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.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, March 15, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, March 8, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, March 1, 2010
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.
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.
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