We're Excited to Plan and Grow with You!
at the Worship Design Studio Planning Retreat
in Oklahoma City August 18th to August 21st
Can't Make it to Oklahoma? Join our Livestream
Livestream participants will be able to follow along as the sessions happen and will also be provided with the recordings after the event.
Join us for the FREE get-ready webinar!
We are offering a FREE get-ready webinar on Wednesday, August 7th to get you prepared for the retreat. Put this date on your calendar for an introductory session that will help you steep in the design process and materials beforehand:
Wednesday, August 7, 2019 at 9am Pacific / 10am Mountain / 11am Central / Noon Eastern
You can register for the webinar HERE. And if you can't join us live at that time, don't worry; we are recording the webinar and will send the recording to you in a follow-up email afterwards. Again, this webinar is FREE to attend whether you have registered or not, and just want to know more or as a preparation session for your participation in the retreat on August 18-21!
Event Itinerary
All times outlined below are CST. Use a timezone converter website to see what time that is where you are.
Each session is divided so that the first half is Marcia's presentation and the second half is a group work session to plan for your church.
Itinerary for Sunday
Sunday evening (7 PM): THE CREATIVE PROCESS AND THE LITURGICAL YEAR – We'll lay the groundwork with a look at planning seasonally, team processes, timelines and how to get the most out of your time at this planning retreat.
Itinerary for Monday
Monday morning (9 AM): THE ADVENT/CHRISTMAS/EPIPHANY CYCLE – Make plans to start the liturgical year off with deeply meaningful worship that has people talking about "the best Advent season ever." You may choose to use one of Worship Design Studio's fully-scripted series to give yourself a great foundation for training your team in more sensory-rich worship and give you an even greater chance of getting planned WAY ahead.
Monday afternoon (1 PM): THE LENTEN SEASON – Dr. Marcia will offer you glimpses into the possible depths you can offer your congregation in this poignant season that offers personal and communal transformation. We will highlight the power of symbols and spiritual practices that flow easily between worship and home, connecting what we do in worship to our daily lives.
Monday night (8 PM): HOLY WEEK – This will be a one-of-a-kind experience in which the theology of Holy Week will mesh with the message of the Oklahoma City bombing Memorial site–a stunning setting to experience music, poetry, ritual action, and reflection on our commitment to create a more peaceful world. This session will be streamed on Facebook Live.
Itinerary for Tuesday
Tuesday morning (9 AM): FREE TIME – after four packed sessions, you'll be ready to sleep in, catch up, or just use the time continuing to plan. For folks joining via livestream, this could be a good time to step away from the computer and take a break.
Tuesday afternoon (1 PM): EASTER CYCLE AND THE DAY OF PENTECOST – In the first part of this session, you will get a peek at the grand sanctuary at St. Luke's UMC to hear the stunning organ! This experience will touch on how to enhance the power of festival worship (such as Easter and Pentecost) and open a discussion about various ways to deepen our practices of communion throughout the year. Then, we will dive into the theology and planning of the season of resurrection.
Tuesday evening (7 PM): THE SUNDAYS AFTER PENTECOST – We'll look at how to manage and plan for this long season, making "ordinary time" extraordinary! Our goal here is to spark many, many ideas that you can easily develop for the second half of the year.
Itinerary for Wednesday
Wednesday morning (9 AM): CONTINUING THE PROCESS – Now that we have broad brush strokes planned for the year, this session will help you know what to do when you go home, how to keep the creativity flowing, manage teamwork and how to get to the nitty-gritty of planning details without falling back into a last-minute rut.
A One-of-a-Kind Experience
Our location this year for our planning retreat is a very special choice based on Dr. Marcia's long-held dream of creating an evening worship experience at the Oklahoma City National Memorial. This site commemorates the lives lost in the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building and is dedicated to nonviolence and peace.
We will sing our lament and renew our commitment to working for a more just and peaceful world. We will move among the grounds in an unforgettable pilgrimage of word and music and ritual action. This special event will be streamed through Facebook Live, which is different than the other sessions, but you'll still be able to join in the experience.
