Thursday, December 3, 2009

Streaming Update

I don't know if everyone checks out the webstream on a regular basis, but I do and I must say the celebrations have been looking so good lately. If you get a chance it is definitely worth a look. Charlie Hines even commented to me that:
"I just wanted to say that the web broadcast the past several weeks has been OUTSTANDING! I love hearing just enough of the room to hear some verb when Dave speaks, and especially the crowd laughing. I think the music on the web recently has been some of the best it's ever sounded.

what ever you are doing....keep it up."

Charlie does not give out cheap compliments, so that is a testament to all the effort you guys put in, cameras, tape op, Front of House, Switcher, lights, powerpoint, directors, everyone. Great job!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

You know you are on the VCC Tech Team when...

At the tech team appreciation party this past Friday night, we came up with a top ten list, "You know you're on the tech team when..." So I've condensed them into one top 27 list. Enjoy.

27. You are awake at 7am on Sunday.

26. Nobody sees you during a celebration.

25. You know the punchline to all of Dave’s jokes.

24. You don’t like people.

23. You no longer enjoy any other church services.

22. You can listen to the same message 4 times in a row and not know what was said.

21. You can’t stand the Arial font on the screens.

20. You know what the ‘Workman Hook’ is.

19. You understand what “pigs in space” means.

18. You know where the “rubber chicken” is at Christmas

17. You know what the bubble is and when Baron is in it.

16. You don’t mind being called D.I.R.T.

15. Joe is your favorite pastor because he doesn’t move.

14. You CAN’T fall asleep during the service.

13. It’s OK to talk during the sermon.

12. You know what “Dot-Dot-Dot“ is.

11. You listen to message with eyes closed.

10. You cringe when Dave wears black or stripes.

9. When you see the camera jiggle, you know it is a Robo.

8. You critique camera work of “Dancing with the Stars” over the water cooler.

7. You mumble “ready camera 4 take camera 4” walking out of every celebration.

6. You inadvertently yell out, “NEXT SLIDE” during worship.

5. You have “cauliflower ear” from wearing headsets so long.

4. You can recite the sermon at the 11:45 service.

3. You don’t get excited when someone says “don’t move, you’re hot”.

2. Attractive brown shirts…UPS had a sale.

1. You do your best work in the dark.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Brent's Marathon


Hey Tech Team,
I just want to brag on our brother and Team 4 Director Brent Shock. Brent this past Sunday completed the Columbus Marathon. 26.2 miles!!! in 4 hours and 55 minutes, a pace of 11:18 per mile. Incredible! I know Brent just started running 5k's just a few years ago. That definitely inspires me to get healthier. Way to go Brent!!

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Video this weekend

This weekend's celebration was a great celebration. One thing in particular stood out to me of which I think the whole tech team should be aware. We played a video of a personal testimony of Stephanie K. She tells a story of finding peace in her relationship with Jesus, through her participation here at the Vineyard. And she came to the Vineyard after watching a celebration on line. Not only that, the person who brought her attention to VCC celebrations online also had not attended here, but came here with Stephanie. How cool is that?!

Maybe it's me, but sometimes it is easy to get wrapped up in the technical specifics of each Celebration and lose sight of what our ultimate purpose is.

In general, I know that people watch the webcasts on line, but this brought it home to my heart, specifically and put a face and a personal testimony to it. Just think....We got to play a small part in changing Stephanie K.'s life. It is just exciting to know that he lets us in the game.

Friday, August 7, 2009

New Celebrations Times

We have had a great problem for the last year or so, crowded celebrations at the 10 and 11:40 times on Sunday. As you probably know, VCC Leadership has been looking at a lot of different possible solutions to help accommodate all of these folks, especially in Discoveryland. We tried adding a service on Saturday at 5 in the spring and that had mixed results to say the least. Anyway, leadership has decided to try another approach changing the celebrations times and structure on Sundays to

Sunday 9:00AM
Sunday 10:15AM
Sunday 11:45AM

The goal is to make 8:30am more attractive to people who attend the 10am and 11:40am so that maybe 9am doesn’t sound so EARLYJ Consequently this makes us have to shift the other celebrations accordingly, and to keep us from going to late into the afternoon, celebrations must be shaved to 55 minutes. Dave and Joe will shoot for a 25 minute message, the worship team will shoot for 18 minutes(which they already do), and we’ll have be sure transitions are tight. That gives us a little slack in case some part does go long, and Dave and Joe really can’t afford to go long because of the short turn-around between services.

