The worship service I have planned is related to the Tabernacle in the Bible. I have created a journey from the Inner Court of the Tabernacle into the Holy of Holies. I have tried to plan this journey in a way that will educate the congregation on what exactly the Tabernacle was and what took place there. At the same time, I have tied worship songs and activities into the themes so that people can hopefully experience the Tabernacle themselves.

We will start a CD about 30 minutes before we start that consists of very ambient music. This will help to set the tone of how Holy this place is supposed to be and it will help people to calm themselves before God and meditate on Him before we even start. There will also be a 30-minute countdown going. This is not just to tell people that we’re about to start, but to get them excited for that final minute when we come to worship God. The second and last track on the CD builds up very emotionally at the end and as soon as it cuts out, so will the countdown and we’ll begin worship.

Also, as people come in they will take their shoes off at the door in order to set the tone for what is going on inside. Those who know the story of Moses taking off his sandals will understand the significance of it, but we will also have a sign at the entrance with the Bible verse about the sacred ground He was on for those who don’t know. There will also be a pile of rocks at the entrance. People are to grab one rock for an activity that will soon take place.

When the countdown and prelude music had ended, we will play Vision of You by Shane and Shane. This song is all about inviting the Trinity to meet with us as we worship and I think this is a great way to start off worship. Now I would actually like to emphasize more of the Father as we go throughout the Tabernacle as Jesus hadn’t been on earth quite yet, but I find it would be significantly important to emphasize the entire Trinity to join us before we journey into the rest of the Tabernacle. After we finish singing this song, the pastor of the church, or the “guide” as I am calling him, will come up to give a speech on the first room of the Tabernacle as we play the chords of the next song softly in the background. The guide will explain how in the first room there is an altar to God, which represents total consecration and a washing basin that represents purity.

 Next he will explain the purpose of the rock activity. He will have people write something on the rock with a permanent marker that is currently weighing them down tonight and keeping them from really experiencing God. Since people many times come to activities such as this with heavy sins on their heart, this will help them get it out of the way right at the very start so it won’t bother them as much throughout the rest of the service. This is also their way of consecrating themselves. Throughout the next song, people will be welcome to coming to the front of the church and putting their rocks in a pool—symbolically casting their sins into the sea as God does. The next song “Here Am I” will relate to consecration while the song after it, “Refiner’s Fire” will relate to purity.

After we sing these songs and do this activity, the guide will return to explain the next room, “The Holy Place,” as we play quietly in the background. The guide will explain the significance behind the menorah, the cakes of bread, and the altar of incense. There will be physical examples of these on the stage as well. This explanation will make the next three songs related to the three themes that these items represent: the Holy Spirit, the fellowship of believers, and prayer. In relation to these things, we will play Freedom Reigns, Yearn, and Give Us Clean Hands. However, we will altar Yearn only slightly. We will change all the words that say “I” to “we,” because it would make it more of an awesome fellowship song for this purpose.

The guide will return again to talk about the Ark of the Covenant inside “Holy of Holies.” What we want to do here is create an atmosphere so powerful that people can really understand the holiness of God. He will explain how a priest could die by entering this room and through his language paint a realistic scene. This will make the next three songs Revelation Song, Glorious and Our God Reigns incredibly powerful, as people will really understand the Holiness they are singing about.

Now that we’ve talked so much about the Father, we will have the guide come up again and explain the glory of the Son and how the tabernacle is seen in light of Him. He will speak of forgiveness for everyone and explain how he or she can experience the Holy of Holies for themselves and become a Tabernacle for God. The band will play in the back ground as he talks and he will go on to explain and offer communion. The band will then sing My Chains Are Gone as they take communion.

The guide will talk one last time when this is done about how people will part after God would forgive their sins in the Tabernacle. The guide will motivate and stir up in the congregation the need to cheer as loud as the possibly can for God and the band will start playing a song called Party. After that they will play Dance in the River and everyone will celebrate that their sins have been forgiven. The pastor will return one last time to give parting words and a prayer and the band will play Dance in the River as people walk out.

