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Looking back to my high school years, some of my fondest memories are of taking field trips to New York City. Coming from a small, rural town in Virginia, it was a BIG deal for us to travel somewhere like this. The tour company that we traveled with did a really great job of making sure that we got to see the best sights that NYC had to offer. There was one particular part of our first trip that I remember not really looking forward to, though—seeing The Lion King on Broadway.

Sixteen at the time, I just knew there were a million other things that we could do in the city that would be much cooler than seeing some play. Little did I know that as soon as the curtain lifted, it would take less than a minute for my mouth to drop. I was amazed. Until that moment, I had no idea that a stage could hold something so magnificent. It turned everything that I thought I knew about Broadway upside down and even as I think back to it now, my heart beats fast. Needless to say, my expectations were greatly exceeded.

As I got to thinking about the sense of “shock and awe” that came from that day, I was reminded of Sunday morning. When was the last time that your Sunday morning service created this kind of wow effect on your congregation? Did your last sermon create a sense of wonder? Did your media cause mouths to drop? Did your worship set break down the walls in peoples’ minds of what a church service could look like? More importantly—do you even believe that you have the potential to do these things? As I asked myself these questions, I defaulted to my usual, go-to excuse—we don’t have the budget for something like that. You might be thinking the same thing.

The truth? Of course The Lion King was a big budget production. Millions of dollars were poured into their script, cast, stage, lights, wardrobe, etc. before it ever even debuted. But money is not what made that show a masterpiece. It was the creativity and hard work that truly set it apart. Strip away the money and you’re left with passionate people who gave their blood, sweat, and tears to something that they believed in.

What would happen if we did that for our Sunday morning experience? If we dug deep into our God-given creativity to come up with something that no one had ever seen before? What if we strived to create a wow moment for the people sitting in our pews? When you exceed peoples’ expectations and move away from good enough, you’ll create memorable moments that they can’t help sharing with others. When you’re communicating the greatest news of all time and souls are on the line, giving your good enough will never be good enough. 

It’s important to remember that you will not be able to make everything a wow in your service each week. And that’s okay – if everything is a wow, pretty soon, nothing is a wow. Instead, why not try to identify one thing that you can do in your next service or on Easter Sunday that will exceed the expectations of your congregation? Be intentional. Most importantly—TRY.

Kendall Conner

What do you get when you combine production, design, and communications together with a passion for the Church? It turns out, this is the precise formula to make up Kendall Conner. For over 20 years, this Christ-led creative has been bridging the gap between media and ministry. In addition to serving as the creative pastor in his local church, he is the Chief of Operations for Church Motion Graphics, a ministry-focused design studio that serves thousands of houses of worship around the globe. Kendall specializes in equipping church media leaders and volunteers to utilize creativity in their services to share the hope of Jesus.

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