The Family Experience dancers

Hundreds of people gathered tight into the dark room, with only thunderous music with a driving beat between them and the lights about to turn on to begin the event.  An energy filled the room as I walked out on stage to introduce the focus of the coming event.  Lights, there was a camera, and plenty of action ensued as the Christmas Family Experience took its excellence to another level.

What’s better than children dancing up and down to a song about compassion, actors who made all the adults roar with laughter, and a spiritual energy bringing it all together?  Not too much apparently, I found out as many people came to me afterward, thanking our church for the amazing program they had just experienced.  In fact, that’s why we call it that, because we don’t want people to come to a program, so much as we want them to experience something with the kids, like they do when they go to the zoo or see a Disney movie.

So four times a year we put away the band and the preaching and the “adults only” environment, and we all worship together, but different.  And the lights, and the production teams, and the high energy music, and the outstanding acting all focuses us on building something more than Fellowship Church – the Kingdom of God.  Even before we gave away the Nintendo DSi, we were all getting slammed hard with the call to being more compassionate in our everyday lives, children AND adults.

One lady looked up to the ceiling while sharing with me what she thought about the message conveyed during the environment, and she said almost with a whisper, “I hope they get it.  The Kids.  I hope they get it, because our generation sure hasn’t.”  Her husband looked at us both and said with a smile coming from the corner of his mouth, “I hope we get it.”

No, I stopped believing the Family Experiences we do at Fellowship Church were for the kids a long time ago.  They are for you, and they are for me.

Next Family Experience:  March 7, 2010

Where can you meet in a church on a Sunday morning with children and adults alike and have the kids just as in much in tune and focused on the service as their parents?
Why, Fellowship Church of course.

Sunday morning @ Fellowship showcased our “Family Experience”, a shared worship experience for children and adults.  The Experience featured music, dancing, drama, humor, great lighting, and yours truly sharing the first message (10 minutes, amazing!) in a 5 part series called, “A Family Christmas”.

I was so proud of Steve and our family ministries team that came together and pulled off a huge win in teaching the important virtue of generosity to the wide variety of ages who were present.  It’s not easy capturing the attention of 3 year olds and 40 year olds, but I would say they did it, and I couldn’t be more proud of our church!  I think we’ll see more “Family Experiences” in the near future.

If you were able to be there, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

My wife Carie and my cousin Jake at Moe’s

Today I watched and participated as my cousin Jake, entertained and lead our church in worship.  It was amazing!  Jake is so talented and I have been enjoying having him around so far this weekend.  If you haven’t heard his music, I’d encourage you to check it out.

Today I was able to preach on Proverbs 9:10 – “The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Today I rapped (actually a lip sync) in front of a group of parents and their children as Fellowship Church presented their first shared worship experience called, “The Family Experience”.  This afternoon I received this email:

I just wanted to thank you all for the wonderful FAMILY EXPERIENCE today.  Thank you for loving our kids…for sharing God’s love with them….for doing it joyfully…I can’t say enough about what it meant to me today.  I also had the opportunity to use a lesson learned as we were leaving and ___________was telling me how a kid at school hit her with his backpack after she mistakenly dropped hers on his foot.  I didn’t go through with all Carie’s “motions” , but was able to talk to her, and apply what we’s just learned TOGETHER …as a family.  __________ was talking about how much she loves our church with some neighborhood kids whose family has stopped going to church because it’s too boring(they’re Catholic).  They said how our church sounded great, especially when we shared with them that our pastor came out as a rapper(__________ loved that part and the neighborhood boys really wanted to see that!)

Anyway I just wanted you to know how much we truly appreciate the time & care put into today’s event!  We look forward to more…

Today I received this text message:

Congrats.  Today was amazing.  I’m so proud of you and what you’ve done with our church.  Blessed be to God.Today was a good day!