The Week in Review

Finished up our message series, Deal or No Deal last weekend and we're gearing up for the start of another 3-part series this weekend called The Other Side.

If you attend The Orchard or are in the area, this will be a series you will want to check out and invite your friends to. If you just can't be here, I'm glad to tell you that we do have a weekly podcast you can check out.


What else happened this week...

• Started a new workout routine with my wife. I just plain need to get in better shape and I also have as a goal to lose 18 pounds.

• Our staff went to Chicago for our annual staff outing. We had brunch/lunch at Fogo De Chao, which is a really good Brazilian steak house (for those who aren't familiar, you are continually served various cuts of beef/chicken/pork/lamb until you tell them to stop brining it). I might have picked the wrong week to start working out (or the right one, depending on how you look at it). We also went to Wicked, the off-Broadway play. I won't say more about that yet :)
  

• Had our normal weekend rehearsals, lighting setup and pre-production review. We always prepare and make every weekend count, because every weekend is someone's first time at The Orchard. Every weekend has eternal significance, and we take time to make sure everything is lined up and ready to go for our services. Yes, we still mess up but we review after every service to see if there are things we can improve going into the next service. We value excellence and believe that everything we do at The Orchard should be done well.

All that and it's only Thursday :)

Tomorrow is my day to recharge before the weekend and my date night with my wife.

Peace.

Sunday Setlist

10.07.07 Setlist

Let the Praises Ring - Lincoln Brewster
Mighty To Save - Hillsong United
Talk - Coldplay
Lean On Me - Club Nouveau

Today went pretty well considering I think I'm getting sick. My throat is killing me and my sinuses are a mess.

Luckily I don't have a very busy week this week... that's a joke of course.

Screens go up this week, along with new projector and switcher. We also have a couple of other events to schedule around so it will be interesting. Saturday night services start the 20th, and my arts teams are ready! Should be great.

Hope your week goes great!
Peace.

The Latest and Greatest

Been trying to catch my breath a bit lately - so much going on seemingly at the same time.

I did want to share some of the great things that God has been doing lately in my life and in the Creative Arts at The Orchard:

1. Video Upgrades - Part of our Makin' Noise 2007 vision initiative this year was to do an overhaul on our video systems in our auditorium. We decided to change our two side screens to widescreen format to go along with our videos. We are also making them larger (they will be 12' wide by 7' high). That will be awesome, but on top of that we are adding something even bigger - a center screen that will also be in widescreen format. This screen will be almost 24' wide by nearly 14' tall! It will be spectacular!
   



2. Lighting Upgrades - Another part of our upgrades to the auditorium is our lighting. We are reconfiguring our house lighting to give us control of the environment through our lighting console. We also want to make sure that the house lights have better coverage than the setup we are currently using. We are also planning an upgrade to our stage lighting. Between the ability to put controllable lights nearly anywhere we want in the auditorium and some intelligent lights - the upgrade is going to be a huge improvement!


3. Saturday Nights - There are several studies out there that say that when a facility is 80% full, that growth starts to be hindered. Some studies are now saying that once you reach 70% capacity that people will no longer come because it feels too full. We have reached or gone beyond both of these percentages in several areas of our current facility at the Orchard. We also know that our 10:45am service on Sunday usually has the most first time guests - that when most people will check out a church. Evaluating all of these things along with the idea that we could reach a whole new crowd of people, we are launching a Saturday night service on October 20th! It exciting for all of us as a staff and a church. We will be beginning a new series that weekend and we have an awesome mailer designed to be going out the week before. Lots of volunteers involved in this and a great opportunity to get more people involved. Can't wait!

Lot's of things happening and this is just the tip of the iceberg! Thanks for your patience and sticking with me here at mikejonesblog.com - more posts on the way.

Peace.