The World According To Chris Brewer

Yesterday was an awesome church service. Bishop Don Knoblich, Washington state’s presiding bishop for COGOP, spoke and gave a good message. Chris and Siu May boosted Junior Camp, and from what I saw they’ve really got a good handle on the Junior camp ministry. We had a packed house, I don’t know the exact number but we filled the Hathaway Elementary School cafeteria (the building we’re currently renting) and even though the place is somewhat small, it was nice to see standing-room only.

Our church has a lot of kids. I counted about twenty there yesterday. New Horizons has historically had a thriving children’s ministry, and it’s in large part due to the bus ministry our church has. We have volunteers willing to drive all around Vancouver, Camas and Washougal to pick up kids so they can come to church. How awesome is that. Not too many churches our size have the resources for a bus ministry, but ever since we were the Vancouver church in the early 90’s we’ve had the people and cash to operate a 15-passenger van for the kids and youth.

We also got a good boost yesterday for Camp Wa-Ri-Ki, which is our upcoming weekend retreat from March 2-4. The theme this year is “Soul Search” and we’re gonna have more involvement from people around the state than in recent years. Sounds like attendance is gonna be up, too. Rainier appointed me as his technology coordinator for the retreat, so I’ll be running all video/computer related things as well as creating staff lanyards for the retreat. Which reminds me, I need to draw some mockups and get them approved Wednesday.

Thank the Lord we have so many people at our church who are adept at shooting and editing video. Rainier, Dan, Bob R., and Jon come to mind…they do a good job and it’s nice to see because it enables me to serve in an advisory capacity rather than get my hands dirty, so to speak. Especially when I have to leave church at 1:00 each Sunday and head straight to work, where I shoot and edit video anyway. God bless those guys, they do a good job.

Props to Pastor Smith and Rainier for utilizing technology in whatever ways they can, let alone merely realizing the impact audiovisual productions can have on people inside and outside of the church. In fact the church Finance Committee is helping us out too…Dan and I signed our names to a document urging the committee and church to allocate funds for a high-definition consumer camera, and they’re intensely looking at it. Don’t know if they’re 100% sold on the idea but they received it well from what I was told.

It’s refreshing to see that our church leadership is willing to go the extra mile when it comes to new technology for the church. During the last two years at the church I previously attended, it was like pulling teeth to get any sort of order and control over what I did in the multimedia ministry. Leaders who weren’t too tech-savvy had an iron grip on the audiovisual department, and it led to me walking away from the multimedia ministry there. At New Horizons, I’m glad to be involved with the tech team — even if it is just an advisory capacity — because our leaders realize what a tremendous asset multimedia is and are willing to learn all about it.

Things are going great at the church. Every time I go there people still ask how my family is doing, and it has been at least six years since my entire family attended New Horizons full-time. That shows how great the people are there.

Check out the church’s website at www.newhorizons-church.org. Also, here’s a flyer and a promo video for Camp Wa-Ri-Ki. Enjoy!