THE GOD TRAP

After both worship services this morning, Laura and I had a "meet & greet" to be able to make a connection with many of our new folks who are now attending our church.  This produced the best story from this morning here at Gaylord E-Free.

We met a mother and her 3 kids.  The boy looked to be about 10 years old.  The mom shared with me that this was their third Sunday at E-Free and she went on yo tell me how much they have enjoyed the services since they started attending.  One of the things that her 10-year old son noticed and pointed out to her about our church was that each Sunday was different.  In other words, the services were not the same thing each week.  She told the son that this was probably our way of making sure that people kept coming back because you just don't know what you might miss if you didn't come.  Her son replied, "That sounds like some kind of a trap to me!"  Their family now refers to our services here at E-Free as "The God Trap!"

I couldn't help but laugh!  "The God Trap!"  I like that!  I'm glad that even a 10-year old can notice the creativity that we use Sunday to Sunday here at E-Free.  Creativity has become an important part of the DNA of our church services, and well it should be.  One of the first things we learn about our God in the Bible is that He is a creative God.  Genesis 1:1 opens with the words, "In the beginning God CREATED..."  God is a creative God and He has made us to be creative beings.  As a result, we prayerfully and strategically make creativity a part of our worship planning.  I am so thankful for the many, many people who are involved in putting our services together:

I am thankful for our Worship Arts Leadership Team who help to oversee all the areas of our Worship Arts Ministry.

I am thankful for our Creative Ideas Group who meet one Saturday morning a month to brainstorm the creative elements we might use.

I am thankful for our Worship Design Group who meets weekly on Tuesday mornings to evaluate past services and finalize the logistics for our upcoming services.

I am thankful for our stage teams who design our sets (speaking of that - I can't wait to see the Egypt set that will be in place for our new message series on the life of Joseph beginning in January).

I am thankful for our Media and Marketing Team that meets weekly on Tuesdays over the lunch hour to plan and design the promotion for our services (speaking of that - wait until you see the promotional trailer for our new Joseph series.  We will be showing it on Christmas Eve).

I am thankful for our performing arts ministry who uses drama and art to help us creatively communicate our messages.

I am thankful for all of our technicians - audio, lights and video, who help to make our services pleasing to the ears and eyes,.

I am thankful for all of our musicians - vocal and instrumental - for the way they use their talents to help us focus on the Lord.

And I am thankful for our Director of Worship Arts, Joshua Rupp, who oversees all of the ministries that I have listed above (and some I probably forgot to mention).  

All of these people are involved in helping us "Set the Trap" each and every Sunday here at Gaylord E-Free. And they do it so effectively that even a 10-year old can notice!