A Week in the Life of Pastor Joel Kim
Published: WORSHIP
My name is Pastor Joel Kim of the Irvine Baptist Church in Irvine, California. I hope our church case is helpful for the readers of Worship AVL Asia magazine.
Our church’s total attendance is approximately 1,300, including all kids but I would like to talk about adult worship service. The first Sunday is at 7:45am, a traditional service. The second is at 9:45am, a mixed style service using classical music with youth orchestra and band, and the third service is 11:45 am, a contemporary service with an electric band and about 10 vocalists. We have two different congregations, Korean and English. EM stands for English Ministry.
Tuesday: Last Sunday service review and planning
Friday: Second service rehearsal, EM service rehearsal
Saturday: Third service rehearsal, Sunday service preparation and equipment check up, technical training.
Sunday: First, second, third service and EM service.
Our church is medium sized in number and seating capacity. Normally, our worship services are handled by four volunteers – audio, two cameras and a PowerPoint operator. We don’t have a regular prayer or general meeting for production; when we need a meeting, we just talk to volunteers through email or phone call, except when we have a special production.
On Tuesday, we have a service review and planning in staff meeting. Generally, service personnel are fixed for each service except for a special service such as Easter, Christmas and Thanksgiving. On Friday and Saturday, we have three different service rehearsals, second, third and EM service. We check sound, video and lighting during rehearsals.
One of the problems facing the worship team is stage monitoring. I think this is a very common problem in church setting, as the drum and bass guitar volumes are too loud to hear the stage monitors. There is no special way to solve this problem, and I just advise drummer and bassist to reduce their sound. We still have the problem so I have ordered Clearsonic drum panels to cover. I hope it works.
On Saturday, we have technical training for volunteers that are normally two-hour sessions. Recently I went to the NAB 2010 show to research an HD system for our church. This year, I’d like to plan a budget to purchase an HD system next year.