Joel Stone
Weekly Report #10
4-10-07
I observed a worship band practice.
This week I observed a worship band practice on Thursday night in preparation for the Sunday service.
When I arrived, the band was not ready for practice. Although it came together very quickly, it was fairly organized. I have been apart of many practices and this was not much different. We spent time working on different songs, preparing them for just the way that the leader wanted them to be. The group worked well, listening and sharing with each other on how the songs should be done.
I always enjoy watching how people interact within the team setting, and in this case, being part of the team, I get to be involved in the action and take part in the worship through song, playing the instrument and leading the worshippers into the presence of God together. Leading worship is an awesome opportunity to take part in ushering God’s presence and directing focus to God for the people. I hope that in every worship setting I can be effective in leading people into God’s presence.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Joel Stone
Weekly Report #9
4-5-07
Helping serve communion.
This week I was supposed to help serve communion for the 9am service.
I was to meet with the other people helping with communion at 8:45. I was running a little late so I missed everyone. I had to catch up with them in the sanctuary. When I found Dr. Judy, she told me that she had too many people and I wasn’t really needed. But she wanted me to sit off to the side and if they needed more wafers or juice that I was to get it for them. So I did. And they didn’t need more. It was fun. Although I was able to get pastor Steve a bottle of water during his sermon.
Although I didn’t get to help serve the actual communion, I believe I did get a good idea of ministry experience in this case. Nothing is ever going to be just as planned, and a part of ministry is being able to be flexible. So in this situation I learned it is good to be flexible.
Weekly Report #9
4-5-07
Helping serve communion.
This week I was supposed to help serve communion for the 9am service.
I was to meet with the other people helping with communion at 8:45. I was running a little late so I missed everyone. I had to catch up with them in the sanctuary. When I found Dr. Judy, she told me that she had too many people and I wasn’t really needed. But she wanted me to sit off to the side and if they needed more wafers or juice that I was to get it for them. So I did. And they didn’t need more. It was fun. Although I was able to get pastor Steve a bottle of water during his sermon.
Although I didn’t get to help serve the actual communion, I believe I did get a good idea of ministry experience in this case. Nothing is ever going to be just as planned, and a part of ministry is being able to be flexible. So in this situation I learned it is good to be flexible.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Joel Stone
Weekly Report #8
3-29-07
Observing the sound technician.
For my practicum, I observed the operation of the audio for the church service.
This is an area that I have been exposed to multiple times, so this is more of my thinking through the idea of the sound tech’s job. At my church back home, I used to be involved in working the sound. This was, at times, a difficult job. You would have to be there early in the morning, make sure everything was setup and secure, if there were multiple people or instruments involved in the worship service, you had to be prepared to have the sound equipment perfect for them.
It is very difficult for a sound tech to be engaged in what is taking place in the service. If you are able to engage at all, you still must be aware of the technical side just in case something must be changed or fixed. This can be distracting. I think that this can turn into a problem. It is important to allow a rotation or an alternate to be involved to offer the sound tech time to meet with and engage in the worship.
This is a good way to serve in the church, and it is good to see what goes into the service on all sides, but there needs to be a system in place that allows the church body to commune with each other and with God.
Weekly Report #8
3-29-07
Observing the sound technician.
For my practicum, I observed the operation of the audio for the church service.
This is an area that I have been exposed to multiple times, so this is more of my thinking through the idea of the sound tech’s job. At my church back home, I used to be involved in working the sound. This was, at times, a difficult job. You would have to be there early in the morning, make sure everything was setup and secure, if there were multiple people or instruments involved in the worship service, you had to be prepared to have the sound equipment perfect for them.
It is very difficult for a sound tech to be engaged in what is taking place in the service. If you are able to engage at all, you still must be aware of the technical side just in case something must be changed or fixed. This can be distracting. I think that this can turn into a problem. It is important to allow a rotation or an alternate to be involved to offer the sound tech time to meet with and engage in the worship.
This is a good way to serve in the church, and it is good to see what goes into the service on all sides, but there needs to be a system in place that allows the church body to commune with each other and with God.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Joel Stone
Weekly Report #7
3-23-07
Writing a Prayer.This week I wrote a prayer for this Sunday’s evening service. This prayer is a pastoral prayer that I worked on writing with Pastor Judy.
Like she had suggested, I spent some time in prayer for my preparation, also she had suggested to read through the Lord’s prayer several times before I wrote my own, so I did that as well.
In writing this prayer, I was able to see some of my own weaknesses when if came to writing in general. As this was a pastoral prayer, I was able to hear some of Pastor Judy’s idea when it came to writing these prayers. One of her thought was to make every pronoun plural, instead of “I”, us “we”. As we had talked about in class, this was good, but it showed some practicality in how she presented it as in every aspect of this prayer was communal and I have nothing to do with it.
This was a humbling experience and I look forward to praying this prayer on Sunday.
Weekly Report #7
3-23-07
Writing a Prayer.This week I wrote a prayer for this Sunday’s evening service. This prayer is a pastoral prayer that I worked on writing with Pastor Judy.
Like she had suggested, I spent some time in prayer for my preparation, also she had suggested to read through the Lord’s prayer several times before I wrote my own, so I did that as well.
In writing this prayer, I was able to see some of my own weaknesses when if came to writing in general. As this was a pastoral prayer, I was able to hear some of Pastor Judy’s idea when it came to writing these prayers. One of her thought was to make every pronoun plural, instead of “I”, us “we”. As we had talked about in class, this was good, but it showed some practicality in how she presented it as in every aspect of this prayer was communal and I have nothing to do with it.
