November 11, 2009

Dear High Pointe Family,

It is with regret and sorrow in my heart, I inform you that I will be leaving High Pointe Baptist Church,
effective December 31, 2009. The 11 years my family has attended this church have made a great impact on
my understanding of Christ and His Church, and His call on my life as His disciple. I have made it my habit to
consider carefully on a regular basis the call He has placed on my life, praying for clarification and then
endeavoring to follow Him. In addition I have sought counsel from a number of godly men who pray for me,
encourage me, and lead me. For years during these times of reflection and prayer, I have felt the Lord’s
message has been “I have a work for you to do at High Pointe, this is where you are to serve.” Over the last
year, the Lord has been prompting me to follow a different route of service. It has become clear that I can
no longer follow the call on my life within this local Body of His Church and remain in obedience to Him.

Please be praying for my family as we make this transition. This moment in time becomes a step of pure
faith. God has not yet revealed exactly where and how our family will be in service in the future. Change is
always difficult, even when following the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

Sincerely yours,

Jeff Jones
jeff@mediaartsdad.com

• Thanks to all who helped and are helping with setting up and getting ready for Christmas – see below for more opportunities.
• Baptism Video testimony recording Wed. Dec 2nd (setup @ 3, first session @4)
• Please look at the Christmas production crew schedule and rehearsal schedule Melissa sent out – if you have any conflicts, let us know NOW.
• Tech Choir rehearsals start this week – SEE SCHEDULE BELOW for full details.

Schedule:

Wednesday, December 2nd

• 3:00pm-4:00pm – Setup for video shoot (Sanctuary)
• 4:00pm-4:30pm – Video Shoot (Baptism testimony), Cleanup afterwards
• 6:30pm – Crew Call Time – 7:00pm – 8:30pm – Christmas Musical Rehearsal (IN SANCTUARY) – Audio needs to be ready to go, video and lights need to watch for cues / angles.
• 5:00pm – 9:30pm – Worknight

Sunday December 6th
8:30 AM Setup / Sound check
9:00 AM Christmas Rehearsal w/ band
9:30 AM Service Rehearsal
10:15 AM Prayer (Everyone) – in media room
10:30 AM – Morning Service (Pastor Juan preaching – 1st Corinthians )

4:00pm – Crew Call Time – 4:30 PM Christmas Musical Rehearsal (IN SANCTUARY)
5:30 PM Evening service Rehearsal
6:00 PM Evening Service (Pastor Juan – 20 Questions)
7:30 PM – Cleanup / Strike the Stage

• Jeff is out – please help cover any additional details that come up
• Baptism / Video

Wednesday, December 9th

• 6:30pm – 7:00pm Setup for Christmas rehearsal (ALL CREW)
• 7:00pm – 8:30pm Christmas Musical Rehearsal (IN SANCTUARY)
• 8:30pm – 9:30pm Worknight – prep for Christmas Musical

Saturday, December 12th

• 9:30am Call Time, 10:00am – 12:30pm – Christmas Musical Rehearsal (IN SANCTUARY)
• 4:00pm Crew Call Time, 5:00pm – Choir / Band Warmup / soundcheck – 6:00 Concert

Sunday December 13th
8:30 AM Setup / Sound check
9:30 AM Service Rehearsal
10:15 AM Prayer (Everyone) – in media room
10:30 AM – Morning Service (Pastor Juan preaching – 1st Corinthians )

4:00pm – Crew Call Time – 4:30 PM Christmas Musical Rehearsal (IN SANCTUARY)
5:00 PM Warmup / souncheck
6:00 PM Christmas Concert
7:30 PM – Cleanup / Strike the Stage

Foldback

• Great Job this weekend, a couple items of note:
• Those duplicating CDs and running tapedesk, please remember to take 2 copies of the message back to the CD rack in the Nursery of each service.
• We now have Todd’s (& other speakers) headset on the RED wireless channel for baptism and Sunday nights
• PM – If you are in the media room, PLEASE help us remember to start recording on the DVCAM tape at the beginning of the sermon.

• Thanks to all who helped and are helping with setting up and getting ready for Christmas – see below for more opportunities.
• Baptism Video testimony recording Wed. Dec 8th (setup @ 3, first session @4)
• Please look at the Christmas production crew schedule and rehearsal schedule Melissa sent out – if you have any conflicts, let us know NOW.
• Final rehearsals and production this WEEKEND.

