Granger’s 10 Programming Rules

I’m enjoying sitting at the feet of Butch Whitmire at Willow Creek as he teaches a room of 300 leaders about programming weekend services at Granger Community Church.

Butch talked about ten important rules to remember when programming your services…

1. Keep them from blinking — the audience must stay engaged.
2. Take them white-water rafting — follow a flow, don’t change speed too fast.
3. Live gets you two extra points — do it live when you can
4. Great live drama helps. Good live drama, not so much — make sure it’s great.
5. Leave your sissy pants at home — don’t be afraid to take a risk.
6. Give your audience a string of pearls — the transitions are really important.
7. It’s OK to have fun, laugh, and be just weird in church — nuff said.
8. Keep it "tacky" — give people a tactile experience.
9. Story wins every single time — without a great story, all the toys don’t matter.
10. God often shows up in casual attire — the goal is God showing up, and that can’t always be programmed.

Butch showed tons of videos in his session, including one of my favorites…