Monday, March 21, 2005

Jana Alayra Concert Feedback?

We had the privilege of having Jana Alayra and her band with us here at Grace Church, SLO last evening. What a fun evening of ministry to kids and young families! Jana does an excellent job involving the audience and even got moms and dads involved throughout the evening. I appreciate how Jana's music is so grounded in Scripture and Biblical truth. My own children had a blast!

In an attempt to try and determine who is reading life together and also evaluate the value of an event like this in the future, I want to encourage you to leave a feedback comment about the Jana Alayra Concert. Can you take a couple of minutes now?

• Should we have Jana back? How soon?
• Should we do other events like this at Grace Church, SLO?
• Would you invite others to experience Jana if we were to have her back?
• Was the ticket price reasonable and worthwhile?
• What did you like and dislike about the evening?
• Any other suggestions or comments?


Many thanks to Pastor Al, Children's Director Dori Iunker, and Ted and Penny Malley for the their hard work in organizing and hosting this neat event. Thanks also to Evan Chechopoulos, David and Dede Leece, our Usher Team, and our Boy Scout Troup for their help and involvement last evening.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know I am not the only one reading your blog so I hope others will respond. We didn't attend the concert, so I can't give any feedback on that. The only reason we didn't attend is because we don't have any real young children. However, we would have attended if we had.

I am writing this to encourage you to keep having events like this in the future. God has blessed Grace Church with a building in a great location, and with the resources to host many events to build up the body and reach out to the community. Grace is doing a wonderful job in their stewardship with what God has blessed them with. Some examples are the homeless shelter, boy scouts, awana, youth activities, college outreach, tsunami relief and many more.

Grace Church has been blessed and the church is being a good steward with God's resources. Great job!

Anonymous said...

Yes, yes, and yes. I would love to have seen more people attend the concert but that is an issue of promotion not of worth. Our family enjoyed it tremendously as well as two other families we invited and were in attendence. A future concert with her would be wonderful but I would like to see her come and speak at our women's conference this next winter. Jana (like all of us) is multifaceted and is a true sower of God's word.

Penny shared with me of two women who are unchurched and were in attendence last evening. They told her this event and what was shared was exactly what they needed. Isn't that why we have these events. To show and share God's love?!

Thanks to Penny, Al and Dori!!! It was a good time for families to be together (something we need more of in SLO).

Unknown said...

I told Dori last night that, everytime I see all of the Grace Kids together I am convinced she has the best job on the entire church staff.
I took my 3 year old Zak, and we loved it. It brought tears to my eyes to just see the kids all singing together, laughing, playing and learning God's word set to music. These events are the building-blocks for community and lifetime friendships for our young ones.

Keep these kinds of events coming!

Anonymous said...

I definitely think such events are valuable methods of outreach and should be done often.

On a somewhat related note, I know that some churches in the area (such as SLO Naz, First Baptist, New Life in Pismo, etc.) have opened up their facilities to be used as a venue for local bands and artists to perform. They weren't trying to run the show themselves, but they allowed bands to come in and put on concerts, with a small amount of collaboration with church staff (generally someone to unlock the doors, maybe run sound or lights, etc.). The concerts generally have a small entrance price, part of which may be given to the church in return for the use of their resources (although I'm not sure if any money actually goes to the church).

While the concert itself isn't necessarily used as an outreach event, it does show a certain portion of the community that we are open and loving towards them and willing to provide resources that are becoming more and more scarce.

Like I said, I've seen other churches do this and wondered why Grace doesn't. We have put on free concerts as youth events occasionally, but never really made ourselves out to be a potential venue for local artists.

Anonymous said...

i want to have Jana back

Anonymous said...

YES to the first four questions. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening! I also hoped it had been a sell-out, but what a great group that did attend. Anna invited a non-churched preschool friend and her mom (who wants to come to Grace on Easter and possibly beyond!)and our unchurched neighbor girl. They all had a blast. Jana sure has an impact on these little lives. Anna calls her "Princess Alayra" - and what a great role model she is. I would love to have Jana back annually if possible - and as a speaker for a women's event.

Since you're also looking for general feedback, I for one really like this form of communication for our church and community. It can't replace face-to-face communication, but it helps keep us connected, and it's a great forum for discussion that we just don't have time for as busy moms & dads. It is a channel for us to understand your vision and the issues before the elders; to understand the decision process and appreciate the dedication of our church leadership. It's also a great place to point friends that are "seeking". I am frequently looking for eloquent (or just thorough) presentations of the bliblical worldview on a myriad of topics (in fact I used to be a subscriber to Jollyblogger until my inbox got too overloaded!), so I eat up this type of thing. Thanks for the time and effort involved Tim!

C# said...

just surfing in to find Jana's music on the web or lyric for 'Play from the Heart.'
music files on her site don't work.
please let me know of any resource / clip available on the web.