Had a great opportunity to take in a service at Saddleback tonight, and see how it all works. We attended the 4:30pm, then a few of us took the opportunity to observe the kids ministry in action.
While waiting for the kids' service to begin, I chatted with a couple who had come to see their 6th grade daughter lead worship for the 5th-6th grade class. I asked them what she liked about Saddleback and they said she loves that she "knows everyone". "Even in one of the biggest churches in America?" and her mother (wisely responded) "Oh, we've always believed that the more involved you get, the smaller the church becomes [feels]."
I also noted that there had been a few mentions of staffing issues - last minute reports of sick volunteers, and breathed a sigh of relief: oh, so this is common. Wheew.
The other observation I carried away was that I had expected to be so wowed by their programming for kids, that I would be overwhelmed and feel like we were missing the mark. Instead, I didn't feel like we were doing anything wrong or missing anything, in terms of our programming itself. Compared to what we're doing, they have a similar format and their people and implementations have similar flaws. Really, their excellence comes from the way they develop and release leaders.
After observing a bit of the second service, we left for the nearby mall for dinner, then splintered off to do various activities for the night. I'd intended a swim and soak in the hot tub, plus an early bedtime, but ended up staying up later to do a load of laundry on a whim...
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