innovate '08 recap (day one)

Danny, Mike, Todd, and myself attended Granger Community Church's Innovate '08 conference in Granger, IN.

I left a day early for a pre-conference workshop on First Impressions (one of the areas I lead at NewPointe is First Impressions--parking, ushers, host teams, info, etc.).

I honestly felt like the First Impressions workshop alone was worth the trip. Here are a few of the "nuggets" I'm bringing back with me:

• One of the Granger First Impressions team's most repeated quotes is, "We don't care why they come, we just want them to come back."
• We must define the experience before the experience. In other words, what do we want guests at NewPointe to experience? What do we want them talking about at the water cooler on Monday morning?
• The Granger team's mission statement: "Creating an atmosphere of warmth and personal acceptance in a safe environment where people can know and follow Christ."
• We must identify the distractions before our guests are distracted. In other words, we need to identify them so we can remove them in order for people to fully experience the love of God at NewPointe.
• Our church has competition. It's not other churches. It's any place our guests have been and experienced high value as a guest.
• We don't recruit. We invite.
• The message we want conveyed to our guests? Because you matter to God, you matter to us.

And that, my friends, is just the tip of the iceberg. I came back with a whole bunch of helpful material that I'm excited to share with the awesome people involved with First Impressions at NewPointe.