49: Get to Know HOPE: Corey Tyler on How He Worships as the Visual Tech Coordinator

Welcome to the Meet Hope podcast, where we have conversations about faith and hope.

Hope is one church made of people living out their faith through two expressions in person and online.

We believe a hybrid faith experience can lead to a growing influence in our community and our world for the sake of others.

Welcome to Hope.

Hi everyone, welcome to the Meet Hope podcast.

My name is Ashley Black and I'm excited to be joined today by Corey Tyler, who is on our staff here at Hope.

So hi, corey, hi, how are you doing?

I'm great.

How are you?

I'm good, thanks.

So why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, tell us about who you are and what you do here at Hope, how you got to Hope, anything like that?

So I am married to Meredith Nealand and we have an eight year old son named Ian.

I got started in Hope probably about 15 years ago I don't remember the exact year, but it was probably 2008, 2009.

At the time I was in college and I was really looking for something geared towards people more my age.

I reached out to Jeff Bills and asked if they had any programs or small groups that fit the bill.

At the time he said where Corey is starting up this program called Sojourn.

So I decided to give it a try.

I think at the time it was a Sunday night service.

So it was a different style of worship service.

And what really got me set and realized that this is where I want to be is on the very first night that I came out, Rick used a clip from the Lord of the Rings.

Is that a favorite of yours?

It's up there.

Yeah, definitely on the nerdy side, so all that kind of stuff really I can relate to.

And so he played that as like wow, I'm at church and I'm watching Lord of the Rings.

That really kind of hooked me.

So that's awesome.

I've been basically coming ever since.

Yeah, and so you've been coming for a while and then you have wound up also serving here on staff.

So tell us what is your role here?

So my role here is visual tech coordinator and in basic terms, that is working with all of our volunteers related to video directing, lighting and just overall support and leadership in those areas.

Is that?

I'm guessing it's a passion of yours is something you're really interested in, that you wound up doing it here as work?

I have a passion in anything tech and so Back when I first started with Sojourn, shortly after things kind of got going there, that's where I started volunteering and I started with audio.

Okay.

I learned up all the tricks of the trade for audio from there and kind of grew and expanded.

After Sojourn went away into the tech booth Sunday mornings and just basically learned all I could back in the booth there.

So you expanded beyond audio to then all the other components of the tech that was back there.

And as new equipment was purchased, I was right there first in line to learn how it works.

Yeah, I'm guessing that's probably one of your favorite times is when any new equipment comes in and you get to learn it.

Yeah yeah, I'm always looking to learn new things.

I kind of enjoy being a sort of jack of all trades because it keeps things interesting.

You're always doing something different.

Yeah.

I never get stuck in a rut doing the same thing over and over, so it's a lot of fun.

That's awesome.

So what would you say?

So you started out in audio.

Now your role is that you're this.

You're the visual tech coordinator, so you support a lot of people in that.

What would you say is your?

What do you love most about doing this at Hope?

So one of the things that I love most is being able to worship alongside our worship band all the talented musicians and singers.

And it may not seem like it to most people, but when you're in the tech booth running a job back there, it is almost like you are performing along with the band.

Yeah, for sure.

And just having that connection to the music and being able to listen to it and worship in that way every week.

It's really great.

I love that.

I love that you talked about tech as a form of worship, because I think when we hear worship, we often think like the singing or the instrument that someone is playing, but that you're worshiping right there with them, because you have to be in sync with what's happening In front of people.

Even though they don't see you, you're behind them.

And feeding off their energy and maybe adjusting things based on what's happening on stage.

It really is a whole dance that occurs.

Yeah, no, that's so awesome.

Is there anything that's a challenge for you in this area of ministry that you're in?

So I would say one of the more difficult things is during worship.

One of our goals in the tech booth is to eliminate distractions, because the feeding back or camera suddenly jolting to somewhere else that can distract you and pull you out of worship.

So trying to eliminate those distractions and sort of critiquing some of our volunteers, saying, okay, you did good, here's some of the ways that we can improve and make things better, those critiques, and trying to make sure that I always Give truth coming from you know, love, mm-hmm.

As opposed to you did that wrong and try, you know right down or make them feel yeah, of course we wanted to be a positive experience.

You know, yeah, positive, tell them did a great job.

How about next time?

Can we?

Can we give this a try?

And so, trying to Make everything the best to all of our abilities, our volunteers, myself, that is probably one of the hardest parts of the job.

Yeah, I can't imagine because I know, I'm sure you felt it anytime that any of those little glitches happen.

You know, like people are, like they're looking through the worst thing somebody does, right as I look back like you know you're doing your job right.

When people watching have no idea, you never see their faces.

Yeah, no, but that's awesome because, yeah, that is got to be a really hard part of instilling in in people that it is a form of worship, and you're also trying to create an environment for others to worship in, and so that's why it matters that, like you said, there's Not a lot of distractions or that something is done maybe a little better the next time, and so, yeah, I'm sure you do it with a lot of grace and love and giving people the the room to make mistakes and know that if you make a mistake, it's okay.

Yeah we're none of us are.

No, I really love that.

Frank appellah, who's staff interview we did and he's the tech director.

He also, I can tell you guys work together, because that was something he also talked about was this freedom to make mistakes, and it's.

It's a place to learn and grow and to make, and that's okay to make mistakes, and I think that that's so important, because I don't think you always find that in a performance in I mean, not so worship is different than like a stage performance, but in like a performance environment, there's often this like Very critical atmosphere everything has to be like perfect to a tee, you know, and being able to have that room to make mistakes and and grow together, that's mistakes always provide the opportunity.

