RAIDER said:
bgwilkinson said:
Another pic from the English service last night in the old auditorium.
Why did they have the service in the old auditorium?
Some think it's because we are trying to get our old mojo back, mystical reference intended, however I believe there is a more reasonable explanation.
This crowd in the Main auditorium looks very small and makes it very difficult to claim you are having great crowds at your event. Like a handful of BBs bouncing around in a bathtub.
There is a secret to the seating in the old auditorium and making it look more filled than it really is. The spacing of the seats is much greater now than it was during the days of Bro. Hyles. When he was pastor the pews were as close as physically possible. One could almost not walk between them. In the center sections on the lower floor there were 16 pews from the face of the mezzanine to the front row. In this pic you can count only 11 rows from the front to the mezzanine. There is also a walkway without seating just under the balcony that further reduces the number of seats.
As for the the number of seats in each row. During the LORD's supper service there were 11 men on each front row, same as present seating setup.
Normally on Sunday evenings we do not use the balcony at all in the New Auditorium. You can easily get 3,500 plus on the ground floor in the New Building, but the building does not look like many are there because of the empty balcony. You can just about count the number of people in this pic, so you can see for yourself that the number is not very large. Whole sections are empty.
Number of people who boycott the old building.
Now to be fair there are a large number of people who boycott the old building because of it's problems, I don't mean it is an intentional boycott, but an unintentional one that still gives the same result.
Parking is not as close to the old building as it is to the new, this is a big deal to older people who count their steps, especially at night.
Another reason is that we can save a bundle of money by not running the Main auditorium for days at a time. The old auditorium has at that point been used multiple times on Sunday. 10:45, 1:30 and 6:00.
There are probably some others too.
We would probably have had better attendance if we had held the service in the new building, it just wouldn't look like it. I guess it may be about the feeling after all.
Reasons not to have an event there would include very poor glaring lighting that is hard on the eyes. For people who wear glasses the lights produce a haze on the lenses that is caused by the very high freq. UV light that is produced by these style lights. Makes some older people sick. Some get migraine headaches from the warehouse style lighting. The lighting also produces deep dark shadows that make it hard to even read a paper Bible, those using their phones or iPads, of course, do not have that problem.
Another reason is terrible sound, speech is not too bad but music is atrocious. Very poor quality all around makes one glad to be back in the main auditorium.
A good reason to have services in the old building is that people once again realize how much we needed the New Auditorium and makes them appreciate it that much more.
