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Environment - part four

COME AS YOU ARE

We believe that God calls us to come to Him as we are, but that He loves us enough to not let us stay as we are.  We've tried to create a culture at The Journey where people can come as they are.

Physically, that means whether you like to dress up or you like to wear jeans, or flip flops, you can come as you are (no Chicago sport team clothes please...ha ha). Every week I see people in shorts, slacks but also warm up pants with the snaps down the side. We want people to be able to relax, be comfortable and break down barriers to open their heart to God. Things like coffee bar, big chairs, the way we dress, attitudes, hosts and more play into the come as you are physically approach.

Spiritually, this means accepting people for where they are, if they have it all together or if their life is a mess. We have a wide range of people, from homosexuals to bounty hunters to CEO's to college students. Jesus was known as the friend of sinners. We are all sinners and we shouldn't forget it. So, we want to accept people for where they are spiritual and part of the "come as you are" environment is about allowing people to be in process, to ask questions, and stress the effects of sin and the life in Christ without negative pressure, guilt, or judgement.

Leadership on stage, in groups, and really in every aspect needs to uphold the "come as you are" environment. This means we use language that everyone can understand, we don't assume people understand Christian culture or concept, we take time to explain things (like who people are, where things are in the Bible, etc.), we are real and relevant. We try to keep these concepts in mind when we do mailers, build our website and choose our series. Most importantly, we just love and accept people for who they are.

Relationships, not Religion - our motto really communicates this environment. Many people have connected with that right away. It isn't about rules, the way your dress, or what you know. It is about living...finding life in relationships with God and others.

We want people to come as they are physically, and more importantly, spiritually. While we want to accept people for where they are at - we are inviting them to The Journey and on a journey into to a relationship with God and others.

Environment - Part 3

WELCOMING
We try to create a welcoming environment with our building and vision, but it is up to everyone to help create this aspect of our environment.

For the building, this means warm colors, a neutral warehouse-type building, a coffee bar, fun kids rooms, and an info center. Hopefully, having these things, like a beverage in your hand in a non-stuffy room, helps break down barriers.

For everyone at The Journey, this means having hosts at the doors to help people. However, having everyone feel like a host (welcoming people, helping people find their way to kids stuff, bathrooms or whatever) is what is needed.  It's like making people feel like they're a guest in our house. It is extending more than just a smile and a handshake - it's really connecting with people. It is remembering that this might be the only chance they give God. We try to model this from the top down.

For our leadership, it is about avoiding insider type comments/jokes; having roamers in place to connect with guests; it is about recruiting the right people to host and keeping the team on track. It is about making everyone feel at home from up front during the service - using humor, language everyone can understand and topics that relate to everyone.

Environment - Your Thoughts

How would you describe the environment at The Journey?
How is that aspect created at The Journey from your point of view beyond our staff?

Environment - part 2

Here are a couple blogs that I follow and some of their thoughts on environment...

Scott Hodge - Boston Market

Anthony Coppedge - Starbucks

Anthony Coppedge - Service with a Smile

Environment

As we are thinking about some next steps at The Journey, we are beginning a new series of posts about environment. There is a very specific environment we are trying to create at The Journey. It is developed in a couple ways.

1) The Building - layout, location, colors, lighting, chairs, tables, stage, screen...the whole thing plays into environment.

2) People - attitudes, friendliness, facial expressions, clothes...you play a part in creating the environment at The Journey.

Over the next posted, we will be discussing environment - the what, how, why of environment - remember you play a part in creating and maintaining the vision and environment of The Journey.

Video Blog: Facilities

building (part 4, well 4.5)

HISTORY
May 2003 - we have been praying for a place to meet - no options. We want to start having practice church with our launch team before our public services in 3 months and our official launch in 4 months. We don't know what to do. Every place we check doesn't seem to work out...golf courses, schools, retail centers,...So, we decided to drive around every area 5 minutes from the mall just to see if there is anything. Then out of nowhere appears the Trillium - construction done in July. The Trillium was a great first location for our launch.

March 2004 - we have been meeting at The Trillium. Good relationship. Set up smooth. Kids stuff wasn't working and we keep getting more and more kids. My favorite part was kids stuff in the fancy board rooms with fire places and formal dark wood. Out of the blue, John Gorenflo asks us if we would be interested in space at our current location as he was adding on to his complex. We said "YES!" but at the time we only had 85 people and it seemed like a huge step. We needed about $40,000 to move in + we needed to pay for and do some of the finishing work like painting and making the coffee bar. We took a risk and did it. It's worked out pretty good I think. From out of the blue to our undersized home on the little known Schamber Drive.

