Worship - Media - Technology

Worship For Youth

2008-07-11T05:09:00.000-07:00

Today's post comes from M-Fuge camp at Philadelphia. I wanted to talk a little bit about designing worship experiences for youth based on my observations of coming to camp over the years. The key idea is that the elements of worship are the same but the packaging is different. We still worship our Lord, we pray, we sing, we use Scripture, we are invited to respond; just in a way that is approachable to youth. M-Fuge is a national camp so the way they plan worship for youth is a good model for us to consider in our planning.

At M-Fuge we have two different worship experiences. The main worship service each day is in the evening and we have a celebration service in the morning prior to going out to our ministry sites. Here is a general list of the contents of each:

Evening Worship

Worship songs with band
A video clip on missions opportunites in Canada and with the Roma people in eastern Europe
A drama sketch with two actors
A message from the camp pastor
Prayer
A time of invitation and commitment.

Celebration Send-Off

A game involving two or more youth ministers (nominated by students)
Worship songs with band
The latest installment of a thought-provoking (and funny) video clip series that demonstrates the theme "Adventure Now"
A hilarious video clip series on Carter - the Church Assistant
A video clip on missions opportunites in Canada and with the Roma people in eastern Europe followed by prayer for the folks from the video
A drama sketch with two actors
A brief message from the camp pastor
Prayer
Send off to ministry sites

Most of our worship services include these basic elements. Now I want to talk in a little more detail about the look and feel of the service

Theme Interpretation

The room is decorated to reflect the camp theme, particularly in the stage area.
The stage area is flexible, it can hold a band, a skit, a game, and a message. Furniture is easily moved as needed.
The theme of the week is interpreted using a series of video clips about a young man and his two friends going on adventure. You can see a trailer for the M-Fuge camp that includes portions of the clip here
The theme of the week is also interpreted using a series of skits performed by two of the camp staff.
The print materials for the week support the theme.

Music

Worship is led by a band (Two guitars, bass, drums, worship leader, and background vocals, keys). Various portions of the band are used during worship.
The music is primarily guitar-driven.
We sing five to six songs in a given worship service. Sometimes we will sing a portion of a song instead of the entire song. Typically it is 3-4 songs to start, a song or two in the middle and a song or two for the invitation.
Song lyrics are projected on screens with moving background graphics.

Visuals

Worship service is conducted in a gym, but it has been transformed to reflect the camp theme.
There is a large stage, sound system and two screens in the front of the room with two columns of chairs.
The room is dimmed most of the time. There is a mix of theartical lighting on portable stands and some creative solutions to provide dimmable house lighting.
The room is set up to limit outside light to enable near-blackout conditions
The props for the skits are very minimal

Message

The camp pastor preaches for about a half hour. We have seen different preaching styles over the years. Some preach in an exegetical style, others are more story-oriented. Some use media clips. The key idea is that the camp pastor needs to communicate with youth well.

Resp0nse

Students are invited to respond by coming forward to pray, prayer with their youth leaders or camp staff and or pray at their seats.
The invitation allows for both salvation and commitment to mission service/ministry

We'll talk more about this in coming weeks.

DTV, February 2009 and you

2008-06-20T09:25:00.000-07:00

On February 17, 2009 all full-power broadcast television stations in the United States will stop broadcasting on analog airwaves and begin broadcasting only in digital. Digital broadcasting will allow stations to offer improved picture and sound quality and additional channels.

http://www.dtv.gov/

So, what does this mean, to you? First of all the DTV web site contains a host of useful information in regards to what is happening, why it is happening, etc. I'd suggest you visit the web site for information on the DTV transition. I find that the FAQ section is especially helpful for most people.

So, why blog about a change in TV on a blog tied to the church web site? I thought this blog was on Worship, Media, and Technology. How does TV fit into the scope of this blog?

1. People are asking me about it. (For example "Will I have to buy a new big-screen HDTV to get TV after the cutover?") The conversion is certainly being used as a marketing opportunity by retailers. The answer to this question, by the way, is no. The DTV conversion is being used to sell HDTVs just like the recent tax rebate checks were hyped by car dealers as a way to buy a new car. With a convertor box your old 1963 TV will continue to work. The new HDTVs are very cool. The main thing to know is that you may have to buy a digital tuner (converter box) and coupons for $40 are available.

2. The DVD transition will enable wireless communication growth. Each analog TV channel consumed a certain amount of the frequency spectrum aka bandwidth. Analog transmissions also suffered from interference from adjacent channels so there had to be "gaps" in between the channels to isolate the signals. Digital TV transmissions use less bandwidth and can be clustered together without crosstalk. This free bandwidth was recently auctioned by the FCC and won by various telcoms such as Verizon (who had a $9.4B bid) and AT&T

As a result of the new bandwidth in the analog TV 700Mhz band. Telcoms will be able to offer additional voice and data wireless services. The 700Mhz band is better than the existing frequencies in terms of it's ability to travel long distances and penetrate buildings. So wireless vendors will be able to offer better coverage, faster data services, and more comprehensive services to their customers.

How will we as the church use these new capabilities to reach people for Christ? How will we use these new capabilities to connect with one another for fellowship and discipleship. We need to enter into a discussion on these issues. In my opinion, the days of putting a note in the bulletin or a flyer on a wall are quickly coming to a close. Both assume that folks are coming to us and will see our information in physical form. With the new wireless capabilities we will have a number of new ways to stay in touch with people as we "reach beyond ourselves".

3. The DTV transition may break existing technology. There is a great deal of wireless technology that made use of the "white spaces" in the analog TV band. For example some wireless microphones transmit their signal in the TV band. The frequency spectrum is getting more crowded and either DTV signals or wireless signals for cell phones might render our wireless mics unuseable due to interference. This could affect churches, theatres, sporting events, schools, restaurants, etc. As an example here is a statement from Shure to their customers on the potential impacts of the DTV transition. We will be doing a survey of our gear to assess the potential impacts on what we already own.

Technology is like a river, you never step into the same river twice. We'll keep up to date on this and other technology trends. In particular to figure out how we can reach people for Christ in new ways.

Coming Attractions

2008-06-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

"Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions"
Albert Einstein

The summer movie season is upon us. The period from May thru July 4th is often filled with movies that we have been waiting to see. It may be the next edition of Indiana Jones, Narnia, or Batman series but this is a great time of the year to see movies. I remember I once kiddedTerri that we would celebrate our wedding anniversary by attending the Lord Of The Rings : Fellowship of the Ring on it's opening night. Of course, Terri was less than thrilled by the option, so we didn't go.

