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[Ry Guy]

Ok I know this is a little off the sound topic but I just wanted to see how people felt about this topic.  I recently went to a church as a fill in drummer.  When I showed up the two sound techs were running around like chickens with there heads cut off.  The story was that the digital sound board processors in there SMALLER chapel had been fried due to a freak power surge.  The worship leader seemed very perturbed. I made the suggestion that we do it like the churches in china and other countries that forbid free worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. I suggested that we do a small acoustic set with no mics or anything, kind of a homey feel.  He looked at me like I was a crazy man and said "well that’s china we do things differently over here".  I understand that we have come accustomed to a certain type of worship. BIG FLASHY AND LOUD.  I kind of almost feel that it’s all about the biggest and best equipment when we really should focus on the ministry.  Last time I checked Jesus didn’t lug around with him a $30,000 portable sound system. Not saying that larger ministries and even smaller ones, if able to afford the equipment, shouldn’t have nice equipment.  The real question is where do we place our values?.  Give me some feedback!

[Jim Duyck]

Wow.  

The college Bible study we lead worship for on Sunday nights got a taste of that this past weekend.  The Yamaha GA32/12 we'd been borrowing finally heard about the threads on this forum and decided it would jump on the bandwagon of unreliability - Auxes 1-4 (our 4 main monitor mixes) decided they would lose total control on the right half of the board (which happened to house all 8 of the drum mics), meaning no matter if you turned them off on the channel strip, they were running full tilt in our monitors.  So we finally got the great idea of moving them to Auxes 7-10...5-6 are effects) and spent the time trying to copy all of the monitor setting for that board.  Of course it took about 5 minutes to even realize what on earth was going on.  I was coming in late from out of town, and had to figure out things out, so we got our 2 minute sound check with everyone in the room (pet peeve...).  We played about two or three songs, and then when our lead guy went to switch to his acoustic....nothing....nada....so, he went acoustic - unplugged - for the rest of the set.  No biggie.

I guess it was more fun when - at an outdoor festival a couple of weeks ago - the diesel power generator ran out of fuel in mid-set.  THAT was unexpected...

Sadly, the MODERN in modern worship, means STUFF to so many people.  Back when my Taylor got run over at another gig (looong story), God really got a hold of my priorities and mixed them up.

However, He did bless me with a new 810

God is still good, regardless of circumstances - even in spite of fried gear or smashed acoustic guitars.  He doesn't need it.  Period.  I am now thankful I had a chance to re-evaluate my priorities.  Maybe this will be a chance for God to do a work in that worship leader's life, too.  It sounds like you were a positive voice in the situation.

And lastly (I'll shut up now, I promise), I've come to realize that the majority of people out in the audience could care less, much less tell the difference between 95% of things!

~jim~

[Dave Ferrell]

True worship has nothing to do with having the biggest and best sounding system.  It has everything to do with the heart condition.  Some of the best worship experiences I have had involved no P.A. whatsoever.  It is very easy to loose focus of what true worship is and begin worshiping the music or the worship service rather than Jesus Christ.  
With that said, I LOVE hearing a good worship band through a quality system.  Having a good system can have a great affect on the service and with the leading of the Holy Spirit, can have a great impact on peoples lives.  No one likes hearing a crappy band play through a crappy system.  It causes people to "turn off" and wish they weren't there.  I spend lots of time here and elsewhere learning as much as I possibly can so that I can provide the best sound that I can.  I have a major input on what equipment we buy, so I try to be the best steward with the money God has provided us.  There are lots of pieces of equipment that I would love to buy, but they aren't totally necessary to have good quality sound.  Yes they could make it sound better, but aren't NEEDED. I try to add these things whenever possible, but always try to keep in mind the big picture.  
So in my opinion there is a balance.  We try to have the best sounding band we possibly can with the resources we have, without placing the importance of the sound ahead of "true worship".  Periodically we intentionally have a stripped down, sort of unplugged kind of worship set.  We do this so that it helps teach that true worship isn't about the band or the atmosphere or the sound system.  It is about your relationship with Christ and the out-spring of worship that comes straight from the heart.  Sometimes these are the most powerful, heartfelt times of worship we have experienced.

Dave

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