I think it's a problem when churches are so huge that if they do an outdoor festival, it has to be loud enough to bother a neighborhood--but that shouldn't be all the time --that the noise would permeate the neighborhood. Neighborhoods in the past have enjoyed the large parish festivals of the Catholics. They shouldn't suddenly get prejudiced against the socially conservative Religious Right churches.
As for VOLUME, there ought to be a limit to the decibels and a way to measure them when rock bands are amplified ANYWHERE, indoors or out, because these overly zealous (and probably deaf) sound techs are DEAFENING people --especially young people --for a lifetime of hearing loss. I've been at my own church's international youth conference and complained that I could hear perfectly well in the indoor arena with my ears totally stuffed with cottonballs! What are we thinking? And so we complained --and the leadership said, "but the kids like it this way!" SO WHAT! The kids like all day candy and ice cream and tv consumption, too!
Why in this area of sound, do we think teen volume preferences MUST be tolerated? to their detriment?
I think communities should be tolerant of outdoor festivals on special occasions--as The Church on Strayer holds around the 4th of July, but even then, volumes shouldn't be damaging to the people in the near vicinity of the speakers --and if they are not THAT loud, I bet they won't be so objectionable in the neighborhood either.
AS for THE CHURCH ON STRAYER --which used to be The Cathedral of Praise --what did they mean by calling themselves "The Church on Strayer" as though they were the only one? Strayer Road has 2 churches that take up most of one side of the street, and the other was there first. (I know musical leadership at both churches, I'm proud to say --as both came from our church.) But it seems pretty rude to call yourself "THE church..." when there is another right beside you which was there first. And the other is also a dynamic church with healthy attendance. Pastor Tony Scott, what were you thinking?
I suggest the other church, Heritage Church of God, rename themselves as "First Church on Strayer!" But then they'd get their mail all mixed up.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
