My Life in Tech Ministries

Power Lab - Kidz Kaboom 2011

2011-04-26T14:17:00.000-07:00

I am definetly not going to lie. Kidz Kaboom is one of my favorite times to let my creativity out. From the very beginning of service planning to finally the last day and tearing down. This year theme is a science theme called "Power Lab", just like last year with the jungle theme and it was called "Jungle Mania". The last time we did a sort of "techno" theme was two years ago when we did the space theme "Out of this World". A Science lab theme is perfect for more up scale media stuff like strobe lighting, intelligent lighting, flashy videos, ect. I will be continuing to post more and more about this as we get closer. Kidz Kaboom is June 21-24.

Jazz III Picture Edit

2011-04-12T18:14:00.001-07:00

I normally don’t post about stuff at school, but this is my latest edit from Paint.Net

Impact 2011: JPEG Ad 1 and Video Trailer 1

2011-03-28T16:37:00.001-07:00

The next couple of posts, I will be posting Ideas for ads for a summer event coming up at 2Twenty in the middle of June called Impact. Here are JPEG Image 1 and Video trailer 1.

Video Promo 1

It’s Finally Here!

2011-03-22T16:36:00.001-07:00

When it comes to any production, one thing I love to do with a burning passion is lighting. And since City Reach this past year, our lights haven’t worked at 2Twenty. Leaving me either to do sound (which I don’t mind), computer (which I never do but sometimes would like to do), or do nothing. And personally, I don’t like to do nothing. But finally, lights return!!!

We recently just bought an Elation DMX Operator 192 light board. This is for our Intelligent lights, which are the three old intelligent lights from APC. They are 3 American DJ AccuScan 250’s. The lights are going up the first of April. CAN’T WAIT!!!!

Recent Graphics

2011-03-14T17:54:00.001-07:00

One of the things I have really tried to work on with my tech work lately is my work with graphic Design. Below is some of my latest work. Take a look and let me know what you think!

Winter Retreat Recap Video

2011-03-03T18:09:00.000-08:00

Winter Retreat Recap from Mike Fowler on Vimeo.

Four Thoughts on Winter Retreat

2011-02-27T16:33:00.001-08:00

Working with multiple light boards

This weekend I worked with three different light boards. Elation's Stage Desk 16, Chauvet's Obey 70 DMX board, and NSI's MLC 16 motorized light board. When you work a productions, I've figured it's never too late for last minute changes. Friday morning when I got up to Erie, all the lights were in position and ready to go. But 2 hours before service started, we had to change 2 of the American DJ AccuColor's and made them spot lights. One for the lead singer (By the way, Shay Mooney is awesome! :D), and one as a spot light for the front of the room. It took me till Saturday Afternoon to figure out how to program one board. But in the end, it all ended up great and it was a successful production
Shakeable things in my life need to be "Unshakable'', and no one can change them

The theme for the weekend was "Unshakable". So I've realized that a lot of things in my life need to be Unshakable. Like school, my family, work, and my tech ministries. But the most important one that I felt had to be #1 priority is my relationship with God. That has to be the top one in my life.

These last two are self explanatory:
I need more than 6 hours a night for sleeping during retreat
Take a church production set up, play a move like Despicable Me, and it sounds and looks awesome!!

Fine Arts Sectionals Recap

2011-02-21T17:01:00.001-08:00

By the way, the tech side of fine arts for me, MY GRAPHIC DESIGN IS GOING TO DISTRICTS!! AND SO IS MY SERMON!!! Take a look!

BTW, Winter Retreat is this weekend in ERIE!!

Winter Retreat Prep

2011-02-12T04:18:00.000-08:00

Finally, the final stages of planning Winter Retreat come at hand. Last year we saw a powerful movement in the building. Here's what happened:

Best Way to Run Stage Lights

2011-02-10T18:59:00.000-08:00

This would be sweet with the stage lights. But is it possible for Winter Retreat? Here's what I am dealing with:

4 American DJ Accu Scan 250's
3 Chavet COLORdash Battons (Allison Park's)
LED Par Cans
2 Elation DMX Operator 192

I'm looking for help. Can it be possible. Leave me some comments with your thoughts.

Upward Halftime Videos

2011-01-23T07:13:00.000-08:00

Lately, I have been working on some videos for Pastor Joe Schafer for Upward Basketball. This is has been for the halftime shows. This year, the theme was based on the Fruits of the Spirit. The video below is dealing with the fruit "Peace". Take a look

New Email Header

2011-01-18T14:21:00.000-08:00

I designed a new footer for my email. This is how it came out. No prank calls or emails. :D

Winter Retreat Lighting Ideas

2011-01-08T18:15:00.001-08:00

Winter Retreat is Awesome!

