All posts tagged Granger Community Church

Social Media :: AND Conference

by Tim Schraeder on 09/23/2011 in ANDconference, Church Communications, Social Media with No comments

Strategy

  • Honesty
  • Value
  • Connecting people to each other, not just you
  • Measure progress (stories and numbers)
  • Conversation not broadcast

Benefits

  • Relationship collateral
  • Reputation management
  • Idea generation
  • Audience/competitor research
  • Fan loyalty
  • Help others
  • Record keeping

How to Get Started

  • Determine your audience and objective
  • Pick one, start slow
  • Watch before your interact
  • Don’t put on a non-social in charge of it. Assign by “shape” not by “org chart”
  • Don’t control, cultivate
  • Don’t start it unless you can maintain it
  • Don’t censor unless there’s a problem.

Other Thoughts…

  • People are asking the wrong question first… it’s not how can I get more people to my spot… it’s how can I make people’s lives better. It’s a gift exchange.
  • Deliver what’s unique to you. Don’t recreate the wheel or try to copy what other people are doing.
  • Honesty is more important than talent
  • Don’t be defensive. Just don’t give people an outlet to throw rocks.
  • Would I do the same thing online if I was in someone’s living room.
  • It’s a process, not an event. Be slow and deliberate.
  • Don’t advertise it. Just practice, find your voice… find your groove. Populate your shelves before you invite the customers.
  • Earn the right to share certain stuff. Start with your strength.
  • Do new things in your own voice.
  • Leave room for people to enter themselves into the story. If you do all the talking, there is no room for others to get involved. Leave it open ended.
  • Reverse engineer advertising. From company to consume. Not “here’s what we think” but “what do you think?”
  • Don’t overdesign… focus on the story.
  • People can smell fake. What you put online should be an outflow of what you already do. It’s not an add-on.
  • What question are you answering? That’s the difference between good content and just an advertisement.
  • Have compassion for the audience.
  • Consumer reviews are the purest form of content.
  • Be minimalistic.
  • Twitter is a community of “do-ers,” they’re active people. Wait on twitter until you’re ready to be active.
  • 80% perfect and live is better than 100% perfect in your head.

Mark Beeson :: AND Conference

by Tim Schraeder on 09/23/2011 in ANDconference with No comments
  • We have a call from God to receive the life and to embrace it… to allow God to change the very essence of our being.
  • Then, we are to give it away.
  • In the economy of God, we won’t lose anything in the process.
  • We are called to do life on mission.
  • God brings us from where we are, just as we are, to a new way, the Jesus way.
  • God doesn’t require us to be qualified.
  • God has a love beyond anything we could imagine, have known, or could experience.
  • We have not even seen the depth of God’s love.
  • God sent His Son because He loves us.
  • His only begotten Son gave his life for you, me, and for every person we will ever see.
  • We receive life, love, and an amazing call to a life of meaning, purpose, and significance.
  • God calls us not to choose one of many ways, but to choose The Way.
  • There is a way that’s not that way.
  • We need to turn our feet, our lives, desires, and affections and follow Christ.
  • In that following, we are constantly giving it away.
  • Sometimes that giving away is done in an organized way… we’ve got mission, vision, and something people want to be a part of.
  • Sometimes we give it away on mission, individually.
  • We share our faith with others and show them The Way.
  • We keep giving out, handing it off, and passing it on.
  • Our days become valuable when we recognize they are numbered.
All of it is really ATTRACTION
  • The way we go about ministry individually, corporately, in small groups and in weekend services is attractional.
  • If there is no plan or structure, it’s unattractive.
  • We need to be attentive to growth.
  • You don’t get to choose problem-free living, you only get to choose your problem.
  • God is going to do what He said He is going to do.
  • Jesus did not die for nothing… He came to seek and save the lost.
  • People will be attracted to our corporate gatherings and to our live as we are conformed to the image of Christ.
  • Everything is attractional.
  • At the end of the day, the disciples were like Jesus.
  • Jesus was attractive.
  • We should be like Christ.
  • It’s a great challenge for all of us, but that’s what God is calling us to do.
  • People were filled with awe.
  • God has prepared people to hear our message.
  • Many people live with low character.
  • They don’t stick to their commitments.
  • Maybe one of the things we should consider in our work for Christ is if we are attractive, if we are looking more like Jesus.
  • Are we caring, honest, trustworthy, dependable, on mission, valuing the right things, etc?
  • The more we are like Christ, the more attractive we will be for Christ.
  • Genesis 27 – Jacob and Esau
  • We do absolutely nothing to deserve God’s favor.
  • We’ve come to think that the patriarchs of our faith are heroes.
  • That’s not always the case.
  • God is the hero in the story of Jacob… it’s the story about God intersecting Jacob’s story.
  • God takes us where we are and begins a training program.
  • God trains us to become more like Christ.
  • We move from an untrustworthy place to a place of attractiveness.
The Mouse vs the Dinosaur
  • Are you building your team around 1 or 2 people? A dinosaur?
  • Or are you empowering others? Are you discipling thousands of mice?
  • Determine not to build the church on high capacity, high character people.
  • Build hundreds and thousands of the 80%… missional communities, etc.
  • 10 people can lead hundreds, 100 can lead thousands.
  • Unleash, empower, and train people who have been relegated to the back row.
  • Don’t ignore people’s potential.
  • The 80% can do more than the 20%.
  • This will change the world.
  • It will bring the Kingdom to where it needs to be.
  • It will revolutionize the church in America.
  • This is how the Gospel is going to come…
  • …by small groups, missional communities.
2 Peter 1:5 -8
  • What are the steps God wants people to take?
  • We aren’t doing this alone, we are together.
  • Faith
  • Goodness
  • Knowledge
  • Self-control
  • Perseverance
  • Godliness
  • Mutual affection
  • LOVE
  • For if you posses these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive.
  • This is what God calls us to do: to attract people who we are, what we do, and what we build, all for His glory.
  • Realize who you are but remember how God changes and inspires you with His presence.

