Mike Paschal

You ever have one of those weeks where it never stops. Projects and tasks keep coming and you feel like the end will not arrive quickly enough. For the past two weeks I have had that feeling, and I cannot wait to share what all has been going on the past two weeks here with you guys. This week I will actually be taking some time to rest at the coffee shop to read and write. So with some posts already done and waiting on me to publish them, this is what I will be writing about over the next two weeks as life slows down just a bit.

• Recap on how we built our new Set at Pc3 (which is up and running tomorrow)
• My One Word update (its alive and kicking!)
• Finish the final 4 posts on my role as a Producer at PC3 (original post here)
• Our training process for Mobile Cameras (with Guest Author)

And that should take us into next week. But until Monday arrives I still have to finish programming for Sunday. One more song to go, but first it’s time to head to the tailgate party and homecoming game at my alma-mater, UNC-Wilmington. Go Seahawks!!

If you follow me on Twitter or have attended PC3 within the last three years you have then probably heard of My One Word. My One Word is an experiment our pastor, Mike Ashcraft, crafted way back in 2006. For the past four years we have started the year off as a church by walking through a series together and then choosing a “One Word”. The overall concept of “My One Word” is:

“My One Word” is an experiment designed to move you beyond the past and look ahead. The challenge is simple: lose the long list of changes you want to make this year and instead pick ONE WORD. This process provides clarity by taking all of your big plans for life change and narrowing them down into a single thing. One word focuses on your character and creates a vision for your future. 1

So after three years we decided to put our heads together as a web team and come along side the content team to dream up something big. My One Word has been a huge success so far, but the one problem we would see is people losing the motivation to keep up with their word after a couple months. This is much better than your average new years resolution, but not something we wanted to settle for.

In the 11th hour we started to put those big ideas into motion and just this past Sunday we re-launched www.myoneword.org. Although this time we are ready to keep you on your game throughout 2010! From the initial launch we have added a blog that will be updated very regularly with what we are calling “homework” assignments written by our pastor & another writer on our staff, Tony Ripa. We have also rolled out a Facebook Fan Page & Twitter account to keep everyone in on the conversation since that is where most of us are hanging out these days. So far nothing you have read has sounded like we were dreaming. That is until you see what the guys have releasing this Sunday.

We will launch another section of the site this Sunday where you will be able to sign up for an account and log into myoneword.org through your Facebook account using Facebook Connect! This is where the dreaming big took off with the guys. Some of the new functions of the site that will be launched this Sunday are:

1. Email/Facebook Updates:
   When you sign up for an account with myoneword.org you will be able to receive updates from the website throughout the year that will remind you of your word and give you valuable information and exercises to keep your word in front of you.
2. Interactive Word Journal (possible delay):
   Get updated every time a new blog is posted with questions for reflection. Then login to your online profile to keep a “word journal” of your thoughts and answers throughout the year. You can go back at any time to read/print your completed journals to see how God has been moving in your life through your word in 2010.
3. Share:
   Once you have filled out your profile, you will be able to share your word and story with others on myoneword.org or on your Facebook wall. You will also be able to connect your profile with your Facebook account allowing you to post entries from your word journal and other information to your Facebook profile. 2

This is just the start for what we have in store for My One Word this year. But for now you should defiantly head over to www.myoneword.org and start to pick your One Word.

Find My One Word:

website: www.myoneword.org
facebook: www.facebook.com/myoneword
twitter: www.twitter.com/myoneword

1. taken from: http://myoneword.org/ (↩)
2. taken from: http://myoneword.org/registration/ (↩)

On average, I sit in the Producer’s seat twice a month at PC3. This position has changed in many ways over the last 3 years and over the last 6 months I have began to fine tune it personally even more so. And with many of you most likely involved in some sort of church production I thought I would share with you what producing a Sunday service (or four) at PC3 looks like on my end of things.

So I decided to share with your five different post throughout the week with the first post beginning here on how I use Planning Center Online as a Producer.

1) Planning Center Online
2) Meetings
3) Prep Work
4) Software Use
5) Final Thoughts

It all starts with Planning Center Online for me as the Producer. And at PC3 we use Planning Center to schedule our entire Production Team and Band Members throughout each ministry. We currently have over 250 production/band members registered in the system and this makes life much easier on the volunteers and the staff.