But seriously, when I do lights for any APC Event, my goal is to make them look good and still make an atmosphere for worship and for people to connect with God. So I have had a couple of thoughts for how I can do this. This year we are planning to use all LED’s and some Intelligent lights. So do you think we should still get par cans? Here are my thoughts for what we have.

1) Have four LED’s on two trusses and a few on the floor with Intelligent lights on top of the trusses.

2) All LED’s on the floor and intelligent lights in the ceiling.

What’s the best idea?

NA Band: Trip to PIAA Championship Game

2011-01-07T02:38:00.000-08:00

North Allegheny Tiger Band: Hershey, PA Trip from Mike Fowler on Vimeo.

Winter Retreat: Best Production by Far

2011-01-04T16:45:00.000-08:00

This year, I intend on using my blog as a resource for those looking for good tips, suggestions, and service ideas for youth groups looking to do a winter retreat.

But more importantly; this year I also plan on making some ideas for Winter Retreat happen. This year we're doing so much more with stage lighting, it's not even funny. More posts on that coming in the future. Brad is taking care of the videos, but stage lights are my thing. I will plan on posting more in the future.

1st Post of 2011: Winter Retreat Countdown Video

2011-01-03T18:46:00.000-08:00

NYE Bash Motion Logo: First Look

2010-12-30T16:30:00.000-08:00

NYE Bash/Upward Basketball/Winter Retreat

2010-12-28T15:53:00.000-08:00

This is that time of year where the creativity level in my mind just explodes (in a good way that is). Friday Night starts our New Years Eve Party. It's an all night party that starts at 10pm and ends at 7am. Yeah fun times. I invited a few friends from school to come with me and I'm hoping that they can come.
Secondly, Upward Basketball is starting again. This year I have the distinct pleasure of making the videos that we show at halftime every week. This year we are focusing on the fruits of the spirit. There's nine weeks of Upward and nine fruits of the spirit, so it all works out perfectly. I'll post some of them as I finish.
Finally, It's time to start planning for Winter Retreat. YAY!! More details later.

MY FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR! JUST SAYING!!!

Christmas Break

2010-12-28T03:48:00.000-08:00

Today I get to hang out with an old friend of mine from Allison Park Church. My friend Gilbert Ackerman is studying at Central Bible College and is in town while he is on break. I am so glad I get to hang with him. He and I go back to a long time ago when we we're in a skit together from City Reach. Yea one of the rehearsals didn't end well. This is what I mean

APC Kids Production

2010-12-20T18:31:00.001-08:00

This past weekend was the APC Christmas Production. All the kids from Crosstown came downstairs and sang. Take a look at the livestream

Watch live streaming video from allisonparkchurch at livestream.com

Christmas Production Weekend

2010-12-16T16:23:00.000-08:00

This weekend at Allison Park Church, is probably one of my favorite weekends that we do at the church. It's our kids production weekend at the church. This is the weekend when we have all the kids in Crosstown, they do a song and dance or two, and everyone in the crowd goes "awww... :)"

But this is one of those weekends where my creativity just explodes everywhere for the better. While I work on some of the service stuff, Brian, the church video guy works on the videos for the weekends. Here's the ones he made last year.

All I Want For Christmas Is....

2010-12-06T14:22:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, we started a new sermon series at APC Called "All I Want For Christmas Is..." Here's a video we used to kick off the message.

Man on the Street - All I Want For Chirstmas from Allison Park Church on Vimeo.

Software Review: Elation Elumination

2010-11-30T13:50:00.000-08:00

Today I thought I'd start doing some software reviews. Today I'm going to start with Elation Lighting "Elumination Software". This software let's you control up to 8 groups at one time with 8 different light banks. Along with each bank, you can program up to 48 different fixtures. This software gives you the same capability as a normal light board.If you can look at the image, you can see that I have programed 2 Intelligent scanners which I can change how it moves, the gobos, color fixtures, and so much more. Also I have 8 color LED's from American DJ, and 11 LED par can lights from Elation (good for any preach or stage white lights).

Personally, I've always been the one to run lights from multiple light boards, one for intelligent lights and one for everything else (including house lights), but I like this program because I can control all that just from my laptop (and I have a small laptop [netbook]) and it's a free software. Now you maybe wondering. "Don't you need a special cord to run lights from a computer?" Yes you do, and it's cheap. All you need is a USB to DMX cable, then attach the DMX end to the other end of another DMX cable and it will work. Hope this helps! Next I'll start doing worship softwares!

I Don't Like to Brag but.........

2010-11-28T06:21:00.000-08:00

I normally like to brag but....

Ripple Effect Part 3

2010-11-25T15:36:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, I got to cover the tech booth as "Video Lead" for Brian again. I also got to edit the sermon video and post it on the internet. Take a look below.

