Every year, JourneyChurch.tv puts together a Christmas show to reach out to their community. They call it the Christmas Spectacular.
Before attendees entered the building, they were greeted with Christmas lights, a bonfire, and Christmas music. They had a horse-drawn carriage ride around the building, S?more roasting, and outdoor games before people even entered the service.
Then inside the lobby they carried the Christmas spirit even further.? They flew a giant circular truss in the lobby?converted to a giant wreath with black fabric, garland, and Christmas lights. They surrounded the wreath with giant ornaments to hover over the Christmas fun they had for children. They had a log cabin play land, a train set, racing monster trucks, cookie decorating, and Lincoln log cabin crafts.
The services filled up around ten minutes before the services began. So they carried some of the fun into the auditorium with funny quotes on the screens and a parody of the Saturday Night Live ?Christmas Sweater Band?.
Then the service began.
The experience opened with a video of children telling the Advent story. Then the service progressed as a sort of variety show (though they wouldn?t really call it that). The first set of music?before the message?was meant to entertain and inspire attendees. They chose a very broad set of music on the front end of the service with a mixture of rockabilly, percussion, Dubstep, and even a traditional Celtic carol. They left a lot of room for creativity on the front end of the service because their main goal was fun.
After the variety show opening, their senior pastor, Clark Mitchell, delivered a Christmas message and a salvation invitation. It was a salvation-geared message about the power of moments when our lives come in contact with Christ and His ability to change our lives.
They closed the service with a time of worship and Christmas carols. This back end of the service was meant to engage their congregation in worship and close out the service in a positive light.
Finally, they closed the service with some more silliness. They had an *NSYNC wanna-be band lip-sync ?Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays?.
Watch the whole service below. Then continue reading about the creative process in the next few pages.
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