MBC- Prince William

You rarely notice them, but without them, our worship service would be an entirely different entity. They’re often in black, hiding backstage or in the booth. They rarely seek out the spotlight, yet they are just as important as the ones onstage. They show up early and stay late.

They are our tech team and I’m incredibly thankful for all that they do. Our MBC PW tech team is primarily comprised of Craig Campesi, Aaron Pounders, and Shirley Park. We’re in the process of training people who can step in when they need to take a weekend off, but on most Sundays they are the folks you see back in the booth.

Craig Campesi has been serving with MBC as non-paid staff since we were all in the Smith Center at Tysons years ago. He can fix almost anything and actually took time off of his full time job to serve with the installation of all the systems at PW. On weekends, he is responsible for the satellite link and lighting. He’s also training volunteers in both those areas, so feel free to contact him if you’d like to serve.

Aaron Pounders came to MBC from Cherrydale Baptist Church in Arlington several years ago. During the week, he serves on our install team but on weekends he is our Audio Magician who makes everything sound great. He and his wife and daughter live in the PW area and he’s glad to have the shorter commute early Sunday morning.

Shirley Park has been with MBC since The Edge began 5 years ago. She took some time off to go back to school, but came back part-time when PW opened. Shirley and I have been friends since the Edge days and I’m thankful of all she does for PW. She is responsible for all the visuals you see on the screens during worship and the sermon.

While Shirley, Aaron, and Craig are the ones you’ll see on weekends, there are several folks who have just as important a job in supporting us. Joel McMullen sends us the sermon video and audio from our broadcast booth back at Tysons. Cheryl Rice puts together the sermon powerpoint presentation for us each week. Ken Wortendyke and his team provide us with all the premade videos and all the live video coverage of the sermon.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Dave Schatzman and Don Hollenbeck, Jr. Dave manages our entire tech team for all the campuses. He also knows every wire in every room at every campus. I might be exaggerating slightly, but I’m not far off the truth. Don serves as the Executive Producer for the church so he oversees it all - music, tech, video, etc. Don makes sure we and the team at Loudoun know everything we need to know about what’s going on back at Tysons. He’s also a great supporter of all the artists in our church.

If you get a chance, be sure to thank this team for al their hard work. They are a critical part of what happens every Sunday at MBC-PW.

Check out some pictures from our launch!

From left to right: Me (Producer, Director of Creative Arts), Alyce (Worship Leader), Mark (Campus Pastor), Denny Harris (MBC Executive Pastor), Kenny Choi (Director of Adult Ministries), Rachel (Director of Ministry Teams),Mary (Director of Kid’s Quest)… not pictured Thomas Kovas (Director of The Rock)

Mark used an example this weekend comparing MBC Prince William to a space shuttle taking off. That’s exactly how I’m feeling right now. Months of preparation have come together, culminating in last weekend’s opening day service. Many of you were there for the service. I loved seeing you all there and experiencing your excitement. It’s likely you had no idea of everything that was going on behind the scenes, so here’s your backstage, all-access pass to the Producer’s view of the MBC Prince William launch.

7:36 am I walk into the auditorium to a flurry of activity. Musicians are plugging their instruments in. Choir members are chatting and getting ready. Shirley is printing sermon notes and finetuning the MediaShout slides. Craig and Aaron are busy setting up mics.

8:00 am Prayer time. The staff and volunteers gather at the stage to pray for the service and for the people coming.

8:05 am Rehearsal time. Alyce and the band run through all the songs again. Denny Harris is happy I didn’t wear a hat this morning. I remind him that I can look like a grownup when needed.

8:35 am Time to rehearse “While I’m Waiting”. Brian’s mic doesn’t work. This is pointed out by practically everyone in the room. Aaron stays calm. We swap out mics and everything is fixed.

8:40 am Theoretically, doors should be open, but we still have to run “God of this City” with the video and Tysons. Take one: Not quite. Ushers are getting impatient. Take two: Close. We’re out of time, so we open doors. Praise God for Kris Campesi and Rachel Fabian for keeping the ushers calm. Mental note: make sure to finish on time next week.

8:59 am Band enters stage. Choir gets in place. And we’re off!

9:20 am Worship is coming to a close. We are a full 3 minutes ahead of where Tysons is. This presents an issue since we need them in order to do “God of this City”. Denny is commissioning the staff. Oh wait, I need to be onstage. Please Lord, where’s the green light saying we’re okay? Denny starts praying…. and there’s the light. Praise God!