Ripple Effect 3 - Obedience from Allison Park Church on Vimeo.

Also, one picture edit of mine in honor of Thanksgiving

Looking Back on Old Videos

2010-11-17T07:21:00.000-08:00

The past week I have been home sick. I have had nothing else to do, so I have been looking back at some old videos I have made in the past 2 years. I took some of my favorite and put it into one. Check it out.

Mike Fowler Video Reel from Mike Fowler on Vimeo.

Re Edited for The 12 Disciples

2010-11-11T13:41:00.000-08:00

Trying new software, I did my re-edit in Pinnacle Editing Software. Check out the outcome!

Home Sick Really isn't That Fun

2010-11-11T03:18:00.000-08:00

Today on Veterans Day, I am home sick with a fever. That gives me a chance to do a couple of things that I really need to do before the next couple of weekends.

1. 12 Disciples Video for Joe. Here's how the first try came out, so I'm redoing it.

2. Look up lights for 2Twenty. Any suggestions, let me know!!!!

The Search is On

2010-11-01T16:15:00.000-07:00

A couple of month's ago, our light board at 2Twenty :'(
Anyway, time to move on. I am currently on the search for the following:

New lights at 2Twenty
PC Based Software
Oh...and a new computer (Laptop or Desktop i don't care)

So, does anyone have any suggestions? Let me know asap!

The Continuation of Short Film Writting

2010-10-02T17:51:00.000-07:00

It is October 2, 2010 at 9pm as I am writing this post. This weekend is North Allegheny's homecoming weekend/dance. Take a look at his pic from last year.

Yeah...good times. I was suppose to go this year again, but some rather personal things came up, and I decided not to go....yea I made a terrible mistake. I should have gone. As I was thinking about weather to go tonight or not last weekend during church, Pastor Jeff mention in his sermon "Focus your thought more inward to the future." Then I decided not to go...bad mistake. So I figured, what the heck, I could be doing a lot of better things on a Saturday Night. So far the only better thing I did was go to Crosstown...even if I wanted to go to both Crosstown and the Dance, I could've made both, since Crosstown is over at 7:15 and the dance was at 8:00. But this morning I got a chance to write more of my short film script. Check out the last scene I typed below.

SCENE 3—ALLISON PARK CHURCH OFFICES

(Scene starts with Ben walking down the hall by the kitchen and is pulled into the office kitchen by JoLyn, Matt, Sarah Mazza, Sage, and Garret all at the same time)

Ben – Woah! What’s going on?

Garret – Reaching out to the new girl I see? Good for you man

Ben – Uhh…thanks?

Matt – Sooo….

Ben – So what?

JoLyn – How did it go yesterday? I saw you’re montage from my car.

Ben – You were following us?

Sarah Ma – We all were. I was in my car, Garret and Matt rode together, and even Sage was in on this! He walked though

Ben – Yea I saw him. Sage why did you do that?

Sage – Dude, anything for overtime pay. Plus I always like seeing my friends reaching out to them.

Ben – Well for all your information, we had a good time.

Garret – Yea but now it’s time for the next step. Inviting her to church.

Ben – Dude we all just met her yesterday. You think she’s ready for that already?

Sage – Sure. You sometimes never realize someone is ready for something new.

JoLyn – I think for once Sage is right!

Ben – Alright I’ll give it a try.

(Ben walks out of the kitchen heading toward Sarah Mc’s cubical, everyone else just pokes their heads out of the kitchen door)

Sarah Mc – Oh hey Ben! I had a really good time yesterday.

Ben – Hey me to. And I just realized it’s Friday. Do you have any plans for Sunday morning?

Sarah Mc – Well I was going to sleep in and watch random videos on YouTube all day, but no why?

Ben – Well I was planning on going to my church this Sunday. Would you be interested in coming with me?

Sarah Mc – Well…I don’t know. What if people are doing weird things during that?

Ben – They won’t. And I’ll be there the whole time. So you want to come?

Sarah Mc - ...Sure. Why not.

Ben – Okay I’ll pick you up around 8:30?

Sarah Mc – Okay sweet.

(Ben looks back at every one and gives them a thumbs up. Everyone starts silently cheering and getting excited.)

Hayden Loven--Fine Arts Drama Solo

2010-09-25T08:33:00.000-07:00

This guy in the video below won 1st Place in Drama solo last year when I went to Orlando Florida. This was 2Twenty's experience last year.

But this guy is just flip out hillarious! Check it out!

Plus also check out our chrisian band that WON!!!

Short Film Season AGAIN!

