Posted by: sweetsoup | March 24, 2008

Ramblings on Easter at First Trinity…

easter breakfast

  • Jesus is Risen–the best news EVER!!!!
  • We had so many people at worship on Saturday and Sunday (735!!!). Some perspective: we had 596 people on Easter weekend in 2006 and 625 in 2007. WHOA. Any thoughts as to the big jump?
  • We ran out of bulletins at 8:45 (that’s a great problem!)
  • The Easter Breakfast was done with excellence by the kids and parents of our Student Ministries (that’s Barb Reardon, above, sharing a laugh with the Trautwein family). I had several people mention the “upgrade” in the decorations…pretty table cloths, candles. Oooooh la la.
  • I’m sure all the ushers did a great job, but I got the pleasure of watching the team at 8:45 (Russ Wynia, Moose Moosmann, Jim Ruch and Dan Schrantz). They helped people find seats as the crowd grew, asked for more bulletins, said “Happy Easter” to all and managed an overflow crowd with great hearts and lots of hospitality.
  • The ladies of the Altar Guild did a great job of adding to our communion elements when they saw how crowded it was.
  • In the worship center, we took down the Jesus paintings that had more to do with the suffering and death of Jesus and put up the Easter one–Jesus holding up his nail-printed hand. It went perfect with Pastor Chuck’s sermon, which was based on John 20:19-31.
  • The kids had a blast at the Resurrection Party. I never get tired of telling them The Story. They also have fun with the Egg Hunt.
  • It’s always fun to see college students who make their way back for Easter: Stephen Joyce, April Van Der Puy, Caitlin Vance, and lots lots more.
  • Something to think about for next year: All those guests and only one “Welcome, Guest!” card filled out. How can we plan to connect with those who are with us for the first time on Easter?

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Responses

As the band was frantically setting up for the second service we were blessed to hear the Hallelujah Chorus being sung in the rafters by the choir–wonderful job! We are blessed in many ways at First Trinity!

Thanks for the hard work on the breakfast! my kids LOVED the pancakes!

By: Sandra on March 24, 2008
at 10:11 am

Sandra–I thought the music at 11:15 was great–good job to Eric and all of you!!

By: sweetsoup on March 24, 2008
at 10:18 am

Regarding your final bullet about the “Welcome, Guest” cards, here are a few thoughts that became clear to me as I sat with my guests.

1. The Zimbergs did a great job of welcoming my dad and stepmom at the welcome booth, and they signed the guest book and got a bookmark. But it seemed a little redundant to then fill out the guest card, too.

2. Was there a point in the service where the cards were mentioned to people? Some people may not have known they were there, and I can’t remember if it gets mentioned or not.

3. There were no pencils in the two holders in front of where we were sitting, and there was one pencil if they leaned down to the next two holders. Maybe we can do a better job of making it easy for people to fill them out.

I sure love a packed church on Easter morning. :)

By: Jaime on March 24, 2008
at 12:40 pm

I agree with Jaime.- especially about the welcome cards. I never knew we had them!! Obviously I never filled one out the first time I came. I know I signed the book we used to pass down the row, and then I received a letter thanking me for coming and eventually why Pastor called me. Other churches also have a FIRST VISITOR PACKET. I know when I visited Megan’s church in NC I received a little mug filled with candy, a tract, and a card with worship times and lists of organizations to join. In another church it was a ziploc bag with a few candies, a devotional, a bookmark or magnet,and a welcome to our church pamphlet. This might be a cool addition to our welcome!!

By: Karen Cassidy on March 25, 2008
at 9:13 am

Jaime and Karen–Thanks for your posts. Great suggestions. Karen, when we had the pads that you signed, we didn’t have the cards.

By: sweetsoup on March 25, 2008
at 9:48 am

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