OK, so the last few weeks have been crazy ... I was on vacation for a week right after the 4th of July, then came home and got sick, then took a modular class at
Trinity from Monday-Friday from 8:00-4:30 that completely consumed my life for a week. So I'm finally back to "normal" this week. I know, I know ... it's no excuse for not blogging in a month!
Anyways, Part 2 of the
Gear Post is coming soon.
Now to review this past Sunday ... anyone involved in worship planning on a regular basis knows that summer is CRAZY in terms of scheduling and service layouts being different. Pastors take extended vacation or Sabbaticals, so there is often a great deal of flexibility required in working with guest speakers, associate pastors, etc. who may have a different teaching style, or who may preach a much shorter or WAY longer sermon than you're used to. Another factor in summer is often band members being on vacation, and having to either strip down to an acoustic set or bring in some guest musicians. So the challenge becomes keeping consistency with the normal "feel" of your service when you have different or less people involved. Well, this past Sunday we had an altogether different kind of service than normal, but it seemed that people really appreciated the change of pace. Here are some factors that were different:
1) We gave the band a week off and I led solo from my acoustic.
2) In place of a sermon, we gave the time to our youth mission team who had just returned from South Dakota. Chris shared about seeing God's faithfulness through his own life and throughout the week, we watched a slideshow from the trip, and four students were interviewed about what they learned on the trip.
3) We celebrated communion together, but instead of having the ushers serve it via passing down each row, we instructed people to come forward and serve each other. (So Dave would serve the first person, then that person would step up and serve the next person, and so on, and so on)
We're still thinking through whether it was wise to alter so many factors on one Sunday, but I think one benefit is that it was a break from routine and a great opportunity for our congregation to see how God is working in the lives of our students!
The service order shaped up like this:
Welcome | Announcements - Michelle
-One Way (B)
Congregational Reading: Psalm 100:1-5
-Blessed Be Your Name (A)
Lessons Learned: God's Faithfulness - Chris
-You Never Let Go (B)
-Jesus Paid It All (B) - 1st service only
Offering | Mission Trip Slideshow
Student Interviews
Communion - Dave
I use GarageBand to record demos of songs I am working on, which works seamlessly with the M-Audio Profire 610 Firewire Interface. The 610 has two Mic/Line inputs on the front, which I normally use for guitar and vocals. It also has two more line inputs on the back, eight line outputs, MIDI in/out capability, and two headphone outputs. I would highly recommend the 610 if you're looking for a basic recording interface and won't need to be tracking more than two sources at one time.
