Countdowns

At our weekly programming meeting (this is where we evaluate everything about last week's service and plan the coming week's service), we were discussing our philosophy of "worship preparation." Many of us come from traditions that practiced quiet as you enter the worship center and encouraged prayer in preparation for the service.

That's a good practice, but it's not our philosophy. We want people to connect before the service. We want energy and anticipation of worship. That's why we run the music a little loud (not too loud to talk but loud enough to have to raise your voice a bit) and use countdowns that raise the energy level in the room. Worship includes celebration and it's people connecting and celebration that we want to achieve going into our service.

This is also a good practice. We don't think it's better...just different. And we do veer from it every once in a while (like during the Epic series).

Does this make sense?