Turn it down!!! "Sir, we havent started yet"

This is just a quick post I wrote during the first service at my Church. I'm using my android so pardon any mistakes.

For the past few weeks I've had this guy who has decided to bust my chops every chance he gets. Now this guy is your typical old school ex pastor who feels his ten percent is just a little better then everyone elses ten percent so he has the right to criticize every part of our service.

That said...it all started a couple weeks ago where this guy comes up during service and asks for it to be turned down....and not in a ( I know your working on 2 hours of sleep and I appreciate you being here volunteering your time kind of way)

SIDE NOTE: Now I'm not saying to ignore the requests of the congregation because it important to know what's going on. But you need to observe the worshippers....(read my blog "how loud too loud")

I told him OK and looked at the associate pastor and showed him the db meter reading 85db. He just shook his head and said leave it.

Next Sunday the dance began...he looked at me I looked at him and smiled. He again approached the Booth and pleaded for me to turn it down. This time I was confused.....I replied...."sir, we haven't started yet....that's just background music at 55db. Now with the inverse square law it may have been 61db at the front row. The entire worship service he held his hands to his ears. Now it bothered me that this guy is so wrapped around getting his way that he's missing out on the whole reason he got up this morning. And not only that...he's ruining it for me too.

Next Sunday he decides to recuit people....this is comical now...if you feel your right and you want your way what do you do? Divide the church. LOL....I see him talking to usher pointing and giving ugly looks. The user approached me and the associate pastor and said he wanted the sound turned down. I then said "ask him if he knows just how hard it is for me to volunteer....I have 4 kids two jobs and no sleep...I'd rather be home. I don't need to deal with his grudge.

Bottom line...if your the engineer remember the demographic your mixing for...if you try to make everyone happy your mix will suffer. Talk to your pastor...find out how they want to worship to sound and how loud they want it. If your consistent your church will filter out the people who are not into what your wanting to do and will be filled with people who do.

Second...if your the complainer....swallow this happy pill. When You waking up brewing coffee & getting ready....were here already preparing. If you want to express how you feel remember your dealing with volunteers. If they quit you just put the church in q bad place. Don't forget to praise your volunteers.....well I have to go....first service is wrapping up...

Forward this....

Saving for a rainy day

We just put in the purchase order for two projectors today and the freight charge....

$935!!!

Got your attention? This was a eyeopener for me so I felt like sharing.

Last year we were asked to go to a Church and take a look at their current projection system. The system was installed about 5 years ago but still working enough to get by.

After inspection we noticed the lumen output was a little low for the ambient light in the room and the low contrast ratios of the old projectors didn't produce very good blacks. We recommended new higher lumen projectors with larger LCD chips & higher contrast to get a better picture on their large screens. The whole project was going to be a little more then they had to spend at the time so we talked about saving money for a bit and do it correctly when they had the funds.

On a side note: The projectors we were going to provide are perfect for Churches. The filters would scroll automatically so you wouldn't have to go up 30' and clean them & it came with 2 lamps built in! That means during your fall production if a lamp went out the other one would kick in. NO DOWN TIME! http://www.eiki.com/Products/LC-XGC500

So time goes by and we check in on them to make sure everything is still operational. Once every other week, once a month, to eventually once every other month. It seemed the funds were just not being put away.

Today we received the call. "How fast can we get two new projectors"? I told them it only takes about a week. "We need them tomorrow to install them for Palm Sunday"!!! I raced down to the Church...took more measurements and told them I'd do everything I could to get them projectors with special lenses next day.

Here's what had to happen. I pulled all my resources to make sure all the components needed were available...parts from California, Indiana, and Wisconsin all had to be shipped next day air to arrive in time to do the installation.

The Church had the original quote from a year ago and was relying on it to be accurate. Unfortunately there was a price increase of 2% plus the near $1,000 freight charge that had to be tacked on. We knew this was going to be a issue so Creative Sound Solutions donated the additional funds to the Church to make sure the cost didn't keep them from buying the right gear.

Moral of the story....you think you can't afford something now? Wait till you need it tomorrow!