Tech Dump #1
[check the bottom of this post for all sorts of helpful tech "How To's"] There's an old joke about how, if a committee gets together and then tried to create a horse - they would make a camel. A camel is just a horse made by a committee. Well, the same is true of Church set ups! Whether it's the sound board and the sanctuary computer, or the wifi or the phones - there are lots of church Camels all around us! A lot of times, what will happen is that an incredibly well meaning volunteer will come in and do some good work. But then they will move away, or leave the church or even just move to a different ministry area after a few years. Nobody but that volunteer knows how things work. (it's even worse when it's the Pastor). So then, when a new volunteer comes in - a lot of times we have to rebuild from scratch, because we have NO IDEA how anything works. I have found it INCREDIBLY useful to explore churches and slowly riddle out their systems. Once you know how things work - where things are plugged in, and how it all comes together - WRITE IT DOWN. I keep a folder in my computer specially labelled for all the stuff I have figured out in the church. I also encourage all my leadership to do the same. Create a "How To" document for Trustees. Create a "How To" document for the sound board. Create a "How To" document for Finance. I always make comments about how I love what I do - but if I get hit by a bus tomorrow, someone needs to know how to come in here and do all this stuff. If you are fixing something, or cleaning out a room, or installing a new system - I recommend you WRITE IT ALL DOWN as you go. One time, I was clearing out some old cables from behind our sound board, and I pulled out a giant wad of cables that were over a decade old! They were for plugging the sound system into a VHS player. (a VHS player!). Someone a long time ago had removed the VHS player, but had never removed the cables. Another time, I was rerouting some ethernet cables while setting up a new Access Point (think wifi booster-thingy), and we found an old VERY low quality splitter zip tied to a pipe in the ceiling! Took us almost 2 hours to find it and figure out why it wasn't pulling through the hole we wanted it to. Stuff like that happens all over churches, and so if you're church doesn't take notes and save instructions - start right away! On top of ALL of that - during the Pandemic, Pastor's have suddenly discovered that we need to learn a whole new pile of skills and programs. I will probably do "Tech Dump" posts every couple of months - just to throw up a couple of "How To" Guides to show you how we are learning and recording what we are learning. Here's the first batch: How To Run Open Shot Video Editor: (it's free!)
How To Guide for REAPER (it's an audio editing software that works amazing with a digital sound board): (there's a free trial to test it out, and then you should pay for it):
How To Guide for running our Sound Board:
How To Guide for running the church Cameras:
How to create video clips from recorded worship services:
How to guide for ROKU worship (which is a way we bring out services to Nursing Homes during the Pandemic):
If your church has loads of money - it's usually best to pay the professionals. However, if you have no money, but are willing to tinker and learn - these guides might help you get started. Happy Tinkering!
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