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Frequently Asked Questions Change in Worship Times

Development of Worship Center

This publication is intended to answer the most frequently asked questions related to the changes in the Sunday morning Worship Schedule and the development of a new Worship Center for Contemporary Worship.

Sunday Morning Worship Schedule This section addresses changes to the Sunday morning Worship Schedule

New Worship Times

Sanctuary Blended with Choir

8:30 a.m. & 10:00 a.m.

Worship Center Contemporary, band-led 9:00 a.m. & 11:00 a.m.

Why are we changing Worship Times? We are changing the Worship Times for three main reasons.

Simplify: We intuitively know that it is easier to remember times that start on the hour or half hour, and easy-to-remember worship start times helps all of us. It’s simple! Elevate: Moving the worship band from one room to another every Sunday morning compromises our ability to provide our best worship experience as well as innovate in Contemporary Worship. Excellence and creativity in Contemporary Worship demands a consistent setting. Elevate. Invite: It is easier to invite the community to our worship when you can depend upon the following:

Live preaching by the Lead Pastor in all services of Worship Commitment to excellence in all that we do Great hospitality and follow-on activities designed for each worshipping community

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When will the new Worship Times be implemented? The current plan, fully dependent upon the renovation schedule (See Worship Center Section below), is to open the Worship Center on March 1, 2017, and begin the new Worship Schedule on Sunday, March 5, 2017. If the renovation can’t be completed by March 1, the new times will be implemented early summer. The new schedule and the timing of the renovation will be confirmed by the end of December 2016. What happens to the 11:10 am contemporary service in the Sanctuary? All contemporary worship will move to the Worship Center. The new Worship Center will hold up to 500 people and can accommodate our current contemporary worshipping communities as well as allow for growth of those same communities.

Sunday Morning Sunday Community Schedule This section addresses changes to the Sunday morning Sunday Community Schedule How are the Adult Sunday Communities affected by these changes? For most of our existing Adult Sunday Communities, you will find that you will experience very little impact other than adjusting to the 8:30 a.m. service time. Each Adult Sunday Community will have the opportunity to worship-link to a worship time. As each Sunday Community works with its leadership structure you will have opportunity to identify a service of worship to which you will connect. We encourage you to look for more detailed information in the New Year.

What does Worship-Link mean? Each Adult Sunday Community is invited to worship-link to a particular service of Worship. Your Adult Sunday Community will identify a service of worship where you will attend and then go from the service of Worship to your Sunday Community. Of course, this works the other way, too, as you might meet before a particular service of Worship and then go to Worship together.

Why is Worship-Linking important? Providing a consistent connection point between Worship and an Adult Sunday Community enables us to invite new people into our communities. It’s an easy way to say, “we meet after (or before) the 8:30 a.m. service on the second floor.” It’s part of our effort to continue to simplify Sunday mornings and provide lots of opportunity for invitation.

Are there any other changes to Adult Sunday Communities? With the new Worship Schedule, we see opportunity to begin to form new and differently focused adult discipleship activity for families worship-linked to the Contemporary Worship Schedule. This includes gathering places for new participants and worshippers, increased focus on creating small group infrastructure during the week and focus on the worship and discipleship experience of the whole family.

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Sunday Morning Nursery, Children & Student Community Schedule This section addresses changes to the Sunday morning Nursery, Children & Student Experience How are Nursery Services affected due to the change in Worship Times? The Nursery will be open and available for infants through kindergarten throughout Sunday morning. You will experience no changes in our Nursery Ministry and your young children will continue to be lovingly cared for by our Nursery caregivers.

How are the Preschool Creation Station and Elementary Connection Sunday Schools affected? Preschool and Elementary Sunday School as offered by the Creation Station and the Connection will be available beginning at 10 a.m. and ending at 11 a.m. Drop off times will be from 9:50 a.m. and pick up will be no later than 11:10 a.m.

It seems that the time for Sunday School is shorter — how will I check my children into these activities? Over these last years, we have had the benefit of increased drop-off and pick up times. Under the new schedule, while Sunday School will continue to teach Bible and Christian content for 45 minutes, as well as community building time, the drop off and pick up windows are significantly shorter. We will encourage parents to sign their children into Sunday School as soon as they arrive at the Church with new check-in stations in the Fellowship Plaza. The Children and Student Ministry Staff are already working hard on designing processes and curriculum that will thrive in these new windows of time.

