Change it Up, Rewire, Add, and Test

I am a production fanatic. I love creating environments where people can connect with God. An environment that helps people move past their present circumstances and toward God never happens by accident. This week our team is prepping to launch our fall gathering for teens so my mind is focused on production...SO...that is what I am going to focus on this week. Every fall we work through the process of changing it up, rewiring, adding, and testing...

• CHANGE IT UP > one simple way to keep things fresh in your environments is to simply move things on stage around. Before both fall and spring semesters we change up our stage layout. We rent the same facility all year so we are blessed to be able to leave our stuff set BUT change is good and does make a difference as teens come in for that first week and GUESS WHAT...it is free!
• REWIRE> this is hard work but it is worth it. At the beginning of fall we unplug everything and rewire it all. Rewiring keeps the stage clean and helps us to make sure everything is working right. Today we tossed several jacked up mic chords. If they don't work they get trashed! Nothing looks better than a clean stage! (I said I was a production freak)
• ADD> we try to add some new stuff each year to our arsenal. You will never be able to have every toy you want for sound or lighting so you have to add as you go. This year we have been able to save thousands of dollars by being patient and looking for used deals (we are moving to in-ear monitors) We are also adding some stage elements that we are going to use for the Sunday morning gathering in August (we get them after this series!) When it comes to ADDING, think ahead and add a little every year.
• TEST> if you want to have a good first night you better take time and test every system. LEAVE NOTHING UNTESTED! Today we were able to get a hum out of some of our speakers...we got it worked out by a simple fix but that fix came by testing over several days.