Two Services - When?

When do we start two services?

We will be going to two services on Nov 30th.  That’s not this Sunday, but it is the next.  A new service just in time for the Christmas season.  Think of it as a gift to the community for Christmas.

When will the services be?

9:00am - Our first service will be at nine.  We want you to think of this service as yours.  In fact we would like to see many of our people move to this service on a regular basis.  Our guess is that most of our visitors will come at the later service.  So we want to make room for them, thus if many of you can come earlier the more room we can make.   This service will be mostly the same as the later service, but may begin without the full band.  Which I think is cool, because I really enjoy Sunday’s where Donny leads with just his guitar.  The sermon will be the same as at the later service and we may include some special things just for the early service every now and then.  This service will only have childcare up to 4 years old for now as we make the transition.

Our hope is that many of you will see this early service as an opportunity to worship every week together and then as an opportunity to serve every week in one of our support ministries for the later service.  This would be a huge way to serve others.  It would allow newcomers at our late service to be served well as the come and experience God through our service.  What an awesome thing it would be if you would give of yourself in this way.

10:30 - We will continue to have our service at 10:30.  This later or second service will continue to be exactly what it is now.  We hope to continue to be creative and change things up from time to time.  We will offer the same ministry to kids as we do now.  We are beginning to pray about continuing that ministry up through 5th grade.  Of course that will depend on how many people choose to attend the early service then serve in the late service.  Our hope is that we will continue to make room for visitors during this service and we are excited about God continuing to use us to reach people with the love of Jesus.

At this point some of you with kids are thinking, “How will this work with my family?”  We’ve got some ideas for you.  That’s up next.

Be The River!

Why Two Services - part 1

This week we are talking about our switch to two services at The River.

So why are we going to two services now.  Well first and foremost, we believe God is leading us in this direction.  We have been discussing and praying about this since September.  God continues to bring more people and we feel that He wants us to continue to make room for new people.

It’s important to bring to the front a underlying assumption we have at The River.  That God wants the gospel to be spread to everyone in our area and to the entire world.  We exist to make disciples that will make His name famous.   In other words, we are to grow numerically while continuing to grow deeper in our own faith.  We believe that’s what church planting is all about.  WE WANT TO SEE PEOPLE COME TO FAITH IN CHRIST!

A second service allows for this to continue to happen.  Can that happen in just one service? Yes, but room is running out in one service.  Our community of faith is growing.  But, I still see empty seats on Sundays, why now?  Well, we believe we are functionally full at this point.  Studies show that when a room, parking lot, or nursery is 70% full people begin to feel as though there is no room for them.  So they choose not to get involved relationally and check out.  Some will say their are a lot of people here I don’t know if there is room for me to fit in with the group.  Therefore at 70% full you are really full.  We have been running at 70% full since mid-September.  I have been on staff in several churches and this rule has always worked.  We would get to 70% and and for a period you can run above that, but it would always go back down to 70%ish.  Does this mean it has to happen that way to us? No.  But we want to be proactive and make sure we are doing everything in our power to make sure we can continue to reach out with the love of Jesus to this community and our service is a part of that outreach.  But not the only part.

As we continue to live out our faith in this community, as we continue to show the love of Christ, we will continue to grow and people will continue to come to Christ.  So we make room, and welcome them with open arms!

Be The River!

Two Services!

Wow!  We are going to two services in two weeks.  That’s right we will be going to two services on Nov 30th.  Our current plan is to offer a service at 9am and continue to offer our 10:30 service.  I am very excited about this opportunity to reach more people with the love of Christ with our Sunday service.  I am also a little nervous about the whole thing.

Yeah you read that right too, I am a little nervous.  Don’t get me wrong, I fully believe this is where God is leading us.  So, we are going to boldly go where we feel Him calling.  It’s still going to be a change for us.  I think it’s very possible to know God is calling you to something but still have some nervousness and hesitation, but the real question is, do we trust God to go where He calls us?

My hope is that our answer will always be YES!

I realize that we all have different emotions when change happens, especially when change happens in something we love.  I know some of you are pumped about two services and want to know how you can help.  I know some of you are thinking I really like things the way they are.  I can also imagine that many of you are thinking how in the world is this going to work?

Those are all real emotions and all good questions.  I think I have been in all three places and a lot more in the last two months we have been discussing this as elders.  I am sure many of you have questions and I even still have questions.  I am sure Abram had questions when God called him to pick up and move to a place He would reveal to him later.  I guess the important thing is he went.  It is time for us to as well.  We must follow God’s call.

I am going to take some time this week and blog about the two service change.  Maybe I can answer some of your questions and give you a little bit of the who, what, when, where, why, and how of it all.  If you’ve got some questions, email me.  We are all in this together and I am excited to be on this journey with you.

I am truly excited about what God is doing among us.  I am pumped to go to two services.  I can’t wait to see what God is going to do.

Be The River!

Sunday Night Download.

Great Day at The River.

God was there.  It was a cool service.  The music, the people, communion, everything. It was great!

It is such a blessing to be a pastor at such an amazing church.  I really believe God is up to some huge stuff at The River.  I cannot wait to see what is going to happen.  I believe He is positioning us for some really great stuff.

It is time to prayer hard, have faith, look for God.  He is moving.  It is time to join Him.
Be The River!