Check Out The
Connection Cafe
Blog

What is a video café? 
In our case, it is a third worship service that is meeting in the fellowship building at the same time as the current 8:30 service.

How does this work? 
We have a live worship time with live music, etc.  Then at the appropriate time a live videocast of the sermon is fed to the fellowship building and projected on a screen.

What is the purpose of this Connection Café? 
The purpose is to enable us to provide more space for worshippers during the 8:30 time frame.  We have been overcrowded for a couple of years to the point that we had to do something.  This multi-site strategy, we decided, is the most economical and strategically viable way to provide more space.

Will the worship style be the same as the present 8:30 service?
It is slightly different.  It has a more acoustic and intimate style but I expect it to evolve as we go along.  Larry & Kim McIllwaine are the worship leaders with help, of course, from Kolis and Koni, the Music Ministers at Mission.

Who will attend the Connection Café? 
It is open, of course, to anyone.  However, we will begin with a core group of 30 or so people.  This core group will be asked to be involved in one of several teams:  worship, creative arts, outreach/marketing, setup and take down (chairs, etc.), hospitality, and technical (sound and video).  We already have about half that number in place and some of them are meeting on Wednesday nights for study and planning.  Gary Veazey is leading that group.  We are not encouraging a lot of people presently attending the 8:30 service to shift to the fellowship building.  Instead, we are asking that core group to “grow” the new service by inviting their friends and acquaintances.  This will provide space for both services to grow.

How many people will the fellowship building seat?
We hope to have chairs for 75-100 people.  Plans are to use the back wing of the building for the service.  This will mean doing some redecorating and revamping which we are planning to do.

How does this fit into our “Expand Here, Extend There” strategy?
Perfectly!  This Connection Café is the first step toward our expansion.  It is expected to be the prototype for other worship services in other sites in Locust and elsewhere and is the first step in a multi-site strategy for our congregation.