Worship Commission

Annual Report – 2010

In 2010, we made good progress on our objectives and took action to address some key issues.  Sermons series were planned roughly two months in advance, and music and drama presentations were coordinated with the sermon themes.  Pastor Jerry presented a sermon series on “Reality Faith” in preparation for his trip to Singapore in May.   

The Choir presented special music for Easter and a Christmas cantata on December 5.  The Hand Bell Choir performed in a number of regular and special worship services.  Dr. Gary Cobb was hired as organist in August. 

The Commission hosted a lunch in February to seek feedback from the congregation regarding the Contemporary Service.  Participants want more growth and community but have differing opinions on how best to achieve this.  We agreed on the need to foster the concept of worship versus “coming to church,” and everyone will need to be involved to ensure success.

The path forward involves developing a shared vision and plan for the Contemporary Service: (1) what we want to accomplish, and (2) what we need to make this happen.  We agreed that we already have a vision for the church—we just need to align on what this means for the “Second Service.” We talked about the importance of community and spawning ministry teams to fulfill our call.  The challenge will be to build community both within and outside worship services. We launched a Contemporary Service Steering Committee, led by Elder Mike Young, to coordinate and guide our efforts.

The Commission also explored the possibility of moving the contemporary service to Piper Hall.  We reviewed feedback following a trial move—and discussed what it would take to make a permanent move successful.  We concluded that the move would need to be part of a larger change in contemporary worship, driven by Trinity’s mission.  This should include discussion about how to make Piper Hall an effective worship space, what other activities would be affected, and how we could mitigate the impact.

A committee sponsored by the Commission conducted a search for a Praise Team Leader.  This group screened several candidates, completed rigorous background checks and in-depth interviews, and monitored rehearsals with the Praise Team.  We are pleased Jimmy MacDonald accepted our offer and began working with the Praise Team in October.  We also acknowledge and thank Jennifer Chow and Chris Severn for the gift of their music ministry during their tenure as interim Praise Team Leader.    

Our 2010 spending was well below our budget of $7,300.  We expect our budget to remain flat in 2011, allocated across a number of ministries and expense categories. 

Sandy Sampson, Elder