2010-09-09T17:14:00.000-07:00

That was the result of my short film this year. This year I plan to do a lot better job at it. The theme for Fine Arts 2011 is "Compelled by Love". In the Catagory of Short Film, it is not required that you use the theme in you're short film. Yet some how I end up using it some how. Take last year for example. The theme was "This Changes Everything". As you saw in the vidoe, the Fortune cookie changed everything as well as Jolyn's new commitment to follow Jesus Christ. I am also entering graphic design as well this year. I'll be posting ideas for that very soon too!

August 29 Sermon--Filling in for Brian

2010-09-05T04:33:00.001-07:00

For those of you who didn't know, I filled in for Brian being the producer at Allison Park Church this past weekend. One of my objectives was to edit and post the sermon video onto Vimeo. You can check out the video HERE!

God Empowers Me--This Changes Everything Part 3 from Allison Park Church on Vimeo.

Greg Hubbard Intro Video

2010-08-28T08:14:00.000-07:00

Greg Hubbard Intro from Brian Lippert on Vimeo.

Worship...just what you need in Stressful times

2010-08-25T12:40:00.000-07:00

I know this has nothing to do with 2Twenty media, but I felt like I had to post this....The past couple of days, I guess I wouldn't call them my best. Just because of some relationship issues and wondering as summer comes to a close, who can I help and become really really close to this year. Well an attempt last night (Tuesday), as we teenagers say, epically failed. But then I started to reflect on an APC Minute we had in December that Brad Harvey was in........

So what can I take from that in my personal life....

1. Worship reminds us that God provides for those in need. If you're having a stressful time, just pray to God for guidance that he will lead you down the right path and point you in the right direction.
2. Worship puts our current situations in to proper perspective. Once a situtation hits, you think that the world is coming to an end. After worship, everything comes into reason
3. Worship Fills our spirits with strength. God gives strength and a new hope for the future.

So now I'm heading over to 2Twenty for some awesome worship.

It's Almost Here! Detroit 2010

2010-07-23T08:16:00.000-07:00

In about 10 days, I will be leaving for Detroit Michigan, the site for the National Fine Arts Competition. I will be traveling in a group with a few other people. This year we have 35 students from Allison Park Church taking part in this. We would apriciate your prayers as we go. The tech side of me decided to make a twitter account that you can follow while we're gone by Clicking Here

Also I'll try to post as often as I can while we're there. Keep following the twitter, facebook, and the blog for updates during the week.

Crosstown Video...Armor of God

2010-07-19T10:59:00.000-07:00

Today I took the chance to work on another video for Pastor Joe Schafer for Crosstown. Their next series coming up September 2010 is on the Armor of God. Here's how the video came out.

City Reach Prep Time!!

2010-07-12T18:58:00.000-07:00

We'll, it's finally time. Time to plan for City Reach 2010. Above is the Countdown video I created for this event. City Reach is the event where we reach out to our church plant communities. Unfortunately, for the first time in 2 years, I will not be able to attend because of a school commitment. :-(

But I will be there the first couple nights for service and possibly staying over night at Allison Park Church. I'll keep you updated.

Kidz Kaboom Countdown Video

2010-06-28T19:24:00.000-07:00

Kidz Kaboom 2010 Countdown from Mike Fowler on Vimeo.

A Huge Success!!!

2010-06-27T02:48:00.000-07:00

As you can tell by this weeks APC Minute, Kidz Kaboom was a huge success. We had over 300 Kids on the Campus over the week and over 1oo youth and adult volunteers this week. I had the chance to work with some amazing people along with my producer Brian Lippert. He is an amazing man of God and loves doing what he does. I love him with a passion and he will continue to do great things. But every year we do something called a penny weigh. If the Girls win, Joe Schafer gets a pie in his face. If the boys win, his wife Rachael gets a pie in the face. Here was the out come.

Kidz Kaboom Day 1

2010-06-21T16:39:00.000-07:00

This week I am going to blog about what happened at Kidz Kaboom each day. Today was just a set up day and orientation day. We went over the service (as you can see in the picture). The major part of my day was programing lights and making sure everyone in the tech booth knew what they were doing. Fortunatly we are ready for what tomorrow has to offer. By the way, every morning we start off with a time of prayer and worship in the Chapel. It is not completed without the historic 2Twenty and Allison Park Church dance know as, "THE BIG ROUND SUN". The song is Lead by our own Gregg Jacobs (Junior High School Pastor). You can see that video below. I apologize ahead of time that the audio is bad in the video.

It Finally Happens this Week!

