An invitation to worship...
We're all doing it all for the Lord.
I arrive at the church on Sunday mornings around 6:45. I do this so that I can review the message one more time before I preach it a little after 11:00.
I'm not in the building very long before Zach Hall arrives, around 7:00. He comes early to unlock doors, turn on lights, put in place the offering boxes, and to clean everything that might have been overlooked the day before, to make sure the facility is ready for the worship of our Lord.
Zach and I are not in the building by ourselves very long before Brad Stonebraker comes in next, having walked over a mile from home, to read his Bible in the cafe, and then straighten out the hymnals and Bibles in the pews, and collect any trash that anyone has left in the sanctuary.
Many others start to arrive around 8:00. Pastor Jen arrives to make sure everything is in good order. Jeff & Carol Bell arrive so that Jeff can turn on the organ and go over the songs for the morning. Debi Quanstrom and the coffee hosts arrive, make the coffee, and put out the donuts. Tyler Williams comes early to fire up the sound system and turn on the projectors. Pastors Joel, Sherry, and Jennie head to their respective areas to make sure the rooms are ready for children, preteens, and teens. Pastor Jesse and Christine come early to greet all those who are arriving before Sunday school. Worship leaders, musicians, ushers and greeters arrive.
And at 8:30, all activity stops...and every staff member, college interns, and several others gather in the sanctuary to pray for the day. From 8:30 to 8:45, the sanctuary is quiet, with between twenty and thirty people praying that the day will bring honor to the Lord.
Most Sunday school teachers arrive before 9:00, so that they are ready for their SS students and the worship team begins preparing for the worship service. And so the day begins!
The reason for all this preparation is so that the day will be meaningful for everyone who attends or visits College Church, and this kind of preparation is necessary for that to be accomplished.
But frankly (and you won't be surprised by this), that's not the primary reason we do all that we do. All of this preparation is first of all, for the Lord. As much as we want the people of College Church to be pleased with the morning, we want our Lord to be pleased more. We're doing it for the Lord. The person we want pleased with our worship is Jesus. He's worthy of it all, so we're doing it all for Him.
And we believe you are motivated the same. You prepare for worship and come to worship for His sake! We're all doing it all for the Lord.
And we'll do it again this Sunday, all for His sake. For that reason, I believe it will be a very good day.
Pastor Mark
I'm not in the building very long before Zach Hall arrives, around 7:00. He comes early to unlock doors, turn on lights, put in place the offering boxes, and to clean everything that might have been overlooked the day before, to make sure the facility is ready for the worship of our Lord.
Zach and I are not in the building by ourselves very long before Brad Stonebraker comes in next, having walked over a mile from home, to read his Bible in the cafe, and then straighten out the hymnals and Bibles in the pews, and collect any trash that anyone has left in the sanctuary.
Many others start to arrive around 8:00. Pastor Jen arrives to make sure everything is in good order. Jeff & Carol Bell arrive so that Jeff can turn on the organ and go over the songs for the morning. Debi Quanstrom and the coffee hosts arrive, make the coffee, and put out the donuts. Tyler Williams comes early to fire up the sound system and turn on the projectors. Pastors Joel, Sherry, and Jennie head to their respective areas to make sure the rooms are ready for children, preteens, and teens. Pastor Jesse and Christine come early to greet all those who are arriving before Sunday school. Worship leaders, musicians, ushers and greeters arrive.
And at 8:30, all activity stops...and every staff member, college interns, and several others gather in the sanctuary to pray for the day. From 8:30 to 8:45, the sanctuary is quiet, with between twenty and thirty people praying that the day will bring honor to the Lord.
Most Sunday school teachers arrive before 9:00, so that they are ready for their SS students and the worship team begins preparing for the worship service. And so the day begins!
The reason for all this preparation is so that the day will be meaningful for everyone who attends or visits College Church, and this kind of preparation is necessary for that to be accomplished.
But frankly (and you won't be surprised by this), that's not the primary reason we do all that we do. All of this preparation is first of all, for the Lord. As much as we want the people of College Church to be pleased with the morning, we want our Lord to be pleased more. We're doing it for the Lord. The person we want pleased with our worship is Jesus. He's worthy of it all, so we're doing it all for Him.
And we believe you are motivated the same. You prepare for worship and come to worship for His sake! We're all doing it all for the Lord.
And we'll do it again this Sunday, all for His sake. For that reason, I believe it will be a very good day.
Pastor Mark