Summer is coming to an end, the fall is descending, people are back from their vacations, kids are back in school, students are back at college, and we are in week #2 of our Who We Are series... across all THREE of our campuses! Welcome, Osage! Keep praying, giving, and going - September 12, your grand opening, is just around the corner!
Pastor Carl brought it. Our arts teams brought it. Loved every minute of it.
We opened with this hilarious yet poignant video by the Skit Guys. Good use of humor that kinda slips past people's defenses and gets them involved into the subject matter for the weekend: the Bible as part of our DNA at PLC.
Then we sang a special from stage: Revelation Song. You should've seen the crowd at Cedar Falls on Saturday night. Awesome, spontaneous response to how God moved through it. Many in the crowd stood and raised their hands - some singing, and some listening.
If you're not familiar with this song, its lyrics are taken directly from Revelation 5:11-12:
Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"We followed it up with Beautiful Jesus, Glory to God Forever, Mighty to Save, and an updated version of I Exalt Thee. Fabulous set.
At Cedar Falls, for the first time this weekend, we used a "Campus Pastor" to handle both family concerns and some shepherding at the end of the service. Kyle Thomas, the High School Coordinator at Cedar Falls, did a fantastic job, and gave our congregation a little bit of a taste of what it's like to have someone other than the teaching pastor shepherd through the service.
John Fuller served as the Campus Pastor in Waterloo this weekend, and loved every minute of it. This was his first visit over there since they launched back in Easter. The folks at Waterloo really enjoyed having him there, and gave him a glimpse into what it's like to be a multisite campus.
Chip and the gang completed their second soft launch weekend service, this time flying solo on a lot of accounts: no Portable Church staff, and no tech personnel from Cedar Falls. Tim Sherwood, their Tech Director, says they are still ironing out a few kinks... but overall, it's going very well.
Pastor Carl preached from Nehemiah 8, the passage that marked a point in Israel's history where they cracked God's Word open for the first time in a long time. If you missed it, make sure you watch it when it gets uploaded to the web on Tuesday. There's some great, helpful encouragement there to get reconnected to the Bible if you've been drifting lately.
Finally, our campus pastors closed by handing out a Bible study resource called SOAP (which stands for Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer), a study method developed by Wayne Cordeiro of New Hope Church in Oahu, Hawaii. (For an great exposition on this method and how to use it in your own personal study, take a look at this blog.) If you missed this weekend and want access to the little card we handed out with a brief explanation of SOAP, stop by and pick one up at the Connection Desk, or just come on one of the next few weekends. We'll make them available.
EndNotes:
- We had a great Worship and Production Staff and Volunteer retreat last weekend at the Waterloo Center for the Arts. If you missed it, grab some coffee with one of your shepherds. They'd love to get you caught up.
- Jon, Spencer, and the team put on an amazing night of worship last Friday. We were able to debut some PLC originals: Hope Is, and The Eternal One. You'll be hearing them in the services soon! Special thanks to the many volunteers who served extra hours this weekend: Craig, Mitch, Ken, Renee, Bob, Gary, Andy, Bret... and the list goes on. You guys are amazing.
- Make sure to keep Osage and Waterloo in your prayers, regardless of what campus you're attending. Although they are at different stages of the journey, they would both benefit from your requests and petitions to God.
Pleasure serving with you all.
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