Cirque Du Soleil, Traveling Troubadours, Ministry Tour, and “other ideas” were the Visionfest options listed when our team gathered to plan for Sunday, November 11. Our assignment was to help our congregation envision the likely impact of our ministry expansion plan.
We had trouble with the Cirque Du Soleil idea as we tried to imagine our pastor on crazy high stilts or being lowered from the ceiling on a ribbon. What church goes with that option? We were still wrestling with how to make worship and a big reception work with a stripped-down Fellowship Hall and no sanctuary. Our luncheon organizers graciously agreed to let us have Fellowship Hall and they would make the downstairs space work—which they did, well!
We opted for “other ideas” and wondered what we had gotten ourselves into!
Following input from church committees about how their area of ministry could be impacted by the new and renovated building and what excited them about that impact, our planning team crafted three ideas to present our church’s vision.
We opened with a clever skit of a group arriving for Sunday worship and not having enough space for the two teen girls to sit. We saw their text messages appear on the big screen as they chatted back and forth (with sound effects!) while standing on either side of the room. They commented on the new bathrooms, a beautiful nursery, their awesome youth space, and more children coming to Sunday Experience and enjoying the refreshed rooms. Much thanks to Jen and Don Neely, Haley Barham, and Fiona Neely for bringing this vision to life.
Jennifer Seinfeld took the suggestion to “come up with new lyrics to a familiar song” to the extreme! Using “More than Bricks” as a theme for our day, she wrote an original song with that title. Allen Exner and Scott Hoffman, accompanied by Jennifer on piano and the LOGOS FROG Choir singing the refrain, brought down the house with,
She’s more than bricks, more than stone.
More than a building that we’ve outgrown
More than walls and paint, and chairs and rooms…
She’s more than a kitchen, more than a hall
She’s DOORS WIDE OPEN, WELCOMING ALL!
A special place where God’s kingdom blooms.
The song personifies our building and tells “her” story of what it’s been like for the last fifty years (“heard lots of laughter and tears”) but as those years pass, time takes its toll and the needs expand. The complete lyrics are at the end of this article but it’s worth noting the last verse here.
While pretty is nice, and updates are good, that’s not the total objective.
Not what we deserve, but how we can serve should really be our directive.
So pack some more meals, and make some new friends, and help our neighbors in need
Let’s build some unity within our community, and follow our dear Savior’s lead.
We’ll certainly need to frame the lyrics and post them on our new walls, autographed by the songwriter!
Our final piece was “A Busy Place,” a series of creative vignettes that imagined what we might experience when the building is done and the need is cranked up. Riley Jackson and Natalee Hoffman walked big signs (“PLACE: CMPC” and “YEAR: 2023”) down the center aisle and up and over the stage to silent movie music. Liz Perraud then played “the scheduler” helping out the church office as requests came in to use the building.
Don Kyle portrayed Chef Ober Done (get it?) who was looking for a kitchen to teach cooking to disabled adults through ARC of Howard County. Sue Ashman was excited to need plenty of space to train lots of new volunteers for Bridge of Hope. Hyiwot Teshome represented the CMPC Care and Wellness Committee and was interested in finding rooms for yoga classes, a blood drive, and health screening for our people and the wider community. Chris Rose needed the larger Fellowship Hall for the Christian Education and Mission Committees to organize the packing of 40,000 meals with Rise Against Hunger. Lindsey, Evan, and Zoe Kim were hoping to reserve the entire building for LOGOS on Wednesday nights and for Vacation Bible School in the summer.
The scheduler realizes that we can handle all of these requests because it’s not about square footage but instead means more ministry and more outreach and that we’ve always known it’s about “more than bricks.”
The very full worship service also included a children’s message announcing the seed bag donations from the children of the church, a pledge by the youth describing how they will raise their contributions, our inspiring Realizing the Vision video (produced by Neil Danzig and Brad Bruce), and a litany and prayer as a responsive reading for us all. It was exciting to catch a glimpse of what is to come!
By Jennifer Seinfeld
Chorus:
She’s more than bricks, more than stone.
More than a building that we’ve outgrown
More than walls and paint, and chairs and rooms…
She’s more than a kitchen, more than a hall
She’s DOORS WIDE OPEN, WELCOMING ALL!
A special place where God’s kingdom blooms.
Verse 1:
She sits up on Amherst Avenue, been there for fifty years
Held many events, for ladies and gents, heard lots of laughter and tears.
But time rolled on and took its toll, her needs began to expand
Fellowship Hall is packed wall to wall, so her members came up with a plan.
Verse 2:
Her classrooms are grungy, her bathrooms are small, her kitchen is so out of date
The meetings began, and they worked on the plan, ‘cause her members did not want to wait!
The concepts were easy, the ideas were flowing, make her pretty and new and bright
Move the old walls, and build some new stalls, put in sprinklers and add some new lights.
Verse 3:
New office and nursery and classrooms and tile, an entrance that makes a big splash
To teach the theology, we’d need new technology, an internet that’s lightning fast!
The youth need new couches, babies new beds, and the preschool needs a new look.
We’d roll up our sleeves, and always believe, and do whatever it took.
Verse 4:
But prices went up, and problems arose, and members had worries and doubt
There were many delays, it was a difficult phase, could the plan still be carried out?
We worried and wondered, and fretted and pondered, and turned to God in despair
He said, “Remember your Vision and make your decision, I’ll always be here through prayer.”
Verse 5:
While pretty is nice, and updates are good, that’s not the total objective.
Not what we deserve, but how we can serve should really be our directive.
So pack some more meals, and make some new friends, and help our neighbors in need
Let’s build some unity within our community, and follow our dear Savior’s lead.
