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SPIRITUAL ECONOMIES OF EVANGELICAL WORSHIP: TECHNOLOGY, STEWARDSHIP AND EXPERIENCE LAURIE M. BAKER A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRAUDATE PROGRAM IN SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY YORK UNIVERSITY, TORONTO, ONTARIO NOVEMBER 2015 © LAURIE BAKER, 2015 Abstract The present work explores how American evangelicals have learned to use and think about performance technology, such as professional audio, video and lighting technologies as they endeavour to craft worship environments. I track the discourses from trade publications, like Technologies for Worship Magazine (TFWM) and Worship Facilities Magazine and Church Production, in their devotion to bridge the divide between religion and technology to create a house of worship market. Both TFWM and Church Production participate in conferences where they offer education on technology use. Technologies for Worship Magazine is the educational basis for the TFW Pavilion and Worship Facilities and Church Production for an event called Worship Facilities Expo (WFX). Ethnographic research at these events reveals that evangelical worship technicians learn to cultivate dispositions towards stewardship and technical mastery through attending these technology exhibitions and conferences, by taking offered educational seminars. Training at the TFW Pavilion and WFX focussed on two main areas: first, how to use professional performance technologies, like audio amplification and control devices, lighting configurations, and video capture, production and broadcast systems. Second, training addressed the importance for church technicians to use technologies to create excellent and relevant worship experiences. By excellent, trainers meant worship practice that uses performance technologies seamlessly to create immersive experiences. Churches who strive for technological excellence embody the belief that the relevance of the church and its message among believers and non-believers is coupled with the use of technology to enhance the affective potential of the message delivered by the pastor. Yet, as church technicians—like audio or lighting engineers— | Page ii reflect on technology use, they reveal the ways that technology troubles contemporary worship practice as much as it augments the creation of poignant, immersive experiences. | Page iii Acknowledgements Works of this kind always incorporate many voices. I have been fortunate enough to conduct research that engages the voices and narratives of evangelical technical directors and educators in their quest to create enduring religious experiences using the latest technologies and techniques. Spending time learning alongside technical directors often left me in awe of their commitment, considering their positions were voluntary. I hope their commitment and enthusiasm is faithfully conveyed in the pages that follow. My dissertation committee, composed of Dr. Albert Schrauwers, Dr. David Murray and Dr. Natasha Myers, has provided invaluable support and guidance throughout the research and especially the writing and revision process. In particular, my supervisor Albert Schrauwers has been a steady and unceasing source of inspiration, support and advice before and throughout this project. I already miss our project meetings. In addition to the support of my committee, my fellow colleagues and faculty members of the York University Social Anthropology department, especially Dr. Penny Van Esterik, have helped me work through many of the challenges this project has generated. I am exceedingly grateful for Penny’s support and mentorship. Competitive scholarships from the Ontario Graduate Scholarship fund and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council helped to make my field research possible. It seems cliché to say that bringing this dissertation to fruition has been a long process. Even so, it bears repeating. My daughters, now three and one, have never known me outside of this project. I have typed more than one chapter with a baby napping on my lap. There were times throughout the writing process where I wondered if, considering the demands of being a parent, I would be able to finish this project. During those times of doubt, I returned to the notion | Page iv that our girls learn their first and perhaps most important lessons from us. With that in mind, I persevered with the concerted help of close family members who rallied to ensure I still had some time to write. My mother, Brenda, father Robert and mother-in-law Shelagh, all played a role in caring for the children as only grandparents can. Their assistance helped me continue to make progress during the early days of parenthood and continue to offer support. My mother-in-law Susan has provided generous insight into my writing on this topic and I am grateful for her advice. My father-in-law Bryan improved my manuscript considerably through his keen and thoughtful attention to detail. Thank you. I cannot express enough gratitude and admiration for my partner and best friend, Kevin. His patience and support through the duration of this degree and resulting dissertation has been unwavering. In moments of doubt, he reassured me and helped me keep the end goal in mind. His longstanding work in the worship market has helped me to refine my ideas and explore new lines of thought that have helped to shape what you are about to read. This dissertation is not only better for his insight; I am too. | Page v Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iv Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... vi List of Acronyms ......................................................................................................................... viii 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 The Technologies for Worship Magazine (TFWM) and the Technologies for Worship (TFW) Pavilion .................................................................................................................................. 13 Worship Facilities Conference and Expo (WFX) .................................................................. 22 Neighbours Church ............................................................................................................... 24 Methods and Methodologies ................................................................................................. 29 Organization .......................................................................................................................... 37 2. Literature Review ...................................................................................................................... 42 Religion and Technology: the problem of presence .............................................................. 42 Spiritual economies ............................................................................................................... 52 3. Curious Economies: A House of Worship Market ................................................................... 68 The Queen Mary .................................................................................................................... 81 The TFW Pavilion ................................................................................................................. 86 From the heart: the affective labours that bring markets into being ...................................... 92 4. Vocabularies of motives and rough translation ........................................................................ 98 Specifications becoming capabilities: Translation in action ............................................... 107 Talking back: the languages of lights .................................................................................. 116 Neighbours Church: A Continuous Discontinuity ............................................................... 130 5. Get a life: spiritual economies of experience, giftings and the pursuit of excellence ............ 136 All of God’s people have gifts; they’ve been gifted. ........................................................... 143 Having a heart for worship production ................................................................................ 153 Spiritual DNA and the crafting of church identity .............................................................. 160 Stay in the Word .................................................................................................................. 166 6. “Does it point our hearts to God?”: how stewards learn to understand their gifts .................. 175 Technically Transparent Worship ....................................................................................... 185 Neighbours Church and stewardship: “It’s not the technology, it’s the people” ................ 193 “Technology left unexamined” ............................................................................................ 197 | Page vi 7. Sensorial forms of experience: the juncture of relevant and excellent worship ..................... 207 “Excellence doesn’t just happen, it’s by

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