The Media Director Has No Clothes

OK, interesting thing about me...

I'm used to working on good gear. When I was at Oral Roberts TV, I had great consoles with awesome monitors. At Crossroads, I've got some great cameras, editing gear, and some pretty decent audio tools (not to be confused with ProTools - ecch. I'm a Logic user).

So, what does a guy who has access to all this great stuff have as his personal gear? When I was at ORU, when people would come over to my house, they were surprised to see how low-end my home stereo was, and invariably, the conversation went somewhat like this...

"Dude, you're the Chief Audio Engineer at Oral Roberts Television.  That's your stereo!?"

"Yes. If I wanted to listen to CDs on $750K worth of gear, I would just drive to the studio."

Which brings me to my point...I just bought my first camcorder. What is it? Here it is...

It's a Crayola camcorder that records to SD card. It's the crappiest/cutest thing I've ever seen. It's for my youngest daughter, and we bought it yesterday with her $30 Wal-Mart gift card.

This thing is LITTLE ya'll. The photos don't do it justice. The camera is half the distance from the iSight camera than we are.

For a sample, visit my wife's blog. By broadcast standards, it's crappy indeed (the camera quality, not the blog), but not too bad considering how much compression goes into a typical Bloggger video. The real deal is this:  I get the pleasure of helping the Katie Mac launch her film career. Once she masters the Crayola, an ARRIFLEX D-21 will be no big deal!

Christmas is Over...

...and I'm back to business-as-usual. This week, we finish up our new sermon intro for our new series "Inaugural Address." I may post it once it's done.

We are also working on a new set design that will incorporate some other textures than the normal white-spandex-over-shapes. We'll have some corrugated semi-transparent plastic and some perforated metal panels. I should be able to light behind the plastic, and create some interesting effects. Maybe I'll put up some pics of that too.

Anyway, hope everyone has a great 2009!

2008 Crossroads Christmas Production

This was performed the weekend of December 13 & 14.  We had over 4000 in attendance. Obviously, this was a team effort, and we couldn't have pulled it off without the tireless work that everyone put into it.  Great job guys!

As for my contributions...I directed and shot the video pieces, and did all the post-mixing (on both the pieces and the live performances), plus I married it all back to video. Oh yeah, and I'm also the dopey-sounding puppet voice in the children's song.

BTW, my wife pretty much wrote the whole script, except for the last video scene, which our pastor wrote.

Hope you like it!

Christmas Stories

OK, so before I start with what's new, let me apologize for not posting in a while...

I apologize.

OK, with that done...we just had our Christmas production this past weekend. It was a banner weekend for us, shattering our attendance record. The old record was 3500, and that weekend, we had over 4000. I'm gong to convert the video to Flash, and upload it some time this week.

Other things that have happened:  we remodeled our tech booth in the main auditorium. Here's a pic:

I don't have a pic of the finished product, but it really looks great. We turned it around in just four days. With this remodel, we also added in another 16 channels, bringing the total to 48. We added an ADAT card to our LS9, and I got two Presonus DIGIMAX LT units. I also got 3 Focusrite OctoPres for the TV audio room. For Christmas, we were able to do a 46-track session. Pretty cool for a 24-Bus console!

Anyway, once I have the video encoded, I'll put it up.

Friday Funny

This pic truly needs no comments, but if you want to share one, feel free.

Guess What I Just Did...

Friday Funny

My friend Charlie Broussard sent this to me.  I thought it was appropriate to this election cycle.

Any comments?

Friday Funny

OK, so if you've ever had a conversation with me, you probably know that I just got an iPhone, and you're wondering why I haven't posted about it yet. Well, the reason is that I've been too busy playing with my iPhone to post about it yet.

So, for now, a Friday Funny pic will have to do. Here it is:

You write the caption. I'll provide the first one:  brings new meaning to the term "going postal."

Facebooking for Dummies (like me)

OK, so I'm totally into the facebook...

