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Got fired from my church gig...

#61
jaywa said:
Settlements?! Jeez-o-pete, that right there is a red flag as big as Texas.

Sounds like a church with money up the wazoo, but ignorant (at best) or malevolent (at worst) leadership. With a whole lot of self-reliance and arrogance thrown in just for yuks.

Eventually that church is gonna crash and burn -- hard -- and you don't wanna be around when that happens.
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This all came out after the assistant MM took over. Prior to that no one was talking about it as far as I knew. The guy loved to gossip.
 
#62
JimmyM said:
they will, mark my words. at which point i'd quote them a ridiculous price.

this is why i don't do church gigs. they are so full of politics that it makes the bigtime recording business look fair by comparison.
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And that's what I'd do, Jimmy. If you want me, I'm not going to be cutting any break on pay... but work is work. It's worked well for me in the past.
 
#63
Essen said:
I don't get it... WHY couldn't you use an amp?
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It appears because they were told they could get better sound without them by the salesmen who sold them their setup. The pastor made the choice, not the music or sound ministry (the sound ministry is the untrained volunteer).

Obviously if you have an amp on stage and someone who can't control their volume it can be problematic. That doesnot make amps on stage bad... it's the guy who's using it. So they swung hard the other way and we couldn't hear ourselves clearly on stage.

That affects performance.
 
#64
megadoc said:
Bummer on being out the $1200 or so a month? For the gig... Amps are scary in the church world sometimes --- you can be "too loud" just by showing up...also --- and I'm sure this will resonate with Church Bass Players... You can be having an awesome praise and worship session --- people clapping...praising God --- just wonderful...and many folks saying "wow, that was great" and "we needed that" and "why don't we do that more often"...but all it takes is one or two people and sometimes JUST ONE person to say "it's too loud"...boo hoo...it was just too loud for little ol me...that is so frustrating...so any amp is "too loud".

Churches are organizations full of people - and because of that they are flawed just like any other people run organization - the danger is that the expectation are different because it's a church/religious setting and you may even have your "guard down" because of it.

In your situation - and this is just a guess -- it really doesn't matter what the sound is like or whatever --- the details don't matter - "they" want you out of there and you are gone and that's that...most likely the new music director has someone else in mind for the bass position and there will be more changes coming soon. At least you were getting paid - I know a lot of people that have put up with bad church situations for free (myself included).

Take it as a blessing in disguise - and move on bro.

Regards,

MegaDoc
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Agreed on all points.

And for anyone who doesn't believe I'm simply posting about a recent job experience, one that many seem interested in... cool. You want to believe I want sympathy on the internet, fine. I can't explain it any better than I already have, believe what you clearly need to believe.
:cool:
 
#68
MN is going a little overboard methinks. I have subbed at several different churches, get paid well to do it, and accomodate the set rules of the church I'm playing at (dress code, amp, no amp, etc.) but Brad is dealing with lies and whatever else, and that just ain't cool. Bringing up "PR" in a situation like this is comical. Sounds like Brad has done everything the right way and got fired for it. I know, two sides to every story but I have seen this type of stuff before as well.
 
#69
jjk2007 said:
MN is going a little overboard methinks. I have subbed at several different churches, get paid well to do it, and accomodate the set rules of the church I'm playing at (dress code, amp, no amp, etc.) but Brad is dealing with lies and whatever else, and that just ain't cool. Bringing up "PR" in a situation like this is comical. Sounds like Brad has done everything the right way and got fired for it. I know, two sides to every story but I have seen this type of stuff before as well.
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Thanks for that shoulder. He's not going overboard IMO, he's imagining things.
:)

BTW I didn't wait until anything came to a head, I brought up issues as they arose, politely, and offered suggestions based on my experience as to how we could remedy the situation. Several times. No harsh language or accusations. When again asked what else we could do, because fixing the soundguy clearly wasn't happening, I suggested they get a small combo for onstage monitoring. A week later, after another Sunday with crap sound, at rehearsal that turned into "You said you'd bring your amp!" from the MM, which brought out a lot of confused looks from those that had been there the week before and knew that wasn't what I said. So when I do bring in an amp thenext week while they had me looking for one to buy after he flipped on his announcement that he wasn't going to buy an amp...

hey, I was there and it made no sense. I can only imagine what it must be like to read it.
 
