Thematic Week For Eric

Whew! It's been a busy week getting ready for this next Sunday. April 29 is our annual Mission Mania. While we had a lot of the work done already, I was working on a few more difficult and unexpected tasks this week, in addition to planning worship of course.

MISSION POSSIBLE
Last week I was able to come up with PowerPoint (PPT) and web graphics for Mission Mania. Our theme this year is kinda fun - Mission: Possible. See our webpage for a preview and I'll try to post some of the graphics later for you to check out. This week I made an overview PPT presentation of the missionaries we support, edited a video featuring the Chambers Family (one of the families we support), helped clean up the Sager's PPT presentation (they are speaking on Sunday).

DEFEATING DISCOURAGEMENT
It's also time to send out our first brochure for the Hannaford Fall Conference. This year's theme is "Defeating Discouragement: Strength for Today, Hope for Tomorrow." I've been racking my brain and scanning the internet for creative ways to communicate the concept. There is some conceptual imagery that has come to the forefront...

• A JOURNEY: Life is a journey. Along the journey everyone gets discouraged sometimes. What is important is that we don't stay there. Rick Warren says that discouragement and depression are a disease and that we need to stay vigilant to address it when it pops up in our lives.
• STEPPING STONES: Borrowing from the journey idea, every part of our life in another step forward. some of those steps include discouragement, but we need to keep moving forward.
• A RAY OF LIGHT: When we're in the darkness we are always looking for that beacon of hope.

The final brochure will feature a guy standing in rays of light (No, I did not create it). It's sort of a white, reverse shillouiette (see above image - click to enlarge). I'll post the graphics and the web site once it's finalized.

CUSTOMER SERVICE COMPARISON
I had a poor experience with a company called InstrumentPro.com. Basically, I ordered 3 lavalier mic windscreen replacements for our Sennheiser wireless lapel mics. Even though both InstrumentPro's and Sennheiser's sites both said the windscreens would fit, they don't. InstrumentPro's website says 1) they have a 100% satisfaction guarantee, and 2) they respond to all inquiries within 24 hours. So, I inquired with InstrumentPro last week and got no response. I inquired again and got a brief email telling me the website says the windscreens fit and also that they don't refund that type of product. (Gee, I might not have expected much if they didn't raise my expectations on their website!)

I wrote a quick email to IntrumentPro telling them that I regretted purchasing from them and that I would never use them again. I also said I would let people know of my experience with them. I then wrote a quick email to Sennheiser. I did not mention by bad experience with InstrumentPro, but merely asked if they could help. Sennheiser wrote back the same day, suggested some errors thay may have occured, offered to replace the windscreens if I sent them in, or even to send me new ones if I give them my mailing address! Guess which company I stand by?

SUNDAY WORSHIP
We're only doing a few songs for worship Sunday, but it was still fun rehearsing. The youth worship team is doing one feature and they sound great! I thought it would be fun to integrate them into the rest of the set we're playing this weekend. The additions? Kaci will be on acoustic guitar, Nicholas on violin, Lexi on djembe, and Katrina on vocals.