These are my experiences from this weekend:
Friday:
We left at 5:30 because we thought traffic would be really bad... it wasn't. We got there at 5:50. We were so early the parking lot hadn't even opened. After sitting in Michael's car and watching videos on his iPhone, we went inside a little after 6. Once inside, we got our picture taken with a Polaroid camera... how cool is that? After standing around for a little over 30 minutes (hey, im tired after a long school day...) the doors finally opened. We calmly walked in and started looking for seats (i dont like those people who rush in so they can sit really close to the band/speaker). Suprisingly nobody was sitting on the front row... there were paper signs in the chairs saying:
"Because of the intensity of today's service, this row may not be suitable for those affected by sudden noises or those who are sensitive to dust."
Thank you
Oddly enough, on the front row in the center, it was us and an elderly couple (80+)... everyone else was in the 2nd row or farther back... Then the service started... 5 minutes into it, the power goes out... things start humming. Fortunately power comes back on. It took a while for all of the intelligent lights to warm up, but everything went back to normal. The worship was great, Casey Darnell is an amazing worship leader, and the guitarists were great.
I only had one problem: no words on the screen... I'm not a Super Christian... I don't know all of the church etiquette rules: Should I should sing/stand or sit/watch. Some of the songs I didn't know... I'm sitting in the front, so if I stand I block 10+ people's views... things like that.
The guitarists were different which made it even better. The guy on the left played some sort of vintage telecaster in a grey/arctic white. I got a glimpse of his pedalboard when I went to take communion (it wasnt sacrilegious, just a peek...) he had some classic analogue pedals. He also had a Les Paul goldtop with humbuckers. The guy on the right played a Gibson Les Paul (except for Phil Wickham's True Love, he played a telecaster). I didnt see his board, but I imagine it was more modern/digital. They both have amp heads on stage that are probably boosted to isolated cabinets.
Throughout the service, this girl painted Jesus on a large canvas in the middle of the stage. The service started with Creation and ended with the ressurection... and all in the space of ~20mins. At the end, they faded the lights until only the face of Jesus was lit. Then, 5 drummers (not including the kit) started playing a tom/snare combo, strobe lights flashed, and a couple guys violently destroyed the picture of Jesus... revealing a cross... with our pictures on it... my picture. Then they went into a haunting beat that started Phil Wickham's "True Love." 6 drummers, 2 electric, 1 acoustic 1 piano/synth/synth 1-2 backup singers all singing... it was incredible. here's a video made by Carlos Whittaker (Buckhead worship team leader):
Good Friday 2009 - Ending from buckheadchurch on Vimeo.
Sunday...
Sunday we got there at about 10:40 and the traffic was terrible after getting off GA 400. Fortunately we got a parking place... The greeting/service people were amazing as usual (didnt see the little kid though...) We got good seats in the balcony ( we normally sit in the balcony to sometimes watch the audio people work) The service started with Casey singing "True Love" again (yet again, no words = nobody (except me and Michael) singing or standing). We got Andy on the screen (as usual). When he mentioned scripture I looked it up in my bible and definitely "bible" pressured the girl next to me (she got hers out right after I did) she was pretty though... I lug my NLT study bible purely for context notes/cross reference stuff... At the end, Andy had a Prayer/Call and Response time. He then asked people to stand if they prayed the prayer. Unfortunately some guys thought they would beat the traffic, so they stood up and left. This kinda made it awkward when people clapped for them leaving. Fortunately several others stood which was amazing. I love Buckhead...
Then we ate at La Parilla...
I only had one problem: no words on the screen... I'm not a Super Christian... I don't know all of the church etiquette rules: Should I should sing/stand or sit/watch. Some of the songs I didn't know... I'm sitting in the front, so if I stand I block 10+ people's views... things like that.
The guitarists were different which made it even better. The guy on the left played some sort of vintage telecaster in a grey/arctic white. I got a glimpse of his pedalboard when I went to take communion (it wasnt sacrilegious, just a peek...) he had some classic analogue pedals. He also had a Les Paul goldtop with humbuckers. The guy on the right played a Gibson Les Paul (except for Phil Wickham's True Love, he played a telecaster). I didnt see his board, but I imagine it was more modern/digital. They both have amp heads on stage that are probably boosted to isolated cabinets.
Throughout the service, this girl painted Jesus on a large canvas in the middle of the stage. The service started with Creation and ended with the ressurection... and all in the space of ~20mins. At the end, they faded the lights until only the face of Jesus was lit. Then, 5 drummers (not including the kit) started playing a tom/snare combo, strobe lights flashed, and a couple guys violently destroyed the picture of Jesus... revealing a cross... with our pictures on it... my picture. Then they went into a haunting beat that started Phil Wickham's "True Love." 6 drummers, 2 electric, 1 acoustic 1 piano/synth/synth 1-2 backup singers all singing... it was incredible. here's a video made by Carlos Whittaker (Buckhead worship team leader):
Good Friday 2009 - Ending from buckheadchurch on Vimeo.
Sunday...
Sunday we got there at about 10:40 and the traffic was terrible after getting off GA 400. Fortunately we got a parking place... The greeting/service people were amazing as usual (didnt see the little kid though...) We got good seats in the balcony ( we normally sit in the balcony to sometimes watch the audio people work) The service started with Casey singing "True Love" again (yet again, no words = nobody (except me and Michael) singing or standing). We got Andy on the screen (as usual). When he mentioned scripture I looked it up in my bible and definitely "bible" pressured the girl next to me (she got hers out right after I did) she was pretty though... I lug my NLT study bible purely for context notes/cross reference stuff... At the end, Andy had a Prayer/Call and Response time. He then asked people to stand if they prayed the prayer. Unfortunately some guys thought they would beat the traffic, so they stood up and left. This kinda made it awkward when people clapped for them leaving. Fortunately several others stood which was amazing. I love Buckhead...
Then we ate at La Parilla...
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