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Author Topic: How would you handle services with Photosentitive Epileptic in Audience  (Read 14535 times)

TJ (Tom) Cornish

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Re: How would you handle services with Photosentitive Epileptic in Audience
« Reply #20 on: April 22, 2014, 10:50:01 PM »

Please bear with me a moment... putting flame suit on... zipping it up (whew, it's hot in here already!)...


I am having difficulty figuring out how the artistic choices of lighting has anything at all to do with the mission of the Church, which is to spread the Gospel of forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ.

Oh, I see that you are trying to make church attractive. Attractive to the flesh? The flesh isn't what you're preaching to, and the spirit cares nothing about appearances.

Might be time to critically evaluate how you are delivering your message. It seems to me you are concerned more about yourself and what you find pleasing than about the souls of your congregation.


Ducking out... quickly.
1 Corinthians 9:19-23 - it is the church's job to be as attractive as possible to the culture, while staying true to their message.  It is completely reasonable for churches pursuing younger people who have grown up with MTV and high production to have a high production service. 

This is a treacherous area, and I find myself a little torn.  Obviously it's not anyone's desire to intentionally exclude someone because they have a disability, and if the church's vision can be accomplished while accommodating this person, it seems like an obvious win to me.  That being said, if the concessions to the look of the program start to affect the church's ability to be attractive to their target audience (and I'm not making a judgement about this particular situation), there may have to be a value judgement.
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Jon McElvain

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Re: How would you handle services with Photosentitive Epileptic in Audience
« Reply #21 on: April 24, 2014, 03:02:07 PM »

You made me go look up 1 Corinthians 9:19-23!  I would view those verses more as a call to go serve people (like Jesus did), living among them, being friends with them, but not changing the way I live or giving up my own convictions.  Set the example.  I see this more as a call to "go" than anything else.

As for the specific issue, it seems that moderate changes could be done to see if it helped, but I don't think it's reasonable for any one person to force an entire service to change things.

My church is far more simple and conservative and I've had people ask me if I could turn the organ down when he had a new young person playing hyms with gusto.  I told them that all I could do was to turn up the singers!  This isn't exactly the same since it wasn't a medical condition, but I think reasonable accomodation goes both ways.
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TJ (Tom) Cornish

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Re: How would you handle services with Photosentitive Epileptic in Audience
« Reply #22 on: April 24, 2014, 04:11:53 PM »

You made me go look up 1 Corinthians 9:19-23!  I would view those verses more as a call to go serve people (like Jesus did), living among them, being friends with them, but not changing the way I live or giving up my own convictions.  Set the example.  I see this more as a call to "go" than anything else.
Acts chapter 17 - Paul goes to Mars Hill in Athens.  He studies their culture, and shares his message using their culture and theology.

Hudson Taylor was effective in reaching Asia because he learned their language, wore their clothes, and joined the culture.

Successful evangelism of people different than oneself always begins with learning their culture and adapting to that as much as possible - language, dress, norms, music types, food, zeitgeist, etc., to remove barriers.  This frequently does require changing the way that the evangelist lives.

There are obviously some things core to the message that can't be compromised, but if we extend Christianity such that not only do you need to believe and do what the Bible says, but you have to join my culture too, we will never reach people different than us.

I have lived both sides of this issue personally, and have watched a number of churches in my city die because they were unwilling to stylistically adapt to a younger demographic.  I find that very unfortunate, and quite frankly short sighted and selfish on the part of certain older folks who stuck their stake in the ground and said that drums and guitars and any music written after 1950 had no place in church.  They missed out on the blessing of being able to lend their spiritual maturity and financial resources to reach the next generation.
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Jonathan Johnson

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Re: How would you handle services with Photosentitive Epileptic in Audience
« Reply #23 on: April 24, 2014, 07:30:29 PM »

I would discuss this with your leadership team. Let them make the decision as to how to proceed. Always be in a spirit of prayer about this issue.

It may be that the best solution is to recommend another house of worship in your area that has a worship service that provides a better experience for that member and is still faithful to the message. Of course, there are many other factors to consider with such a move: the member may have family or friends that like attending your house of worship, and that factor could make the move difficult.
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Stop confusing the issue with facts and logic!

Jon McElvain

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Re: How would you handle services with Photosentitive Epileptic in Audience
« Reply #24 on: April 25, 2014, 11:46:12 PM »

Acts chapter 17 - Paul goes to Mars Hill in Athens.  He studies their culture, and shares his message using their culture and theology.

