Fun With Can Lights
Jul 9, 2011 Lighting
It is amazing how many cool things you can do with a simple can light. At Aviator Church Derby we have dozens of can lights at our disposal, not only in the catwalk of the auditorium but also free lights that can be put anywhere. If you have a lot of cheap can lights you can use them well. One thing that we like to do is shine them up the wall on either side of the auditorium like in the picture below:
As you can see we simply positioned the lights to where they would shoot right up the wall of the auditorium. Simple but really compliments the stage. We use inexpensive reusable gels to color the lights. In this picture we have the stage lit up by LED Colorado tours which are positioned in the catwalk. In case your wondering what the girl painting the picture is doing, that particular Sunday we included painting as a form of worship arts. Check out the next picture below:
In the picture above we took mesh metal screen and walked over it on gravel, then hung it in between our two screens. Then we took several can lights with red gels and positioned them to shine up the screen creating a light up wall behind our band. Once again cheap, easy to do and looks awesome!
In this picture you can see that we simply angled a can light 90 degrees at a wall which makes a large sort of triangle shaped spot of light on the wall. Try experimenting with this by adding different color lights at different angles.The lights in the top of the picture are mounted cans shining straight down.
Hope this sheds some light on how easy it can be to make your stage look cool with some simple can lighting and gels.
-Jordan Golden
Worship Pastor, Aviator Church Derby
Instruments of God
Jul 7, 2011 Devotion
The other day I got to thinking about my guitar and my voice. These two instruments that make me what I am.
I have always said,”If I didn’t have music, I would probably go insane.”
My instruments are everything to me. They help me express myself as well as they help me relax. So I decided to delve further into my mind to pull some lesson from this. If my instruments are key to making me who I am, then people are key to the Lord by being His instruments.
We go to concerts and listen to music, why? Its an entertainment thing partly but I believe deep down we use music as a way to connect not just to ourselves but to others as well through expression. We use music to express ourselves; God uses us in the same way. We go out to the world and develop these relationships. At that moment we become an instrument, chosen by God to share His will, to express His love. Isn’t that amazing that God would choose people like us to show the world whom He really is?
Now what does it take to be an instrument of God? Well when I first think of an instrument I think that it is the player in control. What that means for us is that God needs to be the one in control of our actions, our words and our thoughts. A trumpet can’t play itself, but when used right can be absolutely beautiful in the hands of the right musician. God is that perfect musician that can express himself through us. It is up to us to become these instruments so that He might use us for a greater purpose.
Are you an instrument of God?
-Spencer Jones
Worship Leader, Aviator Church Wellington