Behind the scenes
I had the privilege this past year of serving with a group of faithful brothers and sisters in the Sunday church bulletin team. For this past year, the bulletin team consisted of members from various ministries from our church: Hubert and Jae from the International Student Ministry, Frances from the Praxis ministry, and me and occasionally my wife Carmen from the College ministry. Even though we are from different departments of this church and each had our own load of ministry and other responsibilities, we experienced a special "joy" and bond working as a team this past year, as we have been learning to be stretched by God in various ways on a weekly basis.
It is kind of a misnomer to call us the "bulletin team," because we are not responsible for the design of the Sunday bulletins. Rather, the bulletin team merely receives the design from the Publication Czar (aka Carmen Hsu) who produces the images (with her team of talented graphic designers: Mary and Ernie). The bulletin team just prints the bulletins. Sounds easy, right?
Here are our simple tasks: After the bulletin team receives the approved images, we format the images on an Adobe Illustrator template and then update the Sunday service information for that week. When all the information and images are updated and ready to go, we press the "Print" button on the keyboard, and then -- begin praying that for the next two hours or so, the printing will go smoothly and the printers will not jam.
Because of the frequent jamming of the printers, as well as other assorted issues related with printing, such as ink smears, breakdown of the computer network, etc., the printing takes about two to three plus hours or more per one side of the bulletin. Often we need to experiment with different printers and different paper feeds on the printer in order to avoid jamming and other printer issues.
Due to the various complications described above, I often find myself printing the church bulletins late on Friday night at North Loop. These times actually turn into a sweet time of meeting other people at North Loop who are still hard at work at the wee hours of the night. I bumped into Pastor Ed more than a couple of times on a Friday night in the wee hours, seeing him preparing for a retreat or wedding message for the next day. Once I was able to fellowship with my good friend Andy, who was still up preparing for the Impact Spring Fest he was in charge of the next morning. On that particular night, Andy actually took out a screwdriver and helped me fix the Canon printer, even though he was incredibly busy (Thanks Andy!). There were other times in which I was able to witness members of the video team staying up producing videos, and brother peer groups staying up to prepare wedding reception acts for one of their peers, trying to figure out silly dance moves with their eyes barely open. When I saw that there are many people around me giving it their all to serve God, and love people, it dawned upon me that I am really blessed to have many around me who set good examples for me in giving their all to God, and that I, too, should learn to give it my all in this seemingly mundane task of printing bulletin programs.
Again, I am so thankful to be a part of Gracepoint Fellowship Church that has faithful members giving it their all....even on a Friday night. Thank you! Bulletin Team--we had a great year!!