9:35 am Okay, we’re in the sermon. I can relax a little. I start getting messages from Tysons asking how many people are here. They’re sending us more bulletins? I didn’t even know we were running low!

10:15 am Service is over. What do I need to tell the band for next time? I check in with Alyce. We attempt to work on several video issues, but it proves to be too much to do between services so Dave and I make a note to fix it during the week.

10:30 am Bulletins arrive. Praise God the attendance is so great that we needed them! Rachel, Janette and the team furiously stuff bulletins while other ushers hand out bulletins to people.

10:45 am Service number two kicks off. Alyce makes a face, but I don’t find out until later that was because she had Tysons’ music in her inear monitors!

10:50 am Already more people at the service than there were at the 9:00 am service!

11:10 am Staff Commissioning… green light is on. We’re ready for the offering song.

11:15 am “God of this City” is sung simultaneously at MBC Tysons, The Edge, MBC Loudoun, and MBC Prince William. “Greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done….”

11:20 am Lon’s sermon. Vision message part 1.

11:50 am Mark dedicates “While I’m Waiting” to all the people who have been faithfully serving the Lord while waiting for Prince William to open.

12:00 pm Services are done! Time to clean up. Wow… hard to believe that we’ve actually opened! All in all, we had 220 children and 880 adults in services, many more than we’d expected. I’m really pleased with how it all went. Of course, there are details that we’ll work on and improve upon, but for opening weekend, God truly provided!

I can’t tell you how personally supported I felt by the team at Tysons, Frontline, and Loudoun. I got phone calls, emails, and texts all morning asking how it was going and letting me know they were praying for us. I know that Jim, Todd, and Lon all prayed for us during their services. I’m honored to be a part of the large family that is McLean Bible Church.

And now… we’re open. Our challenge now is to maintain the momentum that has been created. All the preparations weren’t just about September 13th. They were about creating a church that is ongoing. We have services this Sunday, next Sunday, and every week after that. People need to hear the message of Jesus Christ. And that’s why we’re here.

The vision of McLean Bible Church is to make an impact on secular Washington, DC with the message of Jesus Christ.

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I’m praising God for all He did today. All in all, we had 882 attendees between the two services. We had an amazing group of volunteers and staff serving all throughout the building, from parking to Kid’s Quest to the band. I’m excited to see what happens in the coming weeks!

Here’s the story from Todd Adkins, Frontline Executive Pastor, and Katy Kirk, Frontline PW Director of Women’s Small Groups.

Todd and Katy at Opening Day

I’m sitting in rehearsal, listening to Alyce and the band rehearse, watching Craig train several potential volunteers. Shirley is updating some slides to make sure the lyrics are accurate. Aaron is fiddling with knobs and faders to adjust the sound in the room. Rachel is setting up the Newcomer Room. Mary and her team are putting last minute touches in the children’s classrooms. I’m in the middle of all this activity and I can’t help but be amazed at all the Lord has done here over the past several years.

I remember when the idea of a campus in Prince William County was proposed in a congregational meeting. We were in the midst of launching MBC Loudoun and working on launching MBC Uptown. CAM (Creative Arts Ministry) already felt stretched like a rubber band. I’ll admit, I didn’t know how we could add another campus without losing our minds.

It has been incredible to see how the Lord has orchestrated the launch of this campus. There have been setbacks along the way, but God’s timing is perfect. As we’ve been gaining speed this summer, I am in awe of the number of volunteers the Lord has provided. We have over 300 volunteers signed up already. And we haven’t even begun regular services!

I think it’s important to remember that, no matter how amazing the staff and volunteers are (and they are amazing), we couldn’t have done this on our own. MBC Prince William is definitely an example of the Lord moving through His people.

And now, we’re almost there. 18 hours to go. Services begin tomorrow. But tomorrow is just the beginning. I can’t wait to see what God does tomorrow and in the months to come.

For those of you who are joining us from MBC Tysons, Alyce should be a familiar face.  Alyce has been at MBC Tysons for years.  She has lead the Worship Group, sang solos, and played keys on a regular basis.  Alyce also led worship at the MBC Women’s Conference in 2008 and leads at The Edge and MBC Loudoun from time to time.

As you should know by know, Alyce is our Worship Leader here at MBC Prince William.  We are truly blessed to have her.  Not only is she an amazing singer, but she has a tremendous heart for worship. it’s clear that God has blessed her with a heart for worship and for people.

