Shawn Says......

Here is a great link for people involved in Church Ministry. Check out the 10 Commandments of a weekend experience on this blog by Shawn Wood. Shawn Wood (from his site) is the experiences Pastor at Seacoast Church and the Author of 200 Pomegranates and an Audience of One and Wasabi Gospel (Abingdon Fall 2009). As experience pastor he helps create spirit-filled, yet not creepy but kind of mystical connections with God on 13 campuses and the web.

A word of warning. If you are not involved in the operation of Church services, try not to judge the services you attend by these commandments. It can ruin the experience you have where you are. They are just here to help if you are involved in putting together the service.

Here are 8 of the commandments, in case you don't want to go all the way to his blog:

Commandment #8 - Thou Shalt communicate with all your team before, during and after each service.

Commandment #7 - Thou shalt pray for the best, plan for the probable and prepare for the worst.

Commandment #6 - Thou shalt be keep the welcome and announcements to 240 seconds or less.

Commandment #5 - Thou Shalt start on time and end on time.


Commandment #4 - Thou shalt introduce yourself and assume no one knows who you are.

Commandment #3 - Thou shalt be in the light as he is in the light.
Two parts to this commandment.
First, If you are on stage, make sure you are in the light.

Second, make sure that your auditorium has enough light in it that a 50 year old can read the note sheet. During worship light sets a mood and dark can be effective. When you are on stage speaking it helps people see you and take you seriously - when you are out of the light it is a major distraction. When our auditoriums are too dark during speaking they feel like a movie theater. When people feel like they are in a movie theater they become spectators and not participators.

Commandment #2 - Thou Shalt practice all transitions.

Commandment #1 - Thou Shalt have no blank screen behind you.