Sunday Morning worship one service starting February 2012:
9:00 AM Worship Service; 10:30 AM Sunday School
I have labored in prayer concerning our Sunday morning worship situation the whole time I have been here. Several months ago, the Lord placed in my heart the thought of us having only one service on Sunday mornings. At that time, I saw this as an impossible task, but God is the God of the impossible.
Over the past six months, I have committed to seeking God in this and working with both services to see if it was even possible to find some “middle ground” to come together. The tension was still great, and I had little hope of coming together, except I still felt the nudge from the Lord to keep praying, seeking, and trying. He laid on my heart two words, “participatory” and “family”. I did not know what this meant or what it would look like.
When Tony left, some folks suggested that this would be a good time to go back to one service. Others resisted the idea of one service. “Good timing” does not always equate to “God timing”. I felt that we needed to continue the way we were until we got clear direction from the Lord.
With the continued 2 services on Sunday morning, with the advent of the holidays, with the coming of the Christmas musical, and with the in-and-out of many of the members during that time, my stress level increased considering “how” we could continue with 2 services and even escalated more with thoughts of how to do only one service. During this time, the Lord laid the month of February as the time to move to one service on Sunday mornings. That answered “when” and “what”, but the question of “how” remained.
What I saw and experienced on December 18th was a miracle and was the next steps for answering that question of “how”. God showed up in Spirit and Power during the First Baptist Family Christmas. I saw our church work together, I saw people cooperate with kindness, I saw people accept the worship of others and participate in it, and I saw people’s positive responses to that worship time. To sum it up, I saw God do and show us the vision of “family” and “participatory” worship. Why did I doubt?
I confidently move forward with the plan of one service on Sunday morning starting in February knowing that God is working this out among us. The praise team will lead and others will participate in special music, at first.
Why the time changes? As I considered this, I see that the majority of the people already come to the early worship time. The Worship time at 9:00 am and Sunday School to follow at 10:30 am allows for more time for worship and does not rush the Sunday School hour.
I covet your prayers as we make these changes without a music minister. I will be the “go to” person for now. My hope and prayer is that, just like on December 18th, the church will catch this vision and make it happen through God’s power. As I continued to pray about this, the Lord has shown me that we need to have the foundation for the vision and direction of our Sunday Morning worship in place before we call a music minister. This is the next steps. The test for the new music minister is whether or not he sees and shares this vision. May God Bless and Keep You, Brother Kenny
Sunday Morning worship one service starting in February:
9:00 AM Worship Service; 10:30 AM Sunday School
I have labored in prayer concerning our Sunday morning worship situation the whole time I have been here. Several months ago, the Lord placed in my heart the thought of us having only one service on Sunday mornings. At that time, I saw this as an impossible task, but God is the God of the impossible.
Over the past six months, I have committed to seeking God in this and working with both services to see if it was even possible to find some “middle ground” to come together. The tension was still great, and I had little hope of coming together, except I still felt the nudge from the Lord to keep praying, seeking, and trying. He laid on my heart two words, “participatory” and “family”. I did not know what this meant or what it would look like.
When Tony left, some folks suggested that this would be a good time to go back to one service. Others resisted the idea of one service. “Good timing” does not always equate to “God timing”. I felt that we needed to continue the way we were until we got clear direction from the Lord.
With the continued 2 services on Sunday morning, with the advent of the holidays, with the coming of the Christmas musical, and with the in-and-out of many of the members during that time, my stress level increased considering “how” we could continue with 2 services and even escalated more with thoughts of how to do only one service. During this time, the Lord laid the month of February as the time to move to one service on Sunday mornings. That answered “when” and “what”, but the question of “how” remained.
What I saw and experienced on December 18th was a miracle and was the next steps for answering that question of “how”. God showed up in Spirit and Power during the First Baptist Family Christmas. I saw our church work together, I saw people cooperate with kindness, I saw people accept the worship of others and participate in it, and I saw people’s positive responses to that worship time. To sum it up, I saw God do and show us the vision of “family” and “participatory” worship. Why did I doubt?
I confidently move forward with the plan of one service on Sunday morning starting in February knowing that God is working this out among us. The praise team will lead and others will participate in special music, at first.
Why the time changes? As I considered this, I see that the majority of the people already come to the early worship time. The Worship time at 9:00 am and Sunday School to follow at 10:30 am allows for more time for worship and does not rush the Sunday School hour.
I covet your prayers as we make these changes without a music minister. I will be the “go to” person for now. My hope and prayer is that, just like on December 18th, the church will catch this vision and make it happen through God’s power. As I continued to pray about this, the Lord has shown me that we need to have the foundation for the vision and direction of our Sunday Morning worship in place before we call a music minister. This is the next steps. The test for the new music minister is whether or not he sees and shares this vision. May God Bless and Keep You, Brother Kenny
