When you take your kids to a place like Chuck E Cheese, you hope they'll have a fun experience. But my kid's experience was anything but fun when the man sized mouse came out, and acted like he just didn't want to be there.
1. Simplicity Reigns. Your church family just doesn’t have the capacity to pay attention to everything that goes on during your services. And the more that you do, the less they’ll catch. So let simplicity lead your planning. If you’re planning a big holiday service, try just doing one special thing, but do it really well. That will help make it something they won’t forget.
At my church we’ve recently began to pursue simplicity by just announcing one thing each week during our services. It means many of our church’s ministries have to find other ways to promote their events. But it helps us put a spotlight on our biggest events.
2. Powerful personalities over plastic props. When I took my family to Chuck E Cheese, if a guy had come out with whiskers painted on his face who was excited to be there, it would have been more captivating than the guy in the full get up but who didn’t care. It’s certainly worth your time to make your church’s stage look good. But if the people preaching, greeting and leading worship don’t look like they care, then your church won’t either.
3. Keep it moving. Have you ever watched aTV show where they begin playing the next episode while the credits from the previous episode are still playing? They do that because they understand that people disengage when there’s dead space.
As you prepare for your church services, it’s worth everyone's time to ensure that the transitions between your music, videos and preaching are seamless. The more connected your elements are, the more of your church's attention you’ll keep.
Question: Based on what you saw in the Chuck E Cheese video, do you think I should call the manager and tell him about the poor performance?
Please leave your response in the comment section below.
It would be one thing if you had noticed but your kids did not, but your daughter obviously noticed and was a little let down. I'd call but be clear you are not upset but disappointed (that totally sounds like a Dad thing to say) and that you want to improve the experience for all.
ReplyDeleteI have also notice your second point, personalities over props, is true but not just in a physical sense. I have notice the feel of worship is different between someone who is more technically skilled and gives a better performance compared to someone who is more authentic in their emotion during worship. In the months leading up to the change of our worship leader, who performed amazingly but it felt lacking in something spiritually. After the change there was a more noticeable sense of worship happening, especially when I heard the slight trembling in his voice as he sings “oh how he loves you and me”. The only change in the worship band was the lead vocal and piano, aside from that everything else was essentially the same. It was the authentic emotion coming from the worship leader that really made the difference.
Also, in a way, keeping it simple can help keeping it going. I've done sound and media support in Churches for many years and the place that I have noticed a the worst breaks in the flow happen when things become complicated. For example, we used to do a special family service with videos, sound effects, sketches, musical cues, various people going on and off stage through out the service, and several other “moving parts” which had to line up. It was also one of the things that took a lot of effort to keep the flow going and the small glitches could break that flow.
Carl, you nailed it. In the same way the the kid in the mouse outfit killed it for Scarlett, there are a lot of worship leaders with little or no 'heart' who kill it for their churches. Great input man.
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