Catalyst08 - Chapter 2
Posted on July 17, 2008
If you are considering going to Catalyst this year or if you have been invited to attend, yet can’t bring yourself to it, please read this post and follow the links to related posts.
This is a continuation of a post I wrote nearly a year ago. The story of my life took a turn not long before that post and it has continued through now and beyond.
Read Wayne’s post from last July, then read mine. From that post, Wayne says:
My wife and I have been fortunate enough to attend several of these events. Starting last year, we felt that one of the ways we could be a “catalyst” in our world would be to involve others in the Catalyst Conference itself.
The only way Wayne and I knew each other was via Twitter and an occasional chat on Gtalk. On June 26, 2007, my life was beginning to change, along with Mary’s. Wayne and I were chatting and he asked:
What would God have to do to get you (and Mary) to Catalyst?
I told him up front we were broke, so God would have to provide a way. Wayne and Elaine invited us to come stay with them and go with them to Catalyst. Mary and I prayed about it and figured out the logistics of kids and dogs and accepted their generous offer.
Fast forward to Saturday, September 29. We had nothing unusual happen, no car break downs, no major house repairs, we were just living like normal, preparing to leave town that next week. Plane tickets were purchased, Atlanta here we come. Then there was one small problem, we were more broke than normal, like seriously broke. If it would have been a normal week, we couldn’t have bought groceries, which was not common.
At that point in our life, we weren’t prepared for the week we were about to have, we hadn’t prayed or anything, we had just been assuming it was a done deal. Where we found ourselves, we were not even sure we could afford the drive to Kansas City to get to the airport.
Sunday morning, I saw Wayne online, so I chatted at him and broke the news to him that we were broker than broke and didn’t know how we would pull this trip off. He encouraged me and said to pray about it and also talk to people at church, let them know what was up and just see what came out of it.
Some people knew we were going and were asking about it, you know, the way you do when you know someone is going on a trip. My response, I’m not sure we are going to go, that’s a very hard and humbling thing to admit. The few people I talked to were encouraging, but that in itself didn’t change our situation.
Things didn’t get any better throughout the afternoon. By late in the evening, I think I chatted at Wayne again and told him of our reality. We can’t make the trip. He told me to call him. That in itself was strange because we had never talked on the phone to each other at all. What a bizarre world we live in, we were so close to flying across the country to meet people we didn’t know for the first time and spend a week in their home and we had never even talked to each other.
I called. We talked. I explained our dire situation. He listened. At some point, in the background, I hear Elaine exclaim something to the effect of ‘They’re coming!’. That was more of a statement of fact, without question. As far as she was concerned, God wanted us to be there and so we would be there.
Wayne explained that they definitely felt like God wanted us to be there and they would cover anything that we couldn’t and not to worry. Wayne and Elaine are both very generous and very Godly people and in fact, they knew we would be attacked.
Mary and I felt like we were at one of our lowest points, financially, with no explanation, yet we were about to embark upon something that was beyond our comprehension.
The next day, Monday, Mary talked to a close friend and mentioned our situation. This friend is also a client Mary has done some work before and they tend to collaborate on ideas and work together well. This friend explained to Mary how she knew someone that seemed to not bill her clients very well and would often forget to bill them on the 1st.
That day happened to be the 1st and Mary realized she had several people that she could invoice, including this friend. Now, generally, just like any business, invoices are not paid quickly, but on this day, I think 3 people paid right then. I remember Mary ran around that day to physically pick up checks. We were amazed, God is good.
The next morning, Tuesday, we hit the bank on the way out of town and cashed these checks and actually had more than enough money to get us to KC. God’s provision was very evident at that moment, but in His fashion, He didn’t provide before we actually needed it.
We dropped by Church of the Resurrection for the Church IT Roundtable and hung out there for the afternoon helping get things set up, then went back the next morning to be a part of it. Unfortunately, we had to leave just after lunch to catch our flight, which was not without incident.
Kansas City is a unique airport, not my favorite. We got there in good shape but there was a long line to get into our gate. Something happened and I don’t remember what it was, I think they felt the need to search our bags, then had the nerve to tell us we would probably miss our flight. I remember running to the plane, carrying my shoes, belt in hand, hoping that Mary would make the flight with me. All was good, we made it.
Fast forward now to being on the ground in Atlanta. We got our bags and I called Wayne to let him know we were there. As we were standing at the curb, waiting to be picked up by someone we really didn’t know and didn’t even know what he looked like, we wondered what in the world we had gotten ourselves into.
