"... and lights on!"
WHEW - it was a pretty stress-filled and nerve-wracking responsibility to oversee lighting for our recent Gracepoint Live performances! When the seniors came on for their finale song at our last Sunday night performance, I felt so relieved that it was all over, and thankful to God that the background work that went into the lighting went smoothly so that the performances could go without a hitch.
I first learned the ins-and-outs of lighting back in 2004 during our last G-Live performances. Since then, Conrad’s given me a lot of great instruction on improving lighting; but, as they say, the best way to learn is to do, and my lighting skills have really honed through experiences when the pressure is on, like at G-Live. Almost all of the work for lighting happens before the performance: mounting the lights, connecting them to a power source, connecting to a data cable so that the board can control them, aiming them; and then, as the various groups rehearsed, we had them pause while we brought up the right lighting and then saved the setting so we could replay it later. Thankfully, the lighting team members, Sarah and Richard, were there to share the workload, and especially the joy (and stress :o) of making all of this possible.
It’s encouraging for me to see how God has used what I’ve learned about lighting, especially through such a large event as G-Live. I’ve heard many stories of people who really enjoyed the performances and were so blessed by them, and I’m thankful that I got to contribute to that experience.