Now as the Producer for an upcoming weekend I use it in 5 main ways… 1. Setlist 2. Volunteer Positions 3. Email 4. Rehearsal Tracks 5. PCO Live

1. Setlist

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We meet each Tuesday morning for our WSP (Weekend Service Programming) Team meeting. In this meeting (more on that later) we spend about 30 – 45 minutes running through the upcoming Sunday service and layout out about 90% of the service. I keep up with adding each service to PCO whether or not I am Producing, but the week I produce I take the lead on being sure each segment, transition, video, prayer, etc. is added and labeled in PCO. Once the meeting is finished I should have all songs finalized, videos decided on, stage talent (individuals speaking, welcoming, interviewing, etc.) confirmed. The set list also will contain a rough estimate of times for each segment. This is a key element for us so we are able to determine the length of the service and helps us decide if something needs to be cut from the set or shortened. With children’s ministries happening at the same time and the next service crowd filling up the parking lot we must stick to around a 60 – 65 minute service time.

2. Volunteer Positions

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Since Planning Center Online’s largest function is scheduling volunteers this is where we plan who will be where and when. Since we have just moved to four services with a AM (9, 11) & PM (4,6) block we now have to schedule a morning crew & then a new evening crew. So I have decided to split up the teams into groups PCO. For example we have: 1| Audio AM & 1| Audio PM ; 2| Video Room AM & 2| Video Room PM. Each Tuesday we I look through our the positions that are either still Un-Confirmed or Declined. This is a very simple aspect in regards of the Producer role, but it is key. The goal is to have each position filled and Confirmed, and if it differs from that we begin making phone calls. My goal as Producer is to have each position filled and Confirmed by Wednesday evening, but sometimes I may not get that last mobile camera position until Saturday.

3. Email

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Planning Center Online provides an incredible email option that I have started using about 3 months ago. We have been using PCO for almost 2 years I believe and up until 3 months ago I have been combing through my Address Book and sliding contacts over to Apple Mail to email about updates and weekend service information. Then I discovered how easy the email function of PCO is and have not turned back since. But to keep this short I will focus just on how I use it as the Producer. At any point that I need to contact the entire volunteer team by email I head to the specific weekend service plan and choose the “email” option in the top right hand corner of the screen. This allows me to choose to email the Confirmed, Unconfirmed, Undecided or any combination of the three. The biggest help here as the Producer is I am guaranteed to reach each person by their correct email and will not miss a person between two different applications (Address Book -> Apple Mail).

4. Rehearsal Tracks

This is very simple and short. Nick Warkentien uploads each rehearsal track from the Wednesday night band rehearsal to PCO and from there I do two things. I am able to find the exact times of the songs to put back into the set list. And then I continue to download the tracks to listen to or stream them live within PCO.

5. Planning Center LIVE

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And the last aspect of PCO that I use personally is PCO LIVE. This is a feature that many do not take advantage of, but I absolutely love. Within PCO there is a option to take LIVE Control of the service. Once I activate this a interface shows up with the first step of the service. This is where those times we inserted earlier come into play. I follow along with each segment of the service through each service that we have. Once the day has finished we have just recorded the times that we started and stopped each song, welcome, offering, message, etc. throughout the day. This allows me to go back and review the service with the exact times recorded compared to the times we had planned on. This feature also has a green screen capability which I hope to utilize in the next year so we may pipe the service flow and time clock to multiple rooms including the Green Room, Video Control Room and Children’s Ministries.

**So that is Part 1of 5 of my role as a Producer @PC3. I hope that was not too boring for many of you, but may have been very helpful for some.

The year of 2009 personally did not bring to many new albums that were must buys for me. Yet, with 365 days in a year I was able to buy a couple albums that I absolutely love, including two new artist that I have never heard of before. Those two artist came in at #3 & #2 on my list and go by the names of Kings of Leon & Zach Williams.

Musically these guys are polar opposites in evert shape and form. A close friend introduced me to Kings of Leon while I had a $10 iTunes card and was unsure on what to buy. I am glad that I asked because “Only By the Night” is one of my favorite albums in my entire collection. Then came Zach Williams who I was introduced to at Catalyst in ATL when he led 18,000+ leaders in the most intense worship I have encountered with just his vocals and his guitar. The album is not a worship album, but is a collection of songs written as he walked beside his wife with her battle with cancer and a miracle healing to a complete recovery.

Then I topped my Top 5 out with DMB’s new studio album that is by far the best music since Before These Crowded Streets back in 1998. So below you see my Top 5…

What about your Top 5 Album of 2009? Feel free to comment below and give me some more music to by!

#5: John Mayer: Battle Studies

Battle Studies

#4: David Crowder Band: Church Music

Church Music

#3: Zach Williams: Story Time

Story Time

#2: Kings of Leon: Only By the Night

Only By the Night

#1: Dave Matthews Band : Big Whiskey & the Gru Grux King

Big Whiskey and the Gru Grux King

Strictly Joy