My Problem with Zoom Bible Studies and Church Services

As more people become familiar with the pattern of house-to-house worship in the early Church, there has been increasing push-back against the idea of sitting in rows, basically fellowshipping with the backs of other peoples’ heads.

True, there are the times before and after the service that we socialize, and perhaps your church shares a friendship moment or a passing of the peace which is an interactive reminder that we gather with one another as a family.

But for the most part, the critics are right. Sitting in this linear form is not natural, other than in an academic setting; a major point made by Frank Viola and George Barna in their book Pagan Christianity.

It’s also a point often repeated by Andy Stanley when, promoting small groups, notes that “It’s easier to fall out of a row than to fall out of a circle.”

Which brings me to Zoom.

I’ve done several meetings in the last few months on Zoom and a similar service, Go To Meeting. It’s been quite helpful, though I miss the coffee and snacks when we’re together in person!

But I’ve also done two Bible studies.

Unlike the meetings, some people are using their phones, others are less familiar with the press-to-talk concept more embellished by those of us who were part of the CB radio craze a few decades past. It’s a bit of a cacophony.

But that’s not the thing.

When both of the Bible studies ended, I realized that in the Q&A format by which it was conducted, I only spoke to the moderator. I said absolutely nothing to the other people in the group, beyond very short quips added to my answer to the question on the table.

Furthermore, those were all public interactions. There wasn’t the smaller gathering subset which would normally take place in person where two or three people might be in a corner and interact without the involvement of the whole group.

I wanted to speak with those people individually (which I’ve done via email) and talk to them, not just the person moderating the Bible study. It reminded me of parliamentary procedure where everyone addresses, ‘Mr. Speaker.’

There wasn’t any opportunity to make tangential remarks, or just engage in some banter. I felt that we’d gained a Bible study, but lost the heart of what makes them special.

Maybe that’s an issue with our group, but if you’re leading one of these things, don’t be too formal. Don’t lose the chance the loosen the format and allow for greater interactivity.

 

Technical Difficulties | Focus on the Cross

The Challenge

So the idea was that seven of us would sing from the balcony of the historic church to begin the service. No accompaniment. Just fragments of Good Friday related hymns and songs, sung by different combinations of the group. While that was happening, a number of visual images would appear on the screen.

As we began, it was apparent the person who was supposed to have started the slide carousel was distracted. So I chose a section where there was no need for me to be there, and slowly headed down the creaky spiral staircase only to find people waiting in the lobby to get in.

I pushed my way through nonetheless, got her attention, got the slides going, and tried to sneak back up. I arrived in time for my next part with no seconds to spare and started singing, albeit reverting to an earlier version; not as we had more recently rehearsed it…

…Technical challenges like this are frustrating for those of us involved in presenting a program like this, but for the most part, I don’t know that the congregation were very aware. My mind was still debriefing this, and despite having been up since 4:30 AM on Friday, I couldn’t get back to sleep until 1:00 AM last night…

The Songs

The song fragments we chose were beautiful. I’ve reproduced the lyrics below. Hopefully you know some of these.

How Deep The Father’s Love – v2

Behold the Man upon a cross
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

When I Survey – v3 – tune Rockingham 

See from His head His hands His feet
Sorrow and love flow mingled down
Did ever such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown

And Can It Be – v2 only 

He left His Father’s throne above
So free so infinite His grace
Emptied Himself of all but love
And bled for Adam’s helpless race

At Calvary – chorus

Mercy there was great and grace was free
Pardon there was multiplied to me
There my burdened soul found liberty
At Calvary

Were You There – v1

Were you there when they crucified my Lord
Were you there when they crucified my Lord
O sometimes it causes me to tremble tremble tremble
Were you there when they crucified my Lord

Calvary Covers It All – chorus 

Calvary covers it all
My past with its sin and stain
My guilt and despair
Jesus took on Him there
And Calvary covers it all

My Jesus I Love Thee – v2 

I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me
And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow
If ever I loved Thee my Jesus ’tis now

I Will Serve Thee – chorus

Heartaches broken pieces
Ruined lives are why You died on Calv’ry
Your touch was what I longed for
You have given life to me

There Is A Redeemer – v2  and chorus

Jesus my Redeemer name above all names
Precious Lamb of God Messiah
O for sinners slain

Thank you, O my Father, for giving us your Son
And leaving Your Spirit ’til the work on Earth is done

Amen

Eyeing the Competition

While 99% of the people in Pastor Reynold’s congregation met with him at the church or in a coffee shop, Olivia was good friends with his wife which gave her somewhat unfettered access to the pastor at his home.

