Comes in 3s

WOW! Has it been almost 3 weeks since I last posted? Time flies by when the day job is demanding a lot of time, the computer is down for a week and preparation for 3 worship services is ongoing. We had some great morning worship services this past Sunday and the evening service we ordained 3 great men to the office of Deacon.

My computer going down was a blessing in disguise. Thank God all my hardware was not damaged for one thing. Upon rebuild everything was lost on my hard drive. (Word of warning about what partition software you use.) Now my computer performs as good as the day I bought it. Actually it performs better because the OEM partition and the poorly engineered, bundled software is history.

Well, that is my 3 main reasons for not posting. Plus I have been spending some time working on another blog. All I can say is “Life is hard but God is good”.

That’s a few 3s. This makes me think of the late, great Dale Earnhardt. In case you just fell off the turnip truck, his number was 3.

Due to my newly reconfigured computer I now have a whole new bundle of joy; I mean software to play with. Now let me recommend 3 excellent tools that will help you as a blogger. Two will help you with any text document, including e-mail, which you prepare.

1. Blogger for Word -- I’m using it now. If would like more control over your text than what the post creator and editor on blogger.com can offer then this is the way to go. One benefit that I’m using in this post is a bulleted list. There are many, many more. I’m sure most of you are familiar with the capabilities of Microsoft Word.
   
2. WordWeb Pro – WordWeb Pro is a fully functional dictionary and thesaurus that runs in you system tray. Therefore it is available for any document that you may want to check definition or synonym. In addition to definitions and synonyms this utility recommends adjectives, anagrams and similar words. Nice tool to have.
   
3. Text Monkey PRO – What a very quick and adaptable utility Text Monkey PRO has proved itself to be. I believe it is one of the more invaluable tools that I have found when it comes to editing any document or text. This includes cleaning up e-mail and converting HTML. I can’t begin to tell you all the features and I don’t really have to because you can see all the features listed here.

I hope this short list helps you discover some excellent utilities to use for text if you didn’t know already.

I have some new audio and video editing software that I’m digging into next. Stay tuned.

New Book & CD from Matt Redman

"Worship is a choice to be made in every circumstance of life and every season of the soul. Come rain or shine, come hardship or ease, come confusion or clarity, wise worshippers make it through the storms of life with a cry of 'Blessed Be Your Name' on their lips."
-- Matt and Beth Redman






I'm looking forward to picking up "Blessed Be Your Name" the book and "Blessed Be Your Name: The Songs Of Matt Redman Vol. 1" the CD.

Are We Indigenous Missionaries?

Anthony Coppedge has authored yet another thought provoking article on his blog.  The article is titled Does the Church Need AVL Technology?
Now I must confess at first I was confused because in the mobile data communications business AVL is an acronym for Automatic Vehicle Locator which uses GPS (Global Positioning System) technology to help pubic safety agencies, trucking companies or any other organization with a large fleet to keep track of their vehicles.  I thought “Why would a church need that?”  Anthony quickly clarified in the first paragraph that this AVL represents Audio, Video & Lighting.
Anthony sparked new avenues of thought for me as I’m now picturing my realm of using media as a mission field.  I attend a heavily missions oriented church so I may score points with my pastor by presenting our media ministry team as an indigenous missions team. [smile]  
Thanks once again Anthony for stoking the fire of my passion.  

Hurdles of Media Ministry Part 2

4- PASTORS
Usually this hurdle is due to miscommunication on our part and misunderstanding on their part.  We as technical people speak a different language and most of the time would rather be tinkering with equipment than communicating anyway.  Therefore we usually lack the interpersonal skills that pastors have perfected to communicate effectively what we can do for them.  
We have to remember that media is, for the most part, not a ministry unto itself.  It is an extension of every other ministry.  It is a tool to be used.  With that mindset then we can go to our pastors and first and foremost get not on the same page but on their page.  The senior or lead pastor holds the vision of the body of believers that have been entrusted to his care.  We have to learn to communicate effectively how media can be an enhancement of our pastor’s vision.  We have to build the trust of our ministerial staff.  Using media in our churches is still a growing phenomenon and many pastors and ministers do not think to incorporate media into their teaching, building disciples, praise and worship.  Those that are gifted in the areas of audio, video, lighting, web site design and other creative outlets are given a vision of how to incorporate these different mediums into the overall vision of the church.  If you step outside of the overall vision and use media to be using media then it will fail.

