What A Weird Day.
by Tom
Wow, today was so odd... I think I'll just blame this one on daylight savings time. Probably my first mistake was not getting to bed until 1:45 am (adjusted time*). This mostly wasn't my fault, as I had to watch the Chapel Hill - Duke game (started at 10 pm adjusted time... LATE). And, of course, I hadn't finished my preparation for Sunday Morning Services yet so I had to stay up a while longer and run back through the songs to finalize guitar parts and try to "get my head in the game" if you will.
As it turns out, I am so glad I was diligent in spending the time I needed to prepare as soundchecks this morning bordered on disastrous. For some reason (the logic of which escapes me), almost none our first-line production staff were at our main location at Roland-Grise today... they ALL were at the second location at the Mayfaire 16 Cinemas (the only person I can think of who WAS at Roland-Grise was my lovely girlfriend 
). Add to that more than the usual "geez, they didn't put things back how they found them at all" equipment issues that come from multiple ministries sharing the same gear, and we were walking into a bad situation. We had problems the entire day with equipment not behaving correctly, and that tried to pull everything else down. Still, I've learned that one simply cannot be a part of a church production like this and come mentally unprepared... there is a lot to be said for having a level of professionality (or rather, NOT being a diva) and being willing to work with the FOH engineers, lighting engineers, etc. to make the day run smoothly. I could get pissed that my in-ear monitors are acting up (and, indeed, my pack had a short which at times made my ear mix sound like it was running through one of my tremolo effects... not good!), but it does no good to pout about it. In the end, the music is but a small facet of what we do on Sundays (and I would argue its overall value is vanishingly small in comparison to how we as musicians & vocalists tend to treat it) and I tend to stay much more focused when I am able to operate out of a "band" or "team" mindset as opposed to a "attend to all of MY needs" mindset.
Still, despite all of the technical challenges... we brought the heat. The 8:30 am and 10:30 am services weren't exactly lively (actually they were more along the lines of Completely Dead And Unresponsive), but the 12:30 pm service... man. I eventually will write a post about my thoughts on worship music & it's context in a church service, but I feel like the 12:30 service completely capitalized on some of the momentum we've been building slowly over the last few months at Overflow and on Sunday Mornings. Increasingly "worship" seems to equal playing approximately 4 CCM hits back-to-back so the congregation can maybe get a buzz and get their heads in the game before the speaker gives the day's message. Not today! Duane did an excellent job leading, using scripture to explain WHY we were singing the songs that we were and exhorting the crowd to step away from ritual & actually THINK about what they were singing. The rest of the band (note: the REST of the band... no worship leader-divas, please; but that is another blog for another day) did an excellent job playing to the moment as Duane & Jessica switched things around on us... excellence in playing music during a worship service both removes distractions and amplifies the import of what the worship leader has to say and I think we did our jobs excellently today.
What's so amazing is that, despite our abilities and our level of excellence, it was still so patently obvious we were not in control. We still had fumbles. We still had mishaps that ordinarily could have completely knocked the crowd (or at the very least knocked ourselves) out of a truly worshipful heartset: it's tough to worship when you cue into a song already off-time with the track you're supposed to be playing with & you end up canning the track... makes one nervous. But what's amazing is that, despite our glaring inadequacies, God made His presence felt in a big way... it was an amazing experience both for the band and for the crowd - we truly were all one Church body for those 5 songs. THAT is how it's supposed to be.
Okay, enough for now... time for a little more physics homework then bed. Tom
Current Listening:
Once
Music from the Motion Picture
Comments
wow... this was good bro on so many levels its crazy. Thank you tom for walking me through things I feel many Sundays myself (w/the production A/V/L side of things). I just went through a crapy and wierd morning all the way into one of the best services I have been to at PC3 (12:30 Service) with you here.
Thank You Tom Shafer (and your wonderful girlfriend is amazing at what she does at PC3, tell her that
)
very insightful... i loved it. Sorry I didn't have something more intellectually stimulating to write in response to such a comprehensive thought process. But it was really encouraging.
love it, brother. also love how the "odd" and off-kilter usually sets the stage for God to kick things up a notch!
As "second line production staff,"(honored) I had the pleasure of being at Roland Grise. I was there for setup and soundchecks and the 830 and 1030 services. And I am truly thankful to God that everything was so off before the 1230 service. It's humbling... that He truly doesn't need us... that our efforts aren't helpful, but rather our chance to worship, too. It's so hard to accept that sometimes. I WANT to believe that my efforts and my work "help" God. Like actually help Him. Like He needs me. But then again there are those days when my circumstances are rougher, and the only thing I can do is my best, knowing it's not enough, and just watch God work with it.
"almost none of our first-line production staff." You being there was the only reason I didn't write "none of..."
oh, and i ahemfixed the post to more accurately reflect what i was trying to say.
tom
Oh holy crow. I cannot believe i said "kick it up a notch."
Oh, but it was much appreciated.