by Mark Beeson, Founding Pastor

Everyone knows to choose wisely. Some leaders are going nowhere. Others understand what's happening around them and know the best course to take.

Everyone recognizes this fact; only Jesus is infallible, so we've been advised to trust slowly, be cautious and look before we leap. We tend to trust those who've shown themselves to be trustworthy. We think, "Odds are ... they'll know what to do." 

So get this: most of the people around you assume you - follower of Jesus and child of the King - you are the one who "understands what's happening and knows what to do." It's you friend. As you follow Jesus, people are looking to you. They're following you.

Do you know what to do next? 

1 Chronicles 12:32  -  There were from Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.

ReInnovate is in the books! Well, maybe it's not in books. But it is in Blogs. And in video. Well, not yet... Okay, so check back to the ReInnovate site next week for full video of the three main sessions. And we'll be releasing an ebook of this year's Blogs and resources from our speakers in the coming weeks. This will all be free, just because we like you. And because it's our goal to equip as many church leaders as possible with information and tools you can use to up your game, no matter where you find yourself in your ministry.

To everyone who was at the conference, thank you for coming! We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. See you next year!

- Your friends at WiredChurches.com

At this year's ReInnovate conference, we're challenging the way we all do church in every area. We are building on a vision that reproduces the church.

What we're learning at Granger, and what has drove our 2016 vison, is that if we want to reproduce, we have to change the way we do ministry. Reproducing doesn't just mean growing attendance and starting multi-site; it's about mobilizing people to be on mission - on purpose for a purpose.

In the final Main Session of Day 1 with Tim Stevens, and in the first Main Session of Day 2 with Rob Wegner, the vision of the people of Granger Community Church was laid out. The beauty of the vision is that it wasn't handed down from the top leadership of church; rather, it was born out of the vision of the people of Granger Community Church.

To get people on mission, we have had to challenge our existing beliefs, such as:

• Name the church you want to be.... by clarifying your vision
• Name the church you want to be.... by changing your language and metaphors
  
• Redefine the location of ministry - what was Granger Community Church is now Granger Commons

In the Day 2 morning session, Rob challenged us to change our view of our local church; see it as an aircraft carrier - a hub for mission - rather than a destination of mission. When you catapult people to be on mission, they carry the vision with them wherever they go. 

This movement is ordinary people doing ordinary life with a God-inspired vision.THAT is reproducing the church - THAT is how mission happens - THAT is how resource and arm people to BE the church!

 by Mark Waltz, Pastor of Connections & MultiSite

Our job as communicators is more about a mindset than a skillset. 

In our recent Coaching Networks workshop, Kem Meyer led a group of communication leaders through a day filled with rethinking our total interaction strategy. 

We all strive for an effective approach to our announcements, bulletins, and even social media efforts. As Kem points out, nothing is going to make us more effective until we change where we’re coming from.

For instance, consider the words we all use:

OLD APPROACH > BETTER APPROACH

Publicize > Connect

Control > Cultivate

Push > Personalize

Censor > Coach

Capture > Liberate

Interrupt > Interact

Prescribe > Influence

Chaos > Clarity

Corporate copy > User-generated content

Conform > Channel

Broadcast > Share stories

Inform > Sharing inspiration

Get feedback > Tell us what you think

Create more content > Elevate what you already have

Destination > Vehicles

Send a message > Release the right response

Function > Flow

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

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.

Here'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.