9:43 AMJason Petermann – Welcome everyone! The “First Impressions” Session 1 is about to start…
9:44 AMJason Petermann – This session is held by Mark Waltz, Pastor of Connections here at Granger Community Church
9:45 AMJason Petermann – Starting out with a video. A little Hip-Hop to start us out…
9:48 AMJason Petermann – Pics of Granger staff and church people… baptisms, short clips of their services and people making life change…
9:50 AMJason Petermann – Talking about how to create an environment that is appealing to those who are far from Christ… telling his story of how he came to Granger
9:51 AMJason Petermann – Mark has a very diverse background, ministry and non-ministry related…
9:54 AMJason Petermann – Pretty diverse group in the room as well… Lead pastors, lay leaders, staff members
9:56 AMJason Petermann – Mark is having us write our impressions about 5 things… Starbucks, DMV, A person in the room, our church and the last hotel we were at
9:57 AMJason Petermann – Giving this illustration to show what impressions we get from these different places/people
10:00 AMJason Petermann – “We have initial impressions of places and people without even thinking of it.”
10:02 AMJason Petermann – “We turn on the radio, and we do not listen very long to a station before we decide if we want to keep it on that station or not…”
10:02 AMJason Petermann – First Impressions matter to our guests…
10:03 AMJason Petermann – We have all been places that we will never go to again because of the impressions we got”
10:04 AMJason Petermann – Showing a clip from an Adam Sandler movie… “Anger Management”
10:06 AMJason Petermann – Group time to discuss some questions at our table…
10:10 AMJason Petermann – Interesting discussion about brands and what they stand for…
10:11 AMJason Petermann – Discussing what irritates us about customer service…
10:14 AMJason Petermann – Everyone giving their impressions about places they like and why they have won our loyalty…
10:14 AMJason Petermann – My example was Apple and their great service (sorry PC users)
10:16 AMJason Petermann – Zaapos, Apple, Nordstroms and some mom and pop shops have been mentioned as places that have WOW’d people…
10:17 AMJason Petermann – “It takes a lot to WOW us these days..”
10:18 AMJason Petermann – “Reality: We expect what we do because there is value attached to customer service”
10:18 AMJason Petermann – “It gives a sense of worth, and we are all created with a desire to have that communicated to us”
10:19 AMJason Petermann – Guests who are showing up at our churches are expecting the same thing in a church
10:20 AMJason Petermann – It takes two years or less for someone to come to Christ, and their circle of friends all become Christ followers… not because of our evangelism, but because we put our selves in the Christian bubble
10:20 AMJason Petermann – We come to church, and our life values are different from those that are just starting their journey towards Christ
10:23 AMJason Petermann – When we figure out where we are, only then can we chart a course to where we want to be
10:23 AMJason Petermann – Our guests come in at where they are, our job is to meet them there, and help them get to where they need to be
10:24 AMJason Petermann – Using the illustration of the feeding of the 5000…
10:25 AMJason Petermann – Jesus was meeting people where they are, but, He was demanding so much more
10:26 AMJason Petermann – People stopped following Jesus when he told them all they wanted was a free meal, but He wanted more.
10:27 AMJason Petermann – Jesus met people where they were at, but constantly wanted more for them
10:27 AMJason Petermann – Jesus had people keep coming back because of the miracles… they kept coming back…
10:28 AMJason Petermann – Our churches should desire to see people keep coming back, not matter what the reason… good band, great coffee entertaining speaker… we just want them to come back
10:29 AMJason Petermann – Example: Granger has tube slides to get kids down into their class… the kids love it, and want to come back… Parents like McD because the kids go and play and give the parents a 20 minute rest…
10:30 AMJason Petermann – the kids will love to come to church, and if the kids love it, the parents are happy
10:30 AMJason Petermann –We don’t care why they come back, we just want them to come back
10:31 AMJason Petermann – Another video…
10:32 AMJason Petermann – Video is about people and their worth
10:32 AMJason Petermann – powerful message!
10:34 AMJason Petermann – pregnant teen, co-worker, neighbor, mechanic… they are more than that. They are people searching for something… people with needs
10:34 AMJason Petermann – wow… great video…
10:36 AMJason Petermann –Your pastor will do a great job communicating the message of Jesus, but our guests who have experienced a great welcome, who have experienced a feeling of worth, have experienced the message the pastor will speak in person
10:37 AMJason Petermann – People do matter!
10:38 AMJason Petermann – We should stop at nothing to make sure that people know they matter!
10:38 AMJason Petermann – Who are our guests?
10:39 AMJason Petermann – What is our demographic?
10:39 AMJason Petermann – The people around your church will shape how you do ministry…
10:39 AMJason Petermann – So, how do we speak to that audience?
10:39 AMJason Petermann – We have to pay attention to them…
10:41 AMJason Petermann – Another video about people and their needs…
10:41 AMJason Petermann – everyone has their own set of needs that they are looking for answers about
10:44 AMJason Petermann – Two ways to understand your guests perception: 1. Ask them!
10:44 AMJason Petermann – Ask them: with a weekly communication card…
10:45 AMJason Petermann – Ask some people from the community to be “secret shoppers”
10:48 AMJason Petermann – the challenge with asking your guests is that you have to listen to them
10:48 AMJason Petermann – We must stop and listen… it will help us to serve them and meet them where they are
10:48 AMJason Petermann – 1. Ask them… 2. Be the guest…
10:49 AMJason Petermann – We do not see a lot of the stuff because we are their every week…
10:49 AMJason Petermann – brand new people notice everything!
10:50 AMJason Petermann – Smudges on the window… tissue gone in bathroom…
10:50 AMJason Petermann – So, we should go to another church and pay attention to everything… make notes about what you feel and experience
10:51 AMJason Petermann – Then, go back to your church, and you will be able to notice some things.
10:52 AMJason Petermann – web site to check out: guestreflections.com
10:52 AMJason Petermann – they will send people out to your church to be secret shoppers… a mix of church and non-church people
10:52 AMJason Petermann – if we get it right for unchurched guests, everyone will have a great experience
10:53 AMJason Petermann – if we focus on church people, the experience will not be as great for the unchurched… church people have a different value system
10:54 AMJason Petermann – It is not fun or easy to hear what people say, but it is necessary so we can do better!
10:56 AMJason Petermann – Great illustration using Disney and their focus on how to serve people…
10:56 AMJason Petermann – Question they ask is, what photos do we want in their family albums… what do we want it to look like at the end of their vacation…
10:57 AMJason Petermann – We should ask the same in church… begin with the ending that you want, and work towards that…
10:57 AMJason Petermann – what “pictures” do we want in peoples lives when they leave our services…
10:58 AMJason Petermann –Define the experience before the experience happns
11:02 AMJason Petermann – What do you want people to say Monday about the experience they had on Sunday…
11:03 AMJason Petermann – we have to be intentional about making sure that people will say what we are hoping they will say by making things happen to give them that experience…
11:04 AMJason Petermann – end of first session… session two in a bit!