We have been seeing previews of coming attractions for our church facilities. We have glimpses of what is coming, but we do not have the full picture. For those of you who missed some of the "movie trailers" because you were in line getting popcorn I thought I would reiterate some of the neat stuff we have in mind for the renovation of our facilities and our ministries.

The "July 4th blockbuster" of the renovation project is the new fellowship hall. Our intent is that after the renovation, the Hospitality Center (HC) will be a first-class venue for fellowship, teaching and worship. Our planning has been geared towards making the HC a very flexible space. The room is designed to adapt to a number of usages. This is part of the reason why you have not heard a lot of details on what will be in the room. Let me explain this by analogy.

During the Thanksgiving holiday you are in a movie theater and you have just seen an exciting preview for an action movie that will be released on the following July 4th. Your immediate reaction to the preview was "We've got to go see that". In November, however, the movie is not finished. There are thousands of digital artists who are painstakingly working to create each frame of the film. There are audio engineers who are working to create every sound you will hear. There are even marketing executives who are still negotiating contracts with fast food chains for shared promotional campaigns. In short, during the eight months between November and July there is a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes. The same thing has been going on with the HC. We have been working on the building addition design, the kitchen design, the audio visual design and going through the permit and approval process. I'm sure that someone has spent at least a few days working out where exactly all of the plumbing lines have to be run, down to a detailed level.

We still have a ways to go on the HC renovation. We are working on estimating costs, establishing options for financing the construction, getting necessary approvals, etc.

As we go through this process we will need to tweak the design, but here are some things that I hope will make the walk down the "red carpet" during the premiere of the HC.

An integrated video projection system that consists of three projectors/screens that can be used for teaching, song lyrics, announcements, sunday school, etc.
A sound system that is in many ways is superior to the system in the Sanctuary (Note: As the A/V chair I have plans to fix some sound issues in the Sanctuary too)
A video camera and editing tools that will enable us to build a media ministry team to better catalog and illustrate visually our lives together.
New instruments that will equip us with the ability to host a contemporary service in the HC space.
Flexible, portable A/V control racks that we can store easily when the room is not in use.

Here is where I want to invite you to put on your "imagination cap". What I would like for you to do is dream about ways we can make use of these new capabilities. We will need people with a passion to use these tools and a willingness to learn to fulfill the purposes of the HC center.

We can build the nicest theater, have the most special-effects filled scenes, the best script, and the tastiest pop-corn, but if the theater is empty we have missed our purpose. We need folks to step up and say, "I want to learn how to run the projector", "I'm good at making popcorn", "I'm friendly, so I can help people find a seat", "I'm a great cleaner, I'll sweep the aisles to keep the theater looking new". The goal of the HC is not about neat new toys, it is about the things the God will do, through his people, with those capabilities. So dream a little bit.

See ya at the movies...

Soccer and the church

2008-05-30T07:55:00.000-07:00

Terri and I have been attending a lot of soccer games over the past year. Nate, our adopted college student is on the W&M men's soccer team and has been playing for the Virginia Legacy this summer. I did not grow up as part of the soccer culture. When I was a kid we had football, baseball and basketball leagues. My main soccer memories of childhood are of seeing Pele on TV.

Tony has been preaching a sermon series using the metaphor of games/sports to illustrate life lessons and I thought I would offer up some examples from soccer. I hope I am not "borrowing" his ideas for a future sermon. Who knows he might borrow from me.

1) Get up, shake the dust off and keep running
Soccer is listed as a non-contact sport, but when I watch soccer played at the college level I am amazed by the resiliency of soccer players. I have seen numerous collisions and fouls where a player is left lying on the ground, writhing in pain. Yet, it seems that after a few minutes the player is up and running again at full speed. Life is a contact sport and bad things will happen, but as people of faith we need to get up, shake the dust off, and get back in the game.

2) Etiquette matters
One thing I have admired in soccer is the way a team handles an injury on the other team. Team A has the ball and one of their players is injured by a member of Team B, but Team B has the ball. After the referee has stopped and restarted play, Team B's first move is to kick the ball to Team A's goalie. In most cases, no penalty had been called, the injury was incidental during the play so Team B is voluntarily giving the ball back to Team A. Even in the midst of a competitive match where players are working very hard to win, they recognize that their is something more important than winning. The key ideas here are sensitivity to others and a strategy of doing the right thing.

3) It may take a long time to make some progress
A typical soccer game consists of two 45-minutes halves and the teams can end up with a combined score that is countable on one hand. At the international level the sports media tracks the number of meters that a player as run during the course of a match. This stat is similar to tracking the number of pitches thrown in baseball or the number of sacks a quarterback has received in football. In short, a tremendous amount of energy can be expended in a game that might end with a 1-0 final score. A goal can happen anywhere in the game. Step away from the stands for a minute and you might miss the only goal. The key to watching soccer is to be there the whole time. If we become disengaged we might miss a key moment. The same is true in church life. Things may seem to move at a glacial pace, but we need to stay engaged. We might miss those game-changing moments in the life of our church.

4) Soccer is a team sport, so is church
Soccer involves between 7 and 11 players per side, a referee and two assistant referees. So in a normal match 25 people are involved. You can practice soccer skills as an individual but you cannot play a game by yourself. You need teammates to help you, you need opponents to challenge your skills, you need officials to keep you honest to the game. Now I am not going to speculate about who in the church serves as a referee or an opponent. The key point I want to make is that church is not a solitary activity. We need to consider ways to get more people into positions of service and leadership. It makes our job as church leaders easier, but it also gets more people where they need to be, in the game.

5) Good coaching shows
Soccer seems to be a simple game. Kick the ball into the opponents goal. Like most team sports each player has a different role. The goalie protects the goal and can touch the ball with his hands. Some players have a defensive role, some players have an offensive role. A well-coached team will have each player doing the right thing at the right time. Good coaching can overcome limited ability. Poor coaching can minimize outstanding physical ability. Good coaching is evident in the proper positioning of players and a strategic approach to the game. The same is true in church. Our staff and church leadership seek to put us in positions where we can use our individual abilities and talents to God's glory. Are you willing to learn?

6) Fans are important
The William and Mary soccer team has an important ritual as part of their post-game "cool down". They walk to the middle of the field, shoulder to shoulder, facing the stands and visibly applaud their fans. It is a way of demonstrating their appreciate for fans who have followed the game and cheered on the team. In the church we need to celebrate the folks that we encounter along the way. Simple appreciation and friendliness to our visitors will help encourage them to come again. We can never forget our fans.

