Posts Tagged ‘church’

The Day That Starts It All

Saturday, August 23rd, 2008

Tomorrow.

Sunday.

The day that will start madness. And craziness. And struggle. And complete and utter joy.

Tomorrow, St. Paul’s Collegiate Church will, after only 3 years, start a 4th service on Sunday. Services times and feels are as follows:

9:00AM – Traditions/Matins — Hymnal type music with basic piano/vocal driven feel.

11:15AM – Jazz — Led by critically acclaimed musicians Earl McDonald and Kris Allen, the service is heavily jazz-based and is surprisingly fun and engaging.

4:00PM – Evensong — Full band with drums, this service rocks out hard and big.

6:00 – Vespers/Unplugged — More meditative and responsive, the music has an acoustic feel and leads people to worship more deeply and spend time in prayer.

What does this mean for me? (more…)

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Posted in church, prayer, technology | 6 Comments »

Calling All Techs!! Help!!

Monday, July 28th, 2008

Alright – I’m in need of lots of feedback, lots of help on this one. I know there is only about 30 people who read this blog on a day to day basis but if you do and you read other blogs, linking back to me is key right now.

Currently, I am one of only three techs that will be staying on the Atmosphere team come January. We are losing people to new jobs in new states, new babies, etc. In place of the techs going forth with their other callings, we are gaining three video cameras and a live editing system, one of which I know nothing about.

This is huge because we are starting up a new service in the fall bringing the total to four services – HUGE!!! Amen for growth!! But it’s almost expanding too quickly for us techs to catch up and I want to be on top of things like whoa so if you know about video services, use cameras at church, do video editing, I need your comments. I need your emails. Link back to me – spread the word that St. Paul’s Collegiate Church Atmosphere team is in need of some support because without it, it may be a rough road that could distract people during services.

On that note, let’s hear some thoughts – concerns, tricks, tips.

How do you do it at your church? What should I be weary of and look for?

P.S. I’ll post our new system information when I get a hold of it so that you can be aware of what I’m dealing with!

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Posted in church, technology | 1 Comment »

Coming and Going

Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

At St. Paul’s Collegiate Church, we are always in constant ups and downs in our weekly attendance due to the close proximity to UConn and high attendance from college students. It is amazing to see people my age and even younger riding the shuttle to get to our church week in and week out to hear about God and to worship Him.

What sucks is when people get callings elsewhere as they finish school. This is a natural thing, especially in a college town but it always comes when you don’t want it to happen. In the past two weeks, three very close friends of mine have received God’s calling to go elsewhere. (more…)

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Posted in church, community, random | 2 Comments »

Scientology, Where Are You?

Friday, May 30th, 2008

In response to a recent post filled with excitement and curiosity, I was getting ready to journey into the unknown and go to a Scientology service. Why? How about why not.

I’m a Christian, active in his faith, yet I have no substantial working knowledge of other religions out there. This is not to say that Scientology is a “religion” but for the sake of argument and the fact that I just woke up and can’t think of other words to use, religion will stay.

Ashley and I journeyed out to West Hartford in search of the Church of Scientology. Located in West Hartford, it wasn’t long before we showed up at the building. (more…)

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Posted in church, random | 3 Comments »

Scientology, Here I Come!

Saturday, May 24th, 2008

No I am not converting…. Catch your breath and give a sigh of relief…

Ready now?

I’m going to a Scientology service tomorrow with a friend of mine just to check it out. I’ve always wanted to go to one for the sake of knowing what goes on there.

Let me be clear though – I truly believe something sinister goes on there. There is not a hair on my body that believes that this is a Holy thing and only now am I getting nervous about it. Yes I’m excited because I can cross it off my to-do list but frankly I’m scared for those that I will see who actually believe it.

Pray for me as I go to a place where God has been tossed aside, left for dead. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, if anything, but I can only pray that God will use me and Ashley tomorrow.

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Posted in church, random | 1 Comment »

Tech Confessionals

Monday, May 19th, 2008

In response to many others doing this and a couple of my posts being similar in nature already, I figured I’d do a weekly response to the services I attend/tech for.

This week was the first time in weeks I had attended the 11am, our Jazz service. I love the music and the atmosphere that the musicians create because it is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. The musicians, Earl MacDonald and Kris Allen, are critically acclaimed and known throughout the country for their musical experience.

Later on I was able to attend the 6pm to worship, instead of teching. Always nice! Here are some thoughts.

