Words from the WellRandom Thoughts on Christ, the Church and Technology

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending Unleash 2010 at NewSpring Church in Anderson, SC. It was a day that was filled with incredible worship, inspiring preaching, great breakout sessions, and, allow me to geek out for a minute, absolutely amazing lighting and set design. But what impacted me most was this little note card that was handed to me, and every other Unleash participant as we left. Inside this card is a HANDWRITTEN note from one of the hundreds of NewSpring volunteers that help make Unleash possible.

Now this note was not written specifically to me. It was to an Unleash participant. It didn’t have my name on it and Julie (NS Volunteer) has no idea who received her card, but that does not lessen its impact. The fact that volunteers took valuable time to hand-write thousands of these cards is what impacted me. It wasn’t what the card said, it was the card itself.

This card was the cherry on top of the sundae that the NewSpring Volunteers built for me yesterday. It began as I arrived on campus, greeted by volunteers lining the parking lot, waving, smiling and directing me to a parking space in a friendly, efficient manner. Then there were the volunteers that cheered as I got close to the building, those that smiled and handed me my conference packet, the ones that directed me through the doors, those that offered me free coffee, or helped me find a seat in the auditorium. Everywhere I went I was greeted by NewSpring volunteers in brightly colored t-shirts offering me encouragement and help. It was incredible.

I realized two things from all this:

1. Churches can learn from what I experienced yesterday. It was only my second time on the NS campus but I felt at home. I felt as though I belonged there. I know that coordinating all those volunteers was not a simple task but I think that it was worth it. (BTW, from what I hear Unleash is not that different from what NS is like on any Sunday!)
2. Because I did not have to fight to find a parking place, because registration was simple, because everything was easy to find, I felt at ease as I entered worship. I was ready to worship because distractions had been removed by an awesome team of volunteers.

Imagine if more churches made everyone (not just guests) feel that welcome on Sunday morning. I think it would go a long way.

Thanks NewSpring Volunteers!

Used under the CC license. Photo by stibbons.

I was shooting some video last night for a Mission Trip report at my church.  The lady that I was shooting had just returned from her first trip to Honduras. Now you have to understand that I have shot video before with this person and she is usually very nervous in front of the camera and is in a hurry to get finished. This makes her seem very rehearsed and plastic.

Last night was different. She began to tell a story, a story about an 11 year old Honduran girl that she met in the village. A story of how she made friends with this little girl by letting her rub cocoa butter on a scar on her arm (my talent had recently broken her wrist and had several surgeries). A story of how a relationship was born even though neither one of them spoke the others language. It was powerful.

She ended by saying that she had realized that perhaps her least effective form of communication was her words. That struck me. Maybe as Christians sometimes the best thing that we can do is to simply shut up and allow our actions to speak. After all, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

Here is the raw, unedited story that she told.

No Words from Ken Summerall on Vimeo.

I am no professional VO artist, let me get that out in the beginning, but I do have the occasional need to record VO for video projects. I live in an apartment so I have no control over when my neighbors decide to slam a door, stomp on the floor or do anything else that makes noise! In the past I had closed myself in a closet and hoped for the best. This worked, sort of. The clothes in the closet acted as some sound dampening but it still left the audio sounding a bit hollow.

I also have need to record decent audio at my day job. We have professors record lectures using Camtasia to capture audio and their Powerpoint. We have been doing this by giving them a decent USB headset mic. To be honest, I have never liked this setup. The overall quality was never very good and you could hear background noises and every mouse click when they advanced to the next slide.

With these needs in mind I began to look for an inexpensive solution and this is what I found-The New & Improved Voice Over “Porta-Booth” ®.

Now I could have gone ahead and bought one of the premade ones, but I am cheap and like to do somethings myself. So I decided that for not much more than the premade booth, I could get a booth and a microphone! So that is exactly what I did.

I began by locating the materials that I would need. You can spend valuable time searching the web for them or you can use these links. I would prefer that you use these links since I will get a little Affiliate love from Amazon and Sam Ash if you buy the materials with these links!

The first thing you need are the cubes. These come in a set of two, you can either make two booths or use the extra cube for storage.

Then you need the Mic. I choose a Blue Snowball. It is a USB mic that has gotten a ton of good reviews. Blue is a well known mic manufacturer and it looks cool!

