I'd love to move our worship team from conventional floor wedges to in-ear monitors (IEMs), but after a few hours of research, I realize that I've got a lot to learn about this stuff. If you're in the same boat, read on, because later in this post I'm going to give you a list of links to online resources for information about in-ear monitors that might help you figure out what's right for your team.

I've been both playing live music and mixing live sound off and on for about 30 years, and if I had to pick one thing that has the potential for making things frustrating for everyone, it would almost have to be monitors. In all of those years, I've never had the opportunity to use anything but floor wedges for monitoring. Anyone who does this knows that monitors can be a source of great frustration for everyone involved, because it seems like they're never quite right, and about all you can hope for is to create a monitor mix that doesn't completely suck.

I'm probably overstating that, but if you've been on either side of that equation (as a performer or sound tech), or both, you know what I mean. It seems virtually impossible to mix monitors to the satisfaction of all the performers on the stage, or the monitors interact badly with the mains, or the EQ on the monitors is impossible to get right, or...you get the idea.

In-ear monitoring systems can potentially solve some of these problems. In-ear monitors can:

• Reduce overall stage volume for performers
• Provide each performer with a more customized monitor mix
• Eliminate problems with montors/mains interaction

That said, there are issues with in-ear systems as well:

• They're expensive, starting at around $600 per person
• They can be a little complicated to configure, compared with traditional stage monitors
• They can make communication between performers more difficult

I'm still learning about this stuff, and I've got a long way to go before (a) we're ready to jump into IEMs and (b) we're able to afford IEMs. You might be there, too, so in the meantime, here are some places you can learn more about this technology. Some of them are manufacturer-specific, so you'll want to take some of the content with a grain of salt, but there is still a lot of useful stuff in this list.

ABC's of Configuring a Personal Monitor System
Shure Guide to Personal Monitors (PDF)
January 27, Aviom Web seminar on Digital Snakes (and the Aviom monitor system)
In-Ear Monitors: Advantages and Disadvantages
The Art of Monitoring and Mixing with Headphones
Let's Hear It: Introduction to Personal Monitoring Systems (Shure)
Making the Wedgeless Transition
Focus Mode for In-Ear Monitors
Houses of Worship Podcast: In-Ear Monitoring
Grinning from Ear Bud to Ear Bud
In-Ear Monitor Tutorial (PDF)
Audiology Online: In-Ear Monitors for Musicians

If you've got links to other resources, please share them!

If you're a regular reader of this blog, and particularly if you have registered to be a logged-in user, I wanted to let you know that I am making some changes, and your login will be going away soon. When I began this blog, I had envisioned a certain direction for it, in which there would be members-only content and privileges, but as it has turned out, it doesn't seem necessary any more. Many of you have had accounts that have been essentially unused because there really wasn't any particular benefit.

So, I've decided to do away with the user accounts and simply encourage you all to subscribe via the RSS feed--just click the big blue feed button at the top of the right sidebar. This will simplify things for me and for you, I think, and if you subscribe via something like Google Reader (or your favorite news reader application), or even via e-mail, you'll always know whenever there is new content here.

Making this change will also (I hope) reduce the number of bogus account registrations I have to deal with--spammers drive me nuts. Comments will be moderated--that's just how we'll have to do it for now, but I'm hopeful that won't discourage you from contributing your ideas.

Some content that is here, such as the audio content from the Bible teaching I've been doing in recent years, may be moved to a new site at some point. I'll let you know if/when that happens.

Thanks for reading!

(Photo credit: Seattle Municipal Archives)

Since I took my new job at the church a couple of weeks ago, I've been involved with running sound or media for three funerals, and as of today, yet another one is being scheduled. I don't recall a time in the life of our church when there were so many of them in such a short span of time, but in a way, it has been good preparation for me, because my own mother went home to the Lord yesterday morning. She had been suffering from Alzheimer's for several years, and spent the last year and a half in a dedicated Alzheimer's care facility, so her death was not unexpected--I and my family see it as a merciful blessing from God. Her suffering is done, and I suspect that to her, it seems that her life has just begun. (She wouldn't want to trade places now with any of us!)