Maybe this was all a big joke, maybe these people were planning to chop us up into little pieces and eat us for dinner, maybe he wouldn’t even show up at all.
What if that happens?!? We are in Atlanta with no money, no place to stay and no way to leave the airport until we fly out 5 days later.
Ultimately, Wayne showed up and he was as nice of a guy as he seemed. He gave us our first experience on the GA400, which I think was not as congested as rush hour because it was later.
From the moment we met Wayne and then met Elaine at home, it was an amazing time. They are very nice, generous, Godly, wise, fun people and we knew by the time the week was over, they were lifelong friends.
Wayne and Elaine both live their lives 100% for God and I saw that in a variety of ways throughout the week that we were in their home. I could give many examples of why I say this but they don’t do what they do to be noticed or to be given praise, they do it for God, and it is evident when you are in their home.
Catalyst was an amazing couple of days where we took in a wealth of information. Looking back now, I would encourage anyone who is involved in any kind of church leadership to find a way to get to Catalyst this year because it will change your life and give you a new perspective on how others are leading in their churches.
By the way, for the record, I’m not sure how many people are involved in this year’s trip, I think at least 6 of us are planning on going, maybe more. Out of Wayne and Elaine’s generosity and faithfulness last year, the door is being opened to more people being able to join us this year.
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What A Day!
Posted on July 7, 2008
Allowing our redneck to shine through
Yesterday was one of those days, a day where we had one problem after another. When I got to church, Daniel was there getting things set up with sound so I proceeded to log in to the EasyWorship computer. The mouse worked but the keyboard did not, no response at all. It’s wireless, which I wouldn’t advise but it has done ok. No AAA batteries on hand and no time to run and get any, so, I ran back to the tech ministry wall….we get a wall in a room, which I had to fight for, so I’m glad to have that much…. so I went there and pulled a spare keyboard. Not a big thing.
Then, once EasyWorship was up, I clearly had no secondary monitor, aka projection to the big screens, which poses a slight problem. On other systems, it may be an easy thing to troubleshoot but not ours. I have mentioned our redneck system and I stand by that, it’s redneck! It works great but when someone who knows nothing about our setup starts unplugging things, it’s a problem.
Over the years, it has been pieced together and a couple of pieces of hardware in the rack are not even used anymore. So, I got on the floor under the counter chasing wires. About a year ago, when I was barely getting started here, a similar thing happened and that’s when I learned that our setup was redneck.
First service we had no projection, which isn’t a big thing, the hymns that they sing are all known and they have sung them for years. We were able to get things up for second service. After plugging things in correctly, we also power cycled the scan converter.
Over time, including yesterday, people suggest what needs to be done to fix all of our problems and my response, including yesterday, is that I agree but their suggestion costs money, usually big money, and for now, my goal is to make this current system work the best it should.
This current budget year, my big expenditure is a new firewall and other network upgrades and I’m in the process of getting that done right now. That is necessary and last year at budget time, I focused on what I knew, which is more the IT side of things. For next year’s budget, I’m focusing on replacing the video/projection equipment in the sound booth. It fascinates me that people who have little to no involvement with this ministry sure do know how to spend the tech budget, at least they think they do.
Part of being a good steward is making the most with what God has provided, not just complain about how much better it could be.
We had other issues too:
- the DI on the piano was static-y, so it wasn’t mic’d.
- Even though sound got to the laptop we were streaming too, there was no sound on the stream and we have done this for the last few weeks successfully.
This was my first post in nearly a month! I have been busy and distracted and traveling and trying to figure out where God is taking me. Still not sure exactly but I have an idea what the near future holds, hoping to finalize the details this week. Of course, it could all change too, so I will share more about that as things firm up.
I would love to write more, even full time, even though that hasn’t been evident lately.
How was your Sunday?
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Satellites, Streaming and Other Fun Stuff
Posted on June 11, 2008
I just post at the FCC Tech Arts Ministry blog about what we did last night. We did some streaming from the roof and we also ended up giving Greg (aka @gregsimmons) a streaming tour of the church.
Also, Greg gave us a tip for correcting our underwater sounding audio and with that resolved, I think we will be streaming many things that we do as a team.
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Where Is God Leading - part 2
Posted on June 5, 2008
Last week, I wrote a post called Where is God Leading? I shared in that post how I talked with my pastor about the way I feel God may be leading me to pursue a fulltime position with a church. In a way, I guess I was asking for my pastor’s blessing because God may be leading me away from Fairview and I want to be up front about my intentions. It’s not about my dissatisfaction or anything like that, it’s about seeking God’s will for my life.
