After some brainstorming and prayerstorming we’ve made a decision. Like all other changes at NCC, we’re viewing this as an experiment. That takes some of the pressure off.

We’re going to add a third service @ Union Station. And we’re going to do all three in the Grand Theater. It’s the largest and nicest theater @ Union Station and we already have sound and lights so we don’t have to buy another set of equipment or double our ministry teams. It does mean a long morning, but I think it’s the best way to reach more people.

The 9 AM gathering will have a live message and children’s ministry. The 10:15 will alternate live/video. And the 11:30 will be our video message option. Everything else will remain the same.

You don’t have to be a mathematician to know that our services will have to be a little shorter. We’ve trended toward 70-75 minute services at Union Station. We’ll have to shoot for 60-65 minute services. We don’t want to compromise worship so we’ll trim messages to 30-35 minutes. I honestly think that is a good challenge for me. And we may need to reinvent and/or reduce announcements.

Just want to give a shout out to our ministry leaders and volunteers. I never ceased to be amazed at the flexibility and servanthood of NCCers. Every transition like this poses challenges. But we’re really hoping for an influx of volunteers in all of our ministries!

We’ll launch our new service times the first weekend in March–March 4. That’ll be quite a weekend! We launch NCC en Espanol at our Ballston location that same weekend. We’ll go from 5 to 7 services in one weekend.