The most difficult thing to locate was the acoustical foam. I wanted the Auralex Studiofoam Pyrimids because that is what Harlan said works best. These are usually only sold in boxes of 12. I only needed 1. I found them at SamAsh.

If you don’t want to pay that much for the Pyrimid panels, there are alternatives. You could buy this:

If you buy the wedge panel, you will cut it into 4 12″ squares. I have not tried this but I think that it would work, probably not as tight as the pyrimids though. I will cover how to cut the pyrimid foam in a moment.

Once you have all of your materials it is simple to put this thing together.

1. Unpack your cube.
2. Expand your cube, be sure to fold the flap into place.
3. Cut your 2′x4′ sheet of foam into 2-12″ squares and 1-26″x14″ sheet. Do this carefully with a serrated knife, like a bread knife. You will want to saw through the foam gently so that you don’t tear it and make a mess. You will have some left over. I am going to cut two smaller squares and place them under my monitors in my edit suite to isolate them from the table that they are sitting on. I hope this will take some of the “boominess” out of them.
4. Take the long sheet of foam and fold it in half, turn your cube so that the opening is up and place the foam against the bottom. Carefully making sure that it is in there tight. Then unfold it, making sure that it is straight against one side of the cube.
5. Then you are going to place the other two squares against the other two sides of the the cube.
6. Then turn your cube so that the “side” without foam becomes the bottom.

You have done the hard part. All that’s left is to place your mic inside, towards the back and start recording.

One thing that I noticed after I got this put together was an annoying little gap at the top. I was able to fix this using a small piece of velcro.

Here are some step by step photos.

Sex, Lies and Religion is a book that will cause you to think, or perhaps seethe with anger, or maybe it will open your eyes to a new, but not-so-new way of thinking. For sure each reader will respond to this book differently, according to the traditions and baggage that they bring with them, but one thing that I am sure of, it will make you uncomfortable, perhaps in a good way. In this rather compact book Randy tackles issues like nudity, art vs. pornography, masturbation, sexual fantasy and sexual equality. That’s enough for some of you to never want to touch this book, much less read it. But I would encourage you to pick it up and read it with an open mind. Here’s why:

This is not just a book about sex, and it’s not just another book attempting to deal with religion. It is a book that attempts to tackle what is one of the most important subjects in our lives, sex and it’s connection with God. This book suggests that sex is not some dirty act that we can’t keep ourselves from participating in, but instead that sex is part of God’s original creation that is intended to draw us closer to Him. It is a result of religion and it’s inane attempts to control believers that we have turned sex from something beautiful into something dirty. Randy says, “Many of us feel the effects of past religious control, and our immortal longings have been rendered shallow and dirty.” Our eternal longings for God and our inability to fill the hole in our lives has resulted in a society that attempts to fill those longings with pornography, affairs and strip clubs. These things attempt to destroy the beauty of sex that God originally created. Sex, Lies and Religion proposes that “Instead of following the rules of religion and culture, we instead pursue relationships in the Spirit.” We need to return to the Garden where sex was about oneness with our helpmate AND God.

This book is well worth a read.  You can get it HERE.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from cre:ate 2.0 Publishing to read and post a review on my site. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255

After seeing photos like this and this Saturday afternoon. My wife and decided that we would get up early and head up to the Bi-Lo Center in Greenville, SC for church. The excitement that I was getting from seeing Twitter updates and text messages from friends that were involved we knew that we needed to be a part of NewSpring’s 10th anniversary celebration even though we do not attend NewSpring.

So we got up early and drove 2 hours in very dreary weather, arriving at the Bi-Lo center just a few minutes before the doors opened. We stood in the rain with no umbrella (who wants to carry an umbrella into an arena anyway) until the doors opened. We followed the crowd through the doors, past the cheering NewSpringers that are shouting chants of “Jesus…Jesus…Jesus” and high fiving us as we went past.  This was certainly not like any other church service that I had been to.

We had some doughnuts and coffee and saw a few people with popcorn, or nachos and even french fries! I have seen some strange things in church, but never french fries.

I have seen churches get in crazy fights over putting in one projection screen. I wonder what they would say about 12?

It was electric, the videos were playing, the boom sticks were…well, they were booming, and the beach balls were bouncing all over the place, and then we did the wave! I’ve never done the wave in church before.

When things got started it was amazing. The lights, the sound, the video, the HUGE band, etc. The crowd, or congregation, was going wild singing God’s praise. It was a beautiful thing, that I have done in church before.