This is my third attempt to write this post. It’s been a challenge to write, which reassures me that it must be the right thing to do at the right time. Versions 1 and 2 went something like this:
- V.1 is MIA, maybe I never even started it.
- V.2 is more like the story of my life and much too long. It’s one I probably need to fill in more details and publish as my testimony or something but that is not my goal today.
Third time is a charm
I have worked in many different roles in the corporate I.T. world over the past 12 and a half years. Over the past several years, I feel like God has been leading me to something new and something way beyond myself and that appears to be something in the church I.T. world.
I have spent 3 years in a ministry leadership role in my own church, and over the past year, I have built a team of about 10 volunteers who are willing to serve and are truly gifted in the roles they serve in. I am intentional about raising up leaders and challenging everyone to take ownership of their area and make it better.
As I mentioned in my last post, they really are the Dream Team, most of the time, I just point the direction and get out of the way. I lead a very diverse and talented team and together we are doing so much within the church. Leadership is a definite strength which I bring to the table, as well as managing a growing team of volunteers.
Obviously, I don’t know where God is leading and He could honestly be leading me to be fulltime at Fairview, but since I don’t know, I am being pro-active. God will open the door to the right opportunity and close all other doors.
Do I really know how to do this?
Since I’m new to the idea of trying to seriously market myself to a church, I really don’t know the right way to do it. I’m going about this in my own way and letting God take care of the rest.
First off, I took my corporate oriented resume and modified it to focus on my church work, as well as my I.T. job experience because it all applies in the roles I am considering now. However, once that was done, it occurred to me that my resume still did not give an accurate impression of who I am, what I have done and what I am currently doing. My resume especially did not express my heart for tech in the church and my passion for this type of ministry.
Honestly, this blog gives you a good picture of who I am and what’s important to me, but I’m not going to expect someone who hasn’t kept up for the last few years to sort through all of this.
Does he really need another website?
So, I created a new website that is basically an online resume and specifically, a site about me. I think it gives a better impression of who I am and what I’m about and the ways that I see God using me even more in the church. My traditional resume can also be downloaded from this site.
Titles are really irrelevant, but the type of position I am interested in might be considered I.T. Director, Technical Arts Director or Systems Administrator. I’m not limiting myself to these, but I thought it might help if you happen to see an open position with a church. I’m also realizing that I could easily fit into a Communications Director role, a person that is responsible for all communication within the church, both internal and with our community. This might include branding sermon series and overseeing website content, and many other things. I see far too many spelling errors and grammatical errors come from churches in e-mail, newsletters, websites or otherwise and that’s not good. Sometimes, we need to pay attention to the little details. Of course, where I end up may be a combination of any or all of the above roles.
Now Go!
Check it out! Go to my site, get to know me and my strengths and accomplishments. Download my resume, in Word format or as a pdf and who knows, you might even find an easter egg on the site. Let me know if do.
If you need someone like me at your church, give me a call at 417.483.5901. I’m ready to talk about it.
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The Dream Team
Posted on June 3, 2008
This is a pic of the team in the soundbooth for our first service. Things were more than covered, so I got out of the way, with my camera, of course.
John, our worship pastor came back and mentioned that it looks like the dream team and I said something about that’s why I wasn’t up there. He went on to say even more reason to call it the dream team then. I said thank you, jokingly, but as I have thought that through, I mean it. Thank you, John!
The way I figure it, if I can build a dream team that functions as well or better without me, then I’m doing something right. God has blessed this church with many willing, talented servants in the tech ministry .
For the record, from left to right is Daniel, the nuts and bolts guy of the team, if it needs to get done, Daniel is on it, Rachel (sitting down), she is the owner of the lights and she takes lighting very seriously, Jim (the other Jim), the newest member of the team, already proving his value and Nina, a true servant, the one that does far more for the smooth operation of the tech ministry on Sunday morning than she realizes and I appreciate that so much.
Here is the lean and mean second service dream team, Steven running sound, I think he started running sound about a day after birth, and Mary, the master of EasyWorship and the most attractive person on the team, in my humble opinion. We are missing Chris, who usually runs lights but I told him last week he could take some time off and Jim (the other Jim) was still around running the camera, though not when I took the pic. Of course, I can’t forget Mike, he floats in and out of the sound booth on Sunday morning, mostly to be social. There’s nothing wrong with that because I know he’s not a soundbooth kind of guy.
