DOUBLING UP

Today we publicly announced what most folks have seen coming for quite a while now, that from Easter Sunday onwards we are going to two services on Sunday mornings. I watched a number of people awkwardly looking around for seats this morning and while there were spots all over the place, to all intents and purposes we are full.

Church growth gurus used to say that you are full at 80% of capacity, but nowadays that has been pulled back to 66% for two reasons - firstly that people like their own space more nowadays and secondly most Americans need more space as they're bigger than they used to be.

I like the idea of two services for a lot of reasons -

1. If my preaching sucks in first service I can fine tune it for the second.

2. We give people options as to which time slot best suits their lifestyle.

3. We create a lot more space for a lot more people and since I don't expect the trend of the past few months to slow down, we're going to need those seats.

4. It presents a load of fresh opportunities for folks to plug into serving as we'll need to double up volunteers in a whole bunch of areas.

5. It stretches us, which is always a healthy thing. Personally I enjoy the challenge of change - probably something to do with the ADD that's part of my DNA - some don't. It'll be interesting to watch them sweat, try to convince them they can do it and celebrate with them when they discover they really can!

Fun times ahead!!!