all the way live
last night christy, the boys, several church members, and i went to crossroads church in arlington. no, we were not "church shopping," and no, i am not considering leaving the united methodist church! our goal last night was to hear a praise band that could lead our new saturday night service, set to blast off in september.
saturday night worship is part of the www.newtrinitychurch.com vision for our church that God gave to us back in march. as far as i know, no other church in our area is offering saturday night worship, except for mass at Holy Spirit catholic church. our vision for this service is loud praise and worship music that will be inspiring and inviting for unchurched/pre-Christian folk. many of us have been praying for this service since march, but the details have been slow to arrive.
at lunch with a church member three weeks ago, i mentioned this concern with a leader in our church. i had called our conference children/youth director, and he had referred me to a youth director who hosts "battles of the bands" all the time. i never heard back from him. it was july, the thing was set to start in september, and without a good band it would never take off. jim said a woman who works for him has a son who is a music student at dbu. maybe he would know of some leads.
turns out preston is part this band we heard last night in arlington. jeez, these guys rocked. we immediately signed them up to play at "all the way live" for us. they are going to blow out the windows at this church! i really believe this service will be a powerful tool to reach new people for Christ.
i also learned another important lesson (or, more accurately, it was reinforced). the church we visited did not have a steeple, stained glass windows, etc. it is a storefront church, sharing space in a strip mall with a pest control place and a marine recruitment office. inside it was nicely decorated, with warm colors, an awesome coffee bar/fellowship area, foosball, pool table, table tennis. the worship space was a large room with comfortable chairs, sort of similar to what we have at trinity church. to reach people for Christ, our buildings do not have to look a certain way-- in fact there's a lot of writing out there that says "churchy" architecture may hinder people in their search for Christ.
who knows what trinity church is going to look like in a couple of years. if sunday morning and saturday night really take off and we are reaching people for Christ, we may not recognize ourselves anymore. certainly faces will be new--that's already happening-- and perhaps the building will need to change (!!!). but we believe that God has major things in store for us. "all the way live" and the awesome praise band are just a part of it. thanks be to God for laying this vision out for us, giving us guidance and the wisdom and discernment to follow it, blessing individuals with generous hearts to support new ministries, and gracing each of us with openness of heart and mind!
saturday night worship is part of the www.newtrinitychurch.com vision for our church that God gave to us back in march. as far as i know, no other church in our area is offering saturday night worship, except for mass at Holy Spirit catholic church. our vision for this service is loud praise and worship music that will be inspiring and inviting for unchurched/pre-Christian folk. many of us have been praying for this service since march, but the details have been slow to arrive.
at lunch with a church member three weeks ago, i mentioned this concern with a leader in our church. i had called our conference children/youth director, and he had referred me to a youth director who hosts "battles of the bands" all the time. i never heard back from him. it was july, the thing was set to start in september, and without a good band it would never take off. jim said a woman who works for him has a son who is a music student at dbu. maybe he would know of some leads.
turns out preston is part this band we heard last night in arlington. jeez, these guys rocked. we immediately signed them up to play at "all the way live" for us. they are going to blow out the windows at this church! i really believe this service will be a powerful tool to reach new people for Christ.
i also learned another important lesson (or, more accurately, it was reinforced). the church we visited did not have a steeple, stained glass windows, etc. it is a storefront church, sharing space in a strip mall with a pest control place and a marine recruitment office. inside it was nicely decorated, with warm colors, an awesome coffee bar/fellowship area, foosball, pool table, table tennis. the worship space was a large room with comfortable chairs, sort of similar to what we have at trinity church. to reach people for Christ, our buildings do not have to look a certain way-- in fact there's a lot of writing out there that says "churchy" architecture may hinder people in their search for Christ.
who knows what trinity church is going to look like in a couple of years. if sunday morning and saturday night really take off and we are reaching people for Christ, we may not recognize ourselves anymore. certainly faces will be new--that's already happening-- and perhaps the building will need to change (!!!). but we believe that God has major things in store for us. "all the way live" and the awesome praise band are just a part of it. thanks be to God for laying this vision out for us, giving us guidance and the wisdom and discernment to follow it, blessing individuals with generous hearts to support new ministries, and gracing each of us with openness of heart and mind!
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-Annie B.