Wendy de Jong

We use Media Shout and are quite happy with it. We upgraded last spring, and yes, it took a while for everyone to get up to speed, but that's pretty well inevitable when you have a rotating number of volunteers. As to the occasional crashes and glitches, these help us remember that it is not in technology we trust.

Sarah, your question is one our church asked probably 20 years ago. From time to time I visit a church where there is still no projector, and it certainly makes me appreciate our projection use. We began with overheads, but I would strongly urge you to stay away from that; as it's dated technology. If you go for projection, do it with the newest and best equipment you can afford. It's actually hymnals and Bibles that keep people disconnected, with their faces pointing down, rather than up and out. Hands free worship is actually much more engaging than the nay-sayers in your congregation think. For those who want a musical score, there are several options to achieve that. (This past Sunday due to technical problems we had to use our old overhead. It was the elderly members who complained the most. They can see the projected words so much better than what's in hymnbooks.) This is a common story. Perservere!

Ernie, I hear your frustration. Your church's desire to be inclusive with providing written songs and projected songs for everyone is laudable, and I can appreciate the extra work involved here. It's hard to gage from your comments what kind of time you're talking about when you say your worship has suffered more than benefitted. In the 5 years we've had projection, I've come full circle on many aspects of projection. I used to lament having to close all the blinds; now I'm happiest on overcast Sundays. I used to put entire verses together so we wouldn't lose that sense of how songs and verses fit together. Now I frequently have only 4-6 lines of text up so the font size is larger and clearer. I hope in time, as your congregation becomes more accustomed to looking up at the screen, that it becomes a more positive aspect of worship. And maybe getting the people who run projection to turn slides sooner would help. Our rule of thumb is to turn at the 4th last word on the screen.

Thank you Mark for your many years of passionate and committed service on behalf of those on the margins in our churches. Your advocacy and passion are gifts you shared generously, motivating and equipping us to always find ways to do better. Enjoy your retirement and know you made a difference in the lives of people who have different abilities, their families and caregivers, and the wider church community.

This was outstanding! I wasn't very familiar with polarity mapping although recognize some of the basic concepts from visioning processes I've been part of. I'm going to forward the link to all the churches in our Classis. Personally it was quite revealing as well to find myself in one of those poles and being challenged to find positives in the other, so it can be a valuable tool for personal reflection and conversations about all kinds of issues.

Thank you very much for this thorough blog post. I have just taken on the stated clerk position in Classis Niagara. From what I've read and heard it sounds like your description is right on target. It's good to know all these parts make up the whole of how a stated clerk serves.

You are definitely not alone in your ache for 'normal-ness." Our daughter is 26 and has a full and happy life, but I still ache. I read a book about grieving a long time ago that outlined the cycles of grief a person goes through. Typically you will experience every shade and aspect of grief the most intensely in the first 3 years, and after that they just recycle through your life with lesser intensity, but grief never, ever completely goes away.
Yes, there are many blessings and many things to give thanks for, but any parent of a child with a disability knows that somewhere deep down, there is there kernel of grief over what is and what is not.
Other than that, ditto to everything Sara has said. Strength to you and blessings.

I certainly feel for you. Our church doesn't pay its sound and projection technicians either, although I'm the staff person who puts the projection slides together, so that part is paid. We have recently hired a technical staff, who is learning the ropes, but will someday be in charge of the sound team volunteers. I think many churches are in a bind on this matter, because there are so many volunteers who go above and beyond. However, that is no excuse for not recognizing that sound technicians are indispensable, are usually the first to arrive and the last to leave. That you are not thanked for your efforts is inexcusable. The other staff and the musicians who benefit from your work should certainly be taking the time to thank you, and maybe someone needs to put a bug in your property committee's ear to ensure that gift baskets are given.

I also work at my church and echo the sentiments expressed above. I definitely feel and experience that my work is more of a ministry than a job. Because a large component of my work is enabling volunteers to do their work with satisfaction, it is inevitable that I do a fair bit of connecting with people on the one day they are here, so in a sense I lose some sabbath rest. I have learned, however, to tell people who come to me with notes about their address or a meeting date, or other such administrative details, that they have to go to my office and write it down on my pad of paper beside the phone, and I'm very up front with people that I will not deal with such verbal requests or remember them if they can't be bothered to write it down for me. It's caused the occasional grumble, but when I point out that I'm in church to worship, they usually oblige willingly.

Although I've already posted about how to get people to respect your space, sometimes it's unavoidable, and it's those Sundays that highlight one of the main problems with working where you worship. There are Sundays when it feels like people only talk to you because they need something from you, and this can be a bit demoralizing personally. When you're the "go to" person for everyone else, a Sunday morning can be very busy, yet very empty on a personal level.

I'd be interested, and possibly consider driving to GR for this. If it can be done remotely by teleconference or such, that would indeed allow more people to be part of it.