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Holy Spirit Unable To Move Through Congregation As Fog Machine Breaks


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Speaking of machines in church services, does anyone else have a problem with bringing all this new technology into our worship services?

I am thinking specifically of things like computer controlled screens for hymns, Bible text and videos.

Here is my gripe; it used to be that the pastor or music director would stand and say, let's all turn to page xxx in our hymnals.
Now, why even bother when the hymn is supposed to be on the screen for all to see.

But more often than not the computer doesn't work, or the hymn won't display. So why even mess with this when we have hymnals for this purpose?

Next is computer controlled accompanying music because we may not have a musician. Inevitably the computer can't be made to play the music, so you have to sing a Capella anyway.

it would not be so bad if it was a once in a while thing, but every service the pastor or music director gets to fiddle with the computer, taking up service time and finally not being able to make it work anyway.

Is it just me being a grumpy old guy???

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Okay, tonight we'll sing your favorites from the hymnal -- Bro Bob, which page #? Ooops, can't do that, they aren't loaded on the computer because we didn't have everything in a prepackaged menu.

 

Hey Bill, let me teach you the bass harmony. The bass notes are these, it generally is the chordal root, some passing notes, a few third or fifth intervals. Not as hard as it sounds, listen for where I'm at, the note movement will give you an indication of movement direction. You'll get the hang of it quickly  ---------- wait a minute, the music won't be on the screen, just the words. If you can't run harmony by ear then it has to be all melody.

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Well, Jim, having been to our church, you'll remember we do our music from the computer, as we have no pianist, and no piano. We do occasionally have issues but they are rare-don't remember if we had any while you were there. But we DO use  hymnals, never put music on the screen. And I do use a screen during many of my sermons-I do a powerpoint, but only occasionally put the Bible verses up since I want people to know how to use their Bibles. I use the powerpoint more for pictures, to help bring home ideas-I have found many of our folks are visually-oriented and seem better able to remember things if there are pictures added to the points.

Case in point: Once in a while I repeat sermons if I was to better get certain things across. About a year ago I did a lesson from 2Peter 1:1-8, where we start with faith, and add to that virtue, then knowledge, etc. And when I did it last year, I used the example of building a house, and sort of connected it to 1Cor 3, where Paul talks about building our life as a building. And as I hit each point, I added a piece of structure, faith being the foundation, then pillars, a ceiling, then the two sides of the roof. Apparently it was such a good illustration that one of our newer men, as soon as I began, just from the title, he remembered the whole thing, how the house was built, etc. So this is why I use my projector.  

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No musicians? That's getting VERY common and expect to see more of it.

Back in the late 1980s, Synthia was invented for that very problem. 'She' was a small 'black box' that plugged into your sound system and had over 250 hymns from Baptist hymnals played by a Baptist church pianist programed into it. It has been a blessing to MANY congregations with nobody that can play an instrument.

A Capella -- I don't have a problem with it. 

A while back I was going through the journeys of Paul on Wed nights and used a projector for the maps and some pictures.  On that note, we used to have a man here who didn't like it for the same reason that he didn't EVER want to go to "The Promised Land". He said, "I have a picture in my mind of what I think it looks like and don't want that picture messed up if it's not accurate!"  We had a preacher visit that had been to Israel over 10 times. After going to "State Lake" (the lake has been dry over 20 years) and "The Breaks" he said, "This looks like the Golan Heights". The man I referenced above told me, "See, I just can't picture that, it's not how I think it looks"

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3 hours ago, OLD fashioned preacher said:

No musicians? That's getting VERY common and expect to see more of it.

Back in the late 1980s, Synthia was invented for that very problem. 'She' was a small 'black box' that plugged into your sound system and had over 250 hymns from Baptist hymnals played by a Baptist church pianist programed into it.

We had a machine made by a company called Gulbransen-they were also a maker of player pianos. This machine had some 2,400 hymns on it, with full ability to change key, to program the number of verses you wanted to sing, and it could play like 90 instruments. It was an amazing machine, but it eventually died and they are quite expensive, and while we had a friend fix it and it lasted for a while, it finally died completely. They cost, new, just under $1000. http://www.qrsmusic.com/gulbransen/digital.asp?product=digital_hymnal  If it can be afforded, it makes a nice replacement if there's no piano. I'd actually love another one, because as much as I like the ones found on computer, you are limited by the player's style and speed.

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Thanks for both of your thoughts on this subject OFP and UKE. I guess I must just be old and set in my ways.

I can see the value for power points to get a point across and help visualize. But here again, if the equipment doesn't work, or the operator doesn't know how to run it, what is the point? Like I said in the OP, if it were a "once in a while" thing that is different, but not every service.

And even if the computer works correctly, there are many times that the music played is not what is considered 
"usual" as to speed and tempo as found in the hymnal you are using.

I have no problem with A Capella at all, I prefer it to fiddling with a machine or playing music that just confuses everyone.

OK,I admit it, I'm just a grumpy old guy.

We were blessed last Sunday morning with a lady that came with her husband and she volunteered to play for piano for us. It was their first visit to our church, so I am sure it was a blessing to both them and us.

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It was a long discussion at our church but we finally added a screen to display hymns, Scripture, announcements and such. This has been a real blessing to our many older members who simply can't see well enough to read the hymnals or from a Bible.

When the hymns and Bible passages are displayed on the screen the hymns page number is listed and the Bible passage is too. We still have hymns and Bibles in the pews. Our pastor always announces the hymns page number and Bible passage to turn to for those who do use the hymnals and/or a physical Bible.

Our associate pastor is pretty tech savvy and has been able to easily train a few folks to run the computer. We've had a few minor issues on rare occasion but nothing serious.

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Let me first say that I agree, I don't like the whole project the song on a screen deal. However, there is one advantage. Kids don't write on the screen like they do on the songbook.

I know some good churches that have screens and use them, my brother-in-law is taking over pastoring one of them, but I still thing that church should be "HOLY". Have technology if you will, use technology if you must, but keep it unnoticed and in the background. This coming from the one of the most tech savvy people in my church.

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15 hours ago, Musician4God1611 said:

I might also add that, if you sing by reading the notes (I do, it keeps everyone's harmony on the same chord), then you're going to want a songbook, not a screen.

This is great when folks know how to read the notes but very few do these days.

Considering this reminds me of an elderly couple in our church. The wife still has a decent voice even in her advanced age but the husband's voice is afflicted by age. Even so, that fine man of God sings forth with the same loudness (appropriate loudness, not showy or obnoxious) and zeal as ever before. It's clear he still attempts to sing according to the notes even though his voice won't cooperate in many cases. It's a pleasure to be near him and his wife as they sing unto the Lord.

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