Check this out, it is Rob's account of the Village Community Church launch. For pictures paste this link in your browser. http://web.mac.com/sirchad/iWeb/Village%20Launch/Last%20Roll.html
Hey Everyone, Well, the 17th has come and went...and it was definitely cool.
We launched the inaugural service here in Milton, and here’s a blow-by-blow
account of what happened:
Saturday evening
-our media program disagrees
with us severely and we have to go plan B – manual switching between laptop and
2 DVD players...not fun, but doable -while leaving our Media Pastor’s house, my
new van refuses to start...doesn’t bode well for a stress-free Sunday
morning
Sunday morning
8:00 – we arrive at the theatre for set-up (van
works!)
8:30 – set-up isn’t progressing very well, as our stage components
and A/V unit is still in disarray
8:45 – it is discovered that our projector
and both DVD players are AWOL, so we need to track them down
9:00 – the lobby
is set-up, and we are starting to brace for people
9:15 – the stage is set-up
and the first sound checks are beginning
9:25 – the A/V components
arrive...with no S-Video cables...the set-up we wanted relied solely on S-
Video, so some thinking is in order
9:35 – a mad scramble around the theatre
yields 3 S- Video cables...enough to power 2 of our media elements
9:45 –
final sound check begins...with one lone woman sitting in the darkened theatre
watching...yikes
9:55 – a decision is made to can one media element, and the
intro DVD begins counting down to the service beginning
10:05 – 5 minutes
after our proposed start time, about 45 adults are in the theatre (which holds
305)
10:06 – I leave the theatre to grab the house band to start the service
and I am greeted with the sight of about 250 people milling about, registering
their children and grabbing a coffee
10:07 – we decide to delay the start of
the service to let people get in
10:15 – the service begins
10:18 –
following our first set of songs, Mat has to pause to allow people to filter in
(there’s a back-up in the aisle)
10:25 – Mat pauses again to allow people to
be seated....needs to ask people to squeeze together to find room
10:45 – our
key media element works, and I begin speaking
11:30’ish – the service ends
and people begin filing out 11:35-12:00 – I meet ‘n’ greet over 50 people in the
lobby, and we all walk around with a bit of a glazed look in our eyes
12:05 –
the final numbers come in...
-261 adults
-82 children
-343 total people
(not including our volunteer helpers)
12:15 – my van won’t start again
J
We are a little blown away right now with everything...but I must say it’s
pretty cool.
Overnight, we became the largest church in Milton, and it was
truly the result of a great amount of effort and faith on the part of people
like yourselves.
I’ve attached a link to some
pics...http://web.mac.com/sirchad/iWeb/Village%
20Launch/Last%20Roll.html
Sorry for the lighting...it is a theatre.
Love
you all.
Rob