One Day Could Change Your Ministry

by Tim Schraeder on 10/02/2009 in Just For Fun with 1 Comment

One day could change your ministry. I’m convinced.

About five years ago I took a one-day trip to a small town called Granger, Indiana, to hear some lady named Kem talk about communications. I had never heard of Granger and had no idea what to expect.

The experience blew my mind and changed my perspective on the role I played in the life of my church. For the first time I understood the fact that I mattered and that what I did, as a communications person, mattered.

Granger Community Church gets it… and the awesome thing is that they share what they know and what they’ve learned. They have equipped countless churches and church leaders on how to innovatively reach people and make an impact for Christ in specific and practical ways.

So, since it’s Reader Appreciation Week and all, I’d like to offer four of you the chance to go to Granger and check out one of their upcoming one-day workshops. I’ll cover your cost of admission, you’ve just got to get there.

Their next one-day workshops are coming up Nov 12-13. Featured workshops include:

  • EnterMission – Learn how your church can make missions both a life-changing and a world-changing ministry.
  • First Impressions - Learn how to make great first impressions that last.
  • Pop Goes the Church – Based on the book by the same name, this workshop will explore why it is crucial that we learn to leverage pop culture in the church. But it goes beyond theory. Tim Stevens will unload practical examples about how to convey your message in the language of the culture around you.
  • Untangling the Web – Learn how to make your Web site a welcome relief from the full frontal assault of marketing that your guests deal with on a daily basis.
  • Lasting Impressions – Learn to create environments in your church that allow your guests to move organically toward Christ and others who are following Him.
  • Maximizing the Arts – Learn how can you use the arts to express Biblical messages in relevant, relateable ways.

To enter, just comment below and let me know which workshop you’d like to go to and why. Four random winners will be picked in one week. Want to make it a team experience? Let me know and maybe we can send a team of four!

A huge thanks to WiredChurches.com for the hook-up!

>> Don’t miss the other great Reader’s Appreciation Week hook-ups: $15 off Cultivate and enter to win a subscription to COLLIDE magazine!

Original or Recycled? :: Tim Stevens

by Tim Schraeder on 09/24/2009 in Innovate 2009, Notes with 1 Comment

For 14 years, Tim’s leadership has helped Granger connect with people who think church is irrelevant. He has done this through the creative blending of architecture, strategy and technology. He’s acutely tuned in to popular culture and is instrumental in balancing operations, building creative teams and inspiring artists to brand each message series and sharpen the weekend experience. He’s the author of the recently released book Pop Goes the Church(popgoesthechurch.com) that asks the question, “Should the Church engage pop culture?” He’s also co-authored the Simply Strategic book series using humor and practical principles to equip churches and ministry leaders. More from Tim: leadingsmart.com

  • Our churches are filled with stories of irreligious people who “sample” what the church is about and eventually make a commitment to Christ.
  • “Baby Christians” get excited and fanatical about their faith.
  • From there, they become “walkers”… people who are close to Christ. The emotion and excitement might have worn off, but they begin to take their own steps in their spiritual journey.
  • “Veterans” learn to be self-feeders… they don’t need church services to help them grow.
  • They are outward focused.
  • This pattern is exactly what the mission of most churches are striving for.
  • Helping people in their spiritual journey.

Why are we so concerned if we “recycle” what other churches have done?

  • We often have a desire to be trendy, cool, hip and original.
  • Sometimes we’re more concerned about being original instead of being effective.

Who Gives a Rip?

  • Who cares whether or not your idea is original?
  • The people in your church do not care.
  • We spend way too much time focusing on if things are original instead of being concerned about whether or not it’s going to be effective in helping people take their next steps towards Christ.

Recycling

  • Granger often looks to other churches and culture to see what’s working and create their own spin on it.
  • When it comes to finding elements for service the question isn’t,”is it original?” the question is, “is it’s effective?”
  • The arts have amazing power.

4 Ways to Use the Arts

Tim shared 4 ways the church can use the arts and examples of how Granger took outside ideas, “recycled” them and made them their own.

  • Use the arts to create buzz. Artistic elements can get people interested in what you’re doing so when they come you can present the truth and they can take a spiritual step.

  • Use the arts to educate. You can use the arts to educate and illustrate points as teaching elements.

  • Use the arts to create tension. In your services you need to present the tension and God’s solution. Often it’s quicker to use the arts to create tension.

  • Use the arts to get people to laugh. Sometimes people just need to laugh. Humor can disarm people and prepare them to hear spiritual truth.

This Isn’t Anti-Original…

  • It’s a celebration of the creative nature of God when people pursue God with their art and do something original.
  • God’s creation didn’t stop on Day 6.
  • When we elevate original over effective the focus moves off of our mission and onto the artist.
  • That’s a dangerous place to be.
  • If it’s effective, keep doing it!
  • The only question we need to be asking is: is it’s effective?

2 Things to Remember…

  • There’s a lot of pressure put on smaller churches… they feel the pressure to be original.
  • If you focus first on being effecitve, God will bring the artists.
  • A lot of our internal angst to be original comes from a place of pride.
  • Pride runs on a stealth level.
  • It doesn’t help the church.
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