First BALLOONS - Then an ARK - Next a TRAIN

I am so blessed to pastor the church here in Gaylord, MI that I get to pastor. I love so many aspects but one aspect I especially love is working with our Creative Ideas Team in using creative elements to help people connect with our focus. As I think back over the last several months worth of message series, I love what this team has accomplished:

Back this fall we did a series called "The Mansion of Prayer" in which we saw a stage design consisting of 5 doors, one for each aspect of prayer that we were studying. Each door also had a giant key that helped to identify the key we saw from Scripture to open up that area of prayer in our lives.

December's Avoiding the Christmas Crash series saw an elegant holiday stage design that helped people connect visually with the concept of a "peaceful Christmas."

Christmas Day saw a worship service that people are still talking about with helium filled star-shaped balloons that represented the joy in our hearts because Christ was born. It was very much an emotional time to watch people release these balloons in the auditorium throughout the morning as a picture of the joy overflowing in their heart because Jesus was born.

January has brought our "Noah Project" series which brought about an ARK being built on our stage and which this Sunday will even see animals from all over the world coming to our ARK (Don't miss this Sunday but do watch where you step!).

And now the Creative Ideas Team is working on our next series that we are are calling "Meeting & Moving: A Purpose that Melts in Your Mouth!" For this series be looking for a train on our stage that will visit 6 specific stations to show our strategy to meet people right where they are at and help move them to where God wants them to be. Even the serial number on the engine will have a special meaning.

In my next posting I will share why we put so much effort into making our services creative!