Schedule:

Wednesday, December 9th

• 3:00pm-4:00pm – Setup for video shoot (Sanctuary)
• 4:00pm-4:30pm – Video Shoot (Baptism testimony), Cleanup afterwards
• 6:30pm – 7:00pm Setup / Prep for Christmas rehearsal (ALL CREW)
• 7:00pm – 8:30pm Christmas Musical Rehearsal (IN SANCTUARY)
• 8:30pm – 9:30pm Worknight – final prep for Christmas Musical

Saturday, December 12th

• 9:30am Call Time, 10:00am – 12:30pm – Christmas Musical Rehearsal (IN SANCTUARY)
• 4:00pm Crew Call Time, 5:00pm – Choir / Band Warmup / soundcheck -
• 6:00pm Concert

Sunday December 13th
8:30 AM Setup / Sound check
9:30 AM Service Rehearsal
10:15 AM Prayer (Everyone) – in media room
10:30 AM – Morning Service (Pastor Juan preaching – 1st Corinthians )

4:00pm – Crew Call Time – 4:30 PM Christmas Musical Rehearsal (IN SANCTUARY)
5:00 PM Warmup / souncheck
6:00 PM Christmas Concert
7:30 PM – Cleanup / Strike the Stage

Foldback

• Great Job this weekend, thanks for helping cover everything while I was out.
• Received several comments that things went very smooth technically.  I know with multiple video playbacks it can get crazy, but sounds like everything turned out well.
• Thanks Pete for getting the tree lights working, everyone loves the annual tree lighting!

• Thanks to all who helped and are helping with the monitor console desk!  It is nice to have something a little more permanent and have some more room.
• Baptism Video testimony recording Wed. Dec 2nd (setup @ 3, first session @4)
• Please look at the Christmas production crew schedule and rehearsal schedule Melissa sent out – if you have any conflicts, let us know NOW.
• This Sunday afternoon we will be resetting the stage for the musical – if you are available to help, your presence would be appreciated.

Schedule:

Wednesday, November 25

• NOTHING! (no worknights, no DV8)

Thursday, November 26

• Happy Thanksgiving!

Sunday November 29
8:30 AM Setup / Sound check
9:00 AM Christmas Rehearsal
9:30 AM Service Rehearsal
10:15 AM Prayer (Everyone) – in media room
10:30 AM – Morning Service (Pastor Juan preaching – 1st Corinthians )

3:30 PM reset the stage and repatch for Christmas
5:30 PM Evening service Rehearsal
6:00 PM Evening Service (Pastor Juan – 20 Questions)
7:30 PM – Cleanup / Strike the Stage

• Melissa is out – please help cover any additional details that come up

Wednesday, December 2nd

• 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM Setup for Video Shoot
• 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM Video Shoot – Baptism Testimonies
• 7:00 PM Clean up from Video shoot
• 6:30 PM – 9:00 PM  Worknight – Install shelves in computer closet, monitor console computer, wall plates, finish installing monitor amps, etc.

• Baptism Video testimony recording Wed. (setup @ 3, first session @4)
• Wedding this weekend, be early Sunday to make sure everything is ready to go.
• Need some additional help Wed night moving monitor console – watch emails for details.
• The Media Team will need to get fully plugged into Christmas Rehearsals right after Thanksgiving – Sunday afternoon Nov 29th and Dec 6th, Wednesday evening, Dec 2nd and 9th and Saturday morning Dec 12th.  Christmas Program is Saturday Evening Dec 12th and Sunday Evening Dec 13th.
• There is a longer rehearsal this Sunday – Band Right after Lunch, Choir may be in Sanctuary also.

Schedule:

Wednesday, November 18

• 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM Setup for Video Shoot
• 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM Video Shoot – Baptism Testimonies
• 7:00 PM Clean up from Video shoot
• 6:30 PM – 9:00 PM  Worknight – Install shelves in computer closet, monitor console computer, wall plates, finish installing monitor amps, screen (try again?), etc.
• Happy Birthday Pete Lantz!