Dropping in one day while Mrs. Reynolds was out, they stood at the front door and talked for five minutes, and as usual, Olivia was going on and on about the latest podcast she’d heard from some U.S. preacher. “You should check him out sometime; it was absolutely awesome!”

It wasn’t just her; there were a bunch of twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings in the church who seemed to trade teaching links the way his generation traded baseball cards. It was as though everyone is looking for the next big thing.

Finally he decided to state the obvious, “So did you like my sermon this week?”

“It was okay.” She seemed to be reluctantly volunteering that assessment.

“Would it be better if I got some skinny jeans?” he asked her, but she just laughed.

So he tried it another way, “Would it be different if I had a podcast?”

“You do have a sermon podcast; the tech team posts your message every Monday.”

“Oh right…” at which point he had to admit to himself that he’d forgotten that; in fact, he’d never even been to the page where the sermons were posted.

Olivia got a text back from Mrs. Reynolds saying she wouldn’t be home for an hour, so Olivia texted back that they’d meet the next day instead.

Pastor Reynolds went back to his computer and tried to find an email he’d received several weeks ago from Jordan, Olivia’s husband. Jordan had recommended that the pastor watch and listen to a particular speaker but the email had sat ignored.

“Where did he say that guy was from?” the pastor asked himself. “Bismark? Boise? Bakersfield?” He found the email, clicked the link and started listening. He’d set the expectation bar quite low and wasn’t prepared for what he saw and heard.

After about four minutes, out loud to no one besides the cat, he said, “Oh my goodness… this ain’t the kind of preaching I was raised on.”

It was actually two hours before Mrs. Reynolds came home, and by then Pastor Reynolds had heard three sermons by three different next generation preachers, and had scrawled two pages of handwritten notes…

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…Every healthy church has people of different ages who are being influenced by speakers and teachers online from their generation.  Someone who loves Charles Stanley is unlikely to develop an affection for John Mark Comer and vice versa. A fan of David Jeremiah is unlikely to convert to a steady diet of Judah Smith. A daily listener to Chuck Swindoll is unlikely to abandon him for Levi Lusko.

The point of today’s story however is that pastors would do well to invest some time listening to those teachers who are influencing the people in their congregation. People like Olivia can’t get to John Mark’s or Judah’s or Levi’s church. If they live more than an hour from a major city, they might not even be able to get to one like it. Pastor, they worship at your church and they’re part of your congregation.

But they have these other influences, just as certainly as the older people take in In Touch, Turning Point and Insight for Living. Furthermore, the older members of the church often listen to these radio and television preachers on a daily basis, whereas they only come to church once a week. Media preaching has a greater impact on many churchgoers than what takes place at weekend services.

Shouldn’t pastors take some time every once in awhile to check out what it is people are hearing? In the story, Pastor Reynolds announces to an empty house not that the message is ‘Heresy!’ but rather that the communication style is exceptionally different; greatly engaging. The pacing is different; there’s less shouting; the messages are longer but the times seems to fly by. He makes notes.

I think the practice of listening to the group of rising pastors and authors should be part of a pastor’s occasional routine. I know people in vocational ministry are busy and groan under the weight of all the books people in the church tell them they should read, and podcasts they should watch or listen to, but if someone in your congregation is overflowing with excitement about a spiritual influence in their lives, wouldn’t one would want to know what it is?

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Wired Microphones Have No Place Near a Baptism Tank

This represents the 4th time this has appeared here, but if someone reading this for the first time is able to act on this, it will literally save lives…

Although I’ve run this blog post before, for about a week now I’ve been feeling I need to repeat it here in 2018 for the benefit of new readers. Forward the link to this article [ https://wp.me/pfdhA-a3d ] to whoever is responsible for the technical arrangements for immersion baptism where you worship. Hopefully they already know.