2010-06-18T19:42:00.000-07:00

Finally! One of my favorite productions of the year here at Allison Park Church is happening this week. That one is also known as Kidz Kaboom. Close or over 400 elementary and pre-school kids will be on the APC Campus during the week, and over 100 teen helpers will be on site to assist them. What happens during Kidz Kaboom is in the morning there are camps that the kids attend (art, basketball, martial arts, cooking, dance, cheerleading, and obviously the pre-school camp for the pre-schoolers). Then in the afternoon, there is a high energy service that takes place featuring worship, games, story, scripture memorization, multi-media, and soooooo...much more! That's where tech ministries comes into play. In order to make it high energy, we want to bring in equipment that will make the service (rally) look both good, inspirational, and freakin awesome all at the same time. Sunday afternoon till the wee hours of Monday morning (if it takes us till 2am, we'll be there) is the set up in the sanctuary. I will try to update from there at some point with some pics of what's happening so far.

Ignite 2010 Tech

2010-06-12T19:44:00.000-07:00

This past Thursday (before you ask, yes I am out of school) I had a great opportunity to really go out on my tech ministries. I helped with the Tech Booth for Ignite 2010 Round table. This was held by Allison Park Church and the MCM Network and we had atleast 100 different pastors and leaders from all over the country and in Pittsburgh. I saw some great friends like Rich Jones, Greg Krowits, Brian Bolt, and so many more. It was a fun day and there was extremely good Chinese Food :). Okay, so now that I talked about that, here's the latest Worship Videos for Crosstown I've been working on.

Another Crosstown Worship Song---Take it All

2010-06-01T18:54:00.000-07:00

Today, I began again to start the Crosstown Worship Songs. By re-editing them and such in Sony Vegas. Take at look at Take it All by Hillsong Kids

Take it All from Mike Fowler on Vimeo.

Yes I know this is Late

2010-05-25T18:29:00.000-07:00

Yes I know this is just a little bit late, but in March (see told you it was just a little late :D) I filmed the first service at the new Sharpsburg Family Worship Center. My friend Tim leads worship there so I thought that I should be there. SFWC is one of the original Church Plants from Allison Park Church. My friend from Sweden Johannes Amrizter was preaching that evening. Here is the recap video that so many people were asking for. Click here or look below.

Cullen on Tanzania Update

2010-05-24T16:06:00.001-07:00

Tanzania #2 from Mission SOS on Vimeo.

Test Kidz Kaboom Promo

2010-05-23T03:27:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, when I was trialing a software called Sony Vegas Move Studio. It's an at home movie editor that can let you upload videos to YouTube, Vimeo, even this blog. I'm buying this software very soon (thank god!). But while I was testing it, I decided to make a test kidz kaboom promo out of this software. It uses mainly text clips, JPEG Images, and one part of the original video (don't tell brian....haha jk). You can view that below.

Latest Update from Tanzania

2010-05-22T04:22:00.000-07:00

For the next couple of weeks, Pastor Cullen (high school pastor) and the MCM Ministry School Students will be in the Nation of Tanzania for the Signs and Wonders Festival. Others are joining them including Gilbert Ackerman, Debbie Lynch, and many more. So far, almost over 500 people recieved Jesus into their lives. Great things are happening there and god is going to bless Tanzania greatly. The Festival is held by Mission SOS lead by a Good Friend to Allison Park Church, Johannes Amrizter. He will be speaking at Allison Park Church for the Ministry School Graduation coming up at the beginning of Next Month. You can take a look at the Latest update from Mission SOS on Vimeo below.

TZ: #3 from Mission SOS on Vimeo.

This Guy is a Beast

2010-05-13T18:33:00.000-07:00

Today as I was sitting in Brian Lippert's office, and he was showing me this website of a guy who does insane After Effects. His name is Barton Damer, and he is awesome at this. You can see one of his works here below.

Working on Tech Sheet for Kidz Kaboom

2010-05-06T13:39:00.000-07:00

Normally for our Kidz Kaboom outreach (which you can register for by clicking here), the tech sheet we use is a little confusing to follow. Simple, but confusing. That's why this year I am going to see if we can try something new. For our normal APC Services, we use a site called Planning Center
To make our tech sheet. That's one way I'm going to try and do it this year, or we'll try and doing it the 2Twenty Style way in Microsoft Word. So I'm looking for opinions. If you know about planning center and Microsoft word, which would you choose? Looking for feed back. Thanks!!

My ProPresenter Tutorial

2010-04-30T17:55:00.000-07:00

Recently they just released the beta version of ProPresenter for Windows. I just so happened to download it today and test it out. And I also thought it would be cool to make a little on screen tutorial video showing how it all works. Check it out.

It's Official

2010-04-23T12:47:00.000-07:00

It is now official that APC is now live streaming our services to the internet. Every Sunday, you can catch us at allisonparkchurch.com/livestrem. Here's the video from last week's message by Pastor Jeff

Mexico Slide Show--Enjoy!