5-PEOPLE
You all have heard the old adage “It’s hard to find good help”.  And it is hard but not because the help is not there.  You have to dig to find the gems.  You would be amazed at how many people in your church are technically gifted.  Many times you have to draw them out though.  Like I said before we lack in the area of interpersonal skills so it is rare for someone to just step forward and say, “Hey, I want to be part of the Media Ministry Team”.  As a team leader you have to be constantly on the look out for those that are gifted and you have to approach them and be able to communicate with them.  It is much easier communicating with them than pastors because you already speak the same language.  Many times technically gifted people never find a place to serve within the church and do not grow spiritually because they are not interacting with God through an offering of their gift.
You have to have people because we can not do it all.  I have tried to do it all and it doesn’t work.  You have to have help and as your media ministry grows you need a lot of it.  Make sure you keep your team well informed and well trained and make them a part of everything that you envision with media.  That helps develop ownership and the overall scheme of things flows much better when your team has a sense of ownership in the ministry.
Ultimately people are why we are in a ministry anyway.

6-PERSONALITIES
The hurdle of personalities encompasses pastors and people.  It is usually not hard to tell who is introvert and who is extrovert.  Those are common personality traits that are tossed about.  But how about who is resilient and who is reactive?  Who is a preserver and who is an explorer?  Who is a challenger and who is an adapter?  Who is flexible and who is focused?  And don’t forget the middle of the road personality traits of ambivert, responsive, moderate, negotiator and balanced.  In team building and relationship building you have to be able to recognize people’s different personalities and how to relate to that person whether they are a pastor or one of your team members.  You may not think of your senior or lead pastor as an introvert but they may be just that.  Just because they deliver a message in front of the congregation every Sunday does not mean that they are an extrovert.  You have to get to know people in different settings and different situations.  
When training or instructing you have to be able to discern how people learn.  Do they learn visually, auditory or tactile?  Do they think globally or analytically?  When you develop your training make sure you cover all the different ways that people learn.  For visual learners you need a visual presentation, for auditory you need to be able communicate clearly and effectively and for tactile you need to allow time for hands on.  When you broadcast your vision it is easier to cast an overall picture which will work for those that think globally or big picture down and then allow for questions for those that are more analytical who think from details up.
With all of that being said this is probably the area that I struggle with most.  I have a hard time relating to other personalities sometimes.  One of my personality traits is that I’m a preserver.  In other words I have a low openness.  I’m practical, down-to-earth, efficient and conservative in opinions and set in my ways.  I, therefore, have a hard time with those that have the personality trait of explorer.  They are described as creative, imaginative, or artistic and easily bored.  They tend to be curious and seek varied new experiences.  You may also know them as your musicians and worship leaders.  I have had to ask forgiveness for the many times they have frustrated me to the boiling point.  With the Lords help I have learned how to talk to them, give them what they need and still be able to accomplish the goal of providing a service worthy of the worship of Jesus Christ.  I thank Kent Morris of Worshiptech.com and Brad Herring of Church Production Resources for allowing themselves to be used of God to point me and many others in the right direction in this area.

After we have cleared all of these hurdles then a media ministry can be used of God to reach the lost, make our fellowship more enjoyable, help in discipleship, enhance our minister’s message, make missions visible, and engage hearts and minds to interact with God in authentic worship.  

Hurdles of Media Ministry Part 1

I’m learning that in media ministry their can be many hurdles to overcome.  I’m going to list several and expound on them.  Some of them I have experienced first hand and some I have not had to deal with but I know that some of you have.

