Video Worship!? That won't work...or will it?

Last month at Cumberland Church, an exciting new innovation was experienced by all those in attendance. The entire Sunday morning worship music set was on video! Yes, that's right...video! The worship experience was previously recorded from a live Sunday morning performance at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, GA.

For those of you who were unable to attend, I think I know what you're thinking, "No way! That'll never work." Sounds a bit strange, perhaps. But it really works! The feedback we have received so far is that, while no one really is ready for 100% video worship, the experience really worked. In our opinion, it was the most engaged and loud our crowd has ever been during the worship. Go figure!

Our good friend and Campus Director of Buckhead Church, Jeff Henderson, is the mastermind behind this latest innovative idea out of North Point. Last fall, our team was able to visit Buckhead Church's newest environment at Atlantic Station in Atlanta called "Midtown Gathering" where this concept was introduced and is being used. In a recent blog entry, Jeff explained the concept and the effectiveness of using video worship at Atlantic Station. Below is part of Jeff's thoughts:

All of this begs the question, "Why?" Why start something else and so different in Midtown when we're about to open a brand new, huge church in Buckhead?

Simple. There are 300,000 unchurched people within a ten-mile radius of Tower Place. And while we can potentially accommodate 9,000 people in three services in the new building, that's still 291,000 people who go to sleep every night without knowing the grace and love of Jesus.

That's a daunting task, which will require our best strategic thinking and lots of prayer. It will also require us to try things that may or may not work. Thus far, Midtown seems to be working. Around 400 adults show up each Sunday at 10 a.m. to see the same message the folks at our main campus see. Of course, the Midtown folks see it with ample parking, less traffic, and the smell of buttered popcorn. AND, they can catch a matinee after the service. Now, that's a cool church!  (The photo above features the lobby environment after the Midtown Gathering service. This is where people gather for coffee, IKEA Cinnamon Buns and to hangout to discuss the message for that day.)

Thanks Jeff! We're not sure of how "video worship" will fit into the future of Cumberland Church, if at all...but we're excited to be on the forefront of an incredible tool North Point will be using in the future to help start new churches and environments to help reach people that are far off from God and disenfranchised with traditional church. Amazing days in which we are living, isn't it?! Video worship...wow!

We would love to hear your feedback as we continue to experiment with this concept, which I believe has huge potential. Thank you so much for your willingness to dream, explore and experiment with new methods God may use to grow His Church.

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Comments

[Micah Foster]

Thank you for this blog...it's awesome. I've been lookin' to get some "inside info" on the Mid-town gathering and what the take-aways may have been...

Thank you!