I’ve been going to write about something I learned last Friday during my Communications workshop at Granger Community Church. The leader was Kem Meyer, Granger’s Communications Director. I took a seminar by her at the MinistryCOM conference in September, out in Phoenix, and loved both the content and her delivery. Her slides expertly use graphic metaphors, with not a single bullet point in sight. And aren’t we all tired of PowerPoint bullet points, which just keep coming and coming and COMING from all directions with tiresome, gimmicked-out flourishes? They are soooo nineties.

Perusing my notes, I see a lot of good stuff, but nothing which I feel compelled (or smart enough) to expand upon. So I thought I’d just bullet-point some tidbits which I found interesting, useful, or insightful. These are not necessarily the main points. Just things I scribbled down.

• Churches are often a small number of people overhyping their product. Can they really deliver on their promise of health, success, good families, etc?
• People want information, but not more information. They have a specific question, and want the answer to that question.
• Don’t give people more choices to make. It has negative consequences, regardless of generation. Boomers get overwhelmed and shut down, GenXers fuss over whether or not they’re making the right decision, and GenYers just ignore you and move on.
• Pastors can be prostitues or prophets. A prostitute is someone you pay to make you feel good. A prophet tells you what you need to hear.
• In trying to reach nonChristians, put them in their comfort zone. That may mean behind a cup of coffee, or in front of multimedia.
• People today enjoy the buzz of large groups, but they like to process in small groups.
• If you can’t maintain something, don’t implement it. (For instance, a website.)
• True creativity comes from limited resources.
• Two types of people read the bulletin: first-time visitors, and people looking to see if you used their announcement.