It’s so easy on Sundays to think we are the cat’s pajamas.
It’s so easy on Sundays to think if we build it they will come.
It’s so easy on Sundays to think our band is the answer to the church’s problems.
It’s so easy on Sundays to think we should film this so the world can see our awesomeness.

and…

It’s so easy on Sundays to think no one is gonna show up.
It’s so easy on Sundays to think “If they would only let me pay musicians”
It’s so easy on Sundays to think if we only had chairs instead of pews.
It’s so easy on Sundays to wish you had a building instead of a cafeteria

You Are Not Doing This Thing Alone.

At 7:45am I tweeted this…
“Hey worship leaders. Let’s see your mic. #mymic”
And within a few hours I had 85 pictured of your “mic’s”
Big room mics, little room mics, cheap mics, expensive mics, baby mics, preacher mics, pew and mics, florescent lights and mics.
What started off as a cool viral social media experiment turned into something far greater for me.
It showed me, as the tweets started coming in…
That at the same moment I was sound checking, 85 other people around this country were doing the same thing.
And that was just you guys as addicted to social media as I am and were on your phones at that moment.

It’s so much bigger than you.
May the image up top be a reminder of that.
Those are your mics. From your church.
But not 85 different churches.

This Is One Church.
Los

At Sandals Church I was the Worship Pastor.
I oversaw everything in the Sunday morning service.
At Buckhead Church I was the Program Director.
I oversaw everything in the Sunday morning service.
From the service programming director position I was in more of a producer role.
The PRO was I saw everything from the view of the attender.
The CON was I only saw the backs of their heads and not their faces.
From the worship pastor position I was in a more of a leadership role.
The PRO was I saw everyone’s faces.
The CON was I did not see the room from the view of the attender.

These are two schools of thoughts.
One is that the person in charge should be able to produce the service from off stage.
The other is the person in charge should be able to feel the service from on stage.

How does your church handle this role and what do you think is the better way to run the Sunday Service?
Producer or Pastor?
Los

1. Louie Giglio said…”I heard you killed it this morning”, to which I responded…”Why yes I did.”
2. Mark Driscoll is a bit smaller than the last time I saw him.
3. People were actually buying my CD.
4. My mom drove all the way to Orange County just to see me for 10 minutes. Wow.
5. I’m so not a shmoozer. It makes me a bit nauseous when I see it done in poor taste.
6. Andy Stanley brought some west siiiiiide gangstaness to the pulpit this morning. He was preaching.
7. Trip and Tyler hijacked Catalyst Backstage and then Trip farted on my leg.
8. When I hosted the Unusual talent show at dinner a girl from Zimbabwe stuck her entire fist in her mouth.
9. Candi Pearson Shelton sang next to me on stage. It was an honor.

10. Just like what happened to John Mark last week, a kid walked up to me and asked me where her could buy my CD, I told him, he came back 5 minutes later to tell me thanks but he didn’t need to buy it because his buddy already bought it and he was just going to rip it.
REALLY?!!!

Los

You can join the Dirty Flower and I online at Catalyst Backstage for all sorts of fun.
The Catalyst team have put in LOTS of work into this badboy and it’s going to be killer.
So…
Thursday Morning.
8 AM Eastern.
Set your alarm.
Turn off Regis and Kelly.
And watch Carlos and Anne take over the world of daytime television hosting.
Los

My buddy Trevor caught a few clips of me speaking at my breakout during Echo ’09.
Sunday’s Coming. What Are We Going To Do?
I feel like my session was full of information. And I couldn’t quite get everything in I wanted to during my 50 minutes. A very practical how to of programming a service.
If you were there and want the Keynote presentation email me and I’ll send it out.
loswhit@gmail.com

Los.

Let me first start off by saying that I work with the most creative team on the planet.
Their imagination is inspiring and uplifting.
This year it was our goal to have our attendees feel the weight of the cross. I think we accomplished our goal.
As people walked in the lobby the team were taking close up Polaroids of people and having them sign the bottom with a sharpie. The team explained to them that we were going to use these photos in the service at some point. Little did we realize how close to peoples mugs we would have to get the camera in order for it to fill the frame.
They then rushed the photos back stage to begin their work.
In the middle of the stage we had a 15 foot high canvas made of 3 sheets of drywall.
Emily Matthews preceded to draw the face of Jesus on a 12 foot ladder for 40 minutes of the service.
She used charcoal on the entire piece and began with Christ’s eyes.
Once the eyes were complete the room was captivated.
Emily Matthews is probably not an inch taller than 5’5″ so the drawing dwarfed her.
Definitely added to the grandness of the face of Christ.
So we continued the entire service to tell the story of Good Friday by starting at creation and taking a journey all the way to Calvary.
We did so using live scripture readings, sermonettes, spoken word and music.
That night we concluded the service with the song “True Love” by Phil Wickham, along with 5 drummers on stage.
However, do to copyright restrictions you will just have to use your imagination.
Here is the Good Friday closer.
Needless to say, it was unexpected.

Keep creating…
Los

Recovering Relevant Ragamuffin,
Carlos

It’s early.

Last week I led worship.
Today I’m producing.
Next week I lead worship.
Just call me Kordell.
I love my Sunday mornings.

What are your Sunday morning responsibilities?
Preaching? Singing? Getting Kids Ready? Running Cameras? Changing Diapers?
Los

In the round.
One week only.
This week a generic set.
The next week…
BLAM!!!
Los