4 Months Left!! 

Holy moly, how time has flown by! It feels like just yesterday was my first day as an Intern, and now I only have 4 months left!!

At the beginning of this month, I was given the opportunity to program the lighting for our halftime show during this year's Preachoff services! I have been working on it ever since then, and I still have some things to do, and preachoff is this weekend!!! Luckily, it is very few things that will not take long to do, it is crazy looking back at how much time and planning go into this one service. I have also been helping with the campus's production setup for Preachoff. We are doing something new this year (no i will not tell you, NO SPOILERS!) and because of that, we have to manually configure some settings in our video switcher software at each campus. I have been tasked with figuring out that configuration and applying it at every campus. How exciting! I feel like the focus has been on Preachoff since Christmas ended. Time has flown by quite fast, and I can't wait for this Super Awesome Sassy Service!!

This month, all of us interns were led on a spiritual retreat by Cindy Casey. We met at Maumee Bay State Park and stayed for 24 hours. It was a Solitude and fasting retreat. We were asked not to communicate with anyone but God. Every intern had a room to themselves, and were tasked with a list of things to accomplish and work on during our alone time. I started off reading a few chapters in Genesis, and then moved into reading the whole book of James. From there, I worked on more tasks in the list, which was very helpful in keeping me occupied. I will say, it was very difficult not being able to talk to anyone for 24 hours, for a while there I thought it was going to be a VERYYYY long night! But as the night went on, I spent more time in my Bible, and it ended up being perfect!

I have been trusted with quite a few tickets this past month. You may be asking yourself "what is a ticket?" In production, a ticket is submitted by a staff member or volunteer when something is not working. That ticket is then automatically assigned to the staff member responsible for fixing the issue. This month, I have been assigned a few tickets from my supervisor for issues I needed to solve. Some were as easy as replacing a cord, and some as difficult as long back-and-forth phone calls with customer support. You don't always go into solving these issues fully understanding what the issue is, which makes it even more difficult. But that makes it even more fun when you are trying to find a solution!

*A note from my picture! This is an awesome picture I took while working on one of my projects down at the Findlay campus!*

This very important piece of information deserves it's own section... The Whitehouse staff had a bowling outing earlier this month.... AND I BEAT SPENCER OSBORNE..... NOT ONCE.... BUT TWICE!!! That is all.

This Month's Song: I Surrender - Hillsong United

VERSE 1

Here I am, down on my knees again

Surrendering all, surrendering all - What in your life do you need to surrender to the Lord today?

Find me here, Lord as You draw me near - Where is God drawing nearer to you in your life today?

Desperate for You, desperate for You - What part of your life is most desperate for the Lord to work in?

I surrender

VERSE 2

Drench my soul, As mercy and grace unfold

I hunger and thirst, I hunger and thirst - In what ways do you see your spiritual life being hungry for God?

With arms stretched wide, I know You hear my cry

Speak to me now, speak to me now - In what ways has God recently spoken to you?

CHORUS

I surrender, I surrender - What would it look like for you to surrender to God the thing from above?

I wanna know You more, I wanna know You more - How can you become closer to the Lord?

I surrender, I surrender

I wanna know You more, I wanna know You more - What would it look like for you to become closer to the Lord?

BRIDGE

Like a rushing wind, Jesus breathe within

Lord have Your way, Lord have Your way in me - What in your life do you need to let go of and fully trust in God's plan?

Like a mighty storm, stir within my soul

Lord have Your way, Lord have Your way in me - What would it look like for you to let go of that thing?

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 🎉

We did it everyone, we survived all of the Christmas services!! Just at the Whitehouse campus, 2,009 people attended for our Christmas services! 

This month was packed full of fun and chaos, but a good kind of chaos! The Perrysburg campus was the location of choice for the event Catching Up With Jack. I got to assist with the prep and operations before and after the event, and got to serve on stationary camera during the event. During this event, the Christian band Rend Collective was there and sang a bunch of their songs. This was my first time ever seeing a Christian band or artist in person, it was such an amazing experience! Speaking of concerts..... I FINALLY GOT TO SEE TRANS SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA!!! It was one of the coolest experiences in my life! The amount of lighting and special effects they have is insane. They had REAL FIREWORKS that went off inside the Huntington Center, how CRAZY is that! Although we didn't have fireworks at our Christmas services, we did have a number of fun effects! We started our journey at Christmas inside the train station, and slowly traveled through the different emotions that are commonly felt around the holidays. We started the service with some holiday classics like Underneath the Tree, Holiday Road, and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. And ended with Emmanuel and Go Tell it on the Mountain, where we made it snow in the auditorium! At the beginning of the month, we saw one of the highest numbers of baptisms at the Whitehouse Campus, right around 10!! Ending the month, I got to see & Juliet with one of my best friends, it was one of my favorite musicals to date!