What You’ll Learn
Dr. McFee has designed and led ritual at gatherings around the world, taught at more than 15 seminaries and is the Creator and Visionary of the Worship Design Studio that resources churches all over US and Canada.
1) Rejuvenate your passion for your work
2) Get a major jumpstart on planning for this year and the years to come
3) Learn to train others to work with you to make your dreams a success!
ACCESS TO OVER 10 YEARS OF WORSHIP THEMES
INCLUDED in your event registration is one month of complimentary access to the Worship Design Studio Online where you will be able to utilize over 10 years of worship themes (lectionary and non-lectionary) to turbo-boost your creativity, put you in touch with hundreds of amazing ideas and resources, and train or start developing your worship team.
MAKE YOUR OWN RETREAT SETTING
Here's an idea: you could do this retreat from the convenience of your office, at home, or around a conference table at church with your team. But also consider creating your own incredible setting at a retreat center or AirBnB somewhere special.
We know that the sense of "getting away" (even if it is only a few miles away) can really turbo-boost your creative process and concentration. Simply MAKE SURE that you will have high speed wifi access so that your live stream is not interrupted. Then take your favorite planning materials (Bibles, commentaries, music resources, etc.), make sure good food is available when you need it (maybe a good cook in your congregation could be involved as their gift to the team) and a setting that inspires you to creativity and offers you some uninterrupted concentration. Voila! Your own retreat. We'll be excited to find out where people are tuning in from!
Pastors - not sure if you want to do this on your own or with others from your church? Ask yourself this: Do you need quiet and solitude to focus and create or do you need group energy and the ability to bounce ideas off of others? The answer makes a big difference and either is a valid way of doing long-range planning! Marcia will be offering her best practices for both scenarios! The recordings will help you incorporate team members even if they can't go through the retreat all together.
What Makes this Event SO Great?
"This weekend has been quite an eye opening experience for me! As a new pastor... this has opened my eyes in so many ways to bring a new and more energetic ways to worship with my congregation."
"I'm glad I came. I wasn't sure if there would be anything for me particularly because I'm from a smaller church, but I got so much useful information..."
"I've really enjoyed the worship experience with Marcia. Those were great times and very spiritual, and so I enjoyed that uplifting and refreshing experience."
This retreat was meant for YOU!
EASY REGISTRATION!
We charge the same price whether you do it alone or with others from your worship team but we require that there is no sharing with other churches/pastors.
We encourage you do this retreat in the company of other pastors, but we ask that you please respect the "per church" fee.
If you pastor more than one little church, you may pay only one church registration.
If you are a pastor of a very small church (50 or less in worship), please contact us about scholarships.
Take advantage this year of having this retreat at your fingertips, on your timeline, with less cost of time and travel!
Retreat participants in the past have spent $500 for team registration, airfare (another est. $500 EACH), and housing/meals (another est. $300 EACH).
If you've never been able to afford that before, this is your year!
YOU CAN BE ONE OF THOSE
"PLAN-AHEAD" PASTORS!!
You've heard it from colleagues: "Oh, I give my worship team the themes, scriptures and titles for the whole year." Maybe you are one of those folks–then you know the positive effect that planning ahead has on your life. But you may be one of the majority of pastors who would respond, "Don't I wish!!!"
What if you had the whole liturgical year mapped out with general directions, themes, scriptures, symbols and ideas? And what if you had three concentrated days with a worship expert to guide you through the process, sharing energy and lots of ideas?
YOU CAN!
It is my goal to resource leaders like you in practical ways that help you create relevant, meaningful and memorable worship in the places that you serve. I am going to give you an amazing jump-start on your planning for the year (starting with Advent 2019).
I hope to see you there!
Peace & Passion,
Marcia McFee
Questions about content? E-mail Dr. Marcia at [email protected]
Questions about registration? E-mail Mark at [email protected] or call 888-725-1804
You'll get the same great inspiration from an expert about every season of the liturgical year without making any travel plans–except for perhaps finding your own get-away place to do the retreat–all you need is good WiFi! AND if the dates don't work for you to take some time for long-range planning, we'll send all registrants the recordings so you can do the retreat whenever is convenient for you.