A funeral or memorial service, according to Scripture, is a good place to be. Ecclesiastes 7:2 says,

It is better to go to a house of mourning
than to go to a house of feasting,
for death is the destiny of every man;
the living should take this to heart.

I never attend a funeral without thinking of this passage--it reminds me that there are often many who attend the funeral of a loved one or friend who don't know God, and who haven't given much thought to questions of eternity and life after death. A funeral often brings these issues to the front of one's mind, and it can be an opportunity to provide attenders with a chance to connect with God when their hearts are tender and open.

The non-Christian might be puzzled at the notion of worship during a funeral--why on earth would someone rejoice and praise God when something so awful has happened to someone they love? But as Paul says to the Thessalonian church,

Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. (1 Thessalonians 4:13)

This is often one of the greatest distinctions between those who love God and worship him and those who don't--we believe there is hope, even in the face of the very thing that many non-Christians fear the most. When we worship God in that context, we demonstrate that hope and peace in a powerful way. Our worship at the time of remembrance of a loved one shows our confidence in a God who understands what it is to lose a loved one, even as he gave his own Son over to death, and our true hope that death is not the end of the story.

As we prepare to lay my mother's body to rest, it is my prayer that someone in that sanctuary will wonder why we are rejoicing and giving thanks to God, and that perhaps that wondering will spark a desire in them to know the God who gives us real hope, even when all seems lost.

A lot of Christians know they should be reading the Bible, but don't, for a variety of reasons--it's boring, it's too long, I can't decide where to start, etc. A good daily Bible reading plan is a great way to get into the Bible-reading habit, and I decided to assemble a Google Notebook with links to a whole bunch of Bible-reading plans that you can find on the Web. Some are downloadable plans that you print and check off your readings each day; some are online plans where you actually log in and read the day's passage online, with online progress tracking; some are e-mail based, where you give your address, and you get an e-mail each day with the passage to read, or a link to the passage online.

Please check it out here, and start the new year off well!

It has been one of the great joys of my life to watch how God has used the experiences of my life to prepare me for serving Him in various ways over the years. When I was in college, studying radio, television and film, I was preparing for what I thought would be a career in documentary film production. God had a different plan. Instead, I spent the next five years after graduation working full-time in parachurch youth ministry--those were some of the most formative years of my life, in terms of my understanding of the faith, and I was able to get my feet wet in leadership, as well. The training I received during those years also served as the foundation for many years of Bible teaching in my church.

I left the ministry in 1981, and worked for a few years in the local school district, where some of my college training and skills were put to good use in media productions of many types. It was there that I was introduced to computing and programming, which led to a position at the University of Kansas Computer Center, where I worked as a user education specialist, consultant and technical writer. That position led to the job I held for fourteen years with a statewide not-for-profit educational networking consortium, where I served for three years as user services coordinator, and then for eleven years as executive director and CEO. That job afforded me many opportunities to learn both networking technology and leadership.

I left that job a year ago, and have spent the last year honing my skills as a writer and blogger, and learning more about Web design, content management systems, and related technologies. It has been a very good year, and my lovely wife has been incredibly supportive through that whole time.

On January 1, 2009, I will begin a new chapter in my life, as the Director of Media and Communications for my church, where I will continue to lead the contemporary worship arts ministry. I will also continue to manage the church internal network and Web presence as well, and now I will be leading the operations and production teams that produce and present the various forms of media that we use in worship and other church events.

I can see now, looking back, that virtually everything I have done up to this point--my work with radio, television and film production, my experience in vocational ministry, my work in computing and data networking, my experience in Web development, podcasting, blogging, and my years as a musician and worship leader--all of these things are coming together at the right time for this new position.

I don't know what the next few years will hold--it's been a long time since I worked in vocational ministry--but I'm looking forward to seeing what God will do, and I am humbled when I see how His hand has led me all this way, through so many different things.

Everything that happens to us contributes something to who we are and what we will become one day. This new chapter in the story of my life may lead to many other chapters, with new plot twists and turns that I can't even imagine right now. But how cool is it to see the hand of God in the events and experiences of one's life?

"...I believe in the Israelite."