Not a Camouflaged Soul

Category: Technology

  • Behind the Curtain 091910

    I am beginning a new series on this blog entitled Behind the Curtain. In it, I intend to give readers a sneak peek into the thought processes I have while preparing for worship at FBC-FH.

    During the offering this past Sunday, we showed a video entitled HONEST CHURCH : recreating the church. To be frank, I didn’t decide to show this video until Saturday evening.

    I knew Pastor Bryan was preaching from 2 Corinthians and what it means to be a minister. I began reflecting on what being a minister actually means. It isn’t a job. It isn’t a hobby. It isn’t something we just show up to do at church. Ministry is a call of God to do a specific task for a specific time in a specific place. ALL believers are called to ministry.

    As I was preparing for Sunday, I saw this particular worship element. I got excited. It was exactly what was needed for that day and time.

    Take a look…

  • Two Better than One?

    For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you know that I have been without air conditioning in my area of the church until recently. This caused me to seek other places to work, which resulted in a messy office.

    Well, the air is finally fixed, and I am beginning to get my office back in order. While I was putting everything back together, I got an idea. Our student pastor just got a new computer, so all of his peripherals were in the closet in another office. I grabbed the monitor and hooked it up to my laptop.

    The two monitor setup has helped immensely. I generally keep Hootsuite (I maintain the church’s Facebook and Twitter feeds) up on the monitor while I work on the laptop screen. Or, as seen in the picture, I have the pastor’s sermon outline on the monitor while adding it to YouVersion on the laptop.

    I’ve heard pros and cons to this approach. The “against” view comes takes the position that two monitors do not make one more productive, but moves one to a more disorganized workflow. However, I have found that, rather than pull up other information manually, I save time by having that info up on a separate screen where I can glance at it.

    Nothing spectacularly sophisticated as far as the tech goes, but my approach to my work is much more organized.

    And, the ever-present coffee helps, too.

  • Star Mic

    I had a meeting the other day with a company that could potentially be doing some work on our sound system at church. I love that kind of stuff. Mixing boards, amplifiers, line arrays, wiring. I enjoy discussing the particulars that make live sound happen.

    But I heard a term that I had never heard before.

    The rep from the company was showing me the layout of a digital mixer that has color-coded LCDs above each fader to indicate what kind of channel that fader was controlling. As he continued, he mentioned that the board operator might choose to make the “star mic” red so that it could be identified quickly.

    “Star mic?”

    He explained that “star mic” is soundguy speak for the microphone that is featured most prominently in the mix. The one mic that is heard above everything else.

    Then it hit me. MY mic is the “star mic” at our church.

    Whoa.

    When I use that mic, I had better be making Jesus Christ the star.

    If you are reading this as a pastor, music pastor, someone who sings specials or on a praise team, or gets up in front of anyone at all (even without a mic), you and I need to focus the attentions of those with whom we communicate on the One that alone deserves all glory, honor, and praise. Anything less is prideful.

    I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I can do NOTHING without the power of the Holy Spirit within me. The instant that I believe I can manage without Him is the instant I doubt His power to work within me. Further, it is the moment that my natural propensity to rely on my own abilities renders me ineffective.

    There is only ONE real star. And He needs no amplification.