From time to time I get to take a break from preaching on Sundays and have the chance to observe "the machine" that is a "portable church" meeting in an NYC nightclub. 

Each time I get the chance to see the whole process from beginning to end (a team of about 50 people who give of their time on a Sunday so that the congregation has an atmosphere that is clean, safe, and conducive to worship) I am blown away by the commitment and hard work of our volunteers. 

Many of these volunteers are "seen." 

They may sing or play in the band.

They may serve on our prayer team. 

They may be greeters or ushers.  

They may serve on our audio & media team.

They  may be working with the children or youth downstairs.

They may be serving coffee and bagels in the auditorium. 

To these volunteers, I am ever grateful. We would never be able to do all that we do for people without these "seen" ones.

But there is also another group of people who are completely "unseen." 

These are those who serve on our setup team. 

They arrive between 7 and 7:30AM on Sundays to unload our van, move couches, tables, and all manner of equipment to their needed places in the theatre, then they head home for a quick shower to be back in time for church.

Why a shower, you ask? Because it's hard work. It takes sweat and stamina to make it happen. 

What's funny is that members of this team may be sitting right next to you at church, and you'd never know that they had already been there, three hours prior, literally "building" an environment for us to worship in. 

I just wanted to publicly post a note of thanks to our setup team, and all those who serve on any of our teams so faithfully. 

You have one very grateful pastor. 

If any of you reading this would like to post a word of thanks to them, too, you can do so in the "comments" field below.

Here's a time lapse video that shows all that our teams get done every Sunday morning.