Mark Waltz | ...Because People Matter

Exponential Growth. Exponential Reach.

Our team's efforts in India are nothing short of miraculous. This isn't about praising Granger Community. This isn't about blowing any trumpets except the Kingdom of God's blast of restoration and redemption. However, if you're part of the ministry at Granger Community through your resources, shared gifts and time, and prayer - this is about you. You're part of something God-sized!

Watch and celebrate this!

One Prayer India Update - ROCK FORT from Gene Ort on Vimeo.

The Church of Cheers

Recently Group Publishing hosted and published a survey about the friendliness of local churches compared to other local places like home, hair salons, coffee shops and bars. They commissioned an independent third-party market researcher, so Group was not named in the survey itself.

Here are a couple key findings:

• Home is the friendliest place in town by a wide margin. Although ranked second behind home, Church only came out 8% points stronger than a Restaurant/Pub/Sports Bar in the overall ranking among Americans, and only slightly better among Christians.
  
  
• Only 16% of Americans say Church is their favorite place to meet new friends, and that’s 2% points behind a Restaurant/Pub/Sports Bar at number one.

A few days ago Mark Galli wrote an article for Christianity Today debunking the survey's premise, basically suggesting that the survey asks the wrong question. While he doesn't deny that "churches should be friendly places where visitors especially are welcomed and treated with kindness," he argues that we've over-prioritized "friendliness" in our churches.

The survey found that people considered the top 5 factors in making a place friendly are:

• Making me feel like I belong
• Making me comfortable
• Making me feel at ease
• Conversation
• Smiles

Galli writes that "surveys like this inadvertently suggest something more. In our informal, egalitarian, and therapeutic culture, friendliness—warm, comforting, amiable interactions—has become the cardinal virtue."  He asks, "But the larger question is, why are we so taken with the idea that the church should be seen as friendly? Why do we conduct surveys about it and chide ourselves if we are not as friendly as a bar?"

And why not be seen as "friendly" - even as friendly as a bar? After all at Cheers people "wanna go where everybody knows my name." But, is the goal to make church like a bar? Are we merely trying to create a place filled with empty smiles fueled by espresso drinks and social conversations?

I don't think so.

I agree with Galli. Following Jesus is anything but easy. When you belong to family, you accept challenges, you see the dirty underbelly and you have to make frequent decisions to forgive others. None of that is easy. It's real. The church is made up of humans, and I'm one of them. 

But does that mean we aren't or shouldn't strive to be friendly?

Although Galli suggests that Jesus wasn't "friendly" (huh?), I see Jesus practicing new levels of "friendliness", accepting the unacceptable, including the outcast, inviting the lost. That strikes me as "friendly." Jesus prayed we would be one, that we'd love each other as his Father loves him. Paul's letters are filled with encouragement to forgive each other, to affirm the Spirit's unity, to celebrate our sense of belonging.  People want to belong. They want to feel comfortable and at ease. They want conversation and smiles.

Why is it that the church shouldn't be the place where acceptance, belonging and friendliness reign? Why should someone be able to find these in a bar or coffee shop as easily as the church? Why is it that the church shouldn't deliver on this?

I want a church that is friendly, and intentionally so. I want a church where the pastor may not be my best friend, but is invitingly friendly. I want a church that demonstrates that Jesus is still the "friend of sinners."

Anyone else want that church?

Cheers.

UBU (Ed, is that you?)

My friend Danny Franks slipped this into a recent post. I didn't expect this when I followed this sentence link:  "As we’ve seen in recent days, just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should."

I don't even know what to say. I can't. I shouldn't. I won't say anything.

But you can.

Celebrating a Movement

This past weekend Rob Wegner helped us celebrate what God's been up to through Granger Community Church the past 25 years. It was an inspiring service that left me grateful - to be part of God's movement...and to be doing so alongside with Mark Beeson.

Thank you, Mark and Sheila, for listening and responding to God's call to begin this work and involve the rest of us in the movement.

Watch the entire service here.

Google Earth from Granger Community on Vimeo.

Guest Services Best Practice #1: Create Your Own Best Practices

My list of 47 Best Practices is complete (Can you believe it? Finally?). But these are not the only Best Practices. You have people on your teams who are creating best practices, but no one's written them down. Observe. Make notes. Challenge your teams to compare behaviors. Compile your own list of best practices - and keep adding to it. Invite ownership. You'll take your guest services to new levels of excellence. You'll carry the love of Jesus in fresh ways. And you'll communicate all over again, "people matter.

____________________________________________________

Here's the complete list of 47 Guest Services Best Practices and the date of the post. Click any one to go to the post.

