Creating the routine

The biggest adjustment this week in preparing for the Saturday night service is starting to think of it as a weekly routine. We’ve done other one-time events down there in the past, and it would be quite easy to think of last Saturday’s service as just another one-time event. Except that it’s not - I need to get music planned, get the worship team lined up and ready to go, get the lyrics prepared for the bulletin, all the usual tasks… again this week.

One thing I think would help in this regard is setting a regular schedule throughout the week for my planning and preparation. Something like this:

Saturday night: worship service.

Sunday: prepare sermon recording for website, listen to it again and evaluate.

Monday: make sure the website is updated for the week.

Tuesday: choose music for the following week and email to worship team.

Thursday: prepare bulletin.

Saturday: practice with the WT and do the service.

Repeat.

I think it might work. However it happens, I sure need a routine.

D-Day Timeline

Saturday was the big day - first service at Imago Christi! A timeline of the day:

7:30 am: Wake up after sleeping in. Feels good. Making mental lists of what I need to remember for the service.

9:45 am: Everyone is fed and dressed. Making a couple final tweaks to the bulletin.

9:55 am: Headed to Noelridge to print the bulletin and pick up the drums.

10:30 am: Setting out 2008 giving envelopes for Noelridge while the bulletins print.

10:50 am: Loading congas, microphones, mic stands, and a small podium into the van.

12:10 pm: Girls are taking a nap, Becky and I are watching Heroes. Almost done with Season One.

12:30 pm: Nate calls and wants to know when we can meet so he can drop off the sound equipment. Any time before 3:30 will work for him.

1:15 pm: Meet Nate at Imago. Set up speakers, amp, adjust the EQ.

1:45 pm: Heading back home.

3:15 pm: Leaving to pick up Andre and head to Imago for worship team practice.

3:30 pm: Made it to Imago, setting up microphones and the keyboard. How will we arrange all this stuff on the stage?

4:00 pm: Finally ready to practice the music. Getting a nasty hum from the passive pickup in Morgan’s guitar.

5:00 pm: We’re as practiced as we’re going to be. Plugging in the iPod. Andrew Peterson will provide background music until the service starts.

5:15 pm: Changing into my ilikeandy.com t-shirt and a jacket.

5:30 pm: Service starting. Must be about 50 people here.

5:35 pm: We’re up. Music starts. People are clapping on the first song. Woohoo!

5:39 pm: This second song is a mess. Timing is off, and I messed up the lyrics to the second verse. Not my A game. Grrrr.

5:50 pm: Music set is done. Still pondering what song to use as the musical meditation at the end of the service.

6:40 pm: Richard has finally wrapped up the sermon. Taking mental notes to give him a review later. I’ve decided on a song.

6:50 pm: First service is over, and we survived. Thank God. Heading down for a fellowship time.

7:15 pm: Tearing down sound equipment. Fortunately we have a closet where we can store it there at the church.

7:45 pm: Everything is torn down and put away. Now to lug those congas back out to the car so we can use ’em at Noelridge in the morning.

8:10 pm: Home. Exhausted. Putting the girls to bed.

8:30 pm: Watching the last three episodes of Season One of Heroes. Pretty good ending.

It's a big day

We’ve been working towards this for over a year now, and tonight it comes to pass: the first service at our downtown Cedar Rapids church plant, Imago Christi at Central Park. I think we’re to the point where we’ve planned about as much as we can; now we just have to go for it and trust God to see us through. This is the point where the butterflies set in.

Pray for us today that we would be effective, and above all else, that God would be glorified.

(5:30 pm if you’re in CR and want to come!)

2007 in Books: Chris's Reading in Review

One year ago I decided that my blog was the must useful place to keep my reading list, and that proved to be a good choice. I’ve tried keeping reading lists in the past, but was never consistent in recording. This year, though, I managed to record each book and a couple sentences of synopsis and review. I don’t do much in the way of Top 10 lists, but this seems like one place where I have enough data at hand to make a year-end summary. So here goes.