1.EDUCATION
Educating your congregation on the relevance of technology in today’s churches can be very difficult if you have an older member base or even younger members that have grown up in rigid, legalistic churches.  Many times you hear “we’ve never done it that way before” instead of thinking “you know, Jesus used everything at his disposal to teach life lessons.  I wonder how God can use media and those technically gifted for His glory and to further His kingdom.”  So many people get hung up on things that don’t affect the meaning of the Word of God or the truth that lies therein.  Let’s face it; we are in a technology advanced society that has come to expect excellence in audio, video and everything else technical.  As a wise friend once said, “The young people of our church demand excellence and the older members deserve excellence.”  I ask that people not resist the change of using of media.  Media is not bad.  What people do with media is sometimes bad but why can’t we use the same thing to counteract all the filth, hatred and violence with goodness, love and peace.

2.EQUIPMENT
Many times I wish I could have been in on the planning and purchasing of audiovisual equipment so many, many years ago.  Of course when your church is lacking in point #1 then you have a very difficult task of convincing anyone that you need to purchase quality equipment and systems.  Many times you are just getting by and the high dollar equipment of 20 years ago is on its last legs.  You have to keep patching and repairing until the piece decides to go onto glory.  
Usually the minimal investment that is allowed on equipment is just that; minimal.  Unfortunately what you do purchase does not live up to the expectation of your church and you end up looking like a fool.  The old adage many times applies, “you get what you pay for”.  
Be careful though because of the booming market of audio, video and lighting equipment to churches there are those companies that are looking for the fast buck.  They don’t understand the church, don’t understand God and certainly don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ but they do understand money and greed.  Churches are many times an easy target because of point #1.  Do your homework!  Research all of your equipment.  Find out what is working for some other churches.  Compare prices.  Get multiple opinions.  Learn from others successes and mistakes.  Remember though that what may work in one church may not work in another.  That is when it comes to having someone design systems in your church.  Check references.  You want to find companies that are reputable (preferably Christian based) and have the necessary people, tools and resources to get the job done.  Also make sure you get several companies to submit designs and quotes.  Don’t hesitate to tell them that there is competition.

3.ENGINEERING
I recently posted about power distribution and what a mess I find and I continue to find.  It never ceases to amaze me what a predicament churches get into with regards to electrical.  When it comes to buying equipment or designing systems do not forget electrical.  
Even more consideration is needed when it comes to lighting systems.  Those lights are power hogs.  An excellent formula to use is nick-named after my home state of West Virginia.  Watts = Volts x Amps or W=VxA.  For example if you want to know how much wattage you have available you can solve for W.  We will take 120 volts (US average) x 20 ampere rated dimmer circuit = 2400 watts.  Then you would add the ratings of all your lighting fixtures to see how many you can place on the one dimmer circuit.
Audio and video equipment need clean power and common potential grounding.  Grounding needs to be common at your service entry and all equipment needs to be tied to that ground to keep the same potential throughout your system.  Otherwise you are asking for serious problems.  There is the potential of electrical shock and much damage to equipment.  Now if your building is very old then you may have some degradation in your circuits that can lead to noise and other problems.  That is why you need to think of effective AC power regulation and distribution.  Get rid of the $5.00 so call surge protectors you bought at Wal-Mart.
After power comes how everything else is wired.  Keep your wiring neat and off your feet.  Invest a few bucks on cable ties, wire loom and raceways.  If possible keep your AC power, audio and video cables separate.  It is possible to have noise on your system by induction of AC power on speaker cables and other audio cables.

I have a few more points that I would like to make but I will continue on this thread in another post.  Stay Tuned…

Line Arrays: Does Everyone Need Them or Not?

2005 has seen an explosion on the market of line arrays by just about every company that manufactures speakers. Although line arrays have been around for over 50 years there is definitely a resurgence in their use. But are they the cure all for your audio woes? As always it depends on the room in which you are wanting to reinforce sound. But hey I'm not the expert. Read from those who know.

