And the Mouse Shall Lead Them

I saw this picture today over at Wired Jesus Podcast and could not help but laugh.  What an image!!!  What was the artist thinking or saying with this piece?  It is a sculpture by Alexandre Kosolapov entitled  — “the hero.  the leader.  the god.”  And if you notice that Jesus really has taken the lead as his toes are just out ahead of Lenin’s shoe!!!  I can’t help but picture that after the next few steps you see Lenin and Jesus lifting up a thrilled Mickey off the ground and going “Wheeeeeee!”

1000 Awesome Vounteers

My head continues to spin from last night’s Volunteer Appreciation/Christmas Eve Signup/Training Dinner. (Catchy name ugh?) We had over 800 RSVPs and then over 1000 showed up!!  As you can see from this picture of Craig (Hope’s Senior Pastor), it was a packed gym.  You could feel the excitement in the air as we prepare to enter into a new phase of ministry here at Hope.  We will hold our Christmas Eve services (9 total) in our new sanctuary on December 22-24. 

Last night was a little crazy as we served all these folks — the kitchen crew was awesome.  When Jennifer (our cooking Queen!) heard that we had 800 RSVPs, she wisely planned for 1000.  The menu included delicious soups (seafood gumbo, chicken tortilla and vegetable beef), a wonderful caesar salad and a great assortment of desserts.

Here are some of the highlights from the evening:

1. The food!
2. Seeing the volunteers lined up to sign up for the Christmas Eve services as greeters, info hosts, elf crew (bathroom clean-up duty), outside coneheads (parking crew), inside coneheads (ushers), fire extinguisher team (safety first for the candlelighting), children’s ministry, etc….
3. Craig’s great words of encouragement to all these faithful volunteers.  His talk focused on a recent vacation he took with his family to Disney World.   He reflected on what we can learn about serving others from Disney’s commitment to all their guests.  (See previous post on Disney and a great read Be Our Guest)  He cast the vision with excellence as usual.  In speaking of the “Disney Magic” he pointed us to the even more magical message that we communicate here — the life-changing message of Christ.
4. The training sessions we had with the various teams went well.
5. The tours of the new lobby and sanctuary was a real treat for these volunteers.
6. Seeing the tour groups standing on the stage and praying for God’s work in this new sacred space.

What a great evening. 

Learning from Disney

Disney World and Church can have a lot in common —- that is if we want to learn from one of the best customer service organizations in the world. At Hope Church we have talked about how to learn from organizations who really know how to serve people well and Disney comes up consistently. In fact we have even talked about taking some staff and key leaders on a study tour to the Magic Kingdom. They actually have “behind the scenes” tours that you can take. Check this one out:

Backstage Magic Tour

Anyway, the reason Disney came to my mind is that I was reading a post from Gary Lamb on his recent trip to Disney World with his family. They had a great time, and he came away with some insights of how to be more effective at church. See what you think.

Disney and the Church