Second Preview

This last Sunday was the second preview service for Story Church. Here are my thoughts about what went well and what we learned:

1. Setup went much smoother - everyone was assigned a job, and there was a clear priority list in terms of what needed to get done first.
2. Our new screen is approximately 1,000 times better than the original. It is no longer a jumbotron and we were able to project straight ahead to the stage.
3. Tablecloths made a huge difference! Made our hospitality and check-in areas look sharp.
4. The first preview was too bright on stage, so this time we turned out the lights. It was too dark. We need to invest in some lighting.
5. We are still borrowing from a couple of different sound systems. This makes setup a bit confusing and cumbersome. We need to get our own stuff soon.
6. The flow of the service worked out much better this time.
7. We intentionally had a woman on the stage! We are no longer chauvinists.
8. Our media looked good, we just need to work on the timing of changing slides.
9. We need more signage - outside, inside, hallways, registration areas, everywhere.
10. We did a better job with the offering this time - we didn't belabor it, and we had a cool new box for the offering specifically. It is no longer on the food table :).
11. Our team needs to model worship a little bit more. At times there was some awkwardness because it seemed like people didn't know when to stand or sing or whatever.
12. Alastair still has an accent. Haha. We're thinking about using subtitles.
13. The teardown went fast. We were out by 8pm (service ended at 7:15 - right on time!).
14. We forgot to bring our connection cards and kids registration cards. That made for a panicked 15 minutes until my wife drove home and found them. That's probably one of the most important elements to what we're doing - so slight oversight there!
15. My sermon felt rushed and crammed. I'm out of practice with this preaching stuff and I need to relearn how to simplify.
16. We need a second parking lot person.
17. We need a countdown clock or something like it - it didn't seem like people really believed we were starting when we did.
18. We should probably mention the connection cards more than once.
19. Facebook ads really work! I think we need to do them more.
20. I can't wait for November 15. This is too much fun.

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Thoughts on U2

I was mowing my lawn on Saturday when my wife came outside with the phone. While I hated to stop my masterful yard manicuring, she seemed persistent. What I soon found out was that a friend was calling with news of a lifetime. He had an extra ticket to that night's U2 concert in Raleigh and wanted to know if I would please take it. Hmmm.... Let me think. Heck yes!! Oh yeah, and the seats were amazing. $250 worth of amazing. For free. A couple of years ago I got to see Coldplay in CA on the X and Y tour. It was the most amazing show I'd ever seen. For me there was only one other band that I wanted to see in my lifetime - U2.

So Saturday is our normal Launch Team meetings for Story Church. My plan was to go ahead and have our meeting, cut it short, and bail out in time for U2 (though I was bummed that I would be missing Muse). The show started at 7, and my thought was that U2 would probably go on about 9pm. So we finished up with our Launch Team around 7pm, and I left the house around 7:15. The stadium is only about 20 minutes from my house so I figured I had plenty of time. Around 9pm I was still in my car, still trying to get to the stadium and find a parking spot! After a couple hours of frustration I began hearing from police officers and walkers that there was no more parking - period. WHAT??? How can there not be any more parking?? So I found a side street, and took off looking for a place to park and run back. Eventually I found a neighborhood, paid a guy $10 to park in his yard, and ran about a mile back to the stadium. By the time I got to my seats and found my friend U2 was on their 7th song - Elevation. My favorite moment of the night (and there were many) had to be the honest, simple singing of Amazing Grace by Bono, with several thousand people singing along. The pastor in me is amazed at the power of a rock star to get people singing of God's grace. It was a profound moment I felt.

The stage design was incredible, the video screens and lights and everything else made the show an unbelievable experience. This wasn't just a rock concert though. These guys are passionate about justice and have learned that their influence can really change the world. They highlighted the One campaign (join now if you haven't already), the political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma, the religious fighting of Protestants and Catholics in Ireland, and there was even a word from Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

This was truly an experience of a lifetime. Don't you just love those moments where God surprises you for no reason at all - where you just get blessed with something amazing that you don't deserve?

Amazing Grace indeed.

Here is the setlist of the show:

Breathe
Get On Your Boots
Mysterious Ways
Beautiful Day / C Moon (snippet)
No Line On The Horizon
Magnificent
Elevation
In A Little While
New Year's Day
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / Stand By Me (snippet)
Stuck In A Moment
The Unforgettable Fire
Mofo (snippet) / City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
Crazy Tonight / Thank You (Falettin Me Be Mice Elf Again) (snippet)
Sunday Bloody Sunday / Rock The Casbah (snippet) / People Get Ready (snippet)
MLK
Walk On / You'll Never Walk Alone (snippet)

Encore(s):
One / Amazing Grace (snippet)
Where The Streets Have No Name
Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
With Or Without You
Moment of Surrender

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100 Days

Today marks the 100 day countdown to the launch of Story Church. Depending on your perspective, that can either seem like a long time, or not much time at all. For me, it's more of the latter. A couple of months ago the plan was to launch on September 13. I had a hard time giving up that date and pushing things back, but I am so glad that we did. I can't even imagine what things would have been like if we had tried to push it. We simply wouldn't have made it.

So what is there to do in the next 100 days? Here are some of the things we are trying to accomplish in no specific order:

1) 3 preview services - Oct. 11, Nov. 15, and Dec. 20. The previews serve two purposes - to allow people to see who we are and maybe get excited enough about our vision to join our team. And secondly, to let us practice and try and figure this thing out.

2) To grow our team to about 35 adults. It just takes a certain amount of people to be able to hold babies, serve people, etc.

3) To raise money. We are trying to be good steward of what we have, but it simply costs money to start a church that meets in a rented facility. There is sound equipment, kids ministry stuff, food, advertising, rent, insurance, graphic design and more to pay for.

4) Serve our community. We are trying to build into the DNA of Story Church that we are going to be a church that not only exists within our community but that we play a vital role in it. Our desire is to be a generous, life-giving church. That doesn't happen on Sunday mornings alone. So we are beginning to find our place in Durham and the ways that we can live out the gospel to all people.

I'm so excited for these next 100 days. They are vitally important days. They are days of faith, of great dependence upon God. Pray for us and for Story Church. And if you are in the Triangle area, let us share our heart and vision with you. Come out and visit us on October 11 for our next preview. All of the details are on our website here.

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