Line Arrays: Beware the "Craze"?

Understanding Line Array Systems

JBL’s development team talks about line array concepts

John Meyer on Line Arrays

Hope this helps!

Check Out StandPoint!

StandPoint is a new blog you might want to peruse from time to time.

Dream Big, Think Big, Go Big!

Perry Noble offered a post titled Dream Big. For some reason they have their posts anchored instead of permalink so you will have to scroll down to find that post. After that, make sure you read the post above it as well. Good stuff!

Anyway the post got me to thinking about how many times I hear complaints about some aspect of media ministry. How when I mention what we could do with media or what it would take to really make an event stand out in the community then I get blank stares. When I'm asked by staff to improve an area but then the stewardship committee slashes my budget to the point that I have to maintain status quo. And that may be unfair because our church is fiscally sound. But it is frustrating still.

I'm not satisfied with status quo. The Lord has shown me the need to improve sound, video, lighting, website etc; in different venues to impact outreach, fellowship, discipleship, worship, missions and other ministries. Some of those ideas are a drastic departure from what we have now. But I want to jump out of the fish bowl into the pond and pond to lake and lake to ocean. I need to keep growing and learning and striving for excellence. I will continue to dream big, think big and someday go big!

What is a Technical Staff Position Worth?

Anthony Coppedge never shies away from the tough issues facing churches in the area of media ministry. His post yesterday was no exception. I really appreciated him bringing up this topic.

In my case, I'm the last one to bring up the question of money. I have never wanted to appear that I was there for the money. That is probably why I have never did fair market value research for any employment that I have had and I have never asked for a raise. I believe the love of the job is first and foremost, then people chemistry and then money. When the love of the job wanes though...well that is a different topic.

Of course when you are called to a certain ministry then your salary should not be a determining factor in my opinion. Now if a church or ministry doesn't want to pay you enough to support the cost of living in the area they are located then maybe they have not done their homework. Maybe they have not prepared themselves to take on another staff position. Then maybe that is not the place that God has for you.

Anyway, check out Anthony Coppedge's post Salaries for "Media & Communications" People

Casting a Vision

I heard the phrase "casting a vision" somewhere before but I don't quite remember where. Anyway, it is something that I need to learn how to do. How do I get a whole group of people to see the vision that the Lord has given me for media ministry and how do I get them onboard and as excited as I am?

I'm starting a DVD based training series on the fundamentals of audio starting this Sunday, August 14th. I pray that the Lord uses this to cast His vision.

Another P: Priorities

Every once in a while we need to take the time to get alone and assess our Priorities. Are we putting God first in all that we do? Even in our ministries it can become about the church or us and God is kind of put on the back burner. I know you all have heard the cliche "keep the main thing the main thing" but it is so true. When you get up in the morning try asking God; "Lord what would you have me do with your time today?" or "What would You have me do with Your money today?".
This is much harder when you are involved in a technical ministry when a lot of what you do centers on equipment rather than people. I try hard to not get wrapped up in making a service about the technology. It is such a fine line.
Another thing about being involved in a technical ministry is the time involved to make something right. We have to be careful about neglecting other areas because we are so involved in making an element of the service as perfect as humanly possible. This is where a good media ministry team can alleviate the burden of a leader and each other.
We must keep ourselves from becoming too busy for God. And it happens even in ministry. Our worship pastor posted an article in our church newspaper in which he took an entry from a devotional book printed in 1953. An excerpt from that devotional stated;

Christians are too busy even with good things, and the best thing -- to know God -- gets away.

Another excerpt stated;

If you are too busy to find time for God, you are too busy, You have received a charge to keep, and if your busyness keeps you from being about your Father's business, you are a poor business man! Take time for God!