2010-04-22T16:08:00.001-07:00

Kidz Kaboom 2010 Production

2010-04-18T03:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, one of my ALL TIME favorite events at Allison Park Church is Kidz Kaboom. Over 400 Kids will be taking part in High Energy Rallies, Miscellaneous camps, games, worship, and more. And over 60 Middle School and High School students will be on campus at APC to make sure this happens in an orderly fashion. Where I come into this is that once again, I will be in the Tech booth running lights again. Most likely I will be using, yet again, the DMX Operator 192 (Two of them) for Intelligent lights. Then two or three other boards after that. I can't wait for this event. I you are interested in signing up for this even if you're a middle school or high school student, Click Here.

Thanks for the Shout Out Brian!

2010-04-15T15:00:00.000-07:00

Go to 6:15 and you'll know what I mean

Testing out ProPresent in Easter Services

2010-04-09T17:39:00.000-07:00

This past week we had six services in honor of Easter Weekend. Two on Good Friday (Noon and 7pm), an Easter Sunday Sunrise service in the Concourse (7am Sunday Morning) and then our Normal weekend services (Sat: 6pm--Sun: 9am/11am). Most recently I've been getting use to working with ProPresenter Worship Software because, Thank You Jesus for this, ProPresenter is coming out with the latest version of their software for Windows (YES!!!!!!!!! :D). This weekend, again, I will be working with ProPresenter in the 9am and 11am service. I worked with it during Good Friday at 7pm, and both Easter Sunday services. What I like about ProPresenter is the ability to do iFlexx (or also know as iWorship) which are the samething as putting the lyrics up on the screen but alot cooler. When we get it for 2Twenty, we will be able to do stuff like this...

Re-Doing Crosstown Worship Songs

2010-04-03T04:54:00.000-07:00

Over the next couple of weeks, I will be re doing the Crosstown Worship Songs. Here's how the first one I did came out. The Song is "Get Up and Dance".

APC March 7th with Winter Retreat Recap

2010-03-27T12:16:00.000-07:00

Great TIme at Upward Awards

2010-03-20T07:12:00.000-07:00

Last night was a blast at Upward Awards Night. I got the chance to once again work with Inteligent Lights with the Elation Operator 192 board once again. Not only that, I had to do video switch, and I got to take home a 2-litter thing of Coca-Cola (I seriously needed it after this past week starting day lights saving time.) But I got the chance to work with 4 other amazing people who without them, the night would not have happen. So special thanks to Gregg Jacobs, Brian Russel, Nick Karis, and Andy Eble. Joe Schafer did an awesome job also making the night happen.

What Happens at Upward Awards Night

2010-03-14T18:06:00.001-07:00

Well honestly, I don't know what happens at Upward Awards Night. Except, well there's awards. I should get a better Idea of what happens. All I know of is that there's pics that are playing during pre-service, there's live cam involved, a guy by the name of Nel Creman will be there, and I am one of only 3 people who will be in the Tech booth. The two other people I will be working with are Andy Eble and Pastor Gregg Jacobs (I posted about him a couple of weeks ago.) Okay, off topic now, I thought I'd share last weeks APC Minute. It has some Winter Retreat testimonies. Check it out.

ProPresenter finally for Windows!

2010-03-12T12:09:00.000-08:00

Hey I wrote a song "Oh Happy Day, happy day, THEY FINALLY HAVE PROPRESENTER FOR WINDOWS!!" The long time Worship Software only for MAC Operating Systems is now being made for Windows, although it isn't coming till This upcoming summer. Still we might get rid of Easy Worship when this update comes avalible. To read the post that ProPresenter made available, Click the Link Below.

http://www.renewedvision.com/propresenter_pc.php.

Photo Editing

2010-03-09T17:48:00.000-08:00

Part of some of the stuff that I do at APC and at 2Twenty is Picture Editing. I do serious projects like below....

Then there are the moments that either I'm bored or when I to something, I want to edit a picture like so...

Either way, most people would think that was done in Photoshop. But none of them were...(okay the last one was, but that one needed to look the best.)

A program I use called http://www.paint.net/ is excellent for stuff like that. It's basically the spoof or basic version of Photoshop. If your looking to do simple picture editing, I highly recommend that program.

Upwards Award Night

2010-03-07T04:10:00.000-08:00

I will continue to post about this for the next week or so, but my next big production is Upward Awards night.

For those of you who don't know what Upward is, it's a Christian basketball league that Allison Park Church holds that involves APC and other surrounding church's like Orchard Hill Church, North Hills Christian Community and more. I got placed in helping with the tech production with that which includes Projectors, Lights, Live Cam, and output switching. I'll be working with Gregg Jacobs and hopefully 1 other person. This should be one of those easy productions that APC has.

