BabuLife

Aviom In Ear Monitors

Yesterday we busted out the new Aviom in-Ear monitors for the praise team.  I'll sum it up in one word..."wierd".  I've never used them and it will take some getting used to before I love them.  I do love the ability to create my own mix.  And I KNOW the audio team loves the fact that there is no volume from the stage competing with the house mix.  They will no longer have to deal with the praise team asking them to "fix" the mix.  We're responsible for it now!

Where I found it difficult was in the leading aspect.  It's difficult to lead people that you cannot hear.  We set up some ambient mics on the edge of the stage but still found it a little hard to hear the congregation.  I've always depended on being able to see and hear what's going on out there while leading.  I'm definitely going to have to ease into this and find a new way to gauge the congregation during the worship time. 

Overall, this will be a GREAT tool for our team.  I know our drummer has been dreaming about having in-ear monitors for years now.  "His dream had come true...he was an in-ear monitor drummer".

Any worship leaders out there using a system like this?  Did you have to make adjustments in your leading?  If so, what did you do?

Grace Numbers 4/9/06

Week 2 in the new building.  Smashing success baby!

• Total attendance 554 We discovered some heads were not counted. New total: 576

Check out the "Grace By the Numbers" category to see the trend over the past couple months.

Serenity Now!

I actually had some time to sit down and watch a movie tonight (Friday).  To all the Star Wars/sci fi folks that hit this site looking for some Vader talk, you MUST rent Serenity if you haven't seen it.  It's like Han Solo on steroids!  I'm hoping some of the new live action Star Wars TV shows coming over the next couple of years have some of the flare seen in this movie.

I never watched the television show this was based on and it made no difference at all.  Great action, great story, great characters and some decent effects.  Nowhere near Star Wars quality effects wise, but the story more than makes up for any of those possible flaws.  I even got my wife to sit and watch it and I think she enjoyed it as much as I did.

You must rent Serenity now!

Roger Ebert's review.

Easter 2006

We're sending out mailers to 30,000 homes within a five mile radius of our building next week for Easter.  We did this for Christmas and had some success in getting folks aware of Grace and that we're on the way to their neighborhood.  We actually had more people attend after Christmas through January and February due to the mailer than we did at the actual Christmas service.  We're thinking this may be much different for Easter.

Tim's got a pretty cool message in the works about Thomas and his doubts about the ressurrection of Christ until he put his fingers in his wounds.  There's a great spiritual application there that should be powerful for both 'believers" and "unchurched" folks. 

In addition to our Easter Sunday services at 9a.m. and 11a.m., we will be hosting a Saturday evening service at 6p.m. April 15 for those who have walked the road with Grace to the building.  We want to have a special celebration service with the families that night.  This will also give people the freedom to serve on Sunday morning without missing the service.  We're going to need a lot of volunteers on Easter.

Anybody have anything special planned with their churches on Easter?

Didn't Believe It

So far I've learned a few things about this move and the aftershocks from the first weekend service.  The one thing I've discovered right now, sitting here typing this, is that no matter how strong you think you are, your body will disagree and let you know about it.  Seriously, I'm finding it really difficult to keep my eyes open today.  I think the go go go has caught up to me a little.  Time to find that oasis and just rest for a night.  I am turning 32 here pretty soon.  Could this just be a glimpse of what old age will bring?  Or maybe I'm just a wuss? I just didn't believe I would get this tired.

Lesson Learned:  You gotta find those moments of rest when you're burning the midnight oil.  What do y'all like to do for your rest?

More First Service Pics

Head on over to Doug's site for more pics of our first service here.

Grace Numbers 4/2/06 (FIRST SUNDAY)

Our first service in the new building was on this day.  We saw a few families that either left or visited previously and decided to "wait" until the building was completed before making a commitment.  There was NO advertising for this Sunday as far as mailers or anything like that.  We will be running a full 6 page story/advertisement in the KC Star on Sunday, April 9th.  To follow the numbers at Grace during our transition, check out the category "Grace By the Numbers".

• Total Attendance 544

First Sunday!

Just a quick post for now.  Everything went amazingly well.  We stayed up until 1:30am or was it 2:30am Sunday morning because of the time change?  For a quick peak at the stage, have a look at our video man's site over at Howecogitate.  Click here for his "View from the Booth".