A Week in the Life of Ken Hom
Published: WORSHIP
My name is Ken Hom and I am lead audio ministry tech at the Hilltop Community Church in Richmond California. I have been a volunteer in the audio department since 1974.
I’m retired from the University of California, so I have a fair amount of ‘free’ time available, which helps in my ministry – although I do go in to the office one day a week to assist with special projects.
We recently moved into our new facility and are still in a period of discovery with our new audio system. The capacity of our old sanctuary was approximately 800 people, while the new sanctuary (which is immediately adjacent to the old venue) seats approximately 1,400 people.
In the old sanctuary, we held four services over the course of the weekend – one on Saturday evening, two on Sunday morning and one on Sunday evening, but the increased seating in the new facility has allowed us to combine some of these and have one service on Sunday morning and one service on Sunday evening. We still use our old sanctuary (now called our Family Ministries Sanctuary) for events including weddings and funerals so our services are needed there, in addition to the new facility.
Currently, in the new sanctuary we are reconfiguring where the band and choir are situated, so much of the normal ‘down time’ we would have during the week is occupied with re-hanging and re-aiming of audio monitors, establishing new cable runs, making any necessary new cables, re-patching and verifying proper operation of the new configuration. Since everything is ‘different’ we have a more specific soundcheck with band, singers and choir, as needed rather than just a rehearsal.
The audio team in its current configuration consists of 10 people, and has been together for quite some time. We really function more as a small group, and provide support for each other in our daily walks. We enjoy spending social time with each other and not just at the church. When we got our new mixing console, as a group, we all travelled to Southern California to participate in training classes, in fact covering all of our own expenses.
So, while things are fluid at the moment, here’s a look at my week…
Monday:
Prepare audio tech schedules for other audio volunteer staff. Contact scheduled people to verify their availability or make adjustments as necessary.
Tuesday:
Closely work with the minister of music to produce any required rehearsal CDs of music for forthcoming services for singers and choir members. And use the in-house duplication system to make as many copies as required.
Wednesday:
Praise and worship rehearsal. Arrive prior to band and singers. Make coffee (very important!). Review order of service schedule as prepared by the minister of music and service producer. Set out appropriate vocal wireless microphones. Pull any backing CDs required for music on tracks from music library.
Set vocal levels, check monitors for band and vocals. Verify sends to audio production suite for recording purposes.
Thursday:
Choir rehearsal: Make coffee (still important!). Soundcheck choir and any special music or soloists. Verify send to audio production suite for recording of service for delivering copies of the service on DVDs for those unable to attend the service and archival purposes. Perform system maintenance or repairs if needed. This is also the time we hold in-house audio educational sessions for the audio team, and is a time of general fellowship with the other members of the audio team.
Friday:
Day of rest/family time
Saturday:
Day of rest/family time
Evening prayer in the sanctuary
Sunday:
Service at 10:00am; arrive at 8:30am. Make coffee. Check batteries in wireless mics and get wireless bodypack to senior pastor or guest speaker. Verify all the audio is functioning on stage. Check playback for any video component of service – we run DVDs from the FOH position. At 8:45am we start the service run-through. We go through all aspects of the service leading up to the pastor’s message. This helps with transitions between the different sections of the service, and includes the all the praise and worship songs selected for the day, any announcements with video or audio components, choir selection and special music. Check levels in Final Cut Pro for recording of the service and start the programme.
6:00pm service: Arrive 5:15pm for abbreviated soundcheck. Do basic editing of the recording of the mornings service to fit on CDs and DVDs and provide a master copy to the volunteer that handles duplication.