By Charissa Toeller
On Tuesday, November 24th, we will be holding Thanksgiving Praise & Pie: Virtual Edition.
Our typical Thanksgiving Praise & Pie service is one of the most memorable worship services we have as a church family. Most years, it includes music, a devotional message, and lots of opportunities for the Friedens Family (and friends!) to share the things that God has done in the past year; we also encourage families to bring a pie to share after the service. Due to the complexities of sharing microphones and food, modifying a live service would lose most of what makes this service unique and special. Instead, we'd like to invite you to participate in a virtual Praise & Pie service made up very much the same way, but with video clips that you and your family submit. During the virtual service, we invite you to provide your own pie.
Even though this year’s Thanksgiving Praise & Pie will be different, we hope that this virtual service will be a treasured memory for the Friedens Family. God has done so much for us, and that is worth celebrating!
How you can participate: Between now and November 10th, we invite you to submit videos of yourself or family answering one or more of the questions below. (We will most likely not use every answer from every person.)
· What is your favorite kind of pie?*
· What does Thanksgiving mean to you?
· Who is someone you’re thankful for?
· How have you seen God working through challenging circumstances this year?
*We would like to have as many responses to this as possible!
Recording Tips: Most smart phones take good quality video. We encourage you use the following tips when filming:
· Be sure to take your video horizontal/landscape, not vertical.
· Find a space with adequate lighting.
· Do a test video and listen to the sound. If you hear a lot of echo, you may want to choose a room with carpet to dampen the sound. If there is a lot of background noise, consider finding a quieter spot.
· Jot down a few notes on what you'd like to say, just to keep you on track, but look mainly into the camera so that we can see your eyes.
· Keep your videos concise (about a minute per person) so that we can allow as many people to participate as possible.
· It's okay to rerecord! We want you to feel comfortable and natural, but if something goes wrong (the dog starts barking, you completely lose your train of thought, etc.), just stop and try again!
We will use as many of your video submissions as possible, but please understand that we may need to shorten or select answers based on how many can fit in the service. Submitting At-Home Recordings: To protect this link from inappropriate usage, we are only making it available through the Friedens Connection weekly email. If you do not get our emails, please contact us.
Recording at Friedens: Recording times will be available at Friedens on November 1st and November 8th from 9:30-10:15 and 11:30-12:30 in Charissa Toeller’s office. A sign-up sheet will be posted outside her door. Please sign up for one 10-minute slot for singles or couples, or choose two slots for a family with children.