What a day!

Sunday was an incredible day! A really unique day in the history of our church. First of all, I tag-team preached with David Brush. Even more so that last week, when I preached with Mike Palmer, David and I literally tag-teamed the sermon, complete with slapping hands as we switched.

Since we preached on Matthew 19:13-15, we had the kids in worship with us. Borrowing an idea from Mars Hill Bible Church, we had the kids down front working on drawings during the message. I would periodically stop and check out the drawing, paper-airplanes, paper mache during the message, which was both fun and engaged the congregation. I must say, it was a challenge preaching over the constant dull roar of the kids. It was also quite humorous when a Kelvington twin (I still can't tell them apart on the spot, which is pathetic on my part) started talking with me right while I was preaching. My little niece, Tricia was also pretty intrigued when I was telling a story about her. But I believe the entire service, while a bit wild and chaotic, was very powerful. In fact, I received an email from a new family telling me how much they appreciated it. Another first-time guest told me we should do that every week; I think I just laughed.

One thing I think I did wrong however, was having too many ways to respond. Just as I was explaining communion, our prayer teams and the reflection questions, the nursery kids were being brought in so we could pray together as families. I don't think anyone heard my explanations of the various ways to respond. But the Holy Spirit was still working, which is the way it always goes!

During our last performance of The Music Man last Sunday, a lot of people were expressing sadness over not seeing fellow cast-members much anymore. Well, I think we seem to have found a partial solution to that concern; we can all just be in the same church! We had five families from The Music Man at worship on Sunday. That's really awesome! At "Trinity Family East" (Gambino's Pizza) after worship, we were discussing our next program, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Erin and I went to the Starlight Theatre performance of the Music Man last night. While I do think I did a few little things with the character better than the guy playing Harold Hill, it was amazing to watch the Broadway actors put on the show. Doing the show myself gives me a deeper appreciation for their incredible talent.

I didn't personally invite any of the families who came on Sunday, they all asked me about church first (or just showed up). I think it's pretty amazing that as Erin and I build relationships, other people trust us enough to think our church must be a good place, too (which it obviously is). I consider that one of the highest compliments we could ever receive! Our good friend and the GCT director, Franci, was telling us how her sister wants to come, too. Man, that pumps me up more than I can explain!

We also had another very special guest on Sunday; Charlotte Rebbecca Vance (Josh and Ashley's newborn little girl). When I introduced them, Josh held her up in "Lion King" fashion, it was pretty funny. I think that introducing new babies is one of the things I enjoy most about leading a congregation.