Additionally the series starting in September is all about inviting people to church and we hope this change will help make some room for folks. And it gives the Tech Team and Worship team an extra half-hour to sleep inJ

Anyway, in the coming weeks we will be plugging the time change without really mentioning the shortening of the celebrations. It will kick off for Team 1 in September on the weekend of the 5th and 6th.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Spencer's Surgery is Scheduled


We scheduled Spencer's surgery for Tuesday September 1st at 7:30am. The orthopedist Dr. Cornwall comes highly recommended by everyone we've talked to. He specializes in hands and wrists, and comes from Children's Hospital, in Philadelphia.

The procedure is called Syndactyly Release, but is essentially just seperating his index finger from his middle finger which are now webbed together. The surgery needs to be done to ensure that both the index and middle fingers can develop as normally as possible. There are a couple other issues with his right hand. Over all it is smaller than the average baby's hand, but it is completely functional except, the Dr is a little concerned with the index finger and also thumb. The index finger is much smaller than the rest of the fingers and the Dr is worried that it may not be functional. The thumb is small also, but clearly functional, but there is not much space between thumb and index which could make it difficult for grasping objects.

But this first surgery will be to simply seperate the index and middle, which will also involve a skin graft (from the elbow) because the remaining skin on the inside of the fingers is not enough to cover the incision.

We'll then wait 12 to 18 months to observe the development of index and thumb. Depending on how that goes there could be another surgery scheduled which could be potentially an amputation of index and perhaps some reconstruction of thumb area to give the thumb more room for movement. This obviously our biggest concern. So I ask for all your prayers for Spence's hand and safe surgery.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Prayer Requests

This is the southern baptist in me but....
I have added a Tech Team Prayer list to the blog. I would like to encourage each of us to continually pray for one another, for spiritual matters, health issues, whatever is going on in your life. Please let me know if you have something you would like the Tech Team to pray for and I will add it to the list.

Your Brother in Christ
Bryan

Hungerwalk

Howdy Tech Team,
Stephanie and I are planning right now on doing the Hungerwalk this Monday. I encourage anyone interested to go ahead and sign up. Here is the weblink

http://fsfb.convio.net/site/TR/Events/HW2009/393046421?pg=team&fr_id=1090&team_id=1520

It costs $20, but $25 if you want a t-shirt. (and how can you pass up a $5 t-shirt?)

Anyway, as you guys may already be aware this walk helps provide food for the Healing Center, in fact, last years Hungerwalk yielded half the years food. This year Dave has set a goal of achieving an entire year of food for the Healing Center.

I hope to see you guys down there.
PS the weblink above will have additional info (when, where, directions, etc)

Your Brother in Christ!

Bryan

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Summer of Love

Hi Team!
I just wanted to touchbase with you and let you in on what is coming up. This summer we want to run with the "Summer of Love" theme.

Big Idea: God is Love. We are lovers. The Ten Commandments can be seen as his instructions on how we are made to love Him and each other. Jesus’ “Greatest Commandment” summarizes the Ten when he says to “love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself.” The first four commandments teach us to love God and the last six teach us to love each other.

The series will follow this flow:

Part One: Love God

1. Love God first – Part 1.
2. Love God first – Part 2.
3. Love God’s reputation.
4. Love God in this pattern: work hard, then rest.

Part Two: Love People

5. Love your parents.
6. Love life.
7. Love marriage.
8. Love justice.
9. Love truth.
10. Love contentment.

The Vibe: VCC as a whole will embrace Summer of Love as a theme for the summer of 2009, not just as a weekend series. The big themes for the summer are: Love, Fun, & Community.