7) Celebration is paramount
Because of the rarity of goals in soccer a goal is vigorously celebrated. Some players might only score one goal in their entire career. Whenever something good happens, especially if it might only happen once for that person. We must celebrate. This is why we publish birthdays in our newsletter, why we sing Happy Birthday/Anniversary on Sunday night. It is our chance to join in on something really cool that God has done in and through the life of a fellow believer.

8) A tie is OK
In some leagues, soccer can end in a tie. Each team gets a half-point for the win in the overall league standings. So, even a tie is movement toward the goal of a league championship. We have all sorts of ways of measuring our church: attendance, giving, the size of our facilities and metrics such as these can be helpful. But the key idea is the following, no matter where we are, are we moving towards the goal that God has laid out for us as Walnut Hills Baptist Church.

The hybrids have been saved!

2008-05-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I shared our experiences relating to buying a hybrid car. With great fanfare I can announce the successful completion of my Save The Hybrids campaign. Terri and I are the owners of a fancy new hybrid car and are already enjoying the better gas mileage.

Some things we have learned in the journey of buying a new car during a period of $130/barrel oil prices.

1. Some car dealers will have better luck at getting cars sooner than others.

For example a newly built, large dealership will probably have a higher allocation than a older dealer might. Simply because the car company is paying the dealer back for their recent financial commitment to the brand. We were told by one dealer that the process was a $500 deposit plus a 30-45 day wait. In our case it was a $500 deposit and a 12-day rate. We picked one of the seven or eight options that was "on the ship" to the US.

2. Driving a hybrid does not force you to drive differently to get good mpg.

We have owned our car for less than 24 hours, have driven it 100+ miles and we averaged around 48 mpg. Terri drove the car on I-64 just like she drove her last car (a V6 Ford Escape). Our friends who own the same model say that if you take your foot off of the gas as you approach a stop light and coast, the mpg will go up. So, the point is, you are not required to adapt, but if you adapt a little, it will pay off.

3. New cars have fancy doodads in them

Our new car has a stereo system that has an integrated Bluetooth adapter. Our two-year old cell phones have Bluetooth adapters. We can connect our phones to the car and we can operate in hands-free mode. The car has a built-in mic and the sound from the phone plays thru the stereo system. It will even mute the sound if you have an incoming call. This is the same technology that makes the ear-worn Borg implants for cell phones. The first time I saw someone having a conversation on one of those I was afraid to go to close to them. You tend to avoid people talking loudly on the street when no one is around them.

4. The car will sell for the sticker price, but the dealer may sweeten the deal in other areas

Dealers will offer you a break on warranty plans and the like. If you like to buy extended warranties, this is a place you can haggle.

Thanks to all of our hybrid-evangelist friends who offered advice and test drives of their vehicles (Dave, Mary Lou, Don, and Linda). We have joined your ranks.

Garbage In Garbage Out

2008-05-16T08:43:00.000-07:00

Garbage In Garbage Out (GIGO) is a well-used phrase in the tech industry. The basic sentiment is that in most cases the quality of the output of a system is limited by the quality of the input. For example you can write a novel using MS Word. MS Word can recognize spelling mistakes and can recognize some grammatical errors, but in general it is not going to translate your document into a world-class novel.

GIGO applies to sound systems as well. If a singer is off-key or an instrument is out of tune the sound system will simply amplify the error and make it more apparent. In a recording studio there are all sorts of magic tricks to enhance a performance beyond it's original quality, but in general the end result is a disappointment when you hear the performer live. The performer is unable to reproduce the sound you heard on the radio or the CD. For a classic example Milli Vanilli.

So, on to one of my pet peeves related to GIGO: proper microphone technique. In the church we are affected greatly by poor use of a microphone. If a microphone is given a bad input signal, it will produce poor output at the speakers. Here is a litany of things not to do:

"I don't need a microphone, everyone can hear me"

This is not true. People have different levels of hearing. Some people will hear you fine, others will not hear you at all, and even worse, some people will hear your voice but it will not be easy to understand. The A/V team is giving you a mic for both amplification and intelligibility. For example the people to your side or behind you will not hear you. Please use a mic when it is offered. As the A/V chair I get more complaints about this than anything else.

Treating the microphone as if it was a ice cream cone.

Some people hold a microphone in a vertical position and then talk over the top of the mic. The head of the microphone will not fall off! Microphones are designed to not pickup sound coming from the side. They are intended to pickup sounds coming directly into the top of the microphone. As a general rule you should lean the microphone towards you mouth. Instead of a ice cream cone imagine the mic is a flashlight. If the flashlight is oriented properly the light would illuminate your mouth. It should not hit the ceiling above you or the wall behind you.
This is one of the reasons a person's voice will sound different on a bluetooth headset than it will with a regular phone.

Holding the microphone at your waist

As a general rule you cannot be too close to a microphone. A mic held next to your tummy and pointing at the ceiling (or even leaning away from the speaker, yes I have video of this) will not produce good results. In general 2-3 inches from your mouth is good. If you are an American Idol singer or an operatic tenor then other mic positions are useful but in most cases 2-3" inches is about right. If the mic is too far away, we have to turn the gain up on the input channel and will probably get feedback.

Tapping the microphone or blowing into it

Microphones are sensitive instruments. Harsh handling can damage a microphones inner workings. It is simply much better to say "Can you hear me" if you have any doubts. We do not tap our cell phones or blow into them when the listener complains. We readjust the phones position and ask "Can you hear me now?". Treat a microphone with the same level of decency. Remember it cost more than your cell phone.

Microphones are tools. Learning how to use them properly will help everyone to more clearly hear what you are saying or singing. And that is the main point to using a microphone in the first place.

It's Aint Easy Being Green

2008-05-05T11:26:00.001-07:00

Due to a recent accident Terri and I have been in the market for a new car. Given the rising gas prices we have been considering going "green" by buying a hybrid car. Hybrid cars are an economical approach to rising gas prices and have the advantage of reduced emissions and impact on the environment (Note: A simple Internet search will provide a variety of opinions on this).

Like many Hybrid buyers we fit into the category of economic-environmentalists. Meaning we will consider a low-emissions, gas-sipping vehicle as long as it lowers our monthly gas bills. An economic environmentalist is one of those hyphenated labels similar to fiscal-conservative or social-conservative. Conservation is a good thing. It is even better if it is economically viable. When I was a teenager our church youth group did paper drives as a fund-raiser. It was never done as a green activity.

Unfortunately I have to declare hybrid vehicles an endangered species. I have searched the inventory of every Honda and Toyota dealer in a 150-mile radius and there are very few cars for sale. We missed buying a Honda Civic hybrid by about an hour this morning. We can get on a month/month-and-a-half waiting list with a $500 deposit. There is also a very small secondary market. I did find a used Prius at Carmax in Laurel, MD. Also, don't expect a lot of room to negotiate. Most hybrids sell at the sticker price.