Going back to last month's blog, a few people guessed the picture correctly! If you attended one of the Christmas services, you probably saw me in the background of the train towards the beginning. That was a behind-the-scenes pic from the filming of the train car!

This Month's Song: Behold - Phil Wickham

Verse 1

Behold the King has come Divinity incarnate

Creator of the world Breathing our air - What does it mean to you that the God who created our world is breathing the same air as us?

Behold what light has come And the dark cannot contain it - Where do you currently see darkness in your life, and how does Christ’s light speak into that?

The Savior of the world Is finally here - How does knowing Jesus is here with you shape your faith?

Chorus

Oh, come, let us adore Him

Come, let us adore Him

For He alone is worthy

Christ the Lord

Verse 2

Behold, the Father's love Beyond all comprehension

He gave His only Son To die in our place - How do you respond to the idea that the Father gave His only Son for you?

Go and see that empty tomb He's not there, for He is risen - Where in your life do you need to trust that Jesus is alive and working, not finished?

Every heart prepare Him room Jesus Christ, the King of Heaven - What does it look like for you to prepare him room in this season of life?

Bridge

We give You all the glory 

We give You all the glory - How can you continue to give God all the glory even in the hard times?

We give You all the glory

Christ the Lord

We praise Your name forever- What are you praising God for in your life today?

We praise Your name forever

Jesus, we praise Your name forever

Christ the Lord

It's Christmas Time!

I feel like I say this every time, but can you believe that another month has already passed!

This month, we held our At The Movie Series, a fun service to bring your friends and enjoy a box of popcorn! I was able to program all of this month's Propresenter files for the campuses. Every campus chooses a different theme to decorate its lobby for this series. At Whitehouse, we decided to cover our lobby with Toy Story! For the fourth weekend, every campus did an opening song that correlates with their campus theme. Whitehouse did the classic song from Toy Story, You've Got a Friend in Me. Since the song is simple, I was asked to program the lighting for the song to be used on the weekend. That was my first piece of lighting programming that was used during a weekend service! I was also asked to program the closing song for this year's Christmas services, and I am so excited to continue perfecting it! This month, I have been mainly focusing on perfecting my skills on programming in Propresenter and lighting.

This month I got to see some family members for the holidays that I have not seen in a long time, it was awesome to be able to see them again! There are two non church related events that I am looking forward to this upcoming month. The past two years, I was gifted tickets to go see Trans Siberian Orchestra, but was never able to go because it always fell on the date of the Junior High musical. Since I am no longer in High School and do not have to help with the shows, I am able to go this year! Myself, and two friends were able to get good price floor seats right next to their tech booth! The second event I am really looking forward to is a musical. I fell in love with the soundtrack of & Juliet, and have been wanting to see the musical ever since I heard the music last year. I am going with one of my best friends to see the musical at the Stranahan Theater later in December!

This month I would love prayers for the following!

• Energy and health
• Growing in my leadership
• Growing in my relationship with Christ
• Growing others on my teams

(I would love to hear your guesses as to what you think is happening in my picture at the beginning of this post!!)

This Month's Song: Rest On Us - Maverick City Music

VERSE 1

As the Spirit was moving over the water

Spirit come move over us - What do you need to surrender in your life to let the Holy Spirit move in you?

Come rest on us come rest on us

VERSE 2

Fire and wind come and do it again

Open up the gates let Heaven on in - What gate or object in your life is stopping you, that you need to open up and study?

Come rest on us come rest on us

CHORUS

Come down Spirit when You move - How do you see the Holy Spirit moving in your life?

You make my heart pound - What is God currently doing that is fulfilling your life?

When You fill the room

You're here and I know You are moving - Where do you see God moving in other peoples lives?

I'm here and I know You will fill me

BRIDGE

Holy Spirit

Come rest on us

You're all we want You're all we want

Another month complete!