On October 30th, 2005, Kyle Lake, pastor of University Baptist Church in Waco, Texas was electrocuted as he reached out to adjust a microphone while performing a baptism. He left behind his wife Jennifer, and three young children. (UBC was the church founded in 1995 by Christian music artists Chris Seay and David Crowder.) You can read more about Kyle, the accident, and the church here and here and here.

Months later, the family launched a lawsuit against the company that did work on the water heater in the baptismal tank. You can read more on that here. I want to focus on the microphone/baptism issue which will be more common to more churches. (These links are simple “first page” links from a Google search; see the comments re. the resolution was of that lawsuit.)

When I read of Kyle’s death, his widow and young children; I immediately pumped out an e-mail broadcast to as many leaders as I knew in churches where baptism by immersion is practiced. I targeted pastors, heads of worship teams, sound crew, and anyone else I knew who might be in a position to rig up a microphone anywhere near a large body of water.

As horrified as I was by the story, I was determined that we all learn from it.

This morning, I attended a baptism service at one of the churches that was on my e-mail list and — you guessed it — they had a live, hard-wired microphone on a stand far too close to the baptismal tank for me to comfortably enjoy what took place. I sat there cringing — and a bit of praying, but mostly cringing — the whole time.

In a medium to larger church, the sound system runs on a more powerful current than the coffee-maker in the church kitchen, or the sound system in your home. Don’t try to reason around this danger; it doesn’t work.

A cordless microphone would have put me much more at ease, and would have put the two pastors and the four people baptized much more deeply inside the safety zone.

So here’s what you do. Immediately, send an e-mail to anyone in your sphere of influence telling them to link to this item [ https://wp.me/pfdhA-a3d ] at this blog.

I never, never, never, never want to have to say, “I told you so.” Not on this one.

Sermon on the Screen

Yesterday was my first time watching a video sermon in a local church environment. In other words, not a multi-site church and one that normally doesn’t go this route.

True, we’ve been to Harvest Bible Chapel twice — over a decade ago — and missed the live sermon both times. When he was at Elgin we were at Rolling Meadows and when he was at Rolling Meadows we were at Elgin. Sigh!

It’s also true that for nearly 15 years now, we’ve tuned in regularly to North Point, Willow, Saddleback, Southeast, The Meeting House, Woodland Hills, and many others. We certainly know the experience of sitting at home and watching on the screen.

Finally, I’m also a huge fan of DVD curriculum. These are usually produced more like documentaries and can’t be compared to sermon delivery.

But this was the first time I was in a small-to-medium church environment, on a Sunday morning, watching a sermon with 70-80 other people for whom it was probably also a first at a weekend service.

I have to say this, I was a little detached. It might be because I was assisting in the music part of the service and was thinking about what we had just completed on stage, and the song which was remaining. But I also sat in the back row trying to gauge the attention reception the video was getting. People were polite, they were definitely tuned in. I don’t really know how engaged they were, but I’d love to ask to follow-up questions as to their opinions about the mode of delivery.

So here are some general observations:

Inasmuch as it depends on the preacher, the preacher needs to be a strong, dynamic communicator. They say there’s a difference between stage acting and acting for television in that stage acting is usually a bit more over-the-top. I would argue that in this case it might need to be the opposite. The speaker needs to be overflowing with his topic so that the message reaches people separated from its presentation by time and distance. In other words, the best homiletics.

Inasmuch as it depends on the technical crew, the sound needs to be highly present (not simply picking up room sound as happened here) and there needs to be a greater dependence on tighter shots (in this case the wide shot was the basic and the tighter medium close-up was the cutaway; it should have been the other way around) to create the effect of being there. Where a Biblical text is being followed, graphics indicating which verse we’re moving to is also helpful.

That said, it was a good effort. 24 hours later, I can still tell you the thrust of the message and the scripture passage used.

It should also be added this video was sent to churches whose pastors were attending the denomination’s regional conference, which means that on a practical level, if there were 75-100 pastors present from smaller churches, 75-100 churches did not need to arrange for a guest speaker, or the expense involved with booking one.

