jack bauer I ain’t…

We are minutes away from the end of an era.

After tonight, Jack Bauer will no longer be saving America by going rogue, disarming the bomb, killing the terrorists, stopping the deadly virus, and revealing the mole in CTU.

After 9 years (only 8 seasons, but even Jack Bauer couldn’t defeat the writer’s strike a few years back), we will have to rely on our own dangers to get the adrenaline pumping. You know, the heart-racing moments we all live through, such as waking up late for work, making our paychecks last until the 30th of the month, avoiding foods that will surely give us acid reflux, and stressing about the upcoming class reunion.

In other words, we have a lot of real stuff to deal with. But Jack Bauer gave us some escape, an hour at a time.

Does this have any connection to church stuff? Probably somewhere. I could pull out a verse or two that would make the secular-spritual connection work.

But right now, all I can say is that I’m gonna miss Jack. Mostly because now I’ve got to live in the real world.

Well, at least until the next Star Trek movie comes out!

the church picnic

Normally, I am against most age-old church traditions. They are generally filled with the same pomp and circumstance that have driven people away from God for decades.

However, there is one tradition that I am so happy is alive and well today: the church picnic!

Okay, I’ll admit…some of it is out of selfishness. The food is generally very good, and abundant. Burgers and dogs. Potato, macaroni and other salads of a delicious nature. Cookies, pies and cakes. Oh, yeah!

But one other reason I love the picnic: everything else disappears for a few hours. Troubles, job woes, personal issues…they go away to make room for laughter, games and fellowship. I look around at the faces, and see a simpler time. Not quite Little House on the Prairie, but not today’s fast paced world, either. Somewhere in between. Somewhere that’s fun, and genuine, and good. Somewhere you can take a deep breath and relax.

Somewhere I like to be.

Now, excuse me while I look for my eating pants…we have a church picnic this Sunday!

when a media guy listens

Gotta be honest. Most services, I’m so intent on listening for cues and making sure the next slide is ready to go, I don’t get to listen to the message. Oh, I hear it, I’m just not listening.

So, the first time I listen to it is usually on Monday when it’s up on the podcast. And even then, I’m sometimes distracted by the mechanics, and not the content, of the Word.

But last week, I listened. And then I listened again. And it was one of those messages. And you know what I mean by one of those. It was one of those that hit me right where I was at that very moment. It dug deep into my soul, and scooped out the junk that I was living with. It released me from a bunch of the stuff that I think has been holding me back.

But my point here isn’t the change it made in me. The point is…I wish everyone that was hearing the message would listen to it.

We live in a world where folks are Facebooking, and Twittering all the time. We are so busy with what’s going on that we aren’t paying attention. And I’m not talking about the people tweeting and posting during the service. Heck, I’m one of them! It’s so cool to see a status update that says we have the coolest church around, and looking up to see the poster in the third row!

I’m talking about the way we are submersed in the everyday crap that takes our attention away from what really matters: each other.

Take a few moments today or tomorrow. Put down the iPhone, blackberry or Android. Put the iPod away. Step away from the computer and turn off the TV. Be in the moment. Listen to what’s going on.

Don’t just hear it.

if you don’t have a podcast…

if you don’t have a podcast set up for your church, then you are missing out. More importantly, your congregation members are missing out.

A clean, crisp recording of the message, along with a reliable podcast hosting company, is a must in today’s electronic age. This was not more evident to me until this past message series at LifePointe. It was a relationship series that touched everyone’s soul, and the podcast hits were off the charts!

Give your congregation the chance to re-listen to the message, give them the chance to share it with friends and family. Your pastor spent the time putting together the Word, so don’t make it a “one chance only” opportunity.

when media isn’t needed…

What? There’s a time when you don’t need media to enhance a message? Say it isn’t so!

Well, we found out at LifePointe Church this weekend that yes, sometimes keepin’ it simple is best.

As we finished up our last message in a relationship series, our Pastor brought his wife on stage. They talked about the story…the map, if you will…of their relationship. There were some powerful moments, some funny moments, and some solemn moments. To put it simply, there were some human moments.

While it was one of the longest messages Jamey had ever delivered, it was also one of the most driving, most engaging sermons I have heard. The kind that sends you down Reflective Boulevard.

And there wasn’t a drop of splashy media to be found. No video support, no cool graphics/photos. Just Jamey and his wife. Telling their story.

That was all we needed.

the day before

It’s Friday, the day before the first service of the weekend. So what does the day of the Media Guy for LifePointe Church look like on a Friday?