I appreciate all of these people a great deal and they are all vital to the smooth operation of this ministry. This is a very eclectic group of people that has come together to function like a well oiled machine.
One thing that I am excited about is that Daniel is going to be stepping up and taking on more of a leadership role and some time in the near future, he and I will alternate Sunday’s, so on his Sunday, he will take the lead in both services as well as run sound. On my Sunday, I will do the same, except Steven will be in the house to cover second service sound.
We all love hiding in the back and prefer to go unnoticed, except for Donna. She would rather be on stage singing, but she is still a vital part of the Dream Team. Beyond A/V/L, we also support all I.T. functions in the church and that’s a large part of Donna’s role. Plus, she has given us a perspective of what it’s like to be on stage, as we deal with lighting, monitor placement and other things like that.
So, things are taking shape. I need to get a solid backup for Mary in place so we can have the same alternating Sunday’s off, that’s a definite need. All in all, I’m very happy with where we are at this point.
Thank you, Dream Team!
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Playing Big Church…
Posted on June 1, 2008
…Even When You Are Small
I met with a leader of a church a few nights ago. He took me out to his church so we can discuss adding some new equipment and it was a great time. This is a small country church, in the truest sense but it seems they don’t see themselves that way. They are thinking big.
We are adding a projector and motorized screen in the sanctuary, plus a projector in the fellowship hall. We spent a lot of time sorting through the options, such as one projector in the middle with a motorized screen or 2 projectors shooting on each side of the front wall and it’s really a toss-up. Near the end, I told him that some of the bigger churches actually run 3 screens, the 2 side ones have the words and the middle one may just have some sort of video loop.
I’m not sure why I mentioned this because I didn’t see that happening in this church, but Dave was all over that and figured, there’s no reason not to do something like that. (except maybe budget constraints) Now I’m going to give him a bid on 3 options, 1 screen, 2 screens, 3 screens and they can decide what works for them.
A few days before this, I had a late breakfast/early lunch with my pastor and we talked about how we are doing things like we are larger than we are, which, in theory, helps a church to grow to that next level. I shared this thought with Dave and told him there is nothing wrong with doing things like the big churches. Also, just the simple fact of having projectors and doing more with technology will likely attract new people to start attending.
Dave shared that his pastor agrees that they need to act bigger than they are, so I see a lot of potential for this church. It’s a big step to break the mold that this church has known for years and God can lead them through it if this is His will for them.
I’ll work up a quote for them and the leadership of this church will need to make some decisions, but regardless of what they choose, it will be exciting to see God lead this church in possibly a new direction for their ministry.
It’s encouraging to see a church step up and actively do more to reach out to more people and connect with people, young and old.
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Where is God Leading?
Posted on May 26, 2008
This morning I had breakfast with my pastor. I initiated this meeting specifically to talk about me and I’m always up for that. I am exploring some options right now about where God is leading me and I thought it was fair to let Tony know and to get his feedback as well.
Honestly, I love my church and I love where we are going and what we are starting. I have always been a builder, starting with nothing and creating something big. So, in that regard, I love being here and it will be exciting to grow with the church and see God turn it into something more than what it is now.
On the other hand, there is so much opportunity out there and churches doing big things and I would love to jump in the middle of that somewhere to do the things that God is calling me to do.
He was supportive as I told him I am beginning to pursue some possible opportunities, but at this point there is nothing definite at all. My point in this was to re-start the conversation of bringing me on full-time, even though I am sure it’s not an option at this point, due to money.
We did talk about some creative ways that we could come together that would allow me to be more available for the church and allow me to reach out to other churches, as well, and do that full-time. That is really where my heart is, reaching many churches.
I’ve got some ideas and I’ve been working toward something like this for a long time but now I’ve got some work to do to make it real. We’ll see where things go over the next couple of months and where God leads. I have really gotten away from the the vision that God originally gave to me for my role in the church and I need to come back around to that.
There’s no point to this post, just me sorting through some thoughts and documenting them.
Praying for God’s will to be clear in my life as I move forward.
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Raising Up Leaders
Posted on May 15, 2008
As you may well know, I have been given the opportunity to serve as leader of the Tech Arts Ministry in my church. It takes a lot of my time outside of my fulltime job and it’s a lot of responsibility, but in this role, I’m really doing what God has called me to do. It’s a volunteer position and I can tell you, I won’t be there forever, which is not saying I’m planning to leave, it’s just the facts. Like Dragnet, just the facts, ma’am.
