Rob Connelly

Rob Connelly will be giving a Church technology seminar of January 18th at New Life Community Church in Louisa Virginia.  The event will begin at 6:30pm.

Topics will include:

Church Technology as Worship

Leveraging Internet Technology Biblically

Basics of Church Audio

The Cost is Ten Dollars per church (with unlimited attendees) or Ten Dollars per individual.  The Address for New Life Community Church is 509 East Main Street Louisa Virgina 23093

I recently wrote an article for Church Production Magazine entitled “Church Technology as Worship”.  You can read it here:

http://www.churchproduction.com/go.php/article/9597

Mike Morris posted this on his blog Faith Engineer awhile back and it is worth the time to read!
Check it out Here: http://www.faithengineer.com/2008/09/integrating-technology-in-worship.html

I want to commend to you the Worship Facilities Conference Oct. 27-30 in Charlotte North Carolina.  Essentially the conference is the best opportunity for church technicians (volunteer or staff) to learn about the technology available to them and also to learn from industry experts and other Church servants.  I will be there, and I hope to see you there!

Does the Gospel (the goood news of the free gift of salvation through the death of Jesus Christ as substitutionary atonement for our sins) need technology in order for modern peaople to understand it or be impacted by it?  The answer is no.  In fact the gospel alone is sufficent for salvation (Romans 1:16) across all cultural boundaries.  So what if any role does technology have to play in the proclamation of the Gospel?  More to come

Though we really don’t intend to do so, modern Christians falter in our thinking.  We (all humans) are worshippers by nature.  This component of all of us was intended to be devoted to God.  Even inside the Church, many of us become worhsippers of secular culture with our time, our thoughts, our money, and much of our lives being devoted to its pursuit.  One interesting place in which this can seep into the church is in the area of technology.  In our desire to be excellent in what we do, which is a good thing, we begin to inadvertantly “worship” the technology (gear = toys) and the excellence it can afford instead of God.  So we must ask ourselves whether our pursuit of excellence in the use of technology constitutes worship of God or the technology itself.

Since the Bible Teaches us to live in community in the Church for the purposes of accountability and on-spurring (meaning encouragement and the general benefit of bringing diverse gifts, mind-sets, and experiences into our lives), then why would this concept not be appropriate for those who serve the  Church through Technology?  Church Sound Answers (check it out here) is one such community.  I started it because other forums I have seen are ONLY focused on the technical side of technology in the Church (we all know there is more to it than that).  Actually, most use the term “House of Worship” instead of Church to be PC so that they can get more advertising dollars.  Church Sound Answers is for the Church by the Church.  It includes a forum for non-technical issues that I believe can really benefit the Body.   It’s new and so there are not many members to date.  But its free and there is no catch.  So join the Community- or invite your Church’s tech folks on my behalf.

Although our goal in Church technology is to magnify the Message and assist in the discipleship and worship aspects of the Church’s mission while eliminating distractions, some times the video won’t play, there is feedback, the speakers’ beard repeatedly scratches the headset mic, or some other random occurrence of technological demon possession (just kidding… i think) takes place.   We must handle this situation with grace…. and that means everybody- the folks in the booth included!  But those in the booth are giving of themselves to serve the Body of Christ as an act of Worship to God so the rest of us should be able to put these issues in perspective.  For us nerds, these situations can cause us not to sleep well.  A recent difficult Sunday prompted a friend of mine who was the attending engineer to develop an RCA or root cause analysis form to get to the bottom of the issues.  I like this approach as long as we don’t forget the spiritual motivation for our excellence.

There are some questions that must be asked of any practice or element that is to be a part of the life of the Church.  Technology is no exception.  It seems however that most Churches and Christians are not asking these first questions of technology in the Church.  Is it Biblically appropriate to have ANY technology in the Church?  How has technology historically been used in the Church?  What are some dangers of using technology in the Church?  Is technology necessary to reach today’s culture?  I would love to recieve any suggestions of other questions.  This will be an ongoing topic.

I know it seems almost silly to say, but what better purpose could wire have than carrying electrical signal that amplifies the Gospel?  I really am a nerd.  Cool.