Sometimes I can't believe how quickly time passes by! Our first preview service at Epic Church has come and gone and it was a GREAT day! Here is what it was like from my perspective...
*Disclaimer - the best way for me to reflect on things at the moment is chronologically - stories and follow-up to come later :)
Well, let's start the night before...
9:00pm - I met some of our team at the Pilgreen's to load a few last minute things into the trailer and the van. When we opened the trailer, we noticed that one of our signs had a hole ripped right through the middle...NOT good! But that's not big deal when Kinko's is open 24/7. Tim Milner, our Executive Pastor, and I left to go and find a Kinko's. We were called back to the Pilgreen's because the van wouldn't start. *I thought to myself..."What the heck is going on?" Got the van running and found Kinko's and placed our order....time to get some rest!
12:00am - Kinko's called to tell me their printer wasn't working but they would do the best they could to have our sign ready for the morning! *I thought to myself..."These little things will not distract me or hinder what God has planned for tomorrow." Back to sleep!
4:30am - Ben and I woke up and got ready to head to The W Hotel for our first preview service. We kept going over everything we needed - clothes, make-up, computer, notes, etc. I was mostly calm...it just all seemed surreal...could this day actually be here?!
5:30am - We hooked up with the Milners, picked up our sign from Kinko's, picked up our friend Josh and headed to The W Hotel. The sun was not up yet, but we were...ready for what this day held.
6:00am - We met Brad and the rest of the volunteers (as well as a mission team from Shades Mountain) in the back of the hotel, checked in with security and began to load-in all of our gear!
6:00-8:30 - During this time, everyone worked like busy little bees. I am so grateful for our staff, volunteers and the mission team from Shades Mountain in Birmingham. As soon as the the trailer was un-loaded, I took several volunteers and headed to the two rooms we have for children's space. It was so fun to see the Epic Kids space come together. Foam floor had to be laid down for the baby area and play gates were set up to separate the toddlers from the 3 & 4 year olds. Once the Epic Kids area was done, I went back to the worship room and I was blown away by the progress made. Sound was working, screens and pipe & drape were up and lights were being worked on! I gathered some people to make sure the chairs were aligned where every person could see the screens and then my part in set-up seemed to be done.
* I started thinking to myself "Time is flying by...things are really coming together...this is really happening...two years of prayers and planning and here we are...!"
8:30 - I took a few minutes to myself to have some "quiet time", get dressed, put make-up on and get ready for people to arrive.
9:00 - 9:30 - I don't remember all that happened during this time except I was going through my areas making sure nothing was forgotten. I did eat a sausage biscuit at some point in here - thanks Kristin!
9:30 - All of our volunteers from Epic Launch Team, Shades, South Bay and Crossroads met in the worship room for a meeting. Our staff stood with Ben at the front of the stage as he expressed how grateful we were for them for their help and shared our excitement for this day and for the future of Epic Church! As Ben prayed for us and asked God to do the impossible in this city and people's lives...for the first time, this day, I began to get emotional. I was so overwhelmed by God's love and mercy and my heart was full of gratitude for the opportunity to be a part of what God is doing in San Francisco.
9:45-10:15 - I got all my check-in volunteers to Shauna, who is overseeing Epic Kids check-in. During this time I was also making sure that we had enough volunteers in each kids area for the number of kids we were expecting.
10:15 - I didn't expect the nervous/anxious feeling to hit me so soon but it did. People were showing up. I met the sweetest family who came because the husband received a granola bar and an invite card downtown. They thought it started at 10 but them showing up early gave us a chance to get to know them and surprisingly realize we had a mutual friend.
10:35 - We met behind the worship room for a Tech meeting. Brad ran through the details of the service and Ben gave us a quick pep talk and prayed for us and the people arriving. *It was at this point all the prayers and encouraging text messages from the morning started to replay in my mind...
"You are loved and being prayed for over and over.."
"Lifted each of you up by name today...enjoy it"
"Love well today..."
"This is what you risked everything for...cheering you on!"
"Prayed for you during our staff time before church"
"Praying for you - love you" "Praying for God's favor..."
"There are so many people praying with you today"
I was reminded that I am not here, doing this alone and that thousands of people are praying for us and for San Francisco! It was time, not to shrink back, but to move forward in faith!
10:45 - People were everywhere! All of a sudden the pre-function space and the worship room felt full to me. I tried to meet as many people as I could before we started service.
Just before 11:00 - A count down hit the screen and service was about to begin. I was at the sound booth, grabbed my mic and my program and walked with Ben P to the front room to take a seat. At this point, I did feel a little like I might throw-up! Just had that feeling of nervous anticipation. Brad and the band kicked off the first song!
11:00 - 12:00 - At the beginning of the service I had the privilege to welcome the crowd for the first time (part of my nervousness I suppose). After the music, I went to check-in on Epic Kids. It was awesome to see so many kids playing and listening to teaching from the Bible. I walked back into the service as Ben got into his teaching. The crowd was responsive and very lively. Ben would ask a question from the stage and people would talk back...it was awesome! After his teaching, I gave some announcements, we took up the offering and the service was done.
*Ps- 100% of everything we collected on Sunday will go to purchase supplies for Bessie Carmichael Elementary and Middle School.
12:00 - Everything seemed to happen so fast but at the same time each moment seemed so full. I got to talk with people after service which was so good! I got to hear some of their stories, why they came and why they were looking forward to coming back!
12:30 - It was time to pack everything up! As we packed up each room, we shared stories from the different people we had met and celebrated what God is doing here. Again, so grateful for volunteers here. We could not do what we do without the help of many! It was amazing to see everything go back into the box/crate in came out of only 7 hours earlier.
2:00 - Everything was packed up and it was time to eat lunch and head home. We walked away from The W Hotel in awe at how God is working in this city and in our lives here. We were super tired and super hungry. We walked toward home hoping to sit down and eat somewhere. Every restaurant was packed because the Giants were on TV so we ended up at Quiznos which seemed gourmet at this point :)
3:00 - We made it home, I called my best friend to celebrate/share more about the service and then Ben and I crashed!!!
After getting some rest, we ended the day with some of our team - celebrating the first preview service and celebrating Shauna's birthday! I couldn't think of a better way to end the day!!!
10.10.10 was a great day! We have waited for this for so long but it is only just the beginning! 192 people came. 132 of those were from San Francisco (others were mission teams from Shades and the bay area) and 23 kids were in Epic Kids!
If you are still reading..haha..thank you for sticking with this picture-less post! I want to remember this day, just how it happened and this helps! There are more life stories and lots of pictures to come. You can even watch a video of the service! I will post that next!
Thank you always for the prayers, encouragement and love you shower us with! We know that we are not here alone and your support means so much to us!
Love to you all -
