Before We Gather – January 2026

Trailview Alliance   -   January 19, 2026

Thank you for being part of the team that helps our church encounter Jesus each week!

As I write this, I am listening to a podcast about why people come to church. According to the Barna Group, the number 1 reason people come to church today is to experience an authentic encounter with Jesus. This means that each week, people are coming through our doors wanting and expecting us to help them encounter Jesus. The questions that come to mind as I think about this are, “How well are we doing at helping people encounter Jesus?” and “What can I do to help people consistently encounter Jesus in our worship services?

While we can’t make an encounter with Jesus happen for people, only the Spirit can do that, there are things we can do partner with the Spirit. As leaders, it’s our job to create an environment where encounters can happen — to set the table and invite people to that table. We can partner with the Spirit in creating encounters with Jesus by:

• eliminating distractions or detractors in our services,
• thinking through transitions between songs and service elements,
• creating moments for people to pause, be still, breathe, and reflect — these are opportunities when the Spirit may speak.
• choosing elements that reinforce the chosen scripture passage or theme of the morning,
• considering what we will say and how we will say it–writing out a prayer that will be offered or memorizing a piece of scripture that you will speak from memory instead of reading it,
• coming prepared both in spirit and in our skills and talent.

Each moment you plan, craft and prepare for can contribute to creating an environment where those you are leading can encounter Jesus through the Spirit and experience profound life change. Can you imagine what might happen in our church and city if people encountered Jesus every week through our worship services?

We desire to partner with the Spirit by creating consistent worship experiences and environments that facilitate encounters with Jesus. We want to see Sunday morning become a time of significant spiritual formation for everyone. I invite you to take some time over the coming weeks to talk with the Spirit about what you are doing and what he might like you to do to make this desire a reality. Will you prayerfully consider how you might partner with the Spirit to facilitate an encounter with Jesus through our worship services?

If the Spirit speaks to you or if you have ideas you’d like to talk through, we’d love to hear from you. Please reach out to Pastor Greg or me.

Something New

One of the things we will do to begin creating a consistent experience is to hold a production meeting every Sunday at 9:45 am in the auditorium. At this meeting, we will go through the order of service and discuss the transition moments and cues for each element. After the meeting, we will conduct a sound check with the service host, speaker and anyone else speaking during the service. Any videos being used that morning will also be checked. Lastly, we will spend some time praying together. We believe that by doing these things, we will improve communication between teams and eliminate issues that occur from time to time.

We are asking anyone involved in the service to attend the production meeting at 9:45 am. This includes worship leader, singers, band members, service host, speaker/preacher, outreach moment speaker, sound, visuals, and live stream techs. We recognize that this will require some changes to our schedules and routines, and we want to allow time for our teams to adapt. With this in mind, we will begin having these meetings on March 1.

Looking Ahead

Over the next six weeks, as we prepare to gather, here is where we are going thematically in our services: