This Is It

Well, this is it...not like the Michael Jackson documentary, more like this is the last post before my internship ends. I've been extremely luck to end up with the internship I have. Ideally, internships are supposed to be helpful and are supposed to prepare you for a career; but I've heard too many horror stories about church internships going awry to believe that every internship went as well as mine. I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by mentors who took the time to walk me through each step of my training; I was not required to do mindless hours of busywork or office work; and most of all, I was not taken advantage of my intern status and spread thin with my time and energy. I was also allowed to be involved in other ministries along with my internship.

I have been given a wealth of resources and opportunities to grow in my skills and talents as a musician, sound technician, and overall team leader. Looking back at this last year, I am pleased to see how much I've grown and and progressed as a volunteer leader at Rock Harbor. One of my favorite things to tell people when they ask me about my sound experience is how I knew almost nothing about mixing a year ago. From last June to this March, I went from knowing nothing about gain, EQ's, compression, the "sonic landscape", or artistic mixing to becoming one of the two main mixers and production leaders at the Fullerton campus. This is an amazing turnaround considering that I basically started from square one only a year ago. To me, this shows how successful Rock Harbor's method of training and equipping volunteer leaders really is. I now have these skills that not only give me the ability to serve in the church but also to use in the real world as a trade.

I am extremely thankful for everything that I've learned during this internship. I hope to use the skills and knowledge I've taken from this experience in my future endeavors as I continue to grow into an adult.

a Powerful Night

Rock Harbor has a talent for putting together meaningful and thought-provoking worship services, but every once in a while we have a service that surpasses anything we could have planned for. For lack of better words, something extraordinary happens in the congregation and they are moved to worship in ways that may be different or more passionate than what usually occurs. Last night was one of those extraordinary services.

We've been going through a sermon series lately called "God Is..." in which every week a different attribute of God is discussed. Yesterday message was called "God is Trinity" and focused on the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is always a difficult subject to deal with since 1) this relationship is something we will never completely understand and 2) there are a lot of different theological views on it. Nonetheless, the idea of the "3-in-1" relationship ran throughout the entire service.

Before the message, an interpretive dance was given (which is not normal for Rock Harbor services) in which there were three dancers who each represented one entity of the Trinity. They began dancing to their own moves, but by the end of the song they imitated each others moves in unison. The entire performance was moving and gave a beautiful picture of the mystery and harmony of the Godhead.

Although the dance was powerful, I would argue that the response time after the message was the most powerful time of the night. For both services, the congregation seemed to engage with an attitude of worship that seemed more giving than usual. One of my critiques about Rock Harbor's approach to worship has always been that it encourages individualistic and introspective worship more than it does communal and "self-denying" worship. However, last night's response showed a much more communal and sacrificial attitude, and many people found it to be extremely powerful. We also sang older hymns that are not usually played such as "Holy, Holy, Holy." To end the night, the worship leader led the entire congregation into an ac cappella reciting of the Doxology.

Running sound from the back of the room, I got to see the entire service from a uniquely holistic perspective. I always appreciate being a part of nights like those not only because I get to be a part of the moment myself but also because I get to help facilitate those worship experiences in a very tangible way. I am continually thankful for being a part of this team, and I always hope that my experience here has ultimately served to bring further praise and honor to God.

Arts in the Church

One thing that I've always appreciated about Rock Harbor is their effort to achieve quality and excellence in what they do. In the production and music ministries especially, Rock Harbor doesn't cut corners. The main campus is equipped with a powerful sound system, an impressive lighting console, and often beautiful art displays. The same can even be said about both satellite campuses. And above the quality equipment, Rock Harbor also teaches people to run the equipment at a quality level.

Because Rock Harbor is such an artistic and quality-driven church, I know that concerns have been raised about how important these things really are to building up the Body of Christ. How can we make sure that other people (or we) don't get caught up in the glamor of the cool stuff? I am constantly asking myself that question every week and, honestly, I'm not sure what the answer to that is right now. One reason why I chose to intern at Rock Harbor is because I think they've done the best job I've seen of incorporating art and production into worship services without taking the focus away from ministry. I believe that the arts should be incorporated in the church and can be used as a very powerful expression of worship.

I believe the same can be said about striving for quality and excellence as well. Some may say that the investments Rock Harbor has made in its sound and production equipment is materialistic; however, I believe that more emphasis should be placed on how this equipment is used. For one, Rock Harbor doesn't put enormous stipulations on who can use the equipment. Often times in larger churches with expensive equipment, the average congregant would never be allowed to touch the sound board or lighting console. At Rock Harbor, however, anyone is encouraged to join the ministries. Although some positions may require extensive training (such as mixing), a person is never discouraged from receiving the skills to work any of the equipment Rock Harbor has provided.

The music ministry functions in a similar way. Although there are more specific stipulations than there are for the production ministry (i.e. must be a member for 6 months, must go through an application process, etc.), the worship ministry at Rock Harbor still tries encourage and equip people to do the best they can in that ministry. I am always impressed by how much Rock Harbor tries to plug people into any kind of ministry.

In this aspect, I find Rock Harbor's form of worship through the arts to be extremely valid. They do no simply invest in high-quality equipment and create colorful and vibrant productions simply because they want to be the next "big" church. These are simply outlets for building up people within the church and in return helping them express their worship in different ways, both personally and as a whole church. I admire this philosophy and hope to one day incorporate it into the ministries I'm a part of.

Closer to the End

I am about four weeks away now from finishing my internship. The funny thing is that I've already been slowly transitioning from intern to volunteer leader for a while already. In many ways, I feel like my internship has already ended. The only change would be that I wouldn't have to keep journal entries anymore.

I really don't have much to say about this week. I stage managed...everything went well. We set up and tore down the sound equipment in record time, which shows that we're really getting this whole "portable church" thing down! Other than that, I've just been learning how to be a better production leader and just a better leader in general. Interacting with different personalities, making "executive" decisions, or troubleshooting problems is a never-ending learning experience that just requires a lot of patience and practice. I know I sound like a broken record saying this, but I feel like I'm in a season at Rock Harbor where I'm just continually sharpening my skills by these week-to-week experiences. So for now, all is steady and all is well.

Worship Central

This weekend, I had another opportunity to serve for an event that Rock Harbor helped to facilitate. The event was called Worship Central. It was founded by Tim Hughes to help equip worship leaders in local churches in their ministry. The conference covered everything from musicianship to theology as well as offered a number of mini-workshops participants could go to. Rock Harbor provided the building space and volunteers for the conference, which I got to serve on the production end of things. Basically, I was in charge of the lighting cues during the main sessions and helped run sound during the mini-workshops. I also ended up being roped in as somewhat of a stage hand - carrying microphones from one place to another, plugging and unplugging stage monitors, and miscellaneous other things.

The conference lasted from Friday to Saturday evening. At certain times during the conference, people would break off into a number of preassigned small groups. We decided to record all of these meetings as well as the mini-workshops. This meant that there were at least 5 rooms with recording decks that needed to be turned on simultaneously. So, part of my job was to make sure that all of them were taken care of in one way or another.

Similar to how I felt at the Sleeping at Last concert, I enjoyed being a part of an event that included other people from outside Rock Harbor. I think it's important for churches to hold events that reach out to their communities, and I think Rock Harbor does an excellent job at that. Only a few weeks ago I was helping provide a wonderful night of music in the heart of Fullerton; now, I'm helping in building up worship leaders in surrounding churches (some even out of state). If I ultimately pursue a career in worship leading, I hope to incorporate this "kingdom-building" mentality into what I do as well.

A Day of Rest

My internship has been amazing. I've learned so much and have been given so many opportunities to put what I've learned into practice. Especially with Fullerton, I've been serving in some kind of capacity since the first service back in February. While all this is great, I still need to be able to step back and take a break every once in while. I have yet to sit in the midst of my own congregation because I'm either in the very back working production or in the very front playing on stage. Luckily, Rock Harbor is not the type of church that tries to run its volunteers into the ground, so they were happy to let me have a day off.

It was refreshing and rejuvenating to say the least, and I'm excited to continue to serve in the weeks to come.

Sleeping at Last

Last week was full of fun and excitement. On Saturday, Rock Harbor hosted a "community" concert in HIU's auditorium. The headlining band was Sleeping at Last, which coincidentally, I discovered and fell in love with a few years ago. In an effort to just reach out to the Fullerton community, Rock Harbor teamed up with a unique concert promoter called Sounds Like a Movement. It was founded by a guy who attends Rock Harbor. The idea behind this organization is to promote community development through hooking up bands with venues and audiences at a cheap price. That way bands can get their music exposed, hosts can get their venues exposed (such as HIU), and people can come together and listen to good music.

