The Monday Morning Debrief: Going the Extra Mile

Two weeks ago, in our effort to teach about Jesus and how he values fun (i.e. Genesis 1, Luke 15), New Life did something really different and special at our Sunday Morning service.  Right before our speaker came on, the worship team did a medly of “Girls just want to have fun” and “Everybody have fun”.  Our Worship Director, Brennan, did a great job getting the audience pumped up for this “fun” time.  As they were singing and getting people clapping, people in the back started throwing out beach balls for people to throw around.  It was really cool.  After that, as the song was winding down, we had 2 people in the back of the stage launch confetti cans over the worship team so confetti came down on them.  Finally, to top it all off, we played 1 game of Minute to Win it involving 2 different contestants.

Over all, it was a really cool and the people in the audience had a blast.  What a great way to communicate “fun” to people in Church than to do some things like that.  If new comers came (which there were some) they were probably in awe thinking, “this is church” in a welcoming, fresh way.  Judging by the laughing and the excitement amongst all the people I saw, this was a real win for the day.

What I was most excited about what that New Life went the extra mile in breaking down barriers so that people could discover who God is.  They didn’t just sing a song and then have the speaker share.  The creative and worship team went the extra mile and made this unique and special.  Now I know that there were probably new comers who came (or even current regulars at New Life) that probably thought “this is church?” and were dismayed because of a lack of perceived “reverence” to church.  But overall that did not seem to be the case.

So what about you?  What are you doing or have you done in the past that have gone the extra mile so that people could discover God?  Whether you have done something or not, TAKE A MINUTE right now and jot down some of the topics you are currently presenting at your service (whether it is youth, children or adults).   Then, write down what you could do during that time that would be an extra step to help break down barriers so that others may be more open to hearing about and discovering God on their own.