I can hardly see straight from the last several weeks of work at SoAcres. Last week was REALLY long, but we made it. Transformational. The refreshed stage is now a closer match to the congregation’s young, energetic demographic. Pictures say it all!
The Old Southern Acres….
The New Southern Acres…
Completely crazy describes my last week. My professional life is one of plate spinning; my work at a local church, some a/v contracting, continued work towards publishing a little book on set design, a new design project….and moving into a new house in Lexington. Craziness. Seems my life is overwhelmed by seemly (or probably) hundreds of little 1-2 hour tasks. Things like subs on an aux, better aviom distribution, patching dmx channels to an old Strand console, buying a weedeater.
I’m also looking over specs for a design project for the church where I serve. I’ve browsed the net left, right, up and down reviewing gear and looking for alternative cost-saving ideas. Bottom line—I hate gear. I’m a production guy and I hate gear. It’s expensive. It never works “exactly” like the pretty pictures in the spec sheets. There are always issues, unknown installation impact.Worse yet, trying putting hundreds of peices to gear under one roof and try to make all parties play nicely together. But, those goose bump moments, the times when you know “it” is happening—something stirring down deep are partly facilitated by gear in the hands of talented artists. Those face to face encounters with our Maker can be realized for huge crowds of people through transparent technology. So, I guess I’ll have to learn how to live with gear.
No post is complete without a weekly update…here’s our fun with the “pew straddler”.
Here’s a few clips from weekend 1 at sacc.
This was my first weekend service serving at SACC. Along with helping my family move into our new place in Lexington these guys have opened their arms wide to me, my wife Melissa and our kidos. After 8 very long months of waiting, listening and vetting job opportunities our family has accepted an opportunity to join the Southern Acres team. I firmly beleve this is exactly where God wants our family to be. We’re so blessed to be a part of the community and contribute to the work of the church. I’m a very very richly blessed guy.
Here’s some basic pics from the weekend. Melissa is bring her whole slr setup next weekend for some nice shots. I’ll also post some video as well.
In the next round of posts I’ll share the details of this church set design on a budget.
The makeover starts NOW! Yeah, I’m no Ty, but along with some capable and dedicated volunteers, we’re making big changes at Southern Acres in Lexington. The church has experienced a cultrural transformation and now it’s time to slowly transition the main worship space. A new family theater and comprehensive overhaul of the worship center’s architecture and production gear is in the works for this summer, but we’re not waiting. The boys over at Southern Acres asked me to take a stab at an Easter set design.
I won’t reveal the design until we’re finished—but here’s a look inside last week. Big thanks to my friend Tim Booth who rigged all night long just for free lunch and starbucks. Man I love that guy! Thanks also to my new bro’s at Southern Acres; Andy, Joey, Chris, Matt and the many spouse, kids, families and friends who stopped in to help. Volunteers are the heart and soul of the local church!
You can check out more pics on my lovely wife’s flickr.
First Step: Remove the old blue carpet and paint. Of course, we didn’t plan on the boatload of glue holding the carpet to the lower stage. The solution-new 1/4 ply.
Kinda like a lighting designer’s crossword puzzle.
My partner in crime Tim Booth doing some hardcore 40′ rigging.
Andy rockin some cable assembly.
Late Night Number 1 with the boys, Tim, Chris, Andy and me
