church

[andie]

if you want to get some money, dont perform at a church! they may guilt you into it but don't give in. we did. it didn't turn out so great. we have to serve them food, and we were gonna get paid 100$ and have to pay them but then our director negociated and now we only get 70$ but we don't have to pay. there's no lights or sound and theres no stage. it's too small to bring in our whole set. it wasn't a good deal, but hey, its a church.

[Too_Tall]

you need to find a better church to go to. Here in springfield i have seen some of the richest churches. One of which has 20 moving lights and an LED screen, which isnt all that great, it was just bought as a wow factor.

[Footer]

Originally Posted by Too_Tall

you need to find a better church to go to. Here in springfield i have seen some of the richest churches. One of which has 20 moving lights and an LED screen, which isnt all that great, it was just bought as a wow factor.

I don't even want to touch that statement.....

[Van]

Originally Posted by Footer4321

I don't even want to touch that statement.....

I used to manage a rental and production lighting warehouse , one of our clients was the owners church. The first time I went out there to deliver some replacement HMI's and got a look at their rig I thoght I was going to puke ! Not only did they have moving lights and video projectors and S4's < when they first came out> Tons of them. They also had a full blown video production facility just off the "sanctuary" < or was it just a stage > . And while I'm not a Hum Head I couldn't beleicve the audio gear. I'm just so glad all that money was going to such a good cause. < call me jaded if you want >

[Foxinabox10]

Not to create a debate, but:

You can look at the church's audio-visual department as a ministry, just as any other ministry exists in the church. Through the work of the audio-visual team, the church grows and publicity is created. If their work is done effectively, the members feel welcomed and at home in the space. The money is to be used to spread the religion, not necessarily to always give to orphanages and the like.

[gafftaper]

Got to throw my opinion in here. My wife's parent's go to a mega church with Ton's of gear. Every Sunday is a show. Even though I'm a Bible beliver, it really turns my stomach to see all that money that could have been spent feeding starving kids in Africa or something. They say they are in a rich part of town and have to live up to a certain standard or people won't come. My thought is if you are serving an important role in the community people will come. We don't have the same problem at my church:
My Church's "Rig":
-An ancient 12 channel two scene preset board... no memory or submasters
-2 "new" S4's
-6 of those old square 4.5 inch Berkey "zooms" that you open up with a screw driver and move the lenses around in.
-8 Par can's that look like they are from the 80's... that's 1880's
-A video projector the size of a microwave. That pumps out around 12 lumens... not 1200... just 12.

OHHHH YEAAH!!!

WE have over 300 members, two services, and could easily afford to spend more on lighting but don't because it's not important. I don't recall anything in the Bible about being the church with the most Vari-lites... seems to me it's supposed to be more about helping the poor, sick, and hungary. Just my 2 cents.

[dwt1]

Churches, like other venues, often feel the need to be inviting and relevent to their potential parishioners. It seems, the same "flash and trash" that gets us excited at a concert is just as appealing on a Sunday morning. Also, if you are performing contemporary Christian music, there is an expectation that it will look and sound like the video or concert that it is drawn from.

Like you, I often wonder about the money that could have been spent for other good works. But the same kinds of expenditures have been made for the last few millenia as regards houses of worship. In the Renaissance and into the Baroque periods and beyond , when it was seen as okay to honor God with your artistic skills, churches became edifices constructed to the glory of the creator and often the power and wealth of the monarch.

It is really no different today, just not as permanent.

By the way, I still prefer our little white clapboard church built in 1896.

dwt1

[Image of the Mind Studios]

I thought I'd kick in here. Theatre is the ultimate art form, taking advantage of all the know trades & talents. That being the case, and realizing that the theatrical experience is an all encompassing one, where the audience has a collectively concentrated focus of attention, the subject matter presented on the stage is venerated for at least as long as it takes for the viewer to digest what has been presented. If this forum (meaning the theatre) is considered significant enough to involve and dedicate the extensive amount of resources in terms of people, their relationships and the good & services they produce, then certianly it is the least we can do to honor God by using those resources in His service to communicate His Goods & Truths in the arena of our highest level of effectiveness. To disregard the theatre as an extremely valuable tool in the service of religous thought is akin to burning the books because one cannot read... it would be better to learn to read and preserve the source of that knowledge & wisdom. "There will be poor with you always, but Me you have with you for only a short while" AG

[Too_Tall]

The church that i go to is one of those richer churches, over the years money was spent to have nicer things in the church. The thinking behind this is so that the church can house concerts, saving costs from renting spaces, and being able to give out tickets to people realloy cheap. They are also able to show movies, which beings non-believers to the church environment without the churchy feeling