Aside from the 20-minute video, the kit will also include a regular prayer guide, weekly prayer guide and information about these people groups. Each member of the Assemblies of God churches will commit to pray for at least one minute a day for the salvation of these people and for the protection of the missionaries working among them.

These is our second partnership with Global-Adopt-A-People Campaign.  It was a great accomplishment for our team to serve and partner with organizations like them who love and is passionate in reaching the unreached peoples.

The story of Simon Matters is the third of the Australian series of a Changed Life video.  It talks about brokenness and healing. Healing thru Jesus Christ alone. It is a story of hope for a person who didn’t know that there’s life aside from a broken one.  And that thru brokenness is able to boast about it in a way that is helping others in their broken state.

Simon came from a broken family. At an early age, he was exposed to vices: booze, drugs, small crimes and firearms. While he was still at that stage, he met somebody who saw some good in him. And after a year of knowing each other, they decided to get married. But he was then sent to prison. After prison, he studied and become a lawyer, but still continued with his heavy drinking. One night, he and his wife were watching a movie with a redemptive story. They then realized that they needed to give themselves to Christ. From then on, they are doing their best to live life with Him.

This is a great privilege for our team to serve the church through our creativity. We hope that through this event, people will see how God has been working and moving in the Church of the Nazarene. And that more Nazarenes will respond to the mission of our church which is to “make Christlike disciples.”

If you are visiting the General Assembly booth, watch out for the creative designs of our team. See you there!

AC and lights are turned on. Volume is pumping up. The coffee at the pantry is brewing. Shutters are clicking. Cameras are rolling. Video presentation is projected on the screen. You can hear footsteps walking down the stairs into the hallway down at the cave of WM Communications. Yes! It is Thursday morning.
The staffs are wide-awake and vigorous getting ready for something. Pens and papers placed on the table. Hands busy writing, collecting cash registration, distributing handouts and name stickers. A little bit of chitchats around, exchanging “Hi’s” and “Hello’s” while some gave out just simple nods. Sound check one, two, three… (white noise———) we’re ON!

Many if not majority of our Christian churches today do not enlist “audio” as a priority need of their congregation. Often times, churches think that having high-end instruments correspond to having good audio quality or the other way around. We felt that as long as the message is present, we can go a long way without being mindful of the technicalities. We have the impression that microphone feedbacks, distorted sound coming out from the speakers, sudden boosts of volume, voices cutting in and out and many others are strategic distraction by the enemy–always the one to be blame. We cannot deny the fact that the enemy is working double time whenever there’s a work of the Lord going on. But why take it sitting down if we can do something about it? Hence, the burden was felt and there came–SOUND CHECK 2012 | Church Audio with Mike Pedero.

It was 2011 when Audio professionals Erwin Balangue of CBN Asia, Audio consultant (TV5, CBN Asia etc.) Mike Pedero, Ervz Tia and Sean Tinio of WM Communications envisioned helping churches utilizing audio equipment to enhance worship and evangelistic experience of worshippers from large scale down to small size congregations. They felt that many churches struggle when it comes to audio technology such as knowing what to buy, what to bring, what works best in their space and how to operate what they’ve got. They desire to train new breed of audio specialists that will bring transformation to Christian sound. After several months of talk a formal conversation was set to conceptualize and start up an event aiming to provide basic knowledge in sound technology such as some audio theories, type of mixers, microphones and speakers, feedbacks, placement of speakers, operating equipment and many others.

51 participants coming from different churches and denominations rocked WM Communications studio at the NCEE Building, Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary Taytay, Rizal as Sound Check 2012 seminar was unfolded May 10, Thursday. It lasted 3 days until Saturday 4:00 p.m. Mario Benipayo of Fore Runner Technology and Danny Escobar of JB Music demonstrated some mixing techniques and shared tips on how to improve sound and how to play along in mixing without compromising the quality of sound it’ll produce.

Beyond technology, speaker Mike Pedero didn’t forget to emphasize during the three-day seminar that being the church audio guy entails passion and love towards ministry, music and sound. It is being the extension of the pastor’s ministry where the message is being translated into sound waves coursed through the audio equipment towards the listeners. Significant time was also given emphasizing stewardship for it is God’s money that was used to acquire such and it is just rightful to take good care of the equipment as much as we take good care of our belongings. An audio guy should also develop an attitude of sensitivity. One should be sensitive enough to determine how much amount of sound or noise the congregation could take. Finally, regardless of the formal audio training and technical skill an audio man has acquired, it is still the heart that matters most.

A yearlong module condensed into a three-day workshop. No wonder many are asking for more. Indeed you can never have enough and so Audio guys are considering having another round of coffee meeting for the next SOUND CHECK stop. Visayas? Mindanao? Who knows? It might be in your very own local church.
(White noise—————–Signed Off).

This is an overview of the trip. We might have a part two or maybe a series to tell you more about specific techniques and equipment, so watch out for it.

Gearing Up

Armed with prayer, cameras, sound equipment, Sean and I prepared for the trip. Sean will be working with audio and me on video. We made a list of the necessary equipment including cameras, tripod, recorders, tapes, microphones, etc. We had them nicely packed in a crate and bags ready for the flight to Bangkok.

My goal is to make a highlights video of the conference. That would look like one-minute-per-day on the edit. It’s crazy! I can easily fill up two 16 Gig card on a day. Thats a few hundred clips about 2 hours total and that is still being conservative.   I chose the CanonEOS 7D to shoot highlights of the week. It’s portable and the clips easily fit on a portable editing workflow. Yes, I will be cutting on site. I brought a MacBook Pro, a hard drive and a mouse. And oh, the software? I’m daring to use a trial software, cool!

Story Is the Star

Above all the technical concerns, we need to turn our heads up to the mission – to capture and tell the story. Yes, the specifications of the camera, and other gear matters but it’s just part of the whole thing. It’s you who’s running the camera and shooting. These equipment are tools to fulfill the mission.

Like any exciting youth gathering, I already have pictures on my head. It’s just a good motivation when going for a mission like this. It get’s your mind alert and eyes open for the shots.

We start firing our cameras even before getting on the plane (like everybody) but we always need to remember our goal. When we hit Thailand ground, first thing is  to get in touch with the key person and get as much basic information about the event, hotel, and schedules.

At the airport, while waiting for others to arrive, I started taking shots of some important meet and greet moments. On the road, keeping an eye on landmarks, signs, people.

At the conference, you can immediately see tons of potential stories. Everyday is different. That could be overwhelming or you can choose to have fun and shoot as you enjoy the moments.

Worship is an intense scene. Full of spirit and emotion. It can get a little crazy sometimes. What matters is you worship with the people, look around and capture.

Workshops and group activities has it’s unique story too. Passionate speakers, attentive listeners, taking notes, praying, reading, interacting and more. You just have to spend time and observe to get your cue for the shot.

The Bangkok tour is amazing. It’s our world meets the other world. It’s refreshing to touch, smell and see the culture and the people. Of course a rich material for your camera!

I’ve been shooting short 5 to 10 second clips but I’m also doing random quick interviews. I was able to get decent sound with an external mic mounted on the 7D.

It was a great week witnessing and capturing the ThirdWave story where church leaders are strengthened and enabled. During the week, I did three short videos, an update type of piece. Just last week, the highlights video was delivered.

I hope to share more details on the shooting, clips wrestling, and all the fun side of the project next time. God bless!

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http://www.facebook.com/NYI.ThirdWave

http://www.nyitoday.org/

http://www.youtube.com/wmcasiapacific

Not all of us are looking for a change.  Arnold Bennett said, “Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.”  Whether it is intentional or not, the change makes us bumpy.

Yet, change is inevitable in our lives as well as ministry. It is also the reality in our life as what Irene Peter affirmed, “Anyone who thinks there’s safety in numbers hasn’t looked at the stock market pages.” If we don’t change, we will be perish soon…

WM Communication Asia-Pacific is on the changing mode. The team has spent  a few months to reshape of our  purpose, vision, and reasons for existence. Out of the series of meetings and dialogues, we have come up with a new vision.

“...to provide relevant media resources in every languages across the region.”

As a missional media production house, we re-commit ourselves to make our every effort to produce the most relevant media materials for the mission of the Church. The new vision explores our new passion  to make  Christlike disciples in every nations across the region. We were reminded  that we are not just making videos, radio programs, and websites. What we are making will transform the heart of Christians and non-Christians.

Furthermore, the relevance of the production should be in the context of Asia-Pacific region. We were reminded that we are serving the region which is composed of  24 countries, 46 districts, and languages of more than two thousand. It may be impossible to make media materials for  “every language” but we refocus of our vision to make media materials that will have an impact to all language groups across the Asia-Pacific region as much as possible. We are reminded again of the importance of having culturally and linguistically relevant media materials for the mission of the Church.

In the situation of uncertainty in our life, we are sure of what we believe (Hebrew 11:1). It is faith in GOD. And we take the new chapter of WM Communications Asia-Pacific with the faith we believe. The vision we made cannot be achieved in a few years. But we believe that God will be with us as we walk with Him for the fulfillment of the goal day by day.

Two years prior, the Asia-Pacific Regional Advisory Council had helped cast the vision and the planning began.  As the opening night drew near, the fervent prayer was that the ‘event’ would actually become an ‘encounter’ with God for each participant. During the opening service on Wednesday evening, October 26, representatives from the 27 Asia-Pacific countries joined in the Parade of Nations.   The worship that evening and throughout the week reflected the varieties of cultures, color, and music that make up the Asia-Pacific Region.  Each of the worship services and plenary workshops were translated into 8 different languages, underscoring the beautiful tapestry of people who call the Asia-Pacific region their home.

In worship services, plenary gatherings, and interactive elective workshops, speakers from within and without the region addressed a variety of topics such as “Becoming a Missional People”, ”Children As the Church of Today”, ”Discipling People with Disabilities”, “The Church’s Response to Human Trafficking” , ”Understanding Sexual Shame”, and “Organic Church Planting”.  According to one participant, “We were blessed with just the right balance of theological foundation and practical tools to make this truly an inspirational and effective conference.”  

Speakers challenged participants with fresh expressions of ancient truths, emphasizing the empowerment of every believer to make disciples and disciple makers.  Those in attendance were urged to open their hearts to new ways to encounter God as they discussed His creative plan for reaching the unreached in the 40% of the earth’s population that live in the Asia-Pacific region.  The keynote speakers, the plenary speakers and those that gave of themselves to serve in the many elective workshops were all greatly used by God.

Not only did participants encounter the Word,  they also encountered fellow disciples and disciple makers. The Spirit of God was present in the reunions,  conversations,  and relationships shared during the MLC.  One participant even had the opportunity to lead a hotel staff person to Christ during the course of the week.

As the week progressed,  attendance surged to over 800 in the evening services as local Filipino congregations joined in with conference participants.  Dr. Eugenio Duarte delivered the closing Sunday morning message on the subject of “Becoming Missional” based on 1 Corinthians 15:58: “With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.”  (The Message)

Only eternity will reveal the impact that the 2011 MLC had on the Church’s mission to make Christlike Disciples in the nations of the Asia-Pacific region.   But for many of those who attended, the ‘event’ really had become an ‘encounter’ with the living, creator God.    Thank you for praying for the Asia-Pacific Missional Leaders’ Conference 2011.

- NCN, Asia-Pacific Region