I run sound and video most Sundays, which is a strange way to attend church, half worship and half air traffic control, with one eye on the switcher and one ear on whether the pastor's lav mic is about to cut out mid-point. There are two services, 9 am contemporary and 11 am traditional, and I know both boards by feel now, the same way you learn which stair in your own house creaks.
North Main Street is quiet at 8:30 in the morning, before either service, and somebody always has the coffee going before I do. I've tried to catch whoever it is in the act for years and have never once succeeded, which has started to feel less like bad timing and more like a system working exactly as intended.
I've watched the same faces move through the same pews for a long time now, kids growing taller a row at a time, and on the hard weeks people show up for each other without being asked twice. That's the part I'd miss most if I stopped showing up, sound board or not. read more