Now I bet a few of you reading this are seething right now, you can’t imagine how God could be glorified in such a secular setting, after all, this was an arena, not a church building.  For some of you it was the band that makes you mad, for some it was the screens, a few of you are ticked off at the idea of french fries in church.

For those that are mad, I’m sorry that you feel that way because my favorite part of the day was when Perry Noble, the Pastor of NewSpring, stood on stage and said, “This is Church!” He was right. It was church, it didn’t matter what that building had been the day before, or the week before, at that moment it was church. It was 15,000 of God’s children gathered together to praise His name and that, my friends, is church. It’s not traditional. It may not be what you think of when you think of church, but it was church.

My point is that we all have different visions of what it means to have church. For some it is stuffy and quiet, for some it is casual and loud. But none of that matters.  What matters is that we gather together and worship our great and mighty God. Our God that has saved us from ourselves.  Our God that has plucked us up from certain death and given us the gift of eternal life. Our God who loved us while we were still vile. Our God that created our universe. We may have different worship styles but Who we worship remains the same.

So next time you want to criticize a church or a person or a pastor because you don’t like their particular worship style just remember that they worship the same God you do.

Here are some incredible photos of the celebration!

Click on the photo for a before and after shot.

14" I Don't think so

One of my big pet peeves is poor customer service.  I’m the type of person that will avoid a company that gives me bad service and return to a company that gives me good service.  In this I don’t think that I am that different from most other people.  This is why it shocks me when I get bad service.  I mean, surely I’m not the only person on the planet that responds to excellent service.  Allow me to share two stories of Customer Service with you.

FTD

About a week ago my sister in law was in what could have been a very serious head on collision, thankfully she was not injured seriously and come home the same day of the wreck.  The next day I went online and ordered her some flowers from FTD.  I also ordered the same flowers for my wife.  That afternoon my sis in law got a beautiful arrangement that looked very much like the photo on the FTD website.  My wife received the arrangement on the left.  I was mad.  I had paid over $60 for that little arrangement.  I went to the website to make sure that I had not gotten what I paid for and sure enough, right there in the description it says that the arrangement is approximately 14″x 14″.  now you can see from the photo that these flowers were no where close.  So I called FTD, explained my problem, and received this response, ” We will be happy to replace the flowers, we will send the florist to pick them up and then bring a new arrangement.”  What?  You want my wife to haul this pathetic little arrangement back to school, instruct the office staff to look for the florist, so that the florist can pick them up?  What are they gonna do with them?  I told them that they were welcome to come pick them up at my residence.  I was told that they would contact the florist and make those arrangements and then call me back.  I agreed to that and emailed the representative a photo.  That was Friday.  By Monday evening, no phone call, no email, no nothing.  I sent another email.  No response.  Tuesday evening I called back, told my story again, got disconnected, called back, told my story again, worked my way up the Customer Service food chain where a supervisor offered my 30% off a future order.  WHAT? Are you kidding me?  You can’t get this order right and you expect me to order from you again?  By now I was over this ordeal.  He asked what I wanted.  A full refund I replied.  “OK,” he replied.  “We will do that as soon as we get the flowers back.”  What’s with wanting the flowers back?  I do not understand this, but I agreed, if they would pick them up at the house.  They wouldn’t.  I pitched a fit.  I also finally got my money back.  Well, at least I got an email stating that they had refunded my money, as of yesterday I have not seen this refund.

What did I expect from FTD?  A little easier time for starters.  I think that it should have gone something like this.  I call Customer Service.  Tell them my story.  Email a picture of the inferior bouquet.  They send a new arrangement. Done.  I would have ordered from FTD again.  As it stands now ProFlowers or 1800Flowers gets my business.

Discmakers

Several weeks ago I sent a project off to Discmakers.  In this process I spoke to my rep there and asked if they could charge my card for 50% of the total on one day and then the other half the next day.  My bank has a daily limit on the card for security purposes.  He told me that would be no problem and asked if I would write a note on the paperwork that they needed so that he wouldn’t forget.  I did just as he asked.  The reason I needed them to do it like this is that I needed credit for paying 100% up front, this allows me to get any extras that they replicate for free, otherwise I have to pay for overs.  (When the replicate DVD’s sometimes they make a few more than you order, these are called overs)

I got a call this week that they were ready to ship my order, but that I needed to pay the balance.  Huh?  I called back and told them what I had asked them to do.  The accounting person knew nothing about this so she transferred me to my Production Rep (different from the original rep I spoke to), He didn’t see anything about it in my file either, but he said, no problem, we will run your card for the original balance, giving you the free overs and ship your order today.  Eezzy Peezy.  They were polite.  I got NO customer service jargon, no scripted responses.  I talked to people that were empowered by the company to make the customer happy.  The result?  I will order from Discmakers again.