Every hybrid owner we have talked to raves about the gas mileage and how pleasantly surprised they have been by the durability and performance of their vehicles. These folks are HEs (hybrid-evangelists) Our experience has been similar, we have driven hybrids that drive just as well as some gas-only cars. I have refused various cross-selling options where a dealer suggests a high-mileage gas-only car simply because I am interested in hybrids.

So, since Terri and I are actively shopping for hybrid cars, I suggest that you enact a personal "Save the Hybrids" campaign. Please delay your purchase of a hybrid vehicle until we have gotten one. Afterwards we'll be glad to let you borrow ours for a test drive. Also if you have a gas-guzzling vehicle that we can "borrow" for 30-45 days, we'd be very appreciative. We'd even return it will a full tank of gas and freshly washed and detailed.

Grace and peace
Dave

Thermometer or Thermostat?

2008-05-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

Last night I was sitting in choir practice as the lone tenor for the entire practice. Our other tenors were out and about doing various other things so it was up to me to carry the tenor line during practice. My normal strategy is to sit next to Pete. If I sing what Pete is singing I'm generally going to be OK. Otherwise it will always be an adventure. I have the ability to match what I hear singing around me but if you pointed me at a sheet of music and said "sing this note". I would probably not hit it. Fortunately John helps by occasionally singing the tenor line to get me in the proper range.

The difference between a thermometer and a thermostat is in how they react to the environment in which they are placed. A thermometer always adjusts it's reading to match the ambient temperature of the room it is placed in. Meaning it always displays "room temperature". A thermostat measures the temperature in the room and makes adjustments to the temperature to achieve a desired goal.

In the choir I am still in thermometer mode. Place me in the middle of a group of tenors and I will sing the right note. In thermostat mode the tenor line will start to sound a lot like the main melody of the piece of music (even if the tenor line is not the main melody)

Being a thermometer is not bad. Being a thermostat is not bad. I think we will shift between the two modes of operating depending on the situation.

The key idea is the following:

If I am reacting to a situation (thermometer mode) is my reaction appropriate?
If I am influencing a situation (thermostat mode) is my influence appropriate?

Appropriateness is context-sensitive. This is why folks generally try to evaluate their course of action is by asking themselves. "What would Jesus do?" When we look at a situation through the eyes of Jesus it often will become clear how we should be involved. To use the example of choir practice, Jesus will help us to get into the proper key and to sing in tune.

As a closing thought I think Jesus was probably an excellent tenor.

We are now available on iTunes

2008-04-24T08:38:00.000-07:00

Our sermon podcast is now listed in the iTunes store. If you have iTunes you can subscribe to our sermons using the following procedure.

1. Start iTunes

2. In the search field in the top right corner, type WHBC

3. Click on the Subscribe next to the WHBC Sermon Podcast
4. If you want to see the details, click on the arrow to the right of the WHBC Sermon Podcast.

5. Once you have subscribed the podcast will download yo your PC. You can then add it to the playlist for your IPOD.

Acoustic vs. Electric Guitar

2008-04-15T19:56:00.000-07:00

After leading worship last week on the Spring Break trip I thought I'd add a post on the different roles for acoustic and electric guitar in a worship band setting. Both types of guitars are similar in that they share the same tuning, and chord fingerings but they are also different in terms of style of play and length of sustain. One way of looking at it is a balance between a rhythmic role and melodic role.

In a worship band an acoustic guitar has a primary rhythmic role and a secondary melodic role. Since an acoustic guitar has limited sustain, it must be strummed more frequently (and harder) than an electric guitar. So primarily it is driving the rhythm of the music and secondarily in terms of the chord changes. As a result an acoustic guitarist is pretty much playing 80-90% of the time during a song and the primary melodic contribution is via a change of chords or a finger picked section. A good example of this would be Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin.

An electric guitar is more balanced in terms of rhythmic/melodic roles. The guitar has greater sustain (the length of time that sound will ring out on a given strum) due to the pickups and amplification so it has to be strummed less often (and easier) than a acoustic guitar. The guitar is often used for single-note runs, partial chords, and arpeggios to add a melodic contribution to the song. In contemporary music the electric guitar may be played sparingly during the verse and then in a rhythmic way during the chorus. This often gives the chorus a sense of power due to the extra rhythmic content. A good example of the melodic contribution of an electric can be found in almost any U2 recording. For example, Pride, In the Name of Love illustrates a heavy melodic/rhythmic contribution mixed with some air-filled arpeggios that give the music a sense of space.

When leading worship in a solo environment the worship leader almost always either plays piano or acoustic guitar. An electric guitar only works if it has a sonic foundation of bass, drums and keys.

Keyboard instruments have this same type of split. A piano is similar to an acoustic guitar in that there is some sustain after the key is struck. An organ will produce sound for as long as the key is held down. It will stop as soon as the key is released.

Instruments are like spiritual gifts. Turn them loose, in the right combination and some beautiful music happens.

Taking the band on the road

2008-04-12T11:11:00.000-07:00

Last week we took 32 students and adults to Garden City Beach, SC for a spring break retreat on the theme Faith - It's what you do!. We stayed at the Garden City Retreat Center and Chapel. It is a great place to host a retreat.

We took our youth worship band, The Exit, on the road as part of the retreat and I really want to thank Karen, Casey, Drew, Brianna and Kathy for their hard work in leading worship. I'd also like to thank one of our adult leaders John Harvey for his efforts as a band roadie and for leading us through some fun songs on the keyboard.

It takes a lot to take a band on the road. I thought I'd give you a quick listing of the items that we took with us for a couple of reasons:

The list of gear gives you an appreciation for the equipment needed by a praise band to do it's work. As WHBC restarts contemporary worship this list is indicative of equipment we will need
To demonstrate the amount of planning that is required to conduct a youth retreat and how it is a team effort.

So, here the list - in no particular order:

Roland electronic drum kit
Drum throne
Drum sticks
Drum foot pedal
16 channel powered mixer
Two speakers
Two speaker stands
Two 50' speaker cables
Two 25' speaker cables (as a backup)
Bass guitar
Bass guitar Amp
Three guitar stands
Electric guitar
Acoustic/Electric guitar
Keyboard
Keyboard stand
Keyboard foot pedal
100' stage snake
Three microphones
Five direct boxes plus two spares
Six 1/4" instrument cables
Three 1/4" patch cables
Eight 25' XLR microphone cables plus three spares
Three mic stands (including one boom stand)
DVD player
Guitar effects pedal board
One RCA to 1/4" adapter
One 1/8" to RCA adapter
Six RCA patch cables
Two VGA cables
Video Projector
One wireless remote for laptop
Two laptop computers
Eight pieces of poster board (for a makeshift video screen)
Double sided tape
Screwdrivers
Sheet music
One guitar A/B foot switch
Video camera and blank media
Copies of slides with song lyrics, etc.
Four music stands

Things we wish we had had with us

Monitor speakers to help singers hear themselves so we could play/sing in tune.
An amp with more inputs

Later this week I will have some posts on my approach to picking music for worship.