What is the impact on Student Ministries? Student Ministry staff is currently in the process of determining where they might worship-link middle and high school ministry as well as refocusing their curriculum planning to meet the new Worship Schedule. What you can continue to count on is middle and high school ministry in the Weber Street Center as well as great curriculum to support the needs of today’s pre-teen and teenager.

Worship Center This section addresses the development and renovation schedule of a Contemporary Worship Center Where is the Worship Center? The Fellowship Hall will be renovated and function on Sundays as a Worship Center, primarily focused on Contemporary Worship expression. What is the Current Renovation Schedule? The current schedule is to begin renovation in early January and open the new center on March 1, 2017. We are in the process of working with the design/build team and we will make the decision to begin renovation in January 2017, before Christmas. If for some reason we determine we cannot begin the renovation in January, the entire project will begin after Easter with the Worship Time change beginning early June, 2017. Look for more information toward the end of December.

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How many people will the new Worship Center hold? We anticipate that we will be able to seat up to 500 people when the Fellowship Hall is converted into the Worship Center. Will the new Worship Center be available as a multi-purpose room? Yes. While the Worship Center will be designed as a sacred space, we plan for the room to be used during the week for large ministry gatherings and meetings. Will Fellowship Hall be available during construction? No. Once construction is under way, Fellowship Hall will be unavailable. First Pres Staff is working on alternate rooms and plans for the various ministries, including Sunday Worship, and will work with each individual ministry to determine the best plan in this interim period. Will there be any changes to Fellowship Plaza? Yes, we are working on combining the design of both spaces to work together to enhance hospitality on Sundays and during the week.

Worship Center—Project Scope and Related Financing This section addresses the project scope of the Worship Center and budget What spaces will be renovated as part of the development of the Worship Center? The Fellowship Hall and Fellowship Plaza will be renovated as part of this project. The Fellowship Plaza will be designed to include a new Hospitality stop and increased space at the front reception desk. In addition, the design will focus on creating both wayfinding and gathering places in the space to help us both move through the Plaza to the Sanctuary and provide gathering spots for coffee and conversation. The Fellowship Hall will become the Worship Center. The room will be redesigned to accommodate Worship as a sacred space. The stage will be designed to host a worship band and the audio/visual/lighting components of the space will be substantially upgraded. While the space will still be multi-purposed for meetings and large gatherings during the week, the overarching look and feel of the space will move from the current “banquet” feel to a worship space. How long is the renovation? We expect the renovation to take up to eight weeks. Fellowship Hall will be closed during the entire renovation period. Fellowship Plaza will be available during the renovation, although portions of the plaza space may be off limits from time-to-time. How much will the renovation cost? We are currently working with the design/build team finalizing architectural drawings and budget for this project. We will continue to work with your First Pres Trustees and Session. The Trustees will approve the final budget.

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Will we get to see any drawings or artists rendition of the new designs? Yes. Once all the design decisions are made, we will put large design boards in the Fellowship Plaza for everyone to see.

Other Thoughts! This section addresses other program and ministry impacts to be anticipated as a result of these changes. Have we considered the impact on parking on Sunday mornings? Yes, we have analyzed the impact on parking and at this time we should be able to accommodate this new schedule with our existing parking. As we experience growth in Worship, parking on Sundays will be something we will begin planning for immediately following this change. Will our Sunday Hospitality Ministry increase to respond to the new Worship Center? Yes, we will have two hospitality places as part of the renovation. There will be a Hospitality stop added to the Fellowship Plaza area primarily focused on families with children. This Hospitality stop will have increased ability to do children’s check-in and program registration among other things. Our second Hospitality stop, Guest Central, will continue to function as it does currently. After the immediate planning for the renovation, we will begin to consider how these two Hospitality stops work together and meet the needs of the communities they serve.

How Will I Stay Informed on This Project? Once the project is finalized and begins implementation, you will find regular updates on the web at www.first-pres.org. We will keep regular updates in the First Pres Library and through Happenings. We recognize that both the changes to the Worship Schedule and the subsequent renovations are exciting and everyone will want to know what is going on!! Don’t worry, we will keep you as informed as we possibly can.