Anyway, I wanted to let you know what I know about what is to come this summer.
Exciting stuff!

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Charles Dyer

I received sad news this morning about a former VCC Tech Team member Charles Dyer. As some of you know, Charles served with Tech Team for many years, until he took a job out of town about 2 years ago. He passed away this morning. Charles was fighting cancer for a about a year.
Vicki Gabriel got this email from his sister this morning:

Friends and Family,
Charles went to heaven this morning. I can only imagine all the things he is doing right now. Having a reunion with friends and family, going for an incredible run, eating some fabulous food? One thing I do know is that he is having the best day ever. Scott, Lydia and I went to see him last night. He wasn't doing very well. He opened his eyes and gave my hand a squeeze. I turned the radio to Prarie Home Companion (one of his favorites) and we listened to the end of Lake Wobegon together. Arlo Guthrie was the musical guest and he and Garrison Keillor ended the show by singing "So long my friend, it's been so good to know you". (Charles introduced me to Arlo's music when we were in college.) Before we left, I prayed the blessing from Numbers 6, as I did at the end of most of our visits. One last song, one last prayer. God is good.

Thank you for all your prayer and support through the last 13 months. Arrangements for Charles' services are with Smith and Ogle funeral home, 5086 College Corner Pike, Oxford, Ohio 45056 (513-523-4411)

Love
Ruth and Family


Lets keep Charles' family in our prayers.

Here is a link to the funeral home with further information

http://www.smithoglefuneralhome.com/index.cfm

Friday, April 17, 2009

Vicki Gabriel is one tough director!

Hi Team!
I wanted to update you all about Team 2 director Vicki Gabriel. This past weekend which happened to be Easter weekend, Vicki and Team 2 did a great job over 6 services, which were attended by a large number of people. I haven't heard the official numbers, but as of 12:40 sunday afternoon, I believe the Easter services was well over previous Easters.

Anyway, what I wanted to let you all know is that Vicki had to see an 0pthamologist on Monday, because she had a detached retina. I believe she directed most of the Easter weekend with one eye.

I'm not totally sure of the details but she had a successful surgery to repair the eye on Tuesday. On her follow up visits the doctors said her prognosis is good, she is currently resting at home preparing for her next 6 celebration weekend;)

So keep Vicki and Ed in your prayers for a quick recovery.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Spencer Wayne White Pics






Here are just a couple of recent pics of Spencer. More to come.

Tech Team Baby Shower







Hey Y'all, Here are a couple of pics from the Tech Team Baby Shower we had last week. Big Thanks to the organizers Cindy, Vicki and Kathy and anyone else involved! You guys are awesome. That was a great surprise. And thanks to the whole tech team for your prayers and support. I can't wait to bring in Spencer one of these weekends coming up. He can't wait to meet you all:)

Thursday, March 19, 2009

SOS update

It is hard to believe but SOS is only 3 months away. And planning has been in the works for months. Ed, Kevin and I just came out of our monthly SOS update meeting with Student ministries and many details are still being ironed out, but I figured y'all might be interested in knowing the worship lineup for 2009.

Zak Stegman will be fronting the morning band Tuesday through Friday. Also Zak will kick off the week leading worship at Monday night celebration. Also,Monday night worship leader Phil Wickham will close us out in worship. http://philwickham.com/

Tuesday night's special guest is Jason Eaton http://www.jasoneaton.org/
Wednesday night is the return of Jeremy Riddle to the SOS stage. http://www.jeremyriddle.net/

Thursday - no regular celebration (Top Secret plan for SOS attendees) (as of right now nothing planned in the auditorium)

Friday is probably the most pleasant surprise. Robbie Reider will be bringing a band from Crossroads to invade the SOS stage.