#1: Create Your Own Best Practices | Feb 12, 2010

#2: Pray | Feb 11, 2010

#3: Vision… Say It Again… and Again | Feb 10, 2010

#4: Learn from the Marketplace | Feb 9, 2010

#5: Get Unstuck | Feb 8, 2010

#6: Follow-up | Feb 1, 2010

#7: Plan the Understated | Dec 17, 2009

#8: Don’t Just Fix It | Dec 17, 2009

#9: Listen to Complaints | Dec 17, 2009

#10: Imitate Jesus’ Attitude | Nov 18, 2009

#11: Value Your Volunteers | Nov 10, 2009

#12: Expect New People | Nov 9, 2009

#13: Make Room | Nov 5, 2009

#14: Get Dressed! | Nov 4, 2009

#15: Tell Stories | Nov 3, 2009

#16: Diversify | Oct 27, 2009

#17: Create a Schedule | Oct 23, 2009

#18: Surprise Your Guests | Oct 22, 2009

#19: Think “One Chance” | Oct 12, 2009

#20: Team is More than Task | Oct 9, 2009

#21: Hang a Sign | Oct 8, 2009

#22: Everyone Can Greet! | Oct 7, 2009

#23: Stock Toilet Paper | Oct 6, 2009

#24: Answer the Phone | Oct 5, 2009

#25: Be in the Moment | Sept 24, 2009

#26: It’s Not About You | Sept 24, 2009

#27: Bust Up Your Party | Sept 24, 2009

#28: Brew Good Coffee | Sept 22, 2009

#29: Meet Them Where They Are | Sept 22, 2009

#30: Use Real Language | Sept 20, 2009

#31: Build a “I’ve Been Here” Space | Sept 21, 2009

#32: Don’t Forget the Kids | Sept 21, 2009

#33: Thank Your Guests | Sept 21, 2009

#34: Serve with Friends | Sept 11, 2009

#35: Have Fun | Sept 8, 2009

#36: Smile. Just Smile. | Sept 3, 2009

#37: Say “No” Creatively | Sept 1, 2009

#38: Ask for Feedback | Aug 20, 2009

#39: Make Everyone a Host | Aug 17, 2009

#40: You’re Always On | Aug 13, 2009

#41: Keep It Clean | Aug 12, 2009

#42: Never Assume | Aug 11, 2009

#43: Let ‘Em Lead | Aug 7, 2009

#44: Information Matters | Aug 6, 2009

#45: Understand Base Fears | Aug 5, 2009

#46: Names = Value | Aug 4, 2009

#47: Read Body Language | Aug 3, 2009

Guest Services Best Practice #2: Pray

It's easy to think we've got this whole guest services thing wired up. We've read the books, studied great businesses, learned from other churches, stock-piled our own rich experiences. We've got this.

I get that God's wired a bunch of us up for this. I understand that he works through us. Through our gifted team members. But we can soar along on our own, missing the fact that there's either something supernatural going on in these relational encounters - or there's not.

This is more than technique. More than a list of 47 or more "best practices." We've been invited to God's agenda to redeem and recreate his creation. We're in on his movement to restore human life. We're stewards of his work.

I need my eyes constantly open to see what his Spirit is up to. I need my ears alert to the faint whispers that help me be in the right place at the right time. I need my heart tuned to his agenda so the frustrations, details, and tasks don't become routine that leave me doing a job - paid or unpaid.

I need to pray.

Are you praying?

Guest Services Best Practice #3: Vision. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

You know this. You've heard this. Maxwell has written about it. Hybels had taught it. You've communicated it.

Do it again.

Vision is the "so what." The "why" behind the "what." It's the reason we do what we do.

And people forget. As soon as you say it again, they know they've always known it. But they forget.

So do we.

So say it again. And again. And again.

• Include it in your reminder post cards.
• Say it as you start meetings.
• Bring it up in hallway conversations.
• Visualize it with videos.
• Tell stories.
• Point it out in someone when you see it.
• Find new ways to say it.
• Keep it simple.
• Write it out for yourself.
• Then say it again.

Guest Services Best Practice #4: Learn From the Marketplace

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

• Read books: anything from Disney, Nordstroms, Starbucks.
• Read magazines like Fast Company and 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 every one.

Guest Services Best Practice #5: Get Unstuck

Even "wow" can get stale. Of course, then it's not "wow" anymore. What's "wow" today will fade. What's high value today can become the expected.

Lose momentum. Get stuck.

Get unstuck.

• Take the lid off.
• Invite new ideas.
• Don't block.
• Honestly consider the new ideas.
• Think simple, too.
• Where can your teams be more empowered to create "moments" in the moment?
• Would a different team schedule serve guests better?
• Would a different leadership team serve team members better?
• How can you say "thanks, we're glad you're here" to guests in ways you've not said it before?
• Remember, think simple.

Don't stop the process until you see your teams owning the process of being "unstuck". Stay at it until you see positive impact on your environment and guests.

Embracing Grace in the Process

This past weekend featured the story of Josh Walk, a young man in our church who's discovered the scandalous grace of Jesus.  He's still in process. That is, God's still at work in his life. Enjoy.

Josh's Story from Granger Community on Vimeo.

Guest Services Best Practice #6: Follow-up

Look what I found: the remaining 6 Best Practices for Guest Services teams! Next up: Follow-up

Confession: It's one of my toughest challenges. After all look at this list. It's February. The last I posted from this list was December 17. I moved on. Something else came along. Another phone call came in. I met with another friend. Life happened.

And life keeps happening.

But care is communicated when I...

• follow-up on someone whose wife died a month ago
• return a call to a guest whose question wasn't answered over the weekend
• connect with a woman whose husband had a medical emergence during a service
• remember to ask a team member about their job interview
• call a guest by name after the service is over - one hour after i first met them
• finish a blog list

How about you? What's in place to help you remember? To follow-up? What's in place to make sure your volunteers and staff team do the same?

People really do matter.