I mean, I've got friends from as far away as Sri Lanka, and I want to keep in touch with all of them, and know what each and every one of them is up to, right down to the minute, to every nitty gritty detail.

So, I have a facebook account. It's totally fun, and it's great to have caught up with guys I haven't seen in as much as 20 years (yes, I'm that old).

Speaking of which (the old-ness part), do you find that when you're suggesting friends to someone, that you get confused with who knows whom (or is it the other way around?)?

My life, in a nutshell has five historical periods. Lets call them Richardian Eons:

Eon 1:  Abbeville High School (1982-1985)

Eon 2:  Jimmy Swaggart Bible College (1987-1988)

Eon 3:  University of SW Louisiana (1988-1994)

Eon 4:  The Tulsa Years (1994-2000)

Eon 5:  Back to Cajun Country (2000-Present)

So, I'm reconnecting with old friends, and when prompted to help those with a lesser number of friends along in their facebook journey, I honestly cannot remember who came from what eon! I find myself staring blankly at the thumbnail pics, wondering how the person pictured knows the friend I'm trying to help out.

I feel like George Costanza:  worlds are colliding.

Does this happen to you? Please say it does.

Saying Goodbye

My good friend, Mark Keefer, is mourning the loss his grandmother.

He posted a note he wrote for her, which he read to her the day before she died. It is one of the most beautiful and heartfelt pieces I've read in a long time.  It's the stuff the little boy in all of us can completely identify with. You can check it out here.

What I've noticed through Mark's postings and status updates on Facebook, is that he has become a very gifted writer, with a great sense of lyric and timing. Of course, the timing should come naturally, because he's a great drummer (they don't just hand out those music degrees at North Texas State!). BTW, he's also an Emmy Award-winning audio engineer. I'm not sure if I have a secret crush on him, or I secretly hate him. Either way, I'll keep it a secret.

Mark, I love you like a brother, and I'm deeply saddened by your loss. Just know that you are in my prayers, and you'll see her again, where there will be no more "goodbye waves."

So, What Would You Have Done?

OK, our October series is called "Monsters." The pastor wanted to use the Halloween season to talk about how there are actually monsters in the church.

His series is really quite ingenious. Week One was about Jeckyll & Hyde, or the dual-nature of man. Yesterday was about witchcraft and manipulation. He's got another one on The Mummy, which will deal with new creatures still wrapped up in their grave clothes. The last one will be something about a wolf-man, probably wolves in sheep's clothing.

So, anyway, what do you do for a sermon opener? You can't try to make it scary, because of parents (who should have their kids in children's church anyway) will complain that their kids (the same ones who should have been in children's church - are you getting the feeling it's an issue with me?) won't be able to sleep at night after being scared at church (never mind the fact that they get all the demonic images they can ever want from the TV).

Well, this is what we came up with:

I had to go funny and kitschy. It seemed it was my only option. Of course, we had to put a little shot in there that said we are pros. Gotta have a little eye candy, with the "how'd they do that?" factor.

So, what do you think? What would you have done?

Friday Funny

Allright, here's this week's installment of the Friday Funny...

You write the caption.

Have You Heard of Church 2.0?

My good friend Greg Atkinson hosts a discussion group called Church 2.0. Basically, he travels around the country, putting on local forums to open up the discussion on where the church is and where it's headed.

Here are the links:

Greg's Blog

Church 2.0 Facebook

Church 2.0 Blog

Personally, I'm very fond of Greg, and I certainly appreciate his Kingdom-mindedness. He's helped me out with Crossroads Creative, and he's opened his doors to me at Bent Tree Bible Fellowship, where he works. He is a well-connected guy, speaking at conferences and conventions around the country.

Greg doesn't make any money off of Church 2.0 forums. He's just a very generous guy, doing his part to help open up the dialog.

If you're in the Boston, Tulsa, or Portland areas, I strongly encourage you to be a part of what God is doing through Church 2.0.