Yeah, learn and grow.

No, that's really wonderful, so something that we Do.

Every time we do one of these, we call it a rapid fire section.

Sometimes it's rapid fire and we go really quickly, and sometimes somebody says something and we wound up talking about it for a while so we'll see how it goes, see how rapid fire it is.

But I'm asking a bunch of kind of random questions and it's just a way for people who are a part of hope or who want to get to know hope To get to know you a little bit more because, as you mentioned, especially in your role, you're in the back of the room most Sundays or you're in the broadcast room You're.

Your role is to kind of not be Visible, like you don't be overly visible.

But people may wonder, like I'd love to know Cory better.

So that's why we ask you some of these random questions Are you ready?

Let's do it.

Okay, do you have a favorite pizza topping?

sausage.

Okay, do you have a favorite place?

You get pizza from.

Have we like Luigi's Pizza Fresca?

Marlton okay, isn't near where you live.

Yeah it's.

I want to say old Marlton Pike, but I'm bad with road names.

But sausage is your standard, your go-to.

When I get to choose the topping, that's what I choose nice.

Are you a morning person or an evening person?

I am morning, meredith is.

What's it like in your relationship that that you're one and she's the other?

So is that hard?

Not really.

Um, I Wake up in the morning, go get my coffee, just kind of relax and that's kind of my alone time.

And then she will stay up later and Do her thing and that's kind of her alone time, and so we each kind of have nice balance.

Yeah, yeah, time, time to ourselves.

I guess it works out for you well that you're a morning person because you have to be here.

What time do you get here on Sunday mornings when you're working here?

I usually get here around 7.15, and then the rest of the tech crew.

We tell them to always arrive at 7.30.

Okay, yeah, that's another really important thing for people to know, right, Like they come at 9 or 10.30 and you've been there if they come at 10.30, you've been there for like you know, three plus three hours already.

So that's, we're really grateful for that.

So you mentioned you drink coffee in the morning.

Do you have a coffee order, like if you go to get coffee?

Black with sugar.

Okay, nice, what about?

So you mentioned in the very beginning that you really like Lord of the Rings or that was something you connected to.

Do you have a show or a movie that you've seen recently that you really liked, that you would recommend to somebody?

Ted Lasso.

Yeah, that's a great one.

I'm very sad that it's over.

What about?

Do you read it all?

Do you have any books that you like to read?

Yeah, I do.

For a long time I was really into Stephen King and I still love Stephen King books.

But I've gotten to the point where I've read, you know, all his main books that everybody knows and you know I've started branching out, so lately I've gotten into an author called Brandon Sanderson which anybody who is into the fantasy genre has probably heard of him.

In his books he's become sort of the fantasy king.

Okay, All right.

So anybody that's interested in that genre you'd recommend, if they haven't heard of him, they should get to know him.

Yes, yes, especially starting with a thousand page book, the Way of Kings.

Okay Sounds like a commitment, but very good.

Yes.

Yeah, and are you?

Do you read books?

Do you audio book?

What is your preference?

I read them back when I was commuting.

About an hour every day I would listen to them, but now that I'm fully remote I don't really have that time to listen anymore.

What about, especially because you're involved in worship arts here at Hope do you have any specific type of music that you like?

I'm a classic rock guy.

Okay, when I'm driving around the car it's usually WMMR on the radio.

Do you listen?

I know do.

They still do have a Memorial Day every year.

They do like the classic rock countdown and they do like the 500 songs you know.

Yeah, they do a lot of different lists throughout the year.

Okay, Back to school.

A to Z.

Okay, my dad loves classic rock and so growing up that was I always knew Memorial Day weekend was always like the 500 countdown.

We would listen to it like all weekend long, you know.

So that's awesome.

What about one more question?

Do you have a favorite local place that you like to go, or you and your family like to go to eat?

Yeah, we often go out to on the border.

Okay, we like their tips, in case so.

And then we usually go on Fridays during happy hour for $4 Margaritas Nice.

Nice, that's always a good thing to know.

That's great.

Okay, so let's say you have like 30 seconds or so to kind of give your like elevator speech of like who Corey is?

What would you say?

How would you describe yourself to others?

I would say I am a kind, quiet nerd that is always willing and able to help others, usually a man of few words.

That's great.

I love that.

I think that encapsulates you wonderfully.

Yeah, so we call this the Meet Hope podcast, and it's because we have conversations about faith and hope, and so sometimes we ask people the question of what is bringing them hope.

Is there anything that you would say is bringing you hope right now?

I would say what's currently bringing me to hope is the knowledge that I have something to offer this congregation.

My skills and talents I see as a tool that I can use to help serve others, and so as long as I have that ability to come in and help out and serve others, then that's where I want to be.

That's awesome, I know.

I so appreciate that you recognize that you have these gifts and abilities and that you have a desire to use them to serve others and not only to serve others, but teach other people how to use the tools that you know how to use too.

That's really awesome thing that happens here at Hope.

So thank you, cory, for doing this with us.

I hope it wasn't too painful, knowing that you like to be quiet and hang in the back.

No, not at all.

Great, well, thank you If you are a listener with us.

We are so grateful that you took the time to listen, and we have a new podcast every Monday on the Meet Hope podcast, so be sure to subscribe and also share it with a friend if you know someone who you think might enjoy listening.

And so, until next time, have a great day.

Thanks for being a part of the Hope community as we continue our conversations about faith and hope.

If you don't already, please join us for worship on Sundays or on demand.

You can learn more at meethopeorg or find us on socials at meethopechurch.