Here’s a video demonstrating how we use Google Sketchup to do stage and set designs.

You can download Sketchup free at http://sketchup.google.com/download/

I’m a songwriter. I am also an arranger on occasion. Sometimes I write worship songs for Christ Church to sing in corporate worship. A few of my songs appear on the Christ Church worship CD which you can find on iTunes here.

One of the hardest parts of songwriting for me is remembering the idea. So I want to walk you through a few tools and steps I take to take a song from a simple thought to a completed tune.

Above you see a photo with several pictures.  These are the tools I use for songwriting.  Let me go into a bit more detail.

A.  Taylor 414ce – This is my main acoustic guitar.  I do all of my writing on it.  Sometimes I need to bring in an electric so that I can feel the energy of the song, but it all starts here.

B.  iPhone 4 or 4s.  I have an iPhone 4 and I use it for a ton of things.  There are two built in apps that I use for songwriting.  One is the notes app.  I can pull this up and write down lyric ideas.  The other is the voice memo.  This is perfect because the mic on the iPhone is really pretty good and you can record rough ideas through it.  Here is me playing a quick piece through mine so you can hear what it sounds like.  Sample

C.  MacBook Pro.  I love this computer.  It is a beautiful machine!  I use two main apps for songs.  Basically it is just a computer version of what I use on the iPhone.  I use Pages, which is just a word processor, for lyrics and chords.  I use GarageBand, which comes free with every mac, to record the tracks.  I like to multitrack, so I use a…

D.  Beta 87-A.  This is a great condenser mic by Shure.  You could just as easily use a less expensive mic, like a SM58, but this is a great mic.  I run it directly into my…

E.  M-AUDIO Fast Track Pro.  This is a two-channel interface that connects via USB.  It is really great for the money.  Gives me to XLR inputs and includes phantom power.

Here is my song Prodigal Song.  This is the demo version that I recorded with everything listed here.

Those are my tools for songwriting.  They work great!

VIDEO

Occasionally, we at Christ Church shoot some videos to use as sermon illustrations or other random things. This is a quick, basic overview of how we produce videos here at Christ Church. Questions? Email me! jeffallen@mychristchurch.com

From time to time I will be sharing some things about our multisite endeavors at Christ Church. Things I am learning, solutions to problems that we have had to face, and the like.

Today’s solution is our rehearsal issue. How do you rehearse a band on a weekday (as we are all accustomed to) for a worship space that only exists on Sunday for a few hours? Luckily there is a product that has managed to market itself well enough to have caught my eye before this issue even came about. This product is JamHub. It is basically a hub with XLR and 1/4 inch inputs and headphone jacks that lets you rehearse without a full PA and a guy running it. And it has been awesome for us.

We chose to go with the TourBus model, which has been awesome because it has an SD card slot and can record audio from the rehearsal, which can later be emailed to my sound guy so he knows what to expect Sunday morning.

As you can see, each person has control of their own mix. This is pretty handy. We’re used to Aviom, so the concept makes sense to us.

Here is a video from our rehearsal on Wednesday night, for you to get an idea of what this thing sounds like:

As you can tell from the video, it provides great audio for a rehearsal. It amazed me what the SM57 picks up for the drum kit. This is also an awesome tool if you need to record quick demos.

Since we are so early in the process of the multisite movement at Christ Church we are currently utilizing band members from Christ Church FVH campus to play at Christ Church CM. We are all used to rehearsing on Wednesday nights, so we kept rehearsal for CM on Wednesday nights in the music rehearsal room. The band for FVH is rehearsing at the exact same time just feet away in the sanctuary.

Not sure what we’ll do when we move to several campuses as far as rehearsing goes. But we’ll figure it out and I’ll let you know here!

Recently I had an awesome opportunity to sit down with recording artists Shane and Shane and discuss worship ministry. The video above is what they had to say!

This post shares session notes from the 2011 Navigating Change Conference breakout session, “Using Social Media To Grow Your Church,” by Justin Aymer.

Main Concept

What are we saying and who are we saying it to? You can’t say anything until you figure out who you are talking to. The message you deliver will be drastically different depending on who is receiving the information. Identify your platforms.  What mediums of communication work well for your congregation? Create and deliver meaningful information to your audience. Is your message / church worth sharing? Will people relate to your message and pass it on? Finally, did it work? Are you being effective. You have to keep track of anything you can count.