  • I snap at people when cues don’t happen when I want them to. Thank God for the gracious people I serve with :) That’s definitely something that I need to work on. In the end, it’s all about God, not how good we look :)
  • Jazz is so unique, especially for me (I love it!), but it draws me in and allows me to reflect much more rather than look showy like I expected it to.
  • 6pm service seemed to be kind of quiet but it lacked the beefy sound of our bassist so that might have been why. Liked the mix though!
  • Beth our new worship leader as of this summer rocked! Great job leading the sets and making people feel comfortable to worship as they please!!
  • Cues were spot on with MediaShout! Kelly, one of our newest members picked it up quick and has a knack for hitting the right cues!

How was your Sunday worship??

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Posted in church, sound, technology | No Comments »

Heart Attack in Tech

Monday, May 12th, 2008

Yesterday (Sunday) was supposed to be easy.

Things were supposed to go relatively smoothly.

I assumed I’d have to do mostly nothing to pull off a successful Sunday. I spent the better half of the afternoon re-designing the lighting set-up for our guest speaker/actor Hunter Barnes. I was excited and ready to go.

But you know sometimes when you get that strange feeling that something was going to happen?? I had that yesterday for most of the day which I simply brushed off thinking nothing of it. (more…)

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Posted in church, serving, technology | 4 Comments »

April 27 Worship Set @ St. Paul's

Sunday, April 27th, 2008

Once again, another amazing night of worship. Things were simply spot on and it was an absolute pleasure to create the sound of worship. I love my job and wouldn’t trade it for anything. Below you’ll find the links for the worship songs that came out well from the recordings. The other songs unfortunately were too distorted or didn’t come out well enough to post here. So for now, enjoy these tunes :) Once I get better at recording, there will be full services :)

Evensong Set

Vespers Set

Let me know what you think or if there are any problems :) Any skilled recorders out there, leave me some helpful tips please!!

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Posted in church, sound, technology | 3 Comments »

What Tech Directors Wished Worship Leaders Knew

Tuesday, April 15th, 2008

As one of the Atmosphere (tech ministry) coordinators at St. Paul’s, I receive the brunt of most of the criticism of what went wrong during a service. For good reason though — something bad happens, it is usually tech-related and thus my fault. I don’t mind it, however, there are certain things that would be helpful to me if the worship leader simply knew about them. Here’s a list of things on my plate that I’m willing to admit.

—We (tech guys) don’t always know what you (leaders) mean when you point to something on stage. Come up with hand signals i.e. pointing at monitor and then pointing up = monitor too quiet, raise volume. Simply pointing at the monitor does nothing for us.
—Ask for what you want (sound quality, balance, monitor levels) when you want it! Don’t expect us to know what you want simply because we are the tech director. We are super, but not supermen.
—Don’t be afraid to give us constructive criticism …. just because we work with buttons and computers all day doesn’t mean we don’t have people skills. Pick and choose your time though. If it is during the service and we are pulling our hair out, bad timing. An after-service email or follow-up is appropriate.
—We know what we are doing (most of the time). Unless we are completely screwing things up, let us work and we will let you work :)
—Continue to build up your team, reminding them that we are all on the same team. By having other band members getting upset at us during rehearsal or the service does not benefit anyone. Keep communication lines open so that problems can be fixed ASAP!
—This is as prideless as I can say it but don’t take us for granted. You will never sound good without us. Yes you can make plenty of noise but angry tech members don’t serve well. Keep in check with us, making sure that yes we are on the same page and still glorifying God with our work, not making each other go crazy.

Well that’s about all I can think of off the top of my head. Be sure to check out my worship leaders blog for his thoughts on worship too!

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Posted in church, leadership, serving, sound, technology | 2 Comments »

April 13 Worship Set @ St. Paul's

Monday, April 14th, 2008

Nights like last make it so worth it from the tech side of worship. Helping to create such an atmosphere of worship leaves me in awe of how great God really is. Beth and Stephen did an amazing job facilitating worship and the other members of the band were spot on! Cello, piano, electric guitar, bass — mmm sooo good!

Last night at St. Paul’s, God moved throughout the chapel and it was evident that people’s hearts and lives were being touched. In fact numerous times, the room became surprisingly bright with white light from outside as if He was expressing His joy in the service. Who knows if that’s the case but I believe it. God walked among us last night.

Be in awe.

In addition to the amazing experience, I was able, by the His grace, to record the band and have it actually sound good! Below are some of the links for the songs. Feel free to download as you like! Spread the word that the first unofficial release of the “Band at St. Paul’s” is ready to go. :)

Evensong Service

Communion/Reflection Set
Ending Worship Set

Vespers Service

Communion/Reflection Set
Ending Worship Set (It cuts off unfortunately!! Sorry!!! CD ran out of space during recording :( )

Any techies out there?? How do you record?? Equipment? Any suggestions?

Give me some feedback :)

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Posted in church, news, praise, serving, sound | No Comments »