…There are to be sure other issues associated with this. One of the North Point churches posted this pro-video apologetic with Four Reasons Why Video Preaching Works in 2014. While searching for various articles opposed to the medium, I couldn’t help but notice that 3 of the top 4 Google results were from one particular Reformed website, yet there are multi-site megachurches in that tribe, though some have reverted back to full programming at the local church level.

Before hitting the button which sends this article to subscribers and the site itself, I realized we’ve also been 3 or 4 times to The Meeting House in theater locations. This means an extremely large screen which solves the problem of presence and also several times each year, the lead site pastors do the teaching themselves by design, so the congregation gets to know those people more fully. I think the fact I didn’t remember these visits when initially composing this is indicative that in those environments, the sermon-on-the-screen is a more secondary consideration.

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Image: Screen in a screen — Andy Stanley uses a smaller screen for his teaching notes, while his image is projected to 7 or 8 other venues in Atlanta and on a delayed basis to affiliate churches across North America and around the world.

 

Your Church Family Directory

One of the two churches with which I’m directly involved has a church directory which includes email addresses. The major benefit I see is that it allows people to continue the conversations started on Sundays throughout the week; to initiate contact; or to follow up with friends they haven’t seen in awhile.

The church family phone directory is probably something that will disappear over the next decade because of (a) privacy concerns, and (b) the degree to which the megachurches set the agenda of smaller churches. Nonetheless we thought we’d visit this topic.

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Since my church uses a photo directory, I had a thought today that it would be fun to do one where instead of actual photographs, people submitted an avatar, as they do on social media. It would be 100% contrary to the purpose for which photo directories were created in the first place, but definitely fun and colorful.

Full disclosure: I was looking at this picture of two cats when I came up with this, and thinking it might be better than the dated picture of Mrs. W. and myself they’ve been using for the past four years.

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Next, there is the issue of people who appear in these directories who have long moved on, hopefully to another church.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon was a megachurch pastor. We often forget that numerically, he would qualify by today’s standards. The church experienced phenomenal growth. At their size, not to mention the cost of paper, a church directory would have been impossible. But there was a membership roll and people wanted their name kept on it. He wrote,

Let us not keep names on our books when they are only names. Certain of the good old people like to keep them there, and cannot bear to have them removed; but when you do not know where individuals are, nor what they are, how can you count them? They are gone to America, or Australia, or to heaven, but as far as your roll is concerned they are with you still. Is this a right thing? It may not be possible to be absolutely accurate, but let us aim at it… *

I don’t think that everyone I’m aware of actually wants their directory listing to be kept. They’ve possibly changed churches and aren’t giving it a thought. Rather, the fault lies with the church for not noticing their absence. (Having written that, I just got in touch with someone I haven’t seen lately to see how they’re doing.)

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I see we’ve covered this topic before. Four years ago, I proposed something different:

How a social media hub is different from a Church directory

I’m writing this in a vacuum, because I haven’t exactly seen done what I am proposing here. I just see a need. So here’s the proposal, and if you have any suggestions or revisions based on experience with a church that’s doing this please leave a comment.

Social media, as we have come to know it, is with us to stay. The platforms will migrate over time, but a generation has grown up communicating on line, and overall, I would say that for the church, this is a good thing. We can start a conversation at a weekend service, and continue it all week. We can learn that people have specific interests, and send them links to articles and channels of interest. It replaces the classic “encouragement notes” or “thinking-of-you cards.”

• Ideally, a church directory lists every member and adherent. A social media index lists only people who want to share their various social media platforms.
  

• A Church directory contains addresses and numbers for mobile phones and land lines.  A social media index has names and locations for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, tumblr, WordPress and YouTube pages.

• A Church directory often exists in print; a church social media hub exists only online. It’s live, so information may be added or removed at any time.
  

• Church publications generally promote the church’s own social media pages. A social media index highlights what the church family is doing online.

• Church directories are usually only distributed to the people whose names are contained in them. A social media index can just be a page on the church website — “Central Community Church on Social Media” — with no restricted access, because each of the pages concerned are public anyway.

• Knowing that anyone in your church can access your pages is a wonderful way of keeping yourself accountable for what you write, post or link to. Your social media pages may reflect a personal family focus and other interests and hobbies you have; but ultimately you are aware that fellow church members might drop in at any time, unannounced.