It looks to be a very exciting Summer of Service, the week of June 22-26. Mark your calendars now. As many of you already know, SOS is an awesome experience for hundreds of youth and we get to take part in their experience. There are about a 1,000 volunteer roles that need to be filled for this to happen every year. Keep an eye out for coming info to tell you how to either serve on Tech Team or serve in some other capacity that week.

Here is the website:
http://summerofservice.com/

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Spencer Wayne White

The newest addition to VCC tech team joined us Monday, March 2, 2009 at 1:45pm. He arrived weighing 7 lbs and 3 ounces and was about 20 inches long. He arrived much earlier than expected as Steph didn't have time to receive the epidural.

This is how it happened: At 5:50am Steph was 1cm dilated. They gave her Pitocin (labor inducing drug) at 6am to begin contractions. Her water broke about 6:30am. We didn't see the doctor since about 10am, when he dryly said "you might have this baby before noon, but you also might win the lottery". I think he thought he was funny.

Now, because of the risk of infection after the water has broken, the doctor didn't want to needlessly check her cervix. So nobody checked her cervix until 1:30 when they realized that not only was Steph fully dilated but that the head was right there. The nurses began to hustle around to prepare the room b/c upto that point nothing was ready.

They also tried to track down the anesthesiologists for the epidural, but apparently was already giving an epidural to someone else at that moment.

The nurse even was a little concerned that she may have to deliver the baby if they couldn't get the doctor in time. She asked Steph to push once to see how close delivery was and immediately yelled; "stop!" They we're able to track the doctor down and he walked in dressed in his street clothes. He asked if he had time to change into scrubs and the nurses all exclaimed "No!" They threw a gown on him he came over and asked Steph to push once and here came Spence!

Steph did great during labor. She kept doing the breathing excercises like the classes said to, and I guess all that stuff paid off. She is doing very well. The Pregnancy Induced Hypertension pretty much subsided immediately following labor, so that was great news.

Life throws a curveball: One thing that I haven't talked about at all is the surprise we received when Spence was born. He came out very healthy, good color, good muscle tone, great lungs, but right away we noticed there was something wrong with his left hand. In fact, there are no fingers on his left hand. Which pretty much feels like a punch in the gut. Steph and I always joked that we didn't care about the sex of the baby as long as it had "10 fingers and 10 toes". So we are still processing that. The doctors speculate that his hand may have gotten caught in some amniotic material somewhere in the pregnancy and was kept from developing properly. But they are also going to check for the possibility of it being a genetic thing but we'll see.

We couldn't love this little guy more, and we are super excited he is here, but we're unsure of what challenges this lays ahead for us and him. I have faith that everything will work out fine and for the best but the unknown, really has us concerned. As always we appreciate your prayers

Friday, February 20, 2009

Worship Team Website

Here is a great website to bookmark: http://web.me.com/charliehines/vccworship/Welcome.html

Charlie designed it to help create community within the worship team, by keeping everyone informed about latest news, changes, setlists, schedules, special events, guest artists etc.etc. That is actually where I got the idea to keep this blog. Thanks Charlie!

It is pretty interesting to surf through. Also Powerpoint ops may also listen through the setlist here to get acquainted with songs for your weekend.

Check it out when you get a chance, it is definitely worth a look.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Great article forwarded to me by Brent Shock: Read and discuss

Hey all –

Here’s a link to a story I heard on NPR this morning about framing/creating video in the era of iPhones, cell phones, Myspace and YouTube. The ever smaller viewing screen is forcing directors to break the rules. Rules like framing in the center instead of the thirds, dropping long shots and using an abundance of extreme close ups.

I found it interesting and I thought you might enjoy.

Brent

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99880324&ft=1&f=3

PS: I’m sticking to the thirds. J

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Baby White Update

Steph overall has had a great pregnancy. We're coming up on week 37, so we're getting really close. The nursery is almost complete. We're doing some last minute painting and we still need to buy the drawers/changing table thing. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law have been a huge help in decorating the nursery. We do have the crib, bassinet and tons of baby things.

