Posts by Mark Lautenschlager (Page 3)

Hey, Church! One of the easiest ways you can prepare for worship each weekend is to listen through the songs we will sing together. Put them in a playlist and set it to repeat until you are familiar enough with the melody and lyrics to sing along. With each listen, make it more personal so that you can sing it authentically to God.  Remember that YOU are the worship team…

Hey, Church! Last week, we read the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed during our Maundy Thursday service as part of a corporate confession. Much like the better-known Apostle’s Creed, the Nicene Creed was authored by our Christian forefathers as a response to a contemporary misreading of Scripture that led many to adopt a heretical view of God. When it was written in…

Dear Rio Family, We hope that you have been experiencing a blessed Holy Week and you’ve had opportunity to attend our Holy Week services. As you prepare your hearts for Resurrection Sunday tomorrow, we encourage you to participate in the Holy Saturday Vigil tonight. If you are able, we invite you to come to the worship center and do so. (A note about that. The…

EDITOR’S NOTE: Beginning this weekend, your Prepare for Worship newsletter will be delivered on Saturdays, around 4 PM (or so we intend). Historically, that is when it was delivered, but during the time we had a Saturday evening service, the newsletter moved to Friday. Since that service no longer is held, we’re moving back to Saturdays. Thanks! Hey Church! In…

Hey Church! As you make your plans for the weekend, I want to encourage you once again to carve out adequate space on Saturday night and Sunday morning to prepare your hearts and minds for worship. It’s so easy to slip into the habit of simply “showing up” to church, like a work meeting that was scheduled weeks ago but still somehow caught you by…