• Social media is constantly changing. A social media index for your church family needs to be updated on a regular basis, perhaps weekly. If a given platform falls out of use, there can be a decision to delete all links to that platform.
  

• If any social media platform from any church member is reported to have questionable content, all their listings would be removed.

If one of the basic problems in the church is that we don’t really know each other, I know of no other way to change that than to be interconnected online. This allows us to get to know each other to a greater degree.

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We’ll look more at this topic tomorrow!

*Spurgeon quotation source, click here.

First Church of Apathy

Sunday morning began with my wife stirring rather early. She was on worship team and needed to be there, on the platform, ready to sing at 8:00 AM.

It was then my phone went off. I was being called in to check a relay station about 30 minutes from my house. They were getting a warning light, which was probably a faulty sensor. It was usually matter of verifying nothing more serious was happening, and then replacing the sensor module. But the rules stated I couldn’t do this alone, just in case. My partner would be Derek.

Derek was a fairly new Christian with whom I had numerous conversations on jobs, in the truck, and in the lunchroom. I texted him quickly and said there was a church almost next door to the relay station if he was interested, since I wouldn’t make it back on time for our own. He said he was open to the visit.

Rock Heights is a beautiful subdivision. The church has grown quickly and while I wouldn’t call it a megachuch, it’s certainly bigger than where our family attends.

Sure enough, it was a sensor module. We exchanged it, locked the gate and had 5 minutes to make it to the 10:00 AM service. We could see the church parking lot, which was rather small, from the ridge and it was already full, so the plan was to park in a strip mall next door which was mostly tenants who would be closed on Sunday. Other people from the church also parked there.

We arrived and ditched as much of our work clothes as possible, though I regretted not taking different shoes to replace the work boots. When we walked in, I was disappointed to see it was some type of children’s service, and they had roped off a large number of the center rows for the kids to sit. Everything else was full and people were walking in circles trying to figure out where to land. We found some extra chairs that had been set up in a corner, but one of them was really wobbly and they were quite uncomfortable, mostly because the floor sloped at that point and the chairs weren’t made for that.

So we made our way to the balcony. I’d never sat up there before, and you had to look twice to realize it was there, since it was somewhat off center to the main floor. Seating only about 125 people, it looked more like someone had cut a hole in the wall just in case they needed more capacity. It was about half full, which surprised me, given the crush of people downstairs. It had its own speakers, since a lot of sound would be blocked by the wall. Ambient sound from the main level was not to be expected.

And those speakers seemed not to be working. There were announcements, and then a woman did a solo number with piano accompaniment. Even the piano sound didn’t carry into this upper perch. Derek said he couldn’t hear anything. That was obvious. Other people up there started complaining to their seatmates and I’m sure the people on the lower level were aware that some commotion was taking place upstairs.

Nobody seemed to be in charge. I figured we were all visitors, but I’d been here a few times and knew where the audio room was; it was on this level. I would get this fixed faster than you could exchange a relay sensor. The door wasn’t locked and I walked in. Three people working hard. Sound inside was state of the art. One head turned so I quickly said, “We’re not getting any sound in the balcony.”

There was no response. The person simply pointed at some rack mounted sound equipment, and gestured toward one which had been labeled, ‘Not Working.’ Then he shrugged his shoulders and turned away. There was to be no discussion.

How could they not bother fixing it? They knew this would be a busy Sunday with lots of kids and the parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles of these same children, some of whom had been sitting the row in front of me.

I went back to the balcony, which was now filled because of the time it took people to find parking and realize there was no seating left. The murmur of complaint had turned to anger. Heck, if I could slip downstairs and place my cell phone next to a speaker, I could send the audio to Derek’s cell phone which had a great speaker. At least someone would hear. Couldn’t they have thought of something like that, or better?

But Derek wasn’t there. A woman turned to me and said, “Your friend wasn’t sure where you went, but he said he’d wait for you in the lobby.”

Another church. Another Sunday. Another overlooked detail. Probably none of the people in the sound room had ever been forced to sit in the balcony. They had no experience of it.

I brought Derek back to my place and we watched a televised service instead and had a good talk afterward. Morning redeemed. In spite of everything. But for me and up to 123 other people who were at Rock Heights Church that Sunday, it was a case of never again.

