Let there be light!
You may have noticed some improvements in our lighting and sound in the sanctuary on Sundays.
Recently, a team of volunteers mostly from our tech ministry, took on the ambitious project of making some needed repairs and improvements to our sanctuary lighting and sound.
The good news is, although it was ambitious, thanks to God’s help and the teamwork he inspired, we were able to complete the project with some great results!
I believe we have invested in the future of our church through these enhancements as well as honoring the legacy of hard working faithful people who have gone before and people who will come into our church in the future because of who you are and who we are becoming together in Christ.
I pray God will bless this work and the materials we have installed for his service for as many years as he sees fit to make it work.
Thank you for the honor of serving as your worship director at High Street Community Church!
In His Service,
Joe Strock
How it All Went Down (or…Up)
When I first started leading worship at High Street seven years ago I noticed a speaker cabinet hanging in the rafters and wondered what it was doing there and why it wasn’t working. When I first asked about it, I learned it had failed years ago and since it was too much trouble and expense to take it down so it was still hanging there silent after two decades.
Recently, Ken Shaw informed me that the cabinet was an EAW (which means a certain quality if you have been around in the live sound industry for a while). It was installed with matching subs….I started digging around a bit more and in a conversation with Todd Trowbridge I was introduced to Gordon Smith, one of the sound engineers at High Street years ago.
He had really wanted to repair the speaker when it first failed back in the late nineties and could not see it done because the church was not able financially at the time. I felt a connection with this man although I'd never met him and he has since passed away (I have had the delight of meeting his wife Joan who is still an active member of our congregation).
I started to think that repairing it could be a meaningful way to enhance our sound but also a way to honor Gordon whom I think would be pleased to see it working again after all these years.
Because of the height, it is difficult to do even the simplest repair such as changing a light bulb on the ceiling. So we rented a 34 ft articulating boom lift that would fit through our doors!
Here is our completed project list (complements of Jason):
Pulled down the gigantic speaker.
Pulled down all the older conventional stage lights.
Mounted two new light bars
Rewired the overhead lights for better zone control (balcony & floor)
Replaced all the bulbs in the house lights and balcony wall lights.
Troubleshooted and fixed the speaker.
Ran a new sound cable to the stage, and a backup.
Installed an HDMI splitter.
Ran a new cable to the cry room
Ran a new cable to the TV in the balcony.
Re-hung the gigantic speaker
Hung and wired up 12 DMX controlled lights (10 new LEDs and 2 conventional ellipsoidals)
Calibrated and configured those lights.
Rewired amps and speakers
Here’s to the folks who volunteered for long hours (even til 3am on Sunday morning!):
Jimmy Tran was a key person in most of the technical details of the project. He met with me the weekend before to walk through the project and complete our purchases of materials needed. We had to account for existing configurations, disable existing dimmers and rewire lights to make room for the new DMX control lighting. We mapped out the current audio and lighting system and configured it for the new lights and bringing the center speaker back online. He worked long hours over the weekend to get everything up and running.
Jason Holbrook our head of AV was also key for this project to happen. Jason, we love your positivity and “can-do” spirit which has infected our whole team for the good. You are so important to what happens every week in the trenches of our audio visual ministry which has continued to thrive his watch. He also came back (after completing long hours on Friday and Saturday) twice on Sunday and Monday to complete final touches on the project. Thank you Jason for being awesome!
Ken Shaw was an important part of why the project progressed. Not only did he do important research and ask great questions, he was also on the ground with the speaker repair, wiring connections and giving advice about how the lighting should be done. He and his wife Yvette are such an encouragement in worship every week. Thanks to Yvette who took point for our meal together on Friday night.
Rob Wyland brought safety gear and made sure lift operations were proceeding. He also ended up using his experience and knowledge as an engineer to address the speaker repair.
Daniel Burchell did most of the work on the lift for the new lights and light bulb replacements. In addition to doing his regular job at Mount Hermon on Saturday, he spent many hours on the project working closely with Jimmy and Danny, installing and directing the stage lights running and tying off cables as well as adjusting fixtures.
Eugenio Rivera assembled the new lights out of the box and helped with many different aspects of the project such as repairing the audio to the cry room and narthex. He stayed around after most everyone else left and this is indicative of the many extra hours he spends at High Street with our weekly slide prep and other commitments. He and Daniel and I organized the platform over where the drums are to give it a clean look last Thursday afternoon.
Wesley Burchell assembled and painted our new rigging to hang the lights on. He also filled in wherever he was needed in other parts such as helping Jason install the closed circuit video in the cry room and cleaning up our old lights which were very dusty.
Danny Wallen, our lead pastor, came on Friday not only offering encouragement and moral support, but as you would expect from him, he provided hands on practical help and his own brand of playful banter. He worked with Daniel in replacing all the halogen house lights and balcony wall lights.
Scott LaVelle, our camera guy, worked hard on reconfiguring our camera layout in the sanctuary. He was very flexible in finding ways to get the cameras into a better location for our visitors and members as he continues to faithfully serve in this ministry week after week.
Cori Burt, who has been such an awesome addition to our High Street team, ordered our lights and helped with some of the on-the-ground work leading up to the project.
I’m also grateful to Frank Trowbridge, the worship ministry (PLT) liaison, Edd and Linda Breeden and others who checked in to see how things were going, and Renee Takesue, who is encouraging, and along with the property committee gave a green light for this project.
Finally thanks to my wife Tricia, who put up with my long hours on the project and to whom I also have to thank for planning and picking up food for our meals.
