • It will be intensely practical. Highly conversational. Interactive. And limited to 12 leaders.
  • We will study. We'll read. We will learn together. We'll explore your specific questions, issues and church dynamic.
  • We will get specific about cultivating culture, building teams, casting vision and designing environments for connecting, serving and growing.

It won't be terribly convenient (like traveling to northern Indiana). It will be worth it.

Don't think one coach - think 12 coaches. We'll do this together. I'm confident you'll be better from the experience. I'm certain you'll lead your church, your staff and your teams more effectively and serve your people and guests more thoroughly because of this coaching journey.

If you're wondering, here's what some folks have said from previous experiences: 

  • Granger's Connections Coaching Network wasn't exactly what I was expecting - it was so much better!  When you combine Mark Waltz's expertise and the collaboration of professionals from around the country, you have a recipe for fresh ideas, new innovations, and strategic thinking.  Every moment of every session delivers the "Wow!" experience.  If you want to take your ministry to the next level, this is the place to start! -- Danny Franks, Summit Church, Durham, NC
  • I’m in a great frame of mind about life and ministry. This has been a very good experience for me and there are measurable results already from things learned, discussed and read.– David Hinkle, Fellowship Bible Church, Topeka, KS
  • I’m afraid my words do not adequately express how thankful I am to have had this opportunity!! Thank you! The Connections Strategy Coaching Network is a great experience!  I would highly recommend it to anyone in a “Connections Ministry” role – in any size church, with any size staff. I have gained much wisdom from Mark Waltz, both from his expertise with “Connections” ministries, but also as a leader of leaders. I’ve learned so much from him through the ongoing Coaching model – so much more than I ever could from a short-term seminar. – Tina Watterson, Greenville Free Methodist Church, Greenville, IL

I've loved the new friendships and quick formation of "team across miles" in the former networks I've been privileged to lead. I'm praying God forms an incredible coaching network that will surprise all of us before the end of this year! Perhaps you'll be part of this next group. 

Get more information here. Apply here. Check out other coaching networks for your team here.

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!

 

 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.

  

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.