Hey, it’s been a while since we updated you on where we are in our Janesville Launch. Right now, we’re in the middle of pulling together all of the materials and people we’ll need to start weekend services in September. It’s a pretty big job, but it’s slowly coming together.
Here’s a little sketch of what the next couple of months will look like. It’s a little less inspirational and a little more nuts-and-bolts, but I know there are a lot of people who read this blog who haven’t been able to make it to a Sunday night, and we wanted you to be in the loop.
Only 2 more Sunday night launch team meetings left!
This Sunday night, July 27th, we’ll be talking about what it means to get ourselves ready to build new relationships with the people who show up on launch weekend. This is really important, so if you can’t make it, we’ll hopefully have something (audio or video) that you can watch or listen to later.
Then, our last Sunday night will be on August 24th. We’ll start off with some worship together, and then we’ll break off into teams to do some training. There won’t be a large group teaching that night. It’ll be a time where we “get stuff done,” and we need everybody to be there.
Preview Services in September
Beginning the weekend after Labor Day, we’ll have three Sundays before our public launch where we work to get our act together before the big day. We will run those weekends like “dress rehearsals,” with full Kidzworks ministry, video sermons streamed in live from Beloit, greeters, worship band, sound and lights, and every other kind of ministry.
There are still quite a few Central people who live in Janesville who haven’t been interested in being a part of the launch team, but want to begin attending when we start. We’ll be inviting all of these people to come beginning the first week in September.
Community Park Parties
We’ve decided to spend time, energy, and money creating some fun, simple events at a bunch of community parks all over the city. We’ll offer free food, and have activities planned for kids. The whole purpose is to get to know people, serve them, and invite them to church. Our hope is that we’ll have a lot more success in parks than we might in the fair or at the farmer’s market.
Prayer Walking Janesville and Door Hangers
This has kind of become a part of the culture of our church, but we’ve never done it on a large scale in Janesville. We’ll have hundreds of people (including people from Beloit) walking up and down the streets of Janesville, praying for each house, and delivering a door hanger with information about a free magic show we’ll be hosting (see below) and the big launch weekend for our church. We’ve seen some great results from this in the past, and we’re excited about what God will do through it in Janesville.
Magic Shows?
We’ve been given the opportunity to bring in Tim Hannig of the Pro Kids Show to 6 elementary schools in the week leading up to launch. He will do two school shows per day on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, which are super-fun, but also teach kids about values like honesty and integrity. He will then invite them to bring their parents to one of two family shows on Thursday and Friday evenings, held in our church room. Our expectation and our prayer is that hundreds of families will show up for a magic show, and we’ll get the chance to invite them to church that Sunday.
Launch Weekend: September 28th
Here’s the big news: We’ll be launching with two services right off the bat, with service times the same as Beloit… 9am and 10:30am. (Our setup and worship teams better be filled with morning people!) We’re asking our launch team and any other people willing to give us 6 weeks, beginning in September, where you’re there every week for both services. We’re hoping and praying to be overwhelmed with people, and we’ll need all hands on deck to serve them well, especially in Kidzworks.
After the Launch
Wait, there’s an after the launch? We’d better start thinking about that! Just kidding… we’ll save that for another post.