Back to My Other Job...

Yeah, you read that right.  Our department has a recording studio that we hire out for external clients.  I've been working on a CD for the past few months, and today, we're working on some clean-up, and maybe vocals.

Monday is my day off, but I use it for the external client thing, so that I can legally and ethically charge my own fee.

Which brings me to my point:  double-dipping. I've seen a whole lot of this in ministry. Guys doing outside work on ministry gear, and charging the client their own fee, all while on company time.

I see nothing wrong in making the extra money with the church's gear, as long as the senior pastor approves it, but it's the other part I have the problem with:  making the extra money while at your regular job. When I perform duties for an outside client. I MAKE SURE that I'm not on the Crossroads clock (I'm salaried, btw). I was not hired to make my own side money while supposedly being there for Crossroads Church.

On the other hand, I've also seen the situation where a church's media department cannot perform outside work on their own. It has to be performed as part of their duties for their department, and the church makes all the money. I'm too much of a capitalist to agree to work at a place like that.

Anyway, that's my soapbox for today. Do you know of guys who do this? Do YOU do this? What's your policy regarding outside client stuff?

Friday Funny

Yesterday was great, getting to hear everyone's goals about 2009. What was amazing is that so many of the support pastors and other department heads had the same goals as the lead pastor. It's really neat to see a great team all on the same page. I'm very blessed to work at such a great place.

Here's this week's installment of the Friday Funny:

You provide the caption...

2009's Coming...

...And today we plan for it. We'll be in meetings all day, discussing our goals and dreaming together for what God has in store for Crossroads Church in 2009. We'll also do our calendar-clearing marathon, which is always...ahem...interesting. It usually involves our incredibly busy youth department vying for spots against our even-more-incredibly busy children's department. I am more than content to just sit back and watch the carnage!

Crossroads Creative/Crossroads Church Media Dept. 2009 Goals:

- Finish addition of 2 cameras (5 total)

- Better local marketing (TV/radio/print)

- Continued Crossroads Creative distribution

- New Crossroads Church website

- Train and utilize more production & presentation personnel

- More involvement in staff's & volunteers' lives

- Continue streamlining of policies & procedures

- Expand/create relationships in local arts community

- Use majority of equipment budget towards gear in new building

The last one is a direct result of us possibly not having enough money to do everything we want to do technology-wise, so I'm taking most of my equipment budget for 2009 and 2010 and, instead of using it on our current facility, putting it towards new gear in the new building.

Pray for us as we go about our 2009 planning.

One thing I am totally looking forward to is seeing my wife give her premier goals as our new women's ministry director. I'm totally proud of her.

Oh, yeah, by the way, we'll cap off the day with a trip to Baton Rouge to eat at the most beloved P.F. Chang's. It's a dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it!

The Most Awesome Woman Ever

OK, so I played a little trick on my wife for her 30-something-th birthday. I had eight of her bloggy friends write something nice about her, and post videos of her singing or acting. Where they got those oh-so-professionally-made videos is anyone's guess...

You can go visit all of theses awesome ladies and see the vids at the following places...

Permission to Peruse

Moments and Memories

The Sky is Only Dark Between the Stars

Pianomomsicle

Life in the Parsonage

Musings of a Future Pastor's Wife

Blessed With Five

Everyday Miracles

BTW, we could all learn something about effective marketing by looking at the creativity with which each of these ladies goes about their own blog.

Oh yeah, if you want to see someone totally kicking her husband's booty at the blogging, go check her out here...

Happy Birthday Mama Belle! There's no other way to say it...you ROCK!

Friday Funny

OK, so I have slacked off on posting, but I'm back with this installment of the Friday Funny.  You supply the caption.

Dallas Trip, Part 8 and I'm Done

I really had a great time on my trip. I saw some great facilities, saw some great gear, and met some great guys.

What I took away most from the experience is this:  Dallas tech guys have it going on. Why do I say this?

