You know exactly what I’m talking about, that time you wish you could tell off the person that cut in line at the grocery, or took your seat in church? Yeah, then your filter kicks in. Some of us have a better filter than others.

A lot of people tend to think I don’t use mine enough, but if you actually heard what I wanted to say 99.9% of the time you might think otherwise. Whatever actually came out was severely governed, mainly because I’d like to have friends, keep a job, not be ostracized, thought a total freak, etc.

So I’d like to give you ten things tech guys wish they could just up and say to worship leaders, sans filter.
Some of these are mine, some of these are other peoples, some of these are other people’s or mine but edited for content (insert filter).  *disclaimer-I love worship leaders, and these are generalizations, in no specific order.

10) Put the mic at your mouth. As much as you think your belly button sings better, it doesn’t.

9) Be current, but most of all be real. I’ll take real over current any day. (and if you can’t be real should you be leading?)

8) Saturday is not an appropriate time to give out a set list.

7) Some instruments were not made to be used in worship. Mostly things that make jingle sounds.

6) Stop apologizing for asking us to do our job, that is why we’re here (at least most of us anyway).

5) You thought bad notes were distracting, so are tight pants, shirts, and elvis hip thrusts.

4) Lead your band or find someone who can lead your band!

3) Don’t default to blaming the tech guys! (at least not from the stage) Whatever culture you create from the stage will be reciprocated by the rest of the worship team.

2) To many cooks in the kitchen can kill a mix.

1) I can be your biggest fan and ally if you help me do my job, and set me up for success.

Man…I wish constraints were always so fast and loose!

I saw a cool art piece floating around the twittersphere a while back and I had kind of cached it as a really cool idea to maybe try.

Here it is in the wild

The idea for this stage came from the one a little bit lower down on the page. The artist used a lot of colored threading. I wanted something a little more plain I could bounce light off of and change  mood and intensity of during worship. So I procured a mass of cotton string from Home Depot, I cleared the three closest out of their cotton twine in 250ft rolls (probably about 35-40 rolls). I bought 64 ft of 1x2x8′s and about 400 small/medium eye hooks. All in all it came in about $160 for all materials.

Here is my photo set from my iphone. 

HIGH RES PHOTOS.

This stage is all about the art piece. It moves and shifts depending on how you light it and where you are in the room. the striations in the string give it tons of texture.

It isn’t there to enforce an idea, but to enhance worship and the visual aspect. This would also be cool to try projection on.

If you endeavor to try this, beware it takes time. This piece took me about 4 days total from start to finish. Try different patterns with your base structure. I picked V’s because it worked well with our stage, it could easily be other shapes and structures, or patterns of string. Then it comes down to lighting, try different placements, something that I wish I had were some kind of color bar, I think it would have been a little smoother and been a little tighter to stream down it.

Also to note, the 1x2x8s are flimsy and will bend with the pressure and potentially break. Make sure you have them running along something and secured in many places along the way, or splinted and tied to the splint. I ended up breaking two boards this way and having to splint it afterward.

The two albums I’m going to talk about are:
I Am Empire: Kings

This album is kind of a post-hardcore apocalypse stepping onto the Christian scene, trying to add some new breath into the industry. They have some strains of My Chemical Romance and Circa Survive maybe a little Flyleaf in there minus the female vocals.

The Boxer Rebellion: The Cold Still

This group is just some cool chill inspiration music. I downloaded their previous album not to long ago and got hooked. I bought this one today and it’s as solid as the last but I don’t have any super comparisons right now.

What are you listening to?

Even In the Rain – Bosc

Oh man I forgot about Bosc. I found them a few years ago through a friend of mine. They only release EP’s and there are only two on itunes but the music is stellar chill music.

Elephant Shell – Tokyo Police Club

Well I bought their latest album and got hooked so I had to go back and download a previous album. Good good good. Thats about it.

The King Is Dead – The Decemberists

I can remember listening to a preview of the Decemberists some time ago and I hated it. Something changed…probably me, but maybe them. I dig it now. It’s this indie rock meets country blend.

