The Granger Experience: By Design
Mark Waltz & Butch Whitmire
Mark began asking who had been to Disney.
When it started, Walt Disney wanted to build a theme park around the Disney characters. Walt asked the team developing it, “when people go back, what photos do we want to see in their photo albums?” What experience do we want people to take away when they leave our theme park?
Begin with the end in mind.
From the moment they step on to the church campus until they leave, they have an experience. The experience must “stick” with people. The more senses we touch, the more indelible the experience.
The intentionality of our programming needs to have a narrow focus so people leave with one thought, one theme.
The goal is to foster God-experiences so people can take their next step… we need to do it on a consistent basis.
They used the classic example of Ethel & Lucy in the chocolate factory…. Sundays are like that. They keep coming, they keep coming, they keep coming.. and we have to come with idea, idea, idea – and they can’t be the same.
If we don’t have a process and the right people, we’re going to have to eat a lot of chocolate.
We need to consistently create ideas.
GCC Series Planning Process: A year out they block out time for allotted for series; 10-12 weeks out, senior management team meets and discusses a series they’d like to do.
Series Outline Document – list of title of the series, title, big idea, next steps for people to take, key promotions.
The whole process should be done as a team.
The document is taken to a brain-storming team made up of different people from different departments of the church. They brainstorm ideas, and the arts team makes a general idea and decisions.
A list of elements is then distributed to drama, stage/lighting, programming, music/arts, writing team – it all funnels down to the weekend service. The purpose of the process is to eliminate risk. We don’t want to do things sporadically – we want to do the best things with the right people.
The theme of process is predominant in Scripture. Creativity takes time and collaboration.
Live music, live drama, spoken message, video, ambiance, transitions – the palette that contributes to the painting of the weekend service.
What’s on your palette needs to be what you’re good at. Your palette will paint a beautiful canvas.
The beginning is all about ambiance and mood. It’s not what we want to walk into, it’s about what we want them to leave with. Once you know the end, you know when to start the experience.
GCC uses preludes to kick off services. They oftentimes use secular music so they identify with something familiar. Preludes are always UP! Loud, fun, uplifting. A lot of it also has to do with lighting and set design.
Touch senses… sight, sound, feel. It all creates expectancy.
Flow – timing and energy continuity. We need to keep energy high when it needs to be high and low when it needs to be low… we don’t want it to a pulse, we want it to be evenflow. Flow needs to be consistent with the mood.
Granger does 1-2 songs in a weekend service. Their main thought was that for the unchurched person standing, watching people they don’t know singing songs they don’t know could make them uncomfortable. They leave midweek as a time for worship on Wednesday when there is a focused audience who are committed Christ-followers.
Most people don’t like to come to church in the summer! Granger tries to make church fun in the summer so they did Saturday Night Live! People like to have fun in the summer.
We don’t care why people come or why they come back – we want them to come back! We want them to know that they matter to God.
There’s buzz and there’s felt need. In planning for the year, they identify times where they can speak into felt needs of people in their community. Things that people care about, important issues – parenting, finance, dating, sex, etc. Draw people into the conversation and address through pop culture, issues that are real to life.
Take old ideas, fresh concepts and create a unique ‘sticky’ factor.
It’s better not to take a step back! Don’t be afraid to make hard decisions. Artists and people on the platform don’t want to look bad. They want to be safe and know you are the leader who will make the right decisions, with the audience in mind. It’s not about us, it’s about our mutual vision to connect people to Christ.