Total books read: 85. Total fiction: 68. Total non-fiction: 17. Total re-reads: 1.

The one notable series for this year was Harry Potter. I managed to resist the series until this year, but finally decided it was time to give them a try. I was glad I did; they were some very entertaining reads. I started Book 1 on July 11 and finished Book 7 on August 23, and managed to sneak six other books in during that six weeks as well!

A look at my non-fiction stuff betrays my interest in history and science, with a dabbling in music. No real surprises, I guess.

My Top 5 non-fiction reads of the year, in no particular order:

My top 8 fiction reads, again in no particular order (I was going to list 10, but couldn’t find two more that lived up to the standards of these 8):

  • Variable Star - Robert Heinlein & Spider Robinson. The title character goes on a “galactic bender”… yeah, and it’s a great story.
  • Sun of Suns (Virga, Book 1) - Karl Schroeder. Schroeder manages to create a very believable, imaginative world for his story. I’ve got book 2 sitting in my to-read pile right now. Can’t wait.
  • In War Times - Kathleen Ann Goonan. Goonan combines time travel, jazz, and World War II in a way that blows my mind. Easily my favorite non-series book of the year.
  • The Children of Húrin - J. R. R. Tolkien. Tolkien does the classic epic better than anyone else.
  • Magic Street - Orson Scott Card. Card has a gift for storytelling and imagination. This novel weaves some of the plot and ideas of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream into a delightful modern fantasy.
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) - J. K. Rowling. I promised myself I’d only include one HP book in this list, and it had to be this one. It caps off the series brilliantly.
  • Overclocked: Stories of the Future Present - Cory Doctorow. Most of the sci-fi short stories I’ve read up to this point have been older; it’s fun to read something written recently - the current-ness of the technology and ideas makes them even more believable and frightening.
  • The Road - Cormac McCarthy. No, I didn’t read this one because Oprah recommended it. Andrew Peterson recommended it, too! :-) Chilling, spare, and yet ultimately hopeful.

Apparently I am a sci-fi nerd. It’s not that all I read is sci-fi… I guess those just stick out the most to me.

I’ll start a new list for 2008 once I finish my first book. Gotta see how my reading preferences change from year to year.

Becoming a Caring Church

Alex Strauch provides some practical guidance for becoming a church that truly cares for people (from the Summer 2007 edition of Emmaus Bible College’s Journey magazine):

  1. Organize a Benevolence Fund. Caring for the poor and needy cannot be done in a willy-nilly fashion… it’s amazing when we put our money together what we can do!
  2. Establish a Father Program. Many children in our churches today come without a father… over the years my four daughters would bring children, mainly girls, from school to the table to eat with us. For many of these girls it was the first time they were at a table with the father present.
  3. Provide language training for new immigrants. A number of our women had professional training and detrees in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language), and they said we should do this. We were wondering, “Where are these people going to come from? We haven’t seen any immigrants in the neighborhood.” Nevertheless, we put up a sign reading “English as a Second Language.” Within one day we filled the whole program.
  4. Provide hospitality to poor and needy members. People love it when they come to your table for a meal. And the Lord Jesus instructs His people to invite certain kinds of people for a meal: “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind” (Luke 14:13).
  5. Provide the poor with cars, furniture, and household goods. How often we’re getting rid of a car, selling a car. Don’t sell it - give it to someone!
  6. Raise awareness of poverty both local and global. Even if your assembly is middle class or upper middle class, there are bound to be people who are suffering financially. But you must have your eyes open to see it.
  7. Acknowledge the reality of the AIDS epidemic. One of the greatest tragedies in world history is right here before us…
  8. Leaders must set a vision before the congregation. We need to set a vision before our people that pulls us out of our self-centeredness. Our people need to be stirred to a compassionate care for our congregation, and a compassionate awareness of a world situation that is almost unspeakable.

Songs for the Inaugural Service

Imago Christi’s inaugural service is just over a week away - January 5, 2008. As I noted previously, it’s a bit of a challenge to pick the music - something appropriate for the first service of a new church, setting the tone for services to come, and having something accessible for those who are coming who may not be familiar with the songs.