This was a humbling experience and I look forward to praying this prayer on Sunday.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Joel Stone
Weekly Report #6
2-1-07
Reading Scripture during the morning service.
This week I had the opportunity to read scripture for the morning service in the C2 venue for College Wesleyan.
I thought that this going to be very easy to do, but once the time came; I found that I was actually somewhat nervous. It was on a whim that I did it last Sunday, so I rather threw myself into it and only had gotten to read it over one time.
I like the idea reading scripture in front of people but I found that the nervousness got to me once in front of a group of people. I am used to be in the back, not at the front of the stage, behind the drums, but I need more up front exposure. I did like being put into a position of weakness and being uncomfortable. It was stretching and difficult but I can definitely see the benefit in it. This is a great honor being able to share God’s holy word in a worship service setting.
I look forward to reading scripture more often.
Weekly Report #6
2-1-07
Reading Scripture during the morning service.
This week I had the opportunity to read scripture for the morning service in the C2 venue for College Wesleyan.
I thought that this going to be very easy to do, but once the time came; I found that I was actually somewhat nervous. It was on a whim that I did it last Sunday, so I rather threw myself into it and only had gotten to read it over one time.
I like the idea reading scripture in front of people but I found that the nervousness got to me once in front of a group of people. I am used to be in the back, not at the front of the stage, behind the drums, but I need more up front exposure. I did like being put into a position of weakness and being uncomfortable. It was stretching and difficult but I can definitely see the benefit in it. This is a great honor being able to share God’s holy word in a worship service setting.
I look forward to reading scripture more often.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Joel Stone
Weekly Report #5
2-23-07
Conversation on preparation for prayer.
This week I met with Pastor Judy and discussed my preparation for the prayer that I will be leading next month for the Sunday night service.
I had never really formally met Pastor Judy and in doing so, I was taken back by her presence. She is a sincere and humble person, and I could tell throughout the whole meeting that she really cared about me. She asked some questions to get to know me a little bit, and then she prayed to open our time together.
She told me that she was going to have me lead the pastoral prayer for a service in March. I was intimidated yet excited about doing this. I have never formally gotten up in front of a group of mixed generations and prayer. So she gave me some thoughts and ideas on what to do for the preparation of my prayer. She also stressed the importance of preparation and writing out that prepared prayer. She shared with me her thoughts on writing out prayers and how she came to her believe now that the spirit truly can work through written prayers.
I hadn’t really thought much about this, but that is what I thought before, it seems so insincere when a person writes out a prayer, but it made so much sense what she said. God gives us the ability to prepare and the spirit can talk to us during that preparation time and it also gives the spirit more time to work in that prayer.
I really enjoyed meeting with Pastor Judy this week and talking with her and getting her views and thoughts on corporate prayer.
Weekly Report #5
2-23-07
Conversation on preparation for prayer.
This week I met with Pastor Judy and discussed my preparation for the prayer that I will be leading next month for the Sunday night service.
I had never really formally met Pastor Judy and in doing so, I was taken back by her presence. She is a sincere and humble person, and I could tell throughout the whole meeting that she really cared about me. She asked some questions to get to know me a little bit, and then she prayed to open our time together.
She told me that she was going to have me lead the pastoral prayer for a service in March. I was intimidated yet excited about doing this. I have never formally gotten up in front of a group of mixed generations and prayer. So she gave me some thoughts and ideas on what to do for the preparation of my prayer. She also stressed the importance of preparation and writing out that prepared prayer. She shared with me her thoughts on writing out prayers and how she came to her believe now that the spirit truly can work through written prayers.
I hadn’t really thought much about this, but that is what I thought before, it seems so insincere when a person writes out a prayer, but it made so much sense what she said. God gives us the ability to prepare and the spirit can talk to us during that preparation time and it also gives the spirit more time to work in that prayer.
I really enjoyed meeting with Pastor Judy this week and talking with her and getting her views and thoughts on corporate prayer.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Joel Stone
Weekly Report #4
2-16-07
Setting up the platform for the service.
This week I assisted Pastor Brian and his wife prepare the platform for the 747 service.
This is a service for college students that meets on Sunday nights. I have always enjoyed attending and being apart of this service by playing the drums. But this week I was able to help with the setup of the stage. This was a different experience. I was to meet everyone there at 7 to which I did, but when I got there, no one was there. So I ended up waiting about ten minutes for someone to show up. Eventually Pastor Brian got there and gave me several instructions. I set up some candles and help set up the musical equipment. Then pastor Brian sent me looking for some stools for the guest interview. I thought this would be easy, but I was looking for about fifteen minutes. This was frustrating because I could not find any stools for the platform, but I ended up finding some and everything worked out.
I liked being in this part of the worship service. I got to help and yet take part in the service at the same time. It was frustrating but I was just a taste of what Pastors have to do every week.
Weekly Report #4
2-16-07
Setting up the platform for the service.
This week I assisted Pastor Brian and his wife prepare the platform for the 747 service.
This is a service for college students that meets on Sunday nights. I have always enjoyed attending and being apart of this service by playing the drums. But this week I was able to help with the setup of the stage. This was a different experience. I was to meet everyone there at 7 to which I did, but when I got there, no one was there. So I ended up waiting about ten minutes for someone to show up. Eventually Pastor Brian got there and gave me several instructions. I set up some candles and help set up the musical equipment. Then pastor Brian sent me looking for some stools for the guest interview. I thought this would be easy, but I was looking for about fifteen minutes. This was frustrating because I could not find any stools for the platform, but I ended up finding some and everything worked out.
I liked being in this part of the worship service. I got to help and yet take part in the service at the same time. It was frustrating but I was just a taste of what Pastors have to do every week.
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