Countdown to Advent

From Our New Illumination Worship Leader

Diverse Experiences in Worship

It was April of this year, and a group of some of my closest friends were on our way to Norman, Oklahoma to see Hillsong United. On the drive up, we all were pumped about what we thought we would experience that night. When we finally arrived we could barely contain ourselves. The vibe in the room was electric. Now, I had heard all of Hillsong United‟s songs, I have all their albums, I have watched videos of them leading worship, but nothing compares to being in the space with thousands of passionate worshipers singing with one voice to God.

About half way through the night they played a song entitled “With Everything,” which happens to be my favorite song. Ever. When the piano started, I looked at my buddy and said, “Here we go.” The last part of the song starts soft and then builds with layers upon layers of sound. At the pinnacle there is an abrupt stop, and then an explosion of sound bursts from the nothingness of silence. We stood with thousands screaming, “Woah!” until our lungs gave out, from being in awe of God.

Who would have thought that simple lyric could bring such a powerful presence of God?

                 -- Tyler Kemp

Wecome!!

      I am SO happy to update you on the plans for our new Welcome Center!  Although we are blessed with great facilities, there are many entrances to our building and it is extremely confusing and overwhelming for visitors to our campus on Sunday mornings.  For many years we’ve been talking about the idea of a Welcome Center…a central place for information and hospitality and it looks like our dream is going to become God’s reality! 

      The new Welcome Center will be located in the hallway that goes straight through from the Sanctuary entrance to Wesley Hall.  After the initial idea was developed, we starting praying for a designer and one of our members recommended Lisa Leggett of The Closet Factory.  She came up with a beautiful and modern design plan, Sandra Wood and I came up with a budget, and all we needed was some financing to make it happen!  Low and behold, God provided!  The United Methodist Women have graciously offered to underwrite the project and we have also received another anonymous donation.  How awesome is that? 

      It had been our hope that we would have the Welcome Center up and running on the first Sunday of our new schedule, November 28^th, and it looks like God is going to make that happen!  Workers are putting up sheetrock this week and The Friends in Faith Sunday School class is going to help paint the wall.  Then on November 10^th the cabinetry and display shelves will be installed.  It will also feature a large flat-screen TV to show videos and power-point displays to promote ministries in the church.  Joe Roitz, our Communication Director, and I have been working on logos and branding ideas for the brochures and we will be using the graphics:  Seeking…Serving…Sharing… from our Mission Statement on the wall and brochures. 

      All we need now is YOU!!!  We can’t have a Welcome Center without people to welcome!  The Evangelism Ministry Team will be in charge of volunteers for the Welcome Center on Sunday mornings who will work about once every 8 weeks for a one-hour shift.  I will be leading a training for all WC volunteers and greeters from every worship service on Sunday, November 14^th, at 10:45 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. in Gibson Hall.  If you are interested in being part of this welcoming ministry, contact me at crussell@lakewood-umc.org or call the church. 

               -- Rev. Cindy Henry Russell

The Welcome Center!

Thanks to the generosity of the UMW and of Kin and Jan Taylor, we are ordering the cabinets for the Welcome Center on Tuesday morning!  Hiring someone to do the sheetrock work is next on the agenda.  Friends in Faith have volunteered to paint.  We are well on our way to this new ministry area.  Cindy has been working with Joe on developing a cohesive presentation format for the information to be distributed from the Welcome Center.  This should help make the area attractive and easier to find information too.  More to come soon – I’m getting really excited about this!

           --- Sandra Wood