Interview: Bill Lawless, Founder of "Impact Midland"
Category: Faith... Local... Tech...
Posted Monday, September 24, 2007 at 01:25 PM [GMT-6]

If you've got a keen eye, you may have noticed a new link in the Gazette's sidebar, in the "West Texas Blogs" category. The link hooks you up with Impact Midland, a relatively new blog beautifully conceived and executed by telecommunications guru Bill Lawless. Impact Midland is unique among the West Texas blogging community in that it's an audio-blog, consisting of recorded interviews and readings, with Bill acting as the producer, director, interviewer, sound engineer, and everything else.

Bill and I were co-workers back in prehistoric times, which emboldened me to turn the tables and request an interview with him, to which he graciously consented. From a geekish perspective, I'm not worthy to even be in the same room with him, so we did the interview by email, instead of a podcast, but I think you'll enjoy finding out more about Bill and his new blog.

Bill – I listen to several podcasts everyday and find that it is a very good way to share information. You can listen while driving, walking, bike riding, etc. I am a technology type and have always been interested in electronics, ham radio, computers, the internet and audio production. Podcasting is a way for me to pull all of those interests together. It's also a way to live out a childhood dream to be a DJ of sorts. When I record I set behind an ElectoVoice RE20 which is a microphone you will find in 90% of the radio stations in the country.

The name Impact Midland is something that I thought long about. I didn't want to build a website that was just for me to play podcaster on. I wanted to build something that would challenge me technically and be useful at the same time.

From a biblical perspective I would like for the readings and interviews to perhaps cause folks to reassess their view of who God is and their own relationship with Him. You can't read or listen to the Psalms without getting a high view of God. The Valley of Vision is a collection of Puritan prayers. The Puritans had a high view of God and it was evident in their prayers and the way they lived. Today it seems that that we treat God very casually. We use His name in a casual sometimes vulgar manner, we treat Him as though He were some sort of cosmic Santa Claus instead of the high and holy sovereign of the universe. Our casual view of God is not only evident in the way we live our lives form day to day but in the way we worship. In the Psalms we learn how to truly worship. In worship the focus is not on me but on God.

Bill – Interviews are something new for me. I listen to as many as I can because I find that it is a good way to learn about someone or something. The first interview is with my pastor and the second with a pastor friend that is starting a church. I chose them as my first because I know they would be easy on me but also because I felt that they had something to say that would benefit folks in Midland that may be looking for a church.

Bill – Everyone. I know that this is a simple answer but it's true. I do not have all of what I want to do with this website fully developed yet. I have a hundred ideas but need to pair that down to something that keeps my interest as well as useful to other Midlanders.

Bill – I have been involved in 2-way radio and telecommunications for 30+ years and in that business audio quality is always very important. I decided that if I was going to do this that I would do it right. I am in the process of building a recording studio using professional audio equipment. I would like to produce a program that sounds good so that when I compress it to a size that is easy to stream or download that it will sound good on your computer speakers or iPod ear buds. I am staring at 153 knobs, 10 faders, buttons, switches, inputs and outputs, sends and returns, cables, microphones, LEDs, thresholds, ratios, mix, drive, level, filters, speakers, headphones and I could go on. I have a lot to learn but that's what keeps it interesting for me.

I also have a portable set-up that I use when I go to various places to have people read for me or interview. A lot of the portable equipment on the market is very expensive and sounds great or cheap and sounds so so. I managed to finds a portable unit made by Marantz and had it modified by a professional audio company who made improvements to the pre-amps and microphones. This recorder records in MP3 format so that I don't have to do any conversion.

The biggest challenge so far has been to find good music that fits the theme of the website and is affordable. It is very important that I have permission to play the music that I use. I am paying about $30 dollars per minute for a few of the songs and for the others I have been given permission from the artist at no cost. I really like the no cost option.

On the computer side of the process I am using a PC but will be moving everything over to Mac in the near future. The production software I am interested in runs on a Mac. The production studios that I have visited recently all use the Mac.

Bill – I have an interview with Dr. Mark Dever of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC in October that is a huge opportunity. My pastor and I will tag team this one.

Other projects I have in mind are not theological. I enjoy giving safety talks at work and would like to do a recorded audio version of that. I recorded my last talk but it did not come out well at all. I would like to interview various folks in Midland and discuss safety issues.

I would like to find Midland story tellers and capture their tales for others to enjoy. I could go on and on and would be interested in ideas from others.

I would like to do an interview at the food court at the mall. I think it would be cool to have the background noise there part of the recording.

Bill – I have been working in technology for 30+ years. I spent 21 years with ARCO and am now with Key Energy. Prior to ARCO I worked for an engineering firm in Austin building microwave communication systems for MCI, Sprint and others. I think back on my career and the time that I am most proud of was my 6 years in Algeria. We built infrastructure to support a large oil recovery project near the city of Hassi Messaoud, in the middle of the Sahara Desert. There I learned to speak French and enough Arabic to get myself in trouble.

I am a preacher's kid and grew up in a Christian home. I became a Christian at the age of 17 while living in Abilene. I went to Hardin Simmons for a while then several years later attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. I struggled trying to figure out what I was supposed to do ministry wise. I preached in my church and other churches in the association where we lived and had a jail ministry. It became evident to me later on that full time ministry is not where God wanted me. My ministry is where I am at; using the skills that God has blessed me with.

Bill – If you are from Midland and would like to read a Psalm or a Valley of Vision prayer for me I would like to talk to you. It would be cool if we could put together a CD that had the book of Psalms read by Midlanders on it.

I have a blog titled Reformed Lawless at billsbible.blogspot.com and I manage my church's web site at colonialbiblechurch.org. Perhaps I should add a bit of a warning to the theological content of the website. I am very narrow minded when it comes to theology. I believe that the bible is the word of God, literally, and believe that it contains everything we need know about life, our relationships, and worship, how we do business, God and our relationship with Him through Jesus Christ, everything. I believe that God is absolutely sovereign. I believe that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and there is no other way. I hold to the 5 solas of the reformation; Sola gratia ("by grace alone"), Sola fida ("by faith alone"), Sola scriptura ("by Scripture alone") Solus Christus ("in Christ alone") Soli Deo Gloria ("Glory to God alone").

I appreciate Bill taking the time to reply to my nosy questions, and I hope Midlanders will give him some good ideas for future interviews. And at the very least, visit Impact Midland and help Bill find out if he's really got enough bandwidth in his hosting account!