Honestly, I am making plans for my future, which I plan to share on here soon, but for now, I am still focused on the task at hand. Regardless of all that, the reality is a good leader should work to replace himself.
Over the last 6 months or so, I have built up a team of servants that serve in a variety of ways and lately, I have been working hard to do less. I am surrounded by talented, smart, Godly people who are willing to serve, using skills and desires they have always had, and they enjoy serving in the tech ministry.
Everyone is not a leader but some people are and I have raised those people up and challenged them to take on more. This is a very necessary thing because we are adding A/V/L equipment to 3 additional areas in the church and I am planning to be available to help lead those areas as they come online.
So, it is absolutely necessary to have others who are capable and willing to serve and empowering them to lead in my absence.
That’s about all I’ve got on this one.
The point is that a good leader should raise up other leaders and support them as they learn to lead.
How are you raising up leaders under you?
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PC Workshop - May 10, 2008
Posted on May 9, 2008
Tomorrow is the next PC Workshop and I can’t wait. We did one in March, April and now May. It was supposed to be March and May, but somehow we did one in April too. Then the May one was already on the calendar so here we go.
This one has very little publicity but it did make it in the bulletin last week so we may have some takers. I failed to get it on the radio or anywhere else.
Now that we are coming up on a year of doing these at Fairview, we are progressing toward a new focus. Since I am a teacher and would rather teach someone how to do it rather than do it for them, I want to create more of a teaching environment. I want to open it up to people to bring their computers in and we teach them what they want to know. My team is all for that too, however, the first step is to publicize it correctly and we have yet to do that.
If we are able, we will be video streaming the workshop but so far we have not mastered the audio problem. I don’t think I have used my own camera yet, so I may try that. I’ll give a heads up on Twitter if we do get it going.
Come on by if you’re in the neighborhood, we would love to help you out!
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Fairview Tech Arts Ministry blog
Posted on May 7, 2008
I have been holding off on this, waiting for something, although I’m not sure what. Probably just waiting to get it more established. In the process of building a tech team and figuring out the best way to communicate with the team, I tried several different things. The only thing that stuck has been a blog. It has turned into a way for me to communicate with my team and they can either reply by email or comment. Imagine that, me latching onto a blog as a way to get things done!
Lately, Daniel and I talked and he is stepping up to take on more of a leadership role in many ways and we talked about other ways to use the blog, as well. One thing we will definitely try to do is document processes via the blog and categorize them in some way. That way we can refer back to it when necessary.
I also like to write about what we, as a team, are doing via this blog. Daniel agreed to begin writing on there and he did just that for the first time a few days ago. I was out of town last weekend and asked Daniel to take the lead on everything Sunday morning, basically, he had to be me. I had no worries, he is very willing and very capable and he did a great job.
To top it off, he wrote a great post about Sunday morning and it is here. Check it out! It is very well written and he articulates many details, from his perspective. He got a first hand experience on knowing what it’s like to be the guy calling the shots. It won’t be his last time, for sure. Thanks again, Daniel! I appreciate your willingness and I’m looking forward to how things are shaping up.
To introduce Daniel, I’ll let him do it:
I’m 18 years old, and I’ve been with the tech team for 6 years now, I guess. Yeah, when it was really bad. But that was before Jim! With Jim, you can get your shower twice as clean with half the scrubbing!
What a great quote! Daniel has been the one hanging around more than anyone else has. Yes, he started when he as about 12 years old. He goes on to say:
“Heading up the sound booth for Sunday Morning services” sounds big, but I really don’t think it was. Jim and I work pretty much side-by-side up there, so the title of “in charge” doesn’t have as much impact as it would at, say, a nuclear power plant. Biggest difference was, we were down one man.
He sums it up this way:
It’s kind of weird to have a problem and not have Jim to turn around to to “Buy this this week” or “Quick! Fix that!” As important as the team is to our success, it’s also important to have a degree of self-sufficiency because people are going to be gone from time to time. Never would I say we’re going to give Jim the boot, but I think I can do it when I need to.
I guess I can’t get out of this gig that easily.
The blog is Fairview Tech Arts Ministry. I would encourage you to subscribe via e-mail or RSS, so you will get our updates regularly, especially for when Daniel writes.
There is also a resources site that I created and it is here. It’s primarily resources for the PC Workshop but I want to continue to add to it.
Check us out and learn what we are up to at Fairview, there is a lot of cool stuff happening. We are doing some neat things to help enhance the message of Jesus.
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