Of course if you’re looking for creative juice without the lyrics or at least ineligible lyrics, I say go Sigur Ros or Unwed Sailor.

Here are some new things in 2011 that are gonna be inspiring me to work.

Vampire Weekend

A fun sound with a little bit of the Postal Service and Death Cab For Cutie and a smidgen of Owl City, but just the cool part not the obnoxious part.

Circa Survive 

Just a little oddity that I’ve found to be enjoyable, kinda in the realms of indie emo rock.

My Chemical Romance

Oh well a little guilty pleasure now and again. I’ve been a little bit of an MCR fan (And FOB) since the beginning.

UnderOath

UnderOath’s new album goes back to their metal roots, and I’m super appreciative! Yeah I like a little Metal with my espresso now and again so deal with it. I may not eat nails like all those other hardcore kids but I’ll still spin kick you in the teeth if you want (not really, I look like a moron doing a spin kick and I’m pretty sure there is a video on youtube to prove it)

There are other things I wont bother linking to like Ra Ra Riot and another guilty pleasure the Black Eyed Peas.

What are you listening to? I love finding new stuff

I’ll see you on the flip side.

The two big projects I get to create for this summer is a Student Servant Leadership conference and our Student Summer Camp. Lead’s (the nickname for the SSL conference) theme this year is influence and visually depicted with light bulbs. I am going to take this venture to build a 20ft hanging chandelier similar to pictured above as the main stage element. The fun part will be finding Christmas lights in June to outfit it. I’m also going to build a canopy over the house with truss and hang bare light bulbs on strands purchased at ikea to carry the graphic element over.

Camp is going to be a blast with projection. I am planning on building a few small stage projection boxes as well as a backdrop to be projected on. Similar concept seen over at http://jonsi.com/ in the behind the scenes videos at the bottom. I am also renting some lighting and truss (if i can ever get quotes back) to finish it out.

Anyway that’s what I’m up to…what are you doing?

I’m not talking about my job, I work in a church, even if I’m not actively doing something “in the spirit of Christ” I am doing something in light of eternity.

I’m talking about the stuff in between the lines.

Am I living a life of a significance.

Proverbs 29:18 (kjv) Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

This verse popped into my head today and unfortunately it was in relation to the state of the church today. I started reading Mad Church Disease and it has really started me thinking, analyzing and inspecting my own life and the church. There is a lot of death both inside and outside of the church.

Out side of the church people are dying without the grace of God. They’re being damned to an eternal life separated from God. There is no vision, no work of God and so they are perishing. The church is supposed to be light and life in this dying world but at second glance there is as much death and decay inside as there is out. I’m not talking about eternal separation from God, that is covered, I’m talking about confusion, lack of direction, apathy, ignorance, pain and suffering. God isn’t the author of any of that, so the enemy is at work to destroy the church from the inside out.

Proverbs 29:18(msg)
If people can’t see what God is doing,
they stumble all over themselves;
But when they attend to what he reveals,
they are most blessed.

I love the way the message puts this verse. If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves. What the heck are we doing to cause people not to see what God is doing?! God doesn’t stop working so that must mean we are impeding the vision of His people. The church should get vision from the leadership, so if you do not have a clearly defined vision, or are not explaining what work is going on locally and globally how can we expect passion and vision to spread.

Maybe the church needs an emergency bypass surgery.

read

read

Because you’re a child of God ask and it will be given to you. These are very consumerist statements that the church has latched on to. You deserve ‘stuff’ so ask God for it you’ll get it.

Read

the

context.

Jesus is talking to the disciples about knowledge and understanding of the parables he has been speaking. They still did not understand the “figures of speech” that Jesus was using, and in that context ‘asking God and it will be given’ was concerning understanding of the figures of speech, not asking for material wealth.

read

Ask and you will receive that your joy may be made full. Jesus was talking of his death, resurrection and the things to come. This troubled the disciples and they didn’t understand. Jesus didn’t tell the disciples to ask for a new plasma TV that their joy may be made full. He told them to ask for understanding of the things Jesus has spoken to them so that their joy may be made full.

ask for understanding. that your joy may be made full.