Tabernacle Worship Outline 

7:30
Prelude
Start 30 Minute Countdown
Prelude Music on CD
            Brian Eno
               Song: 1/1
               Album: Ambient 1: Music for Airports
            Andy Hunter & Robbie Bronnimann
               Song: The End
               Album: Expelled

Have People Leave their Shoes at the Door
They will also grab a rock from a pile at the entrance

8:00
The Inner Court
Worship Through Music
            Vision of You
Guide
            The guide explains the theme of the night and then goes on to explain the significance of the altar and the laver.
Activity
            The guide will have people take the rock the brought in, write a sin on it, and throw it in a pool at the front (idea from Online Labyrinth)
Worship Through Music
            Here Am I
            Refiner’s Fire

 8:30
The Holy Place
Guide
            The guide explains the significance behind the menorah, the cakes of bread, and the altar of incense.
Worship Through Music
            Freedom Reigns
            Yearn (change all I’s to we)
            Give us Clean Hands

8:50
Holy of Holies
Guide
            The guide talks about the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies.
Worship Through Music
            Revelation Song
            Glorious
            Our God Reigns

 9:10
Redemption

Guide
            The guide will come up after the previous song and explain Jesus in light of what they have just learned about the Tabernacle. The guide will explain communion in light of what they have just learned about the Tabernacle.
Worship Through Music
            Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
Communion 

9:25
Party
Activity
            Have the congregation cheer as loud as they possibly can for God (idea from Rob Bell)
Party Through Music
            Party
            Dance in the River 

9:40
Parting words
            Parting words and prayer
            Play Dance in the River instrumentally while people leave

Songs and Whatnot:

So I had MINIBee out at autocross on Sunday sporting the set of holies and Falken Azenis I recently bought. I really liked the look. I still like my Konig Rewinds better but at 12 pounds each, the holies are perfect for autocross and make most hardcore MINI enthusiasts smile.

The wheels, tires and all the suspension mods made a huge difference in the feel of my Cooper. Since I had driven off course the first two runs in the previous two months, I decided to take it easy on my first run. I just wanted to learn the course and get used to the new tires. That turned out to be a good plan.

When I lined up for my second run I could feel a wobble in the right wheel and heard a strange noise. I decided to get out of line to check things out. What I found shocked me – the lug nuts on all four wheels were loose. On closer examination I could see that the wheels were not flush against the hubs. I woke up that morning at 4:30 AM to change my wheels. I changed them one side at a time, torqued to spec while still on the jack, then drove some 90 miles to Tavares on them at high speed. How could they be loose?

I summoned my MINI colleagues and pit crew, Ben, Raddy and George, to take a look. George pointed it out right away…I had hubcentric centering rings on my hubs. Because I wasn’t aware they were installed with my Rewinds I didn’t even think to check for them. Instead of staying with the wheels they had stuck to the hub, preventing the OEM holies from mounting flush.

Holie humilitation Robin!

When I think of the disaster that could have occurred from this mistake, especially since I drove to Tavares at and around 70mph up I-75, it made me realize that changing wheels is no routine matter. Somehow the wheels stayed on and didn’t loosen until I did some hard cornering on my first run. Someone in MINI heaven was watching out for me. 

With my opportunity for a second run disappearing, Raddy, George and Ben helped me quickly remove the rings and get the holies properly mounted. Then I was off to put them to the test shaved two seconds off my time. On the next run I took off another 7/10 and another 1/10 on the last. 

My friend, mentor and autocross nemesis (just kidding), Ben Turner, burned up the course on his last run and finished first. I placed third again but I’m definitely closing the gap. Usually I’m about 2 to 2.5 seconds behind Ben but today I was about 1.6 seconds back. So I’m making progress! But most importantly, I had a great time with a fantastic group of MINIacs and learned something new!

The August Martin Sports Car Club autocross was Sunday in Tavares. It was a fast course and I felt like I was driving OK but I was squealing and sliding in the turns too much. After my second run I asked master Cooper driver Raddy Schatte to ride with me and give me a critique. He made some great points and then I rode with him to see his lines. On my final run I made some changes and shaved off 1.1 seconds! That put me just 1.8 seconds behind the other master Cooper driver, Ben Turner, who finished first in our class. Last month I was about three seconds behind Ben so I’m making progress!

I had a CruiseCam running and that has helped me analyze my mistakes. Raddy thought I was braking a little early and not hard enough. He also noticed a few times when I was crossing over on the wheel instead of shuffling my hands (you can see this on the video). I know to shuffle but have temporary memory loss when things get moving fast. The video turned out cool because I was able to cut the CruiseCam tape together with a tape my son made using an external camera. Check it out:

I taped a bunch of my MINI friends on the course and will be putting together a highlight video soon.

I’m getting a set of holies and Falken Azenis from Raddy and they will be my race wheels. Just got a deal on a set of Koni FSD struts on ebay for $485 new in the box. And I’m planning to get  Ireland fixed camber plates, TSW springs and Megan lower control arms from Dustin at AutoXCooper.com in the next month. It will be interesting to see if those changes will make a dent in my times or if I’m just going to have to wait for my skills to develop.