They all have a spirit of excellence. Neat departments, well-run programs.

They share a mutual respect for each other. To take it a step further, I'll go as far as to say that they all share a real love for each other. When Greg Atkinson asked me where all I was going, he offered nothing but glowing praise of his comrades. When I told Ryan Howell I'd be going to see Greg Davis, he said, "You're gonna love him and Fellowship." Greg Bacus had a really boyish smile when I mentioned Watermark. When one of them has something new going on, they all get together, have lunch, then check it out...together.

Obviously, these aren't the only guys doing great things in the Dallas area. These are just the ones I was fortunate enough to meet. They've inspired me to try to start up a forum of tech and creative people here in Lafayette.

But that's another post for another day...

Dallas Trip, Part 7 of Many

Last stop on the trip:  Lake Pointe Church and my friend Jason Cole. This place is huge. I don't remember how many their auditorium seats, but it's like 40 thousand million...something like that.

Here's a shot of their set up close. These pieces are made of metal studs with corrugated plastic and OSB screwed to them. Bare-bones, but oh so cool...

Here's a shot of their stage from the tech booth.

This is where parents pick up their kids from their children's ministries. Kids can walk down the stairs or use the huge slide in the middle. I would assume that this is the most unused staircase in the entire world!

Here's a shot of their youth building. What!? This place is completely off-the-chain, over-the-top AWESOME! Makes me wish I were a teenager in Rockwall, TX.

You may think your eyes are deceiving you, but you are, in fact seeing a double-decker half-court basketball court. Simply amazing.

Here is Jason and me. By the way, he hosted us on his DAY OFF. Thanks so much, Jason. You're awesome!

In all, another great visit at another great facility, hosted by another great guy. I'll have a wrap-up tomorrow, and some comments about all the great guys I met while on my trip.

Dallas Trip, Part 6 of Many

Alright, after leaving Brian and Fellowship Bible, I headed on to Worship House Media. If you've read my blog before, you know that I run Crossroads Creative, and that we have pieces on Worship House, among others. Anyway, the two main guys there are Kent McKeaigg and Dale Carter. They have a video podcast (mostly) every week, and they crack me up.

While in Dallas, I wanted to do a little PR for Crossroads Creative, so, I went to lunch with them. I got to see their facility, which was cool, and we traded swag. Their offices also house Igniter Media (their parent company) and Collide Magazine.

Anyway, I brought my camera in with me, but forgot to take pictures, so I made this today...

Crazy, mad Photoshop skills. I took extra precaution to ensure matching the color of my face compared to theirs!

I had a great time with them (and Kent paid for lunch!).  Great guys.

Tomorrow, I'm on to Jason Cole at Lake Pointe, and their hugenormous facility.

Dallas Trip, Part 5 of Many

OK, so begins Day Two of my Dallas adventure. After a great breakfast at my hotel, and catching a little of the FOX News coverage of the announcement of my new girlfriend, Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate, I was off to Fellowship Bible Dallas, to meet my new friend, Brian Davis.

This was simply one of the coolest places I've ever been. They converted an entertainment complex into their worship facility, and the transformation is amazing!

The first three pics come from the first floor. This is their coffee shop. I'm not sure what this was before, but the result works for me...

This is one of their children's rooms. The entire children's facility was once a laser tag arcade. Nice.

This was once "Club 88" which was owned by Drew Pearson, who played for the Dallas Cowboys from 1937-1983. There was even a big backlit 88 in the dance floor. It had a commercial kitchen, so they decided to make it their fellowship hall.

OK, that was all on the first floor. On the second floor was a movie theater complex. There were four rooms on one side and three on the other. One side comprises their youth facility, and the other is a chapel and their auditorium. Their auditorium is actually three movie theaters all combined into one large, yet surprisingly intimate worship space.

