This past weekend we had a conference called Canvas for our volunteers at the Campus I am leading at NewPointe Community Church. Our team put together a great conference that included interviews with three local restaurant manager’s. We had the manager from Starbucks talk about building culture and how to leave a lasting impression. She also talked about how they treat their employees or partners and how they emphasize relationships company wide. The manager from Chipotle talked about teamwork and the importance of preparation and excellence. The final interview was with the owner/manager of Chick-fil-a and he talked about how to engage people and provide superior customer experience. After each speaker we had our volunteers meet with their teams and brainstorm ideas on how we can work on the things we just heard. Each team got a canvas to write down ideas. It was an amazing day and we are hoping to do it again at other campuses. This was a day of casting vision on how we can improve and get better at connecting with and reaching the people that come to NewPointe.
I did the opening welcome and shared part of my story about how I stopped going to church in the mid 90’s because I was frustrated with the leadership of my church and was not growing spiritually. We simply stopped going to church for about a year. That experience of leaving church and then God working through a variety of people to get my wife and I back into church has helped me to identify with people that are going through similar struggles today. I understand that people need time to get reconnected and re-engaged in the church. They need time to determine if this church is any different or just the same old church in a new color. I understand that many people have given up on the church but not on God.
As I shared that story I also shared why I love NewPointe, and why I believe NewPointe is a different kind of church.
I love that NewPointe Community Church:
- Is a safe place to hear a life changing message
- Is willing to talk about the important and difficult issues of life like sex, money, marriage, parenting
- Helps me apply the Bible to my everyday life
- Is outward focused rather than inward focused – meaning we are more concerned with reaching people than keeping people
- Is willing to take risks
- Embraces change
- Pursues Excellence, but not perfection
- Values being healthy emotionally
- Is big on relationships
- Is a place that I can serve
- Wants to partner with parents to impact children for eternity
- Equips people to become better leader’s
- Is a creative fun place
- Is willing to take anyone, no matter what your background, family history or how you look
- Mentors individuals and couples that are struggling with life
- Empowers people to lead and serve
- Keeps things simple
- Has a vision to Change the World!
This conference was a great place to express to our volunteers how important they are because every person that walks through our doors has a story and we get to contribute to the story God is writing in their lives. As a church we can also learn from other organizations on how to serve the people around us and to build a team to make a difference in our community and around the world.