Here's your brush, make your stroke

2008-04-04T09:40:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Terri and I attended the CBF-Virginia general assembly in Waynesboro. As part of the closing worship we had a communion service that I have thought about several times since that weekend. FBC Waynesboro has a middle aisle in their sanctuary which we all used as we came forward to participate in communion. At the front of the sanctuary there was a canvas that was attended to by CBF missionaries Jonathon and Tina Bailey.

The handed each of us a brush that they had dipped in paint and we were invited to add a stroke to the painting. As we moved forward each participant added their individual expression to the art work.Once everyone had completed communion, Tina used a blending brush to blend each of the individual contributions together and then she and Jonathon removed some painter's masking tape that had masked part of the image revealing the cross, circle and communion cup layers of the painting.

When we attend corporate worship each of us plays a role: some teach, some sing, some play instruments, some hand out bulletins, some doodle, and some run the sound board. It is in the combinations of all of our participation that God can do something amazing. We might not see the design or master plan during the process, but there are those occasional, unexpected moments when we can see God at work.

We all come to worship from different places: some of us have the flair of an accomplished artist, some of us have a brush but no paint, some of us have paint on our fingers but brush. In our culture people choose churches based on what they "get out of it". I 'm encouraging you to consider what you can "bring to it". The world is an awfully big canvas and we're going to need some help decorating. Here's your brush

I hope to post some blog posts this week during the Spring Break trip. Check back Mon-Thur for updates.

Dave

You've got spam!

2008-03-24T18:19:00.001-07:00

SPAM email seems to be on the rise. It is rare for a week to go buy without a church member asking me why they are receiving emails that are less than desirable. Most of the time their question is accompanied with a caveat that they have never sent emails to these folks, browsed their web sites, etc. I can understand. I get those emails too.

So, why is their SPAM in your inbox? Here are a couple of thoughts:

The same technology that makes email great also makes it weak
Combatting spam is an arms-race and we're living in Berlin
SPAM costs the spammer almost nothing, so they will make money.

The same technology that makes email great also makes it weak
Email is a great communication medium because of interoperability. In simple terms, you can send email to any person on the planet as long as you have their correct email address. Assuming there are no problems such as a full mailbox, they will get your message. There is no advanced configuration or pre-coordination required. You type your message, hit send, and as a benefit of globally accepted standards, your message will show up in a few minutes. Every time you buy a stamp at the post office you can see the global success of email.

The global standards for email are weak in several ways. For example it is easy to create an email message that appears it came from someone else (just using Outlook Express). There is no reliable way to determine where an email came from. This is why you should never respond to an email with bank account information, etc. Spammers take advantage of these holes.

Various approaches are in the works for beefing up to standards for email to overcome these issues. We will probably have to go through a global upgrade to fix it. It will become one more of those technology-driven upgrades that will impact consumers (see HDTV, underground utilities, alternative fuels, etc). You might have to upgrade or replace that Windows 95 machine for your email to continue to function.

Combatting spam is an arms-race and we're living in Berlin
SPAM email comes to you through a sophisticated decentralized ecosystem. First of all the spammer does not maintain a huge data center to send millions of emails. They do not maintain a list of email addresses. They do not even maintain the systems that sell their wares. They lease these assets from other folks on the Internet who have gained control of these assets through a mix of ingenuity and illegal activity. In general we have multiple people or organizations in the ecosystem. The spammer, the email address harvester, the bot herder, and the vendor.

The vendor has a product to sell.
He hires the spammer to send out the messages and processes orders that come through the spammer.
The email address harvester works to develop a list of known-good email addresses which are for sale.
They use brute-force approaches and other techniques to locate email addresses. For example they might concatenate various combinations of initials with first and last names to build candidate email addresses. They then use the spamming network to send out sacrificial email messages. These messages are specially formatted so that if you open the message it will send a signal home to the harvester that the email address is "good". For example they might download an image in the email message from one of their servers. When you open the email, a request goes to their server for the very small (1 pixel by 1 pixel) image at a unique address that is based on the email. This is a simple description of the very elaborate techniques that the harvester uses to obtain, validate, and characterize email addresses.
The botnet herder has a decentralized network of computers with high-speed Internet connections that can send millions of email messages and process incoming orders.
A botnet is essentially a transportation system utility. A good analogy would be a railroad. The railrood maintains the tracks, engines, and freight cars and rents them at market rates to move goods from point A to point B. The railroad does not own the freight that it carries. The difference between the botnet herder and a railroad is that the botnet herder does not own all of the computers and internet connections that he is using. He has stolen them. Typically a botnet herder uses viruses and security vulnerabilities to compromise computers on the Internet. Once the machines are compromised the botnet herder adds them to his distribution network. The header carefully balances the workload that he assigns to each computer so that he can keep using them for as long as possible. Many users are unaware that their computer is controlled by others and has a devious alter-ego. This is why you should run up-to-date firewall and virus scanning software.
The spammer brings all of these folks together and bingo! You've got spam.

SPAM costs the spammer almost nothing, so they will make money
Spammers send out millions of emails at once. They have very little overhead. If just a tenth of 1 percent of the emails result in a purchase, they make money. As a long as they make money, SPAM will continue.

The new math: 1 + 1 + 1 = 111

2008-03-16T20:58:00.000-07:00

Tonight we conducted our first family worship event. Based on our estimates, we believe around 80 adults, youth and children attended our special Palm Sunday Family Worship service. It was a great time of worship together and I have a few thoughts on how it came together.

Planning a service like Sunday night's family worship is a team effort. Graham brought together a group of parents from the Parent Leadership Team to plan all of the elements of the service.
Conducting a service is a team effort. We had greeters, folks in the kitchen, scriptwriters, dancers, musicians, costumers, and actors.
Attending the service is also a team effort. We had children who participated in a triumphant entry with Jesus, parents and youth who cheered and waved palm fronds and folks who attended who wanted to know the difference between a hamburger and a cobb salad.