 The third floor was just workspace for the projector rooms, plus catwalk for the complex. They took out the ceilings and converted it all into usable space. Their media facility is actually in two of the old projection rooms. How cool is that? This is the view of the second floor from one of those now-exposed catwalks.

And here I am with Brian. He's a really talented guy, and a great new friend.

Fellowship Bible was a really cool place. It was neat to see how they retrofitted their design into the space that was there before them. Great job!

OK, tomorrow, I'll post about meeting the two main guys from (and my tour of) Worship House Media.

Dallas Trip, Part 4 of Many

OK, on to the next part of my Dallas trip.  Thursday evening, we went over to Watermark Community Church to visit my new friend Ryan Howell. We got there in time to check out their tech rehearsal. All of his guys were very accommodating, and we all learned a lot from them.

Watermark's building is absolutely gorgeous. They used raw materials in a very elegant way, resulting in an unusual but beautiful worship center.

OK, the first pic. Notice the striations at the back of the room. Those are actually 2X4s separated by empty spaces all in front of insulation painted black. Oh, yeah, the 2X4s aren't sealed, so when you get to the last couple of rows, you smell the raw wood! So very cool.

This is their band rehearsing. The huge images on ether side of the stage aren't screens. Those images are projected on the walls (and they're running through their lighting console). Awesome.

Here are the sound deflection panels hanging from the ceiling. They're finish grade plywood (maple, I think) and thick-chipped OSB, hung sporadically around the room. I think there is sound treatment on top of them. So cool.

And here's Ryan. What a great guy. He's one of those dudes that, if you don't like him, it's because you have a problem!

I just can't stress enough how great each of these guys were, and Ryan was certainly no exception.

Tomorrow, and amazing transformation as a church takes over an entertainment/movie theatre/night club/laser tag complex. We'll look at Fellowship Bible Dallas and Brian Davis.

Friday Funny

OK, I was going to post about Watermark and my new friend Ryan Howell, but I found two incredible gems that I feel compelled to share with you. Words can't possibly describe what you're about to see, but you can take a shot at it if you wish...

First up, Jesus is my friend...

glumbert - Jesus Is My Friend

Jesus is my best friend, so you won't catch me singing this. Ever.

OK, here's the next one...

I'm speechless. What say you?

Dallas Trip, Part 3 of Many

After my way-too-large fajitas at La Hacienda, we left with Greg Bacus to tour the ginormous Fellowship Church.  Greg's their Media Pastor, and he's one cool dude.

Here's their FOH area, a Digidesign Venue and a Grand MA. This pair was to be the second of three I'd see for the day. I'm gently breathing out the jealousy as I type...

Here's a shot of their DigiCo TV console. Serenity now...

And here's Greg and me in their way-cool foyer...

This marked my third trip to Fellowship Church. Crossroads owes a lot of who we are to them, and it's always a real treat to go.

Tomorrow, a really cool place:  Watermark Community Church.

Dallas Trip, Part 2 of Many

The last week of August, I flew up to Dallas to check out some large churches there, because Crossroads Church is building a 1500-seat auditorium. I got to make some great new friends.

My first stop was at Bent Tree Bible Fellowship, where Greg Atkinson serves as the Director of Technical Arts. Greg is a highly influential and well-connected guy, and I'm sure he had plenty of things he could have been doing, other than giving me the tour of their truly awesome facility.

Here are the pics...

This is their baptistry in the foyer. This photo doesn't do it justice... 

This is their coffee shop. really cool...

Here's a shot of their auditorium...

And here I am with the man...

(By the way, I'm 6 feet tall. Greg is like 9'47").

Their facility is simply beautiful, and extremely (and tastefully) well-done. We capped off our visit with a trip to La Hacienda. If you've read his blog, you've heard of it. Thanks again, Greg, for your hospitality.

Tomorrow, Fellowship Church.

Gustav's Aftermath? Not Too Bad...

...for us, anyway.

This is my pond when it was new, which was a little less than a year ago...

