[quote name='Marc S' timestamp='1450782375' post='2935772']
on arrival, several of the regular church group all but physically accosted us, when my wife & I arrived!
They shouted that we were not to get in the way, not to move anything, and told us there was no way we could bring in all these amplifiers & equipment. I only had a tiny, portable bass combo and my bass!
[/quote]
In every walk of life there will be a percentage of people who are clueless about the logistics of a given situation, but really feel the need to share their "wisdom" anyway. They just cannot stop themselves. This exists in Churches just like it exists in clubs, weddings, pubs, halls, festivals and anywhere else I have gigged. I have played in Churches for the past 30+ years. There has been an awful lot of support and now and then sone situations where I have just raised my eybrows and then deffered to whoever was running things that day, or dealt with it myself if I was nominally in charge. Some people just love to have their say. My experience outside Church has been exactly the same.
I am sorry that you ran into the wrong people in the wrong place. I hope that you can see them for people who were clueless, massively over-excited and lacking in social graces but not representative of the Church as a whole. I am not dissing them as individuals, I do not know them or their situations. My guess is that they were excited beyond belief and slightly anxious about their planning. People really struggle to understand that an event can happen slightly differently from how they percieve it and it will still be ok. A bit like a song in Church can be done in at least 3 different styles and it will be ok whichever one is chosen.