In the Bible the predominant form of worship is in the context of the community of faith. While there are notable examples of individual experiences (Moses and the Burning Bush, Jacob and his ladder, Paul on the road to Damascus) the majority of the worship experiences in the Bible are in the context of the corporate worship. Even Jesus tells us that if more than two or three of us come together in His name, that He is there with us.

So 1 + 1 + 1 = 111?

My point is simple, the sum is far greater than the parts. Planning worship is hard. Try trading places with our dedicated church staff for a week. Consider the effort you might expend planning an elaborate birthday celebration for a beloved family member. Now try to do it 52 times a year. And that is just one weekly event, usually our church staff plans multiple events in any given week.

Tonight's worship service was a success because as best as I can determine at least 20-30 people were involved in making it happen. When than many people are involved a lot of good things can happen: We had music, drama, dance, prayer, message, food, excellent visuals and printed take-home items. Even with all of these elements, the service had a consistent flow and pace and went without any significant problems. A great outcome for a first-time worship service.

When you have a bunch of folks working together to plan and conduct a corporate worship service the following good things happen:

People will come to the service: Many folks have ownership and want to see it succeed. Even more so, they invite others to join in.
Our gifts are used more effectively: God has given each of us gifts to be used in the church.
Our experiences come into play: Our variety of perspectives give us a broader view of who Christ is. Just think the Bible has four different gospel writers, giving us a complete picture of Christ.
Our skills and talents are used: Some would say the service had music, drama, dance, and a message. But the total worship experienced friendly greeters, palm fronds, announcements in bulletins, directional signs, and some awesome desserts (I loved the PB cookie sandwiches!)

I'm sure we'll do this again. As an exercise for the reader I leave the following assignment:

If the equation is 1 + 1 + 1 = 111, where can you fit into the equation?

Convergence

2008-03-11T19:12:00.000-07:00

On Friday we added a new online calendar to the church website this week. As a result of that simple addition, it seems that life has slipped into high gear.

Sunday, I returned from a great weekend at Eagle Eyrie with over 700 youth and adults.
Monday, I participated in the interview process for the General Contractor for the new Hospitality Center
Tuesday, In the morning I attended a workshop on Enneagrams with Terri's coworkers (I'm a type 7, a.k.a Enthusiast) and I spent an hour practicing music for Sunday's special Palm Sunday family worship
Wednesday, I have dinner and two different practices for upcoming Easter music
Thursday, I have a Student Ministries committee meeting at the Neals
Friday and Saturday, Terri and I will be in Waynesboro for the CBF-Virginia General Assembly meeting. My friend Darrell Cook will be speaking on Friday night. We will also get to see Natalie Kline who went to India with Terri in 2005
Sunday, we have the Easter music with the choir, and the Palm Sunday Family Worship at night
Monday, I have the encore presentation of the Easter music and the celebration dinner
Tuesday I sleep

I didn't list my personal calendar for the week to get sympathy or an atta-boy. Take a look at the church calendar. We only really have it populated for March and April but there are already many opportunities for you to grow.

Convergence is when everything comes together. Even in the midst of a busy week where I might feel like I have lived at church, I feel that some really great things are going on in the life of our church. We are moving forward with the construction, we are planning some really great worship experiences and opportunities for our college students, and there are some neat opportunities to hang out with the larger faith community. With all of these things coming together WHBC has an exciting near-term future.

I may be a little tired, but I'm really excited about the next few months.

The rain has stopped

2008-03-08T06:35:00.000-08:00

Our youth group is at Eagle Eyrie this week for Senior High Weekend. It has been a very wet weekend so far, but the rain has stopped for a while. We had a group trip up last night and we have enjoyed the conference and Amy's group that is sharing our lodge. Amy and Graham have been friends for many years.

The speaker for the weekend is Laurie Polich and the band is Dana Jorgensen and both are really great.

Seeing the big picture

2008-03-04T18:43:00.000-08:00

This year we had the "good fortune" of having a TV die at our home so we entered into the realm of HDTV. Getting our TV up and running was a month-long ordeal which I will save for another blog. Last week I was reading a book by Len Wilson and Jason Moore called Digital Storytellers: The Art of Communicating the Gospel in Worship when I hit upon an interesting quote. The authors mentioned that mostly HDTV consumers did not want a better picture, they wanted better content.

Technology is here, and it is making an inroads into your worship experience. Consider the modern extravagances that we have in our sanctuary. We have carpeting, comfortable seating, lighting, heating and air-conditioning, running water in the bathrooms, a heated baptistery, etc. Most of these conveniences do not guarantee that our worship service will have better content. Instead as they unobtrusively perform their functions they help us to comfortably participate in worship. until they are missing...

Consider the image below. You've seen it every week, but do you know what it is?

Here is a larger view of the same item. Do you recognize it now? Your experience of the same item was improved because the second view was not limited to a small portion of the item. The same is true of technology. Used appropriately it can help us to experience God more fully.

Consider the progression of technology in the church

Jesus and disciples - oral tradition
The early church - oral tradition
The missionary Paul - circular hand-written letters
The gospel authors - oral tradition organized in a written form
The great cathedrals - artisans sharing the gospel through stone, sculpture and art
Monks - copying the text of the Bible by hand
Gutenberg - The gospel in movable type
Charles Wesley - The gospel in song
Billy Graham - The gospel on radio and TV to a worldwide audience.
WHBC - The gospel on the net. (OK, I admit the last one is a stretch; we were not the first. I just wanted to see if you were still reading.)

In each of these progressions the content was the same, but technology enabled the content to reach more people. Even the brute-force copying approach used by dedicated monks was an effective tool in ensuring that you have access to a Bible today.

Part of the purpose of this blog is to open our eyes on creative ways we could use the technology of today (and tomorrow) to reach this world, without sacrificing content.

I've got that song stuck in my head again...

2008-02-29T13:09:00.001-08:00

This morning as I was in the Doctor's office I was listening to the piped-in music on their sound system. Most of the music I have heard in the office I could not name because I have never heard it before. This morning was different, I recognized that one of the songs that they were playing was a recording of Timothy Seaman. You have heard his music too.

The Journey DVD (watch the video) that I helped Bill Jenner, Joanne Jenner, and Carole Newsome produce used three or four songs from a Timothy Seaman CD. Timothy had graciously agreed to allow us to use his music on our DVD. The song that I heard is the one that plays when Tony and Danner have completed their introduction and their are some still shots of the church at Jamestown.

I had another recent music deja-vu experience last week. I was walking to my car in the middle of the day to run an errand and I realized that I was whistling the melody to a recent choir anthem from last Sunday. "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord" is a song that I did not get a chance to sing with the choir because I was in the sound booth but I did get to practice it several times during choir practice.

