First Ever Digital Pulpit Exchange
One of the few silver linings of ministry in the Covid era is that we have been forced to do things in new and unique ways. An example of this is the fact that in April I was able to participate in my first ever digital pulpit exchange. At the beginning of the month I was honored to preach at Bar Hill Church in the UK via Zoom. This weekend, April 25, we had the opportunity to return the favor and host their pastor, Charles Mather, in Dexter.
The router dies at the worst possible moment
Events like this are entirely dependent on the kindness of internet guardian angels. Saturday’s practice session worked well. All signs were good on Sunday morning An hour before service Lily, my wife and our congregational Zoom expert, had everything tested and working properly. Then fifteen minutes before worship our router just died.
Not mostly dead. All dead. Kaput. Good Friday with no hope of Easter Sunday dead.
Perfect timing.
Charles was already chatting with people on Zoom and we were running through what should have been the last minute checks. All to no avail. About two minutes before worship I was afraid we were going to have cancel and press forward without our guest speaker.
In the end, Lily worked a last minute miracle. We turned her cell phone on as a WiFi hotspot. My cell phone became the recording device. The entire service was done via cellular signal, and somehow the bandwidth managed to keep up.
This week I give thanks for the reality of unlimited data.
The downside of our emergency broadcast system was that the sound system caused a great amount of feedback. Originally, we had been feeding off the sound system and didn’t have to worry about that problem. Instead, we had to mute the phone whenever Charles talked and use our teacher voices to project throughout the sanctuary. It was not ideal, and I’m grateful for everyone’s patience and flexibility. Next week we should be back to full volume.
It takes a village to hold a worship service.
Huge thanks to everyone who helped with today’s service. My appreciation goes to our deacons, our elders, and our musicians for all their flexibility. Thank you to Danny for handling the camera. Thanks to everyone in the sanctuary for putting up with a great deal of extra running around. Most importantly, thanks to Lily for Apollo 13ing the worship service at the last possible minute.
Thank you all!
Despite all the goofiness, it was an honor to have Charles and several members of the Bar Hill Church with us. It was a truly international worship experience. Technology is a funny thing. Even though it didn’t work the way we expected, it still allowed us to do something none of us had ever experienced before. This is not the kind of thing I could have dreamed of doing a year ago.
In the end, God was praised and no one was injured. All was well. That afternoon’s felt wonderful.
