Worship & Production

Why celebrate?

by Kim Murray, Cedar Falls Volunteer

“Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.  One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts.” Psalm 145:3-4

When I look at scripture, I see a few different references regarding celebration.  It seems like most celebrations happened around specific feasts or included feasts in the celebration of the good things that God had done.  Some examples include: when Saul became king (1 Samuel 11:12-15), when King Josiah held an elaborate Passover celebration (2 Chronicles 35:1-19), and when the Jews celebrated their triumph over Haman (Esther 8:15-17).  God’s people openly celebrated the good things that were going on in their lives.  They really knew how to throw a party!

When God created us to celebrate Him, He didn’t leave the entire job up to humans alone.  Scripture also includes examples of worship by heavenly beings (Luke 2:13-14 and Revelation 4:6-11).

All of these are great examples of celebration, but what does that have to do with us?  God created us to worship Him with our lives on earth (check out my favorite paraphrase of Romans 12:1-2 MSG) and someday in heaven.  He created us to celebrate the good things that He has done (1 Chronicles 16:8).

God wants us to shout His goodness from the mountaintops!  He wants us to put Him on display.  As artists, we get the privilege of doing this every weekend.  We get the awesome job of leading others to the throne as we celebrate the redemptive work of Christ.

However, keeping all of this in mind, I have a few words of caution for you:

It is easy to get so wrapped up in preparation that we get tunnel vision… I am guilty as charged on this one.  I have spent a lot of time prepping for a service and been so deep in thought about it that I missed what was going on around me.  We have a big job and it is awesome that we get to lead others in celebration, but we need first be aware of the needs of those around us before we can lead them anywhere.  When you are going about your everyday life, interact with those around you, ask them how they are doing, take the time to listen to them, be invitational and most of all don’t be in a hurry!

God is worth celebrating all of the time… let me say that again: all of the time.  Even if you don’t feel like celebrating and you’ve had the worst day of your life, there is always a reason to celebrate (Psalm 42:5).  God is always doing something good in your life.  When you intentionally praise God for what He is doing in the tough times, you are an encouragement to others and unbelievers want to know why you have hope.  It is the best time to put the Gospel on display.

Get your butt to All Team Meetings… What does that have to do with anything?  We have the opportunity to come together once a month to celebrate what God is doing in our lives and the lives of others in W&P.  It’s a perfect time to share what God is doing in your life with others who have the same passion you do for leading people to the throne through the arts.  When you read the Bible, it is clear that God’s people gathered together to celebrate with food and conversation.  Let’s follow their example.

My challenge for you is to be more aware of how you are celebrating Christ’s work in your life.  Do your words and actions proclaim that He is worth celebrating?

Celebration

by Jon Lloyd, Cedar Falls Worship Director

Celebration is a part of life.  It might be more of a part of our lives than we think.  When our sports team wins a game, we celebrate.  When our child has a birthday, we celebrate.  When we accomplish a goal, we celebrate.  Celebration is a part of who we are as people. In the same vein, celebration should be a part of who we are as followers of Christ, and who we are in the church

There are many verses in the Bible that talk about this idea of celebrating.  Here are a few examples of this: 

Psalm 150:1-6

“Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!”

Matthew 22:1-4

“And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast!”

1 Corinthians 10:31

“So, Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

Every week when we gather together corporately to worship, we should always take time to celebrate.  Whether that is celebrating who God is, celebrating a life that God has changed, or celebrating what God has done, there are always reasons to celebrate together corporately. Let’s take a look at a few times during a service we might celebrate.

Worship.  I think for most people this would be the obvious time to spend celebrating.  Music can tend to unite people and energize people toward a common theme.  There are so many great worship songs out there that talk about who God is, His greatness and what He does for us, that we could spend an entire day singing and celebrating these truths.  For most churches, as well as for us at Prairie Lakes, using the worship set to celebrate truths about God is very common.