I’ve settled on these four:

Blessed Be The Name of the Lord (Clinton Utterbach)
Praise to the Lord, The Almighty
My All In All (Dennis Jernigan)
Jesus, I Come (with new tune from RUF Hymnal)

I think this keeps things relatively simple, yet incorporates some new and old lyrics of praise of the Father, praise of the Son as the Lamb of God, and a beautiful expression of the Gospel in the final hymn. I pray it will be a blessing to those who attend.

Home after Christmas

What a great Christmas, and now how good to be home. We spent several days at my parents’ place in Wisconsin, though for the first day or so they weren’t there… they had to go to Chicago to pick up my sister, who flew in from Panama, and my brother, who flew in from DC. They made it within about 30 miles of home before the snow storm got so intense that they couldn’t manage to get any further. So they got a room, stayed the night, and waited for the snow plows. By noon the next day they made it home. It was sure good to see everyone.

Christmas was a marvelous time. It’s always such fun with small children, and Laura and Addie just loved opening their presents and playing with their new toys. The carnage comes when we bring them all home and add them to the existing pile of toys. I think it’s time for a garage sale or a large donation to Goodwill.

We did manage to get at least one decent family picture taken, so here we wish you a belated Merry Christmas! (For family and friends: I’ll get a bunch more uploaded to Flickr sometime this week.)

Details to remember for your first worship service

Yes, the title is overly-long Google linkbait. But one thing I have been astonished with is just how many details there are that need remembered to plan for the first (or for that matter, any) worship service at a church plant. So, without any further ado, here’s my running list. I’ll update it as I remember more things.

Music-related

  • Worship leader & musicians
  • Sound equipment
  • Sound technician
  • Recording gear to record sermon
  • CD for playing before/after service
  • Words for the songs (either song sheets, hymnals, or overhead projection)
  • Lapel/wireless microphone for pastor

Giving-related

  • Collection plates/buckets/box/whatever
  • Ushers
  • Counters
  • Treasurer
  • Budget
  • Receipts (donors will want receipts!)

Service-related

  • Bulletin
  • Communion service

Children’s ministries

  • Nursery workers
  • Children’s church workers (if you have it)
  • Sunday school teachers (ditto)

Etc

  • Security
  • Clean-up crew
  • Set-up crew (if you’re packing in/out)

What items do you have to add?

Selecting music for an inaugural service

We’re going to have our first worship team practice for Imago tonight, which means I need to have music selected for our first service. Selecting church music is normally a bit of a challenge, but selecting music to kick off a whole new church? Intimidating. I’ll need to pick a mix of old hymns and some more modern stuff; I’m thinking of some Chris Tomlin and maybe Praise to the Lord, the Almighty. Any ideas? Feel free to leave them in the comments. I’ll post the list when I get it finalized.

Wrapping things up

Today is my last work day for the year. Thanks to a day of vacation tomorrow and a generous holiday schedule from my employer, I will be able to enjoy the better part of two weeks away from the office. Not that it’ll be slow during that time… we leave Saturday to visit my family in Wisconsin. It will be so good to have everyone back together… Rebecca gets back from Panama on Saturday. Oh, and I’m also very ready to be allowed to dig into the massive pile of cookies that Becky has been making over the past couple of weeks. I think her goal this year was to make so many cookies that she could take them up to my family’s place and still have cookies left at the end of the visit. I’ll bet she achieved it.

Lots of other blogs do Top 10 lists at the end of the year, proclaiming their best new albums or movies or books or the like. I don’t think I’ll be doing that here. First of all, I doubt I’ve bought 10 CDs all year. And I haven’t watched too many movies, either. I may do a book roundup, though - I’m probably gonna be over 80 books for the year, maybe I can do a retrospective.

After reading the above two paragraphs, I’m amazed that content like this keeps anyone coming back to this blog. :-) Thanks for reading, and Merry Christmas.