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This object lesson should lead you to think of at least FOUR things this church could have done differently, and probably a few more as well. What comes to mind?

Free Open-Source Worship Lyric Projection Software

When we’re asked to lead worship at another church, I try to get as much information as I can about the congregation and which songs they have been singing and what a typical service looks like. However, on a more practical level, we also need to know what type of piano/keyboard they have and which presentation software they use for worship songs (PowerPoint, EasyWorship, etc.).

The church we’ve been asked to assist this coming weekend introduced us to something new in terms of software, and my wife was impressed with some of its features. Furthermore, it’s free. I asked her if she’d be willing to share this discovery with readers here…

by Ruth Wilkinson

As a worship leader in my home congregation and occasional “guest worship leader” here and there, I enjoy writing, arranging, creating and sharing music and images that help people engage with Scripture and the God who gave it to us.

Over the years I’ve found no shortage of people wanting to sell me stuff to help the process. And fair enough.  A workman is worthy of his wages, after all.

But as a volunteer, I must say it’s lovely when, now and then, I come across a freeware or open source piece of software that has a lot to offer.  Most of the programs I use week to week fall into this category.

Most recently, we were introduced to VideoPsalm, a presentation program that describes itself as “missionware.” As with many freeware programs, this seems to be a labour of love (I didn’t even see a ‘donate’ button on the website). The terms of use simply ask the user to support a missionary/organization financially or in prayer and to “take a little more at heart the evangelical Christian mission.”

The functionalities are comprehensive — images, text, video, PowerPoint, scripture, announcements, countdowns… — with one particular addition I really like: It’s ChordPro friendly.  Which means that, with some editing, chord charts can be projected along with lyrics. (Now if only someone will develop a ‘lead line’ option to make teaching new songs easier. (Dear Santa…)) But this is definitely a nice feature.

As with any program, there is learning to do (for example, how to import a particular song from CCLI.) Video tutorials are available through the website.

For smaller churches or home groups, VideoPsalm could be a real God-send, considering the cost of the commercial presentation software.

…And for what it’s worth, a few other budget friendly (ie free) programs:

OpenOffice –  Word processing, spreadsheets, “PowerPoint” with thorough format compatibility

MuseScore – Music notation software with pdf, midi and mp3 exporting

SoftChord – ChordPro editor

Gimp – Image editing (like photoshop) with a lot of tools and options

OpenShot – Video editing software.  I haven’t used this one myself, but I’ve heard good things

StudioOne Prime – Nice audio editing program.  This is the free version, fully functional but lacking some fancier features

Audacity – A more basic editing audio suite, but quite user friendly and good for recording sermons and whatnot

 

Weekend Link List

Out of the abundance of the heart, the vanity plate speaks. At least we know what matters most to this car owner.

It doesn’t happen often, you won the link list lottery and landed on a Saturday link list.

• Health care alternatives: “Samaritan Ministries (in Illinois), Christian Healthcare Ministries (in Ohio), and Medi-Share (in Florida) are the three large evangelical operations… Ohio’s Liberty HealthShare is Mennonite, a denomination traditionally committed to pacifism and dialogue. Solidarity HealthShare, founded in 2015, is Catholic…” A look at the pros and cons of pursuing this type of health insurance option.
• 5 ways that Catholics can help Protestants when the visit for a mass.
• “Mary Hudson is a minister’s wife, a gifted preacher, an author and a mentor to many Christian women. But she’s also the mother of one of the most famous entertainers in the world, pop singer Katy Perry.” This article doesn’t shy away from the pain: “How does a Christian mother handle it when she sees her daughter drifting so far from the values she taught her? It hasn’t been easy.”
• Lots to choose from in the May 27th edition of the Drew Marshall Show. I chose the interview with J. Warner Wallace.
• Hank Hanegraaff talks to the local newspaper about his entry into the Orthodox church, as well as his physical health. (The Charlotte Observer story claims over 100 stations have dropped his radio program.)
• The risk the sound and lighting people in your church face constantly: Electrical shock. Or worse.
• Denmark has repealed its blasphemy law, passed in 1683.
• The son of a famous preacher, Christian author, employee at LifeWay, and Christian podcast co-host; Barnabas Piper talks about his divorce.
• Death Wish: Cremation is gaining in popularity.
  
