Engineers! Your Next Gig Could be for God!

Lordy be!
Fun article from the Colorado Springs Gazette, about Churches "borrowing/adopting" elements of modern pop culture to draw more parishioners.

Churches have gone high-tech, incorporating wall-size plasma screens, kickin’ sound systems and theater-quality lighting to convey their millennia-old message. Today’s contemporary worship is where spectacle meets spirituality — prayer at 110 decibels and 720 dots per inch.

Uh-huh. So THATS where the collection plate tithing's are going... not to helping people ...

“Christians, they want to have fun,” said Bob Langlois, vice president of worship design for Colorado Springsbased Audio Analysts. “And church is fun again.”

Wah-HUH!?!? As a recovering confirmed former catholic turned devout agnostic, I disagree with THAT statement with the fiery burning passion of a thousand suns.

...

Though, I don't think I'd mind taking money FROM them if the price were right...

That control booth — often equipped with a digital soundmixing board as large as a pool table — is the brain of a modern worship auditorium. Sound, lighting and visuals are controlled here, and the quality of the equipment is often comparable to that used by touring musicians. Langlois said that a 1,000-seat auditorium typically requires $2,500 to $3,500 for a good audio system. But the biggest churches can spend $1 million or more for video and audio.


Ah well, who knows anymore.
Personally, I just find it a touch disagreeable, and a little distasteful, to tell people something is bad for them (rock music, violent action movies, rap/hip-hop, video games), and then turn around and use those same things to get more followers (Christian Rock, Holy Hip-Hop, the game 'Left Behind: Eternal Forces', the Corbin Bernson and Mr. T epic 'Judgement' from 2001 with tons of "gun-play for god"). To me, it would be a little like saying "we think homosexuality is wrong, but if it will raise attendance, then we will make it ok for dudes to bone each other... as long as they aren't gay..."


Anywho, the rest of the article is right here...
recording, sound design, engineering, church, religion, work, business