Not every week is awesome. That’s just something you have to realize.
I think it really happens when you have an average week after a few “better than average” weeks.
And that’s where we found ourselves this week. Nothing bad about it – just, well, average, I guess.
I think it was tough to get into worship the way we had the service designed. We wrapped up Jeff Henderson’s “Illusions” series, and started off by having Earl South – one of our bass players who is also a professional magician – actually do some illusions on stage as the welcome segment.
Earl was fantastic – I mean REALLY good! He’s always doing card tricks and slight of hand stuff for us in the Green Room, so it was cool to see him doing it on a big stage in front of a big crowd.
I think the problem ended up being that the audience was in “watching magic” mode, which made the transition to participatory worship rather jarring.
And then we only did two songs, so by the time their worship blood was flowing, they were being asked to have a seat.
Now we did bring back the tune we used as a closer last week, and the crowd picked up on it real fast – and I think it might be my new favorite tune – Lead Me To The Cross.
We did, however, come out of the message into a worship “response” closer – Jesus Paid It All. And that was cool, and the folks sang, but I think overall I was missing something from the service overall.
OK – maybe it was better than I’m making it out to be. After all, I think I was in an altered state: Our family had had a big weekend with some late nights and little sleep, I’m still fighting a sinus deal, and by Sunday Jennie had caught a stomach bug and was at home puking her guts out, Ella had a fever, and Cooper was being a one year old…
So my family was at home and needed me, but I couldn’t be there because I needed to stay and do some freelance work later in the day.
So if you were attending this past Sunday, you be the judge…
But I thought our Worship Leaders – Chrystina Fincher and Mike Gleason – did a great job.
A few pics from the East…
Oh!!! Also, we launched the Spanish Service this week in it’s permanent home, the KidStuf Theater. They got a big black scrim (fancy word for curtain) to block the KidStuf set, making it a very versatile room for crowds up to about 500 people. With the current attendance of about 250 people, it’s far more comfy than in the giant West Auditorium.
We’re also using North Point Multitracks for the music – full band tracks routed to 8 separate outputs for full mixing capability on the Front of House console.
We’re using a live Worship Leader and background vocalist. It was actually a really cool experience!
Some Spanish Service shots (sorry for the glare)
Laptop running the Multitracks via Pro Tools…
Seth Condrey, Rosie (Iraheta) Pinkerman…
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East Band – Chrystina Fincher, Steve Thomason, Matt Melton, Scott Meeder, Richard Meeder, Chris Arias, Rachael Gillis
West Band – Mike Gleason, Danny Howes, Danny Grady, Brad Gage, Doug “Slug” Mitchell, Bill DeLoach, Rosie Pinkerman
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What did YOU do this week?
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Well, I was there, and I can definitely see what you were saying about wanting more worship after just two songs. I think that al the elements were good, maybe it’s just that it wasn’t a happy marriage of all those elements.
I have also found that “Lead Me To The Cross” is one of the most powerful songs that’s been written in a long time! And it can be arranged in so many different ways…
I think doing the Spanish service like you are now in the smaller venue is a great idea! Keep up the good work!!! Hope everyone is feeling better soon…