• But seriously…  In a rare, dead-serious moment, the Babylon Bee looks at Planned Parenthood. (There’s no satire here, no ‘wait for it…’)
• Bible translation from an entirely new perspective: The HSP, Honor-Shame Paraphrase.
• When the art students were asked about faith, one replied, “We’re creatives, not intellectuals.” What would be your response to that one?  
• Moving into a home near you: Andy Crouch looks at the Siri Speaker.
  
• ♫ Video of the Weekend: This isn’t new (January, 2 million views) but if you missed it, enjoy an acoustic version of Hills and Valleys by Tauren Wells. (Or if you prefer, the radio version.)
• ♫ Six kilometers = The average distance women and girls walk to get water in the developing world. Film footage from World Vision combines with the music of JJ Heller on This Little Light of Mine.
• ♫ Video Discovery: Ever heard of Twelve24? We stayed up late listening to UK Christian radio and then playing the YouTube game with artists we didn’t know. This one is simply titled, The Book (because “your words bring me to life.”)
• Tweet of the Week.

I’d like to challenge the people who specify that it’s the 1611 KJV they like so much to read me a page of it so I can watch them stumble over the text. I always carry a facsimile page in the glove box, just in case.

Then there’s those radicals and progressives who are destroying everything we’ve worked so hard to accomplish.

Ten Biggest Mistakes Made by Church Sound Technicians

Another lifetime ago, I worked extensively with both live auditorium sound and mixing in a recording studio or television studio environment. I wrote articles to try to make that world a better place, and there’s one — this one — that I always wanted to repeat here but couldn’t find the original copy. Today that changes. These aren’t written for the sound tech guy who is employed full time in a megachurch and oversees dozens of volunteers. Rather, this is for the guy in the small to medium church who does this on weekends and has to endure the “neck crane” stares of parishioners when something goes wrong.

Mistake #1: Failing to set the monitor level first.

If the platform or stage monitors are working at all, they can be heard from the console with the main speakers turned off. While musicians and speakers will ask for these be more finely adjusted, they can be set to a respectable level and the entire system tested through the monitors before the main speakers are brought into play. A two-person team is a better minimum crew, but you can get more done from the back than you realize.

Mistake #2: Failing to use ‘middle balance’ on equipment.

Microphone and media inputs need to be calibrated with the main output level so that equipment is operating best in the middle of the range available. Levels for multiple singers should be “matched” through proper attenuation even before the monitors and main speakers are turned on. If the whole system is running too hot, levels may appear to be low. Sometimes it’s necessary to go beyond the sound board and reconsider the main amplifiers levels, which are often at the level when the system was installed. If the system is too cool, individual channels have to be turned up higher. Professional operators like to keep things around “7” (not “5”) for better fade-ins and fade-outs.

Mistake #3: Channel clipping

This was often heard back in the days soloists would sing with soundtracks. The song would have a wonderful, professionally-produced sustained chord at the end, and the soloist would replace her microphone on the stand and the pastor would get up, and the sound person, in a total panic, would just cut the track. Not even a fade. Of course sometimes, you’d get the opposite, the person whose turn was next would feel they couldn’t move until the track played out and they’d stand there like a deer caught in the headlights. The point is that channel clipping still happens, especially with increased use of video clips.

Mistake #4: Misreading the house

This error falls into one of two categories: Either the sound person is placed in a part of the auditorium that doesn’t represent the acoustics the average audience member is experiencing; or the sound levels were set in an empty room and a now full house is simply absorbing a measurable portion of the sound. (In northern states and Canadian provinces, this actually increases if people bring winter coats to their seats.)