Campus Concerns (Announcements).  This might not necessarily be a place in the service most people would consider celebrating, but it can work as a great place to highlight what God is doing in certain ministries.  Many times we will use this time for baby dedications, or use this time to highlight a person’s story and what God’s doing in his or her life.  This is actually a great space to celebrate what God is doing.

Offering.  Many people may not view offering as a time to celebrate, but I think this is a great time to celebrate.  It gives us a chance to celebrate how gracious and generous God has been to us.  This is one area in which we are trying to be more intentional, no matter where in the service it is programmed.

These are just three examples of different parts of a service where we can incorporate celebration.  Just like in our lives, celebration is common it should also be common for us to do it in the church.  God has done so much for us that it should become second nature for us to celebrate who He is and what He’s done in our lives.

PLC and Celebration

by Bev Bauer, All Campus Volunteer

Our God deserves to be honored, worshiped and celebrated, and as believers, we need to celebrate!  I believe at Prairie Lakes Church that we celebrate God and our “lives with God’ quite well.  I also believe it is extremely vital these days that we provide places and specific times where we purposely celebrate God and His goodness, not only because God deserves it and we need it, but because of the difficulties in our world right now.  With disasters such as tornadoes and floods, economic hardships from unemployment, mortgage crises and rising prices of gas and food, with the U.S. $16 trillion debt and countries like Greece and Spain going “down the tubes” economically, etc., there seems to be little good news out “in the world” to celebrate. However, with an amazing God, by contrast, we can share with the world that we have SOMEONE to celebrate who gives hope and peace in times of trouble!

2 Chronicles 5 speaks of the ark being brought into the temple for the first time and the priests and Levites celebrating greatly with lots of music and instruments--let’s hear it for cymbals and trumpets! Also, talk about a “haze” machine--God didn’t need one. He provided His own “cloud” that filled the temple:  “the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.” I smile when I read Psalms 149 and 150, remembering that we are to sing His praise “in the assembly of the saints” and “praise his name with dancing.” We MUST celebrate God--as Luke 19:40 tells us:  Jesus told the Pharisees that if the disciples kept quiet from praising Him, “the stones will cry out.”  Surely we can do better than stones!

Using mechanics in W&P

by Jim Cross, Osage Campus Volunteer

The Collins English Dictionary defines mechanics as “the technical aspects of something.” Other terms used for mechanics include “carrying into action” and “performance – the act of performing; of doing something successfully.”

Even though I have been attending Prairie Lakes Church for a short period of time, I have witnessed firsthand the excellence in the mechanics of the Worship and Production Ministry while attending services, from the use of lights, and pre-service music to the music used during the actual services.

This has become even more evident now that my entire family serves in the Worship and Production Ministry.

My wife currently serves as a backup vocalist, my teenage daughter serves as service director and I serve on video. (It’s been interesting having my daughter be my “boss”)

Through each of the areas in which we serve, a high standard of excellence has been created.

This standard of excellence has been executed from the top down.

We first see this standard of excellence through Prairie Lake Church’s desire to possess the equipment needed to produce services that demonstrate our (meaning our church family) desire to do things successfully.

Secondly, at each of our campuses, it is apparent that our technical directors have the passion and desire to produce the best worship experience possible.

This passion is apparent through both observation and assistance.

With the wide range of experienced volunteers combined with the equipment, our technical directors balance patience and understanding while motivating volunteers to capture the true “mechanics” of worship and production and, in the end, produce or perform a successful worship experience.

A note from Abby

It was 11:00 at night during finals week, my junior year of college.  I was standing in the dark outside my house with the hood of my Jeep open, staring at the engine as if I could somehow absorb by osmosis the knowledge necessary to fix whatever was wrong with it.  I’d been headed out to a late night study group for an exam the next day, but when I arrived, my Jeep wouldn’t shut off.  At first, I thought maybe I was just so tired at the end of a long week of studying and testing that I’d forgotten to put it in park or something else simple and silly.  I sat there for a few minutes to clear the cobwebs from my brain and double and triple checked everything, but I still couldn’t turn the ignition switch to the off position.  The thing wouldn’t budge.

