Take down being done during postlude...

zedman · 08-14-2011, 04:49 PM

(If this is the wrong section--please move)

We meet in a rented facility, so we do a full set up & take down each Sunday.
Today was kind of odd, as we had a picnic in the park outside the hall we meet in.

So we had to do a quick takedown.
People were so into that that while we were playing the postlude after the service people were taking down everything but the sound system.

Almost like we were being told to stop playing...
It was kind of fun in a way.

(We have a final song we sing, then a benediction and announcements. After that while people start mingling and some start doing their after service duties, the worship team plays another song. The people playing that week often joke that they could play anything, because people won't notice.)

But still it was different.

Anybody else ever experience anything like this?

Adam+ · 08-15-2011, 08:08 AM

I was a worship minister at three churches that met in rented facilities, so yes I have experienced that. For us, it was usually just people wanting to get out of there so they can go to lunch after church.

zedman · 08-16-2011, 12:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam+

I was a worship minister at three churches that met in rented facilities, so yes I have experienced that. For us, it was usually just people wanting to get out of there so they can go to lunch after church.

We always have people there to the end of our allotted time, and then after that there are people hanging out in the parking lot--unless the weather is real bad.

tdk8709 · 08-23-2011, 11:48 AM

Play canned music after the prayer and announcements. This allows the entire tear-down team to work in unison and avoids any weird situation where the band is playing to a bunch of people stacking chairs. There is more worship in helping one another with a need than playing a group of hard-working people some music. Let iTunes handle that.

jeepnstein · 08-24-2011, 08:07 AM

We have a guy who shuts off the lights and PA on people while they are still visiting in the sanctuary after the service. Once the service is over you have about three minutes before he starts shutting off the lights and locking the doors. It's quite annoying and I don't think he will ever understand that.

gtrdave · 08-24-2011, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeepnstein

We have a guy who shuts off the lights and PA on people while they are still visiting in the sanctuary after the service. Once the service is over you have about three minutes before he starts shutting off the lights and locking the doors. It's quite annoying and I don't think he will ever understand that.

That's somewhat rude, imho, and can be very dangerous depending on how many people you have leaving the sanctuary at one time.
Years ago one of our guys who didn't know how to run the light board (so WHY was he touching it, I'll never know) went over immediately after service and faded the lights out as people were leaving. This is a MAJOR safety problem because our 3 main exits are under a balcony and it can get very dark when 600+ people are leaving at once.
I had to go and remind him of this and ask him to not touch the light console again if he was unsure of how it worked.

Back on topic: after our pastor closes with a prayer, I'll play a little on the guitar as the soundperson cues a CD of music as people leave. We're not a portable church and this works just fine for us.

**Role Modlin** · 08-24-2011, 11:01 AM

I have experienced that in a couple of congregations that used rented facilities and there were legitimate time issues.

Other than that...it would seem to be rude.

**beanbag** · 08-25-2011, 12:16 AM

we have a rented facility with a huge time constraint (service usually ends between 11:53-11:57 and we have to be ready to lock the doors by 12:30) so generally we end the service with a prayer and a blessing, then the band strikes up a quick musical postlude--usually twice through the intro or chorus for one of the day's songs, then we have an ipod run until we are ready to pack the mains and subs into our little storage closet.

we haven't ever had an issue with tear-down happening while the music is live, mainly because the set up/tear down crew is also the worship team. we have a couple of additional people who are on set up and tear down for chairs and set design, but the majority of the crew is made up of the day's band since the biggest part is running cables and setting up the sound, and who better to do it than the musicians? when you sign on to play or sing on sunday mornings, you're also committing to the manual labor portion of it. =)

i think the biggest help in my church's situation is that everyone understands the reality of our weekly gatherings, and we have someone who comes out from the district every sunday to pack up the chairs we use so that makes everyone extra respectful of everyone else's time. the worship team doesn't prolong the postlude, and the congregation doesn't expect us to. we're using borrowed space and have to do our best with what we have.