Christmas Eve (Two Days Early)

Last night we attended one of the 14 Christmas Eve services at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA. The 4:30 service we attended and the 6:30 service were both being filmed for the Fox News Channel and will be broadcast Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (more about that later). There's no truth to the rumor that Bill O'Reilly and Brit Hume gave the message.

I thought they did a nice job with the service this year. The music and message was good, and the staging was very beautiful. The songs were well performed as always with a good-sized orchestra and choir, though I believe they recorded some tracks ahead of time to beef up the background vocals (they needed it for the TV audio, I believe). Timing is obviously a critical issue when you're taping for rebroadcast, and one of the big songs, O Holy Night sung by operatic soprano Lynette Tapia, was shortened by one verse for the sake of the broadcast. When I sang there two weeks ago Lynette sang the longer version, which I prefer, but she handled the change like the pro she is, and as always, brought the house down.

I was particularly interested in some of the technical stuff going on behind the scenes. The had one of those big boom cameras on one side of the platform which gives you those "flyover" shots as it moves over the crowd toward the stage. Right in front of me was the guy operating a "steady cam", one of those amazing rigs the cameraman wears which somehow negates the motion of the operator and maintains a steady shot as he walks or moves. It looked terribly uncomfortable to wear but gives the program some interesting shots.

They had a roving camera on stage, and several fixed cameras giving the director a wide variety of shots to choose from for the house feed. I saw the steady cam guy getting some footage during one of the sermon segments that will probably be edited into the Fox broadcast. As we left the building we saw the big TV production trailers out in back, including a satellite truck. I'm guessing they were sending the feed directly back to New York where the final product will be edited and readied for broadcast.

I must admit I feel a pang or two when I attend a Christmas Eve service at Saddleback. From 1997 through 2000 I sang in every Christmas Eve service they did - I think I did 39 services in all over the 4 years. It was a grind and at the same time some of the most fun I've ever had as a performer. When the notes died down from that last performance it almost felt like Christmas was over, even though it was only late Christmas Eve. Christmas Day almost seemed like a let-down after getting up in front of crowds of up to 3,000 for each of those services. I miss it. I still marvel at the stamina of Pastor Rick Warren, music pastor Rick Muchow, and all the singers and musicians who do most if not all of the services.

Getting back to this year's service, if you'd like to see it, it will be broadcast on the Fox News Channel at the following times (all times are PST - please adjust accordingly for your time zone):

December 24th - 11am, 6pm & 9pm
December 25th - 3am & 11am

If you're not able to get to a service of your own, this would be a good one to tune into.