I want to start of by just saying THANK YOU!! Words will never be able to do justice to just how grateful I am for your support of me. The Lord is using your prayers and giving through this season to guide and lead me through His calling on my life. That blows me away. With that being said, I want to share with you what has been happening over the summer and where the Lord has been leading me!
What I Have Been Doing
Application - Over the past year, I have more or less been in sponge mode, soaking up every bit of knowledge, experience, and skill about audio engineering that I could, with the goal of eventually putting those to use. As I have mentioned in earlier blog posts, I have been a part of a rigorous audio engineering course called Audio Engineering Development (AED for short). In it, we covered everything from in depth theory to hands on practical training on mixing, system tuning, etc. This past May, I graduated from that program. In those 8 months, I learned more than I have in the past 3 years doing audio. I honestly learned more than I could have even imagined I would and even things I didn't know existed! Now that I have graduated that class, I have moved into more of an application season in the residency. That has really taken shape in mixing for our main services across our five campuses as well as doing more outside contract gigs. Every Sunday, each one of our campuses needs a qualified audio engineer to run the helm. This past may, I began doing just that. This has been an amazing opportunity to take so many of the things I learned in AED and put them into use. Each Sunday I continue to learn how to craft an inspiring mix that the Spirit can use to engage people and fuel their worship. Im am excited to see how God grows and sharpens my skills in this area for His glory!
Summer Camps - Another highlight over the summer has been the camps that I have been a part of. As many of you know, every summer, thousands of high school and middle school aged students are a part of some form of a camp where they are led in worship and teaching and challenged to grow deeper in their relationship with Jesus. This summer, I had the opportunity of helping with audio at two different camps. For the first camp, Wild Week, our audio team provides the camp with the audio gear and crew. This camp involved our team designing how the audio system would be set up, deploying it, and then running it for the entire week for worship sets, break out sessions, as well as a concert mid week. I love the opportunity to get to do these kind of gigs because it allows us to take out our entire system and do the full shoot and match, which always turns into a growing opportunity for me and I seem to always learn something new. The other camp I was a part of was called Master Camp in Leaky, TX called Alto Frio. This camp, from a production stand point could not have been more different that Wild Week. All of the audio gear was in house and was at least 20+ years old. This caused me to really think outside the box to optimize the system to the point of being usable. Without getting technical, I believe I was able to get it to a level I was comfortable with, and was encouraged every worship set when I could look out and see kids worshiping in a distraction free environment because of the Spirit using the gifts He had given me. Those camps were an encouraging reminder of why God has called me to be an audio engineer. It is an extremely humbling and fulfilling calling to be used by God to help foster an environment where people can freely encounter Him through worship!
What I Have Been Learning
Love God, Love Others - In light of recent events that have played out in this world over the past few months, a recent sermon by a guest pastor, Trip Lee, has really been on the forefront of my mind. Along with every bombing, every mass killing, every discriminatory racial act, comes a set of emotions and questions of what to do. Should I be angry? What can I do? Is this ever going to stop? These are all things that I have been wrestling with as of late. I want to be apart of reconciliation but where does that even begin? That is where Trip Lees sermon fits in perfectly. The only thing you should ever do is love. Thats was his point. At first, it sounds too simple. There has to be more to it. Theres got to be some sort of process. It can't be that simple! But it is!! The very first commandment that God gives to us is to love Him. The very next one? Love our neighbor. We try so hard to add things to that and make it difficult. We try to add process and programs and tracks, and while those are not bad things, they sometimes (and I would dare say most of the time) hinder us from actually tangibly loving someone. So, in light of all that has been happening around us, my first importance is to love God. Am I spending time with Him daily, learning more about Him, communing with Him. Secondly, I am to love others. Am I loving others the same way I love myself? Am I giving my time and resources to help the poor, to bring hope and justice to those around me. God has placed me in the city of Austin in this specific season to care and love on the people around me. I am a minister of reconciliation according to 2 Corinthians 5. What a privilege God has given to those who call Him Lord. We get to be a part of His Grand Narrative. That is what I am leaning into in this season, praying that I would fall more in love with Jesus, and in turn, love those around me more. In case you are wanting to listen to Trip's sermon (I would highly recommend it!) I will link it here!
Prayers
Our Next Door Neighbor - Would you pray for our neighbor that lives next door? She is going through a really tough season right now and we are pretty confident she is not a believer. We want her to know the love and hope of Jesus so badly! That He is for her and can offer her peace in the midst of craziness. Would you pray for opportunities to invite her over to dinner with friends and events we put on at our house? And would you pray that she would say YES! We are praying that God would radically change her life for His glory and her good!
Year TWO! - Year two is almost upon me! I can't believe how fast year one has gone, meaning year two will go by just as fast if not faster. Year two brings a whole new set of adventure, people, struggles, opportunities, etc. Would you pray that God will lead and guide me. Pray that I would be attuned to the Spirit and that I would fall more in love with Him. That is my ultimate goal is to continually fall more in love with Him and I am praying towards that end.
Lastly, due to this residency being a fully support raised position, I am currently in need of a few more supporters to help with my last year of the residency. I would love for you to partner with me if you are not already! If you feel led, please check out my PARTNER page to learn how to support me. If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to email me (ryan.robertson@austinstone.org) or text/call me at (318)-658-2470. Grace and Peace.
Pictures From My Residency
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