okay per stephen’s last comment i will post more details about the launch.
sunday was the launch of tapestry and it went wonderfully, but even better is that there are already several ways that some of us see to make it connect even better with the people within our community. when i say it wonderfully what i mean is that it seemed to connect with those who were there. they seemed to get what we are trying to do with tapestry. there were 55 of us there (which i was thrilled with since i didn’t know anybody when the terrell family moved here a year ago). obviously all of those people won’t stay but a significant enough group really seemed to “get” the mentality of tapestry. in fact, i’ve already heard reports from three people who weren’t there concerning how positively someone had talked to them about the service.
the band was great. heather, hillary, and cory did a terrific job and i know that they are just going to get better. the music had a very laid back vibe to it which i liked. they also are not afraid to take risks. this is great because one of the things that i had hoped for was that we would be a group that would regularly experiment with the way we do things.
it was also a very positive experience because half of the launch team wasn’t there and things still pulled together. as many of you know mike penza’s brother (dave) died last week. therefore mike and kaylyn where with his family where they needed to be. since casey was already going to be missing this made us a little short-handed. i was a little worried about this. it turned out to be a none issue because everyone else jumped in and filled the gaps. jacob is an amazing servant and the band turned out to have the same mind set. at the end of our worship gathering i was able to spend time with our guests instead of directing take down. it was just what needed to happen. it’s just going to be better when all the “family” is there.
one of the things i have dreamed about is leading a church that encourages participation within every aspect of worship. part of this is involvement within the message. i firmly believe that GOD’s word is too powerful to be adequately conveyed by one voice. maybe other pastor’s voices are powerful enough to preach all of GOD’s truth but mine isn’t. i need the church through the SPIRIT to fill in the blanks that i miss. part of this is some participation within the delivery of the message and then another part is participation within the development of the message (which we will start in a few weeks or months). i tried asking some questions during one of the previews and the response was crickets in a background of silence. for the launch i decided to give everyone a simple “baby step” for moving toward the participation that had not been accomplished the week before. i gave everyone a bid card, like you would use at an auction, to hold up when i asked certain questions. it seemed to work. it’s not where i believe GOD ultimately wants us to be but i think it will help get us there. of course, the second i asked an open ended question the crickets were back.
the things we will be working on over the next few weeks
- continuing to improve the setup process
- refining childcare – we’re a very young congregation so i thought this would be something we had to deal with in a couple of months. turns out i was wrong. it’s a good problem.
- a little more organized guest greeting – of course, that’s hard to do on the first week because everyone is a guest.
- introducing everyone to our nontraditional “invitation time.” this will be new to those who are used to a traditional evangelical church.