HISTORY - God provides!
THE KICKER - we could have had our current building - the whole thing. we have little faith.
NOW - we are trusting God and willing to take a risk for our next step. The stakes are higher, but God is bigger.

building (part 3)

I have seen churches build big building and it can change their whole focus. I don't want to worship a building or let a building or building fund define us or handicap us. The building is important, but the building is just a tool. Obviously, we want something adequate to make a positive experience. But you can make most any place adequate. As long as we can keep reaching people and the building doesn't hinder that - I don't care where we meet. Our vision defines us - the commission from Jesus to go reach people and to make disciples by helping people take next steps.

So, our options.
1) We have our current space. We can go to three services. It would address some needs but not all issues with limited space. It is no cost. It will take more work. Mainly from staff - more time, more organization, more volunteers - like the band, cafe, kids, tech, host, etc. The issue is it might not solve anything because we will still feel the crunch at the two best service times. We need to make more space at 11:00.
2) Our current space + Lincare - as previous posts - a lot of that depends on money. We are still dealing with the details through that...more to come.
3) Go Mobile - we could pack it up each week and meet in a school or the movie theater. We could use a lot of our current equipment but there would be some expenses. We could gain space. We would lose space for throughout the week. We would compromise our good location and environment. Mainly - it would be the hardest work. We would need committed teams for serious set up and tear down.
4) Multi-site - we would love to do that, but we don't think we are ready. We need people prepare to head up music, kids stuff, and mainly a campus pastor. We aren't ready to do it with the quality it needs.
5) Other - we have looked at other options but none seem to pan out...
a) Going to three and buying land. When we pay off land, will we have the 1.5 million to build a building?
Would we hinder growth in the process?
b) Forming an LLC - we would need investors and land. We would be in a multi-use building.
c) Buying a building and remodels - need serious cash.

So, which option do you like? What are you willing to do to make that option happen?

building (part duex)

Last time, we chatted a little about building issues and a good possibility with Lincare. Again, the cost is more than we wanted to see. We think the cost could intrude with our building vision if it gets too expensive. We are still looking into this situation with Lincare - we need to figure out financing, monthly payments, etc - before deciding if it is feasible.

Our building vision is that the building is just a tool. The Journey doesn't exist to build brick & mortal but to build into the kingdom of God. As we always say...we are about relationships, not religion. The main factor is that we don't want our building to define us or our actions - we don't want to get into a pricey situation that can handicap us. As we grow, we want to add staff and resources. As we grow, we want to continue to be generous to our community. We don't want a building fund to take away from situations like these.

The Problem: I think right now our building is becoming a barrier. We have hit a plateau in our growth (except this last month - lots of new faces - lots of unchurched people). The general rule is that you can only fill your building to around 80%. We've been there. We haven't surpassed the 400 barrier and we have seen our percentage of growth level. I think the building is part of it - limited space.

The Problem: it is our goal not to take people from other churches, but that new people at our church would be people who don't go to church or haven't in a long time. Their relationship is more important than their money so we don't want to have the pressure of money. But, when someone starts giving and they go from giving $0 a month to giving $100 - that is a big step. One problem we will alway face is finances. No matter what we do with facilities, most option require some serious cash. Cash we don't have.

So, are you seeing the catch 22 aspect of our situation?!?!?

Next time...some other options and ideas.

the building (part one)

We have been feeling some space issues with the building - limited kids space (especially check in/out), limited bathrooms, limited lobby (some asked me where the info center was a while back - said they could see something there but everyone is always standing in front of it), limited seating space, limited storage and stage space. So, we have been looking into other spaces for building. We have a facility team that has looked at land, leases, and other possibilities. We face problems with most spaces like parking, bathrooms, etc. It would be a costly move to a leased space just to bring it up to needs.

Recently, the most intriguing idea has been with our current building. We are looking into moving Lincare to our office and open space next door to the office. Then we could take over the whole building. We have looked into pricing and set up some layouts - it would cost more than we are hoping. So, we are looking into grants, financing, and other avenues.

We are unsure about what to do right now. Pray for wisdom.

Next time: Building Vision and Other Problems.