|
gat.faq.com
Q: is the gathering still going on?
A: no. we don't know if it or any other form of it will show up. sorry.
click on the "Q" to jump to each q&a
Q the gathering is just like any other church, just darker and louder?
Q is the gathering a church, and is it a part of casas or something else?
Q is it a genx service?
Q so what does the gat.service look & feel like?
Q what songs have been written by the gathering band?
Q where do the images for the slides come from, and why?
Q we really like the song backgrounds - can we use them for our own stuff/services?
Q so i'm supposed to experience God just by showing up?
Q why don't we hear songs like "did you hear the mountains tremble", "love song for a savior" or "every move i make" anymore?
Q how do i meet other people at the gat? where is the community?
Q what is the music that is played before and after the gat?
Q it is so dark when i come into the gat at times and i have a hard time finding my friends/going up the stairs - can we have a little light?
this would be a great place for us to answer frequently asked questions. what would help would be having some questions to answer. we'll ask around, and we'll start off with one of the most frequent [if not THE most frequent] questions:
Q the gathering is just like any other church, just darker and louder?
A. yes and no. the "louder and darker" isn't a marketing ploy or a gimmick, it is who we are. they style and sounds are what we think of when we are asked the question "if we were going to throw a party for God, how would we do it?" what do we enjoy/value and how do we give it to God? the gat.service will look like us, not someone else. there isn't a "right look or style" for church, though looking around the country it might seem that way. yeah, it is scary to delve into what we believe "church" is and why/how we do it. that is part of the journey we are on.
try this out - the church doesn't create the gospel, the gospel creates the church.
what that means is that we don't apply styles or brands to our version of following God [eg, we are X, or we are H], but that by searching after God and following him every moment, both by ourselves and together, we create this living kingdom, and whatever that looks like is "church", not the other way around.
so how do we mix all of us together into a community/church/service? hopefully we don't get stuck with using just one color of crayon - everyone needs to pitch in and use the color they've been given. it'll be beautiful.
Q is the gathering a church, and is it a part of casas or something else?
A. it is a church AND it is a part of casas [some of these questions are easier than others!] what we are doing is carrying out our unique expression of what God is doing in the greater casas community [aka, the city-state formerly knows as casas]. are we better or worse than casas or any other church? no, we're just different - we are "us", the people God made us. we are committed to being interwoven into casas, to share the same dreams and goals. sure, we have a bit of a different flavor, and though that may attract/repel some, that is okay. not everyone likes the broncos [jonathan] either. in the end [and beginning], we are all part of his kingdom.
A. at one time it was considered a genx service, and it served two purposes. one, to let those that were younger know there was a service starting that might resonate with them, and two, it helped define it for an older/more traditional crowd. i remember going to a huge concert in san diego's balboa park with my parents to hear the navy band "stars and stripes" perform. it is a beautiful complex with a huge organ and stage, and the seating is over a large bricked area - quite old, i believe. anyhow, we show up and wait with a lot of elderly people on a sunday afternoon. the band comes out and it wasn't a sousa style band with old marches and navy ditties - it was their rock/jazz band. yeah, it wasn't what we or the majority of people there were looking foward to seeing. but, it was still music, we all politely listened and much of the crowd dispersed over time. there were some songs we really liked, but we also left early to go play cross-country frisbee golf. so yes, be forewarned if you haven't experienced a night at the gat - it won't be a midwest baptist service.
but is it genx? not really - God appeals to everyone, and the gathering isn't limited to an age group. we can't break it up that way. part of what we are doing is learning [see all the above questions/answers] how to live out the gospel and what that looks like. that includes everyone - even though the flavor might be a bit different.
personally, i'm not all that fond of drawing along generaltional lines, though there are some stereotypical trends, usually misunderstood by the other generations. what if we just called it the current look? that would make every other service be, um, ______________________ .
Q so what does the gat.service look & feel like?
A. that is something you have to experience for yourself [and remember, our quasi-slogan is "never horrible, sometimes great!"] so getting a broad sampling of services helps. then too, there are times where the volunteers are able to put more time into the service and it becomes something special where God is obviously present. the 9/11 service and easter of 2002 come to mind [videos shown are here] as well as some other experiments. we need more hands pushing the service along, as well as more riskiness. it is counterintuitive to go for a "tin cup" with the chance of failure. hopefully there will be more experimentation in the near future.
below are some photos of past gat.services - we'll get more...
Q what songs have been written by the gathering band?
Q where do the images for the slides come from, and why?
A. they start in various forms, either photos or from scratch/doodles, and most of the time we'll use adobe photoshop - and that is how we always finish them. it's rather exciting to be bringing some of the other arts back into the church. most art got scared out of the church, and i would take a guess that it was fear of the unknown or "the right answer". with the slides, the answer comes inside each of us - hopefully they give rise to different feelings, to take us somewhere we wouldn't have gone on our own. we should all have experienced that through music, and imagery is no different. someday we hope to have more paintings in the church [beyond the matte enamel we have on the walls]. it isn't limited to paintings, either. how about statues, meticulously cared for gardens to drop by and be quiet when we need to, tile/rock work, and on and on - there is so much that seems "grey" but that our hearts ache for. ah, to dream...
Q we really like the song backgrounds - can we use them for our own stuff/services?