Identify Your Audience

This is step one. Always. This will drive everything you do. A message tailored to women will be very different than a message for men. A message to women ages 18-25 is amazingly different than the same message to women in the 50+ age range. Is your intended audience guests or regulars? Who is this message for and is it reaching them? Each audience has a platform, look, feel and message that works best for them.

Identify Your Platform

What medium is your audience communicating on? Newspaper, email, facebook, twitter, mobile phone? Where do they get information? Yellow pages example. Ask yourself this basic question. How do you find an address or phone number? Think about this answer and your congregation. What would they do?

Craft Your Message

Fit your message into the language, look and feel of your intended audience. Always strive for readability. Short and sweet.  Make sure the main points are easy to read. Create content that is meaningful and worthwhile for the reader.  Make it easy to share.

Word Of Mouth – in a digital world

Christianity spreads by invitation. A friend invites a friend. A family brings loved ones. We can advertise our budgets dry and it won’t matter unless people are invited. What steps are you taking to teach your congregation to be evangelical? How much are you investing into word of mouth? Social media platforms are the word of mouth in our digital world. A person will share with their friends what is important to them. Are you making your church an important part of their life? The way people communicate has changed. People go and get the information they want instead of the information being pushed to them. Social media gives a microphone to word of mouth.

Is It Working?

You must have a way to track effectiveness. What is your return on investment? Implement a “how did you hear about us” process. Don’t put out useless information on a “just because we always have” basis. Get strategic and be effective.

Resources

http://www.addthis.com/ – Free social media “share” buttons for web content.
http://www.google.com/analytics/ – Free service to track visits on your website.
http://www.jotform.com/ – Free form building. Easily create online contact forms, sign ups and registrations.
www.mailchimp.com – Free html email client and builder.

Book List

• Less Clutter. Less Noise: Beyond Bulletins, Brochures and Bake Sales – Kem Meyer
• Church Marketing 101: Preparing Your Church for Greater Growth – Richard L. Reising

We’ve all been there. Staring it in the eye. Those in-ear monitors with a (perfectly) repetitive click. “Wow, this technology would really let us stay on tempo…our drummer wouldn’t run away with the song…our rhythm player wouldn’t hijack the groove…” But then we back off. Isn’t the Christian walk, and the Christian life, and Christian worship…all…about… freedom? Why should we weight ourselves down, cage ourselves in, with the evil that is click? How could we ever have a spontaneous moment?

The truth: a click track does not have to be the handcuffs on the Holy Spirit. But for this to work at it’s best (in my experience…while I’m on this topic, just assume everything I ever say has a “comma” in my experience” comma” in it somewhere) you will need to think about a few things.

1.) A competent drummer running your click.

In most musical performance situations the drummer is typically the guy that runs the click. At our church we just use a digital metronome that has BPM storage so we can go from one song to the next easily. This means the drummer always has to be on top of things. When the song ends, he needs to have the click ready to go for the next song so as not to, literally, miss a beat.

2.) Does your worship leader lead with an instrument?

I lead worship vocally and with my electric guitar. Because I use an instrument I can easily direct where the song should go. If I feel the Spirit moving for us to jump into a new song, I can veer off the click on my own. It doesn’t take long for our drummer to realize this and he simply shuts off the click. This seems to work best because then you’re free! The rest of the set was great, no speeding up or slowing down at inappropriate times. If you want to be a bit risky, you can always have a prearranged strategy in times like these…basically, you’ve told your drummer that you trust him to tap the click out and he can drop it in at any time by just hitting start on the beat of what the worship leader is playing.

3.) Vocal only worship leader?

When I’m not leading worship vocally, I’m still a worship leader. The worship director at my church, Don Frazure, is a vocal only guy. Not that he isn’t an EXTRAORDINARY pianist. He just chooses to lead with no instrument, as a piano can be quite a barrier. Now, the reason I said I’m still a worship leader is because God has gifted me with the ability to be “in tune” with His spirit in these situations. Also, our worship director and I have a great relationship and understanding of each other. To put it simply: I can read him like a book. My guitar is still the lead instrument. It decides where the music goes, but only by following the worship leader. This way, if Don hears from the spirit (and 9 times out of 10 I’m hearing it too) I know him so well that I can make that musical transition with the drummer.

The parts of click that really can be handcuffs.

If you decide to play tracks with your click, you’re locked in. If you decide to play along with a video, you’re locked in. That’s all there is to it. (I know exceptions can be made if you have Ableton and some foot switches and magic that I don’t possess, but for me…locked.)