Have you ever attended a worship training event that had all the latest and greatest technology: digital consoles, line arrays, jumbo HD screens that rival the one in Cowboy land, lights that could have been used for the last Pink Floyd tour only to come away feeling depressed?

I know that we’re not supposed to be anxious about such things but amidst all the production quality it’s hard to go back to our little church with the speakers on sticks, overhead projector and fluorescent lights. I also know that we don’t need that stuff to worship. I know!

However, wouldn’t it be great if we could give an environmental lift to those who come to our meeting?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone in our congregation could hear the Word and the music at the right volume, clearly and intelligibly and see the lyrics to sing along with?
Yes! It would!

But now I see I’ve depressed you again because you’re thinking.. “Our church of 100 members will never be able to afford such things .” or..”nobody in our church is technically adept enough to operate it” or…. any other reason you can come up with to be depressed.

Well, guess what? The time for depression is over. Hallelujah!
There have been recent technological developments that will rival the stuff you’ve seen and heard in the mega-church but are only a fraction of the cost. The difference would be the scale we’re on; much like your home theater system vs. a Regal Cinema experience.

We know that we can rival the experience of seeing a movie in a stadium-like environment in our own home theater right? We can also rival the experience of the big church production in our little tiny church in much the same way.

Digital Consoles which were expensive and difficult to operate are now within reach of any church, no matter how small and even if you’re an insurance salesman running sound on the weekend, you won’t have to go back to night school to learn how to use it. in fact, I dare say, the technology is getting so simple, that your Pastor may even be able to operate it. OK, maybe not.

Check it out:
Presonus Studio Live.

This thing can pretty much do all the things the big bad digital boards do for $2500MSRP.

Besides being able to fulfill all of your Front of House duties, it will also record everything coming into it onto a Mac/PC computer simultaneously through it’s Firewire interface and supplied recording software. Once done recording, you can bring the tracks back through the mixer using all the onboard dynamics, effects and eq to mix with on your own system… the band doesn’t have to be there anymore to fine tune your settings and your mix.

Tune in next time and we’ll show you some new speaker systems perfect for small environments, easy to set up and that can satisfy the most critical audio nerd.

Faith Comes By Hearing.

I will be in Orlando FL next week and I am excited about the trip, probably as much for the warmer weather as I am to help volunteer worship and tech team members increase  their understanding of technology and applications.

This will be the first time I’ve ever attended Kempke’s Music Florida but it appears to have something for everybody: contemporary, traditional and blended worship teams…http://www.kempke.com/online/pages/Music-Florida-2010.html

Take a look:

Brief Music Florida Description:

• 16 Choral Reading Sessions
• 2 Adult Premieres
• Children’s Premiere
• 3 Concerts
• Seminars
• Exhibits and Kempke’s Bookstore open all week
• Golf Tournament
• Pro Audio, Video & Lighting Expo
• Children’s Leader Workshop

If you live near here, you may want to check it out, especially if you’re from a smaller church. It may seem like the national training events  (names will me protected) have more going for them but do they really?

What does your team really need? My answer would be, without knowing you: Time Together!

Do yourself and your church budget a favor by inspecting the things your team needs against the conference offerings and assessing if the event will help you to get where you need to be. Make sense? Why spend hundreds of dollars for registration, airfare, hotel and meals if there is a local or regional conference that will meet the qualifications and save you thousands.

I think that you will find a similar line-up of  artists and speakers appearing at the regional  many times as you will at the major national conferences. There may not  have as many or it may be a shorter event, two days instead of four, but what are we trying to accomplish?

If you want to spend $400 each for registration, and four days of hotel and travel expenses per person, to see more concerts and hear more teaching by the latest and greatest expositors, by all means go. I am a small church guy with a team of people that need training and refreshing. I can’t afford to take additional people to a conference like this. I need to take this into account and find the events close to home that I can bring my whole team to; that satisfy our team’s needs; that we can afford! There are many events that you can bring your whole team to an event for the same price as one at some major conferences.

Where are they?

Where do you live?

Integrity Seminars 4 Worship has made a point in avoiding a national conference and hosting regional events around the country, realizing that it’s the local small to medium sized church needs the help.