All of that to lead into a post that Gary Lamb put up on his Mad Babble From A Church Planter blog titled Worthless... Once again God uses Gary to speak to me along with others to show me that I'm getting too busy to know God and what He really wants for my life.

July Concert Series

Our July 2005 "Concerts on the Lawn" series is over. I'm kind of disappointed that it is over. It was a lot of work. It was very frustrating at times. It was almost a disaster at one point. All in all it was a great learning experience and I had a blast. I met some great singers and musicians who above all had a heart for the Lord and a desire to spread the gospel above everything else. That is what it is all about.

The first week we had The Songsters. These gentlemen were in the tradition of southern gospel quartets and were outstanding. Their bass singer had recently passed away so they are for now a trio but sounded awesome. It was a pleasure to help them when they had some audio problems on set up and we were able to have the cure of a couple $3.00 adapters. Those will get you every time. I enjoyed helping them on their outdoor mix as well.

Week 2 was the disaster week. It can be read about at Planning, Preparation, Practice. Enough said. I hope to be able to let people hear how good the praise band from River Hills Community Church really is someday. Also a big thank you to Tim at All Pro Sound. He knew exactly what I needed to remedy my problems plus turned me on to some adapters that I didn't know existed. This saved me some making cables, building connectors, soldering pins time. That I liked. The guys at All Pro Sound are always easy to talk to and know exactly what you are going through because they are not just salesmen. They are out there on the weekends using the stuff just like we are.

Week 3 was moved indoors due to the intense heat we were experiencing. This really cut down on our set up time. No speakers to fly or snake to run and no amplifiers to move or mixer station to roll out. Only mics, stands and associated cables.
The group was our own praise band which is our own singing group Surrender joined with lead and bass guitar, an additional keyboardist and drummer. All the details can be read about at What a Difference a Week Makes.

The last week was also indoors but this time because of storms. The group was His Anointed This is a local family group that is on fire for the Lord. They really had the place jumping. They are also southern gospel but probably most closely resembled The Crabb Family. Not only is the whole family vocally gifted but what really impressed me is how much they love the Lord and how well they work together in everything they did. From their set-up to sound check to concert to tear down was all like a fine tuned machine. Outstanding!

Well, this summer was definitely an experience and one that the Lord refined me in more ways than one. I can't wait to see what He has in store for our media ministry next.

Be In Prayer for These Families & Shure

On Thursday, July 14, 2005, Shure lost three of its own in a tragic automobile accident: Michael Dahlquist, John Glick, and Douglas Meis.

“This is a terrible loss for all of us,” says Sandy LaMantia, President and CEO. “These young men were all very special people who touched so many lives. This has had a profound impact on many of us here at Shure and to many thousands of people who were fans of their music. Michael, John and Doug were not just co-workers, they were friends, and we will miss them.”


Shure Mourns the Loss of Three Associates

Plantronics Acquires Altec Lansing

I was catching up on some e-newsletters when I ran across an article from Sound & Video Contractor about the acquisition of Altec Lansing by Plantronics. Being in the communications field and working in sound these are two companies that I know. This is one of those mergers that will help both companies reach new horizons in creative innovation. In this day and age of convergence this new combination of a professional communication company and a leader in professional and consumer audio products just makes sense.
Check out this article "Acquisition of Altec Lansing Allows Plantronics to Offer Complete Audio Solutions"

This Caught My Attention -- Furman's High-Performance AR-15 Voltage Regulator

This summer has been especially hard on electronic equipment in my day job area of radio. Our towers sometimes are struck by lightning between 80 - 100 times during any particular storm. We had another such storm today. In the radio business you account for those surges with proper grounding, phase monitoring, AC arrestors and other protection. We still have equipment that is damaged by lightning.

Unfortunately in churches not much thought is given to over current protection, lightning arresting and filtering. Many churches use a series of cheap, so-called surge protectors that are usually nothing more than outlet splitters. I cringe at the potential problems we have with not properly powering and protecting our equipment. Also the lack of filtering or proper grounding can sometimes lead to the dreaded hum in your sound system.