Friday, November 20

• Jeff and Amy Driving to Kansas City – Please pray for our trip
• 5:00 PM – Wedding Rehearsal – Robert Acord Covering

Saturday, November 21

• 9:00 AM – Membership Class – need projector set up in missions room.
• 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM – Wedding – Robert Acord Covering

Sunday November 22
8:30 AM Setup / Sound check
9:00 AM Christmas Rehearsal
9:30 AM Service Rehearsal
10:15 AM Prayer (Everyone) – in media room
10:30 AM – Morning Service (Pastor Juan preaching – 1st Corinthians )

1:00 PM (right after lunch) – Band rehearsal for Christmas

4:00 PM reset the stage / linechecks
4:30 PM Choir rehearsal (at least partially in the sanctuary)
5:30 PM Evening service Rehearsal
6:00 PM Evening Service (Pastor Juan – 20 Questions)
7:30 PM – Cleanup / Strike the Stage

• Jeff is out – please help cover any additional details that come up
• Baptism AM
• PM Q&A after sermon

Foldback:

Busy Weekend but a great time of worship and fellowship.

AM Service

• Everything seemed to go well, thank you!  And thank you to those who stepped up and helped cover for me while I was busy.
• We had one really loud pop when pastor Juan got the mic back from pastor Homero – not sure if it was Static or one of the mics being turned off?
• When Erin started talking at the pulpit apparently Juan’s mic was still turned up and there was some really funky phase stuff going on for a little bit – be careful to turn off what you don’t need.
• Projection and Videos all looked great – great job with baptism and the timing of everything there (including the lights, except coming out of baptism, make sure you have somewhere to go, hate leaving people in the dark!)

PM – No Service.

• Did you check out “In the City, For the City”?  If so, what were your thoughts?

Thoughts? Comments?

• Thursday 11 AM – Funeral for Joe Ockleberry – Need audio tech
• Lots of little things to wrap up Wed night if you can come help.
• No PM service – we are participating at In the City, For the City.

Schedule:

Tuesday, November 10

• Joey’s Birthday – Happy Birthday

Wednesday, November 11

• 6:30 PM – 9:00 PM  Worknight – Install, monitor console computer, wall plates, finish installing monitor amps, screen, clean up cables, etc. (you notice it is still the same list?  We keep getting stuff done, just not this stuff!)

Thursday, November 12

• 11:00 AM – Funeral for Joe Ockleberry – Need audio tech

Saturday, November 14
9:30 AM – 12:30 AM – Audio Basics Workshop (Choir Room)

Sunday November 15
8:30 AM Setup / Sound check
9:00 AM Christmas Rehearsal
9:30 AM Service Rehearsal
10:15 AM Prayer (Everyone) – in media room
10:30 AM – Morning Service (Baby Dedication, Pastor Homero greeting, Pastor Juan preaching )

No PM Service – Please participate in:

In the City, For the City 4-8:30pm @ The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum,  1800 North Congress Ave

Foldback:

Quite a crazy Sunday.

It is very important that if you are scheduled, you show up for rehearsal, you rehearse, and you pray with us as a team before the service, otherwise you don’t always know what is going on, and it adds a lot of stress for the people that are there.  If you have made arrangements (such as Life Classes) it would be helpful if you can be to the church early enough to check in and let one of the directors know you are there before Classes, and DEFINITELY, LET US KNOW IF YOU AREN’T GOING TO MAKE IT.

• When we expect you to be there and find out at 10:15 you aren’t, there isn’t time to find a replacement and train them – things don’t get done and people get stressed out instead of worshiping.
• When you don’t show up till half way through rehearsal you are not available to help if things are not going well or there is extra work to do to be ready.  Then we are trying to get things setup / fixed / working during rehearsal, causing stress, distracting those who are rehearsing, including the worship team on stage.
• When you don’t show up at the scheduled call time you never learn how to prepare the systems for a service, then when you have to do it because know one else is around you don’t know how.

So what all happened?

AM: we had more to set up than normal because of the wedding, upwards and other stuff that had gone on at church this week – plus there was a bunch of media that needed finessed (assembled) laying all over the media room because John J. got called away while doing it on Friday.  About the time we got rehearsals going we had a supervisory fire alarm (meaning something was wrong with the system) that took a couple of us most of rehearsal to get corrected – the alarm was caused while trying to fix a problem with a door caused by vandalism.

PM: a good time of training turned into a very busy time getting going on the service, communication problems and mis-communication on the order of service kept us hopping.  About the time we were all settling into the sermon – the fire alarm goes off and we evacuate the building.  Turns out a pull box got pulled upstairs, but it took a while to track down exactly what it was because it is labeled wrong in the system.  About then we realize we don’t know where the key is to reset the system, and we can’t call an all clear until the system is reset.  Todd continued preaching outside, the Kids and teachers got a good firedrill practice, and we eventually got the system reset and everyone back inside.

