Build a Sanctuary or Auditorium?

In this Letter from Pastor Jeff…
- Great Prayer Meeting Last Night!
- Big REVEAL Lunch RSVP – April 11
- Egg Hunt Invite Praise!
- Easter Lunch Plans?
- The New Building: Why an Auditorium?

PRAYER MEETING LAST NIGHT
We had a wonderful time of praise and prayer last night (Wednesday, March 31, 2010). Those present, including families, elders, and teens, spent time in song as Pastor Don led us in worship. We broke into small groups to pray for those who need Christ, our future building project, finances, Easter outreach & worship, and various personal needs. The power of a church is the power of God. The power of God is accessed in prayer.
Here’s a link to a clip of our singing last night during the prayer meeting at the 507 building –> CLICK HERE
Mighty to Save from WBF Prayer Mtg

BIG REVEAL LUNCH RSVP
Just last night the Building Team met with our architect and reviewed preliminary plans. It’s exciting to see these plans and dream of what we could be doing in that building in less than a year from now! I can’t wait to show you these new plans on Sunday, April 11th during our Big REVEAL Meeting. We’ll be providing lunch (sandwiches, chips, cookies & drink) followed by a first look at the exterior design of the new building, placement on the property, and the preliminary interior layout. We’ll also be sharing the financial needs and our Capital Campaign ReLaunch. This is a major step in the life of Waterbrook and I hope you’ll join us. The planning team does need a headcount for lunch. If you haven’t already replied, would you click on the link below and RSVP using the simple, online form? Thanks!
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dDlzNnhqR3VLQnYzZEJxSmdKM0tEWFE6MA

EGG HUNT INVITE PRAISE
Did you hear the good news this week? We received permission to distribute a flyer to 600+ students in Wylie inviting them to our Easter Egg Hunt this Sunday morning! It could mean we’ll need more filled plastic eggs. If you haven’t provided any, you may want to bring some Sunday morning in case we end up short.

EASTER LUNCH PLANS?
Don’t eat Easter lunch alone. Please let us know if you don’t have plans this Sunday after church. If you don’t have anyone to share an Easter meal with, we’d love to have you join us or one of the other interested families who have some empty chairs at their table this holiday weekend. Contact the church office, or me personally, and we’ll be sure to connect you to a family who’s love to share your company this Sunday.

THE NEW BUILDING: Why An Auditorium?
In the next few weeks I’ll be sharing some insight into the new building plans. Specifically, I’ll let you know the key areas our church leadership decided must be in our first building. I’ll try and explain why we believe these specific areas are important and how we hope to use each area for ministry. Our first conclusion was the new building had to have a worship space. We could call it the sanctuary, but the use of this area expands far beyond the traditional concept of a sanctuary.

Our community worship is one of the most important elements of the relationship we share as a church family. Therefore, it’s important we provide space for our weekly worship gathering. Our worship services in the new building will be very similar to what we do now at Dodd Elementary. Music and teaching styles will stay the same. We’ll continue our commitment to use multimedia in an effort to stay relevant to our culture. Though we hope to be able to create a better environment for worship with more control over lighting and sound, these things are never the primary focus of our worship; they are supplemental aids to help draw attention or illustrate the God (Father, Son & Spirit) who sit at the center of our worship focus. Culture, past experiences and personality all combine together to give each of us a sense of how we best approach God and sense His presence with us. Some people feel most worshipful in an outdoor setting, others in a late night rocking chair while holding a sleeping baby, some experience worship best in an ornate setting with stained glass and soft music, while someone else feels closest to God while engaging in enthusiastic praise. What all this says to me is the environment isn’t nearly as important as the heart of the worshiper. We don’t yet know exactly how this worship space will be set up and decorated, but I do know we’re building a large space where around 200 people can gather for worship on a Sunday morning (or any other time).

Since finances limit us from building a huge worship space that fits our current need and allows for lots of new growth, we already know (and hope) we’ll have to go to multiple services on Sunday morning soon after moving into our new building. We are designing the space to have an intimate feel. We’re trying to get the seating gathered as close to the stage as possible to help generate the feeling that we’re all worshiping together. This auditorium will not be a performance hall, but a living lab or worshiping people who experience God together. And as God grows Waterbrook, we’re designing the first building with some fluidity, or the ability to change and adapt. As we grow, we’ll be able to build a new, larger auditorium in a future phase and this space will be able to adapt to new use.

There are other practical considerations. We’ll be pursing the best multimedia (AV) setup we can afford. We can worship without the latest and greatest technological equipment and advances, but we’re well aware most of our current membership and potential audience arrive from homes with large flatscreen TVs and multi-speaker sound systems. This auditorium space will be multi-use and feature moveable chairs. We anticipate the chairs will be much more comfortable than the hard plastic chairs we use at Dodd, but they’ll still be free standing chairs that can be removed or rearranged for a prayer meeting or have tables added and turn the room into a fellowship hall to host a dinner.

A multi-use auditorium space that will serve as the primary location for our church family to gather and worship our Creator, Savior and Sustainer – this is a primary component of our new building. And, the best part of all…? No weekly set up and tear down. Hallelujah!

Next week: What will we do with children?

Jeff