Joshua and I spent Saturday afternoon preparing the environment for Trevor. We then spent most of Sunday in terms of load-in, sound check, services, tear down and a late lunch with Trevor, Brad and Andy. Great friends and a special time to get together.

I brought my own direct boxes, microphones, monitors, interconnects. I tried to bring in a proper sound system for the event but I was too late for booking. Summer is a busy time for the audio houses. The system at the church is very, very rough. I was able to get the job done but I’ve never had to “fight” with a sound system to try and wrestle out a decent sound like I did with this one. Joshua did a great job on the multimedia component and we made all the cues and transitions without a blip.

A very powerful and moving morning. I know Trevor often drops by the blog. Trevor, you are amazing! Well done.

Although a lot of planning went into the event, the past two days have been exhausting. I am very tired today. However, the memories will last a lifetime. A few photos from the event.

It was a special time all around. Particularly when I get the chance to serve with my son.

For those of you looking for a glimpse of the new gear in action, here it is. Awesome guitar to play and an awesome rig. This first photo is a picture of me and my son. I think he liked a certain guitar riff I had just played.

Here is a shot of part of the band. We also had three singers with us. Perhaps the camera needs a wider lens.

Always a good idea to tune before you play. The photo does give a front shot of the new Tom Anderson guitar as well as a peek at the new Dr Z rig.

Groovin’ and riffin’.

So said the organist of St. Paul’s Anglican Church. St. Paul’s, located in Lachine, Quebec, was the church of my youth. And it is an example of how quickly and dramatically the church has declined in just one generation.

St. Paul’s played a major role in my life as a child. Sunday services where I served in the choir and as an altar boy. Scouts. Youth Group. Worship bands. Confirmation. An active church community of well over 500 people.

St. Paul’s was also the church where my father’s memorial service was held. As I wandered through the church sanctuary, memories from that day entered my mind. I had just turned sixteen.

I remembered that just before the funeral service, while we were still at the funeral home, and while no one was looking, I placed a small wooden cross into my dead father’s casket. This cross was given to me by the Reverend of St. Paul’s on the day of my confirmation. My hope was that this cross would somehow help my father. That there would be a physical and ongoing link between him and I even though he was dead.

The lesson of the cross is for the living — not for the dead.

And perhaps the cross was removed before the casket made its way to St. Paul’s. I will never know. But the memory of that day still grips me with sadness and despair.

St. Paul’s was built in 1964. And the church sanctuary looks exactly as it did when I was there over 40 years ago. I have included a few photos that I took of the church earlier today.

As I was shooting the interior of the church, the organist came over and talked with me. What had once been a healthy and vibrant community of believers 40 years ago was now a community of fewer than 30 people. And, once they have passed away, there is no one to lead the next generation of believers at St. Paul’s.

Although a wonderful ideal for user interfacing and audio organizing, digital consoles are simply not cost effective. A well-manufactured professional digital mixer, loaded with the necessary features, is just far too expensive. Due to this fact alone, a digital mixer should often be considered a last resort, and only if there is enough in the budget to pay the massive premium for a top-of-line console. There are exceptions to this rule though, as these mixers are greatly suited for large churches with huge worship teams and productions on Sundays, as well as throughout the week. In those venues, the cost factor becomes insignificant due to the fact that the benefits of a digital console become overwhelming. Those venues have a need for a massive number of inputs, and the ability to interact with them on a much more complex level; this is not the case with the remaining vast majority of churches. In almost every situation, an analogue mixer remains the best choice of consoles for a churches needs. They’re straightforward, cheaper with far greater quality and features versus a digital console of the same price, and are much easier to teach others how to use – which in a church environment is an absolute necessity for the majority of those able to help with sound teams.

Via.

Vosper had a number of things to say about Christianity. She foresees a future where the label Christian will not exist. Her view is that the central story of Christianity will fade away and the story of Jesus as the symbol of everything that Christianity is will also fade away. Vosper does not believe in the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection, miracles or that Jesus was the Son of God.

According to the article in the National Post, Vosper believes that Jesus was a middle eastern peasant with a few charismatic gifts and a great posthumous marketing team.

And what is Gretta Vosper’s calling? She is a minister. At West Hill United Church. She chairs a group called the Canadian Centre For Progressive Christianity. Their mandate seems to be focused on challenging the church to do a complete overhaul of the beliefs it has been carrying for the last several hundred years. The gospel, it appears, needs revision. From the Progressive Christianity website:

Thinking ourselves forward to a sustainable future for all life on the planet (and isn’t that something we should be working toward?) requires that we allow our beliefs–all our beliefs–to be examined in the light of critical contemporary scholarship and understanding and, if they are found to be destructive, divisive, or simply unhelpful, to work toward opening ourselves to new ideas and the possibility of new beliefs.

The article in the Post was a full page with photo in the front section of the week-end paper. Likely a marketing move by the book publisher.

When I read the article, I reflected on the complete and utter lack of integrity being demonstrated by this person. I wondered how she reconciled her ministry in the United Church of Canada when she rejected several of their core tenets of faith. And I could not help but think that the Unitarians would be a better fit for her ministry.

Stephen Prothero, author of Blind Faith, makes some interesting observations on the nature of religious literacy in the United States. I imagine a similar situation exists in Canada.

Prothero researched polls which found that roughly 75 percent of adults believe that the bible teaches God helps those who help themselves. Roughly 50 percent can only name one of the four Gospels. Only 50 percent can identify Genesis as being a book in the bible. And 10 percent think that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife.

You can take Prothero’s religious literacy quiz here. He also wrote a very thought provoking article in USA Today about whether the church is losing the millenial generation.