This is what I came home to yesterday.  The murkiness comes compliments of the sand bags we put by our French doors...

So, I drained my pond.  While doing that, our dog Roxy thought it would be a good idea to play in the murky water coming from what she must have perceived to be a magical fountain flowing from the other side of the big temple wall...

Once I got the pond drained enough to see my fish, I caught them and placed then in their new makeshift homes:  two 16-gallon containers, and a 10-gallon ice chest.  Here's Fool's Gold and Silver...

Goldilocks and Speckle...

Lil' Miss (who we think may expecting), Lil' Koi Watson, and Spot...

Explanation:  our worship leader's name is Coy Watson, and that's where we got the name for our high-dollar fish. This is what my pond looked like once it was drained...

Yuck. The junk on the bottom is marble chips in a lovely combination of marble and sand sediment with a healthy dose of leaves and fish poop. Here is it after I cleaned and pressure-washed the area...

I didn't pressure-wash the bottom, because my pond actually has a leak, and I'll finish the job when the leak is fixed.

All in all, not too bad. I'll ache tomorrow, but other than some sticks in our yard, and water in our kitchen under soaked bedroom carpet upstairs (because of an open storm window - duh...), that's it! We didn't even lose power.

Thanks to all for your prayers!

Dallas Trip, Part 1 of Many

I just arrived back in Lafayette from a trip to the Big D, and I have LOTS to post about, but we're getting ready for Gustav, and my church will serve as a shelter, so I'll be needed to help with that.

Once everything dries out, I'll hopefully have a house to come back to, and a place to sit where I can fill you in on Gustav's wake, plus all I got to do in Dallas.

Introducing the New and Improved Crossroads Creative

Well, it's finally here:  the new and improved Crossroads Creative site. It's been a long time coming, but we did it (finally). No new logo as of yet, but I got tired of waiting for us all to make up our minds. Logos are hard!!

Anyway, we have 114 pieces, some of which are actually packages, plus an interactive search. We have four product categories:

- Countdowns

- Sermon Starters (with PowerPoint title and background slides)

- Sermon Illustrations

- Video Announcements (with full-res Quick Time movies for customization)

 Check it out here and let me know what you think!

Next up on the horizon is a 50,000-piece email blast, which will start going out this week.

Saying Goodbye

Lori Ellen Belaire Booth

1967-2008

It is with great sadness that I am writing this post. One of my oldest friends, Lori Booth, passed from this life into the next this last Monday, August 11, 2008. She was a wife, and mother of two.

I've known Lori since kindergarten, and although it's been twenty years since I've had the chance to be with her for any length of time, the hole left in my heart is larger than one can imagine.

I'll always remember her sweet smile, the laughs, and her all-around love of life. It is my most sincere prayer that God would bring glory to Himself through this situation.

To all my dear friends in the AHS Class of '85, I love you and wish the very best for each and every one of you, and that includes making Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior. Please understand that I am not forcing religion on you, or making any judgments, but I simply want you to know the love that I have found through knowing Jesus, and I pray that you would come to know Him as I do.

Goodbye Lori. We will all miss you. I already do. 

Friday Funny

I found this picture yesterday on a friend's facebook page.  You write the caption...

The Olympics - and a Random Thought

OK, this post has nothing to do with anything, except perhaps how thoughts stay with us for a lifetime.

I was talking to my wife today about the Olympics (our daughters watched the Olympics all day at their grandmother's house), when I told her a deep dark secret of mine.

When I was a kid, I thought the word "gymnastics" was a dirty word, because it sounded like "nasty" to me.

Fun With Photo Booth!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I use my Mac for serious stuff - editing, writing, audio, etc, etc.

But sometimes it's fun to mess with stuff. I just took these pics while trying to come up with something cool and different for my facebook page. Which one should make the cut?

1.  The cartoonish egghead?

2. The weird wide-headed alien?

3. The double-chinned cylops?

4. Just plain headless?

It's fun to have a cool computer.