Our sound system
03/12/14 05:10
Yesterday we had a large funeral at our church. It was one of those times when everyone is pitching in to make things work. There were folks in the kitchen preparing a lunch, folks in the fellowship hall setting up extra tables and chairs, and folks in the sanctuary arranging flowers. In addition to the usual things I did to prepare for the service, I tried to chip in with the work that needed to be done. I had gone in early Monday morning and set up the screen and projector and later helped family members hook up their computer to show pictures for the service. I had set up tables for the displays and found easels for pictures. Before others arrived yesterday, I had printed, folded, collated and stapled the bulletins for the funeral service.
One of the things that i deeply appreciate about our church is that we don’t have rigid boundaries separating various jobs. Everyone pitches in to get the work done. Nobody is “too good” to move furniture or help with mundane office chores. Working together over the years we have discovered that some people are better at some jobs than others and we know that there are a few jobs that are less preferred. In general, however, we’re pretty good at working together.
Somehow, a funeral brings out the best in the church. People work willingly and without complaint. Our church is generous with food and time. A funeral lunch, ushers, and other jobs are arranged with a simple phone call. I don’t know how people who don’t have a church home deal with grief. I’ve been so immersed in the church that I’m pretty uninformed about how things go when there is no church. But inside of our church - in inside of other churches, I’m sure - grief is shared and people go to work and help each other through a difficult and challenging time. It is one of the moments when we are at our best.
In the midst of all of the things that we do well as a church, we seem to have one small job that hasn’t found the right persons to get it done. I don’t mean this as a complaint, but it stands in such contrast to the rest of the operation of our church that it is a bit of a mystery to me. We have an excellent sound system in our building. People have been generous and we have invested in purchasing high quality equipment. But we all seem to be intimidated by the operation of the system. From time to time we call the company that installed the system and have them come out to adjust a few things and to teach us more about its operation, but so far there has been no key volunteers who really understand its operation. The problem may not be unique to our congregation, but it seems so. I have lots of friends who are pastors and they speak of their “sound and light teams.” We have no such team. They talk about their sound board operators. We have no such operators. We all seem to be a bit afraid of the system. We don’t want to mess it up and we have limited knowledge and expertise.
So, in the spirit that is so abundant in our church, I have tried to pitch in to that place where I see work is needed. I have carefully studied the manuals that came with the equipment. I work hard to care for and store the various microphones and make sure that they are used properly. I have learned to adjust the various levels and operate the auto mixer. And often our system works very well. But there are problems with this “solution.” The controls are in the choir loft and I work done in the front of the sanctuary. I’ve been known to run up to the choir loft to make adjustments during a service, but I don’t want to disrupt worship for technical problems. Others don’t know how to operate the microphones. As a result, they might get too close to a microphone and cause some popping in the system. They might remain too far away from a microphone and it has trouble picking up their voice. At yesterday’s funeral the family wanted an “open microphone” with lots of different people sharing. It could have been louder.
A second problem with me as the operator of the system is that I have bene blessed with good hearing at this stage of my life. I can hear and understand the things that others are saying and if someone is a bit louder than another person, it usually doesn’t bother me or interrupt my ability to worship in a meaningful way.
The third problem with using me as the sound system operator is that when I am gone, there is often no one who can operate the system. On two occasions when I have been away on a Sunday morning I have received panic phone calls about the system not working - in both cases a simple switch was not turned on properly.
I suppose that I could be a bit of a dictator and simply insist that all of the paid staff of the church become expert operators of the sound system. Right now that particular job is not in any of our job descriptions, but it would be within my authority to require other employees to be trained and learn to operate the system. I have tried to recruit ushers and get them trained, but scheduling a meeting of our ushers seems to be one of the biggest challenges of my career. They tend to be individuals who know their job and who signed up to pass out bulletins and pass offering plates, not to attend training meetings.
So, for now, I have another job that I don’t relish. In addition to being the sound system operator, I am the “complaint department” for the sound system. People who have trouble hearing know that I’m the “go to guy” when they have problems. It makes sense that I have this job. It just isn’t one of the favorite parts of the work I do.