What?!  I’ve heard of cars that won’t start, but it was my first go-around with one that wouldn’t SHUT OFF!

I called some of my guy friends, but they were not mechanically minded, so I finally had to break down and call and wake up my dad at home, 6 hours away.  I stood in front of my Jeep’s engine and he tried to remember, after being awakened in the middle of the night, what the engine of my vehicle looked like (as opposed to my sister’s car, his truck, or the car my mom drove and which he also maintained) so he could help me figure out what was wrong and help me get it shut off. 

He finally determined that he had no idea what the problem was and talked me through the disconnection of both my battery and coil wires so I could go to bed without worrying about it being stolen in the middle of the night.

That night taught me something – something which came as no surprise – you really have to know your stuff when it comes to the mechanics of something. 

In our ministry, we also have a mechanical side to what we do.  There are all kinds of moving parts, things that need to be in working order (or fixed when they’re not) and things that need to be executed in a “just so” manner that requires a high level of working knowledge in order to accomplish their purpose.  To some of us, that side of things is tedious and exhausting.  But to others, especially to our technical artists, that side of things is invigorating and exciting.  (They’re the ones who take apart their new stuff and then put it back together before they ever attempt to use it.)

But the beauty can’t happen unless the mechanics are working, as well.

This month, let’s celebrate the mechanics of what we do.  The minute ins and outs of things that have to be in working order for us to accomplish what we need to accomplish.  And as much as I may not ever want to learn the inner workings of my car, I’m terribly grateful that there are people like my dad who have taken the time and can lend me their expertise!

So this month is to applaud all our technical artists, who work behind the scenes and who keep us functioning like a well-oiled machine!  We are so grateful to you!

Abby

Artistic Identity

by Blake Hollis, Waterloo Campus Volunteer

Any living being's identity is ultimately influenced by two forces: its genetic makeup [or DNA] and its environment.  PLC's artistic identity is no different.  We are one church on many corners, so our "genetic makeup" or DNA on all of those corners is the same.  Our artistic identity is therefore driven by the following forces:

• Biblical - Obviously, whatever our stylistic bent, the art we produce must be based on scripturally sound content and should be Christ-centered.
• Simple - To the extent possible, we can be more efficient by having uniformity across our one church on many corners.  However, this must be balanced with the need to be relevant in each instance... which brings me to the other two aspects of our DNA:
• Invitational - Whatever artistic direction we choose must be relevant and meaningful to the people we're trying to reach with our message.  Something in our worship should resonate with them in a way to which they can relate.
• Authentic - Finally, while we definitely should take artistic risks, we have to be cautious to preserve authenticity.  Our worship as a reflection of our true passion for God should never come off as contrived.

In addition to these DNA markers' influence on our identity, we cannot neglect those environmental factors that are unique to each campus.  Just as a genetically identical being would grow differently in each unique real-world setting, each campus must adapt within the context of PLC's overall DNA to its surroundings.  In other words, what is relevant in Osage might be different than what's relevant in Waterloo, which might be different than what's relevant in Cedar Falls.  We need to be flexible enough to allow some variety in artistic manifestations across our single common mission to love God, love people and influence the world.

Identity

by Tim Sherwood, Osage Technical Director/Cedar Falls Assistant Technical Director

Webster’s dictionary defines identity as, “the condition or character as to who a person or what a thing is.”

The identity of the W&P Ministry at Prairie Lakes Church is defined by our four core values: creativity, authenticity, relevance and excellence.

Creativity is expressed through the programming of our weekend services from the lighting and stage design to the music and the creative videos we create to support the teaching for the week. We try to create a fresh and engaging atmosphere each week.

We are authentic in that we are not afraid to admit our faults, by holding each other accountable and the way that we give all the glory to God through our services.

