Don't Panic!

For some time now, we've been setting up a "Whisper Mic" for our worship leader or band leader. This allows him to speak to the band and to the projectionist in their in-ears without being heard by the congregation. The switch we chose is called the "Panic Button," and usually it causes no panic. Usually.

Panic occasionally does descend, however, when replacing the 9V battery results in an accidental "adjustment" of the dip switch settings which are quite inconveniently placed right next to the battery compartment.

Now, however, calm has been restored. If the panic button doesn't seem to be functioning correctly, simply press the dip switches down in the direction of the black dots. That is the correct orientation of each button to get it to act as expected.

Peace at last!

4.29 Reverb

Thanks to everyone who served this last weekend. After May's 3rd weekend, you will have served three out of the last six weekends. I'm grateful that you are carrying the extra load during these couple months.

As a reminder of what happened this weekend, here is an overview of the rundown from Sunday:

• Ken Boer led us in singing.
• Robin Boisvert led in Child Dedications.
• Kenneth Maresco shared some pastoral priorities (aka announced stuff).
• Joshua Harris preached from Psalm 57 on how David never gave up but instead worshipped his way forward. Listen or watch if you weren't there.

What Went Well? (So much went smoothly.)

• The child dedications went really well. The video roll-in was smooth in both cases, and I was very happy with the shot choices as Robin was talking. There were a lot of great shots of cute kids.
• Thanks to the extra sound crew folks that stepped in to help cover for the monitor operator position this weekend. I even got to sit behind the monitor board for a few minutes, which was fun.
• That reminds me how great it is to have other team members at the tech director desk, so that Josh and I can step away. With Tyler, Joe, Chris, and Ryan at the helm, we can leave the intercom without any concerns.

What Could Improve?

• As everyone in the video control room has noticed, our video equipment is starting to "drift" a bit. The cameras are getting a little more difficult to balance correctly and cam 3 had a jitter issue over the weekend. Thankfully, I've connected with a field tech at JVC that is eager to help and has already resolved a problem with cam 4 over email. Please make sure that I get any notes you have about camera issues, so that I can ask specific questions and get those problems resolved.
• Lighting of Robin during the child dedications was less than ideal. In the future, we should add a light from the far reaches of catwalk 1 to cover the left side of the pastors face as he looks stage left.
• With the addition of the whisper mic, Ken is depending on being able to talk to the band and the projection operator with it as the band is getting on stage after the sermon. In order for this to work, two things need to be in place: 1) the band needs to have their in-ears in; 2) the monitor operator needs to be at his or her post immediately at the end of the sermon to unmute mixes.

What did you note this weekend? What do you think went well or could improve?