That's a big question for me these days. Especially on Sunday mornings.
What in the world is going to happen next?
On Covenant Life's website is a list of our defining values. One of those eight values is this:
"A pursuit of the active presence of God and the ministry of the Holy Spirit"What that means practically is that our services are not nailed shut before we start. Don't get me wrong. We plan. We have a list of songs, planned communication from pastors, outlined prayer times, and other scripted moments. However, we also want to make room for "the active presence of God and the ministry of the Holy Spirit."
What does that look like? It can be many things, but certain spontaneous elements are the typical additions:
- The worship leader speaks to the congregation
- A pastor comes up on stage to speak to the congregation
- A member shares something with the congregation
Our senior pastor is generally the one making the call as to what happens next. And he is frequently weighing several options at one time.
Right now, here's the line of communication...
- Our Senior Pastor decides to add a spontaneous element. (At this point, we've got 30 seconds to let everyone know - at the most)
- He mentions it to someone with a radio.
- That person radios me to let me know.
- I use the intercom to inform the lighting and video people.
- I get the attention of the mixer to inform him or her.
- If all goes well, lights are on, the mic is on, cameras are shaded, and a shot goes up on the screen before the first word is spoken.
That's better than MLB players, but not good enough for live production.
So, we've devised a scheme to attempt to raise that number.
But before I tell you about our plan, how would you raise that number closer to perfect?
Leave a comment and let me know what you would suggest.