Lights, Camera, Action!

This past Sunday, I was put in charge of running the lights for the 7 and 9 p.m. services. At the beginning of my internship, I was briefly introduced to this position but have had no experience with it since then (since my emphasis is more focused on audio). However, I wanted to know how the lighting system worked and gain some experience form this opportunity.

The job of the "lighting" guy is actually a three-fold responsibility. This person is not only in charge of light cues but is also responsible for running the video switchers and a timer. The video switcher controls what is shown on every TV screen outside the main sanctuary. Depending on which preset button is pressed, the TV's receive either a live camera or computer slides. The timer is used to help keep track of how long sermons and worship sets should run (or how long they run over the ideal time limit). It is up to the lighting person to set it at the beginning of each sermon and the worship set following it.

The lighting system itself was extremely user-friendly and easy to understand. All lights in the room are stationary, and the color schemes only change when a new overall theme takes place in the church. Also, for each week, lighting cues are preset to follow the flow of that week's service. In the end, the only responsibility I had as far as the lights were concerned was to press the "GO" button for cue changes at the right times.

Although this position may seem simple, it actually requires a bit of multitasking. Most of the time punching in the light cues, setting the timer, and changing the video switcher all happened simultaneously. For this reason, I had to anticipate the flow of the service and remember everything that I needed to do at each point. I also forgot to mention that throughout the entire service, I had to keep a log of what times each section of the service started. This simply served to record the flow of each service and check to see if they're finishing on time (or reasonably on time).

I believe that this aspect of the production ministry serves a valid and justifiable purpose in church ministry. There have been many debates recently about whether churches are too production-oriented and whether certain elements of production are even necessary for ministry. In the case of Rockharbor's ministry, I feel that they do a really good job at using these elements to facilitate the core of their ministry. Now, their ministry wouldn't be any less effective if the production ministry did not exist; however, the role that it plays is always in support to the ministry - never becoming a distraction or taking precedence over worship and teaching. For this reason, I appreciate all the care that is taken into running a ministry that supports the body of Christ as a whole through the use of technology.