We not only try to stay relevant to the people who are within our congregations but also to the larger body outside of the church, so that we may be able to express the Gospel message to all types of people.

Finally, we are defined by excellence in the fact that we hold each other to a high standard in all areas of our production, from lighting to audio and video. 

The way the identity of the W&P Ministry is expressed across each of the three, soon-to-be four campuses, must be slightly different. Each campus must be approached uniquely based on simply the venue alone. The Cedar Falls campus is a permanent location where no set up or tear down issues can affect weekend programming. Osage and soon-to-be Grinnell campuses are multi-site campuses without a permanent location which requires a weekly set up and tear down. Waterloo’s campus is now at a permanent location, but is shared with another church, resulting in sort of a hybrid of the other campuses. It has unique challenges of its own, namely the approval by the church that owns the location for all aspects of production. That includes placement of lighting and equipment and a schedule of availability for building use to accommodate both groups. 

Each campus is different for other reasons than location. Although seeking to meet a shared goal of spreading the gospel, each serves a completely different community of people. We must strive to be relevant to each community in a way that expresses each one’s uniqueness. 

Prairie Lakes Church is achieving success with the multi-site model by realizing that a “cookie-cutter” approach will not work. The identity of each campus at its core is the same, but the flexibility to make the individual identity of each campus different due to the people it is trying to reach ensures that success. We are able to minister to a larger population of people in a way that speaks to each of the communities differently by being able to remain unique from each other. 

Not only do we have a responsibility to reach different groups of people within the four separate communities that Prairie Lakes Church ministers to each weekend, we also have to remain relevant to the different generations of people within those communities. I recently read a quote from Dr. Ed Young Senior that said, “The methodology of doing church changes with every generation but the Bible never does.” Popular culture gives an iconic example of that statement in Madonna. Her career has spanned four decades. In each of those she has had to recreate her self numerous times in order to remain relevant to the generation she is trying to reach, yet she has remained true to who she is as a pop music artist. 

Finally, because we have such a creative group of staff and volunteers coming together each week and are blessed to have the capabilities to create amazing services, we must also be careful not to fall into the trap of creating art just to create art. The Gospel message is always first and we have to work hard to create services that guide a person into the presence of God each week and not distract them from it. I think that is one of the most important parts of my job at Prairie Lakes Church. I feel that my core responsibility on the weekends is to provide a distraction-free environment for people to engage in and encounter God, sometimes even for the first time. I don’t hold that responsibility lightly. 

“Here’s what we know about each other. We know that we are not our art. We are not our church. We are not our tech. We are not our voice… We are not our impact. We are not our successes or failures…I also know this about you. I know that in Christ you are a child of God. I know that this is your core identity and I know that your core identity is something that can never be stripped away…There will come a day when you no longer create art (or) serve in a church in that ministry. There will come a day when your impact wanes but there will never ever come a day when you stop being a child of God, Ever.” -Gary Molander “Pursuing Christ, Creating Art”

How Do We Artistically Communicate Who We Are?

by Michelle Fails, Cedar Falls Campus Volunteer

First and foremost, to effectively communicate who we are artistically within the W & P ministry is to know the God that we worship. Having an authentic relationship with the Lord and pursuing a lifestyle of worship is a core value of our ministry.  It is vital that we are being filled and refilled with Living Water of Jesus Christ.  We can only give away that which we have received.  The goal is to give people a great picture of God. 

Artistically speaking, our varied gifts and skills should function like a frame around a masterpiece.  The right frame complements the picture in all the right ways.  In my spare time I like to paint.  Acrylic on canvas.  Initially, I’m inspired in some way.  A beautiful sunset, a photograph or other forms of art.  As I begin, I reach into my drawer filled with a rainbow of colors and brushes.  Each painting is unique and the process to completion is different.  Yet the purpose is the same: to create something magnificent. 

