“The Big Idea,” put together by Dave Ferguson and the guys up at Community Christian in Chicago, specifically addresses an issue that I feel is draining the potential effectiveness of many modern churches – scatterbrainedness (or multitasking, if you prefer a more optimistic moniker)! That’s basically the idea that you can be all things to all people all the time, and we all know how THAT all works…
The Big Idea takes things in the exact opposite direction. There’s one primary concept – one. That one concept drives the weekend. In Dave’s perfect world, every element of the worship service would support the Big Idea – music, visuals, handouts, even announcements. As a former teacher, I wholeheartedly agree with Dave’s approach. Teaching “sticks” much better if you get the core concept across first – and sticks WAY better if you are able to come at that concept in a bunch of different ways.
The book also contains some very useful sections on supporting the big idea through advance planning, meeting structures, evaluation and multi-site integration – but back to the big idea of the book… One of the primary reasons that I really resonate with the big idea approach is that it’s centered on what the congregation is interacting with, rather than what we are trying to push at them. People’s worlds are cluttered up enough without us trying to throw ten different things at them in a service! OK, off the soapbox and on to a rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars.
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I'm a Christian, a husband, a dad, a son, a pastor, a consultant, a musician, a writer, and bits and pieces of a bunch of other things. My work life has followed three main phases - business to teaching to church. I was the Weekend Services Pastor for nine years at Northview Church, an awesome church in the Indianapolis suburbs. I used to work for Willow Creek, another awesome church in the Chicago area. Plus I've written for various magazines and websites, and other freelancy sorts of things... My life mission is to help the church be as excellent as it can be.
Oh yeah - the name's Greg. Greg Wallace. But not the race car driver or the major league pitcher or the British celebrity chef. Just the creative worship guy. Hi.
It's my hope that these ideas, musings, rants, raves, etc... will inspire you. They're just my opinions - but again, I hope that they'll help to inspire you. Because the church really, really needs inspired creative types. If you're a creative type (and most people are, deep-down), ask God for help. Then take any ideas that are useful to you - borrow them, nab them, use them, adapt them - and make them into something greater...
You can head over to my Instagram site for an abundance of shorter posts: creativeworshipideas. If you're looking for consulting - especially on weekend services, team leadership or multi-site strategies - I'd love to help. Just message me here, and I'll be in touch - Greg
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