Those of you that follow me on Twitter probably remember that a few weeks ago someone on the creative team had the idea that we should have a porch in church for one weekend. It actually makes more sense than it sounds at first; our theme for the weekend was The Front Porch: Practicing Hospitality. [...]
Posts under ‘Gatherings’
Taking Flight With Creatitivity
A few weeks ago, Abingdon Press sent me this book to read. First of all, I was pretty jazzed that they would send me the book; apparently I meet the criteria of being a well-known enough blog now–which is really cool. I was also excited because I love to read, and I’m always game for [...]
Audience Participation
This weekend we got to use technology in a pretty cool way to engage with our congregation. One of the things Upper Room is known for is our experiential style of worship. Almost every week, we have some type of activity that allows the congregation to engage in the teaching they have just heard. Sometimes [...]
When Technology Works…And When It Doesn’t
I’m taking a day off from talking about our discussion of The Matrix because I want to recount to you a harrowing tale of large files, downloads and a crazy, video-laden service that almost wasn’t.
This summer, Upper Room sent 11 teams across the country and across the globe for missional experiences. For four of those [...]
Outdoor Worship
Upper Room has had a tradition for the last seven years of taking our worship gatherings outdoors several times each summer. This year is no exception. We have the entire month of August slated for outdoor worship, though for the first time ever, the first weekend in August was moved indoors due to threatening weather. [...]
Another Low-Tech Set
This week at Upper Room we kicked off a series called “I HATE That.” Which made for some fun inter-office e-mailing as we planned for it; Subject: I HATE That Rationale; Reply: Upon further reflection, I hate that rationale too… But I digress.
This week, the theme was Difficult Conversations. As we explored how to move [...]
Minimalist Set Design
The other day while recording the FaithTools podcast, we got talking about set design. I didn’t have a lot to say because at Upper Room we don’t do sets per-se. Upper Room meets at Christ Presbyterian Church, which hosts two contemporary and one traditional service each weekend. After the 11 AM contemporary finishes up, we [...]
Holy Week
I guess if I were a serious blogger, I would have had this written last Monday. I was seriously tired, however, so it’s taken a while to pull this together. Holy Week at CPC/Upper Room is a busy time. From the Monday after Palm Sunday to Easter, we held 12 services. Thankfully, I only had [...]
Christmas at Upper Room
Merry Christmas! Now the day after Christmas, I have to say it’s been one of the best ever. Rather than bore you with all the personal details of our Christmas (which you can read about here if you’re interested…), I thought I’d give you an glimpse into what Christmas services were like here at Upper [...]