In a similar way, the goal of the W & P ministry is to artistically communicate the gospel message by creatively using the gifts and resources that we have.  Fresh approaches to worship lead to fresh experiences with God.  Each campus has a “drawer” of various tools to use.  It’s about doing the very best we can with what we have.  And, it is essential that everything in this process has a purpose to funnel hearts toward God.  Let’s give it all we have!  Passionately, fervently!  Proclaiming the gospel message and pointing people to God!

A note from Abby

Friends –

So there I was, sitting at the airport waiting in yet another standby queue.  I had already missed two flights, and two more would come and go before I was to finally get home.  It was August, I was sunburned, and I was tired.

I was also thoroughly enjoying myself.

People watching is among my favorite activities, and there’s no better place than an airport to get my fix.  What was amusing me that day was one airport employee in particular.  He was a beast of a human – at least 6’5” with a girth to match, no neck to speak of, and a fierce scowl.  He was driving one of those super-sized golf carts that is used to shuttle elderly or sick passengers between gates.  Typically these carts make some sort of beeping sound to alert people walking down the concourse to move out of the way,  but his machine’s beeper must have been broken, because he was emitting his own high-pitched beeping for it.

Down the concourse he’d go: “Beep!  Beep!  Beep!”

Back he’d come: “Beep!  Beep!  Beep!”

He never cracked a smile, he never looked away from his path, he never acknowledged – in 2 hours of watching him – that he was “beeping” the day away!  I laughed each time I saw him, knowing he was someone deeply secure with who he was . . . because he looked absolutely ridiculous!

Humanity is endlessly fascinating, and I love the diversity and uniqueness we exhibit and embody.  If we’re all created in the image of God then we all have unique ways in which we reflect him – and you reflect him differently than I do.  It humbles me that I have the opportunity to know Jesus differently because of who you are – and vice versa.

When it comes to our churches, we too, have identities and unique ways that we reflect Christ.  Look at PLC and our 3, soon to be 4, campuses.  Cedar Falls is rich in years and experience.  Waterloo is kinetic and lively.  Osage is hardy and a little more mellow.  Grinnell . . . well, we don’t know yet what Grinnell will be.  But the point is each campus has a unique identity that stems from, but is different than, PLC’s unique DNA, and each campus reflects and represents PLC’s DNA in unique and special ways.

When it comes to the role we in W&P play in that identity, we have a lot of responsibility!  One of the greatest opportunities we have each weekend is to access that identity as we present our congregations, our community, and our God with that one-of-a-kind reflection of who he is.

This month, take some time to consider how your campus is reflecting him, and the ways you’re invited to take part in that. 

Blessings!

Abby

It's about the journey... not the music

by Chris John, Cedar Falls Campus Volunteer

Ever watch a movie where the musical score intertwined with a great story and it gave you goosebumps or caused you to cry?  Think about the type of music that was being played - was it classical?  I would bet that the majority of us wouldn't listen to classical music just for fun - but that didn't stop it from impacting us - when it was accompanied with a great story.

Musical worship (as in the sermon) should always take a worshipper through a spiritual journey that can come through all types of music or songs.  Let's take my last time leading as an example. Here was the set list:

Cannons (You are holy, great and mighty...)

Beautiful Things (You make beautiful things out of us.  You make me new.)

Our God (And if our God is for us, than who can ever stop us?)

Note the journey from praising God for who He is to acknowledging who we are in Him and then finally, the truth that God is with us, for us, and we can live our lives for Him with confidence.  All three of those songs have pretty hard electric guitar solos and "Our God" may be one of our loudest worship songs in our catalog.  Yet, out in the crowd I saw people, young and old, raising their hands to worship God.  The spiritual journey trumped the musical one.

I'm not saying that the type of music never matters, and that we don't sometimes create spaces for a type of music (acoustic set for example - that is different from the norm).  When we let the type of music overshadow the journey we are leading people on, then we have lost our focus on the most important thing: the One we are lifting our praises to.

Let's lead them to Jesus.