Technology

I thought it would be good to talk about the importance of at least attempting to stay up-to-date with new and emerging products and trends.

For church leaders, it's important to follow the pulse of the society that our churches exist in so that we can continue to be relevant to the people we are trying to reach. Blogging, Facebook, sermon mp3s and the like are yesterday's trends, yet so many churches are struggling to catch up to these fairly simple trends. What does the future hold? And how can we strive to make our worship services more experiential?

I'll be the first one to admit that it's nigh impossible to stay on top of everything-I've nearly gone crazy just trying to keep up with the changes in cameras in the last year! But I do subscribe to industry magazines and e-newsletters in order to keep as current as I can. My subscriptions (all free) include "Technologies for Worship," "DV," "Sound & Video Contractor," "Millimeter," and "Church Production" magazines, along with their corresponding e-newsletters. These allow a very quick glimpse at emerging technologies in manageable chunks.

Currently, I don't have time to read other people's blogs or to even research other blogs, but I know there are some good ones out there. To find some, you might write to the editor's of the magazines I mentioned above to see if they have any recommendations, or you can do your own research. If you find one you like, please drop me a line and let me know about it so I can subscribe and maybe in a spare minute or two can do some reading: tim@timatofilms.com

Gladstone Campmeeting 2009-Lighting

A Job Well Done

For those of you in production, you know how much work goes into the process. Planning, planning, planning, setup, change of plans causes the original setup to change, then production, strike, load-out, and on to the next project.

Something I've noticed inside of me is a tendency to get bitter that no one appreciates the amount of work that has to happen behind the scenes, and this attitude is SO contagious! So you've gotta be careful about what attitude you have and who you have it around.

But something else I've noticed is that when you pour your heart and soul into a project and sit back during production and watch it come off exactly or pretty close to how you planned is so rewarding and it makes it all worth it. And then the next project comes along and the grumbling and complaining begins again...but we all know we love what we do otherwise we wouldn't do it, right?

So, take satisfaction in a job well done, then move on! :)

Attitude

So, I'm working on a fairly large lighting gig right now, just finishing the setup for a week and half run. However, to date, this has been the most complicated, stressful, and confusing environments that I've worked in. Forget Plan B, Plan C, etc. We've got to be on Plan TT by now!

Without going into the details, I wanted to make a quick point about attitude. If you don't have the ability to adapt to an ever-changing situation, I would suggest trying to learn that skill. It's much better for everyone in the end when people can be flexible (within reason). This doesn't mean that you race to go get the bucket truck at 3pm to change two lights for a program that starts at 4pm. There just isn't enough time. But if someone has a suggestion for changing how you focused your lights, or what lights you're using where, be willing to at least dialogue with them about why you did it that way and what advantages might be gained by doing it their way.

Remember, you're ALWAYS a student, so look for opportunities to grow and learn! It can save you from falling on your face because of your pride.