The problems that I see could be remedied by equipment such as Furman's High-Performance AR-15 Voltage Regulator. I currently use one voltage regulator in our main sanctuary but could use two more. We have no protection on sound systems in our other venues. That is why this new product caught my attention.

The first two paragraphs of product description had me wanting to try this product.

The 15 amp AR-15 II delivers a stable 120 volts of AC power to protect equipment from problems caused by AC line voltage irregularities such as sags, brownouts, or overvoltages - all of which can cause sensitive electronic equipment to malfunction or sustain damage. AR-15 II accepts any input voltage from 97V to 141V and transforms it to a constant 120V, ±5V. Voltages beyond that range may also be converted to usable levels, depending on the range variance.

Additionally, the AR-15 II is the only regulator that filters and purifies AC power, reducing line noise and ensuring optimum performance. Not only will your equipment perform better with FurmanÂ’s advanced filtering technology, but it will also be fully protected by our exclusive Series Multi-Stage Protection Plus circuitry (SMP+), which features Linear Filter Technology (LiFT) and Extreme Voltage Shutdown (EVS) with high current TVZ-MOV. This circuit provides the highest level of power protection available.

Sounds like it would work for me. Am I endorsing this product? No, I would never endorse a product that I have not used or at least tried. I just hope to elevate the thinking about an issue that is often overlooked in our sound systems. We invest a lot of money in mixers, amps, speakers and signal processing, etc. We should also make the same investment in protecting that equipment.

As always I'm open to recommendations, suggestions, tips and tricks.

Check out the rest of Furman's power products at Furman Sound Inc.

Media & Technology in the Church

Ed Young Jr., pastor of Fellowship Church, wrote an article that was a Leadership Uncensored newsletter distributed by Creative Pastors on the subject of using media and technology in the church. Ed Young Jr.'s tips are excellent and even better is Anthony Coppedge expounding on those tips from a technical viewpoint. Check it out here.

What a Difference a Week Makes

I took a vacation from my day job last week. It wasn't your normal vacation though. I spent two days on yard work and pressure washing decks and siding. A day at a local amusement park with my family and one day preparing for Sunday morning services.
I spent two and half days at the church trying to remedy the fiasco of last Sunday(see Planning, Preparation, Practice) by ordering replacement cables, connectors, adapters etc. And the big item of stage snake. I cleaned, organized and took an inventory of all the audio equipment. All that work plus planning and preparation made a big difference for the concert we had last night.

I started off in the wrong frame of mind because after spending a chunk of change on preparing for an outdoor concert the decision was made to bring it indoors because of the intense heat. My natural reaction is to resist change. So naturally I was a little testy with the musicians and singers but a good friend of mine recognized my anguish and calmed my brewing storm. After all, the musicians and singers showed up when I had told them to show up and were set up and ready to do a sound check right on time. Plus we had a lot less set up by being indoors where we are mostly set up already. We were able to conduct a text book sound check, work out some bugs, mix the house sound and give the band a near perfect monitor mix. The lead guitarist and the worship leader were both pleased with the monitor mix at the same time. All of this using two stage wedges. The Lord was definitely at work here.

This was really my first solo somewhat large scale mix. I had a blast and learned a great deal. I experimented with drum micing and it turned out pretty well. I only used two mics. I had originally placed two Shure SM94s but when I was tearing down I noticed that one of the 94s had been replaced by a SM57. Don't know who or why but I guess they thought they knew best. I know SM57s is recommended for toms/snare but I received a much better response from the SM94 on the tom side. Maybe it had something to do with the acoustically live room we were in. I just don't know. I wish I had mic for the bass drum though and I think overall if I could've done a XY configuration with my mics it would have been better too. I see a purchase of some versatile mic stands in my future. As you can see I have a lot to learn about micing drum sets and I hope to learn the best mics and configurations soon. Hint: enter your comments please ;>)

The hour and a half concert was awesome. We had the biggest crowd for a Sunday night that I had ever seen since I have been at this church. Seeing a bunch of Southern Baptist erupt in praise and worship was something to behold too. The young and the old alike enjoyed the experience. Oh, there was free homemade ice cream too.