I was drawn back to reality when as I was leaving the doctor's office I met a WHBC church member who knew me but I didn't quite remember her. I need to improve in the area of remembering names and faces. I'll have to look her up in the church directory and make it a point to say hello to her this weekend.

As I was thinking about my two music experiences it has caused me to think a little bit about a neglected topic on this blog: worship. Our time in worship should influence the rest of our week. We should be humming a hymn or a praise song that caught our attention. We might remember a good sermon illustration. Our time in worship should reverberate throughout the week.

This principle, to me, is a key part of our discussion on contemporary worship. If our worship is able to connect to us on many levels, using all of our senses, then Sunday morning can bridge into Wednesday afternoon or Friday night. We will be changed because worship that involves all that we are will help us to connect with Christ.

The other side of the same coin is that if we are not engaged in worship (and/or if our worship service does not engage us) we can leave worship unchanged and sink back into our normal default mode of existence. We end up with the same empty feeling I had today when I could not remember the name of a church member that I should have remembered.

Worship becomes relevant when it connects us to Christ and with one another. As we move through our faith journey: We'll be able to remember the names of church members, we'll have a new song in our heart, and most important of all we be connected to Christ. And that is all of the difference.

Download a sermon to your PC or portable media player

2008-02-25T07:21:00.000-08:00

So, you have just purchased a brand new MP3 player or perhaps a super-cool iPhone and are looking for ways to justify the purchase. The church website has come to your rescue. We have been running a sermon podcast blog for the last month and a half. Here is how you can download the sermon for this week onto your MP3 player using a variety of tools

Downloading the sermons via iTunes
Downloading the sermons via Windows Media Player

ITunes

Start iTunes on your PC
Click on Advanced | Subscribe to podcast
Paste the following into the URL window: http://www.whbconline.org/sermons/atom.xml
iTunes will add the sermon podcast to your list of podcasts and will download the most recent post. You can also download other entries (or all of them) by clicking on the Get buttons
Now that you have the podcasts on your PC, plug in your iPod
When the iPod icon appears in iTunes select it and then pick the Podcasts tab
Select Sync and tell iTunes which podcasts you want to automatically sync

iTunes will now automatically place the latest podcasts on your iPod

Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player is a little harder to use with the podcast. There are a variety of approaches to making it work

Download the files manually via your web browser to a WHBC folder inside of the My Music folder on your PC
When you start Windows Media Player it will automatically recognize the files you have manually downloaded
You can then sync the songs to your MP3 player

Another approach that is a little bit more automated is to use an approach similar to the one documented on this website. It involves setting up a little bit of software but the approach here can be used to automatically update your device as new sermons become available.

More blog-reading how-to tips

2008-02-18T15:48:00.000-08:00

One advantage of a blog over a typical basic website is that your computer can help you to know when something has changed on the blog. Pretty much everyone has a set of favorite websites on the Internet that you visit on a regular basis. It goes something like this.

Visit website A
Visit website B
Lather, rinse, repeat

The problem is that you have to visit each website to see if anything is different. If the site has a sophisticated structure like CNN or ESPN you might have to make several clicks to get to the content that really interests you, only to find that nothing has been updated. You could try making a bookmark to the specific content you want to check each day, but sometimes your bookmarks will point to content that no longer exists or is no longer being updated.

Blogs solve this problem by publishing a special file as part of their content which is called a newsfeed. It may be referred to as an RSS file or an ATOM file. Generally it is always accompanied with a button or text that says "Subscribe to Posts". On our blogs this link is always at the bottom right of the page. A newsfeed is a computer-readable file that describes the content of the blog. Every time a new post is added to the blog, the newsfeed file will be updated. You could think of the newsfeed file as sort of a digital library card catalog that has an entry for each and every entry in the blog, and it is always up to date.

Newsfeed files are very small and can be downloaded quickly compared to the content that may be in the blog. Our podcasts average about 10-15 MBs in size but the newsfeed file that describes all of that content is 15KB. Or about 1,000 times smaller. Newsreader software keeps track of these files when you subscribe to a blog. It compares the downloaded copy on your PC to the copy on the site. It then can decide if new content is available and can download it automatically to your PC (or even your IPOD)

So what happens when you click on the Subscribe to posts link on our blogs?

If you are running a recent copy of MS Internet Explorer or Firefox they will give you a chance to subscribe to the newsfeed using the idea of a bookmark or favorite in the browser. They will even update the list of bookmarks automatically for you. You typically still have to open the bookmark to see what has changed. Also they tend to not help you remember which posts you have already read.

The next better option is a web-based news reader. Google Reader is an easy one to use, here is how to subscribe to a blog in Google Reader

Go to the blog in your web browser.
Find the link or button for subscribing to the news feed
Right-click over the link and pick "Copy Link Location" or "Copy Shortcut" to copy the address into your browser.
Open a new browser window for Google Reader
Sign in with your Google account. If you don't have one you can easily create one for free. Most people who already have a Google account tend to use Google's free email service
Click Add Subscription and paste the address of the blog newsfeed into the provided window.
Google Reader will add your blog to the list of blogs that it monitors on your behalf and will display the latest entries of the blogs. It will also keep track of which posts you have read and which posts you have not read.

A good newsreader will make it very easy to see what has changed at a glance and will give you the option of what to read. I hope, of course, that you will read all of my posts, but with a good reader you have the option to skip the ones that look to be boring.

On my next post I'll show you how to fill up your Ipod with Tony's sermons.

So, we have all of these blogs, what can we do with them?

2008-02-17T11:03:00.000-08:00

In case you have not noticed we've added a few blogs to the website in the past month. Of course you are reading my blog so I guess you have noticed a little bit. I recently read an excellent book The Blogging Church by Brian Bailey and Terry Storch. This book opened my eyes to the possibilities of adding blogs to our church web site.

Blogs provide an incredible opportunity for our staff and other church members to communicate with folks who discover our website. They can come to our website and see posts about our missions trips, about our facility improvements, about new focuses on family ministry and even hear digital versions of the Sunday sermon.

Here are some thoughts on advantages that blogs have over our other methods of outreach:

Blogs are not limited by the size of a printed page. We can post a little bit of text or a huge amount.
Blogs do not require that someone receive a piece of paper from the church
Blogs are discoverable via web search engines
Blogs can carry digital content such as photos, video, audio
Blogs can be updated as often as we want.
Blogs are free. no paper, ink, advertising costs

The main advantage is that our blogs become another way for people to get to know Walnut Hills. I'd like for more church members to join our crew of bloggers. We currently have six bloggers updating 5 blogs. Want to join in? See me and we'll talk about it.

Now, what can YOU do with our blogs.

