Re-Construction Pt. 2

Here is a layout of the new worship center floor plan. I had to keep it somewhat small so that it would be easy to download.

Notice that this arrangement seats 1323 people comfortably. Our current seating is 1100, and when full it is uncomfortable at best. As far as actual design is concerned, this is an older drawing and some things have changed. But overall, this is pretty close.

All of the seating on the floor (the inner circle) will be movable. I will post more pictures later with alternate seating plans. The upper tiers will be theater seating. The north tier will also be movable so that it can be transformed into a stage.

Sound will be flown over the stage with circular rigging. Stage lights will be placed on bars throughout the room and aimed accordingly. Six hi-def video screens will extend from the ceiling, two on the east and west sides, and one on the north and south.

One of the neatest things I see about this room is in the flow of traffic. There are four main entrances into the room. As you enter, you are coming in beside the raised tier seating. This means that the first chance you will get to choose a seat is after you've already moved halfway to the stage. No more sneaking into the back row. If you want the back row, you have to double back and go up the steps. The flow of traffic will automatically push you toward the front of the room!

The new layout also frees up some space for new classrooms. We will gain nine new classrooms overall. Two of them will be quite big. You can see them in the lower corners of this image. Another set of rooms that I am excited about: in the upper right top of this image you see three rooms side by side - the video suite, the recording studio, and the sound booth/green room. The possibilities are endless....

Because of the nature of the room, it does not allow for a baptistery. We have solved that by building a family-styled living water area in the upper left portion of the picture. A nature-themed running water pool will be just above ground level and open to the massive atrium area in the west wing. Everyone can gather together and witness the baptisms that will surely come. I can't wait.

More later....

Re-Construction Pt. 1

Last Oct 14, I blogged about going out to Midland to be a part of the initial talks concerning the refit of the worship center at GCR. This morning, three months later, it all came to fruition. We presented the new plan for the worship center to the church during class time today. It was an impressive presentation. I can say that because I had very little to do with it. Ok, nothing to do with it.

The re-do of the center will give us a state-of-the-art facility, easily one the of the best in Midland and I believe in West Texas. We wanted a facility that worked well not only for us, but for future generations. Visionary people put a stake in the ground in the countryside of Midland County 40+ years ago with a vision for a grace-oriented church. The facility that was built to house that church was far-sighted and has lasted well. We want to do the same thing for our children’s children. I believe this new plan is just that.

Our new facility will be “in the round.” When the family gathers for supper, we gather around a table and see each other’s faces. Church should be the same way. 80% of the seats in the new building will be within 60 ft of the stage. As we experience worship, we will experience each other… not the back of someone’s head.

I will post pictures at a later time, but they will show that this new facility will be extremely flexible. While the upper tier seating will be permanent with theatre-style chairs, the lower section will be individual chairs. These can be placed in any fashion. The stage will be movable as well. It can be moved to the north end of the floor to provide a tiered stage for weddings while the floor can be fixed with a center aisle. Perfect for weddings. The north end tier can be cleared in combination with the moved stage to provide a very big stage, easily large enough for the Midland Symphony. Or the floor can be cleared and set with tables to seat 200+ people for banquets… banquets with a state-of-the-art sound and video system.

I’ll tell you more later, but here’s one little goodie. All the flat surfaces of the room will be painted white. The trim around each surface will be lined with multicolor LEDs that will wash the wall with color. From the control room, we will be able to choose from 19 million different shades of color. The walls can change colors with the touch of a switch. Wedding planners may now get in line…

Snowstorm Nostorm

I've not posted in a few days. That's because I've A) not really had much to say or 2). was busy messing with the massive snow storm we didn't have. It's was nuts. I didn't shovel 5 inches of snow off my driveway. Our city sort of came to a stand-still on Thursday night, after everyone had gone to the store and bought everything that was there.

The grocery stores reported that sales on Thursday and Friday were larger than the entire Christmas season. And then it was all a non-event. Today it's 50 degrees. I may still try and shovel a little more snow just for the fun of it. We didn't make this real big snow man. Life size and everything. Our neighbors front yard is sloped at a 30 degree angle and we didn't sled down it.

All in all, lots of fun.

Enough for today. GO COLTS!

Homecoming and Arranging

Homecoming is a little over a month away. Homecoming for Lubbock Christian University.

I was in the graduating class of '86, the last class to walk the stage under the LCC moniker. Problem was, I still needed 4 hours of foreign language when I did the graduation ceremony. It took me a year to finish a Spanish correspondence course from UT. By the time I had done it, I was booted back to the class of '87 and my diploma arrived with the wrong major. It said LCC, but wrong major. So I contacted them and they sent a replacement with the correct major, but it now said LCU.

