Worship Pilot week 1 went well. The theme was "Think God! Worshiping God with your Mind." We had a few technical difficulties at the beginning, but they were soon resolved.
From my perspective, it seemed that the kids were very engaged, particularly because we kept them moving with sign language and movements for many of the creeds and songs. Plus, the more emergent part of the service was very well received. The message for the day was in the form of a drama, and Exalt (the kids' worship team) presented it beautifully.
One of the adult helpers shared her thoughts:
"I was in the break out prayer room with the children. I told the children to write a letter to Jesus either thanking him for everything or telling him a problem or concern they have or anything they want to tell Jesus.
I wasn't trying to read theirs but a couple of the children shared with me. They were so touching I almost cried. One little first grader was writing her letter and wrote to Jesus that she wanted him to take care of her cousin in heaven that had died. Then below that she drew a picture of a tomb with a little boy inside with Jesus holding the little boy and above it was the cross and below the tomb was grass and flowers. But the cross was very large and prominent over the little boy's grave.
Another little girl wrote a long note to Jesus very detailed but I did not read it but below it she drew a large cross and in it she drew Jesus with his hands and feet nailed to the cross and above it she wrote. He died for Me! Then around the cross was a couple of angels. Anyways she spent a long time with lots of detail and I thought it was such a great picture and depicted what Christ did for her and us."
I wasn't trying to read theirs but a couple of the children shared with me. They were so touching I almost cried. One little first grader was writing her letter and wrote to Jesus that she wanted him to take care of her cousin in heaven that had died. Then below that she drew a picture of a tomb with a little boy inside with Jesus holding the little boy and above it was the cross and below the tomb was grass and flowers. But the cross was very large and prominent over the little boy's grave.
Another little girl wrote a long note to Jesus very detailed but I did not read it but below it she drew a large cross and in it she drew Jesus with his hands and feet nailed to the cross and above it she wrote. He died for Me! Then around the cross was a couple of angels. Anyways she spent a long time with lots of detail and I thought it was such a great picture and depicted what Christ did for her and us."
We also had a station with heaps of different types of Bibles from comic book style to a standard NIV. Here's what a volunteer had to say:
"What I liked about Sunday was the reading room. I went in there to see how the kids were doing, and several of them asked me to read a story out of the Bible. They would be looking at all the different versions and pick a story and then I would read it. They would all sit around me (almost cuddle up to me) while I read. It was really nice. And, it was several of them, not just a few and not just my son (I don't even think he asked me to)."
All in all, it didn't go exactly as I had in my head-- a seamless, polished service. I had different plans for music (songs with visual images of nature and unbelievable crosses that the executive assistant put together), but the music department had plans for a large chunk of kids being gone to sing in the main service so to compromise, we had the kids come worship and then sing in our service. The music was very choral/ecclesiastical, but it worked, and it showed another form of leadership through singing in a choir. And that's when I was reminded: this was His service--let go. And I did, and it was amazing.
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