church review: Granger Community Church

Since Stephanie and I are staying about 30 minutes north of Granger, we figured we shouldn’t waste the chance to take in a service at Granger Community Church. I’ve been hoping to get to Granger for quite awhile and I wasn’t disappointed. I know that Tony and Mark occasionally check out this blog so I hope this review is helpful feedback to you and your teams.

First Impressions
– The building looked great with clean grounds and good signs (what is that design on the brick on the side of the building?)
-We were 7 minutes late and a motorcycle-riding looking guy and his son were still helping people park
-My pregnant wife couldn’t stop talking about how appreciative she was of the bus ride to the building, complete with a friendly welcome from the driver and a handwritten note inside the bus
-One of the multiple greeters at the door directed us right to an easy to spot sign for ‘New Families Check-In’

Children’s Ministry
-The F1 system was a snap and the women entering our info could not have been more friendly (here is a weird fact: my name and birth date were already in the system even though I’ve never been to Granger before)
-We were completely amazed with the Children’s Ministry. After signing in we were walked right to our rooms by a very kind and sincere woman who offered us a tour of all the rooms after service. Clear signs and visuals.
-Our kids practically ran to their rooms and started playing right away. My son was in the Farm Room and my daughter in the Toddler Room. We all loved the double sided aquarium, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many baby changing stations in one place before.
-The only problem was that after church I lost all control of my over-stimulated son. He was running from room to room and wouldn’t to a thing.

Worship Service
-Unfortunately we missed the worship songs. We came in during the performance of a song by ‘The Wreckers’ which was well done.
-My wife enjoyed the message and said that it was informative and entertaining. She said she could see how people would enjoy going to church there. I thought the message was good as well. It didn’t hit me with any ‘wow’ factor but I realize that I am not the primary target of a message like that. One thing I did appreciate was how Mark Beeson bracketed into his message some good teaching on 1) the authority of Scripture and 2) the strategy of the church.
-The performance of ‘Fix You’ by Coldplay was amazing. I was moved to tears by the combination of song, lyric and video. That song was the best part of the service for me by far.

Overall my whole family enjoyed our time at Granger. The entryway was smaller than I expected but it was impressive none the less. I was also expecting a balcony in the worship center that wasn’t there. I didn’t hang in the coffee area but could have easily if I was kid-less.

One complaint I have is that we were not ushered into the worship service well. A woman who met us at the door basically just said “Over there.” and pointed to some seats at the far side of the room. We had to find a couple centrally located seats on our own.

Thanks Granger Community Church. You guys are rocking and growing the Kingdom. Tell all your teams “Way to go!” See you guys again some time.