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At Granger, we believe kids and students aren’t just the church of the future—they are the Church today. Watch a recent video from Granger’s summer camp, where middle school students get to experience the love of Jesus in an incredible environment each summer.

How do you keep students engaged and growing week after week? We’re hosting Kids and Students workshops to address that very question. We’ll talk through planning and executing weekly programs and more! Come with questions and be ready to collaborate and share ideas about:

  • How to build and train volunteer leaders
  • Creative ways to get your message across
  • How to get students out of their seats and into serving the community
  • Planning life-changing mission trips, camps, retreats and events

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

by Executive Pastor Mark Waltz

Maybe you’ve watched this happen with someone else. Or maybe it’s actually happened with you. You’re on your game. You’re serving well. You’re engaged. You’re making a great first impression with a new guest at your church (or place of business). And then you cross a line. You went—just too far.

  • You got new guests where they should be...
    • but you yelled their arrival to everyone
  • You did your homework and had the right and helpful info...
    • but you made your guest feel like an idiot for not knowing
      • what to do next
      • what lingo to use 
  • You’re all about guest training...
    • but the guest feels like a naked experiment as you and your team all huddle around the monitor (bookstore, kids check-in, the register)
  • You’re laid back, not invasive, playing it casual...
    • but you missed the opportunity to engage when the guest showed her hand, “Yeah, I’m new.”
  • You were paying attention to your guest...
    • but then crossed the line into assumptions
      • that was his boyfriend not his brother
      • she wasn’t pregnant
      • that was his girlfriend not his mom

Sometimes a great first impression can go south with a word, a gesture, or an assumption. Keep it great! Stay fully engaged, always thinking about the experience you’re providing from the other side of your experience.

To hear more from Mark, come to workshops in October at Granger. Select a workshop below to get more details and register. Bring your whole team!

Early Bird Rate: $99 per person | After September 18: $119 per person
Early Bird Group Discounts: $89/person for groups of 2–5, $79/person for groups of 6+

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

by Executive Pastor Mark Waltz

I’ve been asked about some bottom-line musts to establish and/or take guest services excellence to the next level. This isn’t an exhaustive list (that’s why I wrote a few books on the topic), but these core essentials will provide a foundation to make your serve to guests excellent and personable.

  • Leadership:
    • Are the right leaders in place?
    • Do they carry the DNA, mission, vision and values of the church?
    • Do they hold the experience of the guest as a top priority over personal convenience?
    • Are they gifted leaders—not merely doers (although they may do fantastic work)?
    • Do these leaders have chemistry, trust and love for each other?
    • Do they model the level of personable service you want every team member to practice?
  • Values:
    • Are values defined and communicated (whatever those are: Team, Engagement, Next Steps, People Matter, etc.)?
    • Are teams using those values as lenses to serve guests? That is, are they operating from a motivation of values rather than mere technical training or a task list?
  • Systems:
    • Are systems defined and functioning so guests are served well?
    • Are systems facilitated and owned by team members who utilize those systems to serve people?
    • Do systems help team members understand their schedule, expectations, and feedback loop?

Of course if you’re providing guest services in the local church, it’s assumed, but should be stated—the love of God in Jesus motivates everything you do. It is the number one driving value. Helping people experience the grace of God is the point—or there is none.

Have you heard about our Workshops? They are one-day intense and focused, interactive learning events on Tuesday, October 18 and Wednesday, October 19 with lunch provided. So come with your team on either or both days ($20 discount if you attend both days). Learn more about First Impressions, Kids’ Ministry, Students and Creative & Communication Arts. Register today!

Find ways to feed your creative soul.

It might be taking an extra 15 minutes to sit in your car and read a devotional before you hop into work, or following a string of blogs written by leaders you admire or maybe going to a concert in town. For you, it might mean taking a nap. Listening to a favorite new song. Journaling. Whatever charges your batteries, creatively, you need to make some time for it in your work day. Ministry is a demanding, never-ending calling. Our work doesn’t end when we punch out for the day. We’re always on, always caring, always praying. Make it a priority to get a daily dose of inspirational voltage to keep your batteries charged.

If you’re looking for other ways to boost your impact, whether you’re on a church staff or a volunteer, come to a one-day workshop at Granger that focuses on your ministry area, happening May 18 & 19. We have workshops geared for First Impressions, Creative & Communication Arts, Groups, Students and Kids Ministry.

You’re probably just about ready for some sun. Have you considered Granger, Indiana, as your next vacation destination? Perhaps you’ve always longed to see the cornfields of Northern Indiana. No?

Hmm. How about considering Granger as a learning destination then? Wednesday and Thursday, May 18 and 19, WiredChurches.com will be hosting a variety of workshops at Granger Community Church, just 90 miles east of Chicago.

