Remnant Lately

Note: These were taken on various cell phones, and only serve the purpose of giving an idea of the transformation. In order to see it in better quality....you'll have to come see it live. Because, like we say at Remnant- "you don't have to fit in, you already BELONG"

Pre-Service Cue


Worship Cues

The Alice in Wonderland Experience

For the spring show, the Santiago Theater department decided to put on the classic play/movie "Alice in Wonderland." Although the casting for the play started in May of this year, the motions became a reality for me just in the last month or so. In this time, I have a had moments of learning that were unexpected. Here's the relevance- I believe that in order to become the best techie, tech director, or whatever you strive to be, you learn from seeing things done incorrectly and turn those moments into opportunities to possibly (not always, but possibly) avoid making that mistake. So, here are a few things that I learned from this experience that I hope to be able to apply as soon as the next show if not sooner.

MY TECH EQUATION: Tech is= 50% people skills, 40% equipment skills, 10% humor.

1) Tech is not superior. As my teacher/mentor Van Metschke would say "without them (band/actors/musicians) there would be no us, anyone can turn on a light switch and megaphone." Just because the actor is not a tech, doesn't mean they are automatically less intelligent. After playing the whole experience back in my head,there were many times where I was just thinking, "if I were the actor, I would smack that tech, they're people with brains too!" Now, of course there is always the exception to the rule, like the random actor who walks into a table flying in, but most are not.

2) Chaos is not productive. One of my fellow techs who I respect quite a bit, made a comment "I think we're more calm than them (the other techs running around like chickens with their heads cut off) because we have more experience." I think he's right. The more experienced a tech is, I believe the more calm they are. Here's what I learned: when the techs are frantic, the actors become frantic, then the techs get mad and get more frantic and the cycle goes on and on. But, the same is also true, so I decided to try and put it in effect, the result was rather satisfying.

3) This one occurred to me before this show, and is one of the main reasons that I decided to blog on this subject- don't mask the problem- fix it! This makes me scratch my head a bit because, when it comes to technical issues, all techs follow this principle- when a mic cord is exposed in an area where there is heavy foot traffic, we don't cover it up with more mic cables, we gaff tape it down! Well I think the same should be true when it comes to technical issues that don't have to due with the gear. When it comes to dealing with people, rather than post an explanation claiming that it's a "stressful week" or "tech week," how about just deal with the problem and put into place more effective/efficient practices. I think that by blaming it on the conditions, the problem is being hidden under excuses, which leads to this question: If you cover the problem with explanations, how will it ever get fixed?

4) People who go over and above rock, to say the least. For me, the theater experience has given me a broad spectrum of people to deal with, some more annoying or helpful than others, and for me, one of the only things I will remember is how helpful one of the actors was. We had an actor who had a pretty basic role, who (rather than shut down because they weren't a lead) decided to step up and help the techs out. I would like to shout out to Adam Lee for all his help with the cues--Adam, without you, I would be lost in scene changes!

5) Have fun! I believe tech is 10% humor (if not more!)

The Queen of Hearts, Brianna, giving a powerful performance

The Mad Hatter tea-party scene, Mckenna and I designed that table

Chef Adam and the Treshire Cat (Ally) along with the Dutchess making soup

The Red Queen, Julie, and the White Queen, Kelsie, along with the Catepillar, Jon

Fabian, the white Knight

The chef and his masterpiece of a cake (which he designed)

The teaparty

The grand finale

My favorite photo: They made backstage a party! (Ava, Adam)

Without this experience I would not have learned all this, so I am grateful for the opportunity.

Remnant Re:Launch

Here are a few pictures from the Re:Launch of the nextgen ministry, now known as Remnant at South Hills Church.















For more pictures, visit the South Hills Remnant Tech Photostream

Jerry Seinfeld on the Blackberry and iPhone

I found this funny because of how true it is.

Tech Team Outreach at Corona High

As part of our "Everyone Matters at South Hills" project, the Youth Tech Arts decided to take on the challenge and start reaching out to Corona. Two students from our youth service were involved in the production of "Suessical" as an actor and another in tech production. 10 "techies" and youth Pastor Chirs Harell rented a bus and drove down to Corona High for a special "backstage tour" and inside look into the theater production. It ended up being a great time that not only helped bring our team together but helped as an encouragement for the youth students. The experience had such an impact that it will now become a routine activity for our tech team to partake in.


Here's a few pictures from this awesome outreach:













South Hills Youth students partaking in the theater production's "tech dance"

Wow

Wow, that's really the only title I can come up with to describe the last few months and the work God is doing in my life. I don't really have a structure for this post, it's just random thoughts that I feel are valid and hopefully inspiring.

In usual fashion, I forget that God has a plan for everything and a purpose,and he has (yet again) shown this to me. Through a simple possible friendship to a brotherhood over the course of a few months, it just astounds me. More and more often I am praying that I would be able to reach out to people, and really just connect to them so that they can ultimately get connected with the Lord. And as usual he leads me and I try my best to follow, which sometimes is harder to do than I'd like. But as usual I prayed that the Lord would use me in some form or fashion and just be a megaphone for him to speak through. Fast forward to today, WOW! Not only have I developed a good deep friendship with this person, but they are what I would definitely consider a lifelong brother. All this grew from me just asking God to use me. I just feel so honored to be where I am right now, and if anything this has really inspired me to keep going.

Just like the bible says: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

Saturday Nights at Kidzone