Student Ministry has been done. We’ve seen everything from simple home meetings to multimillion dollar, high-energy production driven experiences. In my time as a Student Pastor I’ve had the privilege of being a part of almost the entire spectrum. So as we begin to discover what Student Ministry will truly look like at Elevation Church we aren’t interested in having yet another ministry environment. We want to see students who are far from God become filled with life in Christ.

That is our goal. That is our motivation. That is our vision. If that means we create an incomparable worship experience in a flashy building we’re okay with that. If it means we wipe out student specific worship experiences and focus our energies into getting students serving and connected with each other, we’re going to make it happen. Either way we’re not going to spend a lot of sideways energy creating something that works for a small percentage of the students of Charlotte and will only be “cool��? for the next year and a half.

There is no formula for a revolutionary Student Ministry. There is however a formula for seeing students changed by the revolutionary love of God. Our vision will push us to introduce as many students as we can to that love. As Pastor Furtick said, “Our Vision remains the same but our Strategy will be fluid.��?Â

Phillip McCart, Family Pastor

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We are often asked about how our worship bands practice since we are portable. Let me begin by saying that there is a great deal of value in having a mid-week practice. We are making a concerted effort now to dedicate a room in our office specifically for band practice and recording purposes. However, up until this point in Elevation’s history, the first time the band rehearses for a Sunday worship experience is on Sunday morning. In order to make this work, band members and vocalists must show up at the specified call time knowing all of their material without using charts or lead sheets. Practice then serves to tighten up the song and work on transitions rather than learn parts.

All of our set lists are posted two weeks in advance on Box.net, an online file-sharing site. We post the mp3s, charts, and reason loops we use there, so that the band can download them. One week out from Sunday, each worship leader will follow up with a detailed email to the band with song instructions. Background vocalists are also sent vocal instructions at this time.

The following is the Sunday morning schedule for the band at our Providence campus. Band members arrive at 6 am to set up their gear and be ready for sound check to start right at 6:30. If they are just showing up at 6:30 they are late. It is vital that everything happens right on time, so honoring the call time and making preparations to be there early is in the contract we have with our players and an expectation if they are to continue on the team. Practice then starts at 6:30 and runs until about 7:45. This is enough time to run each song twice at the most. Our production run-through happens right after we are done, no later than 8 am, and all musical and media transitions are practiced and clearly communicated to everyone. The first worship experience then begins at 8:30.

The benefits to having a weekly practice are huge and we hope to be there soon, but this system has worked well for us so far as a portable church.

Wade Joye, Worship Pastor

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At Elevation we like our music loud! We believe the music should be loud, but not painful. Each week we try hard to achieve that balance, however for some people the volume level is something they are not used to experiencing. We want people to feel the music. We started to get several emails each week asking us to turn the volume down, we decided that turning the volume down would compromise the culture of Elevation. Desiring to want to reach people that did not enjoy their music as loud as we do, we decided to provide free earplugs to anyone that wants them.

We decided to have fun with this, and provide an earplug dispensing station. We tell people that we are not turning the music down, but they can plug their ears. There are several different types of dispensers, we us this one. I also like this one for table top setup. We use these earplugs. I am always surprised how many people use these, try it out.

Damion Pirolli – Production Director

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Last week we had a number of questions from church planters asking how we plan our worship experience. Because of our 3 service format we have to plan down to the minute. We also believe that it is important to not only start on time, but to end on time, so that guests have a consistent experience. Every Tuesday we plan out the details of our service in a production meeting that consists of our Pastor, Production Director, Assimilation Pastor, Union Campus Director and our Graphic designer. In that meeting we plan the order of our songs, who is doing announcements, and other creative elements. We generally only do four songs each week.

Our first order of business in our production meetings is to understand what Pastor needs for his sermon. Some weeks Pastor wants a specific song or type of song leading into or out of his message. Some weeks Pastor wants as much time as possible to preach his sermon. After that we usually stick to a format that includes starting the worship experience with two songs, then leads into announcements, then two more songs and into the sermon. After the sermon, Pastor sometimes makes a few announcements and then calls for the offering. While the offering is being passed the band repeats one of the four songs from earlier and then the worship leader dismisses everyone as the band continues to play. If Pastor needs more time, we do three songs before the sermon and one after the sermon. The remainder of our production meeting is spent discussing future creative and song ideas. We always have songs selected two weeks in advance, so the band can prepare and we are beginning to structure the worship experience for that week. Length of our service is always our enemy, our priority is giving Pastor as much time as he needs, which is usually between 47 - 51 minutes. Our total service time is an hour and fifteen minutes. We want to create a unique and creative worship experience, the formats I mentioned above are what most of our worship experiences look like, however we occasionally do a very different format to keep things fresh.

As far as song selection goes, we are open to using secular songs in our worship experience. We try to pick a song that ties into the sermon but not always. We do secular songs to be relevant and derive a spiritual message from the song. Our praise and worship songs are energetic, passionate, and upbeat. We try hard to create an atmosphere of excitement and anticipation of what God is going to do each Sunday.

I am attaching an excel file of the cue sheet we use each Sunday morning. This sheet guides the entire worship experience. Only what is on this sheet happens. The entire band gets one, the sound engineer, the lighting tech, and all the presentation techs. Having a cue sheet in front of these people helps us all stay on the same page and provide a distraction free worship experience.

Damion Pirolli - Production Director

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