one night a week where , if say I was a guitar player at our main campus in development , I would go on Thursday nights and meet at seven o ’ clock and there would be a coach for each instrument . So , I would go and play my song and then I would get coached . “ Hey lets tweak this , lets try this thing …” whatever , and then I ’ d play the song again and get coached , and then I ’ d go watch the next person come up that ’ s in the development process and they would get coached . And this will go on and on week after week . And yes we want you to get good , but we also want you to meet new people and learn how to hang out and meet new musicians , and that ’ s kind of the real back-story of the development process is getting to know our teams . Once we feel really comfortable with that we graduate you through that process and then we start scheduling you at a campus . That ’ s the basic process .
[ WM ] Given the massive undertaking of your Christmas service , what are some of the dividends that you ’ ve seen and heard about ?
[ Chris ] I actually ask myself that question , I do . I ’ ll look at the budget and what it costs and the people that watched it and I ’ ll say , “ Was that worth it ?” There are lots of other people on the team that will determine that , and of course it was massively positive feedback . We had reports of many people that have been saved through that , we always have a salvation opportunity in every service that we do but especially our Christmas message . The hope is that people that don ’ t know Jesus would come out and find the Lord . And the people who are far away or this year has been really difficult for and have wandered away … would come back to the Lord . It ’ s crazy , it ’ s one out of three people that join our church came for their first time to a Christmas service . One out of three . That ’ s a crazy number for us , so that alone is worth the effort for us . Our senior pastor puts it in great perspective for us , he said , “ Jesus , this is our Christmas present to you .” The work and effort that ’ s put into it . So that ’ s kind of our motto , and what we live by during that season .