"Conference Preparation"

It's the end of winter so we're all probably gearing up for our spring campaigns, revivals, and conferences.  I've spent the week trying to mentally prepare myself for the quickness of the arrival of our next conference in March.  It doesn't help that February is the shortest month of the year! Ha!

The first step in conference planning is remembering what you did last year.  A lot happens in one year at our church.  We hold three major conferences and sometimes the music part gets a little blurry to me.  Let me walk through the conference-planning mental maze of a music coordinator.

1.  Look over what you did last year.  Look over the music schedules, order of services, and any notes you may have made on your sermon notes during the preaching... (like - "don't do that again", etc.)
2.  When the pastor requests a meeting with you to discuss the upcoming conference, make worksheets with blanks for the pastor and staff to fill out as they have ideas.  If the pastor skipped some congregational songs last year, leave them out this year, don't make the same mistake twice.  If there were too many public prayers during the service try to one or two this year.
3. The worksheets you give to your pastor are merely suggestions and a helpful tool for them to know what components should be included in the service, ie. offering, introductions.
4.  Ask the pastor if there was anything he didn't care for during the last conference.  Take his advice.
5.  Make a list of the groups that you believe will be prepared to sing for the conference along with their best two songs of the past year.  It is not always wise to sing a brand new song for a conference. If it is new, try to schedule it for church in the weeks before the conference for a trial run.
6.  Four weeks before the conference pass out a schedule sheet to all musicians who will be involved. Include pianists, directors, singers, instrumentalists, accompanists, P.A. men, prelude musicians, etc.  It helps to put the word "tentative" at the top because so many things can change at the last minute.
7. Have a plan B in your mind for every single special for the week.  i.e.. If the adult ensemble falls through, then the mixed trio will sing.
8. Because some musicians are in more than one group, we sometimes choose a color scheme for each day of the conference and not try to match exactly.
9. Practice like there's no tomorrow.
10. Check on group progress with all of the music leaders.
11. Send reminders to the musicians one week before the conference and the Sunday before the conference.
12. When the conference begins, enjoy it!  Listen to the preaching.  Take notes on what works and what doesn't work musically and put them in a place where you can find them....
13. Schedule something fun to do on the day after the conference, like sleep in, so you can be ready for Sunday!

In the Studio

I had the opportunity of a lifetime to be able to travel to Evansville, Indiana with our Joy Trio to record their first CD.  These ladies are no "fly by night" group, they've been singing together for over twenty-five years.  As their pianist, I know all of the hard work, rehearsal time, and sacrifice these ladies have made to serve the Lord with song.  Our pastor and each of our husbands made this trip possible and took care of the travel, making it an enjoyable trip, and keeping us on the road through snow and icy weather.
After we arrived at the studio we got right to work.  The ladies warmed up for a few minutes and then the recording began. Of course, they made it look easy, recording ten songs in one working day.  The wonderful musicians and sound engineers at the studio made the experience so enjoyable.  They were very encouraging and helpful.  Knowing that they were experts in their fields made us relax and focus on our music.
The fear I had about having to be a perfect musician melted away since mistakes can be corrected without starting over from the beginning.  It made me realize that it's a possibility that most of the recordings we hear are not perfect from the start, unless they're "live from Carnegie Hall".  Don't let your feelings of shortcomings as a musician keep you from playing for the Lord or from attempting to record a CD.  I would love to go back and record another CD!!!

I learned A LOT from this experience:
1. Practice time is not in vain.
2. Take care of the little problems for each song as you prepare it for church.
3. Organize your music, mark problem areas, and choose music that touches your heart.
4. Do not focus on learning songs for a CD, but for the service of the house of God.
5. God answers prayer and goes above and beyond.
6. Regardless of the CD sales, we now have a professionally recorded collection of songs for our church and families.