Imagine with me a scene. The brightness of an early fall afternoon is giving way to the darkness of night. The last rays of the waning sun shed golds and ambers, reds and purples across the horizon. The camera zooms in on the one still bright spot in the frame, a lonely, lit window, on the otherwise dark edifice of a church. As we move into the building (cue the creepy music) we see unlit hallways, darkened offices, and at the end of a long corridor, the light that is illuminating the window we saw from outside. It is coming from an office, the Pastor’s office.

The camera approaches more slowly, the music and the tension are building. The camera nudges its way through the open outer door, and there bathed in the soft light of a comfortable study, we see the pastor, hard at work, preparing a message that will impact countless lives across many years (the church installed a recording system from Fowler just last month!). As we move to the side of the desk, we see in Pastor’s face the beginning of a realization that something is amiss. At first it is subtle, a gentle tug on the corners of the conscious. Quickly however the thought ascends from the depths, gathering momentum until suddenly, it hits! Pastor’s head raises up, the horror apparent, “That dad-gum projector lamp is going out with Christmas just around the corner!”

That’s right folks, Christmas is here! Well, actually, we still have a while before that’s exactly true, but now is the time to begin planning for your Christmas services. Do you want to upgrade your projection system so that the Christmas graphics look as good as possible? Do you need some additional lighting for the Christmas program? One of the great things about the Christmas season is the spike in attendance. The bad part about the Christmas season is that all of the planning seems to be left for the very last moment. The worst time to let a lack of planning get in the way of the message is when we have a room packed full of guests!

Start thinking through your program now and be proactive about maintenance or upgrades for your equipment. Start talking to your planning team about the approach that media will take during the holidays, both in terms of manpower as well as production. This is one of two times in every calendar year we can count on a relatively captive audience, many of whom are struggling and needing a special touch. With a little planning and forethought, we can be best equipped to deliver to them the world altering, life-changing message of the manger.