October has been a great month in the Art's ministry, filled with two big services. At the beginning of the month I had the pleasure of producing our 30-year anniversary service! Can you believe that CedarCreek has been around for 30 years?! The service was filled with a beautifully filmed documentary that captured the story and purpose of the church. For those of you that have been around since the beginning of the church, how much did you love getting to worship to Sing Sing Sing again!? And what better way to wrap up our 30-year service then with baptisms! We experienced 5 baptisms at the Whitehouse campus that weekend! Over the entire 30-year weekend, CedarCreek as a whole experienced 87 people dedicate their life to Christ that weekend! Which brings us to a total of 639 baptisms at CedarCreek just this year alone (not counting November!) Last year we had a total of 443 baptism at this time. This puts us 44% ahead of last years baptisms at this time, how incredible is that! In the middle of the month, all of us interns planned a trip to visit Cedar Point for their Halloweekend..... As someone who DOES NOT enjoy being scared, I was very grateful for Lori letting me borrow her light up necklace to keep the scary people away from me..... Wrapping up this month with one of my favorite services, Halloweekend! I produced the service at the Whitehouse campus again this year, but DID NOT set off the fire alarm this year!! VICTORY!

We went on a few other fun trips this month besides Cedar Point. Cindy Casey lead us on a day retreat at the 5-7-7 foundation were we did an in depth study of the six spiritual disciplines. We got to spend time together with all of the interns and our mentors, but more importantly we grew stronger in our faith! We took a trip to the Huntington Center towards the end of this month were we got to learn from Jason Jones. He works with a company called Live Nation, where he gets assigned to different shows and touring productions being their production manager. We got to see what he does and who he gets to work with, and also got to ask questions about how his life at CedarCreek influences his work there.

Can you believe that we are already in the month of November? You know what that means..... CHRISTMAS IS HERE!! You might be thinking that we have to get through thanksgiving first... but lets be real here.... IT IS CHRISTMAS TIME! The central team has already been planning and working on the Christmas services for months, and now it is our turn to start prepping. Alexa and I have been talking multiple times a week about Christmas. So as far as I am concerned, turn on the Christmas music, bake those snow flake cookies, and put up those lights! Because in the words of Mariah Carey... "IT'S TIMEeEeEeEe!"

This month I have been working in strengthening my skills in programming the software we use for lyrics and slides on the screens at the campuses. I have been asked to step into programming this for the entire At The Movies series! I also recently stepped in to learning how to program the lighting for all of CedarCreek. It has been an exciting journey and I am looking forward to growing in these skills through out the rest of my internship!

This month I am celebrating quite a few things! First, I am celebrating the success of all of the Super Awesome Special Services! We made it through 30-year and Halloweekend without any projectors dying or in ear packs falling into toiles (If you know you know...)! Second I am celebrating my growth, spiritually and as a leader! This internship has given me multiple tools and opportunities to step in and grow, that way I can help others grow in the same areas! Third, I am celebrating Mia. Mia is someone that hasn't been to church since they were young. I invited her to our 30-year, and Halloweekend service, and now she is rearranging her work schedule to make sure she can come to church on the weekends, and high school mid week on Wednesdays!

I would appreciate prayers for the following!

• Finishing my first semester of college strong
• Making it through this busy SASSY season without any major sicknesses
• Growth in my leadership, and spiritual practices
• Allowing God to use me to grow others in their love of Jesus Christ

This Months Song: Breakthrough - Red Rocks Worship

VERSE 1

VERSE 2 

CHORUS

VERSE 3

BRIDGE

Can you believe 70 days have come and gone already?!

September was filled with so many great memories and events!

Ben Snyder, Lauren Snyder, Cody Scroggins, Cindy Casey, and all of the interns took a trip to Chicago! Our first stop was at Wrigley Field, where we witnessed the Cubs win against the Cardinals. From there, we went and visited the famous Cloud Gate, more formally known as THE BEAN! We spent some time walking around downtown, where we got some snacks from Garrett's Popcorn and the doughnut shop next door. On our way to the LEGO store, we found the Chicago Harry Potter shop! We didn't even know there was a Harry Potter shop in Chicago! On our way out of the LEGO store, Cody may or may not have gotten us lost in the mall when we were on a time crunch to eat at Gino's East.... 

On Sunday, we visited Willow Creek Community church, and met Jackie Glass at her house, where we worked through our different working Genesis. I found out that my two working geniuses are tenacity, and inventive. Also known as IT.... get it..... IT..... I'm in production..... It's funny!! Meaning that I have a strong ability to come up with ideas and problem solve, and strive to get things done. While we were at Jackie's house, we met Joyce and Tobias. They have been married for 16 years and have 2 children. They lived in a different country when they felt God telling them to go help plant and support churches around the world. They helped plant a church in London and Florida, and helped support many other churches throughout their journey. Joyce and Tobias came to the United States to visit for a few weeks, and then COVID hit, and they have been here ever since. Their story helped me, and many others, understand that you will learn obedience by taking the path that God lays down for you. That you can not be at the center of God if you are trying to plan your future. You have to always trust him and his plan, and attempting to change it will only lead you further away to God. There was so much more to their story that I couldn't do justice to by writing it down. To say that we left Jackie's house inspired and motivated to bring people closer to Jesus is an understatement.