Worship Band for Winter Retreat

2010-03-02T16:00:00.000-08:00

This Past weekend as well during the Winter Retreat, I got to hear and work with one of the best college worship teams I've ever worked with. (Okay the only one I've Worked with). That band is the Valley Forge Christian College Worship Team. They had such a positive attitude, great hearts for God, and made some awesome music. You can check out their Friday Night Fast set by Clicking HERE.

The New Experience of Working Winter Retreat

2010-02-28T17:20:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, I got the chance to work with new people. A new band to start with. I got the chance to work with The Valley Forge Christian College Band (featuring Brendon Robinson From APC) and a bunch of other people from the college. The biggest Inspiration from that group that I got from that whole weekend was from the sound man Jason. Before the first service and before a little bit of the second service, but he was able to pull through and make it one of the best retreats ever. One other person I'd Like to thank for being there this weekend is Brian Russell. He was the person who ran the computer and did an outstanding job. The retreat this year was a big success. Plus also in the first night alone, 25 people gave their lives to Christ which I think is awesome!

Production for Winter Retreat

2010-02-25T18:39:00.000-08:00

This weekend, I get to work one of my favorite 2Twenty productions.

That is Winter Retreat. This year I am incharge of working not 1, not 2, but 3 light boards. One of them is our normal 2Twenty Light Board (see all below) Also like I've put in previous post's, the DMX Operator 192 for Intelligent Lights. And Finally for a second set of Can lights is the Light Board known as the Stage Desk 16. The mentality I'm keeping this weekend is found in the Bible in Phillippians 4:13, "I can do All things through Christ who strengthens me." So....WISH ME LUCK!!

Fine Arts Short Film

2010-02-18T18:14:00.000-08:00

This week, is the competition of all competition, the mother of all events that will happen to you ever (Besides City Reach) THIS IS EVEN BETTER THAN CABLE TELEVISION!!! Okay never mind that last one, cause nothing beats TV. But it's an event known as FINE ARTS. Fine Arts is a day long even (the days grow as you move along) where you can show off your talent that brings a positive message for Jesus. This year I am in Short Sermon, Vocal Solo, Youth Choir and Short Film. The reason I bring this up is because this is my first year doing Short Film and I'm looking for some feed back about the video. You Can Check It out by CLICKING HERE or Check it out below.

This is What I do when Family Sends Snow Pictures

2010-02-16T18:41:00.000-08:00

When you combine my Family and Sony Vegas, and my laptop, here's what you get.

Gregg Jacobs: Youth Pastor and Media Mentor

2010-02-15T18:45:00.000-08:00

Another guy to Brag about for a second. Gregg Jacbos does it all. At Allison Park Church he and his wife Kyra lead JV 2Twenty for Junior High students. Also he is a producer in the Tech booth on Sunday Mornings. This guy has been a big inspiration in my life for as long as I known him, which has been since 2007. Gregg was the one who's been there since I got started both in my walk with God and when I started in the tech booth. He has been putting me up to bigger and better tasks like programing the light board for Winter Retreat. I would Like to personally thank Gregg for being there every step that I've been through.

Crosstown Genesis 1:1 Song

2010-02-14T18:12:00.000-08:00

Joe Schafer Who is the Childrens Pastor at Allison Park Church had me make the Music Video for the Next Series which is The Creation Story (Genesis Chapter 1). This is what I have in the Video so fat...enjoy!

American DJ Forum...Great ways to get Tech Questions

2010-02-11T17:10:00.001-08:00

This afternoon, since I've been off the past 5 days, I've decided to go "OCD" on learning how to program the DMX Operator 192 for the Winter Retreat which is Pictured. I thought That I would try submiting a question on "American DJ's Forum", which is a company that sells this board. I already got one reply from a guy named Chris who sounds like he know what's he doing. My question was do I need Scenes to record chases on the board. Check out what he said.

"Yes, you need to program scenes before you program chases.

Chases are dependent on scenes being created. You could make the chases without the scenes, but your chases are going to be really really BORING since there is nothing in the scenes.

The manual is excessively clear on this fact.

Since you do have the manual, this is some advise(besides reading it):
Sit down with the DMX Operator 192 with the manual open. Go over the scene programming stuff one step at a time with the manual, going over and over it until you feel comfortable with the whole programing thing. It's not confusing, but it takes extra practice. You might also want to download the manual and print out the pages that pertain to progamming to make those extra available. I say this because that is what I do with my DMX Operator(not 192). But I don't use my DMX Operator often these days since I'm using MyDMX as my controller.

Have fun and hope your retreat goes well. It sounds like you got a fun job!"

That is really going to help me as we Prepare for the Winter Retreat.