Hudson Taylor was effective in reaching Asia because he learned their language, wore their clothes, and joined the culture.

Successful evangelism of people different than oneself always begins with learning their culture and adapting to that as much as possible - language, dress, norms, music types, food, zeitgeist, etc., to remove barriers.  This frequently does require changing the way that the evangelist lives.

There are obviously some things core to the message that can't be compromised, but if we extend Christianity such that not only do you need to believe and do what the Bible says, but you have to join my culture too, we will never reach people different than us.

I have lived both sides of this issue personally, and have watched a number of churches in my city die because they were unwilling to stylistically adapt to a younger demographic.  I find that very unfortunate, and quite frankly short sighted and selfish on the part of certain older folks who stuck their stake in the ground and said that drums and guitars and any music written after 1950 had no place in church.  They missed out on the blessing of being able to lend their spiritual maturity and financial resources to reach the next generation.

I don't disagree that churches need to be willing to adapt to make a connection with the younger generation.  I do, however, think that a lot of churches have lost the message in the "show" that their service has become.  Entertainment isn't the reason we should be at church.  Finding the right balance can be a challenge.  I suspect we would agree on this subject in a personal conversation and it's the forum interface that makes it appear otherwise.
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Arnold B. Krueger

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I would just like some ideas on what your take on this is.

I have programmed a light sequence for praise where :

LED Parcans Fade between Colors about once a second.
LED Strip at foot of stage does likewise.
Parcans facing the stage are on Medium brightness (constant).
Chandeliers hanging on stage are on Dim (constant).
2 Florescent fittings in the seating area on (to allow people to find seats if they arrive late).
The OBY600U Stage Wash fitting (hanging from the center beam above the congregation) scans around the congregation itself (A nice fast pattern, changing color by rotating its color wheel - But not strobing or shuttering).

On 2 occasions During the Praise, i was informed by a steward that the Oby (Which they all seem to call the 'Strobe Light' - Don't ask me why), but he said that it was affecting this specific member that has photosensitive epilepsy.
I did not have any other sequence set, except for one that has all the lighting the same as above, but holds the OBY600 shuttered. So i had to change over to that sequence (to me it is very boring without the movement of the OBY).

Anybody else have issues with Photosensitive Epileptic members / visitors, and how did/would you handle the situation.

Seems like a very intense lighting scheme for a church service, but maybe that is just me. 

My training in worship design and execution says that worship elements that distract from the core message of Christ are out of place.

I've also seen that sort of language used to force personal preferences down an audience's throat.

One difference between a worship service and multimedia presentations in general is that in worship the message is Christ and therefore the medium can't distract from that message.  The goal is to open people to engagement by The Spirit through the use of media, and to not engage them in the media itself.
« Last Edit: May 11, 2014, 01:40:17 PM by Arnold B. Krueger »
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Ryan M. Fluharty

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Seems like a very intense lighting scheme for a church service, but maybe that is just me. 

My training in worship design and execution says that worship elements that distract from the core message of Christ are out of place.

I've also seen that sort of language used to force personal preferences down an audience's throat.

One difference between a worship service and multimedia presentations in general is that in worship the message is Christ and therefore the medium can't distract from that message.  The goal is to open people to engagement by The Spirit through the use of media, and to not engage them in the media itself.

It always helps to know your venue you are serving, in regards to technology and the people of your congregation. Whenever I receive a complaint or request, I always ask where the person is sitting.  For example, a comment about too much bass would weigh less from someone sitting in the power alley than someone sitting further from the subs.  Same goes with lighting.  It sometimes amazes me how many people don't grasp the concept that the closer you are stage, typically the louder and brighter your experience will be.

I'm a little unorthodox in that I don't necessarily mind variances in SPL or illumination, within reason.  My reasoning for this is that those who like it loud and bright can find their happy place and those that prefer moderate levels can be happy as well, as long as they understand the aforementioned concept.

I do typically tend to be conservative with lighting, trying to keep direct beams off the congregation as much as possible.  I side with those that would see this as a distraction during worship (not to mention those with a medical condition).  I can't say I've ever had anyone complain that their wasn't enough beaming light during worship ;).

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ProSoundWeb Community

Re: How would you handle services with Photosentitive Epileptic in Audience
« Reply #26 on: May 12, 2014, 11:06:49 AM »


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