You can check them our via your web browser (just like now)
You can use a news feed reader to subscribe to the blogs. A news feed reader is a special piece of software that can automatically download the content of a blog to your PC whenever it changes. These tools save a lot of time when you are tracking a bunch of blog sites.

I use a piece of software called FeedReader. A list of readers can be found at http://blogspace.com/rss/readers The most popular reader is called FeedDemon (I'm trying it out)
There are also a huge number of web-based news readers such as Google Reader that you can use as well.

If you want to download the MP3 version of our sermons you can use iTunes from Apple to subscribe to our Sermon Podcast blog. You can subscribe to the podcast manually via ITunes. Soon you will be able to find us listed in the iTunes store. Don't worry the podcasts are free.

Later this week I will post some how-to notes on how to subscribe to our blogs and podcasts using a variety of tools.

For now, keep reading, and consider joining the conversation.

Ingenuity, you know it when you see it

2008-02-11T14:37:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite all-time Super Bowl TV commercials was the MasterCard "priceless" commercial that featured Richard Dean Anderson in a reprise of his MacGyver TV series character. In the commercial he cuts through a thick rope using only a pine-scented air freshener and creates an impromptu zip-line escape using a spare tube sock. He always seemed to find a way to save the day with stuff that was readily at hand.

We've seen ingenuity in children when they turn a empty appliance box into a "fort" or an elementary school teacher who can keep children mesmerized with a good book from her bookshelf. James Naismith invented basketball using a couple of spare peach baskets and a spare ball The ability to make use of handy items is an art form and ministry is no different.

Our current podcast setup is based entirely on stuff we had on hand. Each week the A/V committee makes a tape of the entire service using a cassette tape deck in the booth. In the past these tapes would go to the library and would effectively disappear from the planet. (We have tapes from say the last 10 years or so) Occasionally people would check one out.

Here is how we turn a cassette tape into the podcasts that you hear on our sister podcast blog

I grab the tape from last Sunday from the church library
I use a CD recording deck in John's office to convert the cassette into a CD
I use my PC and Window's Media Player to import the audio track off of the CD as an MP3 file.
I import the MP3 file into the free Audacity sound editing tool.
I grab the portion of the audio that is the sermon and export it as a separate MP3 file with additional metadata fields that describe the contents of the file. Note: We can currently only podcast the sermons due to copyright and licensing issues.
I upload the MP3 file to our web site using FTP.
I create a post on the Sermon podcast blog so that people will know about the new file.
I place the CD in the church library.

So in short, everything we are doing is with stuff we already had on hand. Pretty neat in a MacGyveristic sort of way. However, it could be better.

The cassette tape drive flips the tape at a random point in the service (usually in the midst of the sermon) so we loose about 5 seconds of audio.
The process takes a long time. It takes as long to make the original CD as it did to record the original service.

The plan is to purchase some better recording gear that will enable us to record directly to CD or to a computer hard drive and a better mechanism for duplicating CDs. In the future we will build copies on cassette tape as an exception and we will primarily distribute CDs and DVDs.

So, look around at the stuff you have in your midst. What could you accomplish if you applied a little ingenuity.

The importance of being prepared...

2008-02-09T09:36:00.000-08:00

My wife and I recently attended an event where I saw a bad example of not being prepared in the use of media. The event was a cruise night where representatives from various cruise lines were available to talk about scheduling a future cruise.

The event basically had four components:

Food
Tables with brochures on sailings staffed by cruise line representatives
Travel agents on hand who could book a cruise, research prices and availability
A large meeting room with a video projector and sound system where each cruise line made a presentation on their particular brand.

This is the second event that we have attended with this organization. Last years event was very nice but was held in a crowded venue. This year's event was in a new facility that had plenty of space for the event.

We showed up and grabbed some seats in the presentation room to sit through several of the presentations. We had three or four lines that we were interested in, so we hopped in and out of the presentation room to get some food and pick up brochures. The first presentation began with a few words from the cruise line representative and then they started a DVD video. The volume level of the DVD video was extremely low. This room was as deep as our church sanctuary but the volume was only good enough to cover the first 5 rows. The rep starting fiddling with the PC playing the DVD but could not make the volume loud enough.

The second representative begins their presentation. I had decided that it was maybe "operator error" and that the later presentations would be better. The second presentation played with no audio. The representative did their best by talking over the video in an impromptu "slide show". The third and fourth presentations were without video while the owner of the laptop frantically tried to download software drivers on their PC because of the audio problems and because some DVDs would not play.

As a media guy a nice event became irritating to me. The technical problems that were experienced should have been sorted out prior to the start of the event. I felt sorry for the cruise line representatives who showed up one after another with no idea that their DVD videos were not going to play. As a visual learner, I would have gotten more out of the video presentations than I got out of the verbal presentations as the representatives made the best of the situation.

Think about what we do in church. Do our events ever have the sense that they were just thrown together? Do we have technical issues that could have been anticipated and resolved before the event starts? Could we schedule a dry run to make sure everything is working? Often times our level of preparation will determine the quality of our presentation.

Welcome to the WMT Blog

2008-02-08T06:12:00.001-08:00

After several weeks of pestering the church staff about blogging I have decided to join the fray by starting my own blog. I have intentionally picked a narrow area of focus for my blog - Worship, Media, Technology. As you can see there is nothing narrow about these areas. I figure that if I pick such a broad topic area I have license to blog about just anything!

Jesus taught his followers using parables. His parables used simple language and illustrations that resonated with his listeners. The timelessness of a good parable is evident in the fact that many parables still speak to us even though our frame of reference is different.

As the church seeks to minister to new generations we need to be fluent in their language(s). Our church is a mix of digital natives and digital immigrants. The younger generations see and process the world about them in a much different way than we did. Many of us can remember when there were no computers, no cable TV, no cell phones. Our younger folks have always had these devices and are often the ones we ask for help in setting up our voice mail, contact lists, etc. Apple has a good list of these differences posted on a website aimed at educators who are dealing with these broad cultural shifts.

This blog is about our journey to become fluent in new means of reaching folks, wherever they might be in the native-immigrant continuum. I'm hoping that through this blog you will gain an appreciation for the method to my madness as we seek to discover new ways of reaching the folks that we encounter.

About the blog and where I'm going:

Worship - I am a musician, I sing in the choir, I lead worship for our youth. From time to time I will talk about worship subjects
Media - I am the chair of the church audio/visual committee, I am the church webmaster, I work with teenagers. From time to time we will talk about how to use media for ministry
Technology - I am a professional software engineer, I'm the guy you find when your computer will not start up. From time to time we will talk about how Technology will be a way to reach others.