Whenever we do a baby dedication, we ask the parents of the various little ones to send in photos in advance. This creates a great “Awwww Factor” in the service! But it actually goes a lot further that that. You see, we’re a big church. We have a lot of things that we can offer to people by our size – a great Children’s program, a great Youth program, lots of outreach opportunities, well-organized continuing ed. possibilities, etc… But it can also be easy for people to feel lost in the crowd unless we’re intentional about shrinking the bigness down a bit. That’s why we use photos in situations like this – to make it more like family. We also record the stories of people before they are baptized so that we can share their lives (as well as their baptism). We have name tag machines so that we can call each other by name. And we are very, very intentional about helping people to become part of life groups. Because, while the “Awwww Factor” is cute, it’s gone in a few seconds – being known can help to point someone’s life towards change that can last forever!
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I'm a Christian, a husband, a dad, a son, a pastor, a consultant, a musician, a writer, and bits and pieces of a bunch of other things. My work life has followed three main phases - business to teaching to church. I was the Weekend Services Pastor for nine years at Northview Church, an awesome church in the Indianapolis suburbs. I used to work for Willow Creek, another awesome church in the Chicago area. Plus I've written for various magazines and websites, and other freelancy sorts of things... My life mission is to help the church be as excellent as it can be.
Oh yeah - the name's Greg. Greg Wallace. But not the race car driver or the major league pitcher or the British celebrity chef. Just the creative worship guy. Hi.
It's my hope that these ideas, musings, rants, raves, etc... will inspire you. They're just my opinions - but again, I hope that they'll help to inspire you. Because the church really, really needs inspired creative types. If you're a creative type (and most people are, deep-down), ask God for help. Then take any ideas that are useful to you - borrow them, nab them, use them, adapt them - and make them into something greater...
You can head over to my Instagram site for an abundance of shorter posts: creativeworshipideas. If you're looking for consulting - especially on weekend services, team leadership or multi-site strategies - I'd love to help. Just message me here, and I'll be in touch - Greg
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