It’s easy. Pick one of the following workshops to attend all day. Come for one day or stay for two. Your materials and lunch are included. The experience? It will be packed with real-life examples of what works and what doesn’t, with space for questions and interaction.

The cost? Right now it’s just $99 per person, per day. Or $89 for groups of 2–5, or $79 for groups of 6 or more. Attend both days of workshops and get a further discount: $20 off per day!

Wednesday, May 18

Thursday, May 19

  • Creative & Communication Arts: Learn about Granger’s process for planning, promoting and executing weekend series.
  • Groups: Facilitate a working strategy to keep people engaged and discipled.
  • Kids: Learn about environments, curriculum and utilizing volunteers to help kids meet Jesus.

Excerpt from becausepeoplematter.com | by Mark Waltz, Executive Pastor

1. “That’s Not My Responsibility”

This comment may cause team members to feel as though they’ve covered themselves, but the guest doesn’t care who is responsible. The guest merely wants the question answered or the request filled. The risk of dropping the ball increases each time a request, question or need is passed on to another person.

2. “I Don’t Know.”

If a team member doesn’t have an answer, he or she must be resourceful enough to find it. It’s OK not to know an answer; it’s not OK to leave it there. The team member must take the initiative to find the answer. “I don’t know” must always be followed up with “but I’ll find out.”

3. “No.”

Yeah, but sometimes the answer is no. Why would we not say no if the answer to a question is no? Simply because, when you’re the guest, you expect the answer to be yes. You want to be satisfied. When you hear no without an alternative or an explanation, you’re unsatisfied.

4. “They,” “Them,” and “You Guys”

Everyone wants to appear competent. When we don’t have the answers or the rule is difficult to explain, the temptation to blame someone else is tremendous. It can be difficult for people to recognize this temptation in themselves. But when the team member says, “They said” or “It’s up to them” or “You guys had better,” he or she is communicating a lack of ownership. When guests overhear this language or pick up on this attitude, they doubt the church itself.

5. “I’m Just A Volunteer.”

I always ask sales associates or clerks, “How are you?” It’s amazing how many times they respond, “I’ll be doin’ much better when I can leave this place! Only two more hours to go.” Too many people are unhappy working day after day in the same, grueling job. That should never happen in the church. Those who plug in to a ministry should do so because they fully embrace its mission and vision. If they do, no one will ever hear these words from them.

Want to hear more from Mark and how to keep guests coming back again? Pre-register to get the $20-discounted rate of $99 per person at the First Impressions Workshop. Includes materials and lunch.

Where & When: Granger Community Church campus, 90 miles east of Chicago, Wednesday, May 18, 9 a.m.–4 p.m. Attend both days of workshops (there’s a second day of additional workshops on Thursday, May 19) and get a further discount: $20 off per day! Use the code: twoday20.

We get a lot of questions. “How does Granger do small-group ministries?” “What do you give (if anything) to first-time guests?” “How do you handle parking?” “Where do you start when you want to build or redo your church website?”

To address these and many other excellent questions, WiredChurches.com is offering several one-day workshops this May. These one-day events offer an overview of a variety of ministry areas and how those ministries function at Granger. They’re practical and laser-focused. You’ll also get a chance to rub elbows with other ministry leaders from churches all across the country who are asking the same questions.

Groups

If you’re wanting to learn more about how to launch and sustain effective group ministry, join us on Thursday, May 19. We’ll be talking about:

  • The role groups play in discipleship
  • Understanding group structure
  • Recruiting and training healthy group leaders
  • Organizing group curricula and yearly schedules
  • Overseeing group growth (numerically and spiritually)

Registration is simple: pick one workshop or event, register through WiredChurches.com, download your Welcome Packet (full of all kinds of helpful information about your visit to Granger) and hop on the road. We’ll be waiting to say hi and shake hands!

by Executive Pastor Mark Waltz

People are people and value is value. Pay attention to what businesses and service organizations are doing well.

  • Read books: anything from Disney, Nordstrom, Starbucks.
  • Read magazines like Fast Company, Forbes and Wired.
  • Visit airports, museums, and shopping malls—places with high traffic. Study signage and traffic flow.
  • Pay attention to quality experiences in restaurants, hotels, airlines and banks. What made it an exceptional experience?
  • Play at Disney and other “experiential” venues. Pay attention to value-added touches that make the experience unique and surprising.
Maybe one day it will all be right-sized and the marketplace will look at the local church and say, “We must study, watch, learn from the local church. They understand people. They get relationships. They communicate authentic value. They are our model.”

Until then, continue to find truth wherever truth exists. Model personal value where it’s excellent. Don’t be afraid to learn from any and everyone.

To hear more from Mark and get more practical tips for creating excellent guest experiences come to his First Impressions Workshop, one of the many workshops we’re offering next week at Granger Community Church.