Greetings Worship Arts Team!
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I want to begin by saying how much of an honor it is for me to be working with such a talented and dedicated group of people at Whipple Creek Church. I hope that you all had an awesome Christmas.
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I also wanted to fill you all in about the Worship Arts Team meeting that took place on Sunday, December 16, 2007. Many of you were there so this will just be a recap for you. Others of you couldn't make it out to the meeting so this will be valuable information for you as changes have been made as to how we will be operating as a worship team in this next year. Here are the main points from the meeting:
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(1) Just recently I was having a rough time in youth ministry. Many of our young people were being led astray by various temptations. I called some of these young people on their sin and it caused a bit of a falling out. I felt confident about my motivations, though I felt I could have handled it better. Discouraged, I began to question if I was the right guy for the job at FacePlant Ministries. Later that week, I received a card signed by most of the youth at FacePlant Ministries thanking me for investing into their lives over the past two years. It was timely and I was encouraged. If I, a human with tons of frailties and shortcomings, had my heart touched by a group of voices saying, "Thank you," how much more does it touch the heart of the Father when every Sunday morning a group of Christ-followers at Whipple Creek Church lifts up their voices to say/sing in unison, "Thank You. We love You. We worship You." May we, as a worship team, be the ones who "initiate the thank you card signing" every week at Whipple.
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(2) My hope is that God's presence will be so evident every week, through Spirit led worship, that people find themselves not wanting to leave on Sundays, as well as at other days of the week where our worship teams lead people into His presence.
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(3) At Whipple Creek Church, we want worship to permeate every area of ministry. We want to develop teams that usher people into God's presence on Sunday mornings in the adult service as well as in Power House, at FacePlant Ministries on Tuesday nights, at our Epic Young Adult group on the first Wednesday of the month and on Friday nights. We also hope to develop teams to be able to send out to other congregations who don't have worship teams. It would also be great this next year to record, produce and release a Whipple Creek worship CD with original worship written by members of our team so that people can take what takes place at Whipple through worship home with them, permeating their personal devotions and times of worship.
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(4) My desire is that our worship teams actually be small groups, where ministry can take place before we practice and then later lead worship. What we are doing then, is changing our Sunday morning schedule. I would like to ask all worship team members (both vocalists and instrumentalists), sound crew and tech crew members to be at the church promptly at 8:00 am. We will get the sound system and instruments line checked from 8:00 am to 8:20 am. From 8:20 am to 8:40 am we will all gather as a small group and have a short devotional as well as a prayer time where we can minister to each other. As worship pastor, I want to be able to pray for you, serve you and keep you accountable as I want you to keep me accountable. Then from 8:40 am to 9:50 am we will practice, both as an entire team, but also leaving time to go over new songs more thoroughly and work on and refine vocal and instrumental parts. This new schedule is effective Sunday, January 6, 2008.
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(5) We also went over our current worship team, sound crew and tech crew roster. We also went over what other worship venues during the week that people were available for. We are adding some new members and hope to do so even more as more people are recognized in their giftedness. If you weren't at the meeting and I haven't talked to you yet, please let me know what your availability is.
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(6) We are also re-vamping the way we run our sound crew. We will now be having two person teams running sound on Sunday mornings; one person running the sound board, the other person walking around the main sanctuary during both practice and during the main service to listen for adjustments that need to be made and relaying that information to the person running the sound board.
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(7) I also encouraged those of us on stage to be aware of our "stage presence." I don't mean that we become someone who we aren't by putting on some kind of act, but to make sure that we are smiling (hopefully this is a natural overflow of the joy of the Lord in our lives) and engaging the congregation in worship through clapping, etc.
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Well this was our first meeting together under my leadership as worship pastor. I am currently working on handing off many responsibilities as youth pastor so that I can focus in on the area of worship. Please pray that God brings the right people along to take the youth. Until that happens, I will be working my 40 hour a week job doing hardwood floors, taking care of needs with my family at home, and then figuring out how to balance both youth and worship ministry. So please know, that I am doing the best I can with what I have on my plate. Thank you in advance for your patience with me.
Grace and peace,
Christian