Snow Brings Two Congregations Together

2010-02-08T03:49:00.000-08:00

I would just like to take this time to say that yesterday (despite the snow) was an Amazing Day at Allison Park Church. One of our Church plants, Element Church in Millvale, canceled there service cause the roads were too bad. So Rich Jones, the senior pastor there, decided to have there church come to APC for the 11am service. Despite the weather, they had atleast 30 people come from Element to APC. Way to Go Element Church!!

APC Tech Booth Upgrad---As of October of 2009

2010-02-05T17:28:00.000-08:00

New Center Screen and Lights

New HD Camera on Tripod Mount

2 Mounted Web Cam like Cameras with New Switch Board

2 New MACs completed with Pro-Presenter Worship Software

Other than that, the tech booth hasn't changed much.

2Twenty Flickr Page

2010-02-04T14:41:00.000-08:00

For those of you who didn't know, I put up pics of everything that goes on at 2Twenty on Flickr. You can check it out by CLICKING HERE.

Programing Light Boards

2010-02-01T17:30:00.000-08:00

This year for the Winter Retreat (which you can sign up by CLICKING HERE) I have been given the ultimate task. Programing the Intelligent Lights for service. The board is the "Elation Operator 192" (which is pictured below)

Looking at the manual, it's really easy, but I still got almost a full month to figure out how much more I can do with it. Wish me luck!!

2Twetny Motion Logo

2010-01-28T03:24:00.000-08:00

Successfully with Sony Vegas, I have made a new motion logo for 2Twenty. The video loops but the one below only plays through once. Enjoy!

Coming Up with Announcement Videos

2010-01-23T17:49:00.000-08:00

Today I was Ice Skating at North Park Ice Skating Rink (for those of you familiar with the area). Then it hit me (actually when I fell) as I was remembering Brian Lippert and Dawn Melling doing an APC Minute on Ice.

But anyway, I was thinking of doing our Announcements on Ice while I was there today. Coming up with Announcements video is harder than it looks. You need to look for ideas that will get the crowd that you are showing this video to. Brian ice skating backwards with a camera and knowing he could fall to his doom with a multi-thousand dollar piece of equipment. So capture the audience, and your video will be a success!

If only it was a big file, then heck yea I'd get it

2010-01-21T14:28:00.000-08:00

After effects is a great product to make text slides for movies with great effects. Only thing is that the file is like 3/4 of a gigabite (size of a file so it's really REALLY big). My netbook by it's self only has 1 gigabite of RAM (Random Access Memory). Man what wouldn't I do to get that. Adobe is the creator of the product.

Brian Lippert: A Man of the Camera

2010-01-19T18:37:00.000-08:00

Let me brag about this guy for a second. Brian Lippert who is the media guy at Allison Park Church does some amazing things when it comes to his videos. He has a great talent and a great passion toward God. I love working with this guy cause he always knows how to make people including myself laugh. Plus he is always there for me. Here's a video he made over the summer for a Volunteer's Dinner at the Church.

Working at Weddings...one of the Best Kinds of Ministry you can do

2010-01-18T17:31:00.000-08:00

September 13, 2009, I was blessed to help Brian Lippert who is head of Media at Allison Park Church to Film my small group leader's wedding ceremony. Although I did get offered to help film the reception, I couldn't stay for that unfortunately. In July of 2010, once again I have this same oppertunity, but this time, I run the show. I get to film by my self a wedding at Allison Park Church in July that I can't wait to do. It's going to be AWESOME!! :-)

The Latest Changes: Providing the Word Outside of Church

2010-01-18T12:16:00.000-08:00

Most recently at Allison Park Church, we added some new materials to make worship easier both at APC and in your own home. First of all, we bought a license for a MAC based program called ProPresenter. I like it so far but I can still live with EasyWorship which is what we use at 2Twenty. Also we bought a iMac pro to use for audio recording with Adobe Soundbooth and we also bought 2 mounted cameras to in the future live stream our services, and now we're making DVD's of Pastor Jeff Leake's messages. Finally we bought a new Sony HDV camera which is mounted on a Tri Pod. Also now that I think about it, we also are using a switcher which selects are different inputs and put them either on the 2 side screens, the back screen, center stage screen, or the two TVs we have in the concourse. Technology has really changed since I started getting involved.

It's not a hobby...it's a Passion

2010-01-18T05:22:00.000-08:00

What most people think is that working in a Tech Booth is a boring hobby. But to me, it's literaly something that I love to do. I don't know what my life without it. About 2 years ago, I was officially saved by Jesus (meaning having a personal relationship with him) at Allison Park Church. I am excellent when it comes to playing music. So I started doing that at Youth Group. But then I figured out that God has called me into Tech ministries like doing sound, lighting, projectors, and even making movies. Check it out below.