Media system items of note:

• Don’t forget to start the DVCAM tape recording at sermon time…. it is our backup.  Because sometimes the media room coordinator will not be available to start the recordings, please everyone pay attention to the details and be ready to start it if needed.
• The sound Sunday felt very muddy, I think a lot of it was the interaction of the instruments.  Often pulling the keys down or a couple of the guitars down will help if there are just too many instruments on the platform.  Remember the whole “mix Pyramid” idea – not everything can be at the same level in the mix – otherwise it is just noise.

Thoughts? Comments?

• Monday Night – Upward Soccer Awards Ceremony – Need audio tech
• Lots of little things to wrap up Wed night if you can come help.
• Don’t Forget to pray for one-another this week.

Schedule:

Wednesday, November 4

• Melody’s birthday!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY
• 6:30 PM – 9:00 PM  Worknight – Install, monitor console computer, wall plates, finish installing monitor amps, screen, clean up cables, etc.

Thursday, November 5

• Lionel’s Birthday! – HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Friday, November 6
7:00 PM – Wedding Rehearsal (Robert Acord Covering)

Saturday, November 7
3:30 PM – Wedding (Robert Acord Covering)

Sunday November 8
8:30 AM Setup / Sound check
9:00 AM Christmas Rehearsal
9:30 AM Service Rehearsal
10:15 AM Prayer (Everyone) – in media room
10:30 AM – Morning Service (Juan preaching – Biblical Womanhood)

4:30 PM – Setup / Soundcheck
5:15 PM – Rehearsal
6:00 PM – Evening Service (Todd preaching – 20 Questions)
7:30 PM – Strike Stage / clean up.

David Peterson’s Birthday! – Happy Birthday!

Foldback:

Audio:

• We need more separation between sax and flute and Trumpet and Flute – too much of the other instruments ending up in the flute mic.  It was suggested maybe swap locations of the flute and Sax (That way the flute would not be in front of the Trumpet)
• need monitor wedges for perc and drums, the musicians will not wear the headphones and they keep using the monitors for the choir and orchestra – Should we just plan on hauling back and forth the ones from the youth room? We could probably get whoever is on percussion and drums to help bring them down each week.
• Loved the new organ sound and Josh once we had him all dialed in – great combination of sounds.
• Very Hot stage, was working on pulling it down…. but….

Video

• Overall looked good both services
• had some streaming issues – bandwidth?  Mostly went well.
• Directors – remember to setup your lockdown shots during rehearsals while there are people on the platform!

Projection

• PM – Not sure what happened with the words on the last verse, but we didn’t seem to have what we were suppose to?
• AM words were very smooth, great job!  Looked really good with the dark red backdrop and everything.
• Need to adjust our word spacing so we can use underscan on the IVGA and fill the screen on every frame.

Lighting

• We tried a little different lighting setup Sunday PM and really liked the look of it – I guess we need to program it as a pre-set.  Basically Cue 2, add full TV lights, Full Blue Choir and Full Thrust with a little magenta overhead.

Thoughts? Comments?

• Thank you everyone who helped with all the World Impact Festival activities – quite a bit of media team activity this last week, y’all kept up well.
• Thank you Pete, Robert and Jonathan for helping get the projector and speakers installed in the Jourdan Crossing Building – glad to have that stuff out of my office!
• Mark your calendars for  October 29th 7pm for austinTech.org fellowship.
• Lots of little things to wrap up Wed night if you can come help.
• TIME CHANGE IS THIS WEEKEND – DON’T FORGET to SET BACK your clocks SATURDAY NIGHT!

Schedule:

Wednesday, October 28
6:30 PM – 9:00 PM  Worknight – Install, monitor console computer, wall plates, finish installing monitor amps, screen, clean up cables, etc.

Thursday, October 29
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM AUSTINTECH meeting at Omega Broadcast (see www.austintech.org for details)

Friday, October 30
Robert Acord’s Birthday

Saturday, October 31
5:45AM – 7:00 PM Day of Prayer – Livingston Room (projector, sound system)

Sunday November 1
8:30 AM Setup / Sound check
9:00 AM Christmas Rehearsal
9:30 AM Service Rehearsal
10:15 AM Prayer (Everyone) – in media room
10:30 AM – Morning Service (Juan preaching – 1st Corinthians)

4:30 PM – Setup / Soundcheck
5:15 PM – Rehearsal (Acoustic Set)
6:00 PM – Evening Service (Juan preaching – 20 Questions)
7:30 PM – Strike Stage / clean up.

