Innovate...

Scott Rodgers is the Mesa Campus Pastor for LifeChurch. He writes the following on the Swerve Blog…

Innovate.

* Why do we do that?
* How can we do it different?

When was the last time you threw those questions out on the table for discussion? Church is too predictable for me. I’m looking for something remarkable, something memorable; and so are your first time guests. I had a club sandwich at Houston’s the other night and told three people the next day how great it was. Most people love to have a story to tell; a story about their experience. As a church, we need to give people a story to tell.

In addition to what God does by impacting or perhaps changing someone’s life, what are we doing to make a person’s experience memorable, remarkable, worthy of telling someone else about? I used to think of innovating in the church to be all about lights, videos, and gadgetry. Houston’s didn’t have intelligent lighting, just a great club sandwich. In-N-Out burger doesn’t have big video screens, just someone standing in the drive thru personally taking my order during lunch and asking me if I want my burger in a bag or if I am going to eat it on the road. If I am eating on the road, they wrap it half open, ready to be consumed. That’s cool. I tell everyone about In-N-Out because of that.

Innovation isn’t about communicating like Ed Young or Andy Stanley, or Craig Groeschel; innovation starts with the small things. I call these touch points. Identify every place a guest interacts with something or someone else and make it memorable.

* Why do greeters just shake hands?
* Why are church bulletins all about information and getting people to sign up for something?
* Why do we do four songs, a 25 minute talk, and announcements; in that order?

How about one hundred greeters mingling through your parking lot and opening doors, carrying babies, handing out drinks, and passing out stickers to the kids? How about doing our boring announcements on video in a fun way, after the second song when everyone is fully engaged? Oh gosh, we can’t do that; can we? It would hinder the flow of worship. Really? Change it up and get creative.

Identify touch points. Create memorable experiences. Step outside the norm. Do it regularly. That’s innovation. Give your people a story to tell around the water cooler on Monday morning. That’s it from me; I’m heading to In-N-Out to get a half wrapped burger.

Related Tags: LifeChurch, LifeChurch.tv, Scott Rodgers, LifeChurch Mesa, Innovate, In-N-Out, Burgers, Customer Service, First Impression, Craig Groeschel, Ed Young, Andy Stanley