if you've read this post already, i changed the baptism video link. the old one was posted and we finally got a copy of the new one.
i hope you like xoxo
I write a lot about Epic Church Philadelphia here, so I thought I'd give a little play-by-play about what a Sunday morning at Epic is like...
Epic services are held at 9am and 10:15am on Sunday mornings at the United Artists Theater in the Manayunk section of Philadelphia.
When you enter the theater, one of the greeters at the door will make you feel welcome right away. Everyone is always so friendly! Stop by the information table and check out some reading material...or steal some mints...
Make your way back to the actual theaters and you'll see where you can sign your kids in, if you're interested in them being in the nursery or in Epic Kids. The volunteers who watch the children love serving and love the kids! I would know - I served in the nursery for awhile, but now taking a break to help out with the greeters.
Before you go into the theater, make sure you grab a cup of coffee, tea, or juice, and then hit the donut and bagel table. We wouldn't want you to sit hungry, right? And it's just not right to be in a movie theater without snacks...
Service starts with our Worship Team playing two or three worship songs. This used to be a part of the service I wasn't crazy about, since I was so used to much more subdued Catholic hymns, but it has now become one of my favorite parts. The songs are beautiful. Here are some links to example of what it's like... :)
Hillsong - With Everything
Hillsong - Forever Reign
Chris Tomlin - Holy is the Lord
Hillsong - Inside Out (one of my FAVORITES!)
Hillsong - Mighty to Save
It's really amazing to be in an auditorium full of people just singing their hearts out without caring at all what they sound like. It's beautiful! Oh and our worship team rocks! So no matter what the rest of us sound like, they make it fantastic. I love them.
After Worship, we take a minute to greet some of the people sitting around us, and then we usually watch a quick clip like "Epic People," where we meet some of the other people who go to Epic. Cody and I got to do one about a year ago and it was fun! People recognized us after the video and it was much easier to meet new friends.
After the video the beautiful and all-around awesome Sarah makes announcements about what's going on in the coming weeks. For example, our next baptism is next Sunday the 27th.
I LOVE going to the baptisms. My baptism was one of the best days of my life. If you want to check out a link to what the day was like, go here! I'm so excited I got over my fear of public speaking and could give my testimony. What's really, really cool is how many people usually come up to me or Cody after the services they play this video and tell us how we moved them to tears. It gets me all warm and fuzzy inside haha. If you can't tell, I'm the one with the glasses and striped shirt. My dear friends Amanda and Paul "dunked" me, while Kent and Jake did Cody at the same time.
Sarah also talked about our upcoming service projects. We're doing three in the coming months. The first is serving dinner at Hope Lodge, a home for cancer patients and their caretakers. In May we're doing the Mother's Day Home Makeover for a single mother in the area who could use some help around the house (so excited to work on this one!!). The final one planned is in July at Chosen 300, feeding the population of that homeless shelter. It's amazing how quickly the service projects fill up. I love how the Epic group loves to volunteer their time, money, and hearts!!
Then we hop into the message series... delivered by our Lead Paster Kent (officient at our wedding if you may remember) or the Teaching Pastor Jake (a great friend of ours and a reader at our wedding). Today, Kent started a new message series called "Man in the Mirror." It's all about becoming more responsible for our own actions in our life. It was a terrific message today, and if you're interested, you can check out the podcast when it's posted later in the week.
The service is then finished with the offering and a final song of worship with our worship team. I ALWAYS walk out feeling like a new person... sometimes I'm newly inspired to take action somewhere in my life. Sometimes I feel confident that my life choices are positive, sometimes I feel they're negative and I need to take action. Sometimes I'm in tears, sometimes I'm walking on air, and I'm almost always moved to DO something.
After the service, we usually hang out for a bit and catch up with friends. So many of our friends we hang out with on a regular basis are from Epic, so we'll make plans for the week, or we'll reconnect with some people we only are able to catch up with on Sundays. Either way, it's awesome. It's like a family reunion every week, filled with family members you pretty much love.
Cody and I started coming to Epic in August 2009, and it has seriously 100% changed our life. I hope that you'll come visit sometime. :)
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