The Difference?

Empowerment.  FTD followed a traditional CS model where you have Level 1’s that transfer you to Level 2’s and so on.  Each level has a limit on what they can do to make you happy.  The idea is that they wear you down until you settle for what they are willing to give you.  Discmakers follows a more personal model.  When you place an order you deal with two people.  If you have a problem you call the appropriate person and they handle the issue.  These people are empowered to make you happy.  This doesn’t mean that they can do anything, but they can take reasonable actions to make the customer happy.

The Summeralls at Hilton Head

It’s hard to believe but 14 years ago today I managed to pull off the biggest heist ever.  I got Anna Michelle Sheets to say, “I do!”  I don’t know why she did it, maybe temporary insanity, maybe she felt sorry for me, maybe she was desparate.  I don’t know and to be honest I really don’t care.  All I know is that one fall day in Class Piano IV at Carson Newman College, I met the woman of my dreams.  I love her with all of my heart and by sheer grace she loves me back.  She is the wonderful mother of our two daughters.  A tremendous National Board Certified Music Teacher.  A passionate Children’s Choir leader.  And a Woman of God.

The last 14 years have not been all roses, we’ve had our ups and downs, but really more ups than downs.  We’ve been through more weirdness than most folks and less than weirdness than others.  I am thankful and grateful that through everything Mickey has been by my side.  She has supported me when I have made decisions that might go against conventional wisdom, she has encouraged me when I was ready to quit, she has prayed for me and with me during tough times.  She has always been there.

I want to say to her, “Thank you.”  Thank you for all you do and all you have done, I am looking forward to growing old with you!  I love you!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I think that she is “One HOT mama!”  Wouldn’t you agree?

As a former church staff member and now a volunteer serving in a church I have a unique perspective on this thing we call “service.”  I’ll grant you none of these thoughts are original, I think that they just come from a different perspective.

With that being said, here are those thoughts:

• People too often serve out of guilt.  It’s the “If I don’t do it no one will” syndrome.  I think that often staff members are to blame on this one, but church members bear some of the responsibility as well.  The reasons that this happens would take pages and pages of words and I would still miss some of the excuses and reasons.  The thing to recognize here is that sometimes people guilt themselves or others into service.  This is not a good thing.
• Church staff members react to the guilt problem by in turn trying to “protect” members by not asking (or allowing) them to serve.  This is not good either.
• Sometimes church members are asked to serve but are not empowered to do what they are asked to do.  Churches are quick to give people responsibilities.  The problem is that they don’t often empower them to do ministry.  Let me explain.  Often staff will delegate responsibilities to volunteers.  When they delegate those responsibilities it means that the staff is still ultimately responsible for the outcomes, good or bad.  When a volunteer is empowered they are given the authority to do what needs to be done within the parameters set by the vision for the church.  For a more detailed of the difference between delegation and empowerment look at Tony Morgan’s post here.
• Asking for volunteers can be seen as a sign of weakness or laziness.  Empowering someone could be seen as a staff member not doing their job.  I believe that this is the opposite of true.  If a staff member is not empowering volunteers to do ministry then he/she is not being as effective as they can be.
• Volunteers have sometimes gone off the deep end and pursued activities and values that didn’t match the churches vision.  As a result, staff members have become gun shy when it comes to empowering volunteers.

So there you have it, a virtual mind dump of, well, thoughts, good or bad, valid or off the wall, they are there.  The question is, “what now?”

Well, I believe that there are lots of church members out there that truly want to serve their God and their church.  They want to do this not out of guilt, but out of love.  What they need is permission and empowerment.  If church staffs will learn how to empower, not delegate and if volunteers will use the vision for their church as their guide the world be turned on its ear.

Don’t delegate responsibilities, delegate authority. Delegating responsibilities creates followers. Delegating authority creates leaders.

Craig Groeschel

Are you empowering or delegating?  Are your volunteers serving out of guilt or love?