Foldback:

Audio:

• Sound in the sanctuary was really good Sunday – had a good feel and a good mix in general.

Video

• Camera shots – please watch framing.  Remember the basic rules of thirds, watch the background (mainly people issues), don’t be afraid to use tighter and looser shots as needed.  If there are people in the background, it would be better to either go in tight (Head Shot) or open up to a point where the person you are focusing on is correctly framed in the “thirds” and you can see the whole body of those behind them.
• Speaking of backgrounds – don’t be afraid to “blow out” the light levels on the background to get the foreground to the proper illumination.
• George wants to try some back lighting on the wall and see if that helps balance out the shot better – if anyone has some tracklights or other smaller halogen style lights the could donate to the cause, let George know.

Projection

• Once again I thought everything went smooth, good job.
• The new screen made everything look pretty good!  now we have to be careful stuff is readable on the back wall!

Lighting

• Need to fix the pulpit lighting still, very strong from one side, makes it shadowed on the other side.

Thoughts? Comments?

• We now have a cable to use the headset mic with the audio technica wireless beltpack!
• Computer Team: All the new computers are running, we need to get them loaded up this week and start swapping computers.  Thanks George, Robert and Melissa for all the help so far.
• Mark your calendars for  October 29th 7pm for austinTech.org fellowship.

Schedule:

Wednesday, October 14
6:30 PM – 9:00 PM  Worknight – Install 2nd Library Computer, monitor console computer, solder on wall plates, finish installing monitor amps.

Sunday October 18
8:30 AM Setup / Sound check
9:00 AM Christmas Rehearsal
9:30 AM Service Rehearsal
10:15 AM Prayer (Everyone) – in media room
10:30 AM – Morning Service (Juan preaching – 1st Corinthians)

4:30 PM – Setup / Soundcheck
5:30 PM – Rehearsal
6:00 PM – Evening Service (Todd preaching – 20 Questions)
7:30 PM – Strike Stage / clean up.

Foldback:

Audio:

• The levels kept creeping up during rehearsal, we were easily at 100db… but then during the service keeping them down just made everything seem dead.  Need to keep working with the levels during rehearsal, and then try to run the service similar to rehearsal, even if that means a little louder than we would like.   Rehearsal sounded great
• I really like the sound of the better mic on the Sax, and honestly, the AKG sounds better on the Bass Clarinet than the clip-on.  Both instruments sounded better to me than they have for a while.
• Speaking of mic’ing – this musical has a much more orchestral feel to it than the last couple, so we need to back off the microphones some…. get more of an ambient overall sound of the instruments instead of the close mic’ed sound we have been using for the last year or so.

Video

• Camera shots – please watch framing.  Remember the basic rules of thirds, watch the background (mainly people issues), don’t be afraid to use tighter and looser shots as needed.
• And PLEASE FOCUS every time you change a shot. – Directors, watch for this.
• a4v – listen a little closer to your mix…. often the broadcast mix was driven by whatever was loudest (typically Robert) with everything else in the background – not really the best the mix could have been.

Projection

• Once again I thought everything went smooth, good job.

Lighting

• Need to fix the pulpit lighting still, very strong from one side, makes it shadowed on the other side.
• Timing was good – all the light changes felt like they made sense.

Thoughts? Comments?

• Computer team – the rest of the heatsinks are in, the drive should be in Tuesday (up in the office).  Thank you George for getting the machines running.
• Mark your calendars for  October 29th 7pm for austinTech.org fellowship.

Schedule:

Wednesday, October 7 (Jeff out)
6:30 PM – 9:00 PM  Worknight – Install 2nd Library Computer,

Thursday, October 8
Jeff’s Birthday

Sunday October 11
8:30 AM Setup / Sound check
9:00 AM Christmas Rehearsal
9:30 AM Service Rehearsal
10:15 AM Prayer (Everyone) – in media room
10:30 AM – Morning Service (Juan preaching – 1st Corinthians)

4:30 PM – Setup / Soundcheck
5:30 PM – Rehearsal
6:00 PM – Evening Service (Juan preaching – 20 Questions)
7:30 PM – Strike Stage / clean up.

Foldback:

Thanks everyone for a very successful weekend.  A special thanks to the PM setup crew who went out of their way to set up a lot of extra audio as we moved stuff around for the evening service.