9am, roll out of bed. Check Facebook, and think of witty tidbit to post as my first status update of the day. Then, decide what to eat for breakfast…big bowl of cereal (or, The BBC as it’s know in this house), or leftover cold spaghetti? No contest….spaghetti. Then, I turn on the tv to see…wait a minute, this isn’t what you want to know.

Actually, earlier in the week I was able to load up the song lyrics thanks to our worship leader Stephen. He usually has them posted on Planning Center Online weeks in advance.

Then later this evening, Jamey will call with the verses and the phrases he’ll want up on the screen. This is awesome, because there are many pastors who wait until moments before the service to release this info, and that puts the stress factor at 78 for the tech team!

The real trick comes in deciding what types of video backgrounds to use for the songs and the message. Why is that tough? Well, you want to keep it interesting, cool, and relevant, but you don’t want it to distract from the words on the screen, which are the most important thing. The most important thing for any church media guy to remember is to enhance the message, not distract from it.

Mentally, though, the truly hard part is always remembering that it’s not a “show” we’re putting on…it’s a living, breathing embodiment of God’s word.

media and mother’s day

As Mother’s Day approaches, I see men and women, but mostly men, scrambling for ideas for a last minute gift. For some reason, men were not born with the gene that allows a normally sentient being to pick out a gift for someone they care about.

So here’s my gift to those people….

Media. Create a small but personally piece of media to give your Mom.

Mom’s love memories. That’s what they live on, what drives them. So why not take a couple of dozen photos of family events and put them into a simple, yet effective, presentation?

With programs that already come on your computer, such as Windows Movie Maker on PC’s, or iMovie on Macs, you can take those photos (you’ll need to scan them if they aren’t already digital), an appropriate piece of music, create a short masterpiece, put it on a DVD,and give your Mom a gift that will have her believing she raised the most incredible, sensitive and amazing child on Planet Earth! And you did it for FREE!

Or, buy a digital photo frame, load those pictures on it, and your Mom will swoon as she see’s a picture-show of her life dissolving in and out on the frame before her. This option may cost you $50-$80.

Option #3: Go old-school! Buy a scrapbook at Walmart, and place those photos in it, along with other tidbits from the past, and you’ve got another winner.

Memories. Create a gift based on memories, and you will make your Mom’s Day.

pay zilch, you get zilch…

One of my duties as Media Guy at a church is to post the weekly podcast. Here’s a brief outline of what’s involved:

-record the message on Sunday morning

-convert it to the correct file type, then edit it as needed

-upload it to the podcast site

Always trying to be aware of budget, I have tried to use a number of free podcast hosting sites. They all worked fine initially, but would always fail, or shut down, after a period of time. What was the affect? Irritated congregation members who couldn’t find the messages when they wanted to hear them. This is unacceptable, especially when someone needs the spiritual charge that listening to a sermon can give.

So, a couple of weeks ago, I broke down and signed the church up on a paid hosting site. And guess what? It works perfectly! And, the peace of mind factor is huge! And, for the $5 a month it’s costing us, it’s turning out to be the best investment we’ve made in a while. Folks can tune in whenever they want. They can listen on the site itself, or download on iTunes. It’s heaven! (pardon the pun)

Moral of this story? Pry open the wallet, spend a few bucks, and your life, and the lives of others, cold improve by leaps and bounds!

mac vs. pc

the war finally came to my front.

Mac vs. PC.

We had been experiencing trouble with the projector in our new building. After months of analyzing, we realized it was the way the computer/media shout/projector were reacting to each other. Combine that with the occasional Media Shout crash, and a decision had to be made.

The pressure to go Mac had been great. I had always been on team PC, and shunned those who said Mac was the only way to go. All the other church media guys laughed at me, told me I was too old-school, that the only way to take our service to the next level was to go Mac…

…and we did.

Got the best Macbook Pro we could afford, the 13″/250, and paired it with ProPresenter 4. And guess what? No issues. Better graphics. Smoother transitions. Multiple uses of video without crashing.

They were right. It is better. For church.

I will say this. If I were looking for a computer for personal use, I would still look at the cheaper, and still powerful, PC options.

But for now, thank you Mac, for making life a little easier…

help

I have always been self-reliant.

I would never ask for help…with anything. Homework assignments in college, projects at home or work…anything. I used to think this was an admirable trait. But recently, I found out that it was the trait that has been holding me back.

God put us on the planet with other humans for a reason: to interact and be part of a community. It’s that community that brings us closer to Christ, and brings us closer to each other. We are hear to support each other, and help our fellow man to achieve greatness; to become the people that our Creator meat for us to be.

If we can’t rely on each other, then we are but an island. And, as the old saying goes, no man is an island.

After 43 years on this planet, I finally get it. It’s easier to lean on a thousand shoulders than stand on your own.