Make Church Fun

Grace Community Church on Vimeo.

This video is killer. People are drawn to fun things. This is no mystery. A lot of people are turned off from going to church because it is simply no fun. Instead of experiencing the joy of a life with Jesus, they are surrounded by the "frozen chosen" who have bought the lie that church has to be staunch and serious all the time. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of things that we need to be serious about-- people are hurting and going to hell. But as believers in Jesus Christ, there is a lot to rejoice about. Of everyone in the world, we are the ones who have the greatest reason to rejoice.

I'm proud that my church is a place where we can have fun as we worship God and learn about Him. A few weeks ago, we had everyone bring in noise makers into a time of testimony and celebration. One person brought in a Baritone (brass instrument) and some others brought air horns. Every time someone would give a testimony, they would yodel on their Baritones, rattle the tambourines and blast their air-horns. It was down-right just fun.

Happy Hearts

Happy Hearts

My daughter (4) surprised my wife and I today. Shortly after lunch, my wife said she would join the children in cleaning the play room. To which my daughter replied "Mom, you take such good care of us and you are always cleaning up after us. I don't want you to clean the play room, you are not allowed cuz me and my brother are going to do it."

No lie. Thats what she said. Her brother- usually adverse to cleaning and whatnot - stepped right in and helped get it done. As a parent, you live for moments like that.

Lesson number one-
It is more joyful to serve when that service comes from a thankful heart.

Lesson number two-
How much more joyful should we be in serving God and the church if it came from profound thankfulness for what Jesus has done for us. Just Ike we were delighted in my daughters thankful heart-service, i imagine God would be delighted when we serve out of appreciation rather than disinterested obligation.

Lesson number three-
People are more inclined to joyfully do a task if they are invited by a peer rather than by an authority.

Sent from my Tricorder

Safe House

Safe House

I saw a banner ad at a Christian website that said "keep your church safe". It was an insurance company advertising a booklet that will help churches keep away from liability lawsuits. My dad was a church administrator, and we have been witness to too many churches getting sued because their sidewalks made someone trip. What a stupid waste of time and momey. I don't know why, but the banner struck me as funny- like it was out of place.

Should a church be "safe"? Of course no one wants a lawsuit against them, but as an institution, we spend a lot of time building walls up around our churches in order to keep us safe- safe from injury, safe from lawsuit, safe from sexual predators, and even safe from the outside world and its philosophies. Developing apologetics to retain our children and keep them from the ways of the world is standard operating procedure for many churches. These things aren't bad, but i worry we have spent way to much time and energy on defensive fortitude.

As the church, shouldn't we be focusing on being dangerous? I don't mean dangerous in the sense that we go around killing abortion doctors, but dangerous as weapons of righteoussness. I mean danger in that we are risk takers, creative, adventurous. Jesus said that the gates of hell will not prevail against his church. Gates are defensive structures- which means the church would be on the offense. He didn't say that our gates would stand firm, but that we will overcome the enemies defenses.

I gotta tell you, as a man, the concept of being a dangerous warrior for God has much more appeal. I want my sons to be adventurous and dangerous. I want them to do amazing things that are crazy. I want them to get that look in their eye and go after it! Whenever my kids get hurt doing something adventurous, i just shrug it off with my best Jack Black voice (from Kung Fu Panda) and say "authentic battle damage!".

I want the same thing for my church. I want my church to not settle for safety, but through strength and creativity i want them to do the heroic and unheard of. While women may enjoy the safety of church, men thrive on that sense of adventure.

Practical Tips for Mic'ing Drums

I am a drummer by education, (I actually have my degree in drums and percussion) and a technician and worship leader by trade. So the intersection of the two leaves me spending plenty of time tweaking and refining the mic'ing of drums. We have two kits in two different auditoriums and I'm constantly trying new techniques. I end up tuning them about once every 4-6 weeks

I also spent time talking with friend who is a Nashville recording engineer and producer who also is a drummer. Here's a summary of what I've learned from my friend as a worship technician.

We have two auditoriums that both use acoustic kits. I've been experimenting a lot with different techniques and devices. I end up tuning them about once every 4-6 weeks.

So you want your drums to sound as good mic'd as they do when your playing them (or even better?) Here are a few suggestions.

1) Good mixes start with good sounding drums. Start by making them sound as good as possible without mics or EQ, then add them in later. Trying to fix bad sounding drums with EQ is like trying cover over a rotten piece of meat with the right seasonings and spices. You can add as much steak seasoning as you want, but the steak is still gonna taste like rotten meat.

2) You have to start with properly tuned drums. If you don't know how to do this, then you'll be fighting with EQ and dampening the whole time. The result is bad sounding drums that have been robbed of all tone.

• A drum dial is worth it's weight in gold. Drums are really hard to tune. A drum dial is the quickest and easiest way to get even tympanic pressure across the head. Even tympanic pressure is the key to good sounding drums.
• Use a sharpie to mark the drum dial number on your heads. I usually put a small "85" or "90" by the logo on the head. This makes it a lot easier to retune as the heads get stretched.
• The resonant (bottom head) is often the culprit in a drum sounding like its a 2 by 4 piece of wood. It needs to be properly tuned with the top head to achieve maximum resonance. I usually try to get it to the same tympanic pressure number as the top (or 5 lower).
• Work your way around the head tightening opposite tension lugs-- like you are tightening lugs on a tire.

3) Once the head is in tune, use small amounts of gaff or electrical tape near the rim to dampen. DON'T OVER DO IT. I try to go with the least amount as possible. Once again, the bottom head can cause problems here as well.

4) Change heads often. They are just like guitar strings. They get overstretched and fouled up. That equals tone loss. As soon as the head has divets in it-- it needs replaced. I once had a drummer that totaled a brand new snare head in less than 15 minutes because he played so hard.

5) Once the set sounds good, then you can deal with mics. Put your ear next to the drums, and where it sounds good to your ear, put a mic there. Bass drums are particularly hard to mic. We usually put one mic through the air port, pointing at the beater head about 4-6 inches away from the head.

Products I highly recommend-- yeah verily-- would not do without.

• · Evans EMAD bass drum heads. They sound unbelievable. They kick you in the gut. I could not believe the difference in sound. Purchase both a resonant and batter set. It will be the best $100 you can spend. Again, following my above argument, don't over muffle. The EMADs allow you get rid of the pillows and it lets the drum breathe.
• · Evans Genera dry snare drum head. Works great for mic’ing. Very little dampening is needed.
• · Kickport. As soon as I saw these, it just made sense. You never see a subwoofer with a plain hole drilled into the cabinet. So why would you expect your bass drum to be any different? This product controls the airflow through the air port and tunes its response. Just installed these this last week. Great results for $30. Fits right into an EMAD head. http://www.kickport.com/
• · Drumdial. I don't tune without it.
• · Moon gel. Kids love to mess with these. So if your kit is going to be unmonitored with children, maybe you want to use a different project.

Keep experimenting with different heads. Find what fits your style. Just remember, let your drums breathe. They are made to be resonant, not choked off.

Part 2 of this issue is coming up. I'll deal with mic'ing techniques then.