So, I have a diploma from LCC for a Bachelor of Science, and a diploma from LCU for a Bachelor of Music Education.

Anyway, I will be making the trek up to Lubbock for that weekend. They've asked me to lead worship at the Alumni Chapel. I assume that means sans guitar. Not that I'm using it anymore...

On that note, pun intended, I have been adding new arrangements to our praise team portfolio. If you've read any of my earlier posts, you may have seen the discussion over the new song of the month and the problems with licensing. We have forged ahead, just without recording. Just so you'll know (and in case you are interested in seeing it), the first song we added was Everlasting God by Brenton Brown. It went very well. The arrangement works great for church and it's been well received. This Wednesday we introduce I Will Boast by Paul Baloche. I'll let you know how it goes.

The British Are Coming

I usually blog about church, music or family. So here's something different. How about Beck & Posh?

For those of you who do not follow the world of football (otherwise known as soccer), David Beckham has been one of the best players in the world for the past decade. He is unquestionably the most well known and paparazzi-hounded footballer out there (or so it seems). And it appears he is coming to our shores this summer.

In 1992, Beckham started at age 17 with Manchester United in the FA Premier League. His skill continued to increase, playing a lead role in the clubs Treble Win of 1999 - winning the League Cup, the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League. Beckham captained the English Internationals for six years and spent his most recent time, three years, in Spain with Real Madrid.

He has an absolutely amazing ability to place free kicks where he wants them, usually where the defense think he cannot reach. His style inspired the recent movie "Bend It Like Beckham."

So why spend so much time talking about David Beckham? It was announced today that he has been signed by the L.A. Galaxy and will start playing with them this coming August. This is huge for American soccer. MLS recently cleared the way for this to happen by allowing each team in the league to recruit one player of international status that would be paid separately from the team's allotted salary cap. Beckham was the first to be called up.

He came at a high price... $250 million for 5 years. He is now the second highest payed athlete in the U.S., which is amazing considering it's in a sport that is unknown to the majority of Americans. His presence on the team will undoubtedly sell out stadiums across America. A high-profile player like Beck will make a major difference in how football/soccer is perceived over here.

It will also open up the possibility of others following his lead. I just read that FC Dallas is in talks with Edgar Davids, the Dutch international who came to fame with Ajax and is currently playing for Tottenham Hotspur. The transfer window for MLS is right now. I suspect we will see other player transfers coming to light very soon.

It looks like American soccer is about to ramp it up another notch. Or rather, several notches. Cool by me. Oh, another note of interest... the current trend of international clubs touring America in their off-season could actually mean that Beckham's first appearance as a Galaxy member might be against Chelsea FC. There's a bit of irony in that...

UPDATE: Ramon Calderon has said he will not play Beckham again. He will continue to train with Real, but will not play. That means he may put Beckham on loan to another club until August. Is there a chance that he will be here in time to start with LA in April? hmm....

A Real Character

We've just begun a new series at GCR. It's a six-week series entitled "A Real Character." We are examining Godly character traits as exhibited through different characters in the Bible. The first week dealt with endurance as shown through Noah.

Our production team put our collective heads together (which is tough since we all have big heads anyway) and came up with what I think is a pretty "novel" idea. We decided to present the series in a graphic novel/comic book style. Every piece of print, artwork, and stage set is done "Frank Millerish."

What makes this so much easier is a program that came pre-installed on my Mac called "Comic Life." This fabulous program is available from Plasq and you can find out more about it on their site.

Take a look at the link below. It will lead you to a PDF of the first weeks comic book. I hope you like it. It came out of my computer, but it was a team effort.

http://homepage.mac.com/garymoyers/comiclife/

And for those of you who try to copy and paste and delete the last part of the URL to find my dot Mac homepage, I have not created it yet. Sorry...

Wade in the Water

My son, Austin, was baptized this past Sunday. I was fortunate enough to be the one to do it. What a day!

Both Austin and Ashley have been to many churches over the years, hundreds I would say. Every Sunday they would be in a new bible class in a new city. The poor teacher never had any clue who they were. And most teachers saw it as an opportunity to save someones soul. My children have prayed Jesus into their heart more times than any of us can remember.

Because of that, I have not pushed them to take that final step of baptism. I knew it would come soon enough. I found out the other day that he really wanted to be baptized in the ocean at Corpus Christi. I guess I missed that one. But one water is as wet as another.

My son's new spiritual birthday is New Year's Eve, the same day as my mother's physical birthday. I am so proud of that boy. I will post a video of the baptism some time this week....