It was a great day yesterday at FBC. There was planning, preparation and practice, not only for the concert last night but also for our morning worship services. We strived for excellence and everything was darn near perfect for all services and the concert.

How fitting that the sermon yesterday for the morning services was titled "The Purpose of God's Gifts for Us". Read Ephesians 4:7-16. All glory to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He gave His everything and we gave back and we were all blessed yesterday. I thank the Lord for the gifts that He has given so many in our church and I pray that we always offer those gifts back to Him!

Planning, Preparation, Practice

Planning, Preparation, Practice! These are the 3 Ps that I have been preaching when it comes to media ministry.

You have to plan your services and special events. I don't just mean setting a date, theme etc. I mean thinking of every minute detail and what needs to be implemented to make a service or special event flawless or appear to be anyway.

Next comes preparation. This is where you get everything ready. You make sure that you have all that you need. When it comes to sound you must have all the right cables, with the right connectors going to the right connections. You must have the correct number of mics and then some. You must have all the right components to make good sound. With video presentation you must have all the slides in perfect order with correctly spelled text and the correct lyrics to songs. You must have the correct format video and the right video you are asked to show placed into your program. These are just a few examples of preparation.

Next comes practice. Also known as rehearsal or sound check. This is where after all of your planning and preparation you make sure that nothing was missed and that all is functioning correctly and in order. This is where you discover bad cables, adapters etc. This where you adjust your levels. This is where you adjust video and audio together. This is where you make sure everything you programmed looks good on the big screen. Then you will know that everything is ready to have a flawless service or special event.

Having known all of this I did not practice what I preach this past week and Sunday night's concert laid it all bare. I was not in on the planning of this concert. I knew a band was coming but was not made aware that they needed sound until Friday afternoon. A return phone call earlier in the week would have been nice but that would have not made a difference come Sunday. The band did not show up until almost start time either but that also would not have made a difference either. Why? Because I had not planned or prepared so therefore no practice was even possible.

I knew when I got off the phone with the band leader on Friday that I was going to have to scramble. First of all I had to find a stage snake to borrow. Thank God for my brother, who's place I took a few years ago, because he came through for me with a snake. Unfortunately that was the least of my problems. When I came in Sunday afternoon to set up I began to realize that everything I had used last summer for outdoor concerts didn't seem to be in the place I had left it. Three hours quickly passed by and we were not remotely ready to put on a concert. At start time I was in a room soldering 1/4" connectors on speaker cable. After several attempts to get a full sound system with monitoring I had to face the inevitable. As they say, the worship concert must go on. We started a concert with only half our mains producing sound, no monitors and no sound check. When the first song started is when my level adjusting started and it took me about 3 songs to get it decent and I found out that not all the mics were working. I certainly didn't have time to mic a drum kit so it could not be heard. And on and on... When I finally hurried back to the main mixer I kept my head down and didn't look at the crowd. I just wanted to bury myself.

The band was excellent though. I could tell they were slightly out of time because they couldn't hear. But they took it all in stride and they thanked me for the effort afterwards. They said that they had a great time because they don't do concerts very often. I hope I get another chance to do sound for them because I think they would be awesome.

I heard the crowd enjoyed themselves regardless and they thought it sound pretty decent. After all it wasn't about me or the sound system or the band. It was about God. It was about Jesus Christ and offering up our praises to Him. That is what we did.

Lesson learned is to practice what you preach. Next Sunday night is another concert. I have planned all I could in one day. I have been making preparations all day and will continue tomorrow. Practice is coming...
I know that I must strive for excellence because I believe that is what God wants from us. Not because He will love us any more or any less but because as one praise and worship song states "...because He gave His everything." That's why we praise Him and that is why we should give our everything for Him.

