Worship & the Visitor

Read a great article on the role of worship on the weekends and the life of the visitor.  Check it out!
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Waterloo Teams

Hey P&P people - we need to know if you're planning on making our upcoming Waterloo campus your church home!

Take a look at the video below for what you need to do:



Here's just a few more things that you need to know as you make your decision:

  • We will be starting incubation services up in the Chapel beginning sometime late January, 2010.  What does this mean?  Well, it means that if you're planning on making Prairie Lakes Waterloo your new church home, you're gonna start worshiping together up in the chapel on Sundays.  
  • Translation of the bullet point above: Waterloo attenders in the chapel seats; Waterloo P&P volunteers putting on services - both music and tech.
  • Hopefully by now you've met your new leaders.  If not, you really should.  They're both great guys.
  • At this point, we're needing to know if you're going to commit to Waterloo - not if you're willing to serve at either location.  Hopefully, all of us fall into the latter camp.  But, we need to know who is planning on making the move, so that we can start to craft our teams.
So, per the video, send Shari Ford an email, and let her know if you're going to Waterloo!

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Saturday night recap - 11.28

It's hard to believe, but we've found ourselves in the first week of our 2009 Advent Series.  The theme this year is "Waiting."  Here's what God did through our teams tonight:

-For the first time, we brought to the stage the big Christmas trees that normally reside in the lobby during this time of year.  It provided for a great Christmas feel, and some very creative camera shots.
-For a post-Thanksgiving, shortened week, our teams were very focused - maybe because of the rest that the holiday afforded!
-Spencer started our services out with a loop-driven acoustic guitar prelude on the theme from "O Come, O Come, Immanuel."  Combined with the look and feel of the stage, it was an amazing way to invite people into the significance of this time of year.
-Shawn Steere ran a camera for us - his first time running a camera on the weekend... though he's done it many times for our KidStuf program on Wednesday nights.  He did a great job.  It's cool to start seeing those two production environments begin to cross over.
-Cole Matlock stepped in at the last minute to cover for a sick James Roberts.  Love the willingness and servant's heart that so many of our volunteers so naturally put on display.
-Mark Lukasievicz jumped back in on keys while he was home on Thanksgiving break from Iowa State.  Although we're disappointed that he's not normally in gold and purple, we were glad to have him back!
-Our worship experience was awesome.  Spencer arranged "O Come, O Come, Immanuel" and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" in a way that really brought us into the tension of the theme, "Waiting."  Zach Elster really did an amazing job on the electric providing the overall feel.
-The congregation responded - they were so engaged.  The theme was so clear throughout the set, with "Come Thou Fount" and "Hungry" allowing for some Spirit-inspired moments.
-This was the first service during which we did our Strategic Concerns on video.  Our production teams made it a seamless experience.  This probably reclaimed about 5 minutes from our service, and made for a clear, concise way to get people necessary information.
-Matt Rittgers recapped our "Friends Feeding Families" event via a great video spot which he created.  277 families served at Thanksgiving because of the generosity of the people at Prairie Lakes Church.  Another cool way to invite our people into the significance of that initiative.
-John preached a great message on Mary and Joseph, and how they waited through the craziness that was they're first few years of marriage.  This provided for a great challenge at the end - to trust God while we wait through difficult circumstances.
-We are building a culture of response - providing space in our services for people to encounter and respond to God... whether through prayer, silence, or connecting with a pastor/elder up front.  So many people just sat in their seats and prayed after the services, or came forward for prayer about what they were waiting through.  Although the service ended at 6:45, the Worship Center wasn't cleared out until 7:05.  This is why we do what we do.

Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving.  Welcome to the Advent season.  I'm looking forward to each of you getting a chance to wait together for Christ's birth.
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what's our DNA? (your response needed!)

So... two posts in one evening.  That's a special treat for all of you.  At least, I like to think so.

Quick set-up for this one:

As we considered going multi-site as a church, one of the things that we as a leadership team had to ask ourselves was this question: "What's our 'DNA'?  We had to ask ourselves this question so that we'd know exactly what we had to duplicate at our next site(s).  In other words: what are those characteristics that make Prairie Lakes Church what it is?  Who are we, and who do we absolutely have to be at each site that is launched?

We came up with 4 things that we think make up the DNA of Prairie Lakes Church:

  • Simple - we have to be clear, straightforward, and uncomplicated in what we preach and how we invite people to take steps towards God.  For example: although putting on a weekend service is a complicated process, the end result is not - we help people to take clear, straightforward steps to encounter and respond to God.  Simple.
  • Bible - we want people to be in God's word at church and at home.  It's the book for our lives, and we want people to know how to read it and use it.  The references and page numbers appear on the screen, John walks people through how to find them, Bibles are in the seats, etc.
  • Authentic - Prairie Lakes Church is a place where people come as they are, and where there's a premium on being transparent - allowing people to see who you really are, rather than wearing masks or putting on fronts.  We don't play church here.  We're a group of imperfect people who are simply loved by a gracious God - nothing more, and nothing less.
  • Invitational - wherever we go, whatever we do, we are always on the lookout for what God is doing in our neighbors', coworkers', friends', and families' lives.  AND, we're looking for how we can invite them into a next step with God - whether it's an invite into our homes, into our lives, into a deeper relationship, into our church on a weekend, into a group, or into a serving opportunity.  We are invitational people.
Ok, that's the first part of the set-up.  Here's the second:

I'm currently reading this book entitled Multi-site Church Roadtrip: Exploring the New Normal.  It's written by the folks at Leadership Network, presenting 10 or so "case studies" from their staff's numerous trips to various multi-site churches.  It's really very good - click the link above and buy the book for like twelve bucks.  

