Blog

by Kristin Baker, Director of Story

Have you noticed Sunday is relentlessly faithful? Week after week, she comes with expectations of greatness. Year after year, Christmas and Easter seem to call us into an office, sitting behind a big desk, arms folded, looking down at us as if to say “Impress me.” If we’re honest, artists in the church can easily admit that there are seasons where we feel less like Picasso at an easel and more like a vending machine outside a Speedway.

There are three important questions to ask.

• Why do we get in cycles where we feel this way?
• Where do we get ideas from when we’re feeling empty?
• What can we do to “stock up”?

Much like a triune God who loves to watch us “play” instead of just “work,” these three questions can gracefully bring us back to the easel, where we once again hear the Master painter whispering ideas for the next masterpieces to create that point us all back to Him. And more importantly, we start building a ladder to help us crawl out of the sinkhole of the “have to” mentality back up into the fresh air of “get to.”

So—WHY do we get in cycles where we feel this way?

Continue reading on the GCC Creative Team Blog...

by Lead Pastor Mark Beeson

Whoever said life gets easier must have been very young when they said it. Those who’ve lived a while know the opposite is true.

When you can lift more there’s more to lift. Learn to talk and you’re soon expected to make sense. Spend two or three decades living in your parents’ house and eating their food, and suddenly (because it’s a new day) you’re face-to-face with a big new challenge.

Here’s what’s true. If you handle today’s challenges correctly, your right responses will produce tremendous benefits in the days ahead. So face today’s adversity.

Continue reading on Mark’s Blog...

by Executive Pastor Mark Waltz

Around Granger we train our guest services teams to meet people where they are. This includes allowing our guests to set their own “safety space.” So, we work at reading and responding to body language. Here’s a quick take on this concept from my book, How to Wow Your Church Guests: 101 Meaningful Ways to Make a First Impression (Group Publishing):

It’s really simpler than you think. Not everyone wants to have their hand shaken. Churched people want handshakes (unless there’s a flu epidemic, then no one wants a handshake); people new to your church may only want a courteous “hello.”  Read the body language of your guests to determine an appropriate greeting.

• Both hands are buried deeply in his pockets. He doesn’t want to shake your hand.
• A parent is holding tightly to their kids hands. Don’t offer a handshake.
• Her eyes are focused on the carpet. She doesn’t want to make eye contact. Probably not going to shake her hand. You may not even get the opportunity to speak as she passes.

Continue reading on Mark’s Blog...

We know. Nobody really wants to talk about it but—you have to. Stewardship and generosity and proper management of money are foundational concepts in the Christian life. It’s just tough to talk about from the pulpit when you’re flying in the face of cultural misconceptions, people’s past bad experiences and, let’s face it—financial scams out there that have marred the face of the Church.
 
Granger just finished a three-week series all about money and facing fears we have about generosity. Here’s the inside scoop on how we promoted it:

• Read promotional copy and see message titles on the series page.
• Watch the series trailer.
• Watch a fun song special we did to introduce one of the messages.
• Watch each week’s message for free.
• View a sample bulletin from the series.

If you’re looking for creative help on ways to talk about and package a money or stewardship series, get more resources like graphics, message audio and more from WiredChurches.com.

At Granger, just like many of your churches, there are all kinds of ways for people to get involved and take next steps. Whether it’s the opportunity to serve others in an area of strength, or to make a personal commitment public, these events are big moments in people’s lives. Of course that makes it that much more important that when we host such events, people know about them. That’s where we come in. If you need a little help promoting one of your next big events, try out any of these four graphics packages:

• Baptism graphics – Used to promote the annual Baptism Celebration, this download package will help ensure people know about their next opportunity to publicize their commitment to follow Christ.
• Volunteer Celebration graphics – Let’s face it—we couldn’t do what we do without the hard work and commitment of rock star volunteers. Considering they usually work full-time jobs and have family and social lives outside of the church, their hard work and sacrifice is worth celebrating. Use this graphics package to promote your next Volunteer Celebration.
• Children’s Dedication graphics – Parents will be glad to know about your church’s next Child Dedication service. These are the graphics we used to promote one of ours.
• Kids’ Christmas Performance graphics – What’s better than the sweet sound of kids singing Christmas songs? Only the entertaining experience of watching their antics on the grown-ups’ stage. Get this download package to promote your next Kids’ Christmas Performance.

by Executive Pastor Mark Waltz

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 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...

by Creative Arts Pastor Sean Bublitz

One thing that’s been incredibly helpful to us over the years has been seeing how other people do it. We realize that in our bubble there are many things we don’t see, don’t think about, or don’t have the right answer for yet. Experiencing the same thing, done a bit differently, exposes us to innovative thinking and gets us outside of our box.

With that in mind the intention of this post is to give you a recent behind-the-scenes peek at how Granger Community Church does Production. This isn’t all inclusive. That wouldn’t fit in one post. This is a virtual, visual tour of our production environments and how we do things.

If you’re interested in our gear list you can see our previous post.

AUDIO

We have 3 identical Studer Vista 8 consoles.  One at FOH, one for Ear Monitors, and one for our Broadcast mix.  Each console has a set of outboard gear and we currently use volunteers to operate many audio positions on the weekend.  Our main PA is made up of Meyer MSL-4, DS-4, and DF-4 enclosures along with Meyer 650-P subs.  We use Smaart as well as Audia for our system control.

Continue reading on the GCC Creative Arts Team Blog...

by Executive Pastor Mark Waltz

If you serve on a guest services team—as an usher, a greeter, checking in children, directing traffic, cleaning restrooms, providing security, hosting, or any other guest-focused role—don’t miss this: You are the message before the message. Your smile, your care, your genuine love is extending the grace of God personally to people who matter the world to Him. Well done.

“I just wanted to thank the greeters of this weekend. I came late and was immediately helped to find a seat. Perhaps more importantly, my heart came in hurting and their love was the first thing I encountered before worshiping and learning this morning. Thank you so much for serving and loving well!”

—Guest from weekend service at Granger Community Church

For more fantastic insight on how to send a great message before the message pick up a copy of Mark Waltz’s book, First Impressions: Creating Wow Experiences in Your Church.