Alyce grew up in the DC area and has served in the music ministry of several different churches.  She also worked for some time as a teacher, so she’s extremely organized (which I appreciate!) and loves kids. She and her husband Walter, are fluent in Spanish and Italian.  Sharing an office with her has helped me to remember my Spanish skills!  They recently adopted a Yorkie, Rocco, and are working on puppy training.

If you haven’t met Alyce yet, feel free to say hi this weekend at the preview service.  9:00 am and 10:45 am.  Kid’s Quest and The Rock will both be open.  See you Sunday!

Everyone has an idea of what it is like to be “in ministry”.  Some of it is what you would expect - relationship building, events, outreach, Bible study.  And then, there is the rest.  The “other duties as assigned”.  The things you never expect to do as part of your job.  Mark Davis can now add “wear a plunger on your head” to that list.  Ask him about it sometime.

I’ve been experiencing a lot of these “other duties” over the past few months, so I thought I’d share in no particular order.  (side note- I love these “other duties”.  They have been a lot of fun.  I just never expected to do them as part of my job).

1.  Join Twitter - yes, this is a plug.  @stephcue.  Follow me.  I promise you’ll learn something.  And if not, you’ll still have fun. I resisted for a while, but I’ve caved.

2. Research the shelf life of glow sticks - For years, I was the resident expert on glow sticks.  We used them on Christmas Eve when the Fire Marshall wouldn’t let us use candles anymore.

3. Locate a surfboard - On a Friday afternoon at 4 pm. Needed it for the KIDStuff rehearsal Saturday morning. Oh, and 90% of our staff is off on Fridays.  (God provided one through Kent Husted.)

4. Find a portable water heating system - This was today’s assignment. We’re trying to find a way to keep the water warm in the baptistry from Saturday night to Sunday morning. We don’t want anyone to be baptized in freezing cold water!

5. Take a self-defense course - Just trying to be prepared in case anything were to happen on a weekend.

6. Be wardrobe consultant - Men, you won’t understand this one. It’s hard for women to pick outfits that meet all the prerequisites for cameras (no white or black, preferably solid colors, no loud patterns) while also maintaining appropriate modesty.  All this while also trying to look cute!  It’s a balancing act.

7. Watch cheesy Christmas movies - It was research for the Christmas show a few years ago.  Nothing I saw in the movies I watched was actually used in our show.

8. Produce a Korean event where everyone involved only spoke Korean. I do not speak any Korean. It was very interesting for all of us tech folks.  It’s hard to take cues when you can’t understand what the people onstage are saying.

9. Produce an event where the lead act takes off his shirt during the concert.  Seriously.  Also in this category: watch the artist dump salad all over the stage, bring his dog onstage, sing about his cat, or try to fix me up with his son.

And finally…. 10. Blog.  Someone referred to me as a “blogger” and it totally caught me by surprise.  But I guess, technically speaking, I am. 

I’m sure I will have more over the coming months.  Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences.

Hi everyone.  As we are gearing up for the launch of our new campus, I wanted to introduce you to the people who are working with our Creative Arts Ministry.  Over the next several weeks, you will be introduced to our music, worship, and tech folks.  (I’m making it sound like we have a huge staff… we really don’t… but we do have a great staff who do the work of a much larger team.) 

To start this off, I thought I’d introduce myself.  Hi.  I’m Stephanie Quick.  I’m the Producer here at MBC Prince William.  I lead an amazing team of folks who make the services happen.  I get to work with Alyce and Mark on planning and implementing our weekly services and special events. 

I grew up in a nominally Christian home but didn’t come to know Jesus until college.  I’m sure I’ll write more about that it in a future post.

I came on staff with MBC shortly after college, exactly 10 years ago.  I remember telling God I wasn’t sure about working for a church, but that I’d try it for a year.  God obviously had other plans for me.  I’ve served in the Tysons Creative Arts Ministry for the past 7 years.  In my role, I’ve worked with Tysons Services, The Edge, KIDStuff, the Concert Series, Frontline, and the Gathering.  I’ve been blessed to have been mentored by several amazing artists and leaders over the years.

I’ve lead several small groups and misison trips here at MBC.  my most recent mission trip was to Cambodia, working with girls who were rescued from sexual slavery (once again, I’ll write more in a future post).  I’ve always had a heart for helping people and that trip planted the seed for me go back to school.  I began working on my Master’s in Human Services from Liberty earlier this year.

I am really excited to be here at Prince William.  Everyone I’ve met so far has been a blessing.  If I haven’t met you, feel free to stop by and say hi at the tech area of the auditorium during one of the preview weekends or regular services.  I would love to get to know you and hear your feedback!