I had a unique opportunity to serve at this event because I was asked to run sound for the night. Because Rock Harbor was helping put on the show, we used our portable sound equipment for the house. This was an amazing experience for me not only because I got to help out with an event happening in my community but also because this was my first time mixing in a concert/performance setting. I had the task of mixing for three difference performing artists who had particular "sounds." It was an exciting challenge to say the least.

I was also fortunate enough to work with very friendly, patient, and understanding people in the bands. I've heard horror stories about bands being picky and difficult to work with - even downright rude to sound people.; and being a portable church with a portable sound system, I knew it was not going to sounds as good as a well-tuned house system. Fortunately, the bands understood our circumstances and were able to work with us the best they could.

Sonically, mixing for Sleeping at Last was a little different than mixing for the worship teams at Rock Harbor. For one, the band was only three-piece and often played to a click track with prerecorded stringed instruments. Most of the time Rock Harbor bands are at least five-piece and never use click tracks. Sleeping at Last's "sound" was much more dark and ambient than Rock Harbor's as well. They liked their drums and bass guitar to be dark and boomy, usually leaving out a lot of highs. They didn't play hard, driving beats often either. Most of the time the drums and bass were low-key. The lead singer would play his piano or acoustic guitar; and if he played electric, it was mostly ambient. Learning to mix for a different sound than I was used to helped me grow significantly as a mixer.

At the end of the night, I felt confident in saying that I was able to provide a solid mix. I thoroughly enjoyed mixing to one of my favorite bands and seeing my two communities united together for one night.

Thankful

Last night was another great night at the Fullerton campus. It was my second time playing bass and it was a blast. I am continuously amazed and blessed to be a part of what's happening at Rock Harbor. I've been interning here for over ten months now, and I still get excited when Sundays roll around. Although this is ideally how internships should be, it seems like a number of my friends' internships were lacking in one way or another. I am truly lucky to be a part of one that has taught me practical skills, has invested in me as a ministry leader, has been sensitive to never burning me out, and has always gone out of their way to show their appreciation for my involvement. I have not seen many churches who are able to reach all of these criteria at such high standards, and for that reason I have much respect for the leaders of this church and their pursuit to equip people to serve in the Kingdom of God.

A Good Routine

I am kind of at a loss about what to talk about in this entry. Things have been going great and smoothly. I was fortunate enough to have Easter Sunday off and visit Jessica in Washington, D.C. the week before; but now that I am back on schedule, I've realized how well things have settled in for me in Fullerton. This doesn't necessarily mean I'm not being challenged or growing in my internship. On the contrary, I feel like I'm learning more about leadership every week. I just feel like I've reached a place in my internship where much of my learning and growing now comes from experience.

When I first started my internship, I needed to be taught how to do things. I had to be shown how to run the sound board, how to work the lighting console, how to use the lyrics program. I had the supervision of my leaders, and the training I received was personal and intentional. Since moving to the Fullerton campus back in February, I have been transitioning into a position where my mentors don't necessarily look over my shoulder every moment. They don't give me teaching lessons at every possible opportunity. I'm experienced enough now to know how everything works. Now I am putting that experience into practice and am continually being sharpened by every new experience I encounter.

So this may be a more vague journal entry than my previous ones, but that's because I have no specific reflection for this week. Consider this to be more of a "bigger picture" post.

Back on the Platform

When I decided to serve at the Fullerton campus, I knew it was going to be a big commitment. Helping direct any ministry is time consuming and helping start a new team almost from scratch is no less busy. I was excited to take on this challenge and I still am; however, I was still a little disappointed because I knew that my involvement in the worship ministry would have to come second. It was great playing on a rotation in the main building, but I knew that would only last for a season. Moving to the Fullerton campus would create a different scenario for me.

Although I was nervous to see how being in Fullerton would pan out, I've actually been fortunate enough to still be involved in the worship ministry and have it work around my production schedule. Last night was my first night playing bass on the worship team. It was interesting for me to experience the service from the other side of the stage. I've grown used to seeing things from the perspective of a mixer or stage coordinator. This time I was able to step out of those shoes and somewhat pay more attention to what was happening in the body.

The Fullerton campus is very young and vibrant, much like the main campus's Sunday night services; however, the size of the Wilshire Auditorium gives Fullerton a little more of an intimate atmosphere as compared to the main campus. There seems to be a little more of a closeness among people than I've seen at the main campus as well. As I was playing with the worship team last night, I realized that Fullerton really is my community. I feel a stronger sense of ownership in what I do because I see this campus as a representation as my community. I've lived in Fullerton for four years. I know the streets, I know the shops, I know the culture, and I actually know the people who show up to church. This is my community, and I'm thankful to be a part of it.

Creating a Rhythm

It's been four weeks now since the Fullerton campus has launched, and all of us here are now starting to get into a nice rhythm. Setup and tear-down each week has gotten smoother as strategies and methods have been fine-tuned. We've also gotten a consistent group of volunteers to help, and by this point a lot of them know what they are doing. With that being said, I've enjoyed watching the production team at Fullerton take form over these last few weeks. For the first time, it really seems like we're functioning as a unified team.

As one of the main production leaders at Fullerton, it's been a blessing to see this team come together over the past few weeks. We are still fairly small in the number of volunteers, but the people who are on the team are committed and more importantly enjoy doing what they do. I am excited to be a part of this team and excited to see what's in store for us in the following months.

Stage Managing

When I moved over to the Fullerton campus, I was brought over as one of the two main production leaders for the team there. Since Amanda (the other production leader) and I are currently the only two people who are experienced with all areas of production, we decided that we would take turns stage managing for the services. This week ended up being my turn.

Basically, a stage manager makes sure that everyone else on the production team knows what they're doing when they need to do it. The manager is there to troubleshoot any problems, give cues for slide or lighting changes, and to keep track of the time-line of the service. Although I've observed what the stage manager does many time back at the main campus, I've actually never done it myself before. Last night was my first experience in somewhat taking a step back and directing people rather than doing things myself. I was a little nervous and hesitant going in. I was afraid that I was going to miss the right cues or not know what to do if a problem arose; however, like most situations that I fret over, the night ended up being quite easy and surprisingly simple. The volunteers I oversaw already had a pretty good understanding of what they were supposed to be doing.

Reflecting on this night, I feel like I learned two important lessons. The first is that I shouldn't be timid about taking charge and leading by delegation. Often I would rather lead by example, but as a stage manager I had to learn how to let go and let other people do their jobs. The second is that I learned to not sell myself short as an effective leader. I usually get nervous about exercising authority over people when I still feel unsure about what I'm doing myself; however, this was a good experience to remind me that although I still feel like an intern at times, I still have the ability to lead other people with my knowledge and experiences.

Knowing Your Environment

Last night was the second week of the new Fullerton campus as well as my second night of mixing. Working in a new building with a fairly different sound system proves to be a challenge - but an exciting challenge. Up to this point I have only mixed in the confines of either the highly dialed-in worship center at the main campus or the extremely isolated broadcast room. For this reason, I saw Fullerton as an opportunity to really test my mixing skills. So far I am happy to say that they've been proven to be well. I have been able to put together a pretty solid mix for both last night and the week before.

Being at the Fullerton campus has made me realize how important it is to know my environment as a mixer. It's only been two weeks and some important observations have already been made in regards to how the room reacts acoustically. The Wilshire Auditorium is originally intended for theater. The stage is deep as well as the seating configuration. The building also has a high ceiling and narrow corridor-type isles on the side of the auditorium. Lastly, the auditorium gradually slants upward the farther it gets to the back. All of these characteristics make up for an interesting acoustic response.

Because the building is deep with high ceilings, it tends to create a fair amount of reverb; however, with the amount of volume that we tend to push this problem is actually quite small. A more serious observation I've made is in regards to the incline of the auditorium. Because seats are physically higher than one another, people are not going to hear the same mix in every part of the room. As one moves farther from the stage and at a steeper incline, his perception of the mix will get a little more muffled and low-heavy. Since the sound board is placed in the very back of the room, I need to pay attention to this perception difference. What may sound too muffled from my spot may sound perfect closer up. Likewise, what may sound like a good mix to me may possibly be too ear-piercing up front.

Another issue that came to my attention is the difficulty of stage volume when the band is playing. Because of the room size and its acoustics, stage volume can get loud very quickly when a drum kit and electric guitar amps are placed on it. In return, all of the musicians on stage ask for more volume than they normally would in their personal monitors. I am learning to walk a fine line between accommodating musicians and making sure they don't overpower my ability to create a good house mix. This will always be a work in progress, but I'm glad I became aware of it early in the game.

With all of this being said, the effort put into analyzing and understanding the sound environment of this room is not simply for the sake of professionalism. It is more of a effort to help create the best service possible for those who attend. I also believe that striving for excellence is an act of worship within itself. Since I have been given the privilege to provide sound for 400+ people each week, I hope to give my best for the sake of serving this community and acknowledging God for the talents and opportunities He's given me.

What a Night!

Tonight was the first official service of the Fullerton campus, and what a night it was! A lot of unexpected surprises happened. For one, close to 800 people came to support us and the auditorium fits only 350 people in it. After giving the staff at FJC a heart attack, the leadership at Rock Harbor made a split decision to add a second service for those who could not find a seat. We had put together an "overflow" area outside of the auditorium where somewhere around 300 people were crammed onto the patio for the first service. Needless to say, we were very under-prepared for massive number of people who came last night.

Part of the reason was that the initial vision for this campus was to create a more intimate environment aside from the main campus. We wanted to start with a single 7 p.m. service with a core group of attendees. The idea was that as this group becomes closer to each other and reaching out to the community, more people would gradually be interested in attending the church. We were planning on adding the second service once the number of people grew large enough. We had no idea that all of this was going to fast-forward and play out all within the first night! Even after factoring out a few hundred people who were there to support our inaugural service, we surpassed the capacity the auditorium could hold for just one service.

I had the privilege of mixing for both services last night; and, for me, it was an amazing to be a part of this experience. There was nothing more rewarding than seeing everything come together. I had my concerns after last week's trial run about how smoothly things were going to move on the production end of things. But my concerns were put to rest after successfully setting up all the sound and stage equipment within the allotted hour. It was as if we had all been doing this for months already! Everything came together so smoothly that I couldn't help but think that God was somehow pouring out an extra dose of His blessing on this night.

I left excited to see what God has in store for this Fullerton campus and the people who will be a part of it. There is definitely a sense of excitement in the air, and I hope as the weeks continue that this excitement will turn into a lasting commitment for serving the Fullerton community as followers of Christ and proclaimers of His good news.

Test Run

This week, we held a mock service at the Fullerton campus. The purpose was to help us get a feel for what to expect when we actually hold our first service next week. We're going to use all portable sound and video equipment in the auditorium, so that means we will need to set up and tear down everything in a timely manner. For most of us, this was the first time that we have ever seen the inside of the Wilshire Auditorium. This was also the first opportunity to meet the people who were interested in joining the production minister, and a number of them have never worked with portable equipment at all. Needless to say, we needed a little practice before we actually started holding services in that room.

The schedule of the night ran as close as possible to the real-time of an actual service. We showed up at 4:00 p.m. and got to meet everyone who showed up. After introducing ourselves and briefly explaining what the production ministry does, Amanda (the other production leader) and I led our volunteers over to the back of the auditorium where there was a U-Haul truck filled with equipment. We unpacked everything from the U-Haul, brought it into the auditorium, and began setting it up. Fortunately, Amanda and I were a little familiar with the equipment because it was the same used at the Shark Club and South County campuses. However, we were not sure how everything was going to be mapped out here, and we were also directing a number of people who weren't familiar with it.

We ended up finishing the entire setup within an hour and a half, which is actually not that bad. But during a normal week, we would need to have everything finished within an hour so that the band will be able to rehearse by 5:00. Through this trial run, though, we were able to map out more clearly what needed to be set up where and in which order. We were also able to fix potential problems before services actually started, such as finding out that one of our speaker cables was too short. All in all, we are ready to take on the inaugural service next week.

Fullerton, Here We Come

These past few months and especially weeks have been filled with anticipation as Rock Harbor is preparing to launch a satellite campus right in the heart of Fullerton. In an effort to reach out and better serve the communities that are already finding their way to Rock Harbor, the church felt a calling to reach out to the "twentysomethings" by moving closer into the communities they're from. Since Fullerton is a very concentrated college town (and it's also close to other colleges such as Biola), we've decided to start holding services every Sunday night at the Wilshire Auditorium on FJC's campus.

This transition will be a milestone not only for the church as a whole but also for me on a very personal level. My role as an intern is about to drastically switch. I was approached a few months in advanced by my mentor Alex about serving as a production leader there. He wanted to form a core group of people help get the production ministry started at Fullerton and felt that I was skilled and able enough to take on that position. After learning about everything from lyrics to sound for almost seven months now, it was finally time for me to step into a leadership role and being to pass along all this experience.

I was both excited and nervous about taking this amazing opportunity. I'm extremely honored to be trusted enough to play a vital role in the launch of this next campus; however, I do have my doubts and fears about directing people. I feel that I have a passive personality and do not easily become assertive when I need to be. So as long as I have people who are patient and respectful - great. If I have to deal with attitude issues, that's when I start losing a little confidence in my leadership abilities. Another concern that I have is that I'm still learning how master some of the equipment. This is different than leading musicians on a worship team. I've had enough experience with worship that I know the ins-and-out of it pretty well. But with production, I've only been involved in it for a little over half a year and now I'm already teaching people how to run the equipment. I know that I'm just sometimes too critical of myself; but whether they're irrational or not, they're still concerns.

As I said before, I am excited to be a part of this opportunity to help expand Rock Harbor's ministry. I know it will also be a good experience for me to grow as a leader and to help reinforce everything I have been learning in my internship thus far. So I would like to end on that note. Yes I'm nervous, but I know there are going to be some great things in store.

Controlled Noise

Rock Harbor is loud, but it's supposed to be loud. They like it that way. When I first began audio training in my internship, I had to learn how to embrace volume. From my personal experiences and those of other musician friends I have, this philosophy is definitely not normal for most churches. In fact, a lot of churches interpret volume as a threat and something that needs to be closely monitored and limited. One of the unique advantages I've had by learning audio at Rock Harbor is that I have been constantly pushed to test my reservations about church volume levels and even surpass those limitations. Instead of receiving comments like "The drum set is too loud," I would often hear comments more along the lines of "Try bringing up the acoustic and electric guitars to match the rest of the band." It was honestly a strange process for me because I had been so used to hearing volume critiques in relation to instruments being too loud.

Only recently have I become comfortable with having this kind of mentality when mixing. It's ok to have things loud. It's ok to feel the kick of the drum set in your gut, the rumble of the bass guitar under your feet, and the whaling of the electric guitar in your chest...as long as you're respectful and tasteful in how you create your mix. The audio team at Rock Harbor places a strong emphasis on creating a well-crafted "sonic landscape": the idea that every instrument in the band fits into an appropriate "pocket" in relation to the entire mix. This helps in creating a well-rounded overall sound.

Another important aspect of the sonic landscape, however, is the understanding of "good loud" vs. "bad loud." This philosophy states that it's ok to have a loud mix as long as it is still pleasing to the ear. "Good loud" relies heavily on the appropriate volume and EQ of each instrument. Sometimes instruments are EQ'd in a way that they are fighting to fill the same spaces on the sonic spectrum. As a result, clarity is lost and volume levels will sound loud and/or muddy. Other times an instrument may be simply too loud in the mix and "stick out" sorely among the other instruments. As a result, this can give the false impression that the entire mix is too loud.

Currently in my development as an audio mixer, I've been learning how to reach that level of "good loud" and make the right corrections when it isn't. And what I've learned so far is that this skill develops slowly and requires a lot of room for trial and error. I have thoroughly overcome my timidness of mixing quietly, but now I am learning how to mix loudly and artistically. It is an ongoing process that requires a lot of room for trial and error. The last few times I have mixed (including last night), I found myself struggling to create the wall of noise into a well-rounded sonic landscape all throughout sound check, sometimes even through the services. But after each experience I understand a little more than I did before about what I need to pay attention to in a mix and how to achieve certain "good" sound qualities.

And so it will continue, hopefully for many year to come. But for now, I am happy with knowing what it should sound like and learning how to reach that point.

Take a Breath, Man

Internships are busy. You learn stuff. You do stuff. You do more stuff. That's kind of the point of an internship. But sometimes you can get so busy doing stuff that you forget to just take stop and take a breath every once in a while. This week I was able to do that. I didn't really have a lot of responsibilities and finished the few I had very early. So...I actually got to go to church tonight! It was great, and it reminded me why I do what I do in ministry.

Coincidentally, this weekend Rock Harbor was holding baptisms during all of the weekend services. So I got to see a bunch of new Christians be baptized for the first time in the name of Christ and a room full of other Christians screaming their heads off in excitement. It's moments like this when I feel like I get to see a glimpse and unique aspect of the Kingdom of God. Needless to say, it was a good night to be off of work early.

An Amazing Opportunity

This week I got to play with my worship team again for the Sunday night services. Every time I play on that stage, I think of how amazing of an opportunity God has given me to be a part of this ministry for a season. I remember discovering Rock Harbor for the first time during my freshman year of college. At that time it was "the church" to go among the students here on campus. I have to admit that for a while I was a skeptic because of all the hype I heard from people. But when I visited, I remember being genuinely impressed and moved by how impacting the services were - especially the music.

At the time I was a full time worship leader at another church and was still very connected with my home church. However, throughout my freshman and sophomore years I still tried to visit Roch Harbor every once in a while when I could. I appreciated these visits because they served as a means by which I could be spiritually fed in the midst of constantly serving at other churches. During this season, I also began to catch a better glimpse of what they were about. I got to see how they viewed ministry and where they stood theologically. The more I learned, the more I found myself agreeing with how they "do" church. I understand that some people may have differing views about how Rock Harbor is run; but for me, I got it. I felt the rhythm of their heartbeat and was sold on somehow staying connected with that church.

Needless to say, when I heard that they accept internship applications periodically throughout they year, I was extremely interested. Not only did I appreciate their methods of theology and ministry but I also admired their value for artistic quality and excellence. I was set on applying for both a worship and production internship for my field practicum. The only problem was that at the time I applied, worship ministry internships were not being offered. So I resolved to take the production route full-time in hopes of understanding that realm of ministry better - particularly sound.

I was happy to be a part of the production ministry but was still a little disappointed that I wasn't able to get my foot in the door of the musical aspect of Rock Harbor. However, after about three months into my internship, I heard that the annual worship team auditions were going to be held. As a "new" member of the church, I already felt pretty under-qualified to consider making on the team. The worship team application requirements also specifically stated that applicants needed to be regular members for at least six months. It felt like I had a very slim chance of even being considered for an audition. However, by the grace of God I was invited to the auditions. And after weeks of waiting I heard back that I was accepted onto the team! Out of 70+ applicants, I was fortunate enough to be one of 15 musicians that were brought on board for this year.

Now every time I walk onto that stage I can't stop thinking about how I get to be a part of the very ministry that impacted me so powerfully just four years ago. I've been given the honor and blessing to play an active role in continuing that movement and letting God impact more people in the same way He impacted me. And along with this, I still get to be deeply involved in ministry through my internship! I am definitely blessed and thankful to be serving where I am in this season of my life.

South County

Last weekend, and for the next two weekends, I was asked to help out at Rock Harbor's satellite campus in Laguna Hills. Dubbed "Rock Harbor South County," this is a fully self-functioning extension of the main campus with live worship and teaching. They meet every Sunday morning at Laguna Hills High School in their auxiliary gym; therefore, this means that everything - sound equipment, lighting, chairs, decorations, and even flooring - needs to be portable and must be easily assembled and torn down. Lucky, much of the equipment being used was already available from when Rock Harbor used to hold services at the Shark Club in Costa Mesa.

For the production and decoration crews in particular, serving at South County means the start of an early morning. Both crews show up anywhere between 6:30 and 7 a.m. to haul all the equipment out of a storage unit and and begin setting it up in the gym. Since I was on the production crew, my main job was to help set up the stage and main speakers. All instrument and speaker cables needed to be plugged into a master unit, which was connected by a long cable to the sound board at the back of the room. After plugging in all the speakers, monitors, microphones, and DI boxes each individual channel was line tested to make sure that everything was plugged in correctly. This entire process could take anywhere from 1 to 1 1/2 depending on how fast we worked and how correct we were in plugging in everything. Our goal is that by the time the band shows up to sound check, everything should be up and running.

Since setup and tear down was my only job for the morning, I didn't do much during the service. At the end of the service, however, everything that I had done before was now put into opposite motion. Instead of plugging everything in, we were racing to disassemble everything as quickly as possible. Tearing down always seems easier than setting up since all we had to worry about was wrapping cords and putting speakers back in their cases; however, we still needed to be quick because the flooring team could not remove the temporary floor until our equipment was cleared out. After putting everything back in their cases, we simply carried and rolled the equipment back to the storage unit, where it will be kept until the next week when this entire process will begin all over again.