A. we've been thinking about releasing a lot of them, and way back when we had. the problem was that we started getting deluged with requests from people putting together powerpoint presentations for the business and wanted us to change the slides. of course, no one was willing to pay for it, and it didn't seem quite right that a slide we were making as a tidbit of a gift for God was becoming something to promote someone's business. so we stopped, and the only images we have up have words on them [well, most of them].
also, most of the more recent songs are our own, with the older songs either ground down through repitition [or just picked up by a church coming out of the hymn ages], so most of the built slides aren't all that relevant. the text is also part of the art, too - removing it just isn't the same.
iif you want to use the images in blogs or other pages, feel free to copy the image and upload it to your own site. we've nixed the hot linking as it was killing our bandwidth, and seeing how this site is paid for out of our own pockets and not a group, it'll save us necessary cash. sorry for the inconvenience.
Q so i'm supposed to experience God just by showing up?
A. oye, tough question. yes, you could and can, but the whole atmosphere isn't meant to give a spiritual experience. the music, lights, colors, talks - all that could give you a great feeling, but that doesn't necessarily equate to God. our hope is that some of this might help lead us to God, that we'll come into contact with God during the service, but that doesn't have to happen.
just because we show up to church doesn't mean God will show up too - we have to plan to meet him there. are we looking forward to spending time with our creator, entering into his holy presence not just as a community but individually? some would say "if we did, we'd all be there before the gat started, not showing up a few songs in" but it is more than punctuality - it is where our hearts are. that might answer the service question, but we can experience God all the time, too. one could experience God deeper while making pancakes or watching someone work in their yard - it isn't necessarily the feeling that we are after, but God. the feeling can happen, too. sometimes the feeling pulls us to God, other times knowing his characteristics, and often when we are letting him speak to us.
the gat.service isn't meant to be a movie - we come, we watch, we leave. we come to spend time with God.
Q. why don't we hear songs like "did you hear the mountains tremble", "love song for a savior" or "every move i make" anymore?
A. honestly, we've got nothing against those songs, but they have put their time in with us and we've continued on. we've grown/moved/changed, and that doesn't mean we are trying to be hip and fresh, but we like new things. it is far too easy to get caught into keeping the same songs for years and years and never moving forward. granted, there are some songs that seem to be more direct and different from what many would call "contemporary'. though containing truth, singing songs about what we get out of this relationship with God and using "I" a lot seem a bit counter to what we believe God's kingdom is essentially about. we hope to find and to write songs that are both true about our journey as a group, as well as about the things we don't encounter often - at least not yet. journey is one such song. we also try to retire songs once they have been with us about 2+ years or so, but some have stuck with us for much longer, such as i will live my life for you.
just plan that in the years to come, our music will continue to change and progress as both we and the world does. and, there sure is a lot of room to explore, not just the thin slice of music we play. someday we'll be experimenting more with our sound.
Q how do i meet other people at the gat? where is the community?
A. oh sure, ask the tough questions. give us a bit to answer this one.
Q what is the music that is played before and after the gat?
A. it is a smattering of music, not just to create a mood, but to speak to us in yet another way. the follow up question tends to be "can i buy the music in my local christian bookstore?" and we can confidently say.... no. "but, but, but" - yeah, we know, but, given time, we've discovered that there are so many great artists that speak directly to our humanity, our spirituality, that very few christian artists can do and still sell an album in the christian recording industry. what is left is often peppy "rah-rah!" songs or lyrics that are very surfacy and lack depth and maturity. not all christian music [okay, bands on christian labels] is like this, but much of it. we need depth, music that turns us inside out and makes us look at ourselves. too often music is about "the right belief/action/etc" but a problem that can come from that is actually believing that is where we are at we we really aren't. it takes more guts and authenticity to say "i know i should do this, but right now i'm just not there" - so much goes into being transformed/changed that syrupy songs have their place, but we'll be missing the journey and pretending we are at the destination. take aimee mann's lyrics:
In our endeavor we are never seeing eye to eye
No guts to sever so forever may we wave goodbye
And you're always telling me that it's my turn to move
When I wonder what could make the needle jump the groove
I won't fall for the oldest trick in the book
So don't sit there and think you're off of the hook
By saying there is no use changing 'cause
That's just what you are
has anyone been there, felt that way? can we receive comfort from that song, knowing we aren't alone? does Jesus say "get over it" or does he come alongside and comfort us? yes yes and more yes. to think that this world is craving the same things we are is completely natural and human - God made us that way.
is it good to stay at any of these points and possibly wallow there? probably not - that wouldn't be healthy. we need to move, look to God to change us, to take us where he wants us too. many of these songs help give us a point of reference of where we are at. it would be silly to pretend otherwise. who in their right mind would drive through tucson while trying using a made of rome - we aren't in rome.
if anyone wants some mix lists, let us know.
Q it is so dark when i come into the gat at times and i have a hard time finding my friends/going up the stairs - can we have a little light?
A. this could easily be taken the wrong way, but just like at the theatre, a concert, a movie - you name it - when it starts and the lights go dim/dark, nobody turns up the lights for the people coming in late. we'll often keep the lights up just a bit for the first song and maybe the second, but by the third/fourth/fifth? not if the mood in the room dictates it being dark. my opinion - and though it may not be shared by eveyone at the gat, it should be ;) - we should all be at the gat when it starts.
|