On the health front, Steph has developed pregnancy induced hypertension in the last few weeks, so her doctors have been closely monitoring her. In fact, yesterday she had an ultrasound to check on the growth and development of the baby, and it looks like it is growing completely normal and uneffected by the hypertension thus far. That was an immense relief, however the ultrasound did reveal that baby white is sideways instead of head down like it should be, increasing the chances of a c-section. I feel strongly that God has been protecting and healing Steph and the baby, because today Steph had another round of tests and her blood pressure was suddenly 116/80 which for the last few weeks it has been more like 140/90.

Thank You Lord!!

Steph would really like to deliver normally, but overall we are tickled that she and baby are doing well.

We appreciate any continued prayers, for a safe delivery for Steph and baby

Your Brother in Christ,
B-Dub

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Growing

Hi Y’all,
I’ve got some exciting news to pass along. Our attendance each weekend continues to swell our ranks. The auditorium is abuzz with a full house each weekend, most notably at 10am and at 11:40am, but even the Saturday night has been filling up. This is a very exciting time, although busting at the seams presents us with some great challenges, especially in the parking lot, and in Children’s ministry.

Leadership has brainstormed for the past few months on ways to tackle this challenge. A number of solutions were looked at, but they have landed on one that we can experiment with fairly easily. We are adding a celebration on Saturday night at 5pm. This will begin at Easter, April 12th and will continue for the following 6 weeks, at which point, we will go back to our standard 4 celebration-weekend. Over the summer months leadership will evaluate this 6 week experiment to see if it solved our capacity issues, or if another solution should be pursued.

I pass this along to the team to seek your feedback. What do you think of it? It obviously changes things for us, especially Saturday rehearsals. We have a couple of ideas on how to approach rehearsal but one idea has emerged as the front runner:

Thursday night tech rehearsal. - The band and Front of House are already rehearsing on Thursday nights at 7pm, so this would mean bringing in the whole Tech Team: Director, Switcher, Tape Op, Powerpoint, Lights, Robo Cams, and Cameras in around 8:15 to rehearse at 8:30 or so. Rehearsal would go from 30 to 45 minutes or so.

There are a lot of logistics to discuss with this plan, so we need your feedback.

First, is it doable for you?
Second, how do you feel about it?
Third, do you have any ideas that we may have not considered?

I would love to get a response from everyone. As we want to consider how this effects everyone. Let me know what you think by next Friday 2/13, because we’ll begin discussing specific strategies how to deal with this issue.

Your Brother in Christ,

Bryan

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Happy New Year!

2009 just doesn’t sound right but here it is anyway. And with the new year is the perfect time to reflect on the past year and look to 2009 with anticipation.

2008 highlights for me personally include: Stephanie finishing her Master’s degree, Family Force Five during SOS, the Awe series in August, learning about the Lord’s Prayer during Kingdom’s Cliff Notes, Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, The Regifter Show and finding out that I’m going to be a dad.

Most recently the Vineyard was staring at a shortfall of $1.2 million and possible staff cutbacks. But God provided through Year End giving which totaled $1.22 million!

I can't express the awe I've had over this year, how God is complete control. Even in the face of tragedy, God still has been speaking to me about His love for all of us, including me. In May, I received prophetic prayer from Karin Maney and other members of the prayer team at a team retreat. That prayer just blew me away and really assured me that He loves me like a son, and I'll leave it at that, but it touched my heart in such a way that I can't even talk about it:) If you ask me about it, I will likely change the subject with a joke or some otherwise glib comment:)

I'm extremely excited about the coming year. New tech team volunteers have been coming out of the woodwork, and we have been cross training folks every weekend. It is my goal to get all volunteers trained at every role except director and FOH. We will be an extremely flexible team able to adapt to any situation then.

But my main goal for 2009 is for tech team to grow closer in fellowship with the goal of each of us strengthening our relationships with Christ.

And of course, the main change for me in 2009 is becoming a father. I will go ahead ask for your prayers, in advance, and I'll pray for you all throughout 2009. Deal?:)