7.27 and 8.3 Reverb

Covenant Life Church has had a very full couple weeks with two Sundays, two Mills, the Rebelution, and the WorshipGod08 conference. If I have counted correctly, that's 58 services or seminars in the span of 10 days. That may just be a density record!

Thanks to you all for consistently serving above and beyond your normal monthly assignments. You are making the clear gospel available to thousands each time you serve.

July 27, 2008 - Don't Waste Your Kids

On Sunday, July 27th, we heard from Josh's father, Gregg Harris, on "Don't Waste Your Kids." You can listen to the message, and use application questions for personal study.

I only have a couple notes from that morning, most likely because so much has transpired since then that I've lost a clear perspective on what actually happened.

First, I need to do a better job of finalizing the order of announcements when Josh is leading through them. Because he is the senior pastor, he rightfully feels the freedom to improvise, but that has continued to cause us problems related to getting slides up at the right time. I think the best solution at this point is for me to be more active in getting the right order from him on Sunday morning.

Second, we had the privilege of supporting parents in child dedications. We changed up the stage arrangement a little bit, so that we could get three things at once:

1. A clear shot of Josh
2. A clear shot of the families.
3. Josh could look at the families and at a camera at the same time.

This arrangement worked well, but we need to address some lighting problems for the area where Josh was standing. We may need to use the lift to aim some over-stage lights on him next time. Also, whenever we have child dedications, there is a period of time when Josh addresses the congregation and parents at length. We can intersperse shots of the children while he talks. Because he no longer has to turn around to see the families, we don't have that cue to cut from Josh' back to the cute kids. I would say use shots of the families about one third of the time and shots of Josh the other two-thirds.

August 3, 2008 - Don't Waste Your Job

This past Sunday, Mark Mitchell taught us how to not waste our jobs. If you were running tech in Discovery Land or taking care of IMAG, you can listen and apply.

Tech on Sunday was tremendously smooth, especially given that we were understaffed. Thanks, Chris, for leading your video team through this wild morning. I saw that you filled out three of the checklists yourself!

Sunday must have been smooth, nevertheless, because this is what I heard from Grant over the radio (a first): "No notes from me for you, Dave. Excellent job." Sweet job, everyone, and thank you, God, for helping us in our weakness.

I have just a few bullet-point notes:

• I need to get Josh's announcements order earlier on. Did I say that already?
• House directors, don't forget to change the matrix switcher. My 10-month old son is my spy in the nursing mother's room, so I do find out about it.
• Chris asked about leaving up video during prayer. Do we leave it up or take it down? As of today, just leave it up. For those who don't close their eyes in prayer, let's give them something to see that helps then concentrate on the prayer.

What did you notice that could have been better? Share your thoughts for all of us to benefit. Don't hold back. (Any thoughts from visitors to Covenant Life who stayed over from the Rebelution or WG08 are particularly welcome!)