Easter Lessons

We had our first Easter service today and it went great! I'm amazed by how many people get blown away by what we are doing here. We didn't blow up big like some churches but every Sunday the people who check us out tell me how impressed they are with us. People that I would've never guessed would want to be a part of this church keep coming back every week. At the rate we've been retaining, we are well on our way to making an impact in our area.

We had a couple bumps this morning, nothing major that we couldn't handle, but it's made for a few good Easter lessons.

Lesson #1 - When moving equipment in a truck tie down everything - Jason usually oversees the loading of the truck, but he was with his in-laws last night, so Mike, Tyson, (not Mike Tyson) and myself were on our own. When we got to the school this morning we discovered that one of our five foot tall powered speakers had fell over on top one of the candelabras. Our concern was for the speaker and not the candelabra, drop them too much and the amps inside powered speakers will disconnect causing you to have to send it back to the manufacturer for repair. You have to pay for the shipping by the pound and those things weigh more than a compact car. Thankfully the speaker was fine, I can't say the same for the candelabra though.

Lesson #2 - Don't settle for cheap chairs - We bought cheap folding chairs because we were just about out of money and needed something other than the benches the school provides for seating. This morning during the last song before we dismissed one of our chairs collapsed out from under someone. The dude wasn't even that big of a guy, I just think the chair wasn't meant for the stress of a mobile church. Anyway It happen to a guy that is really cool, it wasn't a large problem, but there are and will be people at our church that need a sturdier chair if you know what I mean. We will be ordering stackable chairs sometime this week.

Lesson #3 - People want something real - This wasn't inspired by a problem we had this morning, but its something that God reinforced in us today. The number of people that told one of us that we are not what they expected from a church is amazing. They told us when we started that we were going to be a nice church for young people, but what we are seeing is that we are attracting all ages and backgrounds. It turns out we're a nice church for anyone that needs something different in their lives.

So that was Easter. It will be incredible to see what the next one looks like. Now I'm going to get some rest I'm tired and my wife is being induced at 4am tomorrow, looks like next week there will be at least one more new face at The Venue.