Mistake #5: Mixing by fader only

Anyone can turn up the volume. To do the job well, one has to listen to the tonal balance and set equalization positions on each individual channel. This is where a philosophy degree is helpful. For example, let’s say the soprano singer’s voice borders on shrill. Do you try to suppress that, or do you allow the tonal filters to let through what the music director must have liked when he auditioned her? You can’t just turn down her high end so she sounds like an alto. Some people were taught you don’t touch the EQ on the channels once the program begins. I disagree. Can’t hear the words? Try turning up the high end to enhance to consonants and make word-definition clearer. Use the mid-range to bring out the vowels. Turn up the bass to add richness and rhythm. Don’t make major changes in the middle of a song or sermon, but feel free to make small adjustments. Just make sure your speakers are handling this without distortion — especially with bass — and make sure fader levels are brought down when tonal filters are opened up. Also, have the overall EQ of the room checked every 3-4 months using whichever method you prefer, a white noise generator or a spectrum analyzer.

Mistake #6: Not explaining equipment to users.

Even a well-seasoned audio guy needs to be told as if he’s never seen the equipment before. When it comes to platform participants, this doubly applies.  It’s also good to go over basic care of the board and microphones, and reminding soloists not to point mics toward monitors, cup hands over mics, and not leaving mics on the floor. Do your mics have switches? Make sure they remember this. Does the pastor need to switch on his cordless mic? This often saves batteries, but so many times speakers are intent about their sermon content and forget this important step.

Mistake #7: Playing the wrong media.

Anything that needs to be inserted into a machine during the course of the program needs to be well labelled. Back in the day, tape machines had a zero-reset that could be used to cue things to the start point and avoid “dead air.” Digital media solves many of these problems, but introduces new ones. If the video isn’t going to be used until 24:00 into the service, the machine may shut down after 20:00. Furthermore, some media requires greatly different EQ-ing and balancing than other line inputs. The more video you have, unless you have a discrete channel and playback source for each, many things can mess up. I would argue you can’t do video clips in the modern church without an audio production assistant.

Mistake #8: Not balancing between singers and accompaniment.

We’re in the communication business. People need to hear what is being said, both through spoken word and through music. So you need to decide: Is the singer too quiet or is the band too loud? This is complicated often by the age and musical taste of the person doing the mix. Different generations have different ideas about what sounds right. Also, the modern church will often post the words on the screen, even for a solo. That doesn’t preclude getting the mix right.

Mistake #9: Failing to bring out the melody.

This combines with the mistake above especially if there is more than one singer. The melody (the tune if you prefer) must dominate over the harmony. In a higher class of music, sometimes the melody is passed from the soprano to the the tenor. You may need more detailed cue sheets for this type of song. Or better yet, have a musician sitting next to you at the console providing visual cues. Or best, attend a rehearsal.

Mistake #10: Not paying attention.

Details, details, details! (Some would say, Coffee, coffee, coffee!) You need to be on top of your game making sure channels are opened at the right time (and also closed when they’re not needed) and to do this you need be eying the platform like a hawk. If there’s a cue you need to see and you can’t because of lighting or distance, I wouldn’t eliminate having a pair of binoculars at the console.

…Years and years later, I was amazed that these ten rules still apply. True, I took out references to tapes, but overall the problems and challenges remain consistent. I also had an additional bonus ten, but surprisingly they didn’t apply. (The piece about misuse of Dolby was fun to read; and it did remove a lot of crispness from many singers’ soundtracks.)  There were however two things in that list I felt worth mentioning:

Concern #1: Keep sound consistent from week to week.

The only way to ensure this is with a decibel meter. Decide what your peak levels are going to be for music — you also don’t want it really quiet one week either — as well as the sermon. With sermons, there is a level at which the preacher is shouting and people don’t absorb what’s being said. Equally problematic however, is when the audience is straining to get the words because the level is too low. Don’t forget item #5 above as well with speakers. The high end (treble) will bring out the consonants and make the words clearer.

Concern #2: Don’t violate copyrights.

With every media source (video clips, etc.) ask, “Did we buy this?” Or, “Are we authorized to show this?” This applies with everything from short 2-minute illustrations to church movie nights. (No, you can’t always simply go to the Christian bookstore and buy the movie the day before and show it the next night.)

Concern #3: Keep the beast on a leash: The wonderful world of MIDI

Increasingly, the many pieces of your tech puzzle can interact with each other. The cardinal rule that applies here is: Everything you can control you must control.

Remember, the original document was written nearly 25 years ago. I’d love to hear from those of you who do this either as a volunteer in your church or professionally.