ZionFireFriends

Hi Everyone,



My worship backround. I started flipping overheads then after 4 years was asked to sing with the worship team. Then in '93 had our first child and stepped back to become just wife and mom for a season. In '96 finally connected with the illusive dance group in our area that I had heard about. Joined with Jean Mabry and her area wide group Benote Tzion at that point. I am still part of them but am not able to practice with them regularly because of commitments in my home church. Two Rivers Church in Lenoir City, TN.



At the end last year our church moved in to a permenant facility(had been meeting in a high school) and the group that had been comming together to prepare dances and processionals on an event by event basis is now going to be a real entity within our church. We are not wanting to be the "dance group" but want to facilitate freedom of movement in worship. If anyone else is in a group with a simular vision tell me about your experiences. I am not the leader of the group, our tentative name is Wellspring, but seem to be part of the core group within it.



I first met Dean and Helena when they came to Knoxville in '96. I was able to go to Kansas City with Benote Tzion in '98 and greatly enjoyed being able to meet several of the people whose names I see in the introducions. When I was there I assisted Nancy Davis with props and danced too.





Blessings

Amy Haun

Hi Amy.... and welcome. So glad that you joined us! It's nice to hear from a Benote Zionite. We've had some great ministry times with y'all.

Quote:We are not wanting to be the "dance group" but want to facilitate freedom of movement in worship.

I think that is a worthy goal....but my first question would be....is that the pastor's vision for the function of your group? That's going to be an important consideration in whether you will be successful. Freeing up people to physically express their worship is a passion of ZionFire too...however we have found that congregations tend to not respond unless they believe that is what the pastor wants and approves.

I believe we have the blessing of our pastor. As a church we have already been having prayer/worship centered events almost monthly but these are too crowded to allow freedom of movement. So we are actually hoping for fewer people at the Wellspring evening times.



I also forgot to mention, we do realize that our group will also need to have a "dance group" component to prepare dances/processionals/etc for the congregation. Though our church is using video cafes to cater to the needs of different parts of the congregation, I suspect you are familiar with this format if not I can explain more. It is almost as if we have a couple of seperate congregations meeting at the same time but listening to the same sermon. It does complicate the visual arts and we are still in the process of figuring out what the video cafe format will mean especially when it comes to processionals and prepared pieces. What fits the large room(~500 seats) with very high ceiling would not fit in the smaller room(150 seats). Also, as meetings are happening at the same time in different rooms we end up with some basic logistical problems. Have not figured out how to be in two places at one time. These are still new questions to us as we just moved into our facility the week before Christmas.



Blessings

Amy

Hi, FTS. Nice to meet you. Look forward to seeing you around.

The video cafe concept sounds intriguing. I imagine it is something like having overflow rooms? Only with specific themes? Maybe you can talk a little more about it and how it is works.

Yes - I missed that! Sounds interesting in the extreme!