Folding bulletins, on the other hand, is a piece of cake. Outside of the occasional paper cut, there are no hazards to the job. And to date, I’ve never received a complaint about our bulletin folding.
I suppose that I am very lucky that the sound system is the unsolved problem. The important things, like caring for grieving families and providing music for worship, are done with grace and dignity.
One of the things that i deeply appreciate about our church is that we don’t have rigid boundaries separating various jobs. Everyone pitches in to get the work done. Nobody is “too good” to move furniture or help with mundane office chores. Working together over the years we have discovered that some people are better at some jobs than others and we know that there are a few jobs that are less preferred. In general, however, we’re pretty good at working together.
Somehow, a funeral brings out the best in the church. People work willingly and without complaint. Our church is generous with food and time. A funeral lunch, ushers, and other jobs are arranged with a simple phone call. I don’t know how people who don’t have a church home deal with grief. I’ve been so immersed in the church that I’m pretty uninformed about how things go when there is no church. But inside of our church - in inside of other churches, I’m sure - grief is shared and people go to work and help each other through a difficult and challenging time. It is one of the moments when we are at our best.
In the midst of all of the things that we do well as a church, we seem to have one small job that hasn’t found the right persons to get it done. I don’t mean this as a complaint, but it stands in such contrast to the rest of the operation of our church that it is a bit of a mystery to me. We have an excellent sound system in our building. People have been generous and we have invested in purchasing high quality equipment. But we all seem to be intimidated by the operation of the system. From time to time we call the company that installed the system and have them come out to adjust a few things and to teach us more about its operation, but so far there has been no key volunteers who really understand its operation. The problem may not be unique to our congregation, but it seems so. I have lots of friends who are pastors and they speak of their “sound and light teams.” We have no such team. They talk about their sound board operators. We have no such operators. We all seem to be a bit afraid of the system. We don’t want to mess it up and we have limited knowledge and expertise.
So, in the spirit that is so abundant in our church, I have tried to pitch in to that place where I see work is needed. I have carefully studied the manuals that came with the equipment. I work hard to care for and store the various microphones and make sure that they are used properly. I have learned to adjust the various levels and operate the auto mixer. And often our system works very well. But there are problems with this “solution.” The controls are in the choir loft and I work done in the front of the sanctuary. I’ve been known to run up to the choir loft to make adjustments during a service, but I don’t want to disrupt worship for technical problems. Others don’t know how to operate the microphones. As a result, they might get too close to a microphone and cause some popping in the system. They might remain too far away from a microphone and it has trouble picking up their voice. At yesterday’s funeral the family wanted an “open microphone” with lots of different people sharing. It could have been louder.
A second problem with me as the operator of the system is that I have bene blessed with good hearing at this stage of my life. I can hear and understand the things that others are saying and if someone is a bit louder than another person, it usually doesn’t bother me or interrupt my ability to worship in a meaningful way.
The third problem with using me as the sound system operator is that when I am gone, there is often no one who can operate the system. On two occasions when I have been away on a Sunday morning I have received panic phone calls about the system not working - in both cases a simple switch was not turned on properly.
I suppose that I could be a bit of a dictator and simply insist that all of the paid staff of the church become expert operators of the sound system. Right now that particular job is not in any of our job descriptions, but it would be within my authority to require other employees to be trained and learn to operate the system. I have tried to recruit ushers and get them trained, but scheduling a meeting of our ushers seems to be one of the biggest challenges of my career. They tend to be individuals who know their job and who signed up to pass out bulletins and pass offering plates, not to attend training meetings.
So, for now, I have another job that I don’t relish. In addition to being the sound system operator, I am the “complaint department” for the sound system. People who have trouble hearing know that I’m the “go to guy” when they have problems. It makes sense that I have this job. It just isn’t one of the favorite parts of the work I do.
Folding bulletins, on the other hand, is a piece of cake. Outside of the occasional paper cut, there are no hazards to the job. And to date, I’ve never received a complaint about our bulletin folding.
I suppose that I am very lucky that the sound system is the unsolved problem. The important things, like caring for grieving families and providing music for worship, are done with grace and dignity.