WorshipTogether.com is hosting a national conference in April, but again, they understand the necessity to make it affordable for everyone to be able to come:Registration is $129.00 with great artists like Fee, Matt Maher and others. http://www.worshiptogether.com/resources/eventDetails.aspx?iid=1791098

If you live in Philadelphia, you may want to check out Northeast Worship Institute with Paul Baloche and a host of industry teachers like myself, representing Audio-Technica, Presonus, Westone and Aviom. There will be Master classes in every area: worship leading, team building, audio, video, lighting, media, and Paul’s band will be teaching on their respective instruments as well as a Worship band /Arranging general session. Cost: $89.00 www.calvaryevents.org

Christian Musician Summits are another great choice for team training that come to four different regions annually. Cost: $99.00

You’re not going to find a better line-up anywhere with musicians like Lincoln Brewster, Doyle Dykes, Greg Bissonette, c, Tom Brooks, Sheri Gould (the best Vocal Coach in the Country and my wife)…

Buffalo, NY

Mesa , AZ

Sacramento, CA

Seattle WA

Check them out here: www.christianmusiciansummit.com

Where do you begin to find these things?

One of my dear friends, and a host of Worship Training Seminars all over the N. America, Tom Kreuter, has created a list on the web that you can refer to: http://www.worshipconferencelist.com/ This should be your starting point.

If you go to CCLI.com , they also have a list of conferences and events.  Check’em out!

This should give you a variety to choose from and help you to achieve your goals and get the most bang for your buck.

I hope to see you at one of these in 2010.

Blessings

Doug Gould

Worship MD

I’ve been presenting workshops and classes at virtually every worship and tech conference out there for the last seven years and what’s amazing to me is how very similar they are in their approach to those they want to come.

Come to the “Worship Leader Conference”, or don’t miss  the “Worship and Media Seminar” .

Who comes?  Musicians and  and occasionally techs from their respective  teams,  sometimes with pastors and drummers. (okay, no more drummer jokes!) They may come as a team, but as soon as the conference starts , they are all off doing their own thing . That’s fine I don’t have aproblem with people choosing to learn about stuff they want to learn about.   We  split up into separate little groups of  songwriters, leaders, vocalists, guitarists, keyboardists, drummers, audio, lighting and other techie types. This form factor is rarely varied. What’s wrong with this approach? Nothing, except that virtually all of the conferences (at least the many that I have participated in)  use this template, with varying degrees,  sometimes  with different instructors.

If I may, I’d like to offer a suggestion on how to do it differently..and if you are already doing it like this.. let me know so I don’t continue to rant about it anymore.  Yes we need to improve individually but perhaps more emphasis should be placed on working with  the team, together, as one .

Relationships are broken and those that are responsible for worship and the support thereof are like dysfunctional families  in  many churches that I have been asked to help. I’ll walk in and immediately sense discord, division, attitude, and all kinds of negative manifestations. There is a divide between the tech team and the platform and often between the musicians themselves.  They are playing “Here I am to Worship” but it looks and sounds like “Communication Breakdown”.

What good will it do me to learn how to play better guitar licks if I won’t even talk to the bass player?  I  can learn to be a better audio mixer  but if I don’t know what songs are being played until ten minutes before the service does it really matter? Relationships matter. This is the stuff that makes it all work together.

I leave with the suggestion that they shouldn’t buy any more equipment or do anything else in the way of  scheduling practical training until they can learn to work together and start at least acting like they love one another.

So why don’t we try this approach: Let’s invite the whole team to come with the premise that we’re going to do a lot together, not apart. general sessions where they can see teams interact: “Running Rehearsals and Soundchecks” , “Lowering Stage Volumes” ; observe how functional teams plan the service and how all the various members of the team blend the elements together . That is the worship team, the tech team..ONE TEAM!

Lastly build in time for hanging out together…instead of a concert at night, let’s all get together around a bonfire and make some smores and worship under the stars without lights, media, audio and guitar amps and see what happens. ( i know one thing, the techs wouldn’t have anything to complain about and may finally have to give into worship)

Let’s have a group price that’s typically less than the individual price of the high profile conferences out there. Let’s say, and this is completely random, $300 gets your whole team in! Now I’m sure that there are some who may take extreme advantage of the offer but the deal stands. How many of you  are ministry-minded enough to promote the fact that you want the whole team to come? Are you more concerned with profit or ministry?

Our teams need help in the way that they relate to one another and how they are communicating their needs to each other; they need models illustrating service and  healthy relationships; they need to see how vibrant , creative and healthy teams get things done and the steps they take to get there, like watching  a great basketball team practice!

This is not rocket science. It’s common sense and we are commanded to love one another. The greatest of you will be the one who serves the other best.  I don’t care who starts but someone has to. Sound guys…bring water to the platform before the musicians show up…Worship leader bring coffee and donuts for the techs before they bring the water. Ha! Musicians and techs find time to get together as often as possible to hang out. Know each other. Pray for one another. Eat together as often as possible.

The teams  that have the best functioning, servant -hearted, selfless and other-centered members will be the ones who will lead us into the presence of the Lord without the need for digital consoles, line arrays and  plasma screens.