a Powerful Night

Rock Harbor has a talent for putting together meaningful and thought-provoking worship services, but every once in a while we have a service that surpasses anything we could have planned for. For lack of better words, something extraordinary happens in the congregation and they are moved to worship in ways that may be different or more passionate than what usually occurs. Last night was one of those extraordinary services.

We've been going through a sermon series lately called "God Is..." in which every week a different attribute of God is discussed. Yesterday message was called "God is Trinity" and focused on the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is always a difficult subject to deal with since 1) this relationship is something we will never completely understand and 2) there are a lot of different theological views on it. Nonetheless, the idea of the "3-in-1" relationship ran throughout the entire service.

Before the message, an interpretive dance was given (which is not normal for Rock Harbor services) in which there were three dancers who each represented one entity of the Trinity. They began dancing to their own moves, but by the end of the song they imitated each others moves in unison. The entire performance was moving and gave a beautiful picture of the mystery and harmony of the Godhead.

Although the dance was powerful, I would argue that the response time after the message was the most powerful time of the night. For both services, the congregation seemed to engage with an attitude of worship that seemed more giving than usual. One of my critiques about Rock Harbor's approach to worship has always been that it encourages individualistic and introspective worship more than it does communal and "self-denying" worship. However, last night's response showed a much more communal and sacrificial attitude, and many people found it to be extremely powerful. We also sang older hymns that are not usually played such as "Holy, Holy, Holy." To end the night, the worship leader led the entire congregation into an ac cappella reciting of the Doxology.

Running sound from the back of the room, I got to see the entire service from a uniquely holistic perspective. I always appreciate being a part of nights like those not only because I get to be a part of the moment myself but also because I get to help facilitate those worship experiences in a very tangible way. I am continually thankful for being a part of this team, and I always hope that my experience here has ultimately served to bring further praise and honor to God.

Arts in the Church

One thing that I've always appreciated about Rock Harbor is their effort to achieve quality and excellence in what they do. In the production and music ministries especially, Rock Harbor doesn't cut corners. The main campus is equipped with a powerful sound system, an impressive lighting console, and often beautiful art displays. The same can even be said about both satellite campuses. And above the quality equipment, Rock Harbor also teaches people to run the equipment at a quality level.

Because Rock Harbor is such an artistic and quality-driven church, I know that concerns have been raised about how important these things really are to building up the Body of Christ. How can we make sure that other people (or we) don't get caught up in the glamor of the cool stuff? I am constantly asking myself that question every week and, honestly, I'm not sure what the answer to that is right now. One reason why I chose to intern at Rock Harbor is because I think they've done the best job I've seen of incorporating art and production into worship services without taking the focus away from ministry. I believe that the arts should be incorporated in the church and can be used as a very powerful expression of worship.

I believe the same can be said about striving for quality and excellence as well. Some may say that the investments Rock Harbor has made in its sound and production equipment is materialistic; however, I believe that more emphasis should be placed on how this equipment is used. For one, Rock Harbor doesn't put enormous stipulations on who can use the equipment. Often times in larger churches with expensive equipment, the average congregant would never be allowed to touch the sound board or lighting console. At Rock Harbor, however, anyone is encouraged to join the ministries. Although some positions may require extensive training (such as mixing), a person is never discouraged from receiving the skills to work any of the equipment Rock Harbor has provided.

The music ministry functions in a similar way. Although there are more specific stipulations than there are for the production ministry (i.e. must be a member for 6 months, must go through an application process, etc.), the worship ministry at Rock Harbor still tries encourage and equip people to do the best they can in that ministry. I am always impressed by how much Rock Harbor tries to plug people into any kind of ministry.

In this aspect, I find Rock Harbor's form of worship through the arts to be extremely valid. They do no simply invest in high-quality equipment and create colorful and vibrant productions simply because they want to be the next "big" church. These are simply outlets for building up people within the church and in return helping them express their worship in different ways, both personally and as a whole church. I admire this philosophy and hope to one day incorporate it into the ministries I'm a part of.

Closer to the End

I am about four weeks away now from finishing my internship. The funny thing is that I've already been slowly transitioning from intern to volunteer leader for a while already. In many ways, I feel like my internship has already ended. The only change would be that I wouldn't have to keep journal entries anymore.

I really don't have much to say about this week. I stage managed...everything went well. We set up and tore down the sound equipment in record time, which shows that we're really getting this whole "portable church" thing down! Other than that, I've just been learning how to be a better production leader and just a better leader in general. Interacting with different personalities, making "executive" decisions, or troubleshooting problems is a never-ending learning experience that just requires a lot of patience and practice. I know I sound like a broken record saying this, but I feel like I'm in a season at Rock Harbor where I'm just continually sharpening my skills by these week-to-week experiences. So for now, all is steady and all is well.

Worship Central

This weekend, I had another opportunity to serve for an event that Rock Harbor helped to facilitate. The event was called Worship Central. It was founded by Tim Hughes to help equip worship leaders in local churches in their ministry. The conference covered everything from musicianship to theology as well as offered a number of mini-workshops participants could go to. Rock Harbor provided the building space and volunteers for the conference, which I got to serve on the production end of things. Basically, I was in charge of the lighting cues during the main sessions and helped run sound during the mini-workshops. I also ended up being roped in as somewhat of a stage hand - carrying microphones from one place to another, plugging and unplugging stage monitors, and miscellaneous other things.

The conference lasted from Friday to Saturday evening. At certain times during the conference, people would break off into a number of preassigned small groups. We decided to record all of these meetings as well as the mini-workshops. This meant that there were at least 5 rooms with recording decks that needed to be turned on simultaneously. So, part of my job was to make sure that all of them were taken care of in one way or another.

Similar to how I felt at the Sleeping at Last concert, I enjoyed being a part of an event that included other people from outside Rock Harbor. I think it's important for churches to hold events that reach out to their communities, and I think Rock Harbor does an excellent job at that. Only a few weeks ago I was helping provide a wonderful night of music in the heart of Fullerton; now, I'm helping in building up worship leaders in surrounding churches (some even out of state). If I ultimately pursue a career in worship leading, I hope to incorporate this "kingdom-building" mentality into what I do as well.

A Day of Rest

My internship has been amazing. I've learned so much and have been given so many opportunities to put what I've learned into practice. Especially with Fullerton, I've been serving in some kind of capacity since the first service back in February. While all this is great, I still need to be able to step back and take a break every once in while. I have yet to sit in the midst of my own congregation because I'm either in the very back working production or in the very front playing on stage. Luckily, Rock Harbor is not the type of church that tries to run its volunteers into the ground, so they were happy to let me have a day off.

It was refreshing and rejuvenating to say the least, and I'm excited to continue to serve in the weeks to come.