VA Beach trip

So Frankie and I headed up to Virginia Beach to hang out with Vince and the staff at Forefront. Sorry to Pat and Chris for me not bringing you along. We learned a bunch. Vince invited us over to his house and talked with us for a couple of hours. One of the biggest things I got was a question he asked me, "After experiencing one of our services, what needs improvement?" It takes a lot of guts to ask that question (and really want an answer), but it's a great way to get fresh insight into your Sunday gatherings.

I was impressed by a number of things. First, the staff was incredible. They went out of their way to talk with us, answer our questions, make us feel welcome... they were great. Second, the people of Forefront were great. One of the guys drove us to Starbucks when we got there (because after an hour of driving we couldn't find any breakfast... VA Beach is a confusing place). People hung around after the service and talked and talked and talked. Third, Forefront makes great use of humor. They know their crowd and what kind of humor works for them and they use it all the time. It's a great way to get people to unfold the arms (more on that later). Fourth, we got to sit in on their creative planning meeting on Monday. I learned some great stuff about creative planning. Actually, they have a system to their planning and I love systems.

That's all I have time to write right now. I'm so thankful that Vince and his staff took time to let us learn from them. And next time I'll invite other to go too.