Terms like this amuse me. What is the difference between an opening day, soft opening and grand opening?
Apparently, Opening day is old school.
A soft opening is basically a time to work the bugs out before you shoot the wad and invite the entire known world to your event.
That would be the Grand Opening.
We’ve never really gone for this stuff at Southbrook. But this time I’m so glad we did. You see, not everything was up and running this weekend for the opening of our 1200+ seat auditorium. So we employed quite a bit of smoke and mirrors to pull off an awesome day. And God gets the praise because things worked that didn’t work only hours before the doors opened. But He also used hundreds of volunteers who worked above and beyond to make it happen.
I feel a “Champion(s) of the Week” post coming on.
I’m also glad we had the soft opening weekend because quite a few people still showed up at our old service times. No matter how hard you try to get the word out, it’s impossible to make sure that more than 4,000 men, women and children who call this church home, get the message. Almost half of our people only attend about twice a month on average. If they all showed up at once we’d be in trouble. Still, that’s the kind of trouble worth having. I look forward to the day when everyone comes more and more frequently and realizes what a large and awesome family they have in Southbrook!
Today I heard people making comments like;
- You go to church here?
- Hey, I thought you left. I didn’t know you were still here.
- No, I’ve just been attending Saturday evenings (or the 8:30, or the 11:30, or the 10:00, or 11:30 cafe, or 10:00 cafe, or Monroe, or…well, I’m thinking, you probably get the idea).
- Was the last service as full as this one?!
Today a lot of our people were brought together and there’s an amazing excitement when we have these surprise family reunions.
This weekend was like that.
I can’t wait for the Grand Opening (Sunday, October 26th). It’s going to be one of the best weekends in our entire history!
Don’t miss it, and invite a friend!
A short video from the 9:00 am service:
Here’s another one:
More pictures from today:
Rob Singleton is the lead pastor and founding pastor of 
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Thanks for posting this, I was telling my mom up in NY about our new building and now I have some pictures to share! What an awesome Sunday. If this was only the soft opening, I can only imagine what the grand opening will bring!
Also don’t forget to mention the children’s ministry. My kids had a great time and my son Gabe was so excited to be in the big room that usually mommy and dadd were in. Kudos to all those who were working hard yesterday in the old building!
Good morning Rob. Jonathan and I came into the new building yesterday morning and the first thing he said to me is “WOW we have come a long way since Providence High School. We are in awe of what God is doing for us and Southbrook in these hard times. Like you always say we can’t wait to see what God is going to do for us in the future. The new building is wonderful. We are inviting lots of our friends for the Grand Opening! Come on Brookies lets fill those seats!!! Thanks Rob for all that you do!!!
I just wanted to thank God for bringing Tim and me to Southbrook. We are so excited about the excitement at Southbrook!! It was an awesome weekend !!!! As a church – God is doing amazing things already – we have seen and felt it so many times. God bless all of the members and prospective members and families at Southbrook !!! We are proud to be able to say we are a part of Southbrook !!! The “soft opening” was great. If you wouldn’t have told us things weren’t working right, we would have never known !!
Wow … I could not agree more with what Dana was saying … when our family first visited Southbrook in Providence HS there were a total of 85 people, kids included! It is amazing how far the LORD has taken this Church … but I cannot wait to see where HE will take us next! Praise the LORD!
Our first day at Southbrook was the first day the “old” building was opened. I was amazed then at how powerfully the Spirit was moving in the church but now I am flored at how far and how fast the church has grown from even then. What an honor to serve an amazing, wonderfull, and glorious ginormous God! GO SOUTHBROOK!!!
It seems like just yesterday there was Wednesday nights at the old Brook — that warehouse kind of space in Matthews. The “Ark” is fantastic; I liked the small church feel in the old/new building, but we get to be more together in the new/new building.
WOW! I can’t wait to be a part of this in person. Southbrook Staff…we are so proud of you!!