What do we do this for?

As most of you know I'm out of work at Browncroft because of a human error, on my part, slipping on ice and breaking my ankle in 2 places. It's been devastating to me because I can't do what I love to do...take care of Browncroft and make sure the services go off without a hitch. Since I've been laid up I've been doing a lot of reading and prayer. As you might figure, I've been reading tech documents and evaluating equipment, but also, and more importantly, God has laid it on my heart to hit the scriptures. More than I usually do.

One of the books I've been into is Nehemiah. When Nehemiah found out that Jerusalem was destroyed he mourned, fasted and prayed for God to intervene. When he prayed, he prayed to someone he knew could intervene for him. He used 3 words to identify God that we know, but sometimes just glance over because they're Hebrew. Yahweh, Elohim and Adonai. My old pastor from Atlanta, Charles Stanley, once said it this way. "First, the Hebrew term Yahweh refers to One who is absolute in faithfulness. Next, the title Elohim indicates infinite power and sovereignty over the universe. Finally, Adonai means “ruler over all.” Nehemiah was bringing his request before the throne with full confidence in God."

When we pray, do we approach God with absolute confidence? Do we view God as the "One who is absolute in Faithfulness," "infinite in power and sovereignty over the universe," and "Ruler over all?" Do we come to him expecting an answer?


Then I came back to how I pray for all of you and the ministry. Yes, I pray for you all, and for the ministry of what we do. Yes, we are the techie people that like the nuts and bolts of the service, but the more we pray EXPECTING God to bring people to Himself through what He has given us to do the more our ministry will actually be for His glory and people WILL come to know Him!


We are ALL going through some fire right now. Some have lost jobs, some have been sick, others have issues we know nothing about. We are here to be a family of prayer and support for each other. We do this to bring others to Christ, but also to support one another in our walk.


I love reading the Route 365 everyday, especially when I get to the end. The salutation of "A Fellow Traveler" hits me every time! We are traveling together and working together for the Glory of God!


Rog

Sound control with the Db meter

When using the Db meter make sure you set it for 'A' weighting. This will give a truer level for us. 'C' weighting allows it to be more from the bass frequencies than 'A'. Also, try and keep the volume around 85 Db for every service.

New Year additions to lighting.

Actually, these were installed around Christmas but haven't had the time to put these in the Blog. Time was at a premium with all the activities and programs. Thanks to ALL of you for making a busy time of year fun!!

First off, we started building a second lighting universe. All this means is we have a new way to send DMX control where ever we want to run cable. We are now capable of sending signal up and around the balcony, down to the flower boxes and up to the speaker towers and on to the platform area. This is all done through this little splitter (see picture). This is upstairs and can feed up to 4 signal paths at the same time.

As I mentioned this run goes to the flower boxes to add 'up' lighting and color whenever needed for accents.  We have 2 panel LED-RGB fixtures in the boxes at this time which has added a whole new look to a place that has been hard to use.

Then, on top of the speakers we have added two Colorado LED - RGBW fixtures. These are Red, Green, Blue and White allowing us to get better yellows than the standard RGB so we can balance color with the regular lighting. We are using them for lighting the worship team and special coloring for some of our Christmas events. These will add a whole new look to services and more flexibility for youth events.

Last, but not least is the ability to program the main lighting in the sanctuary with our new panel at the A/V Booth. The 5 buttons we are used to can be programmed as our needs change. One thing to remember is it's only tied into the dimmer rack, so it only affects the main lighting and 12 Fixtures pointing to the platform from the cove. No other lighting can be touched with it. But, with the sliders we can now program a 'look' from the lighting board and put those into each slider. This way, for special events or services I can give control to someone for full lighting but not have to use the lighting board.

That's it for now. We keep adding things as they come up. Any questions let me know.

Wireless Microphone Dropouts

We've been experiencing a couple issues Sunday mornings with the wireless being flaky. The Worship Leader microphone is dropping out after the sermon sometimes and SLX 7,8 and 9 have shown frequencies when only one of the mics is on. I went in and tested them all. The Worship Leader mic I let scan itself and came up with a different frequency in the same group. That's been reset. I had no issues with SLX 7,8 and 9.

After talking with Shure and Applied Audio I have come to a decision. From now on, if you have a Blackberry it cannot be used in the booth. We are feeling that this might be the issue since we are only seeing it when the room is occupied. This does mean that even someone in the church around the booth or the microphone could effect the signal. Blackberries have been know to cause carrier issues and most of the microphones today have a block setup, but this is in the past year. Our microphones are older than that. In the future, as we replace microphones, we will eliminate that issue. For now we have to live with it.

New Front Projectors in the Sanctuary

We now have new Epson G5350 projectors installed. They both have standard zoom lenses and have been turned down to conserve the lamp life. (3000 hours) They cannot be adjusted from the remote as easily as the last projectors, which was the problem. They were too easy to change. Focus, zoom, lens shift both horizontal and vertical are manual at the projector. Hopefully never to change until we need them to. The images actually match on the screen!!

New Wireless Personal Monitors (IE's)

We have two new Personal Monitors, called by some people Inner Ears or 'IE's'. This goes along with Jason's that he uses and will be available for the vocalists to use instead of a wedge speaker. We have them all in a travel case so they will always be together and available. Cables are all labeled in the back so you don't have to search too hard for them. Check them out sometime as we start using them and get used to them.

Our Choir Mics - Audix 1280 and 1290

One thing that has come up with our choir microphone selection is that we have two different mics to choose from. The 1280 and 1290. Just by looking at them you can see the difference. The 1280 is more directional (uni) and the 1290 is a wider pattern (omni), but remember they are both Cardioid!! The 1290 is no longer made and the 1280 has come out with a Super Cardioid called the 1280-s. I think you will find more problems with the 1290 in keeping it away from feeding back. Probably better for recording and Choir usage, but be careful. I talked to Audix who did not hold the 1290 in high regard.