Sound Great—Super Cool Person of the Week

I don’t know how many of you were able to check out the concert last night—but it was awesome! The band did an incredible job…and I still say that Lee is the best worship leader in the country, his talent amazes me.

(For those unaware of what I am writing about—the worship band from NewSpring did a benefit concert last night to raise money for the victims of hurricane Katrina. A big shout out to the Civic Center and Custom Audio for partnering with us to make this work.)

I stood at the sound board during the first set of the concert and could not get over how incredible the band sounded. And that leads to my super cool person of the week.

As any musician (or former musician…that’s me—Lee kicked me out of the band when I hired him—I’m not bitter) knows—the person who runs sound has a lot to do with people’s perception of how good or bad the band really is. I have witnessed great bands and/or singers with amazing talent—but have seen them at the mercy of a clueless person running sound—and either people do not appreciate what is before them because they either can’t hear them—OR their ears are bleeding!

I have seen this in churches as well—too many times we will let someone with “a good heart” and is willing to run sound—NOT GOOD! We should give our best in everything that we do—and that means that the person running sound should have knowledge of what does & doesn’t sound good.

Props to my hero—Joel “Swole” Yates! He is the best sound engineer on the planet…trust me, I have never seen anyone as good as this guy. Ask our band—they will tell you that when Joel is running sound that there is no fear AND that they totally trust what he is doing.

Joel has been with NewSpring since the beginning. He met with us when there were about 15 people in a living room…and he actually played bass for a long time in our band. One day he told Lee that he did like playing…but his passion was running sound—thus a transition took place and BAM—here he is.

The thing that makes Joel so awesome is not just his ear for sound. (By the way—he is a student of sound…he travels to shows—reads—he is constantly in a state of learning.) But his servants heart is what sets him apart. He is one of the hardest and most dedicated workers I have ever seen.

Pastors—also—if you want to know who is and who isn’t coming to your church—you need to ask the person running sound. Joel & I usually talk about once a week about who he sees coming in…and he is an incredible resource for feedback because he can see the crowd’s reaction a lot better than I can.

I could go on and on—but Joel Yates rocks! Thanks Joel for all that you do—we’ve seen God do a lot in the past five and a half years—and the best is yet to come. You’re awesome dude!