We left early Monday morning to come back to Toledo. But instead of watching a show or reading a book like most people do on the ride home, we all talked. We talked about everything we experienced during our trip, and the current and future state of the church.

Overall, the trip was so much fun, and we all had so much fun spending time together over the weekend 

This Month's Song: Move Of God - SEU Worship

VERSE

We've come for a move of God - What does it look like for God to move within your life?

We've come for the Holy One

All we want, all we hunger for is You - Where in your life do you feel hungry for God right now?”

We've come with expectant hearts - Where in your life are you excited to see God move?

Undone, knowing who You are

Lord, we long for what only You can do - What is something in your life that you’re holding onto or worrying about that only God can change or do?”

Holy Spirit come like

Make us desperate,

tear our idols down - What are some Idols that are blocking us from getting closer to God?

We're repentant, this is

still Your house

Yeah, You meant it when You said

You'd pour Your Spirit out - How is God pouring his spirit into you?

So we sing Holy Spirit come like

CHORUS

like fire on the altar

Fresh wind blowing through

We're gonna stay here

until we encounter You - Where have you recently encountered God's presence?

Make us an offering - What do you feel like you need to offer up to God today?

make us an upper room

We're gonna stay here

until we encounter

BRIDGE

We need a move of God - Where do you think that you NEED God to move in your life?

We need a move of God

We need a move of God

We're hungry, we're desperate

Lord, open the Heavens

We need a move of God

We need a move of God

We need a move of God

We're hungry, we're desperate

Lord, open the heavens

Hello all!

Top 3 GLS Takeaways:

1. In order to be a great leader, you have to be an ALLY...

• A- Ask
• L- Listen
• L- Learn
• Y- You take action

But in order to be an ALLY,  you have to EARN it...

• E- Establish a healthy environment for all to participate
• A- Alignment, how does our company strive?
• R- Rally the troops! 
• N- Navigate

2. Did you know that only 3% of life's problems are dangerous? That 3% consists of lions, tigers, bears (oh my) and death. The remaining 97% of life's problems are mindset-related! Planing is just visiting the future and taking notes for when you get back.

3. The 4 laws to get along and connect with people in the workplace.

1. Value Visibly → Respect people’s time & ideas.
2. Communicate Carefully → Be clear, thoughtful, and pick the right channel.
3. Collaborate Confidently → Focus on impact, not extra meetings.
4. Trust Totally → Foster honest conversations & informal connections.

During our Tuesday intern classes this month we have been learning the difference between 3 different types of leadership.

1. Leading up - Leading by supporting others
2. Leading Laterally - Leading by bringing everyone on the same level
3. Leading down - Leading by giving tasks and motivating others to do things that might be out of their comfort zone

One of the other big things we talked about is the power of great questions. Asking great questions is what helps you become a better leader. "Questions are not a sign of weakness; it's a sign of wisdom. Your willingness to grow reflects on your willingness to learn." - Craig Groeschel

Currently, in my internship, I am learning the process of setting up and programming a weekend service. This month I have been working with Sean McGee on how to set up Propresenter for all of the satellite campuses. Propresenter is the software we use to display everything you see on the screens in the auditorium on the weekend. Next month I will be working with the central lighting designers on the programming of the lighting for the weekend.

Thank you to some people who I have been working with, and who have been encouraging me along the way of my internship. The internship director, Lauren Snyder, Mentor Trent Paul, and Supervisor Matt Gorey. But most important, YOU!! It is your help and support that makes it possible for me to bring people closer to Jesus and the life-changing adventure with him!

This Month's Song: Make Room - The Church Will Sing

VERSE

Here is where I lay it down
Every burden every crown - What burden or crown am I holding onto that I need to surrender to God?
This is my surrender
This is my surrender

Here is where I lay it down - What area of my life am I still trying to control that I need to lay down to God and let him take control?
Every lie and every doubt - What lies or doubts have I been believing that I need to surrender to God?
This is my surrender

CHORUS

And I'll make room for you - Reflecting on your schedule will show what you truly value. What does your schedule reveal? Have you made room for God in your schedule? What habits or distractions do I need to let go of so I can put Jesus first?
To do whatever you want to
To do whatever you want to

BRIDGE

ENDING