Chapter 3 explores this question of DNA.  This particular chapter profiles Fellowship Church in Little Rock, Arkansas.  They had to ask themselves the DNA question the hard way - when they tried to duplicate their children's ministry at their other locations, they found it impossible to do so... because the way they did their children's ministry at their original location was staff-heavy and venue-specific (meaning they had a bunch of tech tools at their original location that they didn't have at all of their other campuses).  

Which (finally) gets me to our question:

What do you think is the DNA of our ministry?  What is Programming and Production's DNA?

Take a moment to think about this, and post a comment using the link below.  Here are some questions to guide your thinking:
  • What if our current campus had more than one live worship venue - say, a venue up in the chapel, or down in the cafe?  The message is going to be piped in live from the worship center, but we need to provide an artistic experience in those two venues.  What does it absolutely need to be?  What does it absolutely need to do?  Keep in mind: we don't have the same tools in those venues as we do in the worship center.
  • What if our next campuses don't have all of the same tech tools and resources that our current campus has?  What if they have a group of musicians and vocalists that have a different set of skills or strengths?  What if the demographic of their geographical location is markedly different than ours?  What does Programming and Production look like there?  What does it absolutely have to have in common with our current campus?
  • What if one of our campuses ends up ministering to several different cultures all at once?  What if the majority culture at one of our campuses isn't a bunch of white people?  What does Programming and Production look like at a campus like that?  What does it have to share with the way we currently do Programming and Production?
Your thoughts are very much appreciated!


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Saturday night recap

Up until this point, I have kind of reserved this blog as a way to keep you up to date with what's going on in our ministry.  But, after being exposed to how some other churches use their blogs, I'd like to start offering you my reaction to what we partnered with God to do on a weekend.  So, here's a few reactions to this Saturday night's service:

  • Over the course of a single service, we sang both Livin' On A Prayer by Bon Jovi and It Is Well With My Soul.  How cool is that - that we're able to weave both of those art forms in a meaningful and purposeful way to support God's message?
  • This weekend's worship team on stage was comprised of 4 relatively new or completely new faces... some of whom will most likely be leading us in worship in the next few months.  God is so faithful to bring us new people to do what we need them to do at just the right time.  He's in control.
  • Jon Lloyd, our newly hired Waterloo Worship Director, spent his first Saturday night with us.  Praise God for sending him and his wife Michelle to us!
  • Jeremy Ott, our newly hired Waterloo Tech Director, called the service for us.  Again: praise God for sending him and his family to us!
  • We had a service that was a little more musically challenging, which means that our tech teams got a little short-changed on some of the opportunities they usually get to practice during warm-up.  But, they all pulled together really well.
  • Chad Dean, our video director, had the challenge of calling shots on a song like Livin' On A Prayer as well as shots on a team-taught sermon.  He did a great job.
  • Speaking of which: John and Kay team-taught from stage on "How To Pray."  Kay told a story of how God answered one of her prayers for her son Shane just two years ago when he was 16... and she initially prayed that prayer when Shane was five!
  • We "blurred the ending" of the service, giving people space to pray before John closed, and giving them more space to pray as well as to come forward and be prayed for by staff and elders as the service ended.  Many people took advantage of the opportunity.  I got a chance to pray for a mom who's 11-year-old daughter is about to take a step across the faith line, as well as for a guy who accepted Christ and is about to go to prison.  And those are just two of the many who came forward.  God moves every time we give him space to do so.
  • We took some creative risks in how we set the environment for that moment of prayer at the end of the service - no IMAG, par lights and 250's on the two band members praying, and dimly lit room.  It was awesome; it worked very well.
Just a lot of great things happened tonight - whether behind the scenes, on stage, or in the congregation.  I feel blessed to be a part of it, and grateful for the opportunity to call our attention to just how unique and good Prairie Lakes Church really is.  Good job, everyone.  Let's do it again a couple times tomorrow morning!
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weekly update, 11.13.09

Pretty short update this week.  Take a look at the video below:



HIGHLIGHTS:

-P&P Fall Retreat Tonight! - It's finally upon us!  Tonight, 6:00 - 10:00 p.m., and then again tomorrow morning from 9:00 a.m. - noon, over at Hartman Reserve right here in Cedar Falls.  It's free.  There's chili.  There'll be times to connect with God, with one another, and with people you don't even know yet.  Shoot us an email if you haven't already and you're planning on coming... or just show up!

-Links - Here are some links that I and some of the rest of our P&P staff refer to as we look for inspiration, sources of creativity, devotion, leadership... you get the picture:
-Christmas 2009 - I know that many of you are wondering about Christmas teams and are trying to make plans.  We will be solidifying our teams at the end of this week, and communicating them to you at the beginning of next week.  Thanks for your patience

See you at the retreat this weekend!
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