Today I was surfing the net for some music videos to use in our pre-service countdown. The theatre we are meeting in has some of those televisions in the lobby to show movie previews on, and we thought: “Why not put those to use?” Basically the way we envision it working is that 30 minutes before our service a series of music videos will begin playing in the lobby, and simultaneously in the auditorium. The “shocking” part is that these videos aren’t all “Christian”. Now, that isn’t to say that we don’t apply any standards to these videos, but we don’t feel it necessary to make sure all these videos are Christian. Before we get any flak for deciding to play “secular” music before our service starts, please consider that our goal is to see people walk through our doors who don’t have a relationship with Christ. Heck, our goal is to get people who hate church. Any semblance of normalcy we can give them will help cement the idea in their minds that we are normal. And, let’s face it, we all enjoy the “secular” music we are going to be playing before and after service. Why should we pretend that on Sunday morning all we like is what’s hot on the CCM chart.

Oh, I almost forgot. At the end of the videos, say about 5 minutes before service, an actual “countdown” will begin that will signify the experience is about to begin. Our hope is obviously that this will help move people from the lobby to the theatre on time. Our people have a tendency to get into the auditorium crazy late.

So, that’s our plan. How do you get people into the auditorium? How do you let people know that you are getting started? How do you entertain people while they wait for service to start? What’s the square root of pi? So many questions. Leave some comments, let’s share what we know about the pre-service experience.