The Cost of MP3s

There has been a lot of talk lately about MP3s. Who should be recording them? Who should be offering them? Why they are not offering them. Where they are being used. And what to charge.
I always like FREE! I also know that is not always feasible. What is really puzzling to me is the disparity of pricing on MP3s by different ministries.

I was perusing my favorite preachers and teachers the other day on OnePlace.com so I thought I would just see what the standard was for charging for MP3s. Here is what I found:

A New Beginning w/ Greg Laurie -- FREE w/registration
Living On the Edge w/ Chip Ingram -- $3.00
The Alternative w/ Dr. Tony Evans -- $4.50
Love Worth Finding w/ Adrian Rogers -- $2.50
The Connection w/ Pastor Skip Heitzig -- FREE w/registration
Ed Young Ministries -- $6.00
All of the Thru the Bible series w/ Dr. J. Vernon McGee -- FREE
Turning Point w/ Dr. David Jeremiah -- $3.50
Grace to You w/ John MacArthur -- $4.00
Walk in the Word w/ Dr. James MacDonald -- $3.00

These are just my favorites. There are many more available. I think the results are interesting. I was not surprised to find Dr. J. Vernon McGee was offered for free. He passed in 1988 I believe so all of this great material is archived for us to enjoy. I was surprised to see the jump up to $6.00 for Ed Young Ministries though. Not that he isn't worth it but that price is considerably higher on average than the others.

All in all I will be downloading Greg Laurie, Skip Heitzig and Dr. J. Vernon McGee on a regular basis. There are messages and series by the ministers listed above that I have bought before so they are not out of the question to download from time to time for the fee.

So, my question is, how do we determine to charge or not to charge for MP3s?
I know some churches are offering their messages for FREE
If you are currently offering MP3s what factors did you use to determine a price or not charge at all?

Worship Leader Magazine: Technology Bonus Issue Part 2 "Welcome to the Blogsphere: The Postmodern Wittenberg Door"

The next article of interest in the latest technology bonus issue of Worship Leader magazine is titled "Welcome to the Blogsphere: The Postmodern Wittenberg Door" by Karen M. Ward. She is the abbot and lead curate of Church of the Apostles, an emerging, monastic, incarnational, Christian community in Seattle, WA.

First of all, what is an emerging, monastic, incarnational, Christian community? Sounds very New Age or Universalist if you know what I mean. I could be wrong though. After perusing her blog site I'm still not sure.

Anyway, back to the article. Karen Ward writes of the culture changing impact that Martin Luther had when he posted his 95 thesis on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. That document started the reformation.

Ms. Ward credits Martin Luther's ability to make a document such as the 95 thesis and also his ability to translate the Bible into German on the new technology of movable type printing process. This process was invented by Johann Gutenberg and revolutionized the distribution of information and therefore the culture of the day.

Ms. Ward then compares that culture changing phenomenon to today's blog. I would have to say that she is right. She list 4 things about blogs that are culture changing:

1. Blogs personalize mass communications.
2. Blogs eliminate the need for information middlemen...and the process of seeking outside permission to be heard.
3. Blogs provide direct and immediate linkage between writers and readers. (fresh content)
4. Blogs return the means of production to regular people, so the merits of what is being said are what matter, rather than needing money, power and privilege to find an audience and get a hearing.

Karen Ward continues with a breakout that states ministry uses for blogs such as church events, youth groups, building projects and pastor's sermon vault blogs. I know I'm considering a group blog for my ministry team.

Ms. Ward also list some blogging systems to use such as blogger.com, typepad.com, movabletype.org and livejournal.com

I like the idea of having my own site for mass communications and being able to put out whatever content allowable by law to whoever wants to come by and read what I'm thinking about at the moment. Plus they can immediately comment on what I'm thinking and it starts conversations, contacts and communities. Wow! What an awesome medium we have here to communicate with the world.