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.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, January 4, 2010
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.
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.
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