Our VIP Weekend @ Elevation Church

So I got to attend a Sunday night service at Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC at the Blakeney Campus. The area of Charlotte probably has now officially become one of my favorite areas in the country.  I could easily live there.

Once we pulled onto the street to get to the church they had signs asking if it was your first time to the church to turn on your car flashers.  Once the parking team noticed it they immediately sent you to prime front row parking.  At Elevation they call first time guests VIP's.  Also, a part of being a VIP is to immediately go to the black VIP tent right outside the front doors where they give your a bunch of free stuff!  We filled out the paper work needed to put our daughter into her Elevation Kids class then we were given a VIP packet with a free CD and message from Pastor Steven Furtick.  

They walked us to the Kids check in and the kids volunteers had Greenlee (our daughter) jumping up and down with excitement LITERALLY before we even got to her classroom and that was just check in. And the beauty of it was that it wasn't over the top or cheesy or creepy.  It was just enough genuine excitement to let you know they were really happy you were there. 

They welcomed the VIP's at the beginning of the service it wasn't awkward or anything.  They didn't make you stand up or anything, they just thanked you for being there and asked you to fill out the connect card and turn it in at the VIP black tent for a free gift after the service.

Once the service was over we walked outside to the VIP tent where they gave all of us a free T-Shirt. They gave Greenlee a really cool Elevation Kids glow in the dark T-Shirt and a huge Elevation Kids poster that she could color herself.

The next day after we left I got a phone call from one of the Elevation Staff thanking us for coming and wanted to know if we had any questions or if there was anything they could do for us.  Followed up with an offer to order us a pizza to be delivered to us.  The day after that I got a VIP postcard from the guy we meet at the VIP tent thanking us for coming.  Then a couple days after that I got a letter from Pastor Steven thanking us for coming and offering more info.

I knew going in that the worship was going to be great and that the message was going to be amazing.  I also would have bet a million dollars that the building was going to be great.  But the star of the show was the volunteers and their follow up process with 1st timers aka VIP's.  They go way above and beyond to welcome and love on VIP's.  I learned a tremendous amount from visiting this incredible church and it makes complete sense why they are exploding with growth.

One other thing I loved was that everything stayed on theme!  They use the Elevation orange for everything and the brand they have created is wonderful and everything is done with 110% excellence!

 Amazing clean and sharp building. With lots of great volunteers all over the place out front welcoming you and I could immediately feel the excitement like something big was going to happen once I walked it.  It was very cool.

The picture on the left is the graphic of the series they are doing on three huge TV's.  They also had some great music playing on the speakers creating an awesome vibe in the lobby.  The middle picture is their mission statement clear and visible for all to see on a huge display wall in the lobby. Their trash cans are AWESOME!  They hollowed out speaker cabinets and added the elevation graphic at the bottom and cut a whole out for trash cans.  So creative!

They have really great connections kiosks that are easily found and accessible in the lobby. You can give your tithes and offerings this way as well as sign up for certain things.  The middle picture is of the mission statement wall as well as Elevation Kids check in area filled with some amazing volunteers.  The picture on the right was their resource store. Filled with sermon series, elevation worship cd's, t-shirts, hats, license plate and a million other cool things. The postcard spindle on the outside of the store you see on the picture was full of about 10 different looking invite cards for people to take and give to friends or family or whoever they want to invite to Elevation.  You can grab as many as you want and they look very well done!

I loved this!  This was one the wall in the lobby before you walked into the auditorium. It was a scrolling wall that showcased all the series graphics and much more that God has done at Elevation.  It was a very cool touch and something I hadn't seen anywhere else. 

There were two entrances to the auditorium  at each entrance there were volunteers giving you a pen and their version of a bulletin. As soon as you walked in there was a big TV with the series graphic on it and a box or ear plugs!  Because believe me they like it loud!!! It was by far the loudest church I have ever been to.  They were easily 140db and it was pounding in their.  My wife hated it and I loved it!

Of course the worship experience was incredible.  The talent at this church is phenomenal.  The room was much smaller than I thought it would be.  It looked like a really nice movie theatre with a stage. They used a lot of creative video during the whole service.  They do all of their announcements in a video segment called the 5B4.  The worship and the message speak for itself they were amazing.