I have been the Campus Pastor at my church for two and 1/2 years. For the first two years, I would come up on stage at three different times in the service. Mind you, occasionally I would ask our Student Pastor to do announcements or lead the Welcome, but for the most part – I was on stage at three different times. I thought this was important early on to establish myself and allow the congregation to get used to me as their new Campus Pastor. You see, I was the third Campus Pastor in three years. They needed some stability and consistency.
So, for two years, I would come up on the stage for the Welcome/Announcements, the response (after the video message) and the close at the very end of the service (we do a little Benediction-type thing, where we say a Scripture together to close the service).
However, in the last several months, we have changed how things happen on a Sunday morning. This is largely due to an idea that our Worship Pastor, Matt Rector, had. He introduced the idea of “The Host.” We now have a Host each week. Let me backup: We changed how the three parts of the service work. Now, thanks to Andy Stanley’s Deep and Wide book and Rules of Engagement DVD, we only do a Welcome during the Welcome time (no announcements). Any announcements (and they need to be just one or two) are at the very end of the service, during the close.
Okay, so moving on: The Host rotates each week. Sometimes it’s me. Sometimes it’s our Student Pastor. Sometimes it’s our Kids Pastor. Sometimes it’s our lay LifeGroup Coordinator. Sometimes it’s our lay Serve Coordinator. So here’s what happens on Sundays now:
- At some point near the beginning of the service (maybe after an opening video, an opening song, or even two songs) there is a Welcome. The Host does this. I may be the Host. I may not be and often am not.
- After the message, we have a Response and a time to share the Gospel and lead in prayer. This is done by me each week, unless I’m on vacation. So, in our setting, the Campus Pastor always does the Response.
- After the last song, we have the Closing. This is led by the Host. The Host will share any announcements and then lead the congregation in the closing Scripture together.
So now, in our new model – There are two spots for the Host and one spot for the Campus Pastor. I have been around long enough now and established enough now that’s it’s highly appropriate to share the stage and get others involved. I also think our people really enjoy seeing other up front. I love our new model utilizing the Host and am excited moving forward as we seek to constantly improve our Sunday morning worship experience. What about you? Do you do anything like this in your service? Do you do announcements? If so, where do you do announcements in your service?