Tonight was our final sunnyside@seven worship experience, having run for 20 months. As you might imagine, it was pretty emotional.

The decision to end s@7 came a few weeks ago, as I started the process of pulling up stakes in anticipation of leaving for Iraq. Thom had decided to part ways with Bryan and Anthony--the band's bass player and drummer--and so with the band dissolving and me (the co-founder of s@7) leaving, it didn't make a lot of sense to continue the program. Though all of these personnel changes were factors in our decision, they also served as the impetus for us to take a step back and analyze how well the service was working. The fact of the matter is that s@7 never really took off, in terms of meeting its goal of attracting a new, younger, unchurched crowd and creating a new community within the church. The service would only draw 10-20 people a night, the majority of which attended the morning service as well. In the end, I think we just didn't see it reaching out in the way that we'd originally intended, and the amount of work we were putting into it didn't seem to justify keeping the thing going. So we decided that tonight's sunnyside@seven would be the final one.

This was a painful decision. The right decision, I believe, but a painful one, nevertheless. This worship experience started as the dream that Doug shared with me over three years ago which led me to move to NYC two years ago. We started the service itself in February of '04, moving it from monthly to bi-monthly last September. The last 9 months have featured our full, four-piece band, which was an integral part of the dream for me. We played well together and created just the kind of sound I was looking for. But most importantly, our music brought people into worship, and that was such a blessing for me.

It's hard for me not to be disappointed with the way things turned out with sunnyside@seven. It's hard to see something you put so much time, energy, and talent into--moreover, something you developed, molded, and brought to life--come to a close. I know it served a purpose; I know it filled a need--there were people that needed this worship service at a particular point in their lives--so I can take comfort and joy in knowing that it did indeed bless others.

But still, not easy. Three years of dreaming and building, and it's over. It's time to move on.

...even if it's just a weekly rag with a small circulation.

( Case in point )

So during last night's sunnyside@seven, I gave the best vocal performance I've given in a long long time, if not ever. I was hitting all the notes on key, including some of the really high ones, and I felt very free and confident! In some cases, I would sing the final chorus/section much higher and louder and more intensely, and I just felt really good with it. It felt very worshipful. It felt--to use a bit of Christian-ese that I rarely use--anointed.

Of course, once the worship service was over, one of our friends came up and said to me, "Yeah, the music sounded great tonight, but we couldn't hear the vocals at all. The mics must've been turned way down."

It might not have been the most exciting or enviable way to spend a Saturday, but I have to admit that I really enjoyed my Saturday...most of which, indeed, was spent in the basement of our church.

A very quick re-cap, and then I'm off to bed:

Saturday morning - Thom, Anthony, Brian, and myself--the sunnyside@seven worship band, which doubles as Profate, Thom's band--met for practice at 10 AM, just as we've done on numerous Saturday mornings in the past. But this time the residents in the apartment complex next-door complained about the noise. It's completely understandable, and I feel terrible about having disturbed the neighbors to the point of complaining--with drums, a bass, and two electric guitars (one that's plugged into a Marshall half-stack) all blaring, you can imagine how loud it must've been for the folks living just on the other side of the wafer-thin wall of the church's sanctuary.

So we moved into the basement, to a room that was encased by walls which insulated the sound pretty well. It turned out to be a great practice--the four of us and our instruments/amps facing each other in the much smaller area, rocking out for at least two hours, and potentially causing ourselves some temporary ear damage (now on my shopping list: ear plugs).

Saturday evening - we held the third Meeting for Better Understanding (MBU) in the basement/social hall of the church. MBU is an event where our church meets with a nearby mosque; both the pastor and the imam give a talk on a predetermined topic, a short Q&A session follows, and then the attendees get to know each other a bit better over refreshments. It's a cool program, and I have to credit Doug and Donald with getting this program going (as far as we know, we're the only church in NYC that's doing anything like this). The point of it all is to get Christians and Muslims together to meet, and, as the name suggests, try to understand each others' faiths better. What's so refreshing is that neither side has to hide what they really would like to see happen: the other side won over to their faith and worldview. In fact, that transparency actually makes it easier to have an open and robust dialogue--there's a real willingness to learn and share, all the while developing friendships.

So yeah...while this Saturday (and most others, really) wasn't spent out on a hot date, I think I had a pretty good time just the same.