#70
Brad Johnson said:
That was funny on a couple of levels because the pastor seemed to enjoy chastising people on the mic.
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Seeing this line made me wonder about the value of the message that the church was putting out. I have never been a fan of the chastising/bible-thumping/finger-wagging types. And seeing someone actually take joy in it is always very disheartening for me.

I'd say it isn't much fun to go through something coming to a close like this but regardless of how you got to this point, I'd be thankful to part ways with a church like that.

Being out the extra coin is a killjoy though. Put out the feelers and you'll find a new sunday home soon enough.
 
#71
"A funny thing about regret is that it's better to regret something you HAVE done than to regret something you haven't done. And by the way if you see your Mom this weekend
would you be sure and tell her SATAN!!!"
 
#73
hello,
i play in church and the politics your taliking about are so true. i have gone thru the same thing. just remember to tell the big honchos who are they really playing for? good luck and God bless!
 
#75
Brad Johnson said:
Beliive it or not, that never bothered me. I'd do a gig Saturday night, might get home after 1am or more, be up and out the door to make the 45 minute drive to the church and usually be the first musician besides the MM there by a pretty wide margin beofre 9AM. And wide awake for the entire service and not texting/emailing like some people.
;)


Maybe they didn't like punctuality. I don't know at this point. At least I have a new funny story to tell.
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45 minute drive, huh? That's about what I drive too. Most people tell me I drive way too far to go to church. I tell them I'm cool with it but it sure would be nice to go somewhere close but there's no church that I know of that'll let me have the freedom I have on my worship team. They totally let me play what I want to play and even let me do some soloing as well.
 
#77
I have noticed lately that when a tb'er discusses things that have gone wrong in different bands or at various gigs that many of us find the need to knock down the poster. I clearly understand the concept of constructive criticism, but lately I have seen many more responses that seem to be personal attacks and finger pointing. Brad, my take on this thread was that you had a bad experience and wanted to share it. I also got the impression that you would listen to suggestions on what you could do about it. But several of the responses seem to be telling you what you did wrong and how your expectations were incorrect. Trying to pass blame on to you is of no value. Likewise, getting defensive serves you no good purpose. You are moving on, and that is best.

What I am trying to say is that I have been in one of these threads where something I said inspired personal attacks. I found myself getting very defensive. Your experience is uniquely yours, and as human beings we wish to share these experiences, and we want helpful feedback. Yet subsequent posters can't possibly know all the details of the actual situation. As TB'ers I think we need to show each other more consideration than we have been of late.
 
#78
Our pastor, who trusts the people in our sound and music ministies, often says that organizations rise and fall on leadership. It seems to me that that church has leadsership issues. The perfect church doesn't exist, but your situation was just wrong-plain wrong!

When one door closes, another door opens..........


A Groove is a Terrible Thing to Waste! :cool:
 
#80
Brad,

I do not believe I would have played the last two Sundays. I have experienced similar sound situation. I started subbing at a church and the sound was always bad, not like your situation, but it was bad. When the church separated the "sound man" came with the new forming church. For 3 years the sound was always "wacko" and musicians complained. The praise band decided it wasn't the equipment, it was the man behind the board. After having more experienced people behind the board, we have fixed a once difficult situation. Just because you can connect the equipment, doesn't mean you can properly run it. On Sundays we are there to Praise our Father and hopefully the sound quality is there for the congregation to enjoy. Thankfully our